With this news I thought I could explain some testimony and experiencess I have had this week. The day b4 president rappleye called me por telefone, I was praying in my bed, and I began to ask God to bless grandpa that he could be comforted and healed, but after asking to be healed the spirit told me to not for ask that, instead I felt impressed to ask that he could be comforted and filled by the spirit and whatever was to happen that it could be the will of the lord. I didnt want to say that in my prayer but guided by the spirit I couldnt, I didnt think anything of it, but in the back of my head I knew what it was leading to, As I thought about that it brought me to think of a talk by Elder Bednar when he gave a blessing to someone that had cancer that just recently got married with a family, in that experience he said in the prayer that he could have the faith to not be healed, that talk touched me a ton and began to remember something very profound, we need to live our lives serving the lord and being good people, being accepting the lords will, and I can testify to you that grandpa was one of the great examples to us that was ready to take the next step to eternal life.
The next day we went into a house of one of our investigators, it was weird because usually when we teach this family we just teach the parents but their 2 kids sat in so we took advantage of this, we told them we were going to have a family night, where each person gets 3 papers that we had written questions such as your favorite christmas, or favorite vacation with the family, (experiences with the family) before starting we got a call from president and answered in front of them because that always means something urgent or important, it was during cambios so I just thought that my comp was going to become a leader or something, and gave it to me, I was confused and didnt know what to think, I answered as I walked to the kitchen of the families house and said hollaaa presidente como esta? he responded happy and I wondered what he had to tell me, then he took a deep breath and got serious I wasnt sure what happened, he then asked where I was and I told him we were teaching a investigator family how to do a noche de hogar, and we were going to teach them that families can be together forever, he said ah yeah thats sounds great, then took a another deep breath, and told me the news about grandpa, I was pretty shocked and caught off guard, then he helped reminding me of the great plan of happiness and also told me he called earlier in the day so I could be busy doing other things to not think about it to much, after hanging up my eyes began to get watery, I went to sit down and the could tell I was a little sad but didnt ask, still Elder Barrientos didnt know, he said the prayer and during the prayer I began to cry, which I thought in my mind, no no no I cant cry I have to stay strong and keep the atmosphere happy. after the prayer I was teary eyed and the dad put his arm on my leg and asked if I was ok and what happened, I just then said oh things are ok can I just use the bathroom really quick. And in the bathroom I cried more, I was super embarrassed but couldnt help it, it was the first time I cried in front of investigators as well as a companion. I cleaned myself up and said a prayer asking that I could have the strength to finish up the lesson with happiness and felt grandpas spirit in that room. I left the bathroom and put on a smile, they were busy doing the activity so they didnt ask what happened and for my turn of my favorite christmas I told them about the christmas we spent in draper at grandma and grandpas house when we woke up and outside was full of snow and we made an igloo, I got emotional there but held it in, that lesson the spirit was very strong and at the end we both testified that our families can be together forever and these traditions will always be with us forever, as well as our families. I never told them what happened but when I testified that we really will live with our families after this life I really meant it, I know without a doubt that we will see grandpa again and live with all our family again. Being a missionary your schedule is busy and you dont have much time to think, the busy schedule and the spirit helped me focus on the work and get things done, one thing I learned the most about the mission is the importance of positivety, and making the most out of what comes your way and finding something to enjoy or to learn from, also to give all to the lord and he will help you understand our purpose here on the Earth, I have been praying a lot for grandma and mom and the rest of the family and Im so greatful for our family, I hope the funeral can be a great spiritual experience and that it can be a time to remember how great the plan of salvation is and also remember how great a man grandpa was, from fishing to buying him chocolate candies with the white sprinkles every christmas he had a great impact on my life and the plan of salvation helps us know that we can have this joy forever. thanks for the photos and all.
Other than that it has been a great week of the mission, we have started clases of ingles here in natales and play ping pong with the son of Alfonso our recent convert, his son isnt a member and this will help him have a better connection to the church and feel more comfortbale, after teaching him the gospels principal class he asked me for a book of mormon and has a lot more interest, we are really excited to work more with his family, also for cambios me and elder barrientos are staying together another cambio here in puerto natales so we are excited to work together some more, and to learn more spanish and how to be the best missionaries we can be.
Today we left to The milodon Cave (La Cuava del Milodon) it was super sweet Ill post some pictures for you, I think im getting chubbier in the face =( haha our mamita gives us sooooo much food and its really good, but i just hope I dont get too bad, ha trying my hardest to mantain.
Love you so much
Take care this week
Elder Carter
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