Week 27

Elders Haws and Price with Felipe Uribe and Fransisco Uribe (Sons of the Branch President)

This week could have been a book by itself. I had so much happen. All the little details are countless. It has been very interesting trying to change the perspective of missionary work here in this small town, battling the weather, and taking on my fears and designing plans to conquer them.

Really, our main goal for this week for Elder Price and I was to have more 'animo' (energy and excitement) for the work of salvation here in Retiro. We had a really difficult week last week, and we were determined to change ourselves completely if necessary. We sure had a lot on our plates this week. It was hectic at times to look back and think at all we had to juggle. It sure put us to the test.

We had everything from crazy mini cambios, to extreme weather, to miracles. It was crazy.

One massive completo!!!

Monday

We had an average day. We didn’t have the chance to do as much as we wanted but we still worked hard. It was a good P day but we didn’t do much because we were down to little money for the month. Stuff out here in the campo is really expensive. We met with one recent convert, German, and shared a short lesson with him. We had mostly a day of contacts until we felt impressed to walk down a certain street. We remembered that there was a young couple that got baptized 2 years ago that lived down this street. They usually work from 10 in the morning to 10 at night. That makes it impossible for us missionaries to find them. But we went to check anyway. Sure enough, by a miracle Darinka, the wife was there. We got in and had a great lesson. It was powerful.

Berlines are delicious Chilean pastries

Tuesday

We had a great time finding a bunch of people on Tuesday. We worked in a section called la Courvi. We found a lady named Pilar, a 90 year old lady that still is going strong named Guillerma, and did a ton more contacts. We ended with visiting the second counselor Jorge.

Wednesday.

We had interviews with the president that morning. It went so good. We received the rule change about contacts. Now only talking with people in the street and sharing a message in the street will count as a contact. Going to houses will no longer count for us. It is a huge change and will surely be a lot more effort on our part. Elder Ballard has promised the missionaries that if we personally contact 10 people every day, the numbers of baptisms will go up. We committed to it, and are determined to complete this promise.

To start the day, we went to our main investigators house, the Valdes Parra family. But sadly they told us that they didn’t want us to come back. Again, we were stuck in the same position that we have been in thousands of times in this transfer. It sucks having good people reject you. It gets tiring. Nevertheless, we continued on. We went on to visit the Saldaña family and a new investigator we found in Santa Amelia. His name is Pablo. He always acts nervous, but he is a really cool guy. He really wants to learn about what we have to share. Our Elders quorum didn’t show up to go out and visit people so we had to boost the spirits of our Elders quorum president because he had tried as hard as he could to get them there.

Thursday.

Very cool day. The Zone leaders wanted to have a mini cambio with us. So in the morning I packed my bags to work once again with my good friend and father in the mission, Elder Froerer. It was such a sweet day. It was such a cool feeling to work with a now, good friend, and be able to do so much more than I was able to. We pushed it hard. We had lots of miracles and found lots of people. Elder Froerer is very supportive and was a huge help to me by giving me advice on what to do in this hard time of mine. I had a lot of fun on Thursday. We ended with playing a game of fútbol with some members. I did really good. I scored the last goal to close the game!! #GiftOfSatisfaction

Friday

We changed back and with fresh ideas on how to boost the sector and went to work. Frankly, we didn’t have much happen other than getting futures and contacting. It was a so so day.

Saturday.

Ohhhhhhh the rains came down and the floods came up! And us missionaries got wet...

Oh boy was this a rainstorm. We had people telling us all week that a storm was coming. I didn’t give it much thought but OH MY GOODNESS.

This storm was legendary I swear. Whales could have been raining down WHO KNOWS, It was loud and it lasted all day. My waterproof stuff after a while got wet. We walked around all day in my first day of 'winter weather'. It’s tough because Chileans literally go into hibernation mode in the rain. They just sit in their nice little houses and won’t talk to us. It was a crazy day. We were forced to go into the church and reschedule some of our plans because it was just crazy out there. We knelt down and I offered a prayer because I didn’t know what to do anymore. No one would talk to us or answer us. We prayed fervently for a miracle. We suited up and went out again. Sure enough, down a street, we were walking and a man invited us into his house. We gratefully took this chance and sat down a bit. The wife and daughter came down and asked to share a message. Because the hermano was a bit drunk we had to keep really focused on the message. We mostly taught to the wife Carmen, because she was really listening. We invited her to baptism and she accepted. It was a miracle. We were so grateful to our heavenly father for watching out for us and sending us a miracle so quickly. He hears all of our prayers.

 Sunday.

We were disappointed cause Carmen and her family didn’t show up to church. None of the investigators showed up to church. But we did have 3 less actives and 1 convert. It was bittersweet. We had a good meeting but it was freezing. We went out and tried to visit as much as possible. But to reach our goal we had to get 30 contacts. We worked so hard and were contacting through the night. We reached our goal thank goodness. We were satisfied with our efforts. We are climbing and learning how to walk here in Retiro. It’s been really hard, but were starting to restart the sector. It’s a really cool time to be here. We just gotta keep it going.

I’m so grateful for all that I’m learning here in Retiro. The Lord is sure giving me a fair share of experiences. I am grasping what I need to be doing. It is so cool to see how the lord is preparing me. I’m so grateful for the things I’m learning and the chance to be here in Chile. I’m so grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father and Savior. They truly help us in every step. I know if we truly march on through all our trials, we can progress in our journey to becoming like our Savior.

Helaman 3: 33-35

 33 And in the fifty and first year of the reign of the judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to enter into the church—not into the church of God, but into the hearts of the people who professed to belong to the church of God—

34 And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.

 35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

May we march on through our trials and continually work to the purifying of our hearts. I am so grateful for all of you. I love you so much more than you know. I am so grateful for all of your prayers. Until next week. I love you, and miss you

Elder Ethan Haws

The great pyramid of paper

The giant apple of Retiro