The Saga of Renewing a Visa!

Dearest Family,
Whats up? Whats down? How yal doing today? How did the week go? I hope you are all doing good and are working hard too. Well, to tell you the truth I am dead tired and I think it is due to my adventures this morning. I had to go to start my second visa today because mine is up in a month and I don’t want to get kicked out of Chile, or worse put in jail here so I find it easier to live according to the laws haha. I went to one place and it wasn’t it then I went to the Registro Civil, and well the people there didn’t know anything either so they told me to go to the Policia de Investigacion and so we walked 6 blocks to get there and finally talked to somebody who knew whatt was going on and sent me to the government building 4 bocks away. Well I get there and she starts the paperwork and I find out I am missing a paper so I had to go back to the Policia and get the paper and then return and give the paper to the government well all in all what i am trying to say is people don’t know where anything is here. One of the ladies I asked at the mail office said that a government building didn’t exist in Talca and I had to go to Santiago......ya right. I tell you it was like “milking a snake” if you know what I mean. But whatever it is all good I would just have loved to have known where to go and had all the stuff it would have taken like 5 min but nooooo things have to be so complicated here, oh well over and done case closed.

This week went good but not as good as others. We had conference this week and the conference was really good and the food, it was the best food I have had at a conference in the mission, so good. We talked a lot bout loving the people and doing the work out of love so that the people understand why it is so important and can see us working hard to help them. I got to talk to Elder Thomas and he is doing good in Chillan and I am sure he has one more cambio down there. We are hoping we get put in the same zone together it would be cool. I got to here about some of my converts and sounds like they are doing okay 3 are going strong in the church still and others have fallen and started smoking again and others are just lazy. I sent letters to say hi and hopefully get them to church. I was so happy to get a letter from Nick Gall, it has been a long time since I heard from him. I just want to hear from Donny, I have some pics and a letter to send to him because his b-day was this week I am late but I think he might understand.
We had a mini cambio this week too and it went super good. I went to Panamericana with Elder Dowse and we had a super good day and some great lessons and stuff. We got to go to a huge mansion in the campo to teach a guy and I tell you this house was four times our house this guy is loaded but he is really interested in the church but it will be a huge shock to him all the stuff he will have to give up....he lives a very rich and different life.
This past Friday we went to go visit Margarita and her mom, Jacqueline , with the YW Presidency to get here started on Personal Progress and she was super excited for it and we got to talk and share. I have seen a difference in her mom and her other sister, Leslie. We went back over Saturday to invite them to church and Leslie said she would go and we also gave a blessing to Jacqueline because she is sick. Well I called yesterday morning and Tita and Leslie were getting ready to go to church, I was jazzed about that. Also Daniela quit smoking and so she is moving a lot and getting ready for her baptism on the Oct 17 the problem now is her boyfriend who lives with her. We need to find him a place so he can move and she can get baptized. That is the hard part now but, I know the Lord will provide if we all do our part and do what he wants us to do. Daniela brought her daughter to church with her and so that meant I was on keep Samantha quiet and occupied duty so Daniela could pay attention... well you know 2 yr olds and she is a talker! man I tell you.. She is so cute she kept taking off and putting on my plaque and hiding it in my pocket and climbing on me and man was I tired and then in the class she climbed up on my lap and was playing with my face she is so cute she cracks me up.
We have been trying to share with our neighbors and had 2 appointments this but they had conflicts but the familia Cristi said they have had a lot of questions this week and gave them Books of Mormon too. So, I think the door is beginning to open and now it is a matter of time and patience with the Lord. Well I hope you enjoy the photos I sent to yal from the 18 parties and stuff. I love you all so much and send my love too all. I know the Lord lives and loves us. He is aware of our needs and He is willing to bless us as we do his will. I love you all so much, take care.
Love, Eric

Chilean Indpendence Day Celebration, fun, food, food and more food

Hello gringos what cha name?

