BAPTISM!

July 22, 2013

Hey Everyone!

My 3 companions and I had a sweet week this week here in El Salto 1! There was alot of success. I actually had another companion added to our trio Thursday night so we are a foursome companionship temporarily! Elder Ramirez came from the MTC here in Chile because he's waiting for his ticket to Mexico. I got a call from President and he's like....so I'm going to be sending you one more companion for a little while. I was like what?? President's like yep his name is Elder Ramirez and he's from Concepcion Chile. It's actually been sweet because we have been able to do divisions for the past 3 days and have taught a bunch.

Elder Ramirez, Elder Rodriguez, Viviana, Matias, Elder Jenson and Elder Castro

Viviana Poblete got baptized on Sunday!!! She decided to move her baptismal date so that some of her family could be there. Matias baptized her, her 18 year old nephew. She was anxious and nervous at the same time. It was a great step for her to take and actually a historic moment!!! Viviana had 3 years of missionaries teaching her over and over again but never made the decision to get baptized. Viviana finally felt the spirit really strong and said that she knew that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. That was a really cool moment. I'm excited for her and grateful to have been with her as she took that step in her life.

My companions and I had many highlights this week!! Obviously Viviana's baptism. We also taught 19 lessons with a member and 11 other lessons, 9 investigators came to church (I will get to 10!!!!), 6 of our investigators are progressing, and we were able to contact 11 references this week! I'm excited for this week to come because 5 of our investigators have a baptismal date set for Sunday (Luz, Katherine, Esteban, Lissette and Cristian). My companions and I are going to be praying hard for them all this week. We still have to finish a bunch of lesssons with Katherine, Esteban and Lissette so we'll see if that works out. My companions and I have a goal of one baptism this Sunday!

Some of the attributes that I've acquired on my mission are: patience, being able to communicate with other people and express myself, humility, faith, a stronger testimony, prayerful heart, obedience, diligence, being able to plan and organize and many many more!

Bueno, ya que esta es su parte favorita, lo voy a hacer...voy a compartir una experiencia que nos paso justo antes que Viviana se bautizara. Habiamos mis companeros y yo llenado la pila bautismal para que Viviana se pudiera bautizar y el agua estaba tibia pero no muy caliente como necesitaba estar. Viviana nos habia dicho que si o si el agua necesita estar caliente ya que se enferma facilmente. Nos preocupamos mucho. Hablamos con el obispo y el dijo que tenia que buscar algunas llaves para que pudiera abrir la puerta al calefont para regular la temperatura del agua para que saliera mas caliente. Fue a buscar las llaves y no se pudieron encontrar. Andabamos por todos lados intentando entrar el closet y no habia caso. Tuve la idea de poder arrodillarnos como companerismo y hacer una oracion al lado de la pila para que el agua estuviera caliente y Viviana pudiera ser bautizada. Eso es lo que hicimos. Ofreci la oracion y senti que todo iba a estar bien. Salimos para almorzar y despues volvimos para el bautismo a las 4 de la tarde. Entramos y fuimos directos a la pila. El obispo dijo con asombra que no sabia que paso pero que el agua se habia puesto caliente y lista para el bautismo. Le dijo que simplemente hicimos una oracion con mucha fe y nuestro padre celestial habia hecho un milagro. Estaba bien agradecido al Senor por lo que habia hecho y sabia que escucho la oracion que ofrecimos. Otro testimonio de la oracion!!!

That's a sweet story that I'll never forget! Another testimony of prayer! The Lord hears and answers our prayers.


Other Highlights/Thoughts:

El Salto's Bishop's name is Bishop Ariel Rojas

Changes are in a week. 50-50 chance I get transferred. I don't wanna leave this sector!!!!

Thanks for all the support and letters I got this week :)

Tar looks good in glasses. I wear mine when I read sometimes or when I'm writing you an email.

Heard from Coburn this week!

Elder Ramirez, Elder Rodriguez, Elder Castro and Elder Jenson at the Santiago Zoo July 22, 2013

The Santiago Zoo is in our Zone so we went today for P-day. It was a lot of fun. Tons of animals polar bears, hippos, bears, lions, jaguars, tigers, baboons, monkeys, chimps, frogs, snakes, spiders, penguins, and all kinds of birds, flamingos, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, camels and my favorite.... sea lions (and much more!)


Well, know that I'm doing really well!! We're starting to have some success here in El Salto from all the hard work that we've been putting in. I don't have any more time. I had to transfer more videos and pics from companions cameras. There's never any time to write!! Hope you all have a great week!!

Love,

Tan