"Labor all your days" in Santiago Chile: Wait, that doesn't look like the right street

It`s kind of tough when you have only been in an area for one transfer and you have to know where everything is at. The reoccuring thought in my head this week has been "wait that doesn`t look like the right street..." Yes we have gotten lost a few times here this week.

So Tuesday was sort of a bummer because we were supposed to have an appointment with Rut and she is super awesome but she called during lunch to cancel. She said that she was gonna be gone the whole week and that we could meet next week. That was kind of a bummer because after getting lost all morning I was looking forward to an appointment I knew for sure how to get to. With a chunk in our schedule the thought just kind of came to my head to go see if the Quijara family could go visit Alex and Carola that night. Sure enough as we were swinging by there house she was like by the door and we talked to her and she said that she and her husband would love to go. So we went about our day and we were able to get a hold of Bernarda and Catalina so that was a huge blessing to be able to talk with them for a while and share a scripture. It was kind of silly of me because we were talking with Bernarda (less active) for a while and I never asked if Catalina was there. Elder Ortiz asked before I went to share a scripture and it turned out that she was there.... We could have taught the Plan of Salvation if I had thought to ask if she was there earlier. It was cool just to be able to sit down with them though. That night we had our lesson with Alex and Carola and the Quijara Family on missionary work and service. The Quijara family are ward missionaries and it was cool to be able to show to Alex and Carola that every member can be a missionary. It was a great lesson. I`m glad the spirit guided me to get the Quijara Family to help us out. I`m so thankful that they were willing to come.

Wednesday was district class and I we got two more brand new guys in our district! Elder Cagle is like 6`6 and super cool. It`s kind of funny because his companion Elder Corronado is like 5`8 or 9 and super skinny. Elder Bird is Elder Keller`s companion. He`s a good guy I was suprised at how much he tried to participate in district class! It was awesome. Elder Cagle is in the other district and Elder Bird is in mind. I forgot to mention that Tuesday night at like 10:30 we got a call from Elder Bullock asking us to teach in district class since we were the only companionship that kind of knew each other. We taught about making goals and why it`s important to the mission and what we need to be focusing on. I felt like it went pretty well and I felt like I did pretty well with my Spanish during it. We also had a lesson on working with the Bishop and I got to practice with Elder Macedo and I learned a ton from him. We had a cool addition to the end of district class where we wrote down all the problems we were having and then we helped each out by giving suggestions and what not. Elder Macedo had some super awesome ideas that helped me out. I realized that a lot of the other people are having the same problems that we are having. It was super helpful all the way around. That afternoon we met with Luis and taught him the first lesson. It was kind of tough because I don`t know how much he is really understanding or if he`s even really listening. Seems like he zones out a lot. We are gonna have to ask a lot more questions and speak up a bit. He`s pretty old. That night I had a really tough lesson with Alex and Carola. We had to kind of make it super clear that he couldn`t get baptized on the 18th and that they needed to get married and everything before. I could tell that he was dissappointed but they`re still willing to do everything and they`re just so awesome. My only worry is that I`ll leave before the process finishes up and some of the other missionaries that come a long don`t help them finish everything up so he can be baptized. He`s so ready already.

