Last One!

Well, this is the last email I will send as a missionary. That's kind of sad and exciting to say. Sad because it has come to an end. But exciting because I am about to start a new stage of my life. 

I had my last interview with President Cook, and it was weird. Tomorrow we will go to the temple with President and his wife to the session before we go home. Everything is kind of weird because it all seems surreal. It still seems like I will have another P Day and that I will also keep working next week. It seems just like when I first got out here to the mission. It just felt unreal. 

But what doesn't feel real is my testimony. I feel like it is really strong. And I feel like it is real. I've felt like it's gotten a lot stronger and a lot more solid. I have felt really good while I have been out here. Looking back it's crazy to see the difference my mission has had on my life. It's really crazy to see all the changes.

But I know that this church is true. I know that The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ happened thanks to a young man without an education that had a simple question. "Which is the church of Christ?" And that he asked it and this young man, Joseph Smith, saw God and Jesus Christ in a vision. That they told him that none was, and then called him to be a Prophet in our times. I know that this Gospel changes lives and that we can become pure by the Gospel of Christ. I know that he loves us and suffered for us and then died so that we can return to our Father in Heaven.

I'm excited to hear from everyone and see you all again. Thanks for the prayers that have been given for me while I have been here. Thanks for all your support and I will be home in 6 days!

23/9/2015

My second to last P Day. It's going by fast, and it's been kind of a crazy week. There was a huge earthquake in the North of Chile that was about 8.3 on the Richter's scale. But here in Santiago, it was only about a 6. something. But it was still pretty big. We were just about to go into a house and we felt the ground start to move and move and move. It was really weird. I could feel the earth move back and forth and back and forth. It was kind of crazy. Then while we were inside, we felt it again. It was kind of crazy, that was the strongest I've ever felt it. It was nuts. I guess, from what we've heard, that the North is doing okay. Hopefully it is. But we've felt a lot of replicas and they've also been strong. There has been about like 300 something the last time I heard, so that's really crazy.

Also, this week was the 18th of September, which is when Chile celebrates their Independance Day! Which means a lot of parties! Which wasn't that good for working, but still we had a good week. We were able to go to the ward activity for a few hours and it was a lot of fun. I took a lot of videos about the Cueca and stuff. But it was a lot of fun! We ate a lot of food and were able to build our relationship with a lot of people, so it was great!

So the work this week was kind of slow, and we weren't able to do much. Today I am going around to 2 of my old sectors to say goodbye to people, but unfortunately I'm not finding too many people in their houses. This sunday we have a devotional to see people who can come from our old sectors to be able to say goodbye to people, so I hope to see them. But we'll see. 

I'm excited going into this last week and a half, but I'm also anxious. There's a lot of work to do still, and I hope to be able to do it good. I love you all and I will report in next week!

16/9/15

Well, here is my 3rd to last P Day. Crazy right? I feel like especially this last change has gone crazy fast. 

Anyway this last week was pretty crazy. September 11th here is nuts, but for different reasons that in the states. They remember the time when Chile was under a dictator's rule. So the 11th everyone goes nuts and there's a lot of violence. So again, this year we stayed in again just like last year. This year was really cool because we didn't do much of anything really. We just chilled around and had a fun day. So that was cool!

Anyway so something cool that happened this week is we went over to Javier's place and taught him. He is so prepared. He is really into it. He came to church again last week and loved it! That fast that we did really worked out!

And then today, we went around a huge chunk of Santiago just looking for souvenirs. It was really fun and I got just about all that was on my list. That's the picture I took of it!

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15/9/9

This has been an interesting week. We've had a good time so far, but it's kind of eh. It's  been kind of a hard week. But really great testimony builder about fasting this week.

Well Saturday we started our fast, and decided to fast for a few reasons, but the main one being to find new people. So we started. And the next day at church, we were sitting in Gospel Principles class, and a brother from the other ward in our chapel comes and takes out me and my comp and he says that there is an investigator in their meeting who lives in our ward and wants us to pass by his house. We went to talk with him, and he is dating a member, and we was really excited for us to go by!

And then yesterday we went to his house, and he is super prepared. We got there and he offered us a hot chocolate and drank one too because he said that he had already stopped drinking coffee! That's sick! We were so stocked leaving that place. It is so awesome!

So we had a really great testimony builder about fasting! We had a really great experience!

Anyway here are our pictures. The first one is a jersey I found in a street vendor's spot. It was 2 bucks.

And the second one was last night for Elder Llacza's birthday. Good kid.

2/9/2015

Well this week went okay. It was kind of a long week. We did a lot of walking and a lot of contacting. It was kind of rough actually, but it turned out okay. We didn't end up teaching as much as we had planned, but it did turn out alright. 

What I am excited about is my District. It's a really good district. I have a good group of hard working missionaries, and I really like them all. I think we are going to have a great change together. I already taught my first district class and I think it went really well, so I'm excited about it.

Unfortunately, the summer is kicking in, and technically we aren't out of winter yet. The temperatures are soaring and we are already dying. I don't want to even imagine what the actual summer is going to be like.

But any

way, the most notable thing that happened this week was when I had the "Perserverar Hasta el Fin" meeting. Or "Endure to the end" with President and Sister Cook. It's basically the meeting that we have right at the beginning of our last change in the mission. It's basically where President just gives everyone a bunch of energy to start this last change. I'm not too worried about it. I think I'll be fine.

But that's about it. Although we did have fun last night. That's the first picture. We ordered sushi and had a little fire out in the back yard.

And then today we went bowling to celebrate Elder Noriega and Elder Bennion's birthdays.

District Leader

Exciting Week

Well this has been quite the exciting week. We've been doing really well, I absolutely love this sector. It's a bummer I didn't come here sooner, but that's all right. God knows why I'm here now. But anyway, good week. We've been teaching a lot and we have a lot of people who are progressing. 

Especially a woman named Claudia. Her son was baptized 6 months ago and is super active, and we've been working with her. She has gone to church almost every week for about 2 months, so we are hoping that she will keep progressing really well!

Something that I didn't expect this week. I got called as a District Leader for my last change, so that was the last thing I was expecting. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but here we go. I have 2 sets of elders and the Zone Leaders in the District, so wish me luck. 

We've been contacting and working hard, trying to keep going. That's all there really is for this week, and I'm sure there will be more for next week!