Los Conquistadores #5

12.13.10

The weeks here just get faster and faster.  Its crazy how much time flies when youre having fun and working hard.  We have been getting a lot of help from a young man in the ward who is preparing for a mission.  His name is Luis and he is super smart.  He is actually having p day with us today haha.  He was baptized a little less then a year ago and is going to start his papers in a month or so.  He is hoping to stay in Chile to serve but he also wants to serve in Cali.

So what we have been doing a lot for the members is we decided to take pictures with all the families and we are going to frame then and give the pictures to them as presents so they remember us.  There are also some specific members we are going to buy ties for and stuff.  Hermano Fuentes told me he bought me a present last week too and I told him I got something for him.  One of our first days we got here he was going crazy about my watch and asked me if I was rich and all this stuff.  I havent been wearing my watch because it bugs me a lot and I just look at it a lot which makes the days slower so I decided to give it to him for Christmas.  The members here love us too they are always telling us how much different their homes feel when we are in there. They told me the other day when I was on changes with another elder that they can really feel our love for them and they feel the Spirit really strongly in their homes.  That´s the key here, love the people and have fun.  Get lost in the work and help people come unto Christ.

This last week we didn't really have any crazy experiences or anything out of the ordinary just a lot of teaching and finding.  We dont have very many investigators but the ones we have are really good.  We have been trying to teach this one 11 year old kid who isnt baptized yet.  His name is Cristofer I think I mentioned him last week.  Anyways he doesnt really get anything at all and finally his inactive mom came in and told him this isnt a game its either you get to return to live with God or you dont choose what you want.  It was really cool to see that because she doesnt want anything to do with the church and is pretty rude to us but at least she understands the importance of it.  It´s funny here when we find drunk people too who come up and talk to us.  We practice contacting them in english haha and since they are drunk they think we are speaking spanish and they just agree with everything.  We usually ask them to stop drinking and be baptized.

Sounds like all your new callings are going really well.  Im sure primary will be hard because some kids can be too much sometimes but I have a testimony of a well organized ward now.  My ward is awesome its just nobody knows whats going on most of the time and the bishop just does random things for sacrament meeting since he doesnt prepare much.  He is super cool but doesn't know how to do things yet.  Yesterday Roth and Diaz had some baptisms and the ward mission leader did 3 of them since he knew them.  First of all,  nobody really likes him in the ward because hes kinda weird and second, he lives with a lady he isnt married to.  We were talking to the old bishop and he said he tried to get him kicked out of the ward and stuff because of all the dumb things he does but nothing ever happened.  So anyways when he was baptizing the 3 kids he did it allll wrong.  He rose his left hand instead of his right and messed up the prayer like 3 times for all of them so he had to redo all of them.  He has done that kind of stuff a lot with like confirming people too.  Other than that this ward is awesome haha.

It sounds like Haley is doing really well with everything being the coordinating sister and all.  When I was the DL for my district I learned a lot.  In D&C 120 we in the last 10 verses or so it talks about leadership and how many are called but few are chosen.  When we correct people we do it with sharpness but show an increase of love afterwards.  Ive noticed that when people are corrected its only natural to be a little offened or upset.  When we show that increase of love the people will realize we are only looking out for them and want the best for them.  I've also been learning a lot from all our studies.  The Book of Mormon is just so plain and simple.  The gospel is simple.  Keep the commandments is really what it all comes down to.  People look at everything and think too much about it and make it complicated.  In 2nd Nephi towards the end Nephi talks a lot about how the Lord´s arms are stretched forth all the day long and all we have to do is repent and keep the commandments.  All God asks of us to excercise our faith and follow him.  We told that to an old investigator this last week because he has had a hard life and decided not to get baptized because he doesnt have enough faith.  We shared Ether 12:27 and told him we all have debilidades (weaknesses) and that we just need to recognize them and humble ourselves and the Lord will help us.

Anyways that's all I got this week.  I hope all is going well and home and I'm excited to be able to call home in a couple weeks.  I love you all and miss you all a lot but this is where the Lord wants me right now.
Love Elder Ty Peck