My New Companion! A Sign From the Lord!

We had the cambio today!  I will be staying in San Felipe again for this next month and a half!  My new companion is Elder Kelson!  He was the assistant to the president this last month and a half and its such an amazing blessing to have him as a companion.  Our president knew about everything that was going on with my companion and that I was progressing, but he was hindering my progress... and that I was extremely frustrated!  So, I called him on Saturday to talk about problem with a member and he told me that he had really amazing news for me and that I was going to LOVE my new companion.  I didn't push and ask for who it was in that moment because I didn't want to be nosy.. but he didn't waste any time and asked, do you want to know who it is?   Obviously I said yes and he said Elder Kelson, my assistant :)  It was so awesome! There's so much that I will have the opportunity to learn! While I was talking and joking around with president I told him about the dream I had the night before about being told that Elder Kelson would be my new companion!  A sign from the Lord he told me!  Pretty cool.  It's the last exchange for Elder Kelson.  He will be going home after our companionship!  Here in this mission we call it "dying".  When you go home you die. And you "kill" someone when you are their companion for their final exchange.  So far I have "killed" Elder Chung and now Elder Kelson.  Hahah!  All the elders keep joking about it with me.

Two Crazy Spiritual Experiences this Week!

Benjamin and his family at the baptism last week.

We had two crazy spiritual experiences this week! First we were in the beginning part of a lesson with a lady in our sector, just gaining confidence and talking with her about her life. Then we asked if we could say a prayer and I was asked to give it.  Something that I have been trying to do better is listen for the spirit when I am giving a prayer and to follow the promptings of the spirit as to what to pray for).  Well, I chose to follow and gave a prayer completely by the spirit.  After the prayer we were all in tears and you could feel the spirit soo strong!  It was amazing!  The next story I have is even more powerful.  After the baptism of Benjamin we went to their house.  The dad was extremely sad and so was the mom.  We asked what was wrong and they told us that the daughter was really sick and they weren't sure what was going to happen and all the doctor did was give a little medicine.  We could tell that it was a big problem so I asked if we could give a blessing.  The dad said yes and we went upstairs to the room of the girl.  She looked horrible.. really really sick and was crying and yelling.  It was sad.  I gave the first part, the sealing of the oil, and my companion gave the second part.  She was cying and screaming during the entire blessing.   BUT, as soon as my companion said Amen, she stopped crying,  her eyes went back to normal,  and her fever went away.  She started to laugh and smile and play with her toys with Benjamin and run around like normal.  It was amazing :) So, so powerful. The dad was amazed as well as the mom!  It was such an amazing blessing for us and for them!  It strengthened my testimony sooooo much!  We are going to continue to help them progress towards baptism and an eternal family!   Yeah that was our week and things are still really good here!   Next week I might be in a new area and with a new companion!   :)

I Have 100 Days Already in my Mission!

Benjamin at his baptism on August 24, 2013.

This week was CRAZY!!!  We started off with having to bless a haunted house of the father of one of our investigators.  It was really creepy!  Things would randomly just fall throughout the day and night and they kept seeing things and feeling weird things! But after the blessing all the father could talk about was God and the blessing that he has received and that he wants to be baptized in the near future and now we are going to try and pass by and teach him.  The bikes are still my worst enemy...This past week we had interviews with he president which we have every 3 months.  It didn't go so well.  My companion has been really disobedient.  I'm still new and wasn't really sure how to handle it.  I just tried to motivate him as best as possible and keep it a secret for the time being.   Well, we had the interview and I entered not planning on talking about this with president.. but during the meeting I felt the really strong impression to talk about it so I did.  It was pretty awkward for a few days.  The president called and said that  we would finish out these next 2 weeks before the actual companion change of the mission.  I will probably be staying here again for the next change which is awesome:)  I love it here and I know pretty much all of the people and have developed relationships with them!  The other big thing this week was our baptism yesterday!  We baptized the son of Roman and Karol! It was so crazy spiritual!  The mom of Karol came... she is Catholic and wanted nothing to do with our church...Benjamin invited her and she attended.   Well, lets just say that she was in tears and all she could talk about was how spiritual the experience was and how beautiful our church is and this path that Benjamin is taking and how she felt so calm and peaceful!  Its so amazing how the spirit works in people!  we wiil be passing by her house soon as well to begin teaching her, hopefully! :)   I definitely learned some really good lessons for myself and for my mission!  Its such a good opportunity to be here and I'm really enjoying it!

My Little Brother Braden Entered the MTC Today!

My little brother went into the MTC in Provo today to begin his mission.  He will leave for the Guadalajara, Mexico mission in 6 weeks.  Good luck Braden and I am very proud of you!

Missionary Service Project

"Attacking the Sector!"

