Another Baptism!!

8/27/2007
Well hello there. How has it all been, sounds like it has gone well. Well, I didn’t know Justin had a wake board or a boat, they have more than just their pontoon boat, just trying to keep up on these things.

Nana and papa, when you see those investigators at church you need to help them, talk to them, be their friends. It is so stressful having people at church because they need to be able to feel the spirit and the love that comes from the members. The only thing i wish when we have people at church is that the members talk to them, take them to their classes, sit with them, are with them the whole time because as missionaries we come and go but the members are always there.

Mom, when we visit frutillar and pto varas we can stay with alejandra and matthias, nice how i volunteer them but it is true and they both speak English and so you don’t have to worry about it, you will be able to talk, adn the couple in punta arenas, he speaks English, there are people here and there. Plus i will be with you the entire time. So don’t worry about a thing. So, hna agurto wrote me and told me that they are getting married the 8th of February. Mom, i have no idea but do i have money in my bank account to be able to pay for my plane ticket? So that i can be there for her wedding? Let me know. Keep me updated on that. I don´t know what is going to happen with my classes, i am going to have to pray and all to let you know. I will get you back on that. I think i want to get back in february with whatever classes i can take, i don’t want to wait so much time, but classes for my minor or for religion or something to get back in the groove.

We had a baptism this week....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were sooooooo catholic. They are sooooooooooooo funny. They almost got baptized three times and backed out everyyyyyyyyyyy time. When my new comp got here i was ready to stop visiting them, I was done. But that day they said they were in for it and going to keep up with their baptism. Satan worked soooooooooooooooooo strongly with them, they are 78 and 77. their family doesn’t want anything with the church. So we have worked osoooo hard with them for the last month. But i have shared with them for like four or five months already. We went to pick them up for teh interview and they weren’t there, we couldn’t find them!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh. Satan. Then for their baptism it was raining soooooooooo hard and soooo cold. So they didn’t get there and there they came. JJJJJ soooooooooo cute. Then yesterday at church they never showed up, church started and everyone was like oh noooooooooooooo, where are they. So we left the sacrament meeting to go find them, and there they came, hand in hand walking to church!! JJJJJ just in time. It was soooooooooooooooo awesome. They are so sweet and so happy. Their family doesn’t know they got baptized. Satan worked sooo hard on them. But I put my whole soul in to them too. They love each other so much it made my heart hurt to think that they couldn’t be together for the eternity if they didn’t get baptized. Esteban, teh husband is just like add but this guy neverrrrrr shuts up. Seriously, neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. He is so funny. I have gotten really close to them. They are amazing and it was so amazing when they received their answer to know the truth, to know this is the church and to know it is what they had to do. They were so excited to receive the holy ghost. She has depression badly and ever since sh e got her answer she has been so happy. I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the gospel!!!!!!!!!!1 i love it, it makes people soooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy.

Baptisms always go badly too. Nobody gets there, nothing is organized, blah blha balh. They are always a disaster and it doesn’t matter how much you plan and organize. Yeah, so it was the most amazing thing. The pres is out of town and the pres of rr also. And so we knew we were going to have to do everything by ourselves. We got to the church an hour early and everythingggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg was ready and perfect, it looked so pretty the rooms the chapel. The font was being filled, there was music playing, obsequieos ready to go for visitors, everything as perfect, the heater going. I wanted to cry. The branch has never done that, never done anything like that. I was so happy. I wanted to give the guy the biggest hug that did it. I told him i would but he is a man. JJJ and i am a missionary. Seriously i wanted to cry, it was so awesome. A perfect baptism. It was awesome and they were so happy. It made mee sooooo happy. I I pray that they will make it to the temple in one year more.
it was the most amazing thing. i can’t tell you happy i am for them. the gospel is true. I have been studying the bible a lot lately. the more I study it the more i realize that our church is true and that everythingggggggggggggggggggggggg we teach is supported in the bible, that it is so true. god lives, Christ lives and through him we can be happy and we have the restored church on the earth and I love it and I am so happy to be able to share it with people. I know the lord loves me and has so much in store for me. I am so blessed. I do love the mission, it doesn’t matter that I have had a cold for six weeks and am not getting better, only getting worse, but I love life, I love what I am doing. I have met so many amazingggggggggggg people that have such big places in my heart now that mean so much to me.

mom, you would be so grateful for hna rojas, she does soooooooooooooo much for us. she takes care of us sooooooooooooo much. she brought us fire wood last nights, sticks because we only have big logs. it was soooooooo cold and we were dying. she is amazing and has the biggest heartttttttttt and her family is aweosmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. they are so fun and are the only ones that always help us.

anyway, take care, hope all is well. thanks for everything you do. peace out.

