Week 80

Week 80

Wow, what a week. We had an incredible work filled week.

Here are some highlights.

Wait, where are you from?

Perhaps the thing that I’m enjoying most now is walking down the street and talking with everyone. Why? Well, when I start to talk to them they just look at me weird for a second and then ask… ‘’wait, where are you from?’’ They then go on to say that they are surprised because I can speak Spanish clearly, and better than most of the gringos they had ever seen. I feel pretty awesome about that after all the hard times I went through to get to this point. Most actually think I’m Chilean sometimes and that is awesome to me.

Lightning, tremors, fog and predictions:

We’ve seen some interesting natural events and weather here lately. Up north in Copiapo, they were affected with those huge landslides and rain because it hasn’t rained in 20 years up there. Down here we are unnaturally dry. It’s supposed to be rainy and basically winter weather but we are just seeing sunshine most of the time. Yeah, it’s getting colder but it is really different than what it should be. We have also had some serious fog on the hill for the last few days… Its super thick fog, sometimes it’s almost as thick as I’ve ever seen fog get….

We are seeing a lot of tremors lately. I personally haven’t felt a single one because we are walking around all day but there is one nearly every other day now. Scientists are coming out with reports that the continental plates are following the same exact pattern that it did in 2010 when Concé got rocked with that huge earthquake. Most people are antsy now because it was exactly how it happened 5 years ago…. So we’ll have to see if an earthquake rolls by sometime.

Also, I forgot to mention this but on my first day in the sector we had a lightning storm come over the sector all day. It was SO awesome hearing the boom of thunder again. Oh man it made me pretty trunky for Utah weather, I’m not gonna lie.

Alexis:

So we got an awesome reference from some hermanas from another sector. They said that this was the brother of an awesome member in their ward. They said he was golden, so this week we immediately passed by. We got into his house and then started to talk. He’s this really chill 23 year old guy who was really friendly. In our lesson we found that he has been meeting with missionaries for years now and has read the book of Mormon all the way through, and has been waiting to get baptized. Our jaws dropped right open…. We were shocked.  We put him with a baptismal date and then committed him to church (or general conference and he said he had time for any session). We walked out of that lesson so grateful for that blessing and we were just on top of the world.

Turns out he had stuff come up in the weekend and procrastinated getting to the chapel so he didn’t make it. Also we found out he has a complicated work schedule so we are just going to see how this whole thing works out. I hope we can coordinate so that we can have a good baptism soon.

Parra Lopez:

This is an incredible family that we have been working with. They are making good progress. The parents are Margarita, and Mario. Their daughters are Noemi, Laura, and Escarlet. Margarita and Mario aren’t married and Laura is 13 and hasn’t been baptized. Margarita isn’t a member either. So we are working with them so that they can get married, get baptized and get sealed together. We had one of the best lessons ever this week and invited them all to conference. They even accepted to start to prep for marriage and eventually get sealed. Elder Hepworth made up a really cool card magic trick that taught that lesson well. It was great.

Turns out that Mario, even after being strongly committed to go to church, hasn’t gone to church once during the time Elder Hepworth has taught him. There is definitely something deeper. We will have to see what we can do to get the whole family going. Margarita and the daughters are eating the gospel up. They love it.

General conference:

I loved conference and definitely learned a lot.  I think that my 3 favorite talks were from Wilford W. Anderson, Elder Eyring in the priesthood session, and Elder Hollands (that’s always a classic). I loved the spirit that came with those talks. It was a powerful 5 sessions. I love general conference. It was a good time to rest a bit, but still mentally exhausting from all the doctrine I learned. It was just what I needed and answered all of my personal questions at the moment. I am looking forward to studying the talks.

Elder Hepworth and I are doing good work. We are having lots and lots of success. I’ve never been so blessed in my mission. We are having a blast out here. I am definitely more content than ever. Sure, I am exhausted from all these new responsibilities but I feel God’s hand more than I ever have in my life guiding me on and helping me up. I love the lord’s work. And I love being in his service.

Thanks for everything guys. I love you so much, and I am so grateful for your messages and inspiration. Thank you for all that you do for me. I love you all and I miss you.

Until next week.

Elder Ethan Haws