How is everyone doing? What is new? What is old? What is something that is old that I don’t know? I hope you all had a good week and that are all happy to be back to work and all that good stuff. Good news I got the package this week and was so happy to see goodies and treats and new stuff, thank you. Bad news well I wanted to see how much I weigh last Monday before the fiestas this weekend and well to my surprise I have gained 10 kg here in Talca......I was so sad going into the fiestas but I ate a bunch. It just means now I got to tighten the old belt down and put the nose to the grinding stone to get myself back to my fit self. I don’t look bigger and it might be muscle but oh well too many Family Night goodies I think haha. Oh man have I gotten lazy to write in my journal I am 10 days behind because at night I just want to sleep....but need to get caught up it is my life story. The water heater thing broke in the house and had 4 days of freezing cold showers. They were short and with ice for awhile there I thought I was in Alaska. The guy came to fix it and works a little better but not that great, oh well.

We had a great start to the week up to Thursday night we had found 7 new investigators but after that point the 4 day holiday began and the work just went to level 2. Thursday night we had to go help set up for the activity and then all day Friday we were at the activity with the members. During the week we learned the nation dance “La Cueca” and we were ready to dance it to get a laugh out of the members and have some fun, but some lame members threatened to call Pres on us if we did, so that was enough to pull the fun out of it all oh well but all in all we had a great time and had a lot of fun. All 4 of us got fried, the curse of white skin. We got a lot of pictures and videos that I will send next week because this computer is junk because it is the only place open today. We tried to go do visit at night Friday but nobody was home. A family in our ward asked if we could feed their dog this weekend because they were going to Chillan so we had to got feed their puppy for three days. She is a 1 yr old German shepherd named Tiara, she is cute and nice but is scared of us oh well. The only hard thing was there house is on the other south side of our sector about a 45 min walk and there are no collectivos or micros oh well but it was fun. Saturday was the big celebrations of 18 de Septiembre and we had a good day. We ate constantly all day. We had a late breakfast at 11 of longaniza and eggs then we munched and played UNO and foosball then had a huge barbeque for lunch late lunch at like 5 and then we watched “Mountain of the Lord” and chilled. We were with the familia Cristy who live across the street from us such an awesome family and are getting ready to go to the temple in November to be sealed

After all that we had a late night snack at 9 of more meat and food and played more cards It was a day of eating and I feel so fat. We had few members in church on Sunday but oh well. last night was a hard night to work too because people were out of town and won’t come back untill tomorrow I think. We got up and played futbol this morning and it was fun but I am dead I just want to rest. We had to look for about 5 hrs to find a cyber open because today is a holiday too and nothing I mean nothing is open the whole country of Chile shuts down for 4 days.....so weird. It would never happen in the states....people would die if stores weren’t open on holidays....what are you going to do if you forget something haha.....oh well. cannot wait to show you all the pictures but like I said this computer sucks. I hope you are all good and hope you can get better and stay better. I love you all so much and you are always in my prayers. Have a great week and I cannot wait to here from you all next week take care love you.
Love Eric

A week of Hard Work and Miracles

Hola,
¿Qué tal? ¿Qué cuentan de bueno? Entonces, estoy bien pero cansado pero me di cuenta que es lo normal y puedo dormir despues la misión jajaja. Esta semana me fue bien y trabajé arto par llevar nuestros invs a la iglesia y tuvimos una, daniela fur a la iglesia por que no trabajó sabádo entonces no tuvo tanto sueño en la mañana pero no me dio pena despertarla temprano......son bendiciones de dios jaja. ahora con 4 gringos en la casa se habla puro Spanglish y nos dio tanta risa otro dia por que cambiamos entre español y ingles y nos entendemos y no nos damos cuenta cuando lo hacemos es bien chistos. Jaja

“How is everything? What count of good? I am well but tired. I realized that is the normal thing and can sleep after the mission jajaja. This week was well and I worked even to take our investigators to church and we had one, Daniela for the church. So that Saturday did not work then I was not as sleepy in the morning and it did not give pain me to wake up it early ...... are God blessings. Now with 4 gringos in the house we speak Spanglish. We had to laugh when we realized we changed between Spanish and English and understood and we do not realize when we do it.”

Anyway first off I jumped out of my seat to hear Matt got his call that is so awesome, now maybe he can go to the pro bowl next year in Hawaii hahaha . . . . and to hear Nick’s papers got sent that is so awesome so cool. Nick will be the last of our age group that is still active to leave and that is so awesome. I love those guys and Ryan leaves here soon right? I need to try and get a letter to him quick. I have one but need to send it this week to make sure it gets there. Can you say hi to Nick, Matt and Ryan and send my love and congrats,,,,I have been a little busy to write them but I am always thinking about them. That is awesome news Matt will do great in Hawaii and tell Nick I will see him in January in Concepcion when I pick him up to be his trainer....that would be so insane but I have had a couple a dreams about it. It makes me so happy that they are all on the verge of getting out. I realized the other day that all the Hermanas from my district in the MTC go home in December and Arian Black too goes home either in Dec or Jan....crazy how time flies and stuff just wizzes by in a blink of an eye.

