Two Baptisms and Three More to Come!

My asthma is doing fine. We are working with Gloria´s 3 kids. Estefania and Luis are the other 2 and they are all awesome. I didn`t tell you, but Gloria and her family are from Ecuador. Brian is from Perú. Things are going great. We are working hard. My asthma is under control and I always have eaten a lot so I don`t think it is an issue. I am not losing weight right now. We got water back last Monday. I don`t think that our mission medicates against parasites ending the mission. I am not worried about the Grandparents too much. I have learned a lot from them and if The Lord calls, He calls, but things are going really well. I am enjoying the work.

The other Temple trip I couldn`t go, because we had so much going on and there wasn`t any way to go. I sent a message to my Mission President today asking for permission for everything with Camila and Guillermo. We had the confirmations yesterday. We are working towards the 8th of May with all 3 of Gloria´s kids. Things have been really great and we are going to keep working hard there and finding more people that want to be baptized right now.

That is amazing!  I am so happy for you.  I am happy that your hard work is paying off.  Is your companion a good teacher?  You haven’t told us much about him.  Congratulations on your baptisms and confirmations.  I hope the others work out as well.  

I am glad your health is good.  Is it getting cold down there yet?  Will you be okay without your coat?  

I hope you will be able to work things out to go with Camila and Guillermo.  That would be such an awesome experience for you.  

Do you have any plans for your Mother’s Day call yet?

I don`t know yet about the Mother´s day call. I have the camera that I used last Skype call, but I don`t have all of the details yet.  

I should be able to go with Camila and Guillermo. Are they going to have the Endowment and Sealing the same day? 

It is a little cold, but I have the inner part of my coat. The warm part and I have my umbrella. I should be fine.

My companion teaches really well. He is in his 4th change in this sector. He should stay another after this one. He will be a very successful missionary. I wouldn`t doubt him being an assistant to the new Mission President when he is ending his mission.

Try to let us know next week about your phone call so we can set it up with everyone.  If you get a chance, test out your headset and find a computer that will work better.

I don’t know on the endowment and sealing.  I would think, yes, but I don’t know.  Perhaps you could get permission to call them and find out.

You could always wear the sweaters that go under your suit coat and your thermal underwear to keep warm.

I am glad that your companion will be successful.  I am sure you have helped him to become that wonderful missionary.  You have great faith in him. 

We love you so much!  It is great to hear from you.  What else has been going on in your part of the world?

I gave the Thermal Underwear to companions that aren`t good about the cold and I am using the sweaters. I am fine it isn`t that cold here. I would imagine that the endowment and sealing go together. I will find out soon.

I figured you wouldn’t wear it because you are always so hot-blooded.  I am glad you are using the sweaters.  Take some photos of you wearing them.  So far, I have not seen any photos in the sweaters.  Be warm.  Be safe.  Be happy! 

Love you, too!!!!!  Be Safe!  Be Goode!

Flooding in Santiago

Sunday, April 17th, Santiago, Chile had some flooding.  Here is a News Article about the flooding.

Floods Hit Chilean Capital, Cut Water to Millions

·        By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANTIAGO, Chile — Apr 17, 2016, 5:03 PM ET

Heavy rains have caused severe flooding and cut water service to 4.5 million people around Chile's capital, Santiago, officials said Sunday.

The Rio Mapocho flooded several districts of the city and landslides killed at least one person. Seven others were missing, and officials said some 300 people had been evacuated. Power was cut to more than 80,000 people in Santiago and the provinces of Valparaiso and O'Higgins.

The huge El Teniente operation of the state-run Codelco mining company was forced to close. Officials said schools would be shuttered as well.

City official Claudio Orrego said that while the Mapocho didn't overflow its banks, a problem with a tunnel led water to spill into the city.

Orrego said water service was cut to at least 4.5 million people due to contamination caused by the flooding. Authorities urged residents to limit water use until the problem is past.

We are Doing Really Well!

We are doing really well. Our water has been cut for 2 days but we are fine. We have water still that we stored and haven`t had problems. In our sector there is water so if we have problems we can go to the sector. We were in the house after church yesterday all evening and I am staying here for my last change with Elder Huenumilla. Things are going great. We had 2 baptisms this weekend Gloria was baptized and Brian it was really awesome! We are going to confirm them next Sunday. We also are working to baptize Gloria´s daughter Maria Fernanda. Things are going really well right now. I am not worried about the weather we are doing great. I am really happy and excited for this change. We were really blessed to have both baptisms this weekend. We are working as hard as possible to do more and have more success.

Have you heard anything from Camila and Guillermo about going to the temple? Have they had their interview with their stake president yet? Can you verify a little more about it?

It is a little difficult about the whole family situation with everything right now. I know that the Lord is sending so many blessings to the family. Thank you for all the help and support. I am enjoying everything right now. I know that there are so many blessings here in the work. I love working here and doing my very best to serve and help people willing to come unto Christ and show their faith through their actions.

Sorry that everything is short on time and everything but I am out of time again thanks for everything and I will tell you more in a little while. I love you! Talk to you next week!

Very Short Letter!

