"I LOVE BEING IN THE FIELD!"

April 1, 2013

Hey All!!

Elder Jenson and the Zone Zapadores celebrating their Norm de Excellence on April 1, 2013 by playing basketball and soccer while the Zone Leaders made a breakfast of pancakes, juice, eggs, ham and toast. "It was really fun and a nice break from a long week!"

This week was greeted with a nice surprise...Elder Weigel (my trainer when I first arrived in Chile) is in my District!

President Essig, Elder Jenson, Elder Weigel and Sister Essig

 



It was great to see him again and know that he's doing well. Elder Weigel's in a sector called Recoleta Oriente 2 and actually lives in my sector close to where my investigator Sergio lives. I was shocked when I knew that Elder Weigel was going to be in my District. I was a little stunned that I was going to now be Elder Weigel's District Leader. Now there's 12 in the Zapadores Zone instead of 10. Recoleta Oriente got split into two sectors which left my District at 8 including Elder Cambroni and I....BIG district. Here are the names of everyone in my district:

Rec Oriente 1: Elder Bell and Elder Alvarez
Rec Oriente 2: Elder Weigel and Elder Bigelow
Villa Primavera: Hna Alonso and Hna Villota

Logros (Achievements)

Bautismos  0

Confirmaciones  0

Inv con fecha  3

Inv que asisten a la reunion sac  6

Lecciones con miembro  11

Otras lecciones  11

Inv que estan progresando  1

Ref recibidas  3

Ref contactadas  11

Nuevos inv  11

Lecciones a cr ma  5

Contactos  71

MED 456


Elder Cambroni and I had a great week even though we couldn't teach in the night time from 7-10pm on Thursday or Friday (prime time proselyting time!) due to the Chilean holiday called "jovenes combatientes". Basically this is a time when all the flaites run around burning cars, protesting, robbing and doing a bunch of other crazy stuff. Elder Cambroni and I had to be in our house at 7pm both days so we would be safe and not get caught up in all of that. Despite not being able to have a bunch of time in the night to teach, we were able to still teach a bunch of lessons, see a huge miracle and have 6 investigators attend church this week.

President Thomas S. Monson

So, Elder Cambroni and I have been working a lot with la familia Barramuno. Finally, after a lot of work, the husband and daughter decided that they were going to come to church this week. They showed up just as Sacrament was starting. A few youth in the ward gave great talks about the Atonement. When the meeting ended, I asked our investigators if they liked it and what they were thinking. The daughter perked up and said that she loved it and that she wanted to come to church the following week. The dad is really intrigued with General Conference coming up and is really excited to see President Monson, our living prophet. It was reinforced in me once again the importance of getting our investigators to church so they can FEEL of the spirit that is so strong in every church meeting....they will want more and more!

Sergio's doing really well. Just a little waiting time until his baptism. Elder Cambroni and I finished all the commandments this week with him so we will just spend time going through everything all again to make sure he understands it between now and his baptism in May.

Rene and Jessica lost their baptismal dates because they didn't come to church this week. Elder Cambroni and I weren't able to connect with Rene all week and Jessica's husband is not wanting her to participate "with the Mormons". Elder Cambroni and I have some difficulties to overcome for sure.

Elder Cambroni and I are working with a niece (Constanza) of one of the members of the bishopric. She started the missionary lessons about 6 months ago but never finished them. Constanza is 10 years old and attended church this week! We're excited for her and for the potential she has.

Story of the week: As Elder Cambroni and I were walking and looking for people to teach one day, some kids stopped us and wanted us to play soccer with them. We agreed to play with them for a little bit if they agreed to hear a message from us. All 8 kids ages 9-12 agreed and loved our message we shared about the gospel and Jesus Christ. Two of the kids actually came to church this week! We asked them where they lived and will be passing by their family's houses this week:)


Thoughts and Highlights of the week:

1. Because there are so many missionaries in the mission now, the week of transfers we don't get mail anymore...I bet I'll get the Easter package tomorrow! :).....no letters and packages this week due to tranfers.

2. This week in Zone class I taught about preparing investigators for baptism and confirmation. I talked a lot about making sure investigators are ready for baptism. In Chile, at times there are problems with investigators getting baptized and then you never see them again in church. That's horrible and needs to be fixed!

3. Our mission isn't affected with the South mission being created. There continues to be TONS of Sisters arriving in the North mission. Our mission now has 50 Sister missionaries. They're takin over the mission!

4. My favorite food in Chile so far...gotta be the empanadas with shrimp and cheese....soooo good! There's this really sweet place close to our house that has them which we frequent. YESSSSSSSSS (moms way)!

5. Food that I miss from the US...homemade chocolate chip cookies, mountain dew, reeses, good cereals, teriyaki chicken and obviously YUTAKA!

6. This past week on P-Day we went to the mall and I bought myself a Chilean soccer shirt. Never thought I'd actually say this....but soccer is actually pretty fun! (at least when you play with Latinos)

Elder Cambroni and Elder Jenson wearing their Chilean soccer jerseys 

7. I'm in 3 Nephi 29 in my Spanish scriptures....make reading a priority and you'll be so happy.

8. In Chile the big hit around this time of year are the chocolate eggs.

"Semana Santa" or Holy Week was this week in Chile. It's a celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Movies of Jesus Christ play all weekend. Because Jesus died for us and was resurrected, everyone who has ever lived on the earth will be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:20-22): "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Resurrection is a gift freely given to everyone through Jesus Christ. But to return to Heavenly Father, we must follow Christ and His example he gave us in John 14:6- "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me". Because Jesus Christ died for us and was resurrected, everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected. We all can live with Heavenly Father again by doing what Jesus taught us to do and by following His example.

"I LOVE BEING IN THE FIELD!"

Welllllll, the times so short it seems but I'm happy and I hope you all have a great week! Thank-you for your support and love. Hope the cruise was a blast!

Love,

Tan