Well from the sounds of this email, it was a hard week for Elder Ponce and Elder McAlister. They lost multiple strong investigators during the week. These are the type of weeks that make being a missionary very difficult sometimes.
If you have a minute to drop Sean an email with some words of encouragement this week, that would be great!
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Hola como estám,
All is well here in Chile and time
is really flying by faster every day. I am a little interested in this Chilean
rest restaurant! I hope that it was good. Glad to hear all is going well and
that everyone is good in health.
Last Monday I was running around
because they decided to have a meeting with all the leaders in the mission and
it was at 9 in the morning until about 2:30 so we pretty much lost our p-day
last week, and it was a little sad. The meeting was really good and we are
seeing how we can help the members and the missionary's to work together and
how we can really focus on the vision in the mission.
Well this week has been really
different and a little bit of a shocker. We have been working really hard and
everything seem to be going very good and we were pumped that we were going to
have two baptisms this week. We ended up hearing from Nancy on last martes (Tuesday), at night that she was leaving
to Santiago and she said that she would call us when she would get back. So
when she told me that, I got a little worried and then we ended up passing by
her house on Friday and she told us that she didn't want to share with us
anymore. So we talked to her for a little bit outside her door and she told us
that she found god and she doesn't want to share with us anymore. Then she
threw us out her house pretty much! That was a really big shocker for us and we
got really worried about why she doesn't want to share with us anymore. So we
passed by on Saturday seeing if someone said something to her, or just what
happened, because she was ready. After a while, she kicked us out of the house
and told us that she doesn't want to hear us anymore and that really got us. Also
was we passed by Cristina, and she told us that she doesn't want anything to do
with us either, which we still have no idea why she doesn't want to share with
us. Then we went over to the house of Ignacio who had fecha and he told us that
he doesn't have time to share with us because the University is starting up.
With Juana, who is in the sector of
Elder Bryan, the president ended up going to the lesson and she won’t be
getting baptized until the guy leaves the house for good and so she is still
going to church, but she won’t be getting baptized right now.
All is well with me and Elder Ponce
and we are working harder than ever. It’s gotten really crowded here with all
the college students getting back to studying. There are so many people now it’s
driving me crazy with two colleges and all types of people. The good part is
there are a lot of new people in our sector.
Elder Ponce and I have started
skinning some ties and it turned out really good. I did it with one of the ties
that an Elder gave to me and the tie looks 100 times better that before. So I
might do it with a few more of my ties because I like them skinny!
Well thank you guys so much and I
really miss you and I hope that you guys have a good week. Keep on following in
the Lord’s way and have a safe week. Love you guys a ton!
Elder McAlister
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Spiritual thought time! I read a quote from Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson,
Young Women General President, from her October 2013 Conference talk "Be
Ye Converted" about becoming truly converted. This quote tied in really
well with the the First Presidency Message in the February Ensign that I
used in my Home Teaching visits last month.
Sister Oscarson said "True conversion is more than merely having a knowledge of gospel principles and implies even more than just having a testimony of those principles. It is possible to have a testimony of the gospel without living it. Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe and allowing it to create ‘a mighty change in us, or in our hearts.’"
This concept of acting upon what we gain a testimony if is so important a outlined in this excerpt from the First Presidency Message:
"We know from our own experience and from observing others that having a few great moments of spiritual power will not be enough. Peter denied he knew the Savior even after he had received a witness by the Spirit that Jesus was the Christ. The Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon had direct testimony given to them that concerns and turned toward service to lift others as they move upward to eternal life. To obtain that conversion, we can pray and work in faith to become the new creature made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
I thought about this statement a lot in preparation for Home Teaching and shared with my families many of the important events through my life that have really build my testimony and my desire to serve. It was not a single event, but many like my baptism, being in the Washington D.C. with my parent for their temple sealing, seeing a living Prophet (Spencer W. Kimball) for the first time in person in Madison Wisconsin at a regional conference, going through the temple for myself right before my mission, the hundreds of experiences on my mission, taking your mother to the temple to be married, having a family (three great daughters and an incredible son) and being helped trying to raise my children with the influence of the spirit (I messed up so much I need all the help I can get), the many opportunities to use the Priesthood to bless my family, and the many callings I have had over the years. The list goes on and on, but it is the total sum of all these events and experiences that make up my conversion, not a single event.
Sister Oscarson said "True conversion is more than merely having a knowledge of gospel principles and implies even more than just having a testimony of those principles. It is possible to have a testimony of the gospel without living it. Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe and allowing it to create ‘a mighty change in us, or in our hearts.’"
This concept of acting upon what we gain a testimony if is so important a outlined in this excerpt from the First Presidency Message:
"We know from our own experience and from observing others that having a few great moments of spiritual power will not be enough. Peter denied he knew the Savior even after he had received a witness by the Spirit that Jesus was the Christ. The Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon had direct testimony given to them that concerns and turned toward service to lift others as they move upward to eternal life. To obtain that conversion, we can pray and work in faith to become the new creature made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
I thought about this statement a lot in preparation for Home Teaching and shared with my families many of the important events through my life that have really build my testimony and my desire to serve. It was not a single event, but many like my baptism, being in the Washington D.C. with my parent for their temple sealing, seeing a living Prophet (Spencer W. Kimball) for the first time in person in Madison Wisconsin at a regional conference, going through the temple for myself right before my mission, the hundreds of experiences on my mission, taking your mother to the temple to be married, having a family (three great daughters and an incredible son) and being helped trying to raise my children with the influence of the spirit (I messed up so much I need all the help I can get), the many opportunities to use the Priesthood to bless my family, and the many callings I have had over the years. The list goes on and on, but it is the total sum of all these events and experiences that make up my conversion, not a single event.
Well Sean didn't send any pictures this week, but I found a few on the Mission blog to share this week....
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| The Mission District Leaders |
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| Elder Ponce and Elder McAlister |
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| At a Mission Conference |
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| Concepcion Mission Conference |
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| The Concepcion District March 2015 |
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