Punta Arenas All the Way! He He

1/3/2007

Well, I bet you are wondering where I am and what is going on with my life right now. It is a great question and I don’t have the answers. There were a lot of surprises for me in the last 24 hours to say the least. None of us expected what was going to happen. Well, all of the hnas in Punta Arenas are staying put, we are not getting any new ones here and no one is leaving. That means I will be here for at least six months. This will be my fourth transfer here. I was shocked, hna Moreno and I will be together for another six weeks. I am still shocked. Well we both were very surprised. Maybe the mission doesn’t have any more money to change a whole lot of people from here because it is all done by airplane. But oh well. That really isn’t it. I know that the lord wants me here and it isn’t about what I want. I know I need to just change my attitude and make the best of this situation. Hna Moreno has never had a companion for two transfers, I am her first. J There is a first for everything right. Well it is good because I really like the people here and they seem to like me too and I feel like we are the edge of getting some people to have a baptismal date. We will see. There is something here that I have to do that I obviously haven’t done yet. More than likely I will then be transferred in February 14, is the next transfer date. But you never know, maybe not. So we are a little surprised. So that is my big news.

So I have been on the mission for 6 months, dec 28th I reached my 6 month mark!! Crazy I know, it is way crazy.

So I am trying to do my pictures but I am having a hard time with it. I am still trying. But I want to do something as a family. I think that we should read the book of Mormon as a family and every week every one can email what they thought of what they read. I am a schedule all planned out but I can’t send it to you. But it is about 10 pages every single day, about a half hour starting with the intro. So we are starting today, from the beginning to page 3. and to do it every day. We can apply the same promises now as pres Hinckley did before. I know that it can bless us and it is something that everyone can do, any person that reads my blog. I know that we will have the spirit with us more as we read it and be closer to our savior. We will have more time in our lives to do thing, mom and dad, and we will be happier. It started today. You all need to start too. I am not up for excuses. I have heard them all but when it comes down to it there are no excuses if we have faith that god will bless us if we do what he asks. There are no excuses, we owe everything to him and what do we give back to him or do for him, very little. All he wants is our will, we have to be willing to do what he asks and he wants us to read our scriptures every day.

We had a baptism this week of the little girl of the inactive family who has reactivated. They are such an awesome family, the mom is single and has four little kids. They are trying so hard. It is fun to see the changes in people’s lives.

So now that we have all of these new standards and goals, there is a whole lot more expected of us. A whole lot more. So for the first time I have asked people to take the step of following the example of Christ and be baptized as he was, with his authority, priesthood, by immersion, and with the correct age. It was intense. The spirit was so strong, I couldn’t deny it, I knew I had to but i didn’t know what to say. I had no clue what I should say. But I did it. Well, the man didn’t accept but he accepted the invitation to keep reading and to pray if this really is the correct form of baptism. He then came to church on Sunday too, so that isn’t like he is against it. Well, his family are all members, his wife and his kids, but still, two Sundays in a row. We are also teaching the same family as before that we found and were getting married by the catholic church and baptized their daughter in the church too. They are awesome but just are lazy. I invited them to get baptized again, the husband said yes but the wife no. so, we are still working with them because we can’t do it without the whole family. They just need to get rid of their laziness and do something to improve their family. They know what they need to do they just need to do it. It is amazing as I am inviting baptism to these people how much more I care for them. I realized last night that I desire their salvation more than I do my own. I pray constantly for these people so they will have a desire to change their lives and live how god would have them live. All I want for these people is that they can have their families forever. And it makes me sad to think that they could show up on judgment day and god will say, I am sorry but you were lazy and there is nothing I can do for you now but you can’t go ahead with your family. Doesn’t that suck to think about. It makes me sad to think that anyone would have to go through this, especially the people that we are teaching. It stinks. But if we don’t do it in this life, that is it. It is so hard to ask people if they want to get baptized because I am scared of rejection or that they will pull away and think we are pushy. I realize that it is all about the love. I told them that I want to see them on the other side with my family and with their family. That is the best of it all and the only way for that to happen is to be baptized like Christ was baptized, that is the first step, the door to it all.

I hope that everybody had a great Christmas and new year. We were a little slow going and couldn’t do much but we are back to normal this week and I have another 6 strong weeks in Punta Arenas. I think I am going to finish my mission here really. Thanks for all the letters this week. The tree was pretty mom and so were the pictures of nana and papa. I am sending a cd home of photos today, so look for it in about three weeks. Hope everyone is doing great. Love ya all. Jamie