The Gift We Can Give Him is Our Will

                                                                                                                                Dec. 2, 2013
Hola mi familia!! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!  and for sharing about your wonderful vacation/thanksgiving/birthday celebration!! So fun!!! I have lots to tell you about this week!!!   

First, a very special Feliz Cumpleanos Hermana Valdiviezo - We both celebrate our birthdays this month.

Now a few funny moments!!! This week we were out contacting people on the way to an appt. and there was a girl selling pajaritos. These are like rolls with cream on top. kind of like cinnamon rolls but not quite as good, but since cinnamon rolls don't exist here, they are really good! Well, I asked the girls selling them, Que esta vendiendo? or what are you selling, and she said, pajaritos. So I said, Oh, quiero uno!( I want one) Then I turned to Hermana Amaya and asked, Usted quiere uno? (Do you want one) And she gave me the weirdest look. I thought she was freaking out because I was breaking my diet again haha, but once we had bought them and were eating I asked her why she looked at me like that. Well it is because, pajaro means bird and pajaritos mean little birds and so she thought that I was buying a little bird because I wanted one, and that I had asked her if she wanted one too ha ha. We can't have pets, so she must have thought I was crazy. Well I am.

Then right after that we were walking up a hill and there were some young men walking down the hill with a soccer ball. One of them kicked it down the hill on their way  to play some futbol, and so I started walking toward it to kick it back. They all watched me as I walked up to the ball. I was pretty sure they thought I was going to take it and run, but then I kicked it back to them, perfectly. This little missionary with a skirt that can play futbol haha. One of them turned to his friend and said, mire, ella patea mejor que usted (Look, she kicks better than you) haha I love Chile!!!

Ok, now for the adventures. I love this branch! It struggles sometimes, but the members are amazing!! On Wednesday a member family invited Marcela to a Family Home Evening with us. It was awesome and they are really helping fellowship her. Oh Thursday night, another family invited us and Marcela. We taught a lesson on the Atonement, and then came the refreshments. Well this sweet family wanted to make sure I had a thanksgiving celebration! So they made homemade pizza and had cookies and all the foods I love in order to celebrate thanksgiving. I love them so much! It was a thanksgiving Chile style, very different, but just as amazing!!! Feliz dia de accion de gracias!

On Friday, it was Marcela's birthday. I made here a cake Chillean style! They make cakes really differently here, but they are so good! I will have to make one when I get home. We went to her house and celebrated with her and it was great!

Sadly, she still struggles with word of wisdom challenges. We really need your prayers in her behalf. This is her biggest struggle. She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday either :( but we will see her tonight!) 

Ramon and Maria came to church on Sunday!! Ramon came for 2 hours and then left, and Maria came with us to Sacrament meeting! They still are struggling, but we know they can obtain their goals and we are going to help them!

My companion made sure everyone knew it was my birthday. On Sunday they sang to me in the Relief Society, and a few members gave me gifts! They are so sweet! After lunch I opened your package!!! It is amazing! Thank you so much for all of the little gifts and for the party in a package! We are definitely going to celebrate tonight. We didn't have a lot of time yesterday to celebrate, but we are going to go to a barbeque here with a member whose birthday is today, so we are going to celebrate together!! My birthday was amazing! Thank you for all of your love and the card! I loved all of the candy! 

 

Oh, also, Cristian is preparing to be baptized this Saturday!!! He wasn't able to come to church because his baby boy was born on my birthday!!! haha I have 2 sobrinos born on my birthday! One that is my cute blonde Reuben, and one that is Latino! His mom is from Peru and his dad from Chile haha so cool, but I hope to let you all know about Cristian's baptism next week!! 

We found 5 new people to teach this week!!! Carmen, Karen, Cecilia, Belen, and another Cristian. Please pray for all of them! Karen is our miracle this week! The elders had given us a reference for Carolina, who supposedly lived directly in front of the church. So we went to the place directly in front of the church. It had a few houses so we went around asking for Carolina. A man told us there was a girl named Carolina in a house on top of the hill so we went up there and found out that the Carolina there is 4 years old haha she wasn't the reference, but her mom Karen is so prepared! Please pray for her!! She is out of town this week so we will be teaching her the next week. This week has been amazing!! 

