Tuesday, August 28, 2012

"God Puts People In Your Path That Are Ready and Prepared!"




Hey family and friends!





Elder Weigel and I discussing our weeks "logros" (achievements) In Renca




Elder Weigel and I had a busy week full of "logros"!

logros por la semana..
investigadores con fecha bautismal 6 (maria, hernardo, yoselin, javiera, victor, guillermo)
investigadores que asisten a la reunion sacramental 3 (juani, victor, amauri)
lecciones ensenadas a los investigadores con un miembro presente 11
otras lecciones que ensenaron 9
investigadores que estan progresando 1 (que tiene fecha bautismal y asiste a la reunion sacramental)
referencias recibidas 2
ref contactadas 3
nuevos investigadores 10
lecciones ensenadas a conversos recientes y a miembros menos activos 4
contactos (hablando con la gente en la calle o tocando puertas) 100

First, I will answer a few questions..


Each missionary gets 100 mil pesos at the first of every month which is about 200 dollars US
 
Chilean "Paper" Peso money
 
 
Chilean "Coin" Peso Money
 
 


The Chilean peso serves as the national currency for the Republic of Chile, a South American country with other peso using neighboring countries like Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. The other countries that have been using peso as their currency unit are Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba and Philippines. Chile has been using this currency unit since 1851 but the current circulating new peso was made the official currency in 1975 when it replaced Chilean escudo. It is depicted with the dollar sign - "quot; and according to ISO 4217 regulation, the currency code for Chilean peso is CLP and the numeric code is 152.

*The average exchange rate of the Chilean peso to the U.S dollar was 1 U.S. dollar to 497.09 Chilean pesos in May 2012.

We pay Hna Pino 3 mil between Elder Weigel and myself every time she does our laundry which equals out to 6 mil every month or 12 US dollars (she irons all of our shirts too! it's so nice!)

Thank-yo so much for all of the letters that you all have been sending me! It's been so great to read about all of the fun things that you're all doing! I don't have time to respond to every one, but just thank-you all! I received 24 dear elders this last week at our District meeting and all of the Elders were in awe....I was in HEAVEN! Thank-you so much!!!



*Our family was in HEAVEN as well this week! Taylor was the first to receive a handwritten letter home from Elder Jenson yesterday!

So, I'm going to talk about all of my investigators this week....

Maria= We have taught Maria every lesson that we have to before baptism. We only need to teach her a few commandments like tithing, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and honoring the law. Elder Weigel and I taught all of the tougher commandments this week to Maria like Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. She didn't have any problems with them whatsoever. Maria is so awesome (she's about 60 yrs old). She's so cute (haha)! As soon as Elder Weigel and I got done teaching her the Word of Wisdom, we asked her if she would live the Word of Wisdom (she only had a problem with tea) and she was like, "Oh ya, no problem! I don't even have any tea in my house right now and I'm not going to buy any more". Her excitement about the gospel is "through the roof" after having bounced back from the little problem that we had with her boyfriend a week ago. Maria's baptism is set for this Sunday, the 2nd!!!!!!!!!! I can't even wait for it. I'm really praying that she makes it to the baptism date and gets baptized!

Hernardo, Yoselin, and Javiera (the daughter)= This family has been a little bit harder to work with. It's really hard because Hernardo has been reading and praying and knows that this Church is true, but Yoselin, the wife, is really stubborn. If it wasn't for Yoselin being so stubborn, they would have attended Church yesterday. I need to have faith that Heavenly Father will work the miracle necessary for them to come to church and experience the joy that I'm experiencing!

Victor= It's so hard to teach Victor because he works from 10am to 10pm every single week day and his schedule changes during the weekend. Yesterday was the first time that Victor was able to come to Church. He had a great experience. I sat right next to him and explained everything. We sang together, I explained the sacrament to him and the renewing of the baptisimal covenants that we make (I told him that WHEN he gets baptized, he will be able to partake of the Sacrament and that it will have a deeper meaning for him personally), listened to the talks, and closed. I couldn't help but smile the whole time just in pure joy seeing my Investigators come to church and the blessings of success that my Father in Heaven has given and blessed me with.

Amauri= Still hasn't found a job. We're working really hard and doing the best Elder Weigel and I know how to, to find  Amauri a job so that he can renew his residency here in Chile and get married to Claudia (an inactive member, but is reactivating herself and coming to church a lot!). before he can get baptized.  We have taught Amauri the first three lessons and a few of the commandments. The next step is to talk about the Word of Wisdom and Chastity. Amauri said that he really felt the Spirit yesterday and that he loved Church! Wow.. lots of miracles happening, thats for sure.

