Week 72

So we just got the calls for transfers on Saturday.
Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUN!
I will be staying with Hermana Christensen in Machali. I'm going to finish the mission training!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIIIIIIICK!!!!
I´m not the coordinadora here anymore, but that is perfectly fine with me. Hahaha I was looking forward to finishing my mission without having to worry about traveling so much.

So first off, ROBERTO GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a crazy day, but it happened!!!!!
Unfortunately, there are no photos this week because I forgot my camera cord in the house. Blaaaaah! That´s okay. Next week.
But anyways, so we've been having torrential rain here since Thursday, so the canals flooded over and the rain water got into the same line as the tap water. So Saturday came and the Elders went to the church building early to fill the baptismal font, and they didn´t realize that the water was coming out murky. And then everyone in that half of Machali lost the power in their houses.
So by the time we got to the church building to set everything up, we looked at the font water and it looked like there were going to be aligators in there. The light came back, though. So that was good.
We threw in some chlorine, but it didn´t do any good. It just made the font smell like a pool.

But in the end, it was okay. Roberto looked at the font and said, "Whatever. Let´s do it." Hahaha! (The water was freezing, too.)

All in all, it turned out great. Roberto's parents came to his baptism and afterwards they were able to talk to some of the members and get to know some more about what we believe. They also came to Roberto's confirmation on Sunday, so that was awesome.

He's happy, his girlfriend is happy, we're happy, everyone's happy. =D

Awkward funny story:
I was in a bus two weeks ago and I thought the person sitting in front of me was Hermana Al-Malki because they were wearing the same gray-hooded jacket. So I started poking the lady in the back of the head and she turned around with the most bewildered expression.
Oh my goodness. My life.... hahahaha!

We had a small earthquake here super early in the morning as well. I was with Hermanas Fowers, Cook and Christensen (they all have almost 3 months in the mission) and I heard three semi-panicked voices say, 

"What do we do?!"

"Do we put on our shoes?!"

"Do we go outside?"

I said, "We stay in our beds and hope that it doesn´t get bigger. And if it does, find a corner and stay there."

And thus we note the difference between an old Chile missionary and the new Chile missionaries.

Hermanas Christensen, Fowers and I did a mini-division on Friday and we were in a power trio, so we could enter any house. =D It was the best.

We showed up soaking wet to Miranda's house to teach her and her mom, who didn´t want to have much of anything to do with us before, had spent the whole afternoon preparing Pastel de Choclo for us. It was so awesome. Then when we were teaching Miranda, her dad AND mom stayed and listened, and Miranda's older brother's girlfriend stopped what she was doing to listen to us as well. And she was smiling and nodding!!! We asked for her address so that we could visit her sometime this next week. =D She said that she'll totally receive us!!!! Her name is Valentina.

Anyways, we invited Miranda and her dad to be baptized, but they said that they want to learn more first. So we'll help them get some answers.

We invited them to church, but in the morning, they didn't have water in the house, so Miranda couldn't shower to come to church.

Baaaah! Rain has its pros and its cons. But there are more cons when you're a missionary in Chile.

That's alright. Next week. Miranda's great.

Last Monday Hermana Christensen and I were riding around on our bikes trying to find more people to teach and as we were looking for a family near our house, we passed by two kids playing with a rugby ball in the street. We ended up passing by them a second time because we had the wrong address, but this time the older kid stopped me and said, "¿De donde es?" (Where are you from?)

I said, "The states."

He said, "¿Ah. Y que estan haciendo aqui?"

That´s always our cue. =D "Somos misioneras de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias. Estamos compartiendo un mensaje super importante con la gente. ¿Usted es de aqui?" (We're LDS missionaries and we're sharing a super important message with the people. Are you from here?)

He said, "Yyyyep."

Chileans never answer like that.

I said, "¿Usted esta practicando ingles?"

He said, "No. Actually I speak English perfectly." in an Australian-Brit accent. (It's kind of a mix of the two. The Aussie side is more noticable when he says the letter "O".) 

Hermana Christensen and I just about fell over backwards. It was really funny because then neither of us knew what to say for a second. It's always a surprise to find somebody who speaks English, but not with an accent like that.

Funnily enough, he learned how to speak English from movies, video games and the internet, and he's really into Game of Thrones. That probably explains the accent. Hahaha
He´s 21 and speaks 8 languages. Holy cow. He's Chilean, but from the time he was little, languages have been his passion. So he just picked them up.

He and his friend introduced themselves as Javier and Sebastian. (Sebastian speaks English, too.) Turns out, Javier had a lot of Mormon pals when he was a kid and he actually read the whole Book of Mormon, but he didn't really know what it was. He doesn´t believe in God, but he's always thought that if there's something out there, he has to do something to find out for himself. He asked. "But what CAN someone do to find out if God exists?"

=D 

=D =D =D =DDDD

Well we can tell you exactly what you can do.

So in the end, we got their dats and made an appointment to go visit them. We gave them a pamphlet of The Restoration and asked them to read it before our visit.

We took a member with us to the first lesson and just got to know them both a little better. We bore our testimonies and said that we are trying to share something that has made us really happy, and that's why we're here. We promised them that if they do the little committments that we leave with them, they will come to know for themselves that the things that we are sharing with them are true. They both agreed to pray, but then Javier expressed some doubt because he said that he felt disrespectful praying if he didn't even believe in God, but he would try on his own. Sebastian said he'd pray in his room before our next visit.

Yeah. We're going to follow up today and see how that went. Baby steps.

We invited them both to church, but Javier had to watch his baby brother, and Sebastian wasn't going to go alone. 

Well, we'll see what happens next week with these guys. They seem to show a lot of potential.

We also had an awesome lesson with a lady named Noelia and her daughter Sofia. We talked about God's love and a few principles from The Plan of Salvation. Then we invited them to be baptized on May 21st. The first answer was no, so we changed the approach and asked them if they would keep investigating to know for themselves. Then Noelia said, "Look. I'm going to pray. And if Heavenly Father tells me that I should be baptized on that day, well there we go."

We said, "So when you receive an answer, will you do it?"

She said, "Obviously!"

Wow. hahaha! Well then! We'll be following up on that prayer real soon!

Her daughter was still unsure, but she said that she'll pray with her mom. She said that she thinks it's a better decision for when she's older, though. 

We'll see how she feels in the next lesson.

So Noelia has a baptismal date for the 21st of May. =D She's so good.

Hermana Christensen and I are super excited for the next transfer. We're looking forward to seeing miracles here and we really want to work very closely with the members. We are mainly focusing on building a good strong bridge of trust between us and the leaders here because we feel like there's still a bit of a separation between the missionaries and the members mostly because of work schedules and other things that naturally get in the way. But we're excited!!!

Anyways, that's about it for this week. I have like noooooo time left. So I'll be sending pictures next week for sure.

Laaaaater! CHAO!

-Hermana Darley