Something I learned better this week is that our Heavenly Father and Savior are owners of everything. The only thing we can give them that they don't have is our will. They will never take away our free agency because they love us so much, so the greatest gift that we can give them is our will. I know that this is true! I love our Savior and our Heavenly Father more than anything! They live and love us! This gospel is the way back to Them. I pray that we will all turn our will over to Them. Love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!!! Thanks for everything!! Hasta luego!

We Must Have Faith and the Desire to Know!!

Hola!! Happy Thanksgiving!!    Disfruta Los Festivos!!                                                Nov. 25, 2013

 

This week was amazing!!! We were going to have the baptism of Marcela on Sat. but it has been postponed for a few weeks. It is okay, she has stopped smoking, and is following all of the commitments and we weren't sure if she was going to come to church on Sunday, but she came!!!! She is so amazing! Thank you for your prayers in her behalf! She is doing so well.

 

Ramon and Maria were struggling a bit, but we had a good lesson with them this week and they both came to church! Our miracle for this week was Cristian. He is 21 and we met his wife, Yesenia, one day contacting. She is a member from Peru, and they were living in Santiago together with plans to get married. They are expecting a baby, and he should be born this week! But Cristian was taking the lessons from the missionaries in Santiago and he was going to be baptized on the 10th of November, but his mom. who lives in Frutillares,  wanted to meet his bride before they got married, so they came here. And they got married about 5 days before we met them, and they are going to stay here for some time because Yesenia will have her baby soon. So, he is all ready for baptism, and has a date for the 7th of December.What a miracle their family is! Ramon and Maria have a date for the 14th of December, and Marcela either the 7th or the 14th. We couldn't visit Camila but hope to help here prepared for baptism and have a date. Please pray for them that everything will go well. Our biggest challenge is finding new people to teach, we are going to work more with the members this week. They are the key to strengthening the kingdom of God because they have new converts, less actives, and they help find new people to teach. Without them, and without the Lord, we as missionaries can't do anything. I am excited for this week, and the miracles we will see and the challenges we will conquer! 

 

Today is going to be an awesome day! It was Hermana Valdiviezos birthday yesterday, so we are going to heart attack her door, and then we are going with the other sisters to eat lunch with a member who is making pizza for us. and then we are going with Hermana Valdiviezo to the house of another member to learn how to make queques or cakecays is how they pronounce it. It is like muffins/cupcakes. I am so excited! This past week I got sunburned a little on my neck haha and then I started peeling and that wasn't funny haha. It's okay, I now use sunscreen. My goal is to look like a native Chilean. We will see at Christmas! 

 

This week was so awesome! I learned so much, and I love improving. It was hard, but we saw the miracles of the Lord as we had 4 investigators come to church. Last week we had 0, so the Lord is really blessing us. I want to be a perfect missionary and so every week I strive to be better. This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon, the story of Ammon and Aaron teaching the Lamanites. I am reading in Spanish so I am a little slower, I will try to finish by Christmas too! But anyway, I love this story because it shows what a truly prepared investigator is like. 

 

Hermana Amayas favorite scriptures is in Ch. 22, vs. 18 which says: God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God, and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day...This scripture is the prayer that King Lamonis father offers in order to know God. He had such faith in his prayer, that although he wasn't sure if God existed, he was willing to repent of all of his sins, and give everything in order to know God. This is how those who are prepared will be. They will have this faith and this desire. This king wanted to kill Ammon at first, he wasn't receptive, but as Ammon and Aaron continued to share their examples and testimonies, the Lord changed his heart. Our investigator Marcela had a similar experience. She shared with missionaries for years, but always said that she would never get baptized. One day she prayed with real intent, and she felt like she should get baptized. The Lord changed her too! These are miracles of the Lord, this is His work, and His glory. We must share with everyone because He knows who is prepared, and who will become prepared, and we are instruments in His hands to find them, and help them.

 

I love you all so much and I am so proud of all of you! I hope you have an amazing week and just know how special you are!! Love you!! Hasta luego!

Celebrating Thanksgiving in my Heart!!