I have gained about 10 pounds since I arrived here!  The food is good and they feed us till we want to throw up!  It sucks and is really good at the same time!  The last p day we all got together (elder huatatapayro, elder dykstra, elder de castro, elder zuniga, elder estiva, elder chinga and me) and cooked a giant Peruvian lunch at the house of the zone leaders.  It was delicious! Our bikes are still cursed!  Both of the tires of my bike needed to be replaced, and the seat broke and we had to replace it.  Mine is also making weird sounds when I use it and on my companion's bike, the handle bars are broken so they spin around a little as we are going down the road.   These bikes are awful! We went to a city called LLay LLay on Saturday!  We went to help the 4 sister missionies in something called Attacking the Sector!  It's where a whole bunch of missionaries go to one area and work for a couple
of hours to help motivate people to come to the conferences or things like that!  It was awesome! And the city is beautifull! If you guys get a chance look it up!  The weather here is crazy!  It's so warm during the day here already and it's just the first month of spring!  We had a really good week this past week!

I'm Pretty Sure God Doesn't Want Me to Have a Bike!

The newest bikers in the Chile Santiago North mission.

We went to Santiago this past week for entre
vistas which was really cool!  I got to pass Alcantara where i stayed in the MTC and after we went to the CCM to buy a couple of things and I got to see all my teachers and talk with them!  It was way cool!  We received bikes this past wee! and lets just say... I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me to have a bike! hahaha   The first day we received them it was raining and absolutely freezing and we had to ride them to a family's house for lunch and they live about 30 minutes away on bikes.  We arrived freezing and numb.  After we had to ride the bikes home in the same weather.  The next morning we woke up and the bike tire was flat on my bike.  So we had to go and take it to the repair shop.  After we headed to lunch.  Then on the way back from lunch I was riding in the street and the pedal and circle things that change switches when you switch gears and such, fell off in the middle of the road! hahaha   It was hilarious!  After this we took it to the same repair shop and they fixed it, and then that night the stupid seat broke!! hahaha   I have terrible luck with bikes.  We were both sick the next day with really bad sore throats so we chilled in the house until the end of the day for an appointment.    We decided that we wanted to start eating more healthy foods so we bought bananas and yogurts and a bunch of other fruit and have been eating really healthy foods in the morning after we run for a while.  Maybe this will improve my luck with my bike riding!

Dog Days in San Felipe!

Elder King and new companion Elder Chinga.

The week went by EXTREMELY fast.  I didn't even realize that it was already Monday!   We have a lot of investigators!  Roman and Karol, Nicolas, the family Inostroza, the family Gonzolez, Jurid!  We HAD Ximena but a crazy thing happened. Okay, so here's the story.  We were walking in the street when a lady with her son called us over to talk to us and she was crying.. crying really hard. She proceeded to tell us that she had lost her dog and they were trying to find it!  She showed us pictures of the dog,  it was small and had white paws.  We told her that we would search for it as we went to our investigators houses.  My companion and I headed to the house of a member, and then with the member to the house of Ximena!  Well, as we entered the house her youngest son greeted us and said, "Hey!  Look at the newest member of our family!" and proceeded to show us a small dog with white paws!  My companion and I looked at each other thinking the same thing.. We talked normal with her for a little while and then brought up the subject of the dog... We told her  the story of what happened and that we think this dog is the dog.. (also before this she told us she bought the dog, then a couple of minutes later she told us that she lied.. that she had found the dog in the street!) Well, she got angry with us!  It was so weird!  She kept saying that it was impossible for a dog this size to walk all the way down to to where she lives.  She was so angry with us over and the dog and we said that it was her decision and that we wanted to talk with the woman who owned the dog (Jurid) to ask for more pictures to verify the dog, but we wouldn't tell her that we had found the dog yet because we didn't want to cause problems... So we left the house with the youngest son screaming that the dog was his and that he wasn't going to return it, and Ximena saying that the dog was hers because she "found it".  After we left the house we went to the house of Jurid and asked for some pictures of the missing dog and had her send the pictures to our phone.. without telling her that we had found the dog.  We left her house and returned to the house of Ximena.  We showed her the pictures and verified the dog was actually the other person's missing dog and after this the son (Ignacio) proceeded to scream and yell even more and say that the dog was his and "what am I going to have after this? Nothing!"   We told them that the decision was theirs and that we would call them in the morning to verify.  Ximena said she would pray about the decision.  We returned the next day, and they decided to return the dog, but were PISSED about it!  Ximena told my companion that he wasn't allowed to return to their house but that I COULD return to their house? (Why him and not me.. I have no idea!)  After this little conversation we left and talked with Jurid.. who we came to find out was from a part member family and that her ex husband was a member and that we could come by and teach her!!!! So we lost Ximena.. but gained Jurid!  So it was a crazy day...  but I feel we did the right thing!  I feel sad about Ximena but at the same time happy we did the right thing and that we found Jurid!  I believe it was the Lord's plan that Ximena found the dog and that she was our investigator too!  It was a crazy, but really good day!  My companion received a call from Ximena's other son Juan, who was a missionary.   Juan proceeded to tell my companion that he was interrupting the Lord's work and that what he did was wrong and all this.. my companion just listened and then said sorry and hung up.  Hahaha, it was hilarious!  Interrupting the work? How is doing the right thing interrupting the work?   Other than this though, the week was really good and really normal! :)