Thursday morning was super cool. He were planning to see if this guy Angelo was in his house but I accidentally walked to far. It just so happened that when I realized that and turned around we were at the house of Humberto and through the fence I could see him sitting there. So I was like lets see if we can teach him. Sure enough we got to talk with him and get to know him a little better and just live him with a brief lesson of the Plan of Salvation just emphasizing that we can live with our families for eternity. He is 86 and has quite a few children and grandchildren and his wife passed a way a few years back. It was super cool at the end. Elder Ortiz helped him pray and his prayer was so sincere man it was awesome. So after that we went to lunch and got lost again. I walked down a block to far and we took the long way there. Then I was walking behind Elder Ortiz in a narrow part of the sidewalk and when we went to turn I saw to little to late a freshly poured block of wet cement and stepped right in that sucker. My first thought was shoot I have cement on my shoe. The second thought was I need to tell the worker guy what happened. The third thought was how do I say that in Spanish. Elder Ortiz just kept walking because he didn`t see so I just kept walking and didn`t say anything. I felt terrible. I saw the guy turn around when I stepped in it and I`m sure he was really angry. I wish I could have thought quickly enough to apologize. Oh well things happen sometimes I guess. That day Elder Ortiz had a meeting with a guy in Providencia which is where the Temple and the CCM are. I got to grab some scripture cases there so I could keep my spanish scriptures in good condition. It felt weird to be back there. We stopped by the CCM for a second to use the bathroom and it was just weird. I saw Hermana Cariola though and got to talk to her for a second. It was cool to be able to do that all in Spanish. That afternoon we helped Luis by filling up the tires of his wheelchair with air. Elder Ortiz and I took turns pushing each other on the way back just to make sure it worked alright. That night we finally got to sit down with Brandon and read the Book of Mormon with him. He`s been really lazy about reading and praying and coming to church. We gotta figure out something fun to do with him to get him excited.

Friday we found a new investigator in the morning named Marta and taught her a short plan of salvation. Lunch that day was hilarious. The Hermana during lunch was looking at a picture of Elder Princes family. She was like "You`re mom is soooo pretty. You`re dad is... nice. You`re like your dad." It was so mean but just the way she said it was pretty funny... After studies we were gonna go see Zoila and I could not find her house for the life of me so we walked for forever and eventually gave up. That night we went by Alex and Carola`s and they weren`t there at first. We gave them a quick call and they said they would be there in 30 minutes so we went and printed off some stuff for coordination the next day and then headed back to Alex`s and Carola and had a quick lesson on Obeying and Honoring the law of the country. It was pretty short and sweet and to the point. There isn`t a ton we can teach there you just gotta do it.

Saturday we had coordination and it was super awesome. Afterwards we had some super tasty tacos. That afternoon after weeks of not being able to find a lady named Maria we finally were able to be able to set down with her and teach her the first lesson. At first Elder Ortiz and I were a little bit on a different page because he didn`t realize we had already taught a summary of the first vision but the lesson ended really really well and she is willing to put in the work to see if this is the true church! It was cool to be able to talk about what went right and what we could improve on after that lesson. That afternoon we got to see Patricio and Brian for a second but they had to leave before we could teach anything. They said they were gonna be at Church but they didn`t show up :/ That night we had once with Alex and Carola and shared a scripture with them. Alex said he had to work the next day and couldn`t go to church so that was kind of lame.

Sunday we had an awesome church. Carola showed up with Felipe and her two neices without Alex. Gospel principles was a super awesome lesson about the atonement. We had lasagna for lunch and the members remembered that I like juice more than soda! They`re awesome. I accidentally said the wrong family name in the prayer before dinner so that was pretty awkward. I said the familia Quijara instead of the familia Valencia Jara. Oops. We did a ton of walking Sunday and weren`t able to find anyone home which was a bummer but we were able to finally get a hold of our reference Marcela at night! She went to a different ward for church today! I learned a lot from Elder Ortiz in that lesson about why it is so important to get to know someone before you really teach them because you need to understand what their needs are and what we need to teach. It was a really good way to round out the week.

Today we had a soccer game Renca zone vs Independencia. After a long grueling game we pulled out the W so that was pretty fun. I was playing the whole time so no pictures... sorry mom!

The quote for this week is "Eventually every man is backed up to the wall of faith. It is there that he must make his stand." President Ezra Taft Benson.

Also an awesome talk that I heard on Elder Ortiz`s mp3 player is a BYU devotional in 2009 from Elder Holland called "Remember Lots Wife." I encourage every one to read it. It talks why it`s so important not to live in the past and to trust that the future offers more for us.

Love you all,

Elder Shell