                                                                                                                               Nov. 18, 2013

Hola mi familia!!! Thank you so much for the letters, I am so happy to know that you are all safe and sound, and are doing so well!! It is amazing to see the blessings you are receiving! I am so grateful to read about the miracles you are experiencing. I am grateful for these miracles from our Heavenly Father, and for the opportunity to serve as His missionary. I am grateful for everything in my life, and especially for the gospel that I have to share with others.

 

Yesterday we experienced a miracle as we taught a man who is really prepared to receive the gospel and has a ton of questions! He wants to come to know his Heavenly Father better. The Spirit really guided us to teach him, and to know what to say. As we were leaving I was so grateful for the experience and was thinking to myself how blessed we are to have the gospel and how blessed I am to have learned about our Heavenly Father my whole life, and to know that He is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Savior! I am so grateful to be able to help others learn the same! 

Guess what? Thanksgiving doesn't exist here!!!! It only exists in the United States :( but I will be celebrating it in my heart this year and thinking of all of the things for which I am grateful. It is probably best that I will miss out on the food, so that I can lose a little weight. The lunches are so large here--it's like eating Thanksgiving dinner every day. 

 

This week has been great! We worked really hard, trying to talk with everyone about the gospel. And we are trying really hard to work with the members. They are inviting friends to Family Home Evening, or Noche de Hogar! We are really excited for this week.

 

Ramón and María didn´t come to church this week :( They are working on keeping the commandments and need more time to prepare, but we are going to help them! Marcela wasn´t able to come either, but she has been going to church every week for a while, and so she is still preparing to be baptized this Saturday!! She is working to stop smoking. She needed to stop smoking by last Sat. but we don´t know if she did yet, because we couldnt get ahold of her by phone for a little, but we will find out tonight if she will be baptized this week! We are so excited for her and the change of heart we have witnessed that Heavenly Father has given her. We were also able to visit Camila this week. Great news!!! She is still so golden. She was going to go to church with us about 4 weeks ago, and for some reason wasn´t there. We knew that she got really sick later, but she told us that she had to drop her sister off on that Sunday, and then she was going to come to church, but she had had a cold and then her ear started bleeding, and they had to rush to the hospital. She was transferred to another hospital because her illness could turn into Meningitis. and she was in that hospital for 3 weeks and had barely returned when we visited her. While in the hospital we sent elders to give her a blessing. She was able to go home shortly after. But she lost the hearing in one ear completely, and her other ear works, but not very well. Because it affected her ears, which also control balance and coordination, she is really weak and can´t leave her house, can´t read or watch tv, cant stand for very long, cant study. BUT HER FAITH IS AMAZING!!!!!!! she told us that she knows this is just a trial and that she will become better through it, and she prays that Heavenly Father will heal her. We know that He will in His time. She still wants to be baptized, and loves learning but it is hard for her to hear. I know that the Spirit helps her to be able to understand. She is amazing! Please pray for here. It is a priviledge to teach her the gospel, and I hope I get to witness her healing and her baptism.

 

This week we visited Valeska, who I know really wants to take the lessons but she doesn´t want to be confused between two religions, and her husband doesn´t like that we are teaching, so she asked that we not come back, but we invited her to pray. Someday she will be prepared to receive the gospel. The same thing happened with another woman, Rosa, whose husband doesnt like religion and was upset, so she won't listen to us. In both situations we just testified and I know that they felt the Spirit, because the Spirit guided us in what to say. We were unable to meet with Carlina, Carolina, and Aura. Aura is nowhere to be found. I think she returned to Satioago and we hope that she finds the missionaries and the church there. We taught Patricia this week about the Restauration! She understood everything and just needs to pray to know the truth! She is so amazing! We will teach her again this week!  This past week we found some new investigators, and we are excited to teach Jose and Juan who are super prepared! Please pray for them, I will let you know next week what happens. 

 

This week has been wonderful and I am so grateful for everyday in the mission! This is the true church of Jesus Christ!!! I learned this week that as missionaries, we can talk with everyone about the gospel, and we can find people to teach, but we are going to find so many more when we work with the members. And these people will be baptized and remain active because they have their friends who are faithful and active members! I invite each of you to follow the invitation of an Apostle of the Lord. Elder Ballard invited each member to share the gospel with one friend before Christmas. Time is running out!!!! This is an invitation directly from the Lord. He will bless you to be able to follow His invitation and know who is ready to receive the gospel. This mighty work of the Lord must go forth! We need to make missionary work an important part of our lives! Everyone needs the opportunity to hear the truth! I love you all! Thank you for your testimonies and your prayers! I hope you have an amazing week! Love you all!!!! Hasta Luego!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Harris

I Love Training!!!