Elder Cockrell is the new gringo in the house and he has one cambio less than me so I am the oldest in the house. He and Elder Stephenson are comp equals there is no comp mayor or menor they are the same which is interesting. Elder Piece and I are doing well sometimes get at each other for stupid stuff but I think it is because we are so alike and sarcastic that we push each others buttons. But, we are working great together. We worked our butts off this week and had some good teaching we didn’t see the immediate results but I know the Lord will blesses us as we work harder and put our faith in Him.

We had a great experience on Friday in the afternoon all of our citas fell so we knocked on doors and got nothing for about half hour and we knocked this huge house and nobody answered so we continued on, as we turned the corner a lady yelled to us asking if we had knocked her door. She had a bunch of books in her hand so we went to talk to her because we figured she needed help, and it is not everyday that people are willing to talk to us so you have got to take what you get. Anyway, she asked if we could help her pray for her son who was taking his final law exam, she invited us in and we talked for a little bit and she told us that she had been baptized 8 yrs ago and become inactivó when the elders left. We offered a prayer and right after we said amen her son called and said he said he passed. It was amazing as we talked we got to know her and one of her sons. It is a family of 6 the wife and husband are members and mavbe 4 sons ages 26,21,18,16.....wow! Her son Matias had some great questions for us and we were able to answer them. As we talked she said as soon as she had started to pray to ask God to send help to her son, we knocked the door and she said she didn’t answer because she thought it was a coincidence......but the more she thought she knew it wasn’t....so that is when she called us back. I felt that I should testify that it was a miracle that that day at that time our cita fell through and we felt we should contact that street and that right in the moment when she was asking for help we knocked her door. I felt the spirit so strong and I know those in the room felt it too. It was such a testimony builder for me to follow the prompting of the spirit because miracles do happen and He will put us where we need to be. They invited us back to there house anytime and we will go back, cannot let this family slip away.

Yesterday we did splits with the Zone Leader and I was doing contacts with Elder Pitcher and got into a house and this guy was prepared. We taught a very powerful lesson and he told us how he felt and we were able to testify to him that it was the spirit he had felt and that it was a sign that the things we taught were true, it was awesome. I told Elder Stephenson and he said he had knock that street three times and never saw anyone in that house....God prepares his children to receive the gospel and it is our responsibility, as missionaries to listen to the spirit and teach and find those who are ready. This week has been a week of hard work and miracles, our God is a God of miracles He has always done them and continues to perform miracles today and He will keep doing them according to our faith. It reminds me of the scripture in Ether 12, “if there is no faith among the children of men God cannot perform miracles.” I love the mission, it is hard and at times frustrating but the blessing and the experiences I have had are all worth it. I know you have been blessed for my service and pray that I can work harder to help you out so that you receive more from our Father in Heaven.

Margarita is doing great but hasn’t gone to church the last two weeks due to her parents. Last week and this week she was super sick a fever and stuff, Ivonne is sick to but she made it to sac meeting which is awesome. She is cool and is a good example for her family and Margarita is too. She is a reading machine, when we went over on Friday she had just finished with 2 Nephi 9 she is pumping though the Book of Mormon and she understands and remembers it all too. We were talking about faith and obedience and she was like oh ya it was like Nephi said to his brother and she opened up to it and referred to a scripture, so awesome to see her with such desire to learn and follow in the church. Daniela went to church yesterday and also had an interview with Elder Pitcher and she still needs to do somethings to get baptized but it is still possible for this month. We need to help her understand the expiación and arrepentimiento (purification and repentance),,,,,hard talks but I am up for it. She really needs this in her life and I know she can do it.

