October 19, 2016
This week it's kinda hard to recollect all that's happened. We're in a trio right now with another American elder, Elder Scott. He's really fun and is going to be ending his training this week. His trainer was a Uraguayan who left for home on Sunday so we've been in a trio since then and will be until next Tuesday at our change meeting. We're really fired up to get a lot of progress done in the area this week because we've been a bit bogged down by things like General Conference and Elder Scott's trainer going home. There's also been some bad weather that's been slowing us down because something like a bit of rain floods part of the streets here (but don't worry, we don't need boots yet).
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| Elder Scott's trainer from Uruguay |
The sad thing is, we had quite a set back starting on Monday. After getting lunch from a member we brought it home and ate it. Then, during language study, I was feeling kind of funny and then my stomach started hurting. I didn't want to slow down the day though, so we went out anyway. After our first lesson with some recent converts I was feeling REALLY bad so I told Elders Scott and Sims we needed to head back to the house. When we did, I tried to lay down and ended up falling asleep for a bit. When I woke up though, I immediately ran outside and threw up violently! I was feeling a little better afterward but then started feeling super sick again. I ended up vomiting two more times and then received a priesthood blessing. After that, and some prayer, I started feeling better, but it wasn't until Tuesday at about 6:00pm that I was able to go back out.
Today for P-day, we went to an old investigator of Elder Sims for lunch and later went to a store that sells soccer jerseys and gives discounts to missionaries. The lunch was really delicious but it was still a pretty mellow p-day. We mostly just went along with Sims to let him see his old investigator.
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| Elder Sims and me with our new soccer jerseys! |
We had to cancel on the temple trip because, apparently, we needed to set a reservation, but we're getting that set up for this week. When we go it'll be with about 10 youth. It'll be a good ways from the area, like an hour by means of public transport.
Also, splits went great! We had a very productive day and found a few contacts and I talked the entire day with him in Spanish.
Also, splits went great! We had a very productive day and found a few contacts and I talked the entire day with him in Spanish.
We have one really golden investigator right now, Coni Lopez. She's 18, in school, and she's the one that went to all the sessions of Conference. So far, we've taught her all three lessons plus the Ten Commandments and the Word of Wisdom. That's really what's gonna be the deciding factor for her. She said she drinks alcohol and coffee and smokes, but will try to stop. When we see her next time we'll ask her about it. She's pretty quiet but very receptive and nice. She has a baptismal date for Nov. 5th and is working towards it.
Next we have a bunch of wishy washy people. One woman who's been an investigator for something like 8 months. Next time we see her we're going to review lesson 3, the gospel, and we'll challenge her to baptism and see how that goes. She's stuck on the fact that she hasn't received her answer yet but we're going to challenge her to act in faith first and then do everything she can to receive it rather than waiting around like a sitting duck.
The last one worth mentioning is a Haitian man named Eric. There's a lot of Haitians in Chile right now because of the instability in Haiti. Many of them do't even speak Spanish. Eric is very smart and speaks Spanish, Creole, French and English. He's also very knowledgable about the Bible and has a fervent testimony of prayer, having had an experience where he was healed after prayer from an injury to his face. We have only seen him once, but he's interesting and perhaps quite promising.
We also have a lot of people we're working on re-activating. In this next change we're looking at 3 families we could very well bring back to church as well as some individuals.
In answer to your question, Mom, I'm gonna be honest: I don't like it here too much. That's not to say I don't like serving a mission or anything at all like that, but there's just nothing like the good old USA. Plus, I'm in a pretty poor area. However, there's a lot of people I like here.
Elder Sierra
My area is riddled with dog crap... like everywhere. People throw their dogs out on the streets if they don't bark enough because they buy them as alarms to ward off robbers and now they infest the streets. Also, people litter a lot here so our area and most of the mission is really dirty. And you know how I was excited about the food? I learned Chileans actually don't cook very well.... like, I miss you guys´meals sooooo much and our best meals have been from Peruvians.
But I do what I can to not let things like that get in the way of my service or love for these people 'cause I know one day I'll look [back] on these things as [being] very petty.
Anyway, that's about all I have for this week. I love you all!
Elder Sierra
