Chilean Cook 1/24/2011

Hey Familia,
How yal doing? How was the week, ready to start another one? I am, but I am still good and tired from last week but oh well just got to push through and do it and mas encima I am a week behind in my journal I am just getting lazy to write but I have got to do it. It was a goal of mine. I put a lot of photos on this letter. I took a lot this week. There are some of the sun setting and one of Elder Call and I walking in the Cancha at the top of Cerro estanque searching for souls, and the best ones are of me making Pan Amasado!!!!!! Yes I learned how to make homemade bread from scratch this morning and cooked it in a brick oven so fun. Hermano Domingo taught us and was chill it turned out good and ate it right away for breakfast, I am coming back a cocinero (cook), it was good and fun.
This week went good we had a couple disappointments but nothing huge. Eliana was confirmed yesterday and I got to do it, it was a nice experience. She has good friends in the ward and it is good to see the Hermanas helping her out and sharing their experiences with her. She is going to the campo in February and won’t be back till Marzo but we will have contact with her and she has her book to read and stuff. She told us on Friday about an experience she had, she said she was in her garden and she was looking out toward the beach and tried to find the church, she said she said the words “Where is my church?” said that when she said “My church” she was full of happiness and joy and said she had never felt like that before. I was so happy to be able to hear that from her. She was definately ready and it was her time now I just have to hope that her family will come around and will accept it too. It was a good addition to the week, and I am really happy for her because she is happy.
We did a special fast with one of our other investigators, Clara, we did the fast so that her boyfriend would move out so she would be able to get baptized. On this Sunday the 30 th, she was doing great and the fast went great too. She told him to leave and was going to be out of the house yesterday but yet again a problem came up, she has to buy the uniforms for her kids for school and is no money so he wants to stay and work and help pay but if he stays she can’t get baptized...... it was a bit of a let down but she wants to get baptized so bad but it is one thing after the other....and they aren’t big things......maybe it is easy for me to say “ well tell him to leave and get baptized because everything will work out fine the Lord will provide.....”but I am not in the situation.....I know she will get baptized and I know it will work out, but we need more faith, this week we will find a solution so she can get baptized she is so ready and wants to so bad but its little things that keep tripping her up. I know we will see a miracle.
We found a lot of new people last week and planned for them to go to church but they didn’t but it is okay we will get them here this week. Denis and Marcos, live up on the top of Cerro Santo and just had a baby 6 months ago. They are young but are really great we just need to help them get to church and I am sure they will get baptized in Feb. The only yucky part of this time of year in Chile isa the vaccaciones because here the people don’t go away for a day or a couple days but for a month they are gone......it is crazy so a lot of the people we were working with are gone and wont be back till the end of Feb. The attendance at church was below 100 that is low for us.....crazy no? But that is life... it is all good
The weather has been weird and looks like rain but hope it doesn’t, I sure don’t like the rain in the mission especially because I don’t have any rain. Everything I had got left in Talca...Oh ya got the package thanks a lot I missed butterfingers. Hey could you put a small USA flag in my next package it is for somebody here thanks. About the animated Libro de Mormon...I was taking about the movie....like the old animated movie...if you know what I mean......but send the book I know who I want to give it to. I cannot wait to here about my Sobrino(a) (My nephew or niece) next week so make sure I hear the news! Time has gone by once again but I love you all so much and hope you all have great week and cant wait to hear from you all next week.
Sé que dios vive y nos ama, Jesucristo essu hijo y nos salva del pecado, si escuchemos a su voz, amo este evangelio y sé que estoy en la obra del señor y nadie me puede quitar la alegria que siento. les quiero y les amo muchisimo, espero que les vaya bien en la semana y que esén bien. Tengan buena semana les quiero, paz fuera (I know that God lives and loves us, Jesus Christ His son saves and us from the sin, if we listen to His voice and gospel. I know that I am in the work of the Lord because of the joy I feel. I want to teach and be a good example, I hope that I will be able to share the gospel and that they will feel it)
Love Eric

A Test of faith and confirmation of the truthfullness of the Book of Mormon 1/10/2011

