Dear
Family,
This
week was a really good week. Working with Elder Sellers is really nice,
he speaks amazingly good Spanish. He sometimes has a hard time
understanding the Chileans, but so does everyone. We get along without any problems, and I
really have my fingers crossed that neither one of us gets transferred 2
weeks from now. We have finally got the
member who knows the lady who wants to become a member of the church to set up
a family home evening. It will be this week.
There
is a mentally challenged member in our ward, his name is Christian. He is
32, is handy with the scriptures, and lives with his parents. His favorite thing in the world is to work
with us whether it’s confirmed teaching appointments or knocking doors in the
rain. He gave us a reference of a preacher who uses the Book of Mormon in
his ministry, teaching about 60 people every week in the shed behind his house.
We have passed by that house about 6 times, trying to find the preacher,
but we’ve never found him. Saturday night, he was home. He
said he was busy, but he came out to open the front gate and we gave him more
literature to read. We were finally able
to meet with him. We found out he actually isn’t a preacher, but he does
have a Book of Mormon. His name is Amadeo, he is 83 years old, and is
retired. He worked many years for the PDI, the Chilean equivalent of the
FBI. Having a pretty sharp mind, he taught himself English using an old
textbook. We taught the message of the restoration in English. The
spirit was so strong, and he had really good questions. I shared my conversion story with him, of how
I came to know the truth for myself.
Towards the end of the lesson, he grabbed a Book of Mormon, and said, “I
know that this book is true.” Then he grabbed the Bible, and said, “I am
not sure about this book, but I know that this other book is true.” He is so prepared, and we are going to pass
by this Wednesday with Christian. We are teaching some other really
good people, and I wish you could meet them all.
A
while back we were teaching a preacher named Roberto. He has a very good
handling of the Bible, and told us that he respects and admires the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints a great deal, but will never join it because
we baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
He is so set that baptisms should simply be in the name of the Son.
He then said if we could show him a verse in the Bible that explains
baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, then
he would join our church without question. We stopped visiting him, since
it seemed he only wanted to argue with us. This morning, I was listening
to a conference talk, and Elder Holland was speaking. He said something that
made me think to look up “missionary work” in the topical guide, and it led me
to Matthew 28:19. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. I will hold Robert to his word, Matthew 28:19
has him.
I
love you all so much, more than the number of paper clips it would take to make
a paper clip chain between the International Space Station and the Statue of
Liberty.
Sincerely,
with lots of smiling,
Elder
Withers
Dear
Family,
I’m
glad you are all having a great week!
I can’t believe you are getting ready to leave Minnesota and are going to
visit the east coast. Take lots of pictures!
This
has been a good week and I am so grateful to be a missionary. We are
making lots of fun progress with the less actives and our golden investigators
Roberto and Teresa. They are progressing lightning fast and the only
thing we are waiting for are the wedding documents and paperwork to come in the
mail so that they can get married and baptized. Woohoo!
It
is getting pretty cold, and my coat has been the best thing ever. I love
that it’s long, and I am totally ready for winter.
Congrats
to you Chad on all your success in Chile! It’s amazing how the Lord puts
people in our paths to find and teach, but so important to remember to do our
part first so that we can be ready and worthy of the blessings. Keep it
up!
Thanks
for all your letters and messages of support. I love you guys so much,
and I feel lucky to be in South America. My time ran short today because
I had to do some paperwork on the computer (my reimbursements!) so sorry the
letter this week isn’t as good. Next week I will have more time and be
able to send pictures (Ha...I have been promising for like a month now, but
next week I really promise ;).
I
love you more than all the people I am going to meet this week through
contacts!
Hermana
Withers
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