DRUNKEN KISSES AND BICYCLE CHAINS AND OTHER MIRACLES

January 10, 2018

This week was pretty frustrating because I got sick AGAIN! Saturday I was feeling funny and then threw up and was bad about the whole day. Then Sunday, I was pretty bad, too, and Monday, I was worse, but then finally started feeling better and today, I've been good.  

Friday, our Zone had an activity with the missionaries from the Chile MTC. They bussed all the greenies down to our stake center and they paired them off with us so we could do splits. Well, it turned out that one of the young women from our ward that had recently left for her mission was there, right back in her own stake! We got to say hi to her and my companion for the split knew her because they were in the same district at the MTC. While my greenie companion and I were visiting a family in our stake, they suggested that we pass by this sister missionary's family, who aren't members, so that my companion could tell them about her (but really, it was so we could teach them!) The member called the family and they invited us over and it totally worked! 

We got to teach them a little bit and got a return visit! When we met back up with the other MTC missionaries, we told this sister missionary the news and she started crying! She told us about how her family had never been receptive to the missionaries and how this was a miracle for her because she had been praying for her family to accept the gospel. 

It was also kind of a miracle for us, too, because our plans had fallen that day and I had the thought to pass by these members to plan an FHE with them and then they were the ones to suggest we go see her family and called them. It was like a complete miracle! Since then, we've taught them again and they've all accepted baptismal invitations so it was pretty great! 

Okay,so that was the nice, heartwarming part of my letter. Here's the rest:

Yesterday,we got out of a lesson and were going to start heading down the street a ways when I hear the voice of a very drunk man yelling "Helder! Eh,Helder!" from a few yards behind me. (No one knows why people pronounce "Elder", like "Helder" but they sometimes do.) I've been in enough similar situations to know that it's time to get rolling so I'm tell my companion, "Hey, start peddling" and he's like, "Okay" and then his bike chain falls out... So, we're forced to stop and this drunk guy comes up to us and tries to hug me and give me a kiss. When I try to stop him as he goes in for the kiss he gets frustrated with me and insists I let him kiss me. After trying about 5 times, he starts to get offended and I let him kiss my cheek. It was pretty gross and then he did the same to my companion! Then he talks to us about some incoherent things for a few minutes and somewhere in all that he shakes my hand and kisses it. Then, when my comp tries to fix his chain and can't do it, the DRUNK guy goes over and does it for him in, literally, 5 seconds! It was pretty hilarious and then he says goodbye to us, hugging and kissing us on the cheek again. Just one of those things that happens every now and then in the field. 

Things have been going pretty well in the sector though. We have a couple with a baptismal date, José and Camila, and they are doing very well. They have a lot of things to overcome but every lesson, they really learn and they are coming to church and making changes. 

We have another man with a baptismal date, Juan, and he's also great! We taught him last night and he's resolved to arrive to his date. He set a date to get married with his partner (who's a less active member, actually) and is going to set goals with us to keep the Word of Wisdom. 

So, things have been good, minus my health, which has been a little lacking. But, I'm good now and I really can't complain. This work is amazing. 

Love you all. Have a great week!

-Elder Sierra

CELEBRATIONS, OLD FRIENDS AND THE WORK MOVES ON

January 3, 2018

Ok let's get down and dirty! To be honest, Christmas was cool, but not that cool. I enjoyed the season and everything for what it was. There were a lot of things that I learned during the month of December that are more important than the typical Christmas experience, but that being said, my roommates are a bit less fun in terms of wanting to do things (i.e. baking, decorating, etc.) 

The talent show was pretty fun though! Our Feliz Navidad, cumbia version, was a success! (Cumbia: An extremely popular dance rhythm from Colombia but also popular in Chile and Mexico amongst others. Often classified as salsa, played in 4/4 time with a heavy beat one and accentuated beats three and four, giving a loping rolling rhythm similar to "riding a horse".)
I thought we'd look super dumb, and I think we did, but everyone loved it, including President! I know someone has it recorded so I'll get it!

New Year's was way fun! We got permission to have dinner until 11:30pm and a family in Lo Blanco invited us. They invited quite a few missionaries and it was a fun time. I also bought an AWESOME hat; you'll see it in the pictures. We got some party poppers and had a ball!

Other good news: 

A man in my first ward, Las Americas, finally got baptized! I taught him for a little bit while I was there and then we passed him to other Elders and then I kept seeing him but left the ward. He just recently got baptized and now all his family are members! It was really cool to be able to go back to the ward, as well. I got to see Valentina Varas, the girl who we found and reactivated and who then went on a mission. She came home due to health problems. She's the one who made my tie, too!

This week we've been really trying to find new people and things have been going surprisingly well! The past week was pretty good, and then all of a sudden, we filled up our entire week with appointments by contacting and talking to people yesterday, alone! It was pretty cool and we've seen a lot of little miracles as we've been trying to lengthen our stride more and more!

Our current investigators are doing well. We have 3 with dates right now. Two of them are José and Camila, a couple that needs to get married. We're seeing how they plan on resolving that problem. They might actually separate. They're great and have come to church twice in a row and a few other times, as well. Camila especially wants to get baptized, but we're really going to have to work hard to get them ready and living all the commandments. If you could pray for them, that would be really cool! 

Anyway that's the gist of what's happening over here in Santiago. I'll send some pics and let you know how things are going next week!

-Elder Sierra


Going back to Las Americas. Some pics with my old companion and Valentina Varas, a reactivation.

New Year's dinner

TOO WEAK TO WRITE THIS WEEK!

December 27, 2017

*Elder Sierra was very ill this morning and began vomiting from 4:30am to noon. Needless to say, he wasn't up for writing a letter but did 'chat' with us online for a few minutes. Here are the highlights of that conversation (minus all the gory details of his wretched state 😖)

We had an appointment with a family on Christmas Day and it actually went great. They accepted a baptismal date and they asked if they could be in a co-living arrangement and we were like, "Nah." When we told them they had the option of living separately or marrying, Camila got kind of serious and said, "Well, I guess you'll have to just find a place to live then!" I was like Ammon over there: "Nunca he visto tanta fe! Sí, aun entre los [Chilenos]!" (translation: Never have I seen such great faith even among all the Nephites (or, in this case, Chileans) They are neat people; they just have a hard condition because Camila especially wants to quit smoking cigarettes and marijuana but everyone in their house does it, so it's hard. They have a 2-year old child together, so I doubt they do it in the house, but Camilla really wants to get married or split up.

They've accepted a baptism date for Feb. 24th. If they don't make it, they'll be way closer than they've ever been to baptism anyway.

But guys, I love you all a TON, but it's not good for me to keep writing. I need some rest 

Take Care!

Elder Sierra