eMail of September 27, 2010

The days here have been cooling down again. Last night the clouds came in and began pouring rain and then went away before we woke up. The rainy season should be over by now. As for how things are with Ruby, this last week she had too much to do. She had to work all week and we didn´t get the opportunity to teach her at all. We are pretty sure that she will get baptized it just might be a few weeks more. This last week we taught a middle-aged man that has had enough with organized religion having seen too many problems and too much hypocrisy. He talks a lot about the problems he sees in the world, but as we began talking about prophets and the restoration, he began to listen more than talk. In the beginning he wouldn´t believe in any religion, but by time we had finished he already began to believe that Joseph Smith could have been a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. He still has a lot more to learn but he is ready and willing. The work has been going well in everything else as well. I feel like we have been able to do exactly what the Lord wants us to. Through His divine direction we blessed many people this last week. it is incredible though how fast we´ve come up on General Conference. I can hardly believe that we are where we are at. I have been able to keep myself focused though. Well, I love you all and hope that everything continues to go well. Have fun!

eMail of September 20, 2010

Time keeps going by more and more quickly. As for Eric I´m sure he with be all right. This last week things have progressed really well in the sector. It was a little difficult to get to teach a lot of people this last week though. Chile on Saturday completed its 200th year as an independant nation. For three days straight everything was closed by law except for a few things and public transport. We ate a lot but didn´t get to teach much. We found a great new this last week too. We had made a contact with someone a while back and we had gone back to talk some more, then their dad came out and told us to come in. He started saying he had a lot of doubts and descrepancies with organized religion. As we began talking he began to learn that we believe just about all the same things. He even brought up the scripture in Genesis that says "let us make man" to say that Christ participated in the creation as well. I have never met someone that knew as much about the gospel as him without being a member of the Church. Nearly all of the things that he didn´t agree with are restored truths. We had set up an appointment with him at the Church on Thursday but he couldn´t go, and so he went to the Church on his own, went in and told the members that he wants to keep studying with us and that he wanted to set up another appointment for another day. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares His children to receive the gospel. Ruby is also close to getting baptised and is ready, she just feels scared still. Well, I love you all and hope that everything continues to go well. Have fun!

eMail of September 13, 2010

First thing first. The food that I want most would be Stroganoff, joes and hamburger rice casserole. Oh and popcorn, kitkats, salt and vinegar chips and cheezits. As for the more important things, we have a lot of investigators, more than I remember having at one time in my mission. There are several that are progressing slowly but others that are doing really well. No one came to Church but we had success in other ways. Today we are hoping for a lot as well. Right now the most promising investigator is Ruby. She will likely be baptised the 26th of this month and I´m excited. She will be of great stregnth to the ward. We had a really interesting experience last night though. We went to a members house as we are teaching the girlfriend of one of the members there and when we got there they had found a mouse in their kitchen. We went to help them chase it out and it ran underneath the fridge. We moved it out and the mouse disappeared for a bit but suddenly it came running out again and the sister smacked it like 20 times with a broom. At that point it was just about dead and my companion took it and finished the job. Exciting few minutes. We also had a mission activity on Thursday. It was for the Chilean independance day, the 18th of September. We talked for a bit and then finished the night watching Hoosiers. It really is a good movie and the principles of teamwork involved have a lot to do with the gospel. On Saturday we had to go in early as well for precaution. The 11th of September is a special memorial day and there tend to be disturbances. But nothing happened and even with the cut in time we had a lot of success this last week. Today we had a fun zone activity as well. As for the time, it has been going by fast. It is difficult to get everything done you need too and time seems to just be cut short always. It is amazing how fast time goes by when one is focused. It is a wierd feeling to know as well that this is my last ward that I will be in. So far I have managed to keep my focus and everything though and I am grateful. From what I´ve seen in other Elders I have noticed that as they get this close to getting home they tend to begin to turn off and just follow their companion around. Anyway, I love you all and hope that everything goes well. Don´t count the time, see you soon! :)

eMail of September 6, 2010

The weeks and months move by very fast. Time is no longer the same as before. When do you two leave for your trip? As for my side of the world, things are going well. We had a lot of success in many areas this last week. We had a great lesson with a family where the Spirit was very strong and hopefully changed their hearts a bit. We received a reference for a new and taught them, we set a baptismal date with Ruby who came to Church, had several investigators come to our English class and one of them came to Church the next day too. Last night we felt like going by a specific less active and when we got there they were there, listened and the Spirit was strong. We also taught several other lessons where the Spirit was abundant. We have been trying to implement new tools to be able to teach the Gospel better and what we did this last week is write down the main, important events and doctrines in each Chapter of the Book of Mormon. It is a very brief outline but it will help to know where to go to teach specific principles. We got to go to the Temple as well and the Spirit was strong there too. I am so grateful to be here in this ward. We have the confidence of the members and everything. And the best part is that I will finish out my mission here with my companion. I have learned a lot with him and hope to learn even more. Well, I love you and pray for your safety often. I hope that everyone has fun in School and that things start off well.