So much progress!

So guess what, before the mission i was 100 percent anti ice skating, i hated it. Probably just because i sucked. But today i went ice skating with my zone, and i freaking loved it!!!! i wasnt even bad, i was even racing people!!!! Granted i didnt win any races, but i raced. I have some pretty sick pics from it, but ill have to send them next week. I even taught a couple of south american missionaries who have never skated before how to do it, it was a Christmas miracle! except its not quite Chrsitmas..... A ALMOST THANKSGIVING MIRACLE!!!!! So ill have to take the little girls out ice skating some day.

So this week was really awesome F and L both passed their baptismal interviews!!!!!!!!!! The third person that was going to get baptized i realized that he wasnt quite ready, so i had to talk to him and tell him that he wasnt going to be able to get baptized this week, he was pretty much just wanted to get baptized for his girlfriend but didnt have any testimony, and his family was pretty anti him getting baptized, so i had to tell him that we were going to keep helping him to get to another day. Which will be alot better for him,

Well i a can pretty much just think about ice skating right now hahaha it was supper funny, there was at one point where a missionary got a chunk of ice and threw it at me, and so to get him back i saw a big spot where there was just a bunch of shredded ice, from people sliding to a stop, so what i did is a did a super sick slide where i was going pretty fast and i threw myself into a slide and slid over like 10 feet! and then i scooped up a ton of ice, and then once i had a bunch of ice i got myself back up, and raced up behind the missionary, and then when i got close to him i slowed myself down ,and went into stealth mode, and i quietly snuck up behind him, and put the ice down the back of his shirt!!!! I was honestly afraid that he was going to freak out, and fall and kill both of us, but he didnt, but he did let out a pretty awesome yell! Hahahahaha

But anyways so this week i spent alot of time on transfers with other missionaries. But there was one when i went down to a sector called Estrecho (its right on Magellan Straight ( i think thats what its called, that passage that Magellan used in la Tierra del Fuego to cross from the Atlantic to the pacific ocean) But anyways i went down there because the missionaries where having alot of problems, so we made the newer missionary go to my sector with my comp, so that he could see what an ideal sector looks like ( i do not like saying that it makes me sounds super prideful, but thats what we were doing) and then i went down the Estrecho so that i could help out the other missionary there. 

And everything there went really great! The problems were really just caused because they had very very little support from the ward, and that kind of depressed them, which took away their desires to work ,and got lazy and then all their sector started to die. But i went down there because i kind of have alot of experience with fixing problems like that. So i spent the day there working and talking to the missionary helping him get pumped up to work, and giving him new ideas. And by the end the missionary was like a new person, he was working really hard, and super excited to get to work.

One little quote of what i told him was this. (we were just talking about how he thought that it was really hard being in this situation. and i told him ``Elder, i know that being in a ward like this is really hard, But there is one thing that you are forgetting about. The Lord sent you here because he trusts you. He knew that this ward is really weak, and needs alot of help, and He sent you here, because he trusts you. He knows that you would be able to handle it. The Lord sent you here, because he has a giant work waiting for you, there are SOO Many Souls here in this sector, that are waiting for you. Dont let them down. Do what the Lord expects you to do. Be the missionary that they need to bring them back to Gods Presence....`` It kept going but it was good for him.

The next day was super funny, i asked the missionary to call his bishop, because i wanted to meet with him. And so when the missionary called the bishop he put it on speaker phone and said ``Hey Bishop, right now i am sitting here with the Zone Leader, hes the leader of the missionaries in this Stake, And he told me about how he recently had a meeting with the Stake President about the progress of the work here in the Stake, and apparently there is something really important that he needs to talk to you about from that meeting, And wants to do it in person, not over the phone, when can we meet with you``  

That Poor Bishop sounded TERRIFIED!!! He Had reason to as well trying to set up an appointment like that.  sheesh i had something good that i wanted to talk to him about.

But anyways i meet up with the bishop, and he invited me into his office, and he just looks Terrified, like i was just going to call him to repentance for not doing his job right or something like that (just so you all know he is doing his job right, hes a freaking awesome bishop) And there was a moment of silence that was terrible, its like he was trembling... Shoot im all out of time, but ill tell you the rest of the story later, but just so you know before hand i just told him a bunch of good things and got him super pumped to work with the missionaries too. 