                                                                                                                             Nov. 11, 2013

Hola! Hola! Hola!!! how was everyone´s week? I can´t wait to hear from you all!

 

This week has been quite an adventure for me! On Tuesday I went to Concepción to pick up my new companion (or daughter/hija as we say in the mission when we train a new missionary) I had no idea who was going to be my companion and I was super anxious to find out! I was kind of hoping I would be able to train a gringa so that I could help her learn Spanish. But then I remembered how hard that was for Hermana Call when I couldn´t contribute a lot in the lessons and she had to be in charge of everything. The Lord really blessed me and He knows what is best!

 

My hija is Hermana Amaya! She is from Argentina so I am working on my accent so I can speak Argentinian and Chilean. She has 4 siblings like me! And she is incredible! It´s like I don´t even have to do anything because she already is so prepared! I still love teaching her everything I know. She learns so quickly, teaches with the Spirit, and is not afraid to talk to anyone! This week has been fantastic and every week will just get better! I have some pictures that I will send. She teaches me so much every day too--I love it! 

Our investigators are doing well, but we had to change the date for Ramon and Maria´s baptism. They are now preparing to be baptized on the 23rd of Nov. Please pray for them! They need the gospel so much! Ramon is working really hard to quit smoking. They were both unable to come to church yesterday, and then really need to come! I only pray that we can teach them everything and help them be prepared to take this important step in their lives. We saw miracles with Marcela this week! She completely changed and wants to be baptized!! She said the prayer for the first time during the lesson, and is now listening, understanding, and progressing! She is so awesome! She is preparing also for the 23rd! Please pray for them!!!  Sadly, we haven´t been able to visit Valeska, Nataly, Carolina, Carlina, and Aura. They weren´t their whenever we went. But remember Camila? She was in the hospital for 3 weeks, and is now home. We are going to visit her today and see how she is doing! She was so prepared before, and I hope she still is. We found  some new investigators this week, but this is our biggest challenge. We are being diligent in speaking with everyone so I know we will be blessed, but please pray that we can find those that are prepared, the escogidos! We know that there are 10 waiting everyone week, but we just need to find them! We can do it only with the Lord´s help and our obedience and faith. Thank you for all of your prayers! 

 

This week I really learned about diligence. All I  want to do is be perfectly diligent and obedient because I love our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to help these people come unto them. We must give everyone the opportunity to hear the restored gospel and choose for themselves. This week as we worked with the members, we shared the verses from Joseph Smith History, 16 and 17, in which the prophet Joseph Smith shares how he was liberated from the enemy and the darkness, when our Heavenly Father and our Savior came to restored the light and truth to the world.  As members we all have testimonies of this miraculous event that changed the world. The Savior restored His church! He gave us the light again. Because of this, we will never be in darkness. Sometimes, we may feel like we are in the darkness, but that is a lie. That is what the enemy wants us to think. With the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have all the light we need to defeat the darkness and never live in it. We may have trials, but we can overcome them with the help and light of our Savior.

I have a strong testimony of this, because I have felt like I was in the darkness before. I know the adversary was working really hard, but as I came to the Savior, I received the light and strength that I needed to be victorious!

 

This week in preach my gospel, my companion and I were reading about the Book of Mormon. There was an invitation to us as missionaries to always reread the Book of Mormon, and pray about it again and again to receive another witness from our Heavenly Father about its truthfulness. This caught my attention because I always read the Book of Mormon, but I never pray to ask for another witness. It never crossed my mind to do this! But as I thought about it, this is what we all need to do! We have received a witness, we know of its truthfulness, but the adversary is always trying to attack our testimonies, destroy what we know, and make us forget the experiences the Lord has given us to confirm the truth. When we feel the adversary´s efforts, the first thing we should do is ask for our Heavenly Father´s help to strengthen our testimonies. He wants us to be strong, He will give us another witness! And each time that we humble ourselves and He gives us another witness, His light will be renewed in our lives, and we will conquer the darkness. The darkness is no match for His light. His light is more powerful than anything. He will give it to us as we do our part to seek it, and we will triumph with Him and His glory! I invite each of you who have not read the Book of Mormon yet, to read it, ponder it, and pray about it. You will receive the light of our Savior as He tells you it is true. For those of us who have already received His witness, I invite you to read and pray about it again. He will give us more light, the light that we need to remain strong.

