Wow, this is crazy. I´ll answer your biggest question right off the bat. My itinerary just got emailed to me! Whoooooaaaaaa that's so weird! So my arrival date and time is........ drumroll please...... October 10th at 7:42 in the AM baby! Hahaha it's kinda hitting me how close I am to the end. You told me, mom, not to countdown, that helped me realize that I´m the last one still out in the field... thanks haha! So yeah, I´m leaving from Antofagasta the 9th to head to Santiago, then to Dallas, then to Sky Harbor. I don´t know why not straight to Sky Harbor, if it´s an international airport, but oh well! There you have it. Second things second, Happy Birthday Darian!! Jaja you´re getting old too! The 27th of July we celebrated your big day by... walking around and talking to people! :D
Sounds like you guys had an amazing week! Well, at least you mom. Hectic, maybe, but fun! I´m sure you´re glad girls camp is over, and everything is calming down. This was Ashlyn´s first year there, right? I´m glad to hear that she enjoyed it! They have some awesome activities and people there, it seems like. Especially that nature lady. I´m happy Ashlyn actually picked up the animals! So Aiden´s getting a laptop....? Why?!?! Get me one! For... school, and stuff, for when I get back! I need a laptop! :D And Darian, nice going with the scholarship! I, personaly, am freaking out about money when I get back, to pay school. But oh well.
So, this week has been a very good week. We have been progressing a bit with a few of our investigators. To answer your question first, mom, I haven´t seen Mílan. In a long time. Since he´s gotten back I haven´t even seen him. He spoke with us on the phone and said he was coming to church, but didnt come. And every time we´ve gone, he´s not there. It´s soooooooo frustrating, but we´ll get there. Nacho, the other convert, is golden!!! He comes to church with no effort on our part, comes to the activities, and participates in everything! He´s awesome! He passes the sacrament in the meetings. I'm happy for that. Now we just need to work with Mílan a bit more... or at least find him.
We worked a lot this week with Sebastian and Constanza, but more than anything with Constanza. We wanted her to come to church really badly, so we were there almost every day to animate her more. She was progressing a lot, and we had her interview, along with Sebastian. Elder Vicente is animated to baptize her this Saturday, and I´m supposed to have the vision now, so we went along with it and she passed, and so we wanted her to come to church desperately. We were there every day, almost, and talked a ton about church. She promised us she´d come, and we were set. Then Sunday came, and we went to pick them up from their house/store, and she´s there selling to some lady, and she looks at us, and gets instantly ashamed. We talk to her and she says, my worker hasn´t come, I can´t come to church. I was severely disappointed. I talked to her, because she said she would close the shop to come, but that didn´t seem to be her plan. She told me no she wasn´t going to close. Then I talked about her commitment, and how it was not with us, but with God, and breaking it would be breaking a commitment with God. I was desperate that she´d come to church. So I left her there to pray and get ready to come, and we waited in church. She never came.
We have also been working with a few other people, like a kid named Dustin. He lives in front of the branch president, and we´re trying to teach his family, but it´s hard to find them all together. He´s progressing a bit, but not too much. Then we have Jonathen. This is a child of a less active lady from Bolivia, Cochabamba. We met him and his friend and played a little soccer with them and startred teaching a bit. He is super receptive! Then we went to meet his mom, and found out that she is actually a member, though hasn´t been to the church since she moved to Chile (8 years). So we began trying to teach him a bit more, and invite him to church, and he was open for everything! He accepted to come to church, but when we went to pick him up, he said he was sick with a stomach ache. Then I invited him to come for just an hour, and he thought about it, and agreed! So he came with us to church, and we were stoked. We are going to begin working a bit more with him.
This week has been a very interesting week for me. President passed all the missionaries a sheet with different chapters of the Book of Mormon about the atonement of Christ. I decided to use that as my personal study and study a chapter a day from that list. I begin with a prayer and seek inspiration then read and write down what comes to mind. It has been absolutely mind blowing! I have learned a ton, and my testimony has grown immensely! I started in 2 Nephi 2, Lehi´s patriarchal blessing to Jacob and testimony on Christ. I loved learning a bit more into the reason of why there is opposition in all things. It helped me understand more fully the importance of the fall together with the atonement of Christ that gives us the freedom to choose. Then I moved to Alma 39 through 42, when Alma talks with his son, Coriantón, and admonishes him to repent. I have learned a lot about the resurrection and the restoration of things to us. I have loved studying like this! My testimony on the Atonement has grown a lot. I have coupled this study from the Book of Mormon with a light reading of The Infinite Atonement. It really opens my mind about the atonement, and helps me realize more the importance. It is the doctrine of doctrines, the most important thing to happen in all of history! All doctrines only have light and meaning because of the atonement and Jesus Christ, our Saviour. I know this is true, now more than ever. I have loved reading about and studying this these past days. It helped me to teach better to my investigators this love for Jesus Christ, and understand who He is really for us. I love this gospel, and want everyone to love it like I do! Or more.
So that´s what´s been going on for me. Still cruising on with Elder Vicente! All is good! Hope you all have a great week!
Les amo a todos!
Elder Schmid
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