Happiness Comes from Being Obedient!!

                                                                                                                             Jan. 20, 2014
Hola mi familia!!! Thank you for your letters, I am very happy to hear that you are all doing well and surviving the cold weather. I am so grateful that you have started Standards Week and are having so much success. That will be fun to dress up as a missionary, and I know you will have a lot of "contacts" on Friday. Our success comes from the Lord, and we will always have success if we are obedient. It doesn´t matter how bad the day or the week, if we are obedient, we will feel happy because we are serving Him and this is true success. . 

This week was a little crazy! It turns out that the new area I told you about isn't officially ours until we have received  notification of the boundary changes...so I don't think we will be able to work there for a little while. But we are going to find a lot of prepared people this week because they are out there and they are waiting for us!

Valentina came to church on Sunday with her brother, but her mom, Carlina wasn't able to come. But we have a Family Home Evening planned with them tonight at a members home, so this will really help strengthen them. Ramón taught the lesson in Priesthood this past Sunday :) We are so proud of him and his progress. He loves the church and I am sure he will be active his whole life :)  Cristian hasn't been coming to church, please pray for him. He needs the blessings of the gospel in his life. Hector didn´t come to church again. He is still progressing, but he ends up working on Sundays. Please pray that he can stop. José also worked instead of coming to church :( and Emma didn´t come either. We weren´t able to have anyone in church this week, but we know what we will do this coming week to help them progress. Please pray for them, and please also pray for Marcela, she is struggling. Please pray that we will be able to find the families that are prepared to receive the gospel. We don't know where they are, but God does, and He will guide us to them, or them to us, if we are obedient and follow His Spirit.

 

I hope to report next week about all of the miracles we see as we strive to be exactly obedient. It is a struggle, and a day to day challenge, but as we are obedient, we see miracles. Thank you for your prayers. 

 

Okay, funny moments. I can't remember a lot, but we had another dog following us this week. He looks like a wolf, but sadly he only has one eye. I call him the lobo con el ojo azul. the wolf with the blue eye. I don't know whose dog he is, but every time we leave, he is following us. haha hopefully I won't have nightmares. But it is really sad that he only has one eye. Before my mission when everyone told me that Chile is over crowded with dogs, I imagined myself walking through a crowd of dogs haha. It isn't that bad, but the other day I saw about four dogs lounging in the sun in the street, with about 5 feet in between each one of them. Its not like walking through a crowd, but still, its a lot. haha oh well.

 

Yay! Elder Thomas is home--that is so exciting! I know he was a great missionary. I hope to be a great missionary too. I received a letter from him today that he sent in Nov.but it was exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks Wes! 

 

One of the Hermanas that lives with us, finished her mission this week! So exciting, and in our branch, the stake president´s son was set apart on Sunday night. He is going to Brazil! Here, when they set a missionary apart, they invite everyone from the Ward and friends and families, and non members. They give them all time to hug and wish the future missionary a great mission, and then they set him apart in another room with his family. Then, they rejoin the group and have a devotional afterwards. It is really great because a lot of less active young men and young women come and can feel the Spirit. It helps to ignite their desire to serve. I love it! We invited Hector, and he was with the members, and we left early to work. It is such a neat experience. 

 

This week I spoke in Sacrament meeting, about obedience...I wrote about that to the youth too, so I know the Lord wanted me to talk about obedience because it is truly important. It is something I am working on every day as I know all of you are. The mission is hard because we have rules apart from just the commandments, but I know that the Lord helps us to be obedient. Our motive for being obedient should be because we love our Heavenly Father and our Savior. I know that as we love Them and obey Them, the blessings will come and we will be happy. I know that are greatest happiness comes when we are obedient.

 

I invite you all to think about a commandment that is hard for you to keep, and really strive to be obedient to this commandment this week. The Lord will help you, and you will have greater happiness because you are following Him. I love you all! Thank you for everything! Have an amazing week!!! Hasta luego!