This week had Family Home Evening at the familia Cristy with Daniela and her daughter, Samantha 2 & 6months. She is so cute, I remember when I got here she was so scared and never talked and now never shuts up. She always asks if we are coming over and she says `` tio Elder`` so cute but she is spoiled. We did the lesson and we made pizza and it was so good, I must say I am not to shabby of a chef , anyway I had bought some UNO cards to play a game with because nobody has games and cards here. They are cool UNO cards they are plastic and child proof they can’t wreck them, anyway Samantha wanted to play so when it was out turn I would tell her a color and she would throw it out for us and everybody was playing serious and I had a 2 yr old playing with me on my lap and guess who won...... Samantha and I did haha oh the rest were so mad haha I was just lucky with the kids haha she is a cute littlel thing haha I will have to snap a picture with her this week.

We helped Hermano Cristy with doing blessing and I gave him my oil vial so I am out again...sorry so next package I will need another one, he needed it more than I did... he has a family to care for. I also told him a couple of talks to reference from General Conference about blessings and priesthood. They are planning on getting sealed in November and it will be so cool to see them do it,,,,but I cannot go to the temple well that is an awesome family.

I hope you all have a great week I love you all so much take care. I know the church is true and we were loved by our Father in Heaven. He will provide for us but we need to put the efforts in and show Him we will follow His will. I love you and take care. I am ready for a week of eating because this weekend is the Independence celebration here so fun I will have lots of fotos to show you all chau!
Love Eric

Companion Changes and continuing in the Lord's Work

Querida Familia, ¿Comó estamos? ¿Qué cuentan de lo bueno? ya po, bien hoy es el principio de un cambio nuevo y por eso tengo noticias...............E Pierce y Yo nos quedamos iguales.....jaja él tiene que sufrir conmigo 6 semanas más y E Stephenson se queda pero su comp E Sarmiento se va a Cúrico y el comp nuevo de E Stephenson viene de Cúrico......noticias noticias....bien asi es todo no tengo más que contar entonces, chau que estén bien jajaja. (What count of the good thing? well today is the principle of a new change and for that reason I have the news ............... Elder Pierce and I remained equal ..... jaja he must undergo another 6 weeks more with me and Elder Stephenson remains but his companion and Elder Vine shoot go away to Cúrico, and Elder Stephenson gets a new companion from Cúrico ...... the news the news….that is everything and I have nothing else to say) No just kidding of course I have more to tell;
How is the old familia doing and how is your great American holiday? I hope you are all enjoying you day and are resting up for the long haul this week. Well just so you know it is not a holiday here and work is the usual, but anyway well I was awakened at 7:30 with a phone call of about cambios, and well there we some interesting cambios but that is how it goes. We all got dressed and decided to get to centro a lil ealier to get some house cleaning done in the afternoon for the new guy. This week went well but it was also a hard week too. I think like half of our investigators are avoiding us and the other half have a billion problems but that is how it is; Satanas is just trying to throw the work off. What he doesn’t know is he cannot because we keep working no matter what. But it is all good it is a new week and a new cambio and so it is shoulder to the wheel and push with all your strength. We have gotten a huge help from the stake and now they are doing training for all the ward mission leaders to try and help them help us more and get them pumped up. They do the trainings twice a month and my mission leader has just gotten pumped up and he is working so hard now I can hardly keep up with him. We put the meta to get 50 baptisms in the ward by the end of the year and to reach that we need to have 6 a month. It is surely possible and it will be achieved if we all work and do our part. It is nice to see the leaders putting concern in the obra misional. It is good we went out and did divisones with two members on Friday. It was my first time doing it in the mission and it went well. We had citas fall through but we both were able to meet with people and got 2 new investigators as well. We set up time to go out again this week. I can see the excitement building and there will be a lot of blessings if we continue like this. We got a great referral from a member and when we contacted her she seemed super interested in the church. I was jazzed about that. It is hard to do contacts but sometimes they pay off. Working with the members is the most effective work. I don’t like doing contacts and I have to push myself to do them but, I know God will bless us if we do it. I think being in Cauquenes and doing contacts everyday for 5 months burnt me out but I just need to do it. I have to do every part of the work. even the parts I don’t like. It was a good week for me to learn and grow and know what I have to do. Now I just need to do it.
Saturday morning we had a barbeque at the familia Cristy´s house. It was a bunch of fun and I ate a lot. I am preparing myself for 4 days of eating next week for the bit holiday. It will be so much fun and I cannot wait. I have a very strict diet and exercise plan this week and next week after the holiday so that I don’t gain too much weight. I think I have put on a little here but we are going to go out and run in the morning because has warmed up a bit.
We did some visits with Hermana Alicia because she is the Young Women President and so we visited some of the new Young Women converts and she talked to the parents and explained the program and activities and stuff. It was awesome and it helped Margaritas mom a lot. We are going by again this week so that she can explain Personal Progress and help us with the mom. She washes our laundry and she is so cool. She cracks me up because she was so scared to cross the highway, we had to almost drag her. It is fun to cross highways and especially in other countries!! Margarita and Ivonne didn’t go to church yesterday but it was due to some family problems. Daniela missed also because she had to work a wedding and got home at 5 am.
We have a lot of desafios with our investigators but we just got to work harder. One good thing is that we found a bunch of new houses and this week. We are going to work there and I think we will have some good success out there.
I made an Apple Crisp last night and it was very good. My experiment worked....hee,hee,hee and they loved it. It would have been better with real brown sugar but that is how it is. Every week I am looking for new stuff to do, so if you have any ideas send them too me. I love to cook it is relaxing and in the end you get to eat what you made. The best thing about last night was that we were in the familia Cristy´s house and the neighbors from across the street were there too so got to share with them we know them really well and always talk in the street but never get to share with them, so it was fun. The people love the brownie I make the only thing is we usually have to eat it hot and it is better cool. We made a brownie and served it with ice cream hot and oh it was so good haha,.I love sweets.
That is about it for the big news for the week and I am so far behind in my journal about 2 wks now because I am just so tired to write at night but today I plan to get caught up.
I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well. Miss you a bunch and the time is escaping me here on the mission, the cambios pass like days and I feel like I am missing so much because time is moving so fast. I love being here, I love being part of the Lord’s work and to be able to share the message with all people. I know that God lives and that He loves us and that He sent His son, JesuCristo, to save us and prepare the way. I know if we are obedient and we follow His example and live according to His commandments we will live with God again. I never realized how much of a blessing the gospel is but I can see it in the lives of others and it really is the healer of all healers. We can find all our answers in the holy scriptures and in the words of the church leaders. I have been putting 15 min of my study everyday to read conference talks and I have learned so much. The Lord’s representatives are on the earth to help us but we have to hear and follow. I know this church is true and the true happiness is found in it. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. Take care, te amo mucho.
Love Eric