Hey Mom, I am sorry. I really don`t have a lot of time to write and I know that is frustrating, but I had a lot that I needed to write to my Mission President and other things. My time is nearly up, but I love you all. We didn`t have investigators at church, but we are still working hard to baptize Brian and Gloria this Saturday. They are both really awesome and want to be baptized. We are going to be working hard to have it happen. Thanks for all that you do. Brian wasn`t sure last week, so he didn`t get baptized yet, but he feels a lot more sure, now. So we are going to be helping him a lot right now.

Hi Braxton,

I love you and I know it is always hard to accomplish everything.  Are you happy and healthy? 

Love,
Mom

Let me know when you know more about Guillermo and Camila. Thanks for the help. Sorry, I am also preparing my Farewell Invitations for the people that I visited so that they can visit with me before I return. I am preparing them now so that I can have them delivered early. Thanks for everything!

I am doing really well. I am so sorry that I am not going to be able to write more but I am out of time right now. I love you talk to you next week!

I love you, too.  I can’t wait to have an opportunity to really talk to you.  I miss that.  Keep working hard.  We are praying for you.

General Conference

Conference was really great. We had 3 investigators attending. We have 2 with baptismal dates right now. We have Brian for the 9^th but he isn`t really firm yet to be baptized even though he has been taught all of the lessons. We are working with him to see if he really wants to be baptized and his interest. We are working towards the desire that he needs to be baptized this weekend. We also have Gloria that came to church last week and we need to teach her a lot more and verify how she is coming along with the Book of Mormon and several other things. She has come to church twice and was at the conference. It was really great. We are doing a lot. We left between the sessions on Saturday to contact and we found a lady named Silvana that we invited to the conference for Sunday and we were going to pick her up, but we arrived late so we called her and she told us that she thought we weren`t going to come so she went on her own. We went and she was there and she has a lot of questions and a few problems that she is working to find answers to help her daughter.

I know that getting home I am going to want to have a little time for family and then start working to save more money. I don`t have a clue how much money I have left or anything. I am very concerned about finances after the mission. I feel like I am going to be lacking money and that I should work hard and prepare for college and see about dating and everything afterwards. I don`t know exactly, but time is going to go by very quickly and I am not sure about what will happen with everything right after the mission. 

I still don`t have pictures and I highly doubt that I will be able to get pictures to you before I finish my mission. I am sorry I would love to, but the computers don`t have a good capacity to read my camera. I am doing my very best, but everything is very stressful. I am doing all that I can right now. Time goes by really quickly, but I am really exhausted right now. I am doing my very best to keep working my hardest right now, but there is so much stress and everything right now to deal with that makes it interesting.

We have been working really hard to have success and we have a lot of people that are really receptive that are just making bad decisions. Our retention is the same case. We have 11 people that are really great, but lately have been making bad choices and aren`t attending church a lot. We are working really hard and our leaders are a little complicated, but we are doing our very best to accomplish the most that we can.  We are trying to do a lot and very little is happening. We are doing the best that we can to help each person and help them to make the decisions that will help them to receive the blessings of the Atonement that only come through the ordinances of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Sacrament. We are so busy that it is hard to focus on everything. We have a couple that got married on the 30th of March that know that the church is true but haven`t come to church even though they want to be baptized. I am trying to be patient with them so that they can make the right choice and be baptized. There are many things happening, but I am just trying to do my best. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all that there is to do and I know that coming home won`t be much different. There will be a lot of things that I am going to need to do and finding the time with be a challenge for me.

I appreciate all of the updates, but I don`t honestly know what will happen when I get home and how the Lord wants me to continue. I just know that accomplishing the goals that I am starting to set is not going to be easy and it will be frustrating, but I have many things that I really want to accomplish coming home. I know that it will be a challenge and it is possible that I don`t accomplish all of them, but I am going to do my very best to have a great plan set so that I make these goals happen as quickly as possible.

I don`t have a clue how I am going to accomplish them all, but I have good idea what I want to make happen in my life coming home. I don`t like focusing a lot on it right now, but I am planning for the future now and working as hard as I can to have as many baptisms as possible here before coming home. I am fighting against the clock to do so and I know I will be doing the same at home to set in my goals for the future coming home. I don`t know about spending a lot of time playing, or doing too much for fun coming home. I feel like I should focus in and prepare so that the future goals can be accomplished sooner than later.

Just relax. It will all work out. I am happy you are working so hard. You can invite people to the gospel, but they have to choose it for themselves. 

I´m not stressed over it. I am stressed over the fact that time passes so quickly and that I want to do more and accomplish more always.

There will be time for fun along with accomplishing your goals. It is great that you are setting goals.   I am excited for you to tell me about them when you get home. 

Sadly I am out of time. Thank you for everything. I appreciate all that you do and for the help. I know that my goals aren`t going to be easy to accomplish. That is why I worry so much, because I know that they are very difficult ones that are worth the results for me.

We all get the same amount of time and we don't always get to decide how things go. Come what may and love it!

I love you. Have a great week!

You should receive a copy of them after the mission. I am working on the 10 goals that will be sent to my parents, my bishop, and stake president when I am coming home from the mission. I am looking mostly into goals for the next few years and the purpose in each of them and I am going to have to work hard to be able to accomplish them all. I love you and will talk to you next week. I love you! Thanks for all that you are doing and for the updates that I get. I really am grateful.