Hola familia y amigos,
This week has reminded me of the beginning of my mission. I forgot that
here in Santiago during the spring it gets really cold in the morning and then
hot during the afternoon. The houses aren't heated so the temperature inside is
just about what it is outside. Ooh its chilly in the morning!
On Wednesday we got to teach Juan and Maria. They are an older married
couple. Juan is pretty Catholic, and Maria is Catholic but has a lot of
questions about the Church and she wants to learn everything. She has little
time and we can only teach her every other week, but she really wants us to
visit her.
On Thursday, we were able to teach Johana and Felipe Godoy. They are both
recent converts that haven't gone to church in a while. After two years as a
missionary, I still don't understand why people can be so enthused about going to
church and then stop going so rapidly. Retention is a very serious job we have
here in Santiago Norte, and we are hoping that the reactivation of these
converts will help them take the gospel to their friends and family that are not
members.
On Friday, I got to go on an interchange with the assistants. I was with Elder Simmons from Star, Idaho. It was interesting because Elder Simmons is
legally blind, so I had to help him cross the street and make sure that he didn't
run into anything, but he is an amazing missionary that does a great job talking
with the people!
On Saturday, we got to teach Henry again. It was an awesome lesson because
the Stake President lives on the same street as him and the Sake President came
with us! Henry really enjoyed the visit. He doesn't quite feel ready to go to
church because he is just starting to learn about us. He`s relatively shy when
he is around other people, so it is going to be a challenge to help him come to
church.
We also taught all of our Haitian investigators Saturday night. The Haitians are really worked hard here in Chile and taken advantage of. They work
a lot and only have Saturday afternoon and Sunday to rest and do all of their
things, but even like that they let us visit them and teach them the
gospel.
On Sunday, David, Hertz, and Ernest (3 Haitians) and Jaime (a Chilean) came
to church. Jaime is a friend of a member. He stayed the second hour to hear the
classes and he really liked the class. We scheduled an appointment with him for
that night, but he wasn't there...things happen.
We got to teach Valentina and her family. Valentina is a recent convert
here in this sector. Her parents aren't members because her father has a drinking
problem, but he said he really wanted to stop drinking and get baptized, so we
are going to see if he can really stop drinking. Valentina`s father`s name is Mauricio, so we will need some prayers for him.
We also got to teach a new investigator named Robinson. He is Chilean. We
actually contacted his wife the other day, and when we stopped by to see if she
was there, he let us in and heard our message. He was really interested in it,
and he allowed us to visit him again. He had a lot of questions about the Book
of Mormon, so we will see how it goes.
Yesterday, we got to teach a new investigator named Karina. She is from Peru, and she has two little boys that are autisitic. She really wants to know
what she can do to help her boys grow up believing in God and protected from
such a bad world. She accepted our invitation to go to church and bring her kids
to Primary.
We also got to teach Antonio. He is a Peruano from Chimbote. He is doing
really well and he accepted a baptismal date for the end of May. It is really
fun and interesting scheduling a baptismal date knowing that you aren't going to
be there.
Today we cleaned the house and had a huge taco lunch with the other
missionaries from the zone.
I would like to bare my testimony this week about the importance of
scripture study. I know that scripture power is something real. I sang songs
about it in Primary, but now I feel that song of redeeming love inside of me. I
know that if we really study the scriptures like we would study for a finals
exam, we will learn the secrets of heaven and we will feel the Spirit more fully
in our lives.
Love,
Elder Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment