Claudio's Baptism

Sounds like a lot of fun! I am doing really well. It was a really great week! Claudio got baptized! He asked to be baptized on Friday so we planned it in. It went really amazingly. There were around 15 family members that came to his baptism. It was really great. On Sunday, his dad, brother, and girlfriend came to church, as well for his confirmation. We are looking to see what we can do about baptizing others in the coming weeks. Sebastian couldn´t attend with us because he was at his Dad´s house this weekend. He wants to be baptized, but it is harder when he is gone every other weekend. We really want to get him baptized soon. He wants to as well. I will let you know more and get you pictures in a minute or two.

Claudio's Family at his Baptism

Temple Trip on Saturday

Hi.  Congratulations!  I am happy for you.  You are making great progress!

It has been a fun morning.  Crafts with Taylor.  Ray and Alex had toys all over the house.  I just made them clean up so we can have lunch.  The boys went out with Dad for a bit and came in wet from the trampoline.  Shara should be here soon to pick them up.

Sounds like fun. I can´t believe that today is 19 months in Chile.... It is odd, but time goes by quickly. There are moments when I feel like it goes by slow as well. Mainly with all the expectations that they put on us. Right now our zone of Peñaflor has at least 9 baptisms this month in the first 3 weeks. We are the zone that has most baptized so far this month. There are a lot of great things happening. We had 6 of the 9 recent converts from our sector at church. We are planning on getting Claudio the Priesthood this week and his temple recommend to go to the temple with him on the 30th of January before the Temple closes for maintenance. There are a lot of blessings and we are always busy. 

That is really great.  I am so happy for you. 

We are working hard and everything, but the pressure to do more and push ourselves even harder never goes down which bothers me sometimes. There are moments when leaders try to drive their missionaries into the ground, instead of loving them and not pushing so hard. I haven´t pushed any of them for more. I know that they are all there for the right reasons and that they are doing their very best. They can´t be asked to do anything else, but that. Sometimes that is what bothers me here and makes it hard to deal with at times.

I understand.  I know you always do your very best, so asking you to do more than your very best just doesn’t make sense.  You can only do so much.  You are wise to not push your District.  They are all doing their best as well and it sounds like your zone is doing awesome this change.  That is neat.  Thanks for the photos.  They are wonderful.  I will login to your Facebook page again soon and see if Sebastian’s request is there. 

I know that it is. I have been giving my information to more people lately. We have been working hard. We still have a lot of people with potential. The challenge that I will be extending to the District will be to baptize someone else each by the 30th of January. We have 2 weeks to pull it off. We are pushing to find something this week. We could have several. Maria, Juan Carlos´s Mom could, the Dad of Claudio could, Ronald, Claudio´s brother, and Claudia’s girlfriend, even though she lives in Melipilla.... She is here on weekends when she isn´t working at the Mall in Melipilla. I have talked with her a lot as well. She wants to be baptized, but it is a complicated situation, being that she doesn´t live here. She is here in our sector a lot though and if she is here on weekends, would be attending Church. She basically has her apartment in Melipilla and works there and spends all her time here with Claudio at his house when she isn´t busy.

Good luck.  I hope something works out for you.  If it is meant to be, it will happen.  I know you will put in the work to make it happen if you can.  I am happy you have so much potential in your ward right now.  You are Magnificent & Marvelous!  I am very proud of you.

Mom I am out of time. I love you and will get back to you on everything next week. I love you and hope that everything keeps going well. Thanks for all of the support and help that you provide. I love you!

I love you, too!  Have a super week. 

Next week may be hard for me to write.  Dad and I are going to the Provo Temple Open House.  Our appointment is about 11:30, so we will leave about 9:00.  Then we have an appointment with the Utah Retirement Office in the afternoon.  I will have to write from my phone, so it will be shorter and I may miss you if you write while we are in the temple. 

Second conversation thread.

Sounds great. I did write to Elder Correa and asked him to write to Carlos. I haven´t heard anything back from Soley or from Carlos yet. I am hoping that they get back to me. I really wish that I could get in touch more often, but I can´t. I have their phone number, but I am not allowed to call them, because they don´t live in my sector. I really worry about them a lot. I am supposed to be able to go the Temple with Camila and Guillermo in March. I am excited for that opportunity. I am happy that they are doing well. I can´t believe how blessed we have been here in the work. I have seen many blessings here in Padre Hurtado in El Sauce. The people are present and they are working to change their lives, which makes me really happy. There is so much to keep doing, but it is hard because there is always so little time in which to do it all.

I would like to finish my mission here, but I don´t know what the Lord wants for me yet. It could happen, but I would be here in this sector for 7 months. The most likely is that my companion gets changed next week. There is the chance that he stays 1 change more, but it is unlikely. For all we know, he could stay and I could leave. Things are unpredictable. I most likely will stay and receive another companion. I don´t know if I told you, but our change meetings are different now. The missionaries with changes go to the meeting only. They pick up their new companions and return to their sectors.

That is sad that only those with changes get to go.  It has been great for you to have the reunions each time there were changes.  It sounds like your mission president is putting things back to normal before he leaves and the new mission president arrives.  I guess that is good. 

I hope you get to go to the temple with Camila and Guillermo.  I am excited for them.  It will mean a change of clothing for Camila.  Hopefully she will be willing to make that change. 

I have not heard any more from Soley.  She does look at my posts and like them, but doesn’t comment much. 

I am glad that your ward members are helping.  I would love for you to stay in this area for the rest of your mission. I hope you get to train this time, but whether you do or not doesn’t make you a better missionary or lesser missionary.  You are amazing and awesome.  No matter what happens, it will be okay.  Make sure Elder Espinoza knows how much you love him.  I hope he has learned to be more responsible with his money. 

Claudio's Baptism

Nice!  He looks happy!

He was really happy! He shared his feelings with us through everything. He said that when he was baptized that he started crying afterwards, but it wasn´t noticeable because he was all wet. His Dad cried and was so happy for him. It was an amazing experience for us. We are working really hard here with so many people.

I talked to Sebastian, Claudio´s cousin, at the beginning and Sebastian is big into video games. At the beginning, he would offer to let me play the games and would show me his game systems and everything. He has quite a lot and even has a 3DS XL with the new Super Smash Bros. It was a tempting situation to have occur and he offered a few times. I came up with the answer to my problem right off the bat. I told him that we couldn´t play video games as missionaries and the focus of what we do. He understood, but was obviously sad because he hoped that I would play. I told him that after my mission I wouldn´t have a problem with playing, but through online. I told him to add me on Facebook and that I would be able to play in around 5 months. He immediately went and added me. It will be an awesome experience with him later on. Claudio and Sebastian really want to learn English, so that is something that we do with them as well. I am teaching English often and we are helping them to progress. They have the Book of Mormon in English and in Spanish to help them as well.

That is really neat that you have made such good friends with Sebastian and Claudio.  You will be a great influence on their lives.  I am happy for you.  Sorry, I am not writing much.  I am trying to feed lunch to the grandkids.  Tomato Soup of course!

Sounds like a handful. Tell Taylor that I hope that she is having a great time enjoying everything. I know that they are having a lot of fun learning and growing up slowly. It is a learning process and there is a lot to process.