Week 22

Nonguen at night

Wow, tomorrow marks 5 months as a missionary! Oh, how time flies.

Every time I sit here in this Cyber, the gratitude for all your inspiring letters and your messages melts all the stresses away and washes in the inspiration that I need to keep on going. I am so grateful for all of you. You are so important to me and I love all of you so very much.

All is going well in Chile. The work is progressing and we continue in our service and in our journey here in Chile. This week I have reflected on this great opportunity that I have to be here among my Chilean brothers and sisters. I love them so much. This culture is becoming a huge part of me. People always comment on some of the things I say, saying, ''that’s just so Chilean.'' The Chilean culture uses lots of different phrases and sayings and I’ve taken a lot of those into my vocabulary. I love being a part of this culture.

Through the hard times that have been passing I have learned to just look back and reflect on why I am feeling what I’m feeling, and why the things are happening the way they are. I like to think about the Savior and what he did in his life here on this earth. Regardless of the situation, he didn’t miss an opportunity; didn’t miss a moment to serve someone in need. I read a fantastic talk given by Elder Bednar this week. Its entitled ''The Character of Christ'' It was a talk he gave back in 2003 at BYU. I want everyone who gets this letter to read that talk. It is amazing. I gained a better perspective on how I can try and become more Christ like through charity and service.

The week was another hard one, but I’m learning how to just step back and enjoy the ride regardless.

Monday.

We had a good p day and were able to prepare well for the week. After our morning we left to work for the afternoon. We didn’t meet with too many people, but we talked with EVERYONE. We could immediately see some blessings from that. We made a lot of appointments to visit a bunch of future investigators.

Tuesday.

We had a fun district class in the morning role playing contacts. It was fun trying to practice how we contact people, and acting out the classic excuses everyone gives us as well as the strange people we meet. We had a good afternoon. We walked A TON. We went up the hills in our sector and walked all over the valley talking to everyone. Again we saw the blessings. We had a great lesson with a lady we found with her family. Her name is Nury. They are super excited and are very prepared to hear the gospel. She accepted everything we taught immediately. We found a lot of future investigators in the afternoon including an old couple named Fransisco and Enrequeta. Fransisco had a disease in his throat so he had to get that hole thing in the throat that allows him to talk. He has to cover it up and push out from his lungs to talk. Very interesting, but they were very kind and accepted to visit with us during the week. We met with the mission president and had a division to visit a lot of members.

Wednesday.

We had a mini cambio with our zone leaders. Elder Sanchez headed to Andalien with Elder Ramirez and Elder Jensen came here to Nonguen with Elder Layton and I. Elder Jensen is a big guy and is on the BYU football team. I believe he is one of the linemen or something like that. We worked really hard and had a great time. It was almost like a vacation. Unfortunately, almost all of our visits fell. However we were able to meet a young guy named Manuel. He’s really cool and we had a great short lesson. We are going to continue visiting with him and his family. In the night we had a great division with a lot of brethren in the ward. I ran around with Luis Cabezas and visited Valerìa and Cesar. When we walked in they had been studying the book of Mormon. I was so happy to see that. They are doing well, but they are leaving for vacation for the next week or so. We will be visiting them a bunch this next week. We finished out the day well and got a good night’s sleep.

Smoothies at the Ruminot's home

Thursday.

Immediately after a great day and when things started to go good, Elder Layton got really really sick. At lunch he barely ate anything and we had to ask the Ruminot family if he could stay there to rest up for the day. They accepted and we left him there. Elder Sanchez and I worked the day by ourselves. We had a lot of important citas fall and we got a bit frustrated with that. We ended with having a family home evening at the Campos family. We had a good lesson about the Restoration and had a bunch of completos.

Friday.

Again, Layton was really sick. We left him at the Ruminots again. Elder Sanchez and I had a really good day. We visited Miriam and Lidia, the Patriarch, hermano Rosa, Armando, and found a family up on Buena Vista. Armando has finally found excitement and has been getting better with sickness and with his family. We were able to have a good lesson about the plan of salvation. We are excited because he is still excited about the gospel. Our only struggle with Armando is for him to get that faith to be baptized.

