MY CREOLE'S GETTING BETTER AND JOHN GETS CONFIRMED

March 28, 2018

So this week, I finally got to meet the ward because last week was stake conference. There weren't too many to meet but the ones we have are really cool. 

My comp got the flu this week so we weren't able to work very much between his vomiting and what not. He also had an ulcer (on his lip) that got infected and started to cause him severe pain so we had to go to the urgent care last night. He's still hurting, but he's better and has the meds he needs. 

My Creole is getting surprisingly better. I'm now teaching in full "ping-pong" with my comp. What's actually hard is not speaking, but really just understanding, since the grammar's quite simple and the vocabulary's all similar. 

We're not even making any efforts to find Haitians anymore but we just talk to people that live with our investigators and end up getting more! 

Our ward's proving to be very good to them and supportive, so we don't have to worry too much. 

John got confirmed this Sunday and is excited to get the Aaronic Priesthood and help with the Sacrament. He's super cool. 

Today we watched Finding Dory and ate some Sloppy Joes as a district. 

Anyway, that was my week, have a good one everybody!

-Elder Sierra

This is John our Haitian convert. He's a gem. Also, my shirt in this photo is 100% wet 'cause we forgot to get an extra shirt for John so we traded right before and then right after the baptism. So the shirt I'm wearing is the one he got baptized in.

TWO BAPTISMS, A FLOOD, AND ONE EMBARRASSING MOMENT BY THE FONT

March 21, 2018

Too many things happened this week! Like, a lot of things! It's gonna be hard to write 'em all!

Ok, so my new ward is pretty cool! We have some nice members but it's a bit small with 50 attending members. Saturday, we had Fransisca's baptism which went super well; there were no problems or anything and the baptism only took one try. It was great! 

We also had John, our Haitian, get baptized on Sunday. It was stake conference so we had to go early to our church building to start filling the font and then leave to grab John and go to stake conference. Then we ran back to see how things were at our church building and the font had started flooding!!! And what was kinda super funny was that this was the second time this has happened to my comp in this ward! So, we got into action mode. 

I was on splits because my comp went to get another Haitian member who was going to be speaking at the baptism, so I took it upon myself to go change into the baptismal clothing. We had to unclog the font and since I didn't have an extra shirt and we were alone, I went shirtless. 

Well, since we were only filling the font with hot water, it was not a pool of salvation but rather a lake of fire and brimstone which I could not enter into without getting burned! So there I was, waiting for the water to cool down and adding cold water, when some members started showing up and I'm hiding by the steps of the font while everyone's sweeping out water. Then, to my dismay, one of the sister missionaries of the ward opens the door to the font to see, or something, and I'm there shirtless 

Finally, a little later, I was able to drain the font and we were able to start the service. 

I gave one of the talks and, since it was a Haitian who spoke little Spanish, I prepared the talk in Creole! It wasn't 5-star Creole or anything but since I've been learning by necessity, I was able to give a short message. 

The baptism went well and John actually got a bit emotional after the ordinance. And, to our delight, he finally found a job, after 2 and a half months in Chile, the very next day after getting baptized! #neat

Anyway, that's about all, I think. We have a good pool of investigators. Most of them are Haitian and a lot are really cool. 

That's been my week. Really cool and super busy! Have a good one! 

Elder Sierra

I got to go back to my old area and baptize Francisca. 

A NEW WARD, A NEW COMPANION AND 2 BAPTISMS FOR THE WEEKEND 

March 14, 2018

Some neat things happened this week! 

It was my last week in Nocedal, which was a little sad. I really like that ward! I said goodbye to some investigators and some Venezuelans too, also a little sad.

But there's some good news: Fransisca, our 13 year-old investigator, is getting baptized this Saturday!!!! And yesterday, she said she wanted me to baptize her! And in my new ward, we have a Haitian baptism this Sunday... so that's cool. 

My new ward is in the same zone as my first one (when I first came to the mission). It's actually right next door. My comp is very cool. His name is Elder Albuquerque. He's a Brazilian from Recife and has been in the mission for about 13 months. He's very excited about being a DL which makes me happy 'cause he'd be my first comp as DL that actually wanted to serve as DL. 

Our sector has a few Haitian investigators and it turns out my comp speaks Creole... Actually, the 2 lessons we had yesterday we did in Creole. I felt like I was back in my training again  

But actually, I know enough to understand my comp pretty well and I might end up learning it, too, to continue with the investigators we have. However, we won't be putting much more focus on Haitians because there won't always be Creole-speaking missionaries in the ward. 

Anyway, I'm really happy about my new ward and comp and we shall see how things go this first week! 

Have a great week!

Elder Sierra

Saying good-bye to Mary Reyes Manrique and her family

Got my package! 

Bastian and Barbara (they're moving to Bountiful UT this month!)

Some hermanas from my old zone

Elder Boody, my homeboy

La Familia Vera Bustamante (the family of a missionary from the ward)

Los Venezolanos (The Venezuelans)

Marjorie

José and Camila

My new companion, Elder Albuquerque

The view from my new apartment

ARE THOSE WEDDING BELLS I HEAR?!

March 7, 2018

So this week was a lot of the same. We've just been grinding really hard to help our investigators and we've seen some really good results:

Fransisca went to Church and has made a lot of progress! We had her baptism planned for the 17th but we might need to move it back a week, just to be sure. We gave her some herbal tea to help her get off of green tea. 