But i love you all!!!!!!!

 My studies generally go one of two ways. Both of which are real pictures and not planned, my comp just grabbed my camera without me looking both times and took a picture haha

Milagro + Hard Work = the Story of L

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

But first i have some news updates, i got another call from the mission presidente this week, telling me that he got a call from Salt Lake this last week, about our plane tickets home, and they said that they did not want us to travel home that day (im just assuming that they had some vision of a plane crash) but they told the mission Presidente that he wasnt allowed to send any of the missionaries home before the 15th. And so he called me to tell me that i wont be coming home on the 7th, but on the 15th.

Im happy about it that just gives me another week to work with, that gives me even more time to work in la viña del Señor. but i imagine that there may be problems with colleges. I would still like to study the first semester when i get home, so i would appreciate it if you can find out if i will be able to miss that much time right at the start of the semester. If you cant the presidente told me that alot of the school in the united states have another ´´block´´ of school that starts in febuarary. If i cant miss the first week of school, could you look into that for me?

ok so check this. this last week i had a skype conference with Elder Nelson from the quorum of the 12 apostles. And there is really just one part that i want to share about that. But after the conference he extended me an apostolic blessing, and it was incredible, because in the blessing he used multiple phrases that were exact thoughts that i had, and that i was worried about. But there is one part of the blessing that i wanted to send home, he said ´´You will be a disciple of Jesus Christ...you will return home from your mission, and will continue to be a missionary among your own people, and your service will bring them to Christ...´´ I almost cried when he said that because i knew for a fact that the words that came out of his mouth, came directly from God because throughout the blessing he used exact phrases that had been running though my head recently. It was awesome

But after the conference i got home, to a very very very happy discovery. i got home, and my phone started ringing. And i see that it was my investigator L (i know that ive talked about her before) and as soon as i answer the phone she yells ´´ELDER MY DAD GAVE ME PERMISSION TO GET BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!´´And yo respondi ´´WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! THATS AWESOME!!!!!!!!¨´´And then she told me just the miraculous story about how her mom, who as i mentioned once was a hard core anti mormon, and how her dad, and i think i mentioned, without going into sensitive information, was kind of a jerk, gave her permission to get baptized. And how they supported her 100 percent now, and even said that they were going to come to the baptism and then possible start coming to church with her!!!!!

And so on the 29th of this month she is going to get baptized, also with F, both of them are getting baptized together!!!!!! im pretty sure i told you about F. When the missionaries started teaching him he was literally one of those drunks that pretty much lived on the street. And the missionaries started teaching him back in Feb. And when i got here, he was still a drunk. i dont know why the missionaries never dropped him before  But since i got here, he started getting professional help, and has gone about 2 months now without drinking. Its been the longest time in pretty much all of his life that he has gone without alcohol. But he is going to get baptized too. And they are both super excited. this last sunday the two of them started talking about that they wanted to do at their baptism for hymns and stuff. And its awesome. 

Miya thanks for the idea for H!!!!!! that never occurred to me. Im not sure how ill do it, because, hot glue guns dont exist in South America, and i havent ever seen any stores that would sell just elastic for me to use. But im sure that i will be able to find something out. Even if i have to sew the whole tie together, but hey whatever works right?

This week it was also super crazy, there was a bunch of hard core wind storms too ( like those ones i told you about last time, but last time it was just really snowy and so it just threw ice hard at us) But this week there was no snow on anything ( in fact all the snow melted away and hasnt been any for a couple of weeks now) But anyway there was no snow on the ground, and so the wind was literally strong enough that it would lift small rocks off of the ground and send them flying, i dont know how many times i got slammed hard in the face or in the head by a stupid rock. And granted they arent big enough to hurt alot, they just really sting, but still.. not fun.

But there was something super funny. We were walking down the street the other day and there was a ton of wind, and i look and i see i giant piece of styrofoam flying though the air, and i pretty easily dodged it, but my comp didnt see it coming and it hit him Straight in the face and it broke in half on his face. It was so funny!!!!!