Saturday.

We had a really long morning of service. We started early to help Diego Gonzales, (half gringo, chileno RM) put together his house for him and his new wife. We painted and cleaned up the yard a bit. After we had a huge project at Wladimir Aburto's to clear out a space by their house of debris and to move a bunch of dirt to that area. After that, I was completely drained and exhausted. We had a really delicious lunch with the Adrian family. We worked hard but didn’t have much success. We had a division with Hermano Ruminot and Elder Sanchez and I worked out in Lautaro. We tried to visit a bunch of people and contact everywhere but no one was there. It was disappointing.

Sunday.

We weren’t able to get as many people in church as we wanted. We got Armando to church and had a few MA's (less actives) and CR's (reactivated converts) show up. It was a good meeting and I learned a lot. We had some good lessons. Elder Layton was sick again and we had to stay in the house for most of the day and plan a lot. We were able to discuss a lot of our weak points and work out a plan to be much better. This week we are committed to be so much better in diligence to our goals we have set. We are inspired to work so hard this week.

Monday.

We woke up early, had studies, cleaned the house, got haircuts, and headed here to the centro. We’ve had a good day and I got the shortest haircut of my life!

I’m learning so much about myself and how I can be a better person. I love looking to Christ's example for all of us. I love my savior and his mission. Now it is my mission to serve him and my Chilean brothers and sisters. I am truly grateful to be emerged in the Chilean culture. It is a part of me. With the help of my Heavenly Father and my Savior I am pushing on through every trial that faces me. I will not give up. The work will never halt till the savior brings it to a close. I’m grateful for the chance to be here in Chile at this time. I know that lessons await me around every corner.

I’m so grateful for all of you. You are incredible to me. Your messages are so inspiring. Thank you so much for all you do. I love you all. I hope all is well at home. Until next week!

Elder Haws

Elder Haws' sweet new electric charango

The second floor addition to the Mella's house

Week 21

First off, thank you so much for all your letters! My heart has been truly touched through your messages. Every time I sit down and read your inspiring messages I am lifted up and the burdens of the work become weightless. Thank you so much for your love and your support. I love all of you so much.

It is great to hear how everything is going back at home. The same things that always happened when I was home are still happening with all of you. I find it so cool that so many new things are going on and that you are all growing as well.

I’ll be very honest, this week wasn’t the best or the fun-nest week. We have just had a lot of trials in the work lately. We have had to step back and re-analyze almost every action we take here in Nonguen. Things have gotten hard in the sector and we aren’t really finding anyone to teach. The members have been very slow to help and it’s gotten frustrating. We've had pressures rise, and we are almost desperate as a companionship. We have had to go back and start with the basics, which is: work with the members; build their testimonies so that they can share them.

Monday.

P-day was just a preparation day! We had a good time in the centro. Us three elderes of Nonguen spent the day with E Duncan and Montaña.  We went around and did a lot.  We ate lunch, bought a few things, and went home to clean up a bit. We went out to work and visited a bunch of members. Luis Ferreira and his family also invited us to have an asado (barbeque) the coming Saturday. We were stoked.

Tuesday.

We had district class, and had another special workshop deal with that. We had some great lessons and I learned a lot. We had a nice and relaxing lunch in the house since the member couldn’t be there while we ate. We picked it up before and ate at home. We didn’t have too much happen in the afternoon. We had a lot of visits with investigators fall. We went around and everyone turned out being ''busy''. It was a long day of walking and contacting. In the end we had a meeting as missionaries. The Hermanas, us elders, and our ward mission leader. We just had a coordination meeting.

Wednesday.

Went over to the Campos family to do some service. Turned out we needed to help her neighbor get some stuff done. She’s a very sweet and very old lady. She had a lot for us to do. We had to cut down about 20 trees and start building a fence on a huge hillside. Halfway through, my face turned into a waterfall of sweat. I’ve never sweated that hard before. It’s amazing what humidity and hard work does to you. We had a day working to inspire members. We visited a lot of less active members as well. We also had a good visit with Valerìa and Cesar. I admire them for their drive to get an answer to whether the church is true for themselves. They are slowly starting to grasp our messages and the doctrine of Christ. We committed them to continue working to get an answer, and go to church.

