Week 83

so yea this has been one of the more digamos full weeks of my mission...

so as all have heard chile is literally on FIRE. let me explain... on thursday it reached 43 degrees cel. like 109F. and there are people that are light random forests on fire. so on thursday while teaching a lady we start smelling smoke..... and we go outside and it looks like heavy fog.... but it was SMOKE! so we had to have to whole zone go inside and make sure their emergency bakcpacks were ready.... luckily all was fine but we couldnt work that night because the smoke was so strong!

and then the next day we had zone conference............... AH but i had an AWESOME interview with pres! it made me super sad that i'll be done in like 4 months..... but we were talking about how the change in key indicators with SLC and how we had to adjust the standard of excelence. (which is btw 4 with date, 4 in church, 20 lwm) ughhhh made me want to start the mission again!

so luis is doing super well! we took him to a baptism and he was so happy after that he just hugged us! BUT he smoked so we had to sun the date back a little bit..... so he is no good for the 11th

and CARLOS!! so he is doing sososososos well! he's now reading the BoM every day! and we've been doing a lot of FHEs with him! and even his brother is really excited for him (who isnt member and gets back this week) so carlos will be baptized the 18th! and then his brother (hernan) the one who received us first will most likely be baptized the following week!

but yea it was a pretty stinkin hot week here! but just gotta keep grinding! love you all so much!!!

btw please register for my classes the 1st!

Week 82

wow guys i am officially entering into lobster mode here in linares! it is soosososososoooo stinkin hot! and this next week is supposed to be even hotter!! like 40 degrees celcius!!! i believe thats like 108F! But dont worry yes mom i am using sunscreen, but i dont think i can get myself to use a hat #JW.

but it was a pretty good week here!

so luis...... we found out this week that he has skitzofrenia... (ojalá i spelled that right) but he's still good! basically if he wants to he still can get baptized! and he is still good for the 4th! and yes i had to wake hime up again by throwing a rock on his roof lol!

and this week we did a small activity where we invited everyone that we are working with to the chapel and we had a mini tour. and at the end we showed the bautismal font with the clothes for baptism! IT WAS SO SICK! two brothers (carlos and hernan) are super pumped to get baptized!!!! carlos made it to church this weekend but herenan couldnt cause he went to the beach since it was his only week of vacations..... but they both are going to be baptized the 18th! and they are just super nice guys that are like in their 50s and just want to learn a lot more! o sea PERMISO!

on friday we went to go visit claudia...... we had a great lesson with our Branch prez and we invited her to prepare to be baptized for her ancestors. it was probs one of the coolest lessons ive ever had! BUT she didnt come to church again......... so were leaving her. but still it was a really cool lesson lol

BTW in my zone since its so hot one sector is litterally one fire...... so could you all please pray for cauquens!? we were going to go down as a zone today but then pres catala said no one go except for the elders there..... so we'll see if we can do the service later. but yea a lot of neighborhoods are buring up.....

But i lvoe all of you so much! it is so great serving out here wqish you guys could meet these peeps!! they are so nice!

bendiciones

Week 81

yea so time is flying here in linares. i still feel like there is so much to do but the days just fly by! 

But we had a pretty good week in our sector!! we finally have someone thats getting baptized!!!!!

so one moring we were looking for some less actives when a random guy kinda approached us (luis) and we started talking to him and he was like i would love to have some friedns like you guys. at this moment elder cowley and i nearly yell 'we are your friends!' after that we started to leanr about his tory and he has had a hard life. his house burnt down 6 months ago, then his parents moved away, THEN they died. and now he live alone in the burnt house........ he lives in the back part thats kinda ok but the mjority of his house is just walls.... BUT sunday moring we went to look for him and he was snoozin (like any good chilean) so we had to throw rocks on his roof lol. but he woke up and came to church! and there we showed him the font and he accepted to be baptized the 4th of febuary!!! and he is really excited for it!!!

and claudia that other great person we found last week committed to get baptized the 28th!!!!! but she didnt come to church..... so we are thinking about runningher date to later febuary or leaving her.

but yea we have a lot more hope for our sector and we are finally getting to know most of the members!

love you guys so much1!!! have a great week!

