this week went by really fast and not a lot happened so this letter might be short.
there's a convert in our ward, Vicky whos 24 years old and left to serve a mission in argentina this past wednesday. shes super awesome and strong in the church. so tuesday night we walked to her house, which is at the very end of our sector, to say goodbye. she asked us for mission advice and we took lots of pictures. it reminded me a lot of when i left.
we're teaching a man named Javier, i cant remember if ive already told you about him but he's awesome. he's 44 and has a shoe repair shop in our sector. we've been coming into his shop every other day and when there are no customers in the store we teach him as fast as we can before someone comes in haha. hes like our best friend, super funny and really interested in the church. the first time we met him he said he wanted to come to our church on sunday to see what its like. he still hasnt been able to make it but we're working with him. hes really repaired to recieve the gospel. he lives alone and the only thing he wants and prays for is to be happy. hes searching for away to find lasting happiness. a few years back he was in a fishing accident and almost died. he told us that he actually did die, he felt hi spirit leaving his body but then someone gave him cpr and brought him back. he doesnt know why hes still here on the earth or if there is a reason but he now knows that there is something beyond just this life. its amazing, its hard not to just teach him everything at once.
we had a lesson with daniel, the last before his baptism and we got to meet his mom! shes catholic but was willing to sit in on our lesson and seemed interested. we were really excited.
we also taught our investigator claudia and her friend Phillip the plan of salvation. claudia has an addiction to video games and internet and anime shows so she could not focus o stay on topic and everything she said was a reference to some tv show. it was rough but her friend phillip was great, asked lots of questions, had great answers and was really interested and he lives in our sector too!
on friday nights there is always a ward noche de hogar and we invited Javier and he was going to come, we were supposed to meet him at his store at 7:30 after he closed and walk with him but we got to his store at 7:35pm and he wasnt there, he had already closed up and gone home and wasnt answering his phone.... it was a bummer. we invited a menos activo to come but he bailed on us too.
on sunday at 9¨30am Daniel was baptized!!!!!! yay!!! it almost didnt happen because there was a lot of opposition. saturday night daniel was with his friends and they started drinking and partying. luckily nothing happened but he was a little shaken up. then his mom decided not to come to his baptism because she heard some weird stuff about mormons from her super catholic friend. so daniel came alone to his baptism. sunday morning he called us at 7:30am and said that he was in his hometown, 1 hour away and he couldnt find a bus to take him to valdivia. we quickly kneeled down and said a prayer and 20 mintues later he called us and said he was on a bus and on his way. he got to the church 20 mintues late so the baptism didnt start until 9:30am instead of 9m. we talked to member about bringing white pants for daniel, but the member forgot and had to go back home for them so that was another 10 minutes late. some of the ward members started giving us palos, which means blaming us and telling us what we did wrong and it was rough.
but the baptism happened and daniel is now a member of the church and it was great because a lot of ward members came out to support him.
i sang a special musical number of a couple primary songs mixed together. really short and sweet. we started sacrament meeting at 10:20am and daniel was confirmed too. he looked really happy.
last night we had a noche de hogar with a hermana from the ward and she made us pichanga. i love pichanga, and i was starving so i ate the most out of everyone. this was a huge mistake. the pichanga was dripping with oil and i woke up this morning with the worst stomach ache ever. i puked two times.
we had to wake up this morming early too because hna conde just completed 1 year in the mission and had to travel to osorno to renew her visa. so we had to catch a bus at 7 in the morning and be in the mission office by 9am i felt awful the entire trip and now i just want to sleep. today was all about just trying not to puke again.
i writing from Osorno right now, we have to take a bus back to valdivia soon. osorno is really urban and it fun to see all the tourist attractions that i saw on google images when i first searched chile osorno when i got my call.
and to answer your question mom it is fun to have a latina companion. i do feel like my spanish is improving. im getting better at thinking in spanish but its hard because i cant just ask her "he what does this word mean" because she doesnt know it in english. but now i really feel like i can speak spanish. im not so stressed out anymore.
thats awesome about the investigator Christine, i'll be praying for he. thanks for being such a member missionary family
this transfer is already halfway over and its gone by so fast. im enjoying my time here and learning a lot.
hope everyone has a great week!
love, hermana Williams