Thursday.

Again, in the morning, we went and helped the old lady out again. We finished building the fence, and we headed off to a delicious lunch at the Ruminot's. We had an average day of work and everything that we had planned fell through again. It is so frustrating having people commit to our visits and then in the last 5 minutes they make up an excuse to why they can’t. Eventually we met up and did some divisions between us elders and the high priest's group. I went with our ward mission leader, and again no one we visited could let us in. It was frustrating.

Friday.

We went and helped hermano Mella build his second floor for the morning. We're getting some serious progress done. We almost have all the walls put up. We had an extremely frustrating day with all our visits falling. We had a ton of contacts throughout the day. We visited the Adrian family and visited hermana Guillermina.

Saturday.

We had a crazy interview with one of the investigators in Collao. He at first prayed to find the church of God, and he was led to the church. But because his brother is Gay he had some problems understanding the law of chastity. He thinks that his brother should be able to get baptized too because he was born gay. We had a long and very intense conversation. In the end his heart was too hard and we ended with him just done with investigating the church. After, we had a barbeque with Luis Ferreira and his family. The stuff he cooked was unreal. It was soooooo good. Saturday was kind of the last straw for us. All of our visits fell again and we were frustrated. We had hermano Ruminot with us the whole time and went and worked for most of the day. We were so grateful for his sacrifice of time. We, however, were able to find and teach a less active member in Villa Valle. That lesson went well.

Sunday.

We had a disappointing meeting in church. Our investigators all left on vacations. It was so frustrating. We had lunch and then planned for the week. We had correlation and divided up and went to visit people. I left with our Elders quorum president and visited a few members. After Elder Layton and I met up and we worked the rest of the day just us two, because Luis Cabezas, the High Priest leader had a full list of people he wanted to visit. He and Elder Sanchez were together all day. Elder Layton and I were able to find a family of old investigators through inspiration. They are great, and we have confidence that they are going to get baptized.

We had a frustrating week. This ward is losing interest in us and our appointments are falling. This week we are committed to work from the basics and build back up from the start.

Andrea and Marcelo are hard to find. But as we've visited them lately, Andrea has received her answer that the church is true. She knows she needs to get baptized. She just has to take a leap of faith to get married.

Armando and Rosa are slowly losing interest. We weren’t able to visit them because they weren’t there during the week. We sense they are losing interest.

Valeria and Cesar are doing well. As long as we continue having the support of members with them, things will go good with them.

These last few weeks have been very trying. Everything seems to be fighting against me. I don’t know what to do but pray. I’m only relying on my faith and my testimony. Times are tough but I’m pushing on. I try and stand a little taller every day. Thank you all for you encouragement and support. I need it so much more than you can imagine. I love you all so much. I testify this is the work of our Savior. I know he watches me and is mindful of us every day. He is our Redeemer. I love him with all my heart. I depend on him, and I will serve him to build his kingdom with every ounce of energy I have.

Thank you all so much. I love you, I miss you. Until next week.

Elder Ethan Haws

Week 20

20 weeks down already!!

Time is so weird. In some ways it has only felt like a dream and sometimes I’ll wake up thinking I’m still in my bed at home, but I’ll come to realize I’m in the middle of Chile. At other times it feels like I’ve been here in the mission for an eternity. It’s really strange.

It’s so good hearing from you and all your experiences. I love getting your messages. I can’t thank you enough for all the support and all the love. It gives me an extra boost that I need to carry out the week. I love you all so much.  This week was pretty crazy. I had a lot of frustrating experiences and a lot of fun ones.

Monday.

Like I mentioned the week before we went to the beach and spent half the day there relaxing and enjoying our time as a zone. It was a beautiful stretch of beach. I had a blast. We then had to go back to the house and get ready and head out to Concé. We only had 2 hours to do everything we needed so we were really pressured and had to rush through everything. We got as much done as we could and we went back to work. Our main visit was with Valería and Cesar. They are the parents of a family we found a week or so ago. They`re old investigators and we're teaching them again. They are really kind and very receptive. They are focused on receiving an answer for themselves that the church is true. We are helping them progress and they could be a great possibility for baptism in due time.