Week 80

sothis week was a long one, but we really were workingon just finding people and man oh man did we find! people here are super nice so its really easy to get into houses! and we did find some good people that are progressing!

we found a family that had been reciving the missionaries andone of the daughters was baptized but there are still three others that need to be baptized! they are super receptive, but super lazy lol. but we gained a lot of confidence with them as we painted a couch made from paletes for them!

we also found a 12 yo who is super receptive and ws super close to coming to church, but his uncle wasgoing to take them to a city near by.... but we still have a lot of hope for marcelo!

but man oh man it is soooooo hot here in linares! i might come home black! but i love it here and it is really fun trying to save a sector that was well maintained!!

BTW i got sick on new years day..... something i ate did not settle well and sunday i had to stay home from church..... itwasnta pleasant morning, and then in the afternoon wegot permission as a zone to watch disney movies! so i now have seen kung fu panda 3 and inside out! but the huatita is all good!

love you all so much!!! hope you all have a great week!!

Week 79

so yea im in my new sector and i think i have worked a whole like 4 hours this week...... lol we had to do A TON of traveling this week for council of the mission and elder cowley had a leadership training. so yea a ton of time on the bus. but I LOVE my new zone, but yes it is huuuuuge, we are 32 in total.

so i am now comps with elder cowley! its really funny because we do kinda look a like so to chileans we are like literal twins! i also now live with two elder romeros..... one is a big chilean who is probably the funniest person i have met in my life and the other is from the filipines! but its a great house and elder cowley and i are really excited for this next week that we'll actually be able to work! because we werent left anything.... o sea going to be knocking a lot of doors!

and i will not have p day on monday we are taking it today because it'll be more efficient since its new years eve.

but yea im happy and healthy, but just a little stressed with all the changes that happened so fast! but #letsmakelinaresastake! love you all and hope you have a great new year!!!

my branch pres has an im a mormon vid lol https://www.mormon.org/me/bfqg

la paz

Week 78

well.... cambios are here again.... and i am LEAVING........... again. so let me explain.

so elder barson (my comp) will stay and train and then i will be going back to linares.... and my new zone and old zone will be joined together into a like mega zone. and my new comp will be elder cowley from north carolina (the guy i want to room with) and btw it will be a white wash..... and it is not the same branch as where i started. yea that was a big surprise last night!

BUT it was so nice seeing all of you last night! you all look so good! and dad and greg are just so muscially talented! 

but yea as for the sector all is well! i'll probably get permission from pres to come back on the 7th to see the baptisms!

uhh yea! dont have much more to say! just hope you all have a great new year! i'll have to try to find a cool family this week to spend it with! love you all!!!!

Week 77

cannot believe that it is almost christmas! how crazy! just feels like it was a week ago in the office when i was skyping you guys!!

but yea we had a pretty good week! everything went well with zone conference! (pres didnt kill anyone!) but heh gave some very interesting counsel of how we need to just baptize everyone and rush them to be baptised, even if the do inactivate afterwards. very interesting, but it makes sence for this area. 

so with jano and jasmine..... we realized that they have a son..... that was always hiding in his room, and is 8..... so yea he now also is getting baptized on the 7th! his name is alejandro, he's just super she but now we're buddies! and with that familiy we just go over every once in a while to read the BoM with them! its really fun just helping them uinderstand the story and how to apply it to the their lives! 

Irma is all good! she just had a little panic attack when she learned about diezmo because she makes like $15 monthly sellling used clothes. BUT with the spirit anything is possible! she now understand why she has to pay her tithing and she is still super excited for her baptism and wedding! her hubby is still super bitter but said he'll start going to church in january... hay vemos.

we were working with an old dude that is like 80 and who LOVES to bike. his name is miguel. and we invited him to the adult session of district conference to see the choir (he also loves to sing) and man he LOVED the conference! he kept saying stuff like 'that is so true!' so we'll see if we can get him dunked asap!

and then the 12 yo ariel almost go to church this sunday.... but his mom was asleep and he wasnt sure if he had permission...... but he did. but this sunday si o si he's going to be there! and he just has to wait three weeks to be baptized!

but guys i am so excited to see you all this sunday! it is going to be so special!!!! hope you all enjoy this christmas! and drink lots of hot chocolate! love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

peep me and irma with our hotdogs!!!!!!!!!