But anyways i got to go. Thats crazy that people are starting to come home. You have to get them all to write me i really want to talk to all of those people that are coming home in the next 2 weeks

Our trip to the Glaciers!!

Yup, glacier in a tshirt.

Welps i gots to go!

Love you all!

Baptism!

thats super awesome that Seussical is going to the MAC i really hope its later in the month that way i can go and see it! And id make sure that punk kid matt keeps his dirty hands off my sister hahaha

but hey this week was super awesome. H.  GOT BAPTIZED! We took pics with him and stuff too, and i would send them too you but the internet place that i am in right now kind of sucks, and it doesnt read my SD card, or my comps, so ill just have to hit you up with them another day.

But it was actually a really cool experience but like everything went wrong with his baptism hahaha. But the spirit was still really strong there so its ok.

But the day starts out and i am super stoked, we had a member assigned to fill up the baptismal font and my comp and i were going to take care of a bunch of other details. So i was super excited for the day. 

But my comp and i decide we are going to arrive to the church for the baptism like an hour before H was going to get there, and we go and we checked on the font, and everything was going good there, but we noticed that the water looked a little dirty, it wasnt bad, hardly noticeable even, And really it was almost all the way full so there wasnt really anything to do anyways, and so we just kept it going, and then my comp and i down load a couple of videos off of LDS.org to show between when H got baptized, and when he came out in dry clothes, and so we found a bunch of super sick videos to show. We then set up the chairs and everything

But about 15 mins before he got there i go and i decide to go look at the font again, and i open the door, and to water looks NASTY! It was a hard core brown color, it looked like a lake after a group of kids were just running around in water. So i shut off the water, and tried thinking about what i could do to fix it before the baptism started, but realized that the baptism was going to start in jut like 30 mins, and with how slow our font drains it would just be done draining by the time we needed to start, and i thought about having the baptism in another church that was close by, but realized that wasnt possible, just because our font takes about 4 hours to fil up all the way, and im pretty sure its the fastest one in Punta Arenas, and so if we did that we would have had to have the baptism at like midnight, so i threw that one out the window. 

So when  H got there i showed him the water and asked him if he was ok with getting baptized in that super gross water, or if he preferred that we did the baptism the next day or something. And he responded like a boss, he said ``Elder I could honestly care less about what the water is like, i just want to get baptized, and I`m doing it today!`` When he said that i thought to myself ``YEAH THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT! (someone taught you right hahaha)

And so i stopped worrying about  the water, and started talking to him about what was going to happen and what not (just reminded him really cause we talk him everything to night before as well) And then helped him get ready (he has no fingers and so he needed a little help with like his tie and stuff) 

But then we started and the bishop gets up and welcomes everyone to the meeting, and then we sing a hymn and we pray, and the the bishop says alright we are going to start with something really special today, with a musical number from the primary, and then the primary president got up and told the bishop that she forgot to prepare something with the kids, and that was lame, but then the bishop said, ``alright well then we are going to have a couple of messages from....(and then looks down at his paper)ummm ...actually we are going to do something even more special, and we are going to pass onto the baptism of the Hermano H. And then H standos up with the man that was going to baptize him, and they left and everyone else followed. and Then i go up to the bishop and asked whats going on and why we didnt have the talks first, and then he showed me his paper, and the person who typed up the paper forgot to put on the names of who was giving the talks so Bishop had no idea, and so i told them that it was going to be me and someone else, and we decided that we were just going to baptise him first and then do the messages.

We then baptized. And that was awesome, they looked so cool in their white clothing that most people didnt even notice that the water wasnt exactly sparkling clean haha.

And then we all went into the sacrament room again, and i set up the tv and was going to show the videos to everyone, but then i put in my USB that had the videos on them, and the stupid tv didnt read my card... I admit that was my fault i just imagined that it was going to work so i didnt test it on the Tv before the baptism, and granted i didnt have time to do it, but i could have assigned someone, but anyways that didnt work, so the bishop and i decided that we were just going to sing hymns until H came back. 