Tuesday.

We had district class in the morning and it went really well. Elder Layton taught a very spiritual lesson on working with the members. We were all very inspired. We had a mostly regular day. We have been focusing on contacts this week and we have talked with everyone we have come across. We did that for the majority of the day on Tuesday. We ended the night with Ward council and we had a very good meeting. Our focus was on missionary work. As a ward we talked about how we can fully become united in working as member missionaries. It went really well, and we're going to have a lot more support now.

Wednesday.

This week we have been helping Hermano Mella build a second floor to his house. It has been a blast getting to learn how to build a house. We have spent some good time helping out. Wednesday morning, all morning, we were there helping. For the last half of the day, we split into a mini cambio for Nonguen and Collao. Elder Sanchez and I worked with Elder Duncan in Collao and Elder Layton and Montaña worked in Nonguen. We had a great day in Collao. Since Elder Duncan has only been in Collao for a week, we were pretty lost the whole day. We visited lots of members and got to know the ward a little better. Throughout the day, however, all of our appointments kept on falling through. So it came to a point where we were just walking around and saw this young guy with long hair stacking firewood in his garage. We offered to help and he quickly accepted. Right off the bat we knew he was a full blown hippie. He had tons of necklaces, rasta bracelets and long curly hair. He acted like he was a bit high too. It was a very funny and interesting experience as we talked about the gospel and stacked logs. He had the usual strange ideas about energy and the earth and all of that stuff. Soon enough we ended and were on our way. We finished out the day soon after.

Thursday.

It was a very average day. We didn’t have anything strange or exciting happen. We just worked. We visited a lot of members and coordinated times that they could leave and teach with us.

Friday.

We were at it again building the second floor of the Mella's house. This time we put down all of the boards for the floor and finished up with that. It’s looking really nice. For the day we went out and worked hard. We visited the Aburto family and talked for a bit. We went around and had lessons with a lot of people. We visited Armando and Rosa. Rosa has been losing interest in sharing with us. She isn’t progressing at all and is determined that she has her own church even though she never even attends. We are working slowly with Armando so that he can understand the doctrine of the lessons we teach. We have been going through each concept carefully and making sure he understands. He’s just now understanding the basics of things. He’s been a little sick because the oxygen tank he has to carry around is running low and he has to go buy a new one. We had another visit with Valeria and Cesar. The lesson went really good. We were precise and to the point and they know they need to know for themselves whether the church is true. We later met up with our Ward mission leader and the relief society president and talked with them about doing a division. Elder Sanchez and I went and visited the Campos family. Elder Layton with Pato, our ward mission leader, and Jessica the relief society president went and visited Andrea. The visit with Nancy Campos went well and we shared a brief message about the Holy Ghost. When we met back up we got good news that the lesson with Andrea was incredibly powerful. She has received her answer that the church is true, the Book of Mormon is true and she needs to be baptized. We are stoked for this. We just have to teach her the commandments and help her get married.

Saturday.

We worked our brains out. For lunch we went to the Ruminot family and had an unbelievably good lunch. We prepared and planned after that and quickly went out to work. We contacted like mad men. We were able to find two new investigators named Andres and Cristian. We found Andres in a house behind 2 other houses. He graciously let us in and we shared a 5 minute lesson because he didn’t have much time. It went well and we plan to go back to visit him this week. We were nearing the end of the night and we were pretty exhausted and we knocked on one last door. We have been trying to visit Crisitan, Asyimet and their family for a while since they are old investigators. We knocked on their door and to our surprise they were there and let us in. We taught Cristian and he, to our surprise, accepted to be baptized. It was awesome. We committed him to read, pray, and go to church as well. We left the house really excited.

Sunday.

