Aventura de Chile!: Week 62

This week was SWEET! I'll see if I can remember everything that happened. Hahaha

So first off, THANK YOUUUUUUUUU to everyone who sent me things for Christmas! I JUST got the packages and letters this last Wednesday.

I got really emotional and all the other missionaries probably think I'm crazy. But whatever. YOMO! You Only Mission Once. hahaha!

Seriously, guys. The presents and letters that you sent were the best. THE best. I was more than happy to receive them and I thank you a million billion times for your love and support. And thanks again and again for the prayers. I can feel them! Prayer works!

Yesterday three missionaries in my district (including myself) ate some bad honeydew melon by accident, and we are all paying for it today. I had the WORST pain in my stomach this morning. I got up like four times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Ugggghhhhh....

So as for pure awesomesauce, we found new people EVERY DAY of this week except for Thursday and Sunday. But the people that we found are really cool!

So first, I want to mention Olga. She still has a baptismal date, but we bumped it to the 8th of March because our ward has a temple trip on the 27th of February. Anyways, Olga says that she really wants to change her life, and she wants her daughter to understand the change that she wants to make for the better. Our hope is to be able to work with the daughter one day, but she's almost always working. So we just have to coordinate things well is all. Olga still hasn't come to church, but we're thinking that it's still for health issues. So we're going to see what we can do for her. We're going to have a Family Home Evening activity tonight and see if she can come.

Next, we have Juana. I. love. Juana. I don't even know why. She's something special. We went to her house to teach her The Restoration and talk about our purpose as missionaries, and I don't even know what happened, but one minute I was bearing my testimony, and the next, I was crying. Because I just felt this love for her and I wanted more than anything for her to know that God loves her and that He IS listening to her prayers. She told us that she's been looking for answers to her questions for years, but she's not sure about how to recognize the answers that she gets to her prayers. But we told her that we're going to do everything we can to help her get her answers. But it all depends on her faith and diligence.

We found and taught a little bit of the Restoration to a family on Tuesday. Actually, we started with the mom and her son, and then the oldest daughter and the dad kind of snuck into the room to listen for the last few minutes. We found out that the mom is already baptized into our church, but she's been inactive since she was twelve years old. So we invited her son to baptism, and he said that he's not sure about baptism in our church because his interests are in another faith. But we asked him if he would be baptized if he knew that this church is true.

His answer was still "I don't know," but that's okay. He's a good kid and I could see him progressing quickly. We invited the whole family to come to the FHE with us. We'll see what happens tonight.

We found and started talking about Family History with a woman named Norma. Her son was actually investigating the church before, but she doesn't remember much of what the missionaries shared. We invited her to come to church with us, and she said that when her son gets back from the south, she might accompany him. =D

We taught a lady named Sandra and her three boys. She was sitting outside getting some air, so we sat down with her, talked for a minute or two about her, then we started to teach her about The Restoration. We invited her to be baptized, and she said that if she receives an answer, she will be baptized! But she didn't accept a baptismal date. So we're going to help her to make a habit out of praying so that she can get her answers.

And then there's Alejandra. She's an old investigator from two or three companionships ago, but she's so good. Actually, we got to her house and her son had to call to her three times to get her to come out. She told us when we had gotten to know her a bit more that she was actually praying when we showed up at the door. She was praying for Heavenly Father to send her help, comfort, and a way to be free of the anger that she was feeling inside at that moment. And then she heard, "ALO!" and wanted whoever was at the door to just leave her be, but her son insisted that she come and see us. She was really happy to see us! Hahaha!

She told us that she can see something different in Mormons' faces; that looking into our eyes is like looking into the sun. She can always tell when someone is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just by looking into their eyes. Because we emanate something beautiful, and it shows in our countenance.

Moments like this in the mission are sooooo cool. Knowing that you are a tool in the Lord's hands is the best feeling. Because when you discover that you were the answer to someone's prayer, it´s a warm feeling that just fills you up from head to toe. I know that missionary work is the Lord's work.

Last night, we had a FHE with our convert's family (Cristobal). He is the COOLEST kid. He's such an awesome example. He's 15, but he's already the beacon for his family. And his older brother Brian is a good anchor. He's helping his little bro along fine.

Anyways, so the mom is a less-active, and the dad isn't a member, but we had them all together last night, so we talked about the Book of Mormon and committed them to read something small every day. Then Cristobal had the idea that they should go along marking what they like, and then they could have one day of the week where they could share what they liked. (Family Home Evening! Woooo!)

So yeah. We saw a lot of miracles this week. =D It was sooooo awesome!

That't about it for now. I cannot adequately express how much I love you guys and appreciate the support that you give me. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

CHAOOOOOOO!

-Hermana Darley

P.S. Forgot to mention that the name of our zone in Rancagua is now "Super Splash Bros."