Week 50

Elder Bird and Elder Haws 

September 8th 2014! It’s nearly been a year now. And one year from today I will be heading home from my mission. Time is flying like never before. In an intense sector like Coyquen, time is now washing away.

This week was an interesting one. It was just a week of getting used to the companionship, the sector, the people, and organizing all of that.

Monday.

Crazy P-day just trying to get everything done. We had a fun morning spending it with Felipe Vergara. He taught us the basics of the national Chilean dance, the Cueca. After that we went to downtown Chillan and did all the usual things we do on P-day. We rushed home and then we were right out to work. That evening we visited a recent convert named Norma, and had a FHE with the Rebolledo Molina family. It was pretty hectic running around trying to get to those appointments and getting our contacts, but I enjoyed it. The FHE was really good, we talked about agency and shared a few snacks at the end.

Tuesday

Crazy day. We had a good Zone class in the morning and right after, our district leader, Elder De Leon, with his comp tagged along with us 4 missionaries of Coyquen for the day. We had 4 baptismal interviews to be done throughout the day so É De Leon thought that it would be best just to have a mini cambio with us. Our 2 investigators that were preparing were Sayeññ Vergara, and Eugenia Becerra.  Thankfully all our investigators passed their interviews! We celebrated the success that evening by cooking up a few hot dogs.

Wednesday

It was a simple day mixed with disappointments. Lots of our appointments fell. People simply just dropped us left and right. We pressed on even though things got tough. Our main appointment was with a less active that is coming back to church and her son who wants to be baptized. Her name is Evelyn Carrasco and her son is named Ignacio.  We had a good lesson re-teaching some of the lessons and Ignacio is now preparing to be baptized on the 20th.

Thursday.

Again it was a pretty simple day. We did have a great experience though.  In the afternoon we were looking for inactive members and their houses. A few days earlier we had been looking at our map in the house to find some of the streets that we couldn't find.  Elder Bird found some of the streets, so we planned to go and find the people on the street.  So on Thursday we went out and started knocking on doors. Everyone rejected us, either throwing out ridiculous excuses or just yelling and slamming the door in our face. Finally we came to the last house and last name. We shouted ''Alo'' a few times but no one came out. But  we stayed there and continued to wait. After a bit a lady came out and let us right in. Her name is Leila. We sat down with her and her family. We began to share a message about the atonement, and she began to cry. She explained that a few days before she had been praying that someone could come and that she could get help. She has been in a lot of complicated and sensitive situations that are probably so deep that we can only help her to a certain extent. But still it was incredible to be an answer to her prayers. It is amazing how God works through simple and small things. We carried out the message and finished the visit. We had a FHE that night with a less active family and shared a good lesson about seeking the kingdom of God.

Friday

A pretty regular day, the only thing different was our FHE with the Vergara family. All 6 missionaries of Coyquen were there as well. We had a good lesson about happiness, played games, and ate some snacks.

Saturday 

This was a great day because I had my first baptism in 10 months!! We had a great experience having 4 people baptized and seeing the change in them. Earlier that morning we also had a good lesson with our investigator Mitzi. She is determined to be baptized and she is still progressing.

Eugenia's baptism 

Sayeññ's baptism

The Vergara family

Sunday,

Eugenia, and Sayeññ were confirmed. I got to be a part of confirming Sayeññ as well! We enjoyed church, weekly planning, and visiting with a few people in the afternoon. It was a good day.

The week was really just focused on the baptism and getting used to everything. Elder Bird and I are becoming better friends and we are enjoying our time here. I am loving the members and I am loving the pace of the work here. It is so insane and overwhelming but I love it. I am excited to learn how to work with everything that I have. This sector will be pushing me to my limits in a positive and helpful way. It could possibly be the most exciting time of my entire mission.

Thank you all for your constant support. I love you all! I miss you all so much and I hope you are all doing great. Keep pressing on. Enjoy everything that comes your way, and always give your best. I love you all so much. Until next week.

Elder Ethan Haws

Elder Bird being...a spy?

A cool instrument called a kalimba