Having a dry spurt

8/20/2007

Hi to everyone. I hope all is well with the family i can’t believe that the kids are getting back into school already, the time flies that is for sure. Things are good here, we had a few days of sun and so that was awesome. That is always fun. We are going through a dry spurt a little here in our sector, i think it is because i know everyone already. But still. We also saw miracles. We have been working with a couple that are almost 80 already and they have been catholics their entireeeeeeeeee life and been catolicos. So they are getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So they never got their answer and never got it. They have prayed and never felt that the church is true. And so finally I asked, what do you say, well they had never really asked specifically. So there was their problems. So i told them that there, the four of us were going to pray together, everyone together and ask then and there finally. My comp prayed and it was such a powerfullllllllllllllllllll prayer. I felt the spirit so strongly i knew they were feeling the same and they couldn’t deny it. It was so awesome and they said they felt the spirit and they knew it. And then that night she prayed by herself and felt the same thing and knew that it was true and got her answer. Their family doesn’t want them to get baptized at alllllllllllllll, for anything. And they are okay with that. So it will be great. They went to the stake conference with us yesterday in pto varas. And they were sooooooooooooo happy, he even came in a suit and never comes in suit. they are so awesome, so funny. I can’t rest though until they get baptized on Saturday and get confirmed Sunday. That will be the best. I am pumped. I have been sharing with them since the first day i got here in frutillar and the elders were sharing with them before that!! A long time, eight months!! That doesn’t happen much that the missionaries stick with them so much but they were ready and they know the catholic church is false. So we are so pumped, and even better for my comp, three weeks in the mission and she will have her first baptism!! The blessing. We found another great family, they don’t let us go by much but I feel something really special with them, i know they will accept.

So i saw alejandra and matthias yesterday at the conference. It was a tease because i barely got to talk to her. Matthias goes to church in a suit now too and he was very very very anti before is what alejandra told me. So that is awesome. It was sooo cute to see them there as a family and their kids behave soooooooooo much better at church. God really does work miracles in our lives. It is amazing, I can just look at alejandra nad i can feel the spirit soooooooooooo strongly, a joy a happiness soooo big and amazing. It is so weird, I have never had this happen to me before. The only thing I want is that she gets baptized so they can go to the temple. But she is doing great, writing her letter to the prophet, I hope she can get it done quickly and get baptized. I was reading a scripture in d y c 138 55 and 56. that talks about the prophets being prepared before this life to preach the gospel and now they are preaching the gospel in the next life but it also says that there were others prepared too. Alejandra wrote me and told me that when we separated in the pre existence I gave her a hug and promised her i would find her and help her come to the gospel and that i knew i would be a tool in bringing her back to the truth. I know that before this life, we as missionaries were prepared to bring the gospel to the world, we knew we would help our brothers and sisters and best friends come back into the fold so they could be with us forever in the eternities. She is so amazing and has taught me so much. I am so blessed to have known her and been able to be her friend and know that we were friends before and will be friends forever it brings me a happiness that I have never had or felt before in my life. Something so big and immense that i don’t have words for it. It is absolutely amazing and I love ittttttttttt. I love the gospel. I love the church. I love the lord and am grateful for all that he has given me and how he has blessed me. I don’t deserve all that he has given me but am thankful.

