February 27, 2012

Hey all--

I am pooped. This week was draining both spiritually and physically. We went and destroyed a house on Saturday. A new member is going to be building and moving in. We went with 3 young men from our ward to destroy the second story. It's now just 4 brick walls.

On Friday we went to the Stake center to have a meeting with the Stake President. When we got there, the Stake President was busy setting apart a missionary, according to one of his secretaries. We asked who, and found out it was one of the young men from our ward. So, we got to go to his setting apart. The high council room was packed with people. His girlfriend was bawling. His Mom too. Latins are much more clingy and dramatic, let me tell you. It was fun though because it reminded us of when we started the mission. Elder Barco and I wanna re-start.

The old Grandma we found last week is doing awesome. There was a big bump in the road, because her sister came and made her feel bad for abandoning the Adventist church. We helped Blanca realize that she needed to take the decision, and not let her sister and family control her. She came to church on Sunday and loved it. Things are going great.

We did 2 cosechones. this week. The first was in Lo Errazuriz. I worked with Elder Carcamo from Peru. It was fun. He is 25 years old but looks like he is 14. Not a joke. Then we did another in Rivas Vicuña. I came home super dehydrated.

On Sunday, I felt super good. Elder Barco and I had a whole row of investigators, smack dab in the middle of the chapel during sacrament meeting. We had so many that we couldn't fit em all, so 3 of them had to sit on a different bench. It was super satisfying. Sometimes missionaries just need a Sunday like that. They don't come very often.

After church on Sunday, we had one of the most powerful lessons EVER. I mentioned that the missionary from our ward who just left, left behind a girlfriend. Her name is Valentina. She is 18, and is the only member in her family. She is an only child. We went to her house to meet with her parents. Her dad actually started seminary to be a Catholic priest. You can imagine how Catholic he is. Well we taught them and it was really powerful. After a heartfelt prayer and 5 minutes of solid silence (not an exaggeration). The Dad agreed that the Spirt was ¨super intense¨(his words). He said he knows he needs to get baptized, but needs more courage to be able to do it. He and his wife, and Valentina were all in tears. It was super bomb.

Mom- Can you send me Mountain Dew? I want some so bad. Also. Skinny ties are good too. But not TOO skinny. So far you have gotten the width just right. You can put it in the package with the fish tank cleaner. Or, if there is no space, its fine. Just the fish tank cleaner.

Thanks for everything. Love you guys. Congrats again to Caitlin and Dustin. And Ian I suppose

Elder Charlie Van Dyke