So this week has been great! I really didn't realize how much work it takes to run a zone, but now I think I'm getting to know what it's all about.
We've had lots of stuff to do this week, but I think the best is that I got to go back to Canihuante, at least for a little while. What happened was that the Elders from Monte Patria had a baptism, but there they don't have a baptismal font. They asked if they could do it in Ovalle Sur. We said of course. A few hours before the baptism, we started filling up the font, only to realize that the hot water wasn't working. We had to call the person in charge of all of the chapels in Ovalle to come take a lot at the hot water heater. After all that, it was unfixable in that moment, so we went to plan B, which was go to Canihuante, the chapel closest to Ovalle Sur. It ended up working out great. The baptism went great. and we are really happy for that. This Thursday we are going to travel to Viña for the Leadership Council. We are really excited to meet President Romeu. I miss you all!
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So, this week, we got TRANSFERS
In short, my companion and I are BOTH leaving Canihuante. Elder Martinez is going to Valparaiso, and I'm going to Ovalle Sur. Ovalle Sur is another branch in Ovalle. They made that change because I'm going to be the new zone leader of Ovalle. I'm really excited for that! It'll be a different experience, different responsibilities, but I'm ready! Other than that, my companion has to have surgury to remove an ingrown toenail. I do not recommend that to anyone. So basically we can't leave our house. It's been great, I've been able to read a lot and organize teaching records and things like that. It's great, because it'll help the 2 new elders that are going to replace us. We took lots of pictures as a zone, so here they are. So this week was really great. We've been working really hard so that we can have more people come to our open soccer activity, and I think it really paid off. We had more than 20 people there, and we had to make 4 teams so that everyone could play. I really think that they enjoyed it, and I hope that they keep coming.
I think the best part was that we brought our haitian friends, and they made their own team. It was pretty funny to see them play, mostly because they played really well. Whenever they would win they would say things like "Haiti up 1-0". They made everyone laugh. There was one, named Paul, that would call for the ball like he was calling a horse. I thought that was funny. The good thing is that they want to keep playing, so they'll be back this week. And they liked it so much that they came to church this week, and they brought their friends. 6 of our haitian friends came to church. They really liked it, even if they didn't really understand. They want to keep coming to learn more Spanish. And just like that, we found out that another Haitian is attending in the other branch, and he's a member already. He was baptized in Haiti, so he can answer all of their questions. We are so grateful for all of these blessing. Other than that, our week has been pretty great. The next week we'll have transfers, so everyone pray that we stay so we can keep going with our open soccer activity. I miss you all! So, this week it rained for the first time. Here in Ovalle it doesn't rain quite as often as it does in the southern part of the mission, where I was before, so this was one of the few times that we'll have to deal with rain. But even with the rain, we saw lots of miracles this week.
First of all, we went looking for a Haitian named Enoc. We had talked with him a little in the street, and he said that he would like it if we came by, so that's what we did. We went by, and he wasn't there. We asked one of them if Enoc was there, but he didn't know so he went inside to go look for him. While we were waiting outside, a few others told us to come in. So we sat down. The first haitian came down the stairs with another Haitian, and only said, "Enoc." The only problem was that he wasn't Enoc. We more haitians came down and started to talk to us, and between our limited knowledge of french, their limited knowledge of Spanish, a little bit of English, and Google translate, we were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon. It was great, and they wanted us to come back. Also, we went to go find snow today as a zone. It has been raining lately, so we went to go find snow. And we found snow. It was pretty great, because I hadn't seen snow for a long time. I was reminded that snow is cold, and wet. But it was fun. I hope you all are having a great time. It was a really great week.
We had our last zone conferene with President and Hermana Diaz. It was really great, but at the same time really sad because they are leaving. I'm really grateful for all that they did. They have really made a difference in me. So I was a little sick this week, but nothing really bad. I just had a cold. I guess Hermana Diaz thought I was really sick or something, because the day after the zone conference, the zone leader called me and said, "So Hermana Diaz said you should go to the hosptial." I really felt fine, but I went anyways. That was my first time in a Chilean hospital, if you can believe it. They just gave me some allergy pills, even though what I have isn't even allergies, but I guess it's fine. We've been trying to work in both of our branches right now. It's been a little hard, because there are so many things that we have to do, but we are going to keep working. There aren't really any investigators progressing right now, but we'll have more to say next week for sure. I miss all you guys! So, first of all, in Chile, if you go in to a house and you have a cold or a cough or anything, the chilean people are going to give you lots of "home remedies". I had a little bit of a cold, and whatever house we went into they gave us herbs, honey, and all kinds of stuff. I don't really know what to do with all that stuff. There's one member in our branch that sells herbs for a living. She gave us lots of herbs, not just to fix a cold, but to help us sleep, regulate diabetes, and cure cancer. She gave us one that she called "la yerba buena," or the good herb. It was just funny.