 

I love you! I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that the love and light that He gives us is the most powerful and wonderful thing we can experience! I love you all!!! Have a fantastic week! Hasta luego!!

"Trick or Treat!!"

                                                                                                                                     Nov.4, 2013
Hola mi familia! I was so excited to read all of your letters and to know that you are all doing fabulous! I am doing amazing as well because this week was incredible! I have so much to tell you! But it all starts with TRICK OR TREAT!

I had many experiences this week in which none of them were tricks, I have only had treats! Last Monday we received news that we would be having mini missionaries come to stay with us for 4 days. Mini missionaries are youth from a different stake that come for some time to serve as missionaries. They are literally missionaries without their official call, but they do everything that missionaries do in order to learn. So Hermana Valdiviezo and I split up and we were each with a mini missionary. I was with Hermana París, who already has her call and will be leaving soon to serve in Peru. I had the amazing opportunity to teach her all that I could about missionary work for 4 days. We saw so many miracles as we found new investigators to teach and truly lifted others by bringing them unto Christ. I think our biggest miracle was Patricia, who is now a new investigator. She was a contact before, and never answered the door when we went again, even though she was home one time and we knew it haha. But this time with Hermana París she did answer. She desperately needed to feel the love of God and we were able to testify how special she is to her Heavenly Father. The Spirit was so strong and we could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for her as His daughter! It was amazing! We continued to see miracles the whole 4 weeks, and I learned so much! I hope that Hna. París did too! She reminded me so much of myself when I first started, and I was so grateful and amazed to see how the Lord has qualified me to do His sacred work. It was such a treat! We were together for Halloween and yes, the children do go trick or treating, but not as many go as in the states. I bought a lot of candy and we were able to speak with a lot of people as we gave out the candy to the children! Best idea for contacts ever!!! haha but it was so fun!

 

Maria/Noelia are still progressing, but there are always trials when people are preparing for baptism. Please continue to pray for them and for Marcela and their individual trials! 

 

Thanks for all of you prayers. We have a lot of new investigators too. Please pray for Carlina, Mariaelena, Patricia, Valeska, Nataly, Carolina, and Aura. We found them all this week!! I will let you know how they progress as we continue to teach them! Especially pray for Aura because she is passing through some really big trials and is preparing for baptism the 24th of Nov. but she needs Heavenly Father´s help so much! Thank you Thank you! 

 Ok, now for the big finale of treats this week. We found out the transfers this morning, that will take place tomorrow. I wanted to be with Hermana Valdiviezo for another transfer because we are the best of friends, but the Lord has another plan for me. Hermana Valdiviezo will be opening a new area and so she will have a new companion and won´t be too far away! We will be in the same zone which will be so fun! I will be staying here in Frutillares and....drumroll please!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I will be training a brand new missionary!!!!

 

 I am so excited for this opportunity that the Lord has given me! I am scared out of my mind, but I know the Lord will qualify me so that I can handle this responsibility. It will be hard, but it will be so worth it. Yay, I'm going to have my first daughter. That's what they say here in the mission! When we start our mission, we are born in our first area and our trainer is our mom. Well I get to be a mom now, and train my first hija (daughter) I am truly excited, and I can´t wait to let you all know what she is like. I won´t meet her until tomorrow!

 Ahhh so many changes, and so many treats this week! I have learned so much. I know that this is our Savior´s and our Heavenly Father´s greatest work and that They work through us! They will qualify us for every calling that They give us. We can do everything when we walk with Them. I testify that They live! And that they love us!

 

Thank you for all of you prayers! I love everything about my mission, and I am so proud of each of you and the missionaries that you are! I hope you have a fantastic week and remember how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love you!!
Hasta luego!!!