Sleepless Nights, Dreams of Snowboarding and loving the work of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hello family, ¡Ay Caramba!
What is up on the northwest side on the globe.....What is the news of the news? What is the word from the cool cats? haha everyone knows dogs are cooler! Well what is up with yal and what would you like to tell me?.....nothing? Good well you are all in luck because I am long winded and I could talk for hours without stopping........here I go
Well there were not too many things exciting about this week but it was a tough one and took me to my limits of frustration and sleepless nights. I think our neighbors have become accustom to having a party every Saturday night and with the crappy paper thin windows and walls everything is heard. The guy’s parents go out of town every weekend and his friends come over....this past Saturday consisted of a lot of beer and drugs loud music and then foot races in the street and very bad counting skills or should I say none at all. It was 3 am and I was mad and very tired, Elder Stephenson kept me from going outside and yelling. I thought about calling the Carabineros but they are so lazy they wouldn’t do anything....so I had to lie in bed and try to sleep. Next time I will call the cops though it is ridiculous and best of all we know one of the guys and he is an inactivo and denies it every time we call him out on it. I can tell it is him by his voice and because his girlfriend is always there, oh well the life of no sleep. I have not slept well all week and it is starting to take a toll. It has also heated up but then sometimes the temperature just drops, weird. Oh, Elder Sarmiento is Elder Stephenson´s companion, we live in a house of four because it is a barrio and it is so big. Elder Sarmiento gets up to go to the bathroom like 100 times a night. I was on the top bunk and it squeaks and moves a lot every time he gets up, and so now I am sleeping on the floor where only big earthquakes move my bed.
This week was also tough because it was a hard to get a hold of our investigators. It seems like they all went out of town or something. Umberto, the older guy, was progressing really, we passed by and left notes and called but could not track him down. It was disappointing as were trying to get him ready for the 5th to be baptized. We had trouble meeting with Carla as well because it is far from our house and we need to leave by 9pm to make the 30min walk back to our house. Daniela is progressing a lot but had a hiccup this week as her boyfriend had to move in with her because he couldn’t stay where he was. So now we are trying to find a place where he could rent close so that she can get baptized. When she told us she felt bad because she couldn’t just leave him with out a place but, it is okay now they are looking too. With the help from us and a lot of prayers I know she will be baptized for the 26 Sept. I told her we will work towards that day and she is still full speed ahead. It is good to see her desire to be baptized. Margarita is doing well and is reading and praying and she loves to go to church and the youth activities. It is nice to see the desire she has to continue and follow in the church and learn more. I think her sister Ivonne has helped in that department to helping her learn from her mistakes and stuff. The only problem now is with her mom with have taught her a couple times and invited her pray and read the Book of Mormon and well she did and she straight up told us "I did read and pray but I am not going to change" I know she felt the spirit and received her answer but she will not follow it. She didn’t say her answer was no she said she wouldn’t do it and so now she has been really rude to us and this Friday there was a combine youth activity and Margarita did all her stuff to go and her mom didn’t let her go and Margarita was mad. I was also but had to keep my cool....I don’t know what to do. She almost didn’t let her go to church but we passed by and picked her up. She called us as we were leaving at 10 and said "My mom will let me go but you have to come get me” she then said for us to hurry up before she changed her mind, it was funny she is cool. Ivonne had to work and so that is why there was a problem.
I love the work but it is not easy and well why should it be it is called work? I am having fun I am tired but I am having a lot of fun. I cannot believe how time flies and next week is cambios and I am hoping I will stay here with Elder Pierce but I don’t know it is possible that he will leave but we will see. We had an activity in the morning and played dodge ball and had barbeque it was fun but took a long time and it is an ugly rainy day. I have a NDH tonight and got to get home to make the refreshments así es la vida. I am trying to think of easy and good things to do so if you got ideas tell me please. I am going to try an apple crisp this week I think but the problem is brown sugar does not exist here but with try it anyway....don’t send any. They have something that is like it that I will try, I will let you all know how it turns out but ideas would be nice.
I love you all so much and think about you all a lot. I have had a lot of snowboarding dreams lately my body is in that mode now. The finger wrestling masks are awesome. I always have them with me, please send more and other cool stuff . I am such a child but I play thumb wars with the people and they like the little masks. I want to do a tournament. 18 Sept is coming up it will be fun and I will eat a lot and so the diet and fasting should start now. I love you all and take care. I know the scriptures are true and that there is a Prophet today and we are lucky to hear and read His words and those of the other leaders. I was reading some talks from conference and don’t know why I was so stupid not to pay attention and heed their words it would have saved me form a lot of pain and suffering but, have learned from that and wont do it again. I love you all and take care.
Love you, Eric