We had a good church meeting. We had just a few people show up because of vacations. Sadly Armando ran out of oxygen in his oxygen tank and couldn’t make it. None of our other investigators made it to church except Andrea. Marcelo, her son, slept in and didn’t make it. We were pretty disappointed. We had a good lunch at the bishop’s house and went back to plan. We visited members for the majority of the day. Fransico Romero accompanied me to go and teach Ignacio's mom. We had an incredible lesson and I could feel the spirit so strong as I shared the Joseph Smith story. We all felt the spirit. Pancho (Fransico's nickname) and I met up with Elder Layton and Sanchez and went back home.

Monday.

Woke up, got ready, and we left to go to the centro. We have done a little shopping and I got myself a cool scripture case and a guitar tuner. We went to Llan qui hue and had delicious completo’s. And now I’m here!

The weather here has been pretty good and I’ve been enjoying the tropic-like humidity and the heat. Nonguen is beautiful, lush, and green.

Building the second floor of the Mella's house has been really fun. I liked getting to know all the names of all the tools. My favorite one is the crowbar, el diablito (little devil).

The Spanish really feels like the patterns of stepping. One foot is speaking and the other is understanding. I feel like somedays the foot of speaking is in front and I can’t understand anything. Other days, it’s the complete opposite. I’m still really frustrated at times because of the lack of language I have. It is one of the greatest trials I have ever faced.

The week has been up and down as always. I’ve been quite frustrated at times with all the difficulties we are facing. We aren’t having the success that we want with our investigators and it’s getting to me a little bit. This week I am determined and inspired to give it every ounce of strength that I have. I am going to work my brains out and forget myself in the service. I love working as a representative of our Savior. He truly is my rock and my redeemer. I love him and I am so grateful for him. Through his atoning sacrifice, I know that I will push through these rough times easier. I know that he is watching me and blessing me with these experiences. I love him, and I testify of him. This is the work of salvation. I am so grateful to be a part of it all. My testimony is the only thing that really keeps me going out here. I’m so grateful for the gospel I have in my life, and the opportunity I have to share it.

Thank you all so much for your support. I love you more than I can put down into words. Thank you so much. I am so grateful for all of you.  Until next week.

Elder Ethan Haws

Week 19

This week has actually felt like a really long one. The first week of a cambio always feels longer than it should. I expect that time should be going by faster by next week.

Wow, this was a different week. Elder Layton and I certainly had to adjust to working in a trio. It is really different and it presents a great challenge for each of us.

My new comp is Elder Sanchez. He’s from Jujuy (sounds like ''hu-hui'') Argentina. He’s 19 years old and is fairly new to the mission as well. He only has 5 months in the mission, a month more than I do. It’s kind of funny, every house we go into or every person we meet asks where Elder Sanchez is from. Every single person without fail has first guessed Peru, then Bolivia. It usually takes them about 5 guesses to get where he’s actually from. His city is in the Salta, Argentina mission where Ross Baldwin is serving. He’s your usual Argentino. He likes to mess around a lot. He’s at times pretty pushy and touchy. He’s a great teacher and a pretty spiritual missionary. I really respect him.

The week went like this.

Monday.

Was P-day and our last day as regular companions. We really didn’t do anything different on Monday. We went to the centro and did the regular things and went home and went out to work like usual. We went to see some people up in Providencia, but it didn’t work out. We then went down to section A and visited and contacted around. We didn’t end up with much happening.

Tuesday.

We all got ready in the morning and Elder Garcia was all packed up to go. We headed to the bus terminal and we picked up Elder Sanchez. We loaded the things up in the car of the Ward mission leader in collao and headed off. We set stuff up in the house, cleared some space for Elder Sanchez and studied for a few hours. We also held a house meeting and worked out schedules so we can function with five people running around the house.

We eventually went out to work our first day as a trio. We worked a lot in Rios de Chile and visited the members there. Later in the afternoon we met up at the chapel with the Hermanas in Nonguen and with various members at a car wash activity that the ward was doing. We talked with some members from the Elders quorum and we went on little divisions to meet with people and do some home teaching. I went to teach a less active member named Maria de la O. We have been working with her and her sons for a while. We had a good visit and talked about prayer. It went pretty smooth. After, we went back to the chapel, met up, and went back home. It was also Elder Layton’s birthday. He turned 21

Wednesday.