Take care, have a great week!! Love ya all!! happy birthday to Erich this next week!!!!

mom, I am sorry if my first letter sound rude. I didn’t mean for it to be. I am truly truly grateful for what you guys do for me and whatever you will do. really. honestly. I wanted to go on the mission so I could learn how to love and have charity and be able to want to help people and not be so self centered. I would do anything to be able t o go back and see the people where i have been. i feel like I have really been able to learn to love these people with all my heart and soul. I want their salvation more than I want it for me or anybody else. it is amazing how I have learned to love to much with my hear and actions. so I am grateful that I will be able to see them again for one last time because I don’t know when I will see them again after that. I am leaving some of my allllll time best friends here in chile when I leave. it is amazing, I never had a lot of friends but I am leaving this country with more friends that i have ever had, and close close close friends that I only pray that we will be together in the eternities together. it is amazing how the lord has changed my heart. I would do anything for these people. I love them dearly and never really thought I would be capable of loving people like I have here. I thank the lord often for opening my heart. so, my point is thank you so much.

Conference Week

8/13/2007
Happy birthday to grace.

I am sorry to hear about what happened with the Avila family. The lord knows, but she was really young but still, she apparently didn’t need any more trials.

We had our conference this week. It was good, three zones together, from puerto varas, puerto montt, and chiloe. It was really good as usual, it is always fun to see the other missionaries too and chat with them, get caught up. Hna moreno was there, my old comp from punta arenas. It was weird to see her after so much time. She hasn’t changed a bit. It was good to see her and talk about some things that had happened. I was with her for a long time, three months.

So, i don’t really have a whole lot of news for this week. We have had a lot of rain and gotten wet a lot. We are just trying to work hard and do what we need to do. It is a lot of thought and responsibility training someone because she has no idea what is going on with lots of things and so if we don’t get something done it is on my shoulders. I am trying to teach her everything i can so she can have a successful mission and so that she can learn the good things and not the bad things and feel comfortable. She is having a bit of a problem missing home, she left a boyfriend and so thinks about him a lot too. She was in her house just a month ago and everyone here talks about santiago, and so she is reminded of home a lot. I don’t really remember what it was like missing home, it has been so long. I don’t think I really ever missed home. These latinas go on the mission and it is the first time they have left home and not lived at home, so it is a bit harder., such is life. But things are going great, we are happy, having a good time, the lord is blessing us with a lot of work. We have so much to do, there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that we want and need to do. This is a blessing truly.

So I was thinking a lot about this the other day. I was wondering, do we obey the commandments because we want blessings or because we love god and because we want him to be happy with us. Do we do it because we don’t want him to be disappointed in us and we don’t want to have to make Jesus suffered more than he already has for what we have done. Or are we just greedy and just want the blessing that god promises us and we deserve the blessings. In the end, god has blessed us so much already that we don’t deserve much but he loves us so much he pours the blessings onto us. That is the thing I love the most, you can feel so much love coming from our heavenly father, and what do we do for him, how we show him that we are grateful. A lot of people do things for the blessings but personally I think that is living a lower law, we should live the higher law and do the things for a better cause.

I truly love the gospel. It has brought so much happiness into my life. There is nothing better the lord is blessing me with the spirit and with knowledge, he helps me remember where the scriptures are and teachings so I can help other people feel the love I feel and know the gospel. It is amazing to speak with a person and leave and think, wow, I said that, where did that come from, or oh wow, my mouth was running and moving but my mind wasn’t thinking a think, I didn’t think a thing that I said, it just came out, where did that come from? Well, we know where it came from, it is so amazing. I love it.

Please help the missionaries at home in the ward, they need so much help. It is so tiring pleadingggggggggg with the members and never getting their help. We give up sooo much to be on the mission and everybody wants the gospel to grow but when we don’t have the help from members there isn’t much we can do, things are sooo much powerful with the members. We found an amazing family this week thanks to a member that gave us a reference, they are so ready for the gospel. We would have never found them if it wasn’t for the member.

The gospel is so true, I love it, I love studying everyday I love learning. The book of momron truly supports and testifies of the bible. Everything we teach really was established before, in the bible and what the prophets anciently taught. Nothing we do is new to the earth. That is we are the restored church of Jesus Christ. The more I study and read the more i know it is all true!!! I feel it with all my heart!! I love the mission!!

Love ya all!

I am Freezing and You are Tan

Ok I just had to add a picture of us on the houseboat!