Learning to Teach by the Spirit

Dearest Family, People and Kasey :)
Yo what’s up my peeps de la USA? What’s the news on the mainstream? ¿Qué cuentan chiquillos? Well I have heard from mom and pops it has been a busy and exciting week full of unexpected surprises but at least the surprises didn’t hurt the family. Scarey how things can just change in a second. Well I hope you all had a good week and a weekend to rest up a little. Well I guess the big national news here would be the 33 miners that are trapped still but at least yesterday they made contact with them so they are all alive but say it will take up to 4 months to get them out. I don’t know but that sounds ridiculous to me and I don’t know all the facts, but if I was working I would go as fast as possible. That is all we are hearing about right now.....and the earthquake, not to sound mean but I am bored talking about the earthquake.....oh well.
Well this week was a long one and yesterday I was so dead I didn’t even have the energy to tell stupid jokes. A bunch of people told me I look like the walking dead but thanks to the house next door and the party they had all night I didn’t sleep at all. They were loud and had the music blasting all night, then at about 3 or 4am they went out to their cars and sped away but somebody didn’t turn the tunes off. No sleep.....zero courtesy...I was mad but what is done is done. I put my mattress on the floor because it was hot this week so I have been sleeping down there. It is a lot more comfy and I don’t get woken up every time Elder Sarmiento shifts in his sleep...it is a curse to e a light sleeper because nobody suffers but you.

