I guess that shouldn´t be too much of a shocker but we made it! A whole week in downtown Santiago.I´m not really sure where to start!
I´ll say that it wasn´t has hard as I thought it was going to be, I think because of your prayers. Thank you so very much. The spanish came easier than I had thought it would the talking and the understanding. I still catch myself making a lot of mistakes but they understand me and I can understand them. I may not be the best teacher, that´s an understatement, but I know I´ve been called by a prophet to be here so I know I can do some good.
We definitely had to figure out the ropes here but it isn´t as hard to manage the streets and our area as I thought it would be once you have the names down it´s okay! And there are millions of people here so you just gotta ask one of them and they usually help out!
We didn´t have the highest numbers this week but we were able to meet quite a few members and some of the investigators and a couple recent converts which is somewhat of progress! This week we will definitely be more efficient.
A couple of really cool things did happen while we were getting our bearings though! I have seen God´s hands in our work this week and I know he puts us where we need to be. We were trying to find a members apartment and we were down below so we pressed the doorbell/intercom sort of thing of his apartment to see if he was home, or better said, to see if it was even the right apartment. We were patiently waiting when two women came up to us. They told us that they were from Antofogosta and had come to Santiago to receive better medical attention because one of the women has a pretty serious problem with her eye and brain and they said they saw us from a little ways a way and came a runnin´ they asked if we could give her a blessing and we said of course! But the problem was that was where they were staying wouldn´t let us in the building so we gave them the address of the church so that they could come to the church and receive a blessing. They came and were able to receive it.
Another time we were walking past a park so we decided to go see if we couldn´t do a couple contacts. We saw this 20 year old guy or so like three different times kinda chilling on his bike in the park and I kept getting a feeling we should talk to him. Finally the third time we saw him he was sitting underneath a tree on the side of the path with his bike next to him. So I went to talk to him, he had actually just got into Santiago that Tuesday(a day after us) and we were able to talk to him we were actually able to bare a little bit of testimony about why we are in our church and missionaries and it was super cool because he is like this really punk kid but he said thank you to us so many times like thank you guys for coming and talking to me and telling me all those things I don´t know why but I really feel good right now and I´m glad you guys came over. He even gave us his number so that we could meet up again!
While we were talking to him another lady came up to us and said how she had just moved from Peru and is a member and wanted to know where the church was so that she could come! That day we were really where we needed to be I believe even though we didn´t do a whole lot like lessons and things we were still able to help quite a few people out.
This week I decided I was going to try walking around with just a brand new Book of Mormon, like the ones we give out, usually I have my backpack that has my folder with important papers, my Book of Mormon, little pamphlets, sometimes my camera, and just things that I might need. But I wanted to try just going about with a Book of Mormon. I was a little scared because my BoM is all marked and I have the scriptures that I like with tabs and others that have tabs too to help me out in certain situations. It has actually gone really well! I did it for like three days and I think I will keep doing it. I like to do it here because everyone has a backpack and tons of people are in shirts and ties and so there isn´t a ton that really really sets us apart besides our plaque, well and that we say hi to people, but I´m hoping that made people can see the Book of Mormon and maybe ask a couple questions.
I actually had a pretty cool experience by carrying the it around because I was able to give it to a member that had stopped going to church for over 7 years. We were past a museum and there was a man on a bench and we walked past him and said hi and whatever but then I was like nah I´m gonna talk to him. We got talking and after awhile he told us that he is a member and a high priest and use to be very active. He had lost is Book of Mormon when he and his wife went their separate ways and has never read since because of that. At the end of the conversation I gave him the book I was carrying around with a little marker in a place I wanted him to read and then he asked which ward we are in and told us that we will see him in our ward one day. I hope that comes true.
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