8/6/2007

Well, hello to everyone. Thanks for the pictures, I can’t even begin to tell you how cold it has been here….freezinggggg and so i absolutely love your pictures of you guys tan, on the house boat, so hot that you can’t stand wearing anything of clothes. That has got to be the best. I have been here for a year and have yet to wear short sleeves. But let’s just think about who is really receiving the blessings and who is having more fun! Meeeeeeee!! JJ no J but it looks like you guys are having fun, mom and dad, you guys haven’t done that in a long time and so it is great that you are able to take a break for a little bit. That is great.

So me, I don’t have a whole lot of news. I am absolutely exhausted. It is interesting being with someone that has never been on the misión and is in the groove already. It is a big change. Like it is weird because this is her country, not mine and I am showing her around, show her how things go, what it is like in southern chile. She says that sometime she understand more than she does because they have a southern accent here. So that is interesting. It is weird because as a new missionary lots of times the Words just leave you and you don’t know what to say. And so you look at your compaino to save your butt. So that is what she does to me. It is so weird that i am the one teaching and training. I don’t feel like it should be that way. I feel like i need so much help and need to learn so much. We are doing great though. It is exhausting because these few days, everything has been on my shoulders because she doesn’t have any idea, but she is learning quickly and doing great. It is a blessing that she isn’t a gringa. That World be terrible. So at least I have that. But it is fun because too it helps make me a better missionary, i am improving in a lot of things and doing things better in things that i had gotten a little lazy. It is something need, it give you an extra little boost to get on the ball. It is being weird being one of the missionaries with more time on the mision. Like i am the oldest, misión wise, in the Branch now, how weird is that that i have more experience.

My comp is great though. She teaches really well and is doing great, she won’t need me in no time. We even put two people with a baptismal date her second day on the misión. And so that is awesome, we have been working with them soooooooooooooooooooooooo much, it is about time, they have had a date twice already but this time they are going through it, they are abuelitos and are so darn cute. I love them, they are so funny, they are 77 and 76. but we are going to go out and find even more people, we have the capacity in our companionship and the lord is going to bless us so much because she is new and needs to see how the misión really should be. It is great.

It is funny, all the members and all the people were so happy that I stayed, they all said, que bueno que te quedaste. They are cute. They were pumped that I said again because they all thought for sure that I was leaving. But nooooooo. It is cute. I love frutillar, really I love everywhere I have been. I have a special place in my Herat for all of the places. But we are already seeing miracles together and we have only been together for like five days. She said that she can tell that I am tired or that I am preoccupied about something, in English I think the Word is worried. Sorry, we are reading in English the bom and she asks me how to say things and i don’t remember, ahhhhhhhhhhh. But in the end i have a bit of a burden, a worry in making sure i can be a good example for her, so she learns everything and doesn’t have to break bad habits later but learns all the good things now.

We are in pto varas right now, we saw Alejandra and are going to meet back up with her again in a bit. It was sooooooooooo awesome. Matthias, her husband, received the priesthood yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How awesome is that!! I love it!!!! He is progressing so quickly!! It is amazing! She wrote me a setter that is so awesome. Something i Hill cherish forever. She wrote more about the dream that she had with me. She siad that i promised her that i World find her and bring her the gospel. That she was sooo sad that we were going to be separated and that she came to the earth a lot earlier than i did. She remembers everything perfectly, she knew exactly how it was going to be. The best is to see how happy her family is how they have changed and gotten better. I love it. It is amazing to know that I really fulfilled with what I promised her I was going to do, that I CAME and found her like I said i was going to do, and i don’t doubt that it really is true. She bore her testimony to me in her setter and it was so beautiful because there was one point when she told me that she didn’t have a testimony and didn’t know if everything was true, and now she knows it all, she knows it is true and is working hard to get back into the church. What an amazing miracle it has been to know her. I feel something so incredibly special with her, it is something so different than anything I have ever felt. I don’t know how to describe it other than how it is in the scriptures, an immense joy, un gozo inmenso y eterno, es increíble de verdad. Soy tan bendecida por haberle conocido y experimentado lo que he experimentado. Amo la mision y la iglesia. Se que esta es la iglesia verdedera y la unica. I love the misión and this is the true church, i have no question about that.

