Elder Higham - Nate - Elder Bravo
Life is grand here in Chile... I'm still in the same sector, I'm still in the same house, but there are now four people in the house. My companion is Elder Higham. He's from Logan. He is awesome. He's got a desire to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. He speaks Spanish better then me. Its funny because sometimes I'll be talking to someone on the street and they won't understand me so I just say listen to my companion, he speaks better. The Lord likes to humble His children. I feel like we´ll get a lot done together. Elder Poma is now training Elder Matney from Ohio. Elder Matney is incredible. I have learned so much from him in just one week. He can't speak a lick of Spanish, but he's so brave, humble, loving, patient, and he truly finds the good in other people. He's also hilarious... he's a farm / country boy I would guess and it is just funny to listen to him speak -- Spanish or English. We now have two bunk beds in our room and Elder Higham and I are studying in the kitchen in the mornings. Tuesday when we did the transfers I was able to see Elder Bravo and we actually went with one of the members of the ward in his car and he took us to a lot of the converts homes. We then returned to the bus station and my companion was already there. We have technically opened the new sector so that means that we started with nothing... however we talked with a lot of people this week and we passed by the house of some old investigators. We had 5 investigators in church this week; Walter, Alejandra, Camila and two kids from a part member family. We could help them get baptized, but I don't think the dad wants it.
Nate, Hans and Patricio
We found an inactive family that has been sealed in the temple. It hurts me to see those inactive families, it really does. They have a kid named Ariel who is 20 years old and he needs to serve a mission, but stuff happened in the church a while back so now no one in the family goes to church. I hope we can help them return. Speaking of return, yesterday in church Fernando came. You guys don't know Fernando. He's a member and actually a high priest. He was living with a woman and we started teaching her. To make a really long story very short, one day he got very mad and basically kicked us out of his house. This was about two months ago. We hadn't seen him or his girlfriend since then. Yesterday he showed up in church. I gave him a huge hug. It was after sacrament because yesterday my companion and I did the sacrament, we were walking to our seats as he was walking in and I gave him a big hug and then he squeezed me even harder and then he gave me a kiss and started to tear up. We didn't even say one word. It must have taken a lot of humility and courage to return to church how he did. I was SO happy. I know it can't really compare to the prodigal son, but in my heart and mind that's what it felt like... I was so happy.
Nate and Hermano Adam
(He is an incredible example. The man can barely walk but he still rides his bike to church every Sunday.)
(He is an incredible example. The man can barely walk but he still rides his bike to church every Sunday.)
So with four missionaries we seem to have fleas now. I always tried to keep the house decently clean and was careful, but now I guess we have fleas. This morning I was getting in the shower and I saw one on my arm. I wasn't sure what it was until I reached to grab it and it jumped away. Elder Matney and Elder Higham have shown me their flea bites - ha ha ha - they are bad. Don't worry, my skin seems to be too tough for them. Either that or they just have a profound respect for me because I still don't have bites. Even the one I saw chillin' on my arm for 10 seconds didn't bite me. Spiders are coming in abundance, too.
Everything is really good here. I love life... I love you guys. I got a letter from aunt Em this week and a package from Kathy Hall... that was a very pleasant surprise. I love her. I hope everyone is doing well.
Until next week.....