 

Happy Halloween!!

                                                                                                                                      Oct. 28, 2013
Hola mi familia maravillosa!!!!!! Cómo están? Están animados por Halloween? They don´t celebrate Halloween here like they do in the united states. They have the day off because it is an evangelical holiday that is completely separate from Halloween. I think they might still trick or treat a little bit here in Chile, but I will have to verify that and let you know next week.

Hermana Valdiviezo and i are going to be frutillas for halloween! This means strawberries haha. The reason we are going to be frutillas is because in the beginning of our time here in Frutillares we bought some frutillas and when handing them to my companion, I accidentally said, "Here are your frutillares!" She laughed so hard. I hate making mistakes in speaking spanish haha. Also, when we have our weekly district meetings, each companionship presents there numbers and in the end they say, "and we are...and then the name of their sector. For example, we always say, "and we are Frutillares." But this week for halloween, we are going to say, "and we are Frutillas!" haah it is going to be a fun week! I hope you are all doing well! This week was crazy, I think every week is crazy, but crazy is a good thing. 

Let me give you the update on our investigators. Marcela wasn´t baptized this week, but we were able to understand her needs better and we will continue to help her progress towards baptism. She is smoking less and learning a lot! Maria/Noelia (she likes them both, i prefer maria!) and Rámon are doing great! He wants to be baptized too, and they want to get baptized on the same day, so they are preparing for the 16th of November! We are so excited for them! They loved going to church yesterday, and today we are going to have a family home evening with them and a few member families. It is going to be awesome!! We also called Camila and she answered. she got really sick, and was in the hospital here in Tome and then was transferred to a better hospital in Talcahuano. she has been in the hospital for 3 weeks and we didn´t even know, thats why she never answered the door, or her phone. We sent the elders to give her a blessing, and we hope and pray that they did so. She had a horrible illness and can´t hear out of one ear now. Please pray for her recovery! We hope she returns home soon so that we can visit her. We found a family yesterday! Alicia and Miguel both accepted the invitation to be baptized and are praying about the 23rd. I will let you know how they are doing. They are great and we are excited to keep teaching them. We continue to find a few people, but we have a goal to find 10 each week, because that is the key indicator, and that is the number of people the Lord has prepared each week. We are only going to find them if we follow the Spirit, and are diligent in speaking with everyone. This is the goal, and it is hard sometimes, but we are called to do it. That is what I will be doing this week, and I hope to write next week about all of the miracles we see as we are faithful and diligent. Thank you for all of your prayers in behalf of us and our investigators. They mean so much to us as the Lord always answers them and helps us, and our investigators. Our investigators are so precious to us and to the Lord. We know that they need this gospel and the blessings it brings. Thank you, thank you! 

 

This week we had interviews with President, and it really helped me in so many ways. Before the interviews we took turns sharing our testimonies about why we are in the mission. As I was able to remember the why, I felt so much better. All desánimo left, as I remembered that I am here to help others come unto Christ because I love Him and I love them. I want them to receive the happiness that I have received from following Him. He is everything, and will help us in all. Without His help, I am nothing and I can´t do anything. but with Him, i can do everything! And i want to help others realize this as well! He is the Savior of the World and will always help us as we come unto Him! We can come closer to Him by studying His life and gospel to increase our faith, and by being obedient to His commandments. I promise that as we do these things we will see a difference in our lives. We will be so happy! Only He can give us peace and happiness. This week I want to give you all the challenge to remember. Remember the spiritual experiences. If you are passing through a trial, remember the strength He gave you to overcome other trials, He will do the same. Remember the warmth His love. Remember to take time to feel the love He has for you. He lives, and He wants you to remember, and to remember always. I love you all! I hope you have a great week, and that you have a ton of fun adventures, but that you take time to remember and come closer to Christ, and help others do the same. Love you!!! Hasta luego!

We must have hope in order to have the Spirit!!

                                                                                                                                           Oct. 21, 2013
Hola mi familia y todos!!! Graciás por sus cartas ésta seaman!

