Hola
to Everyone,
We
had a pretty good rainstorm Sunday morning, but it didn’t stop Moses
from coming to church. Moses or Moíses as it is Spanish, is a homeless
alcoholic man, but nevertheless, a son of God, and was baptized about 10 years
ago. In 3 Ne 18:32, it talks about the importance of rescuing the
less active. We´ve talked with him a couple of times, and we decided to
invite him to church. He came! We let him borrow a white shirt and
tie, and he walked through the rain to the church building. He had the
biggest smile on his face as we walked to church, and I thought that this is
probably the most concern anybody had shown him in years.
To
answer your question - no, the Chilean calendar has a slight defect and doesn’t
include St. Patrick’s Day.
I
would like to start out by saying that the Lord is hastening his work.
Last Tuesday we had a ward executive committee meeting, almost the entire
meeting was about ´´what ward executive committee should be´´, and also about
missionary work. A few people sort
of dominated all the conversation and I didn’t have much to say. Towards
the end of the meeting, I suggested that every Tuesday we could have
a quick mini meeting, and then each missionary could go on splits with a couple
of members, and then everybody meet back up in the church. The idea was a
hit and we will start tomorrow. My zone leaders in Chillán worked
really effectively with their bishopric in this manner, and I hope it will work
in this ward.
This
week we are going to have a Noche de Hogar, or Family Home Evening with a
member family and a non-member family they know. I am pretty excited for
it because those family home evenings are such an awesome way to find great new
investigators. We usually bring a cheap store-bought
dessert, and a short church video.
I
love you all so very much. I hope you all can share the gospel in every
opportunity that the Lord gives you. Pray to have missionary
opportunities. Scripture for this week: 2 Timothy, chapter 1:7-9
“7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of
a sound mind.
8
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his
prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to
the power of God;
9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and by grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began.”
I
love you all more than the number of people wearing green today.
You
guys are awesome.
-Elder
Chad Withers
Dear
Family,
This
week was a terrific one! It had lots of big changes, but it was so fun.
Biggest
news is that I have a new companion, and she is so cool. Her name is
Hermana Galan, from Mexico. She comes from a humble home with a single
mom and older brother. She misses tacos a lot, and she can’t speak any
English except for a few words or phrases. Someone taught her the word
"fetch" at one point, and she uses it all the time.....ha it makes me
smile every time. She is going to help me so much with Spanish, and she
has goals for English that I am excited to help her with. She is a hard
worker, and obedient, and so fun to have around. Every one of my
companions has been such a big blessing....they are all stable, normal, hard
working, high functioning sisters....with great senses of humor. It’s
awesome!
It
was sad to say good bye to Hermana Sainsbury, because I had been with her for
so long and we were such good friends, but Hermana Galan has been a breath of
fresh air as well. She is young (just barely turned 20!) and has only
been on her mission for 4 months, but she has a solid grasp on the doctrine and
fun methods of teaching. Basically I am just soaking up my time with her
and trying to make the most of it. She was baptized when she was 12 years
old, but then went in active for about 5 years, and then came back. She
is the only member in her family except for a few random cousins. And we are going to see miracles this
transfer!
The
day of transfers was so long for me though. Hermana Sainsbury left at noon,
and Hermana Galan’s colectivo (bus) didn’t pull in until 7:30 that night.
I had to spend about 4 hours with the Elders until one of the members
could be with me. While with the Elders we ate lunch and watched movies, and it
was super boring. And then I went with a member to her house and it was a
little more interesting, but really I just wanted to have my new companion and
get to know her. That’s the thing about being here in La Paz....is if
transfers affect you, it involves lots of traveling. We are clear up here
in the boondocks, and it took Hermana Galan 9 hours in a bus to get here.
Random
note......Elder Hill is now serving as an office Elder, serving as the mission
secretary. Ha.... pray for him. He
is now in charge of all visa and passport paperwork.
Random
cultural note is that dogs are used as security systems here. Often times
if you walk past a business, regardless of what they are selling....if its
locked and shut down for the night there is often a dog inside. There is
a car dealership that has a few, and I’ve seen a few other random places with dogs
inside. They have been trained too, because when you walk past them they
follow you from the other side of the window and kind of growl at you. It’s
kind of funny to think of dogs as a security system, but people do it!
Before
I forget to tell you, the mission has told us to tell home that apparently the
Argentine Customs isn’t letting any foreign food go through any more. If
there is a package and some candy thrown in, the whole package will be thrown
away. Just so you know. Maybe it will change, but for now if you
send packages, don’t put food in it.
Anyway......things
really are going well. I am happy and healthy, and loving life. I
hope you know that I love you all! I love you all more than all the
people here in La Paz who have never seen snow before (I think I have met 2
people in all of my time here who have seen snow in person).
Keep
being awesome and know that you are all my favorites! Until next week!
Hermana
Withers
No comments:
Post a Comment