So we got a call late Monday night from our Zone leaders
telling us we had an intercambio where we exchange companions for a day. It is
required once a cambio and at 8:00 in the morning. Yay. So I proselyted all day
Tuesday in Rahue Bajo with Elder Owens. He is from Georgia and is number 14 of
17 kids in his family, all from the same mom. WOW.
When I got back Wednesday I got really sick and spent the
next 2 days throwing up and laying in bed. I stayed home with Elder Petrovelli
who is restricted to his bed while Holt went proselyting with the companion of
Petrovelli, Elder Perkins. It actually worked out because I just did tons of
paperwork and called people and set up appointments. We already have a full
schedule for this week and it is only Monday.
Okay so bad news first. We invited Tamara to take gospel
lessons along with her English lessons and she shut us down hard. She is still
taking English and told us she knows we are good people and was relieved to see
us on the bus that one day, but no. Jose, who we invited to be baptized 3 weeks
ago, prayed and received and answer and still doesn’t want to be baptized. He
said he doesn’t want to be a missionary. No matter how we explain you don’t
have to be a missionary after baptism he just doesn’t get it and his answer is
always the same. Yeah, I don’t know.
However, Papito said yes to taking lessons!! Pray and then
pray again for that to work out. We also have been working to become a ward
instead of just a branch. Elder Holt and I have helped organize the branch
council to work side-by-side with the missionaries in missionary efforts,
including the whole ward in finding and teaching people, reactivating enough to
establish a young mens, and have given 3 people the priesthood. We are on a roll.
We need 70 people to attend church and 20 people with the priesthood to become
a ward, and if that happens we get a new chapel too to accommodate everyone.
We hadn’t met those goals for three weeks straight and the
stake president, who is a grumpy man, had come to drop major palos on our
Branch President. (A ´palo´ is a stick and to ‘drop palos’ is to chastise
majorly.) We were all really bummed after branch council before church. We were
ready to feel the sting of palos as they bounced off our heads when at the last
minute, 79 PEOPLE WALKED THROUGH THE DOORS! We could not fit everyone! We also
have 19 priesthood holders. One more and WE WILL BE A WARD! AHHHAHAHAHHH!!
Church was so spiritual and every talk was as powerful as
the last. The Stake President´s address was loving but firm and it felt great
to have him see we aren’t wasting our time in Rio Negro.
The last thing that was awesome about the week was last
night. I have read the Book of Mormon twice now, prayed, and never really
received an answer. Obviously I love this church but I kinda just looked at it
all and asked myself, ¨Is this real life? Is this all really true?¨ This was
heavy on my heart all day yesterday. I have fasted, prayed, cried, and begged
for weeks, and nothing. I was sitting in the house of an inactive woman and we
were just there to set up an appointment. I wasn’t really paying close
attention to the conversation when Holt surprised us all by asking us if he
could share a Mormon Message.
He shared the one by Russell M Nelson in the airplane and I
was watching it, as I have 50 times, and all of the sudden the most crazy
feeling in the world hit me. It felt like a river of ice water running through
me. I could barely breath and my heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my
knees. The message is simple: Stay calm. It will be alright. You aren’t perfect
but HE is. Let Him help.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true.
This guy, Jesus? Yeah he saved us. ALL of us. And all we have to do is listen
to him and trust him to be happy. FOREVER. And all he asks is to be a good
person and be happy. Pretty good deal if you ask me. Let´s all accept his
invitation: ¨Come Follow Me¨
With much Love,
Elder Rich
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| ALWAYS doing service. That is our tree. Chilean version of Jonny Appleseed. |
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| Elder Rich was able to take a P-Day trip to Vulcan Osorno (an active volcano) |
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| Ski Lodge below the volcano. |
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| My homie, Javier the Snowman |
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| I am standing on black volcanic soil. To my left is red clay hills. To my right is a snow covered mountain, and directly ahead is a beautiful lake. |
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| Hermana Arriaza (her family owns the ranch where we helped with the herding). She uses the wool to spin thread manually to make clothes. |
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| Hermana Arriaza dyes the thread with different types of moss, berries, herbs, and temperatures of water. |
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| I get lots of questions about what I eat here in Chile. This is the first course of a typical lunch: potatoes covered in hotdogs and longaniza (a greasy meat similar to bratwurst), bread, soda, and fruit for dessert. |
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| Another meal: chicken, enough rice to feed an army, bread, bread with cheese (there is a difference), tea, and apple for dessert. |
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| Also, it is ALWAYS raining in Chile. |
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| If I were a cat, this is where I would hang out too. |