We worked so hard to get investigators to church yesterday but satanas was working hard and we only had 1, Margarita, she did get confirmed so I am super happy. She was super nervous. I guess a kind of sad thing happened this week, well more caught me off guard. Margarita´s sister Ivonne was baptized in April and since we started teaching her sister’s and family we have been going by almost everyday to check on them and keep them progressing, well Ivonne wrote me and Elder Pierce a letter saying how much she appreciated us and what we have done for her family and said that we have become part of the family, she said she found out in a couple weeks there is a possibility that one of us will leave the sector and she has been down about that. She told us to not tell her when we leave because she knows it will be hard on her. It just made me realize how much the people Iam teaching depend and love me and how hard it really is to say goodbye to people who helped change your life and better your family. I try my hardest to not think about leaving a sector because it is so hard to say goodbye and it might be the last time you see this person. While it is sad it gave me that extra boost to do my best to stay in contact with people while I am out here and after too. It sure is hard to say goodbye. I too feel that the people I am teaching and members are part of my family I would do anything for them like I would for you guys. I just need to live worthy to be able to be an example to them all my life to help them achieve the vida eternal (eternal life).
This week we had a 2 day training with the assistance and it was about the new focus of the First Presidency of the Church. All the new mission presidents this year are starting this new program and next year it will be put in all missions. Basically we are teaching the same lessons but the church has come up with some other focus lessons to help the investigators be converted to the gospel and not just baptized so that they can stay active in the church. They are called ´´The 8 Simplified Lessons´´ and basically focus on the way we can receive personal revelation and how to teach and listen better. Teaching to what the person needs to help them be converted. We had this 2 day training to go over all the lessons in detail to help us learn how to teach them and we focused on listening to the Spirit and talking when He wants us to speak. We did a practice where it was just me and my companion and we extended the baptism invitation but when we felt the Spirit tell us to do it and then others how to respond yes or no according to if they felt the Spirit or not too. It really helped me learn how to recognize the spirit when He tells me to talk and not to try and solve things with my knowledge but put my faith in God and wait and listen then speak according to the promptings from Him. It was a very uplifting training for me and I am so grateful for it. At the end we had to do a practice and we had to teach according to what we knew about the person which wasn’t much it was about six points or so. Elder Wilde was this person, we had five minutes to plan how to start the lesson just how to start. Elder Pierce and I planned something and with luck got called on....I said a prayer in my head and started.....as I talked I could feel the spirit guiding me and as my companion spoke I listened and prayed...I didn’t think about what I wanted to say but put my faith in God and the Spirit to tell me what to say. We both listened and He opened up to us. I felt the Spirit so strong and I felt guided by Him, it was just a practice but I know if I can do that with all the people I teach I will be a better and more powerful missionary. I know this is the Lords work and He guides us in it. We shouldn’t be afraid to open our mouths and talk because He will tell us what to say in the precise moment when we need it. I am amazed at the things I say sometimes because I know I don’t have the capacity to teach alone and yet with the help of the Spirit I can reach out and touch the hearts of the people I was edified this week and I know I can be better and I am striving to do that, to teach better, to prepare better but most of all to listen to the Spirit better because He will guide me in the work.
It was a good tiring week. We had a mini cambio too, so it threw some stuff off but oh well. We had a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and last night and I am sweeted out I have eaten a lot of brownies and other sweets I need salt now! I am perfecting the brownie and it gets better every time. Oh I got the package thanks mom but one question....Why did you send me potato pearls? they feed me here! but thanks mom I think I will start eating them for breakfast. I sure do love them thanks mom I love you. Thank you for all you do for me and for your love and support I love you all so much and hope as is well with you. I know the gospel is true and that we have the knowledge of the things that will guide us to the life entera. I love you so much and have a great week. Love you say hi to all for me.
Love Eric