We went to Viña this week. We had to go to Leadership Council. I got to see lots of people, lots of good friends. It was a great experience. We are trying to work more in both of our branches, and I'm really excited to see all of these member. We are really excited to work with them. I hope you guys all have a great week. Greeting from Ovalle. I'm here in my new area, which is called Canihuante. It's great, I love it a lot. It's very different from Quilpue. First of all, on Wednesday I took a 5 hour bus ride to Ovalle. It was kind of weird, because the zone leaders just told me, "Just get off in Ovalle," and that was it. But we made it, so that's the most important.
This "area" is actually 3 areas in 1. To explain it very simply, we've got 3 areas where missionaries normally are, which are Canihuante, Ovalle Norte, and La Chimba. La Chimba is closed, so there aren't actually members meeting in that chapel. They are assigned to go to whichever branch is closest. They are however talking about opening up La Chimba again, so we might have three branches. The next one is Ovalle Norte. They recently took the missionaries out of Ovalle Norte, and gave it Canihuante, which is now us. That branch is actually the first branch in all of Ovalle. I still haven't gone to their meetings, but I have gotten to know a few of their members. They are really nice, and they love the missionaries. Last, we have Canihuante, which is a big sector all on it's own. They actually had a confirmation this past Sunday. Her name is Katalina, and she was really excited to get baptized and be confirmed. She's 13, and was baptized the last week, but I got here just in time for the confirmation. It was great. Well, I'm still trying to get to know people here, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. My companion is Elder Martinez, and he is from Mexico. He's really great, and he's showing me lots of cool stuff here in the area. He's been out for about 5 months, so I'm ready to learn lots from him. Well, I guess that's all. I miss you guys! Lots of things happened this week. First of all, we got to talk with our families this week. It was so good to see them and hear there voices and stuff like that. It really has been a long time since I've seen them. It was good to see that they are so happy.
Second of all, we got transfers this week. I've been transferred to a place called Ovalle. It sounds so fun. It's a rural area, but I feel like the work is going to be a lot different from what I'm used to. All of my mission I've basically been in the same place, so this will be a different experience. Third of all, because we met our goal of lessons with a member present, we were allowed to watch the movie Coco! It also went right along with our focus on family history that we were doing these past 6 weeks. It was a really great movie, and it teaches really good things. I would recommend it to everyone. Apart from that, I still have to pack and get ready to leave. There's a lot of stuff to do. I have to get the area ready to receive the new Elder and all that, so there's lots to do. I let you guys know how it goes. I miss you all! Oh! and shout out to Will Cornell that just got his mission call! He's going to love Bogotá! Were gonna be buddies down here in the south. The only thing is that he leaves the day I get back, but still, congrats! We had a really great week this week. We had an activity that we did this last Saturday. We've been working a lot with family history, and we decided that we were going to make a tree out of cardboard, and cut holes in it. The goal was to have people to take pictures as a family, like a family tree. It was a big success! We found a least 20 people that were interested in learning more about family history.
We also brought a ping pong table so that we could invite people to come play with us. The only problem was that there were a lot of stray dogs in the plaza, and they really liked the ping pong balls. It was pretty hard to keep the balls away from them. At one point, one of them actually jumped on top of the ping pong table. It was pretty interesting. Other than that, Peter is doing really well. He didn't come to church this week, but he's still on track to be baptized the 19th. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I miss you all! So we basically spent all of the morning painting a tree made our of cardboard. In our zone we have the goal to use family history to find people to teach, and so we came up with the idea to make a tree with holes in it, so that people can but their faces in it. The idea is that it look like a family tree. We were all going to meet up and do it, but the zone leaders had to go to Viña to do visa stuff. They called me and told me about that and then they asked me, "So, could you be in charge of the tree painting today?" I said sure, I guess. So that's what we've been doing.
We are really excited for Peter. He's been coming to church and he likes reading the Book of Mormon. He's got a baptismal date on May 19th, we are really excited for him. The members have done a great job being his friend and making him feel welcome. He really loves to go to church. We've got interview with President this week in our houses, so wish us luck. We've still got to clean a little, so I hope we can get everything done one time. I guess that's it for this week. Miss you all! |
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September 2018
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