How time flies on the mission! I cannot believe that [my friend] Gustavo will be coming home [from his mission] soon. That means that [my friend] Brian will also be getting home soon. I am so thankful to have been surrounded by such great examples. It fills me with joy to think about the success that they are having on their missions. I feel like Alma, for "my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren . . . . Now when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy." (Alma 29:14,16)
My Spanish has been steadily improving. The Lord has truly blessed me with the gift of tongues, for I know that on my own I would not have been able to speak Spanish. About a week ago I was eating lunch at the bishop's house and his wife told him, pointing at me, "This isn't a normal gringo, he catches everything we say in Spanish!" I know that I have a lot to learn and I will keep pushing to learn more and more, but I know that I have come a long way since those first weeks in the MTC.
This week, after much prayer and hard work, we were able to put a baptismal date with our investigator, Elza. She is a single mother of one twenty-two year old son. Life has been hard to her, but because of that, she has learned to live a good, clean, healthy life and has learned to trust in God. Elder Lecaros and I taught her once, but we weren't able to teach her more because of her work schedule. However, she had an operation on her hand this last week, so she will not be working for a few weeks. In our lesson, we taught about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was incredibly strong and she began to cry as she told us about the comfort that she had felt from reading the Book of Mormon. As the Spirit testified to her, we extended the baptismal commitment. She accepted the commitment and if all goes well, she will be baptized on the 23rd of April.
Also this week, we helped with a Viña del Mar Stake activity. They did a "Mission for a Day" type activity. They started out the morning in the "MTC." We arrived for lunch and then after lunch, the young men were assigned to go work with the missionaries. The priests and teachers were assigned to go work with missionaries in their areas, while the deacons were going to go set up a stand in a plaza in Viña. Elder Boyd and I were assigned to take half of the deacons and go work the stand. He, the seven deacons, and I walked down to the plaza and there contacted all the people walking by. It was extremely effective and was a lot of fun. I was impressed as these young twelve and thirteen year olds fearlessly approached the people walking by. That is how it should be. Everyone needs the gospel and we should fearlessly approach them and give them the chance to accept it.
This weekend we will have the wonderful chance to listen to our wonderful prophet. We will hear the words of the Lord, given through His chosen servants. I pray that I will be able to understand what the Lord wants me to learn. I pray for our Church leaders and know that they are led by God. They are his servants. This is His church. I am His tool and pray to be able to do what He wants me to do and become who he wants me to become.
. . . I love my mission!
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