Hey everyone!
Wow my life has changed a LOT this week! It has been absolutely crazy! Me and Elder G ended the week off doing some quick goodbyes to everyone which was kind of sad. He really loved this place and the people here, even though the work is hard. One miracle is that we found P again after she disapeared for like a month! Problem is that her husband doesn't want to get married. All we can do is pretty much keep her obeying the commandments she can and pray for a miracle. We will see what happens. Tuesday we went to Temuco and after Elder G left I got to work half the day with Elder C who's an awesome friend and the first I made on the mission (in the plane to Mexico after we went to the wrong airport - hahaha) and with Elder Q from Peru who is also awesome. Elder C works in the very downtown of Temuco so that was a big change from Cunco. Then we got on the bus to Concepcion to stay the night there, and we should have gotten there at like 8, but some huge wildfires outside of Victoria and Angol literally stopped the freeway for almost 3 hours! We ended up getting to the terminal at 1230 at night and the APs had to pick us up and take us to the Elders house in San Pedro where we slept on some air mattresses. Next day was Wednesday where we got to the office and had some training with the aps and president which was really cool and exciting. Then we met our comps! There were like 33 new missionaries -- it was crazy! Elder M is my comp! You'll want to hunt down his parents Dad. He's from Sandy Utah, went to Utah State last semester and is totally awesome! We are already becoming great friends which is awesome. His Spanish is really good for his time in the mission too! He's going to be a great missionary and has a super strong testimony! I'm trying to make these next two cambios entirely about him. One funny thing is that he told me that he told President in his interview that he didn't care where he went and that he just wanted to work really hard and learn Spanish quick, which I told him is a classic case of mission "be careful what you wish for" hahahaha. Cunco is a notoriously hard sector and I'm kind of known by president to work very hard and have good Spanish hahahaha. That being said, we got home Wednesday night and hit the ground running Thursday with a crazy amount of walking and appts. We had some good success with the few members here too which was cool. We worked very hard. I'm not sure if I told you about the Seventh Day Adventists we found. They are known to be very good with the bible and very hard on the missionaries, but we found a family of some who are just the nicest people ever! Poor Elder M -- one of his first lessons in the mission was with some of the hardest type of investigator hahahaha. It was really cool though because they did a lot of using the bible to prove us wrong, but then I told them about the Book of Mormon, testified it, and challenged them to read it. The two parents didn't really change their hearts but miraculously the daughter R (note the bible name) said she had some doubts about things and wanted to read and pray about it! Miracle! Friday was a little rough with a lot of looking and little finding. It was ok though. Shoot also it rained. Elder M kept it up really well though. Saturday was a bummer because I woke up with a totally terrible stomach flu. We tried to work but I couldn't do it and we had to go home and rest Saturday. big bummer. Sunday was awesome! The branch president, who is very good at throwing missionaries in the deep end of the pool so to speak, asked Elder M to teach the youth class during my sundayschool class. Pretty funny considering his Spanish but he told me it went pretty well hahahahaha. Familia V showed up in full force too which was awesome. I feel like I have their trust now. Shoot I was expecting to see Dad's friends at church, they didn't make it and I didn't hear from them! no worries. We planned the week and set out looking after all of our appointments fell. I was praying so hard to find some new people! We looked all day with little success which is strange for Cunco, and literally the last contact after we had lost all hope at 920 we got in a door and found two really awesome people. Classic. We will see what happens with that. Truth is that the two last weeks of the cambio for us were hard and we lost like all of our investigators, so this week we have had to start from scratch. It's kind of stressful considering I'm still pretty new at all of this etc and considering how much pressure they put on trainers to baptize, and with good reason! Cunco is hard theres no doubt about it, and I think in the last 2 years theres been 3 or 4 baptizms!!! I know we can do it though. It'll happen if we just don't loose our hope. It's a totally different kind of worry when I have to think about my comp's own well being and new missionary bubble that I really don't want to pop. Trying to keep his expectation and faith high. Pretty funny considering that we are working for our first baptisms together as trainer and trainee. Pray hard that we will be able to do it! Anything is possible, and I'm really trying to indoctrinate him with a very high standard of obedience, work, and joy in what we do. One cool thing is that we are trying to focus really hard not on indoctrinating investigators so to speak, but to focus on bearing testimony and challenging them a ton with committments, especially pertaining to baptism. It is a very cool strategy. We will see how this week goes! We really need some good miracles! I'm doing great and trying really hard to keep up my attitude and faith and dilligence, even though so many missionaries have lost hope in this sector in the past. I dunno why but Cunco is just rough on missionaries. I won't ever stop though! I owe it to Elder M at the very least! I just hope our results will at least reflect a little bit of whatI'mm planning to give. I trust they will. Keep growing your testimonies. They are so important and so powerful. No one can take them from you! I love you all and am doing great! Trevor ok so heres me and Elder M and a pic of me when I was sick in Melipeuco on Saturday but I thought it was funnily candid.
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Elder Trevor SmithElder Trevor Smith is a Mormon missionary in the Chile Concepcion Sur mission, the same mission where his dad served. Although this is Trevor's own mission, he grew up hearing about the beautiful land of Chile and the loving people that inhabit it. These are the letters from his experience there. Archives
July 2017
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