"CHILE SANTIAGO NORTH MISSION...BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD!"

August 12, 2013

Hey Everyone!!

We had a pretty good week here in Lo Prado 2! The Lord is putting people in our way so that we can find and help them to come to know the message of the restoration of the restored gospel. It's a great feeling knowing that the Lord is blessing Elder Diaz and I and using us as His instruments to bring His children unto Him. Many times after we got to know people or had a great lesson, Elder Diaz and I would just looked at each other in the street walking away thinking to ourselves, "Wow, did that just happen?!" I then have to remind myself that this is the work of our Almightly God and He is always with us wherever we may go. He loves us and watches over us. He always gives us just what we need to become more motivated or excited about the work.

Elder Diaz and I were able to teach a little bit more in Lo Prado 2 this week which was good!! The Lord lead us to His children to teach and there were many uplifting experiences this week. Elder Diaz and I taught 16 lessons this week with 9 of them being with a member. Yesterday was a holiday so no one came to church. We have two investigators with a baptismal date that we were able to find and their names are Flor and Nataly.

Luz Ayala got baptized!!! That was so awesome to see her name in the mission news this week. Elder Rodriguez, Elder Castro and I had found her the first week of our last change. Luz was almost ready to be baptized when I left. I'm so happy she made the decision to get baptized yesterday! Such a great feeling to know that she did. There are still 3 more (Katherine, Ingrid and Lissette) that should be baptized this change in El Salto 1! I'm hoping and praying that all 3 of them make the choice to be baptized and follow through on their committments.

The district here is doing well. The Sisters are always working hard and trying to please the Lord. They all have a sweet spirit about them and its been cool for me to see how they work. This last week there were a few confusions about the rules in this mission compared to the rules for all missionaries in the world so I taught my class on Wednesday on the norms and rules of our specific mission. We all played a game where I had 19 questions about the rules of the mission. We had two teams and they fought to the end to win...haha. We then watched a mormon message that I have about prayer and how this lady prayed that the missionaries would arrive at her doorstep and in hours it happened. I then told my District that the Lord is preparing people just like this lady and that we have to be obedient to our mission rules to receive blessings.

Entonces, tenemos un investigador que se llama Isabel. Ella es una buena investigadora, pero tiene algunas dudas referente al bautismo. Es un poco dificil para ella aceptar que necesita seguir a Jusucristo al bautizarse y seguir en Su iglesia yendo cada domingo. Pasamos a visitarle y Nataly contesto la puerta. Ella dijo que Isabel no estaba. Empezamos a hablar con ella y al final, nos dejo pasar en su casa para ensenarle. Empezamos a hablar de la restauracion y dijo que ya habla escuchado a los misioneros hace un tiempo. Hablamos del Libro de Mormon y senti una impresion de hablar del bautismo con ella y leer in 2 Ne 31: 5, 10-11. Lo leimos y al tiro se dio cuenta que tenia que bautizarse. Fue una experiencia impactante para mi y testificio que realmente no sabemos la voluntad de Dios, solamente tenemos que trabajar en su obra y el resto vendra.

(Translation by Trevor: We have an investigator named Isabel. She is a good investigator but she has some doubts about baptism. It's a little hard for her to accept that she needs to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized and go to church each Sunday. We went by to visit Isabel and Nataly came to the door. She said that Isabel wasn't there. We started to talk to her (Nataly) and finally she let us come in to her house and let us teach her. We started to talk about the Restoration and she told us she had already listened to the missionaries a while ago. We talked about the Book of Mormon and I felt impressed to talk about baptism with her and read in 2 Ne 31: 5, 10-11. We read it and all of a sudden she realized she needed to be baptized. It was a very impactful experience for me and testified to me of the reality that we don't know the will of God and that we just need to do His work and the rest will come.)

Elder Diaz and I also have another investigator named Flor we are working with and found last night. The missionaries had gone by Flor's house about 2 months ago but then never passed by there again. We taught Flor about the Book of Mormon and she understood everything al tiro!! Elder Diaz and I talked about baptism and she said, "Well, I guess if I want to follow Jesus Christ, I have to get baptized!!" Elder Diaz and I were like....YA!!!!!! We're looking forward to teaching Flor this change.


Highlights/Thoughts

Yes, it's true we are on to the 3rd week that Chile is on a mail strike. President Essig said there's not anything being received or mailed to any other place....not sure how long this will last. There's a lot of strikes here in Chile. So, no mail or packages this week :(

Really proud of Skyler Bunch for making the decision to serve a mission!!! Best decision you could've ever made buddy. There's nothin like it. Your testimony is going to grow like none other. You'll be able to see the Lords hand in His work every single day for two years. Nothin better!!!!!

Got USU updates about the team this coming year from Coburn. He says the team will be pretty good when I get back! He said I better get my game in shape cuz we could take conference!!....sounds like we're looking pretty good!!

Thanks Nana and Papa for all you do for me and for doing the research on housing at USU! That was really helpful and meant a lot. Lookin good Papa!

Dad's a stud...loved the pictures of the family at Convention

Looking good Tal and Tar...growin up so fast! Happy you got the pod and teachers you wanted

Elder Diaz and I are gonna sleep today for p-day :)

CHILE SANTIAGO NORTH MISSION......BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD :)


Well, I don't have any more time...hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Tan