Out Here Loving It

Monday

P-day! We met up as a district, got some members together, and played volleyball. Pretty lit. After that, we hit up El Olivar (of course). After calling family and taking naps, we went over to the Gonzales for a quick family home evening, and we were told that it was Beatriz's birthday! She didn't want us to get her anything but had us sing to her in English, so that's exactly what we did as we enjoyed our Tres Leches. Pretty awesome night.

Tuesday

It was honestly a super slow day, but that night there was a volleyball activity that we invited some of our friends to, and that was lots of fun. We didn't stay too long because we had other lessons, but unfortunately, some fell through. Then, as we were walking by, a huge group of kids was playing volleyball just over a tiny fence. They asked us if we could play with them, and so we did for a little bit haha. I gave them some candy, cards of Jesus, and taught them a little bit of English before leaving again. Guess we started the week strong with lots of volleyball.

Wednesday

Phenomenal day. We spent all of it on the other side of the hill that kinda splits the area in two, which we've been progressing a lot. First up, we had Dylan and Jesus, who are kids of an inactive mom. The missionaries had been reteaching them for four months, trying to get them back to church. Every lesson, we invite them, but they never come. But this invitation I extended was a little bit different because this time I made her PINKY PROMISE that she'd come to church. She also fed us, which was super nice. Then we contacted Anna, whose kid we have on date for the 9th to be baptized. She also fed us this pretty gross banana stuff. It was sweet, though. Then we had a family home evening with some members and an inactive member named Kevin. We invited him to church, and he said he'd bring his family! The family also fed us a giant nasty bowl of purple corn jello (best way I can describe it). Next was Barbara, who's inactive, but we taught a really powerful lesson about the Restoration, and they said that they'd pray about it as a family! They also fed us haha. Then we finished with Susan, who we are getting ready to baptize pretty soon as well. We finished the day with a stomach just as full as our spirit.

Thursday

We started the day with Carlos, who found us on the street last week and told us to teach him. The lessons with him and his kid Joaquin are awesome, and they loved how church went. We went to the church to find a member to help us with a lesson and accidentally barged into someone's baptism midway through. Whoops. We finished the night at another volleyball activity with our recent convert, which was such a blast.

Friday

Zone conference! Really good stuff. It had a very strong emphasis on coming unto Christ through baptism. Very motivating, as always, and it's always good to catch up with the pals I had in my days in Angamos. Also, one of the elders shouted me out in their departing testimony for how I compared the mission to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse during our exchange haha. Not sure what President or Hermana Falabella thought about that—their faces looked confused.

Saturday

We invited everyone and their dog to church (literally, dogs do sometimes come to church here). Then most of the day was a grind, just trying to look through our phone to see who the missionaries haven't visited in forever. We found some cool people through it. Also, we passed by Hermana Bethsy, who's the most powerful woman in our ward. Sometimes she likes to walk with us as she literally contacts everyone in sight and sound. She's honestly a better missionary than I am. We finished the night heading back over to Susan's. We visited her at her mom's house, who makes clothes, so we just had to ignore the naked mannequin dolls littered around the house. She's so ready for her baptism in a couple of weeks, and we're so excited for her. After our lesson, she measured our shirt size so that her mom could make something for us. We'll see what happens with that haha.

Sunday

We woke up early to travel all the way to the other side of our area to help one of our friends find the church that they're going to be baptized in because they've been going to the wrong one. It was long, but it was worth it. Also, after four months of trying, the PINKY PROMISE is what worked because Dylan, Jesus, and their mom all came to church! We actually had so many pull up, which was a miracle! It turned out to be such a good day, and I was on cloud nine just because of how well things worked out.

Spiritual Thought: This week, I've been reading about Moses, and I love his experience talking with God in the form of a burning bush. Sometimes I feel like Moses—I can't speak very well, and frankly, I don't know the answer to every question and need for our friends, but God is more powerful than my weaknesses. When we show humility and meekness by submitting our will to God, we will see miracles and be able to do what we've been called to through Him.

Thanks for tuning in! Hope y'all have a good week, read your scriptures, and say your prayers! Peace out.

- Elder Mitchell IV

Fotos:

Big Cola

Sand and Hills

Cow heart (It was bussin)

My "Where's Waldo" for y'all