Hey!
Hows it going?! So quick reminder that im in osorno now so
my pday will be on saturdays, when I write and all so you can write me friday
or i wont see it til next saturday, but yep so hows it going?!
This week was pretty awesome, lots and lots of things that
happened. First of all we headed to that one small pueblo with the stake
president and some other missionarys and it went super well, it was crazy
because the church isnt there right now and hasnt been for years (20 or 30
years) So we had a plan to visit the list of members that were there, it was
super cool because we went with teens that are preparing to go on the mission
and had splits with them, it was such a beautiful place and perfect to get
these teenagers excited to serve. No one recognized the missionaries there and
were super loving it was way cool, ha it was easy to find the names of the
people because its such a small town that everyone knows each other. Us
personally didnt have the chance to find old members but others did and they
were so excited to hear from the missionarys, imagine being a member but not
having a place to meet and partake of the sacrament, some had the chance to
teach these members and the members cried with happiness of a hope that one day
the church can start back up again, the topic will be if they are going to
implement a group there (where they can meet and partake of the sacrament with
a leader of the nearest ward) step by step this place can get started, oh it
was so cool as well, all the jovenes were super stoked that they could do the
work, every year jovenes are being even more prepared, its such an amazing time
to be a missionary, the joven that left with me to do the work was shyer but we
taught a lady in the street about prayer and the restored church and he had the
chance to explain the way the spirit answers our questions and quides us, it
was super cool to see his excitement after testifying.
We were inspired after that trip to start having
"invasions" in sectors that are struggling to find people. An
"invasion" is where your district or zone goes to one sector and the
missionaries of that sector give you a designated place to work with some lists
of less actives and contacts and everyone works super hard in one sector for
like 3 hours more or less. It is an amazing way to get the work speedying up in
a sector thats dead or slower. We also want to start applying this but as well
with the jovenes of the stake that are preparing to leave on the mission to go
with us to do these "invasions", this week we did one in one sector
for one for one of the missionaries in our district and went super well, could
speed up the work.
We also had an intercambio with one of the elders in the
office, he doesnt have a companion right now so we went with him to go visit
one of his investigators, oh his investigator was sooo amazing, so prepared, we
explained the gospel and the spirit was so strong as he told us he is taking
this for real now, and really wants to know how he can truly apply repentance
in his life, I think the key thing we talked about was how amazing it is to be
baptized and be part of this grat covenant or promise with god that his spirit
will always be there to help him overcome all the trials in his life, he loved
to hear about the gift of the spirit and how its a sanctifier and purifier.
We also had a ton of less actives come to church this last
sunday, its so amazing because it was those we passed by, its super cool to see
the most powerful tool to get someone to church is a hymn and the book of
mormon, each person that we shared with had a very distinct memory of their
testimony of the book of mormon and as well as songs they sung when they were
young like im a child of god, I think my first roots of a testimony were made
in primary singing and learning that I was a son of God, ha as well as the
music mom always played of the church in the car when we were young.
Something else super awesome we got to do this week was have
mutual with the jovenes, our assignment for the ward is the counselors of young
mens. The president couldnt be there but we planned a mutual where we taught
how we can check oil and other simple tasks in the cars, we made sandwhiches
and milkshakes as well, and we got to end with a sweet video talking about how
they can recieve revelation by the spirit even at their age. It was such a cool
moment to see all the jovenes tell us they are committed to serve the mission,
it was touching because there are only 3 jovenes one that has 12, other 14 and
other 17. All super excited, the youngest one said "this is the best
mutual ive ever had!" haha it was touching cause it was a simple mutual
but I remember many of the simple mutuals ive had have had an impact on my
life. So greatful for the church and for all the leaders that have helped me
find my own testimony and know what it truly means to be a disciple of christ
as well as enjoy this life.
But yep good times, ha really just trying to work hard and
get my ward going, theres only 50 that assist here so its a very small ward and
we share the ward boundaries with hermans in the other sector so in our sector
theres only 2 members, so we are just being super creative and just praying for
guidance, I really really want to have success in this sector, there are sooo
many menos activos so we will really be working on how we can inspire them all.
Also we had Zone Council, which went super well we
emphasized how our zone is doing amazing in references of families and we
created a form that they can implement where they can write the plans they have
of how that family can be the ones to contact the reference and play a part in
the work, as well we focused on how we could be good at verifying and find the
best way to do it, we created a system that focuses on different key indicators
different days and has worked well, and lastly we have really focussed on the
great joy that comes by inviting people to be baptized, we explained that its important
to invite to see the interest, as well showing them why we are here, also with
putting them with a baptismal date more then anything to tell them more or less
it will take 4 weeks to teach you all we need to, and if you do what we invite
you, more or less in that time you will recieve your own testimony and be ready
to enter the door to a life with more purpose and guidance, baptism is such a
key doctrine to understand as a member.
But yep hope all is well, Im super excited about the work, I
cant tell you how amazing it is to be a missionary, we have come home wiped
every day and the spirit is constantly telling us that this is the work of the
lord, love you all so much, one quote I love that president rappleye told us is
"If you missed the joy, you missed it all" We gotta enjoy our
missions, journeys, lives, this gospel is not just made to recieve that great
gift of eternal life, but the peace in this life and a new perspective of
living.
Que les vaya bonito
Elder Carter
Puerto Octay
Ferrocarril
Mutual para los jovenes