Glad Tidings of Great Joy

Hi everyone, I'm sorry for not writing a letter last week.  This week I wanted to first share a couple of things I have learned in my studies these past couple weeks. The first is from an article I read in an old Liahona about Satan. It explained that the strategies of him are:  Temptation Lies and Deception Contention Discouragement Anytime that we feel, participate or deal with these things, it is coming from him and we need to do our best to fight it and look for the light that comes from God.  Another interesting point is that the devil can not read our thoughts. That is a power that only God has. (DC 6:16) Keep that in mind, something worth pondering. Other thought comes from Elder McKay's talk from General Conference. He taught us that God can give us immediate blessings to sustain us through difficult times. Some of those are: peace hope kindness love calmness courage assurance comfort joy To receive these things we must: h...

Hey everybody! We had a fun week this week, as always :) At the beginning of the week we went to Valdivia for the zone conference. That was my first time being back there since I served there almost a year ago. It was crazy to get to see it again. I didn't get to visit my sector or anything but I did see a couple of the members i knew. We stayed the night with the Zone Leaders after doing intercambios in their sector. We ran into one of my old investigators that had moved to that sector so maybe they will start teaching them again! We also did some service for a member and chopped some wood. Not sure if I should share this, but I broke her axe...... Make that 3 axes I have broken on the mission during intercambios, 4 in total. oops. Elder Rojas cooked us up a delicious Peruvian dish, aji de gallina, or something like that.  We did a couple more intercambios and I learned a lot. One thing was the importance of telling the truth. It is a commandment to tell the truth and ...

Somehow I guess I didn't hit publish on this last week! Sorry.      We had a busy week but it was great. We got to travel to Chiloé for the zone conference there and meet all of the wonderful Elderes y Hermanas that are working there. I got to know more of the country and continue to see how beautiful it is. On Sunday we got to practice with the Stake Choir in preparation for the stake conference in a few weeks. I'd forgotten how much I love to sing and it made me remember the hours of choir and voice lessons from before the mission. I'd like to say it is a talent I get to use. I am so excited for General Conference this week! It is going to be great. Watch it! As a mission we have a goal of 80 baptisms of converts each month. We have not reached that goal yet but we are working hard towards it. I believe it can happen this month of April. And I would like to invite you to pray for us and help us in that way. A great way to contribute is to share t...

Hey everybody! We are so busy here but I am doing really well. This week we had the chance to fly down to Punta Arenas to do intercambios with the Zone Leaders. I felt so happy and comfortable to be there again, despite the cold winter weather that has already set in down there.  We had some really great teaching opportunities, including finding a woman named Ilene. She accepted the message we taught her and committed to reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon right away. I'm grateful we got to find and teach her! This week we are going to have a few more intercambios with Elders from Valdivia, and will also be going to the conference there tomorrow.  Please keep praying for Mirta and Mariela. They are both progressing and we are expecting baptisms very soon! We also taught Byron for the first time this week. He is 10, but has already made it to Alma in the Book of Mormon. The problem was that his parents didn't want us teaching him, but it looks like they...