Hey Family
Thanks so much for the letters. You all sound great. That’s too bad about the cougs. Sounds like winter is there for you guys, it’s almost summer here. The truth is that it had been so hot in Talca for some time. I say had, because I’m not in Talca right now. I’m down in Concepcion.
It’s been a pretty crazy day. Well the truth is that it has been a crazy week. You asked me about transfers. Well I was transferred. On Friday I got a call from Pres Humphrey. “Well, Elder Pitcher, I’m calling you to let you know you are going to be called as my new assistant.” So I’ll try and let you know some of the things that happened from Friday until now.
About an hour after president called me, we went to a house to teach. The guy is awesome, but he isn’t a member still. We have basically taught him one time. Now, I had always tried to prepare my converts by telling them, “In some moment I am going to leave, but you don’t need me anymore. You already have the tools that you need to continue feeling the spirit and work your way towards eternal life.” Anyhow, when I was there in the house, for some reason they starting talking a little bit about that, that it was going to be sad when I had to leave. Then they asked if I knew when I had to leave (I had found out one hour earlier). I said yes I did know but first let's share something about the Gospel and then after the lesson I'll let you know when I have to leave. So we taught the Restoration. Previous to this, we had only taught him one time when we shared about the Plan of Salvation. So we sat down and taught the restoration, and then at the end of the lesson, he said, “So it looks like you’re not going to be here for when I get baptized Elder Pitcher.” That reminded the others and they asked, “Oh yea, when are you leaving?” I told them, “The day after tomorrow.” That kind of changed the feeling that was in the room, but the good thing is we were able to eat lunch on Saturday. After sharing with them, we made some other visits.
On Sunday Brother M arrived to the church basically in tears. His daughter was ready to get baptized yesterday, but after she spent the night at her aunt’s house, she came home in tears and said she didn’t want to get baptized, and then left again. The dad was struggling, he is so awesome. He had been inactive for about a year, but he has such a good heart, and he wants to do the best for his family. His wife didn’t even come with him to church, but he showed up on time with a white shirt and tie. The bishop gave me a couple minutes at the start of sacrament meeting to say some things. That was thoughtful of him. Then the primary had their program. It was actually very, very good. There were some great talks given by those little ones.
After, we had a baptismal service for Mady. It was a really good service. She is so awesome. I will send you a picture next week.
There was some great stuff that happened with Alejandro. I love him so much. I wasn’t able to say goodbye to Javiera.
At 5:00 PM I had to take a bus to leave to Concepcion. I was going with three others who are going home. The problem is, we missed the bus. Ha, ha. We waited for a taxi for 30 minutes, finally the neighbor saw us still there and said, “I’ll take you!" Really nice, that guy saved us (non member... but he knows the church because his cousins are members.) It was really, really funny when I was there at the terminal because no one knew what was going on. They didn’t know why I was there - because no one makes their change until tomorrow. We ended up getting a bus at 6:00. The funny thing is the bus we took at six got to Concepcion before the bus that left at 5, because that one made two stops along the way.
I actually taught a guy on the bus that has read the Book of Mormon twice, but told me he isn’t baptized yet because he can’t go to church on Sundays and he knows the sacrament is important. He was a really smart guy. Young and he had a little bit of money. It’s sad when people get the important things mixed up with the not so important things.
Then I got here to Concepcion.
I live with 5 other missionaries. Last night there were 9 that slept in the apartment.
Today, I’ve done a lot. I went to go pick up some sister missionaries. I’ve been learning a lot. We had a meeting with president that lasted about an hour and a half. We have so much stuff to do. Tonight I have to go to the mission home and do some stuff with the missionaries that are going home. Tomorrow we are going to pick up the new missionaries, do a lot of things with them and get them off to their areas. We have a Mission counsel with all the zone leaders on Friday in Chillan... Lots of stuff.... I am so excited. I am tired right now. I think its cause I got not great sleep last night on that air mattress. But I have got good news. I HAVE THE BEST PILLOW IN THE MISSION NOW!!!!!! I am very excited for that. So hopefully I’ll sleep well, but from what I have heard, I won’t be sleeping much.
I love you all. Oh yea, my new preparation day is Saturday, so I’ll be writing on Saturday.
I love you
Elder Pitcher.
