Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Crazy Week Five! - September 15, 2014

So today has been kind of crazy and I don´t really have a ton of time to write much for my weekly email so I apologize.

Alright so last Monday was p-day was the zone activity and you guys already heard about that. The rest of the day after that we didn´t really have time to do anything but grocery shop and go to an appointment with Alex and Carola. We didn´t even have time for weekly planning on Monday because everything went so long and we had to do it Tuesday morning. The appointment with Alex and Carola wasn´t anything special we just shared a spiritual thought and ate once with them.

Tuesday I was exhausted. My entire body was sore. I haven´t legit played sports in the longest time.  So in the morning we had to do weekly planning and what not because of how crazy things got on Monday so morning was another morning in the house... Not my favorite thing in the world. We went out with a member in our ward named Fernando to teach Sebastian but he wasn´t there! GRRR. Fernando came with us to a few back up plans but we got nothing. Sigh. After that we went to the church to see if we could chat with the Bishop and the Secretary for a second but no one was there yet. Then we went to go pick up Fallon for our lesson with Alex and Carola but then she couldn´t come because she was sick. Probably for the better because I was dead that night. I don´t even think we ended up teaching. I was so out of it. After that we tried to plan really fast and get to bed early. That was a good life choice right there. I woke up feeling like a champ Wednesday.

Wednesday I really just focused on trying to keep a prayer in my heart throughout the day. That morning I kid you not I just thought please let us teach someone. We have been trying to get a hold of this guy Juan for forever and we finally got to teach him that morning. We got to teach him and his wife. We taught the Restoration. It wasn´t my best lesson and it was kind of hard to get them to just read the introduction to the Book of Mormon but at last they finally said they would read it. Kind of a tough crowd if you ask me but I´m so thankful that we could teach that morning and that Heavenly Father answered the prayer in my heart. That night we got to teach Alex and Carola about baptism and Fallon was able to come with us. It was so cool to have a recent convert in a lesson with us helping to teach. Super good day. We also got to talk with bishop that night and get the low down on some less actives. It is really good that we are getting more involved with him. He is a super cool guy. I like him a lot and I think he´s gonna be able to help us out a lot. 

Thursday was the most dreaded day of the week. The 11th of September is a sketchy day in Santiago. A long time ago on this day a military take over started and a lot of people died. Because of that every year the young people get all angry and use that fact to do some bad things. So we had to be in the house by 6 that night. No one really felt like talking to us that day. I can´t really blame them. So Elder Bullock and I got back right at 6 and ordered some pizza made a fort and hunkered down for the night. It was pretty chill that night. Just wrote some letters and nothing really happened near us so that was really nice. The scariest thing was that the power company cut everyones power at 10. I heard some stories on Saturday about places where it was at peaceful but nothing super bad happened this year so that´s a really good thing. I think the extent of it was burning tires and some maltov cocktails. However you spell that... 

Friday we had district class because they canceled zone conference. I guess we´ll have that this week. I did super well with my Spanish on Friday so that was good. I really tried to keep a prayer in my heart again. And I actually got some super awesome contacts that day so again Heavenly Father answers the prayers in your hearts so always have one. That night we had a cool lesson with Alex and Carola about following the prophet. Alex is really quiet when we teach but I really think that he is taking this stuff super seriously and making a lot of changes in his life. It makes me really happy. That night Elder Bullock told me that Alex actually had not been progressing before the start of this transfer and they were thinking of possibly dropping him but then all of the sudden he has started doing really well. It just made me feel good that maybe I am atleast doing something. We walk around a lot and aren´t really teaching much and sometimes it is frustrating but it feels good to know that we are atleast doing something right. 

Saturday was crazy. I was up from 5:30 am and ate breakfast and then went to a service project all day. We just painted and we didn´t eat squat. It was pretty far away too. We had to hurry back and we barely made it back in time for the adult session of stake conference. It was a crazy day. Our mission President was there and there were some awesome talks. But still no food. At the end of the day we were exhausted and we just chowed down once we finally got down to the house. Still a pretty awesome day. 

Sunday morning was all miracles. We were running late to stake conference and then as we are practically running there some members drove by and they were able to give us a ride to conference. We made it right on time. Then that morning we had tried to call Alex but he didn´t answer so we were scared he woulnd´t make it to stake conference. But right after the sustainings Alex and Carola and Felipe and Catalina and two of Carolas nieces came walking in. And Alex was wearing a blazer and a white shirt and khakis! I have never seen him at church in anything other than jeans. It was the coolest thing every! I was so happy. I didn´t get to listen much in that conference I spent most of my time with Felipe giving him paper and colored pencils to draw so that he wouldn´t be all over Alex. That was a bit exhausting but worth it because I think Alex really liked Stake Conference! We also found some less actives we can visit during lunch that day. The daughter is active but the mother and step father aren´t active so more people to teach! Boo ya!

Today we got to hike Cerra Renca. It was tons of fun and I ran into Elder Farnsworth! We got all the way to the top of the mountain where the cross is and well you´ll just have to read the description of the photo to hear about the Chilean flag story. I will expound a little bit about how one of the Elders had brought an American flag and while they were singing the Chilean National Anthem we started singing ours it was super fun! Very exhausting and kind of a crazy morning but super fun. Kind of a crazy week but lots of good things are happening and I´m happy! 

Love you guys so much thanks for all of the support. I forgot my other journal at home today so I don't have a quote to give ya but the gospel is true sooooo live it! 

Elder Shell

 La Feria on their street

More at la feria 

They built a fort on Sept. 11th since they had to be inside early 

Selfie in the fort 

Chillin' in the fort 

Deciding to hike up to the "Renca La Lleva" sign 

Elder Shell and Elder Bullock and the view! 

The District and the view 

 Elder Shell and the flag of Chile in the background

Made it up to the sign! 

 Elder Shell and Elder Bullock with the sign

Elder Shell and Elder Bullock victory pose 

The view of Elder Shell's area from the sign 

The sign itself 

They could see the tallest building in South America 

Look at them Andes! 

The cross on their hike 

Elder Shell had to take another picture because some kids
climbed the cross and nailed the flag of Chile to it 

Elder Shell and Elder Farnsworth from the MTC

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