And while they were singing i went to check up on H to see how he was doing, and he was doing great, but told us that he didnt want to bear his testimony. Which i wasnt really that surprised that he didnt want too. But then We all went back in together. And then One member gave a talk about baptism, and then i gave one about the Holy Ghost. Where i told a story of a time where i heard the voice of the spirit talking to me, and warned me of danger, but i didnt listen to it (it was a story from before my mission) and i got messed up pretty bad because of it. I had to give a less cool version of the story though because i didnt want to take the focus away from H and his baptism. And then right after i finished talking i went and sat down next to the bishop and told him that H didnt want to bear his testimony. And then went and sat down.

We then ended the meeting, and right after the closing prayer as everyone was starting to Leave H stood up and said ``no one leave yet`` And then he bore his testimony and it was awesome, i was happy that he changed him mind and bore his testimony anyways.

but that was how this baptism went, i decided to count in my preach my gospel today to see ho many ive had, and he was number 11. not that that matters or anything but it just kind of made me happy knowing that ive helped that many people get baptized.

WElps i love you all. I look forward to hearing from you soon

Sick

So this week was super awesome. But it started out with me getting sick, which sucked alot. I got put on a 24 hour water diet, and threw up 11 times....not fun. But i did take a 8 hour long nap though, and then when i woke up and one other missionary was sick too (Elder M(he didnt get the bug nearly as bad as i did though) and then when i woke up me and him played a ton of uno and told each other stories. It was fun, and then i slept like another 10 hours. Fun days.

So check this, My comp and i go home at the same time, and his family is so excited about it, and so from his mom i know that i have 61 days left until i am home. And his grandma likes to count it by weeks, because there was only like 9 sundays left. his family is so trunky haha. I still feel like its not coming though and that i am still just starting the mish so im not really believing them haha

But anyways when i felt better the week was awesome, One of the days this week we arranged a special zone activity for EL Dia de Los Muertos (day of the dead) (day after Halloween) where our zone went down to the biggest cemetery in Punta Arenas (which from what they tell me was voted one of the most beautiful cemeteries in South America) (it was really pretty) and we put on a concert where we sung a bunch of hymns while we had other missionaries walking around talking to the crowds of people that where listening. and that was super cool. We ended up giving out like 40 books of mormon, and a ton of pamphlets and stuff and got the addresses of a bunch of people that wanted us to come teach them. It was super cool.

My investigator H also passed his baptismal interview this week and is getting baptized this Saturday. he asked though that people dont take pictures, i am going to try to talk him into taking one with me and my comp though to help him to remember his baptism, but he doesnt like pictures that much (he was the investigator that i told you about who got in the work accident which lit his hands on fire and burned off all of his fingers, and so he is a little self conscious about it, the man has a valid reason so if i dont send you pics dont be surprised) (not that you are too used to getting pics though haha the computers in my last 2 sectors have sucked and i can think of at least 4 people who have gotten baptized that i never sent pics of, possibly 5. But whatever.

Thats really all my new news from this week, we´ve found a couple of super awesome families to teach, and L is doing great, still just waiting for permission from her dad and then she can get baptized. But nothing too exciting.

I bought a ton of candy for Halloween to give to kids who were in costumes but there werent alot so in the end my comp and i just ended up with a ton of candy in our house, and almost every house we went to all gave us a ton of candy too because apparently they bought a ton of candy as well, but then no kids swung by and so they didnt give any away so they just dumped it on us. 

But ya other than that its been a pretty chill week, no fights, or snow...i take that back  it think snowed again the other day, yes yes it did, but it only snowed for a couple of hours so it wasnt alot. its still funny to me that it snows here even though we are entering summer, its like it snowing in march or april in other places, but i guess thats what you get living so close to Antarctica.

Welp i cant think of anything else to say, its was just a week full of working but nothing too out of the ordinary. So im just going to send my email now. Ill still be on for another half hour though, so write me if you have any questions or anything

(Later)

Hey CHANGE OF PLANS! I just got a call from the mission Presidente and he gave me a new end date, on January 7th i will be coming home. granted its not a big change. but hey its 4 MORE DAYS FOR ME AHHH YEAH!!!! Victory Punch! But just so you know.