Hello Familia,
So what is up with all of you? I hope you all had a good week and a good weekend to rest up for the long haul this week. This week went by very slow with the lack of preparation day on Monday and so I was a couple days off all week. The week was full of very strange weather including rain, cold hot and a lot of wind.....enough to rip off roof tiles and make dogs fly...okay the flying dog thing was a joke but would be cool no? I am good but I think I am getting fat so it is to a strict diet......yep you heard me diet.....no more pan!!!!!!!!!it is hard but must do it and no eating at night.....you all should see my legs, they we big before but now they are bigger, my jeans are super tight of my thighs and loose on the waist. I might have to buy some jeans, I am going to try and tone down we are running in the morning...it is about a 3.5 km run and it is going good it helps wake us up in the morning and making me sweat earlier in the day. I wasn’t built for long distance but I pull my weight and keep with the pace......but its all good. I have got to get into shape. Today is cambios and the big news is nothing....the four of us here in Tome are staying the same for one more cambio. Time is flying by but I am not trunky....I have got to much to do here.
We had a baptism planned for yesterday but Eliana had to go to the campo and harvest papas so she has a fecha for the 16th this coming week and so I am jazzed! She is super ready and wants to do it she actually felt super bad about this weekend but her husband had planned it and didn’t tell her but it is all good, just hope there aren’t complications this week. One other investigator was in Santiago all week and well she came back and much to our surprise she didn’t come back a lot as we thought she would be.....she talked to her boy friend and was going to leave him there but he was persistent and came back so she still cannot get baptized because they are living together and are not married. We are going to do a fast this week to be able to figure out what she can do because she is super ready to get baptized and wants to do it, but cant and it will take a year to be able to do her divorce and to get married....I don’t know what to do......Satanas will not give up on this one, but all we can do it pray and hope it will all work out. Dayanne is doing good and got confirmed yesterday, we found a family of 6 this week but are only sharing with the mom and her boyfriend. We know the law of chasity will be a big important lesson......but they are really great se llaman Raul and Elena, they are cool and Elena knows the bishops wife and also Hermana Sofia the pres of the Relief Society. We are starting to find some people and well just need to get them to progress and tonight we are going to visit a girl of 11 yrs to see if her family will let her get baptized because she has been going to church for a while and she could be baptized within the next two weeks. The work is moving along and I can see that the Lord is blessing us for our efforts and all that we are doing. The Lord keeps His promises. I started to read the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time in my mission, I know it isn’t much but I don’t read to fast haha, but it will be my 2nd time in Spanish and this time I am taking my time to pick the verses apart and pull all out of it that I can and so far I am loving it so much. I am in 1 Nefi 8 but I have learned so much so far. My testimony has grow so much about the Book of Mormon and this week we used it in contacts and it was the first thing we taught to the 8 new people we found and to tell you the truth it worked awesome to tell them exactly the purpose of the book and start right off the bat with it because it is the keystone of our religion and if you don’t believe in it then I don’t know how you could believe in Christ. Because the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Jesus Christ and His teachings. It is a marvoulus work and no regular man could have written it and I know it was written through inspiration from God. His prophets gave their lives to protect the plates and to do the Lords will and sometime we take it for granted, I love that book and it helps me so much.
This week on Friday afternoon Elder Call, Hermana Nelda, and I were waiting to take the bus to subir cerro estanque to go do a couple visits and a man came up to me and started to yell and scream and make a scene, he spoke with words of hate and anger, claiming to be a follower of Cristo, smoking a cigarette and yelling swear words and speaking very low about the church its teachings and most of all the truth of Joseph Smith, I tried to talk with him but he was there to fight and to make me mad.....my companion didn’t understand so he was very calm, as I realized he wanted to fight I shut my mouth and prayed in my head, with every false accusation and swear word it was like a dagger to my heart, I felt the spirit leave and I was praying to have the guidance, as angry as I was I kept quiet and as you guys know it is one of my weak points, it was when he touched my name tag that I shouted a little but told him not to touch me and to back off, he continued in his rant and I started that breathing exercise that I always do with mom , he came back to yell some more and proceeded to call us devil worshipers and stuff but it didn’t get to me. Although it was a bad experience I am grateful for it and I will tell you why, after he left and we got on the bus I felt a peace and calmness in my fast beating heart, and I know it was the spirit telling me I was doing the right thing. I tell you I have felt the spirit stronger since I know it was because it was a test, the Lord tested me and my testimony grew its like the scripture in Ether 12:6 says “testimony comes after the test of our faith” I can imagine a little better how Christ and the prophets have felt when they were falsely accused and exploited because of their beliefs I know my experience wasn’t as big but helped me feel a little more what they did. I felt bad for this man because he was lost in the opiniones de hombre and was tied up in hatred and jealousness of Satanas. I know God lives and He loves us, He sent His son Jesucristo to the earth to save us and to fulfill the profesies of the profetas, I know without a doubt Jose Smith was called to restore the church and that today there is a living seer and revelator, he guides us in the these latter days through the power of God and keeps us from trying the bitter taste of sin and disobedience. I know this is the true church and that in it we can find the principles and doctrine Jesus Himself taught. I love being a missionary and teaching this great gospel and it hurts me to see people lost in the storms of this life and it makes me work that much more to find them and pull them a board. I know if we live the commandments we will prosper in the land as the Lord told his people in the Book of Mormon.
I hope you all have great week and that you keep moving forward and helping your testimony grow. I love you all take care, te quiero!
Love Eric