On Wednesday I received an amazing package of letters from Sister Mueller and the Young Women in the ward! It was exactly what I needed this day, and I am so grateful for each of them and the love that I felt as I read their sweet letters. Thank you so much!!!! I hope to respond more in individual letters that will be sent in the mail a little later.

This week was quite crazy!! Let´s begin with the funny moments. Well, my black boots are absolutely dead ( I will try to fix them) but last night as we were walking my zipper on one of my boots completely broke, and I had to walk with my boot open all the way. I don´t know if you can imagine it. I will try to send a picture next week, but it was just a little bit embarrassing. My companion and I were laughing the whole way to our next lesson. Good thing our investigators didn´t seem to mind.  

Speaking of investigators! Remember how I told you that we are teaching Maria (she told us she likes to go by Noelia, so from now on i will be calling her Noelia). Well, she is progressing perfectly! She came to church yesterday, even though it was raining and not many members came. She is preparing to be baptized the 9th of Noviembre because she really wants to change her life around. Her husband has been baptized 3 times in other churches and we tried to explain why he it is important to be baptized in this church, but we might have to re-explain that again. But last night we had a lesson with both of them, and he said that they want to be married in our church. We haven´t explained about temples yet, but we are excited to teach them about that tonight, and even more excited that he has this desire because baptism is a necessary step to achieve it! :) We are still teaching Marcela who is preparing to be baptized this week. It is still not for sure, but we have faith that the Lord can help her be prepared, and so we will do our part so that we can witness the miracles of the Lord. Josue came to church, but is only progressing a little, and his daughter Nicole still hasn´t come to church, but we won´t lose faith. We never were able to teach Daniela. She didn´t answer the door again :( But we went to contact Camila, and it turns out that she has been sick for a while. We hope to start teaching her more this week! I will let you know how it goes. 

 

This week was really hard for us. We didn´t find anyone new to teach, and I think it was because we were desanimadas in the beginning of the week. Last night we talked to our district leader about it, and he said something I really like. He said being desanimada is the same as being without the Spirit. This not only applies for missionary work, but for life in general. If we are sad, and we lose the hope, this is the same as losing the Spirit. I know that this is true and that no matter what trial comes, all we need to do is turn to the Savior. He will carry us! He is the answer, and he will give us the strength and the excitement and the energy we need to get going, and we will have His Spirit to be with us! I learned a great lesson this week and I am so grateful for everything I learn in the mission! 

 

The other thing I learned this week is that when we as missionaries visit investigators without members, we are only doing daño, or harm. This is because our investigators only become attached to us, and don´t have a social conversion as well as a spiritual conversion. Then when the missionaries leave, they don´t remain active because their only friends at church were the missionaries. We see this all day everyday. Because of this there are so many less actives that were baptized and then stopped going to church. The key is to visit the investigators with members ALWAYS!!!! but this is super hard if the members can´t go with us, or they cancel. We need to work together as missionaries and members! The Lord´s work can only progress if we do what he has asked us! Mom shared that you are praying about who you can invite to learn about the gospel!! I am so proud of all of you for doing this!!! You are following the prophets and apostles who gave the invitation to each member to invite a friend to learn about the gospel before Christmas! If everyone does this, think about how the Lord´s work will progress! Also, you can tell the missionaries that you would like to go with them to teach investigators! If they have an investigator that they need to visit, you can help them by being a friend to that investigator and inviting them to come to church and the activities WITH YOU!!!!! I know that part of the blessings of serving a mission is that have learned how to be an amazing MEMBER of the Lord´s church! I have learned how to share the gospel with my friends! I have learned that I want to always help the missionaries, and if they ask me to help them teach a lesson, i want to drop everything i am doing, and go with them. This is the Lord´s work! It is the most important work!!!!!! there is nothing in the world more important!

 

My challenge to everyone this week is to think of a friend that they can invite to a Family Home Evening with the missionaries, or offer to teach with the missionaries! Will you do it! I know as you follow the invitation of the prophets today and each of you invite one person, you will see a difference in your lives. You will see the blessings come.! This is the Lord´s work! He is with us, He will help us know what to say to our friends, and who we should talk to! Thank you for everything you do to help the Lord´s work! I love you all!! Have a great week! And remember to choose Ánimo and Good work, instead of daño and desánimo! Love you!!!!