We had District class in the morning. It was crazy being with so many missionaries in our zone. We now have three districts splitting 25 missionaries. We have 14 hermanas and 11 Elderes. There are a ton of people. We all introduced ourselves and had a great lesson taught by Elder Layton. We ended and headed to lunch with Cabezas Aburto. We had a regular day of work. We worked a lot in B and visited the majority of the members there. We visited the familia Jara and had a good visit, we shared about the Book of Mormon and we were able to somewhat re animate the hermana to start reading the Book of Mormon again. We visited in the house of hermano Wladimir Aburto and taught a guy named Cristian, a friend of the family. It went well and we were able to clear up a lot of his questions and misunderstandings about the church.

Thursday.

Turned out to be quite a lack luster day. Elder Layton was feeling really sick again. We tried the whole day to find someone to do divisions with us so we could get some work done but nothing really panned out. We had to go to Collao and do a baptismal interview for a young investigator for the hermanas. It was cool seeing the story of the family and getting to know them. We went back to the house and let Elder Layton rest.

Elder Sanchez

Friday.

We had a giant service project with the Barra Flores family. We cleared out an entire hillside of plant life, garbage, and other random things. We worked so hard and afterward we snacked on some pizza and had a late birthday cake for Elder Layton. We went to lunch right after at the Neira family. We had a heaping plate of Spaghetti. I don’t think I’ve ever been so full in my life. We went around Rios de Chile again and visited the members we couldn’t on Tuesday. We then went to visit Armando and Rosa. Armando has been having a hard time understanding the doctrines that we have taught. Each time we have taught we have simplified it one step further. This time we just wiped the board clean and explained the Restoration yet again in the simplest way possible. Through the spirit he finally began to understand some things. It was a great lesson. He felt great as well, we could tell. We finished out the day visiting various others.

Saturday.

We had a small service project climbing a cherry tree and picking some cherries for the Avila family up on Providencia. We had some good fun with that. We worked up in Lautaro (sector D) for most of the day. Things didn’t go very well and Elder Sanchez got a little bored and started messing around a bit with us. Emotions kind of burst and things were a little stressful for us, but we worked through it. We didn’t have anyone let us in to share a message. It was another day of straight rejection. It was a hard day. I was exhausted.

Sunday.

We had a strangely vacant sacrament meeting. People showed up late but still, we had very few people attend. People are all still out for the end of their summer vacations. We still had Armando, Rosa, and Andrea come though. We had a great lesson with them in Sunday school and we all felt the spirit. After church, we had lunch with Elder Ferreira and his family in his gigantic new house. It’s just like a house in the states and THATS SAYING SOMETHING. We had a DELICIOUS pasta dish and we had a very serious discussion about missionary work. He gave us very wise counsel. I appreciate his example for us. I really respect Elder Ferreira. He is such a cool guy. He is very intense. We met up in the church with our ward mission leader and the hermanas, and divided the sector. After desperately seeking revelation though prayer we came to decisions and made the splits. We finished up and had an activity with the High Priests group. It went well and we had a great time teaching and learning with them.

Monday.

We went to the beach as a zone in Pencò today. It was a good time. We had to hike an hour in to get to the place. It’s pretty exclusive! We played ultimate frisbee on the beach, took pictures, and ate lunch. It was a great time.

We had a good time this week. We are working and learning how to function in a trio. It takes a lot of humility and patience. This next cambio will be quite the challenge, but I am excited to learn with patience. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior. They help me every day. I could not be here working without them. I love them. I love this gospel, it is true. I face yet another week. Thank you for all your support. I could not be more grateful for all of you. I love you so much. Till next week.

Elder Ethan Haws

Week 18

Wow! This week has flown by again. Time is always so interesting.

I can’t believe I’ve been away for 4 months! It’s a crazy thought to me. In some ways it doesn’t really seem like anything at all, and in others it feels like it’s been a good while.

I’ll start off by saying this week was pretty average even for Elder Layton and I. I forgot to bring my planner to the cyber to give a recount of what happened during each of the days, so I’ll try and give as good of an explanation that I possibly can

We are excited for all of our investigators. Armando and Rosa are doing well. They are still enjoying our visits, but still have the fear to really commit to the church. We are helping them get a clearer understanding of the simple principles of the gospel. Their fear is that after they commit, they think that they are going to fall and become in-active. They want to 100% commit.

