Today we went on the BEST hike I´ve ever been on! I mean I have only gone on like two... But this was incredible. I took a ton of shots with a really nice camera that someone lended me so I will send a lot today if the time permits and I invite everyone to see the blog where my mother dearest will put them. We climbed up the tallest hill in the Santiago valley if I am not mistaken and it was just the most beautiful view from up there. You can see the Andes like a wall in front of you and basically have a 360 degree view of all Santiago. I can´t believe how pretty it was. It was perfect since we just had a big rain and wind storm from Saturday to Monday so that took away all the smog (because there is normally a ton) and the Andes got a good amount of snow. Today was a bluebird day and just gorgeous. I loved it. I love nature!! Where are my Utah mountains?! It´ll be good to be home haha.
We had a spectacular week. My comp had a great idea of talking to two people every 30 minutes. Instead of thinking about how many people we were going to talk to every day we decided to break it up into something small, like 30 minutes. The first day that we did it we didn´t even get a block away from our house before finding two new people to teach whom we also visited on Sunday and we were able to meet the whole family and teach them all! It was incredible. Our day went from having nothing to too many things to do! It was great!! We will do it this week and see how it goes!
The Haitian convert in our ward recieved the Priesthood this last Sunday which means he will now be able to baptize his friends!! We are pretty excited about that and so is he.
We finally got a less active man, Omar, to come to church! We have been doing service in his house forever and finally last week we sat down and had a serious talk with him and his wife. On Saturday when we did service he asked us if we were going to go to his house to get him for church and we obviously said of course! Then he invited us to eat breakfast with him before hand. He went and the bishopric was quick on their feet and asked him to teach a class on the segund and third Sunday of next month! That will be a huge blessing for him and the ward!!
The four of us missionaries gave talks this Sunday. I will be humble and say that it was probably one of/if not the best talks I have ever given in spanish or english so I was very content for that. I will end my little with the little story that I based my talk around. You may or may not have read it on lds.org but if not here it is!
The sage led the man to two doors. He opened one of the doors, and the man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms. Each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The wise man said, “You have seen hell.”
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons strapped to their arms, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The man said, “I don’t understand!”
“It is simple,” said his venerable guide. “It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves” (author unknown).¨
With much love,
Elder Gunnell