Enjoy the pictures they are mostly picks of the sector like sunset from cerro estanque and looking up cerro estanque and also the oatmeal, platano, miel exfoliant we tried hahahaha You have got to keep care of the skin, love you cuídate chau chau

Happy New Year 1/3/2011

hey hey hey,
What’s up yal? hace tiempo que no les he escrito (I have not written in awhile) Well I am doing great and the baptism of Dayanne on the 26th was awesome she was super happy and a lot of members were there to support her. She did not come to church to be confirmed because she was sick but it is all good, we have daily contact to make sure she will be there this week.
This letter will be short because, I don’t have much time, for New Years we got to go to the mission home in Concepcion. We had interviews in the morning and oh I tell you the mission home is like a palace it is huge, I felt so poor but it was fun and interviews went great had to hurry back to Tome because the other Elders had a baptism so we had to fill the pila bautismal (Baptismal Font) and all went good. After we went to Hermana Caroline´s house for the New Years cenas (Dinner) and ate like pig. It was sooo good and got home at 10, Elder Call and I went to bed because we were tried and well I celebrated sleeping. That is it, I heard screaming and stuff but I thought it was just dreams haha it was chill. Here in Tome they do huge bon fires in all the hills and it is cool to see but I was dead tired and sleep meant more to me than partying, I know I am lame.
I was happy to have talked to you all for Christmas and heard about what is going on there, I forgot all the things I was going to tell you about but it is always like that, oh, well it is sure crazy how time flies by. All the Hermanas that came with me are either home or go home next week, it is crazy to think I have been here in Tome for almost 6 weeks, time gets faster everyday and it is working against me. All Pres talked about in my interview was about how fast time will go and how I will be home soon, I was like “dude I got a lot left don’t make me trunky!” haha but I understand what he was talking about. we have a possibility of 2 baptisms this Sunday and I am super stoked about it. Se llaman Eliana and Clara super awesome.

Oh yeah so in the evening on 25th went out to carole to the investigators but my companion got sick so Elder Huerta and I had to do it all and we were running up the cerros (hills) it was so crazy and I have some funny videos but I was soaking wet the people thought we were crazy but it was the flowing of the Christmas spirit “I got the Holy Spirit” that one for you Ally! It was nice the people loved it and I did too, got home and was dead tired but it felt good. I love getting home tired means I sleep better.
I forgot all I wanted to tell you but I am sure it will come to me once I log off as usual. I love the tri pod, I have been taking some cool picturess with it and one of me and Elder Hueart in the the forest looking out to the ocean. I wrapped it on a tree it is so cool the other Elders are asking their familes to send one for them also and you sent my apostasy!!!!!!!!! Giants!!!!!! What is this? It is now a painting shirt.....lol no I am just kidding I like the shirt, I was imitating the baseball players because Elder Huerta got me a necklace as a joke I felt so cool and choro! I loved all my gifts thanks a lot and the Elders loved their stockings too. Oh Kellie says Hi.... she is so cute and crazy. There is a joke in their house because they say she will be married by her 18th b-day because she is so flirty and so funny (Kellie is a 5 year old girl and when Eric called us on Christmas Day she kept trying to hang up the phone while he was talking to us). Thank you for everything and for all you do for me.
I love you all so much .....oh about the earthquake we didn’t feel a thing haha, oh well I know what do if there is another one..... hope you have a great week love y’al take care. I know the Lord lives and loves us and is watching over us always. Love Eric