Andrea and Marcelo were really busy this week and we were only able to talk Andrea for about 5 minutes on Saturday about how the week has gone. We asked her about her feelings and said that after she prayed about going to church she felt a deep sense of peace and felt the spirit. We are so excited that she got an answer to go to church. We just need her now to pray about baptism, and to get married!

We have been having quite the hard time finding the people who are really prepared to receive us. We are pushing to find the people who let us in and hear what we say. Most of the time people just make us random excuses and persistently ignore us. We are working a ton with members to progress the work in the ward. We are pushing for the members to give us references so that we have an instant connection with our investigators with those members.

We have earned the support of a lot of families and have really befriended them. We have visited the Cabezas Aburto family a lot and they are really fun to work with along with, the Ruminot family, Adrian, Rosas, and Chaves family. We have gotten quite a few good references and we are now going around contacting those.

We also had another miracle this week with the Cofré family (Miriam y Lidia). We have always worked with them and always have tried to teach Nelson, Miriam’s husband. Every time we have tried to teach him he has run away into another room and refused to listen to us. This week, miraculously it changed. We went to visit them and he actually stayed to listen. I couldn’t believe what was happening. The Lord is softening his heart for sure. After talking to him for a while, he told us that he knows he needs to get baptized he just wants to take it slow and at his own pace. We are trusting that through feeling the spirit of the Lord he will get baptized in due time.

We had a few visits with the doctors this week to try and find out why Elder Layton hasn’t been feeling good. We did all sorts of tests through the week and on Friday we got the results. Again, we got the same answer, there is nothing apparently wrong with him. The doctor told us that his body is just exhausted after a lot of work and needs to recover a little more. She wrote us out a diet to follow and gave him some vitamins and sent us off. We are sticking to what she told us, and I hope and pray that Elder Layton can continue and serve with buen animo. (Good energy)

We had some good service projects this week. Especially cleaning around the church. We made the place look great.

On Wednesday, we had a mini cambio with Collao. Elder Montaña worked here in Nonguen with me for the day, and Elder Layton spent the day in Collao with Elder Garcia. I woke up that morning with a bad stomach ache and it lasted the whole day. We still worked really hard and even found a ton of new people, but when the day was done I was completely drained and wiped out. A cool experience that happened that night was while we were visiting the less active Nancy Campos and her family. She had a ton of friends over too but she let us share a message anyway. Elder Montaña and I just decided to share a Mormon message about the Book of Mormon (The bishop in England and his testimony about the Book). When it was over we shared our testimonies and one of the other ladies there was touched and asked us about it. We explained what the book is about and testified again about it. We gave her a copy, and wrote down her direction. She actually lives in Collao so in our mini cambio Elder Montaña got a new investigator out of our sector.

I was kind of down and depressed at some parts of the week. Unanimated.  I was feeling upset about language and all that I could be doing better. I let it out and talked to Elder Layton about it on Saturday. He gave me some brilliant advice on deep meanings of Humility. He helped me recognize that even though I want to, I cannot possibly be perfect 100% of the time. There is always going to be ups and downs. I just need to be teachable, and have patience with the timing of our Heavenly Father. I put all my trust in him because when it comes down to it, He is truly the only one who can guide me. The savior is the one who knows me perfectly. And with their help, I can overcome any challenge and any obstacle. I was so grateful to get that advice and it really flipped my attitude around.

This week marks the start of my 3rd cambio. BIG changes with this one. Elder Montaña is staying and Elder Garcia is heading over to Chillan. In his place Elder Duncan from my district in the CCM is coming to Collao! Should be a great time. We are going from having 2 elders in Nonguen to 2 Hermanas and 3 Elders. Yep, were gonna be a trio for this cambio. Elder Sanchez is coming here and 2 hermanas are going to be working here as well. I’m excited for this cambio! We are going to have great success in our ward!

Thank you all for all of your support! I love hearing from you all so much! I love you all so much more than you know! I hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Ethan Haws