Guillermo= Guillermo is really progressing. We've taught him the first three lessons and a few commandments like the Word of Wisdom, prayer, and the importance of reading the scriptures. Guillermo  is really trying hard to stop smoking and has the desire to do so. It's hard for him since everyone that he works with smokes. Guillermo has stopped smoking a lot in the past few weeks and is down to about 2 cigars a day. He just needs to finish it off! Guillermo knows he needs to get baptized. We're working really hard with him to be able to do so.

Juani= This is the miracle that I was going to talk to you about last time I emailed home and ran out of time. This miracle happened on Sunday, the 19th. So, Elder Weigel and I had just finished with our lunch appointment and we were walking back home and Juani sees us and starts to approach us. Juani says,"What church are you guys from? "Umm the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". "Oh, cuz I went to Mexico a few weeks ago and I went to this Christian Church there and I loved it. Is that your church?" "Umm, well we are a Christian Church, but there are tons of those." "Oh, well where do you guys gather together for your meetings? " In a chapel on the street Miraflores.""Oh, what do you do there?" (I gave her the details of what we do) and then said, "Your absolutely welcome to come to church with us this Sunday!"" Wowwwww. Well, I work every day except Saturday and Sunday and I go to church on Sundays, whether it's with you guys I don't know, but I just really want to become closer to God and learn more and more about the Bible!" "That's so great!" "What's that book you have in your hand?" " It's the Book of Mormon! It's another sacred book of scripture written here in the Americas just like the Bible was writen by people in Jeruselem and the surrounding areas there!" "Wowww, can I see it??" ( Juani then flipped through it). "Is this your holy book of scripture then?" "Well, we believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and combining them both, we believe that it contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel!" "Wowwww, God sent me here!!" (she said that like 3 times!) "Well, can we visit with you sometime this week and talk more about the church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon??" "YA!!" This was literally the coolest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life! Definitely strengthened my testimony that people are really prepared for you and that God puts people in your path that are ready and prepared to receive the restored gospel. This past Wednesday, Elder Weigel and I met with Juani for the first time and we taught her about the Restoration of the Church. She loved it! We left her the intro to the Book of Mormon to read so she could gain a better understanding of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Juani came to church with us yesterday and Hna Pati was really helpful in taking her around to all of the classes and explaining to her what happened in Sacrament meeting etc. Juani told Hna Pati that she loved it! This was such good news. Elder Weigel and I have another appointment with her this Wednesday at 9pm (Our schedule is 1 hour later in Chile. We wake up at 730am and go to bed at 1130pm). Elder Weigel and I are going to watch the movie, The Restoration with Juani and then after, our plan is to ponerle con una fecha bautismal :)

Those are our Investigators that are progressing the most right now. I just want to finish by talking a little bit more about my feelings at church yesterday. As Elder Weigel and I were waiting for our Investigators to show up for Sacrament meeting, I saw Amauri and Victor and Claudia walk in and we shook their hands and that put a huge smile on my face... then I see Juan Carlos Rivas walk in (inactive for the last 20 yrs, left the church when he was 18 yrs old.. we've been visiting him and helping him reactivate himself) and that made me smile even bigger. I was filled with the Spirit and full of love for my Investigators and was so glad that they decided that it was right to come to Church. We had a great Sacrament meeting and I felt the Spirit really strong despite all of the screaming from all of the little kids! I'm really loving the work! Even when its really hard and you're tired of walking all over the place and don't feel like you have any energy left, it makes it all worth it seeing your Investigators come to Church. The Spanish is coming along little by little. The Chileans are just so hard to understand!!

There's not mail service in Renca. I have to go downtown to Santiago every single time I want to mail something home... huge pain.
 
Taylor was the first one to receive a handwritten letter from Elder Jenson!
 
For our District Activity this week we went BOWLING! Yes, There's bowling in Chile!
 
Japimax Bowling is about 45 minutes from Renca
 
 
Will it be a STRIKE for Elder Jenson?
 
 
Elder Jenson takes home the VICTORY with a 120!
 
 
Elder Jenson's Renca District :Front: Elder Perez, (L Center): Elder Holland, (R Center): Elder Barnes, Elder Weigel and Elder Jenson and Elder Gunther in the back.
 
 

We've only been downtown once. The next time I have the opportunity to go downtown I will mail home the sd card with the pics. These next two weeks I can't go downtown because the first week is mandatory cleaning day for the mission and the second is transfers. We'll see! I really want to stay here in Renca. Our hard work and success is just starting to show.  Elder Weigel and I have so many Investigators that have a good chance to get baptized this next transfer!!

Ok, my time is up. I hope that you like the pictures and email! Have a good week! Much love...

Love,
Tan

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