Week 54

Some depressing graffiti out in front of the church in Volcanes (the sector next to Coyquen

Elder Vasquez messed around with Elder Sanabria's prized stuffed animal this week.
The message says "This is a cartel death threat, you or your family"

Wow, What a week!

What a week full of learning. I learned SO MUCH this week.

From finding new people to teach,  to general conference,  and an amazing mini cambio with my district leader ; I soaked in a lot of revelation for me and my life.

I am growing to know how prayers are answered and how God speaks to his children. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who listens. And if we listen, He will guide us to safety, and the comfort of the gospel.

So, to start off, the week was pretty low key on everything except for finding people. We found 10 new investigators this week. I love the weeks where we accomplish the goals we have! Out of everyone, we found an Adventist family and two older women who seem like they are going to progress well and are going to follow their commitments to be baptized. The Adventist family consists of the mom, S, the daughters:  A (9), G (8); and the spouse who we haven’t really met with yet. Two weeks ago, I contacted S on the street with her friend and she was the one who stayed back and listened.  We visited them for the first time on Tuesday while I was on a mini cambio with Elder De Leon, our district leader.  They let us in and we had a great lesson. We explained who we were, what we do as missionaries, related what they had learned from previous missionaries that had visited them, and we gave them the first commitments that we give everyone:  to read, pray, and attend church.  They accepted. We also invited them to baptism. The daughter accepted and she said she would give it thought and think about it. Since they are Adventists, they will have lots of doubts, and lots of questions for us. It will be great teaching them to help myself understand the doctrine better, and help people clear their doubts.  They are honestly great people. They are honest and I think that alone will help us teach them clearly. It will be great working with them.

The other two older ladies let us in of Friday. One of them was someone I contacted during the mini cambio on Tuesday.  Their names are M and S. We passed by and they let us right in while they were watching some of their grand kids. We had a very cordial first visit. We also explained who we were, what we do as missionaries, and we gave them the first commitments to read, pray, and attend church.  They accepted as well. Usually the older folk are way more hesitant to listen to us and accept things but they accepted right off the bat. It will be interesting working with them as well.

Our work with the members was really down this week. I feel like our relationships with the members is withering away a bit. Elder Bird and I feel the need to go out this week and visit the members again. We plan to go out and get to know them better, and offer our service. We plan to share our message with them and invite them in the great hastening of the work that is covering the world. What a great privilege it is to go and be a part of the work of salvation. It is a great time to be a part of the gospel. We all need to reach out and lend a hand.

M has been gone the whole week. That makes two weeks that her house has been vacant. We are kind of worried that something fishy is going on. Let's hope that she gets back this week!

The mini cambio (mini transfer) on Tuesday was great. Elder Bird and I rode a bus for an hour to Quillon and met up with our district leader and his comp. Elder De Leon and I split off and headed back to Chillan. When we got back we dropped our stuff off and went out to do a few contacts before lunch. While we were going around and turning the corner to get to lunch with the other elders, there was a lady trying to start her car.  She had a dead battery. She and her two daughters were pushing the car to try and get it started, so we ran over and helped. The battery had been completely exhausted from leaving the lights on. We pushed the car forever. We went down the streets and ended up pretty far away so we called to inform the hermana who we had lunch with that we would be late and turns out that lunch was cancelled. So we went home after pushing the car to the nearest mechanic’s shack and headed to the house to cook up some eggs and eat some bread.  The afternoon was great. We had a great lesson with our convert, Eugenia. We went over the 5 points of the gospel of Christ with a focus on the Holy Ghost acting as a source to guidance and revelation. After the lesson we asked if there was anyone that she knew that was in a time of need and or would be interested in our message. She thought and suggested that we could pass by together and visit her neighbor. We headed over and visited her elderly neighbor friend. Her name is I. We had a brief visit, got to know her, offered her service, and left her with a few commitments.  Then we went around and visited other various people who let us in. We ended up finding 5 people that day.  I learned a lot that day. The biggest thing that I learned was that all we need to do as missionaries, is stay calm don’t worry about the bad things that may happen during the day and do everything in our power to do what we are supposed to do, especially follow the guidelines in preach my gospel.

General conference this weekend was AWESOME!!!!!

I absolutely loved the messages that were delivered. My eyes were glued to the screen for each session. As I grow through the mission, I love conference more and more and I feel the significance of it more and more. I felt like it was one of the most direct general conferences that I’ve ever seen.  I don’t know about you guys but I felt like the conference had some clear focuses.

-Prophets, the duty we have to sustain them, listen to them, and apply their words

-Testimony: Everything seemed to warn us about finding our personal testimony. It felt like a ‘hint hint’ for some future need for a clear and strong testimony. I think there are yet harder times on the horizon.

-Personal Revelation and the need for getting answers.

-Service: Especially helping those who need it. Reaching out to the poor and needy.

-And the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The center of the gospel and the church. We need to understand it and apply it. It is the thing that will sustain us through everything that is unjust in this world.

I especially loved the invitation that Richard G. Scott gave all of us. He talked about tools that Heavenly Father has given us to stay safe in these latter days:

-Prayer

-Scripture study and listening to modern prophets

-Family Home evening

-And temple attendance

I know these things can change our lives and truly transform us into Disciples of Christ. I know that if we apply his message, like he said ‘’A brilliant peace will come into our lives.’’ I want to invite all of us to really do what he said and really put that as an importance in our lives and do it more frequently.

I have seen so many good things this week and I feel truly lifted. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that can change our lives and transforms us into beacons of light so we can touch other people. Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father live. They love us, and guide us in these latter days. I am so grateful to be a part of the true church of our savior. I am grateful for the chance we had to listen to his mouth piece and the chance we have to apply all that we have learned. Let’s follow President Monson's counsel and try and be a little better and do the best we can!

Thank you all for all you do for me and all the support you send. I love all of you so much and it is such a blessing to have you in my life. I think about you and pray for you constantly. I miss you so much. Above all I am grateful for the chance that we have to be together forever. What a wonderful experience it will be to live with God together as a family. I love you and miss you tons.  Until next week!

Elder Ethan Haws

Baptism a few weeks ago