A Busy and Awesome Week

Hey Yal,
¿cómo anda la cosa? jaja Well how is everyone doing and what is new with yal? I hope everything is good with you. I am sure you have seen the email I sent earlier and by now know that yesterday we had a baptism and it went so good and the spirit was surely felt there by all.
Margarita Soledad Hernández Garcia (13), is the second in her family to be baptized. Her older sister Ivonne was baptized in April. She is super cool, we started teaching her 4 weeks ago and I still remember the first visit we had with her, she didn’t say a word, she is super shy but little by little she came out of her shell and now when we visit her house she is a talking machine....well not quite but she has more confidence to speak up and answer questions and make fun of my stupid jokes.
Everybody says that my jokes are stupid and lame but they all crack up and well it doesn´t matter how bad it is if they laugh you have achieved the goal an well they always laugh no matter how lame my jokes are . But I have also learned it is all in the way you tell it.....a lot of excitement leading up to a super lame punch line gets them everytime haha, but it is all good. Margarita really likes the church and it helps that her sister Ivonne is there to help her and keep her going. We are now focusing on their mom. She has showed some interested when we have gone by to teach the last couple times she has sat and shared with us. We are working with her the other sister Leslie. They are a cool family and I love going by their house we have a lot of fun but also have had a lot of spiritual moments too. Yesterday went awesome though. Her mom and sisters came to the baptism to support her and the spirit was super strong. It was good to see the support of the Young Women leaders too it is a new presidency but they stayed to support Margarita in this. I was really honored to be able to baptize her. I had to borrow pants from Elder Stephenson.....size 34....a little tight but they did the job. They were teasing me and making comments about my tight pants and skinny waist but oh well it sometimes is a burden to be beautiful like me (jaja jk lol) it went awesome though and I am still jazzed about it.
We also had another investigator in church yesterday, Umberto, He is a grandpa but he is really interested in the church. He came alone to church yesterday. He is really nice and loves when we come over, we have to teach a little slower but it helps us to focus on his needs and he understands it all. He has a date for the 5 Sept and I think he will make it for that day. Saturday night we passed by one of our other investigators that was progressing but has kind of lost steam, Daniela. She looked different when we walked in and we talked for a bit and as we were talking she got really serious and she said, "quiero bautizarme en septiembre” (I want to get baptized in September) I was blown away because she has been going through a lot of tough stuff and kind of lost the desire to get baptized but she said she had thought a lot about it and said that she needs to take this decision in her life to help with other ones. It was so awesome she even set her own fecha for the 26 Sept. It is awesome it just added to a great weekend. It was such a good feeling to hear those words from somebody, to know that they really understand and want to do to be baptized. It is amazing the power of the spirit.
There was a little bit of panic last night when we got a call from Ivonne, sister of Margarita, saying that a couple of her family members heard about the baptism and started to talk bad about the church and telling Margarita how dumb of a choice it was. We canceled our 2 appointments to go out and see her. She was a little upset but it wore off. We talked about 3 Nefi 14:24-27, where it talks about the house on the rock and sand, and about how when we obey God´s commandments we are built on the rock and when we don’t we are on sand. We then explained about what happened to each house, on the solid foundation of the rock the house was firm but on the shifting sands the house fell. We taught about how both of the houses had to experience the afflictions and challenges, temptations and teasing, but if we stay firm in our faith and obedience we will stand still, and not be washed away by the words of others. She felt a lot better after and I felt the spirit really strong. She is super cool and I am so happy for her because now she can enjoy her youth in the church, she is like my little sister I love her so much and wish the best for her. When I got the call we were in the house of members eating lunch...late lunch at 6.... but I just got so mad and after the call everyone asked what was wrong....2 hours had barely past and satanás was at work. The way to fight him isn’t to throw punches or yell and scream but to show and practice the truths of the gospel and to testify of the power of God. I am very thankful for the call from her sister to give us the heads up. I know Margarita has great examples in her life. I know the spirit of God wins every time and that we need to hold strong and follow the commandments because the challenges will come no matter what but we need to be prepared. The adversary is aware of the work we are doing and he can try to stop it but he cannot understand the power of the atonement of Christ nor the power of the truth. This weekend was a very spiritual one for me and I will keep trying my best to keep it that way.
As you can tell by the photos we played fútbol with the hombres jovenes (young men) on Saturday, it was super fun and I scored a goal. I got some awesome pics. It was a bunch of fun but man was I tired after, cannot wait till the church is done to be able to play there without lame people complaining because it is ours. We heard we might be back in it on the 15 Sept....but we will see I sure hope so.

This week we have a 2 days training with the assistant, so 2 days of hard work and sweat in the church building and 2 days lost to work in my sector but oh well, I know it will help us so I am going with a good attitude ready to learn.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. Work hard I cannot wait to hear back from you all. Love you so much. I know God and JesuCristo live and love us. They will help us find the way home and will guide us every step along the way. I love you so much and miss you a bunch too. Take care. Compórtense bien (behave well).
Love, Eric