That is about it for me. Yeah mom, thanks for the clothes, fit good but the north FACE is a little small but it Works great still. Thank you so much for everything that you do for me. It is true the setter that dad sent form pres hinckley about the missions and what we should learn. I know i am prideful with you guys, that i have a great weakness in how i treat you all and that i should show more respect for all of the family. I know that i am ungrateful a lot with you guys. But it is true, the misión gives you another appreciation for your family and for your parents. It is so true. I have seen how incredibly lucky i am to have been born in our family, with my parents, where i am and in the church. I am incredibly blessed and am so very grateful. Thank you mom and dad for always being so faithful in the church. More than anything else that you could have ever given me that is the greatest gift you have and will ever give me, the restored gospel of Jesús christ. There is nothing better than that. That is the best gift we can give to anyone. Thank you for raising me in the church and teaching me everything about the church and never living up on us and making sure that we stayed active and were faithful. Thank you for dragging me to mutuals and activities, and making me fulfill with callings and assignments, dad for the countless talks you made me give when you were in teh bishopric, thanks for the examples you have always given. Stay strong, keep up with the good work and we will all be blessed.

Mom don’t miss me to much, you aren’t missing much, I have only got more feisty. It is weird, i think i told you, i don’t remember much about home anymore. The memories are faint, but it does make it easier to do what i have been called to do here, doesn’t mean that i won’t be ecstatic to see you all again, that his for sure. Thank you for everything. You are all in my prayers.

Mom, what happens with the classes??

Happy anniversary Erica and Jake!!!

Love ya all, hna pratt

Oh my gosh I am a Trainer!

8/1/2007
Well hello to all, I have a bit of a surprise. I am still in frutillar, my other companion left and i went to pick up my companion today in Osorno at the mission home. It has been a year since i have been there. A long time. I got there with three other sisters and we all picked up our companions that have just gotten here from the mtc. My companion has three weeks on the mission, this is her first sector, she is from Santiago, like always, my best comps are always from Santiago. And her name is, okay i don’t remember, it is a hard one, but she seems great. They called me on Monday to tell me that I was going to be training her. And that it is a great responsibility because what i teach her and how we work here in this cambio is Going to set the tone for her misión. So that is some news for ya all. I bit of a shocker. So i got to shape up a bit. To say the least. Here are the pictures of us at the misión home this morning and with the other hermanas that just got here and that are training. The two other hnas that are training are ending their misión with me at the same time, they are awesome and also are from Santiago. They all are. But they are great. So i am wayyyyyyyyy happy. I am really relieved. I traveled a lot today, left for Osorno at 7 this morning and just got back.

Happpppppppppppppyyyyyyyyyy birthday mom, hope you have a great day!!!! You guys are crazy for buying a boat1

i saw matt carlson today, he looks different, i didn’t recognize him at first. his Spanish is great, he is doing awesome, he speaks really really really well, it surprised me. it was really good to see him. he looks great and is a bean pole, way skinny.

so i talked to alejandra again. she is so amazing. her husband is working on getting the priesthood and they are doing her papers to sent them to salt lake so she can get re-baptized, I was soooooooooooooo pumped, maybe I will still be here for her baptism. that would be aweomse. I got the package last week, thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. i love everythingggggggggggggggggggggggg. loved it. the jacket is perfect, thank you thank you, it is so water proof. just what i wanted. thank you.

so the last cambio was so so so so hard. but no it is different. it is a big responsibility to be able to train someone. I have to step it up and be a good example and teach her everything she needs to know be able to have a great mission. she speaks exactly like alejandra. it makes me laugh. alejandra says hi to all of you. she is great. seriously, it is such a blessing to know her and be able to be apart of her life and see the miracles that happen in her life. nothing makes me happier. well, i am so incredibly exhausted i don’t have much to say, my mind is all over the place and there is no other news. i was happy for the cambios and now have lots of energy to help my comp start her mission off on the right foot. life is great. i love the mission. it truly is a blessing. i love getting to know people and helping them learn about the gospel and have a better life. i know the church is true. i had to give a talk in church on Sunday and everyone loved my talk, it was funny because I get so nervous sometimes but i am used to it now, i always wonder how many of them really understand me though. such is life. well, life is great. i feel so blessed to be here, that the lord trusts me and the pres trusts me to be able to train one of hsi new missionaries. she seems great. you can feel if the cambio is going to be good, if you are going to get along when you first meet your comp, i feel like it is going to be great life is great. love ya all take care. talk to you on Monday