Another huge miracle this week was that Josè and Camila decided to get married!!!! They told us Monday during our visit and said that our councils had a lot to do with it! They plan to marry in November because they want to do it in Peru (Josè's home).

Anthony went on vacation and missed church so we reset a baptismal date for the 24th.

Isidro is good, too! The only problem is we found out he's not married, either, so we'll have to change the baptismal date we had for him. He's been talking to his wife, though.

School has started back up again so everything is way more stable and people are in their houses. Not too much happened this week, even though the area's doing really well. Also, this is the last week of training for my kid and then I'll be sent off to a new sector. I really have no idea what'll happen so we shall see! 

I really can't focus too much on this email, because BYU!!! [Elder Sierra was admitted to BYU this week and has a lot to figure out]

Have a great week!

-Elder Sierra

GOBELIEVER AND A SPRAINED ANKLE

February 28, 2018

Dear Family,

Here's a quick update on some investigators this week:

Josè and Camila

Well, things have gotten a bit interesting. We had a lesson with them last night and basically listened to their very contrasting views on marriage. Camila's very committed to the idea of marriage and has told Josè that if he doesn't want to marry her, they'll have to break up soon and she'll get married, but she does not plan on living her life without getting married. Josè, on the other hand, doesn't think he's ready (he's 29) but makes silly excuses on why he doesn't want to get married. Basically, it seems like they may break up soon. Camila said that she's making herself more and more independent in order to be able to support herself. It's quite sad for Josè, but Camila's faith is impressive and she plans on getting baptized when she can stop co-living. (Part of the problem is that Josè, being an immigrant, still doesn't have the ID needed to rent a house somewhere else)

Natalia and Luis

This is the family of the missionary from the ward we're currently serving in. They've been pretty dang hard. Natalia has a "Catholic" background and Luis is actually an inactive (quite inactive) but we had been working little by little and yesterday, we had a really nice lesson! We read 3Nephi: 27 with them and they liked it a lot! We got to answer more questions and the Spirit was very strong. At the end Natalia asked, "What do I have to do to get baptized?" Solid lesson and that was the huge light at the end of the tunnel; we really thought we would be possibly losing them soon!

A funny story: 

One of our investigators is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her grandmother. Her grandmother has a very strange name that we honestly couldn't remember too well. After a while we just asked her to spell it out for us so that we could pronounce it right. So she spells it out... G-O-B-E-L-I-E-V-E-R.... Gobeliever?!?! Yup, her name was literally "Go Believer" put together and pronounced in Spanish! My comp and I almost burst out laughing, but we didn't! 

Also, I sprained my ankle Saturday. Isidro and his family went to the Church on Saturday to play soccer (All the churches here have outside futsol courts and we've been inviting people to come play.) Usually, lots of people come but this time, there were very few so our awesome 1st Counselor to the Bishop just took him and his wife on a tour of the Church! Sweet! So, we're talking to the 4 others that came and I was entertaining Isidro's 4 year-old son for a little when I stepped on a rock and sprained my ankle.... 

Sunday and Monday I was down for the count, but I've made a good recovery and Tuesday, I was up and walking and we worked! 

That was pretty much all the fun for this week. I hope you all have a good one!

-Elder Sierra

CHANGES IN THE SECTOR

February 21, 2018

Wow, where do I start with this week? 

Things have been changing a lot in the sector. Really, there was just a shift of focus from some older investigators to some younger blood. Our buddy, Anthony, is doing well and wants to get baptized by the 10th of March and we've also been finding more people to teach. The only problem is that everybody leaves for vacations this time of year! Our ward attendance has been cut in half and we've been without our bishop and mission leader for 2 weeks now! XD They're coming back soon, though. And so, lot's of investigators are kinda pausing things and we're working with others now.

We had a good lesson with José and Camila. They weren't progressing too much because of their schedules and they kinda lowered their level of commitment, but we had a good lesson and re-calculated our purpose with them and promised the blessings of baptism and an eternal family. They have lots to overcome (José drinking, Camila smoking) but they said they'd be willing to change. 

We also had some tasty Ceviche with them this morning! It's actually quite easy to make and tasty! 

Today, we were invited to the home of the older couple that asked for the service we did for their family members. It was basically cleaning a home out that belonged to a "hoarder." There was TONS of random stuff and they were so happy that they invited all the Elders that helped them over for Asado! They have a REALLY nice home (for Chile, that is). We felt like we were in the States. They also had some bomb choripanes. The mayor of San Bernardo even showed up! It was funny because we were all, like, "Who's she?" and someone was said, "That's the mayor" and we were like, "oh..."

So things have been good and my comp and I are having some really cool experiences. We also had interviews with President and he said I'm going to be transferred next month so we'll see where I go! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Sierra

At Mary Manriquez's house

My 'son' and me!

OUR HERO WORE A BASEBALL CAP

February 15, 2018

Since last week was a good week, this week was an extra good week! We've been teaching and finding just as much as last week, but the quality of our lessons have gone up quite a bit! We've set up a couple baptismal dates, one for the 17th of March and the other for the 10th. The one for the tenth is the 10-year-old son of a less active member we found who told us that she wanted to come back to church. We made it a quick visit, because she said she only had 10 minutes, and shared a scripture with her. Her son was playing on his phone but I guess he was paying attention because when we finished he asked, "So, when can I get baptized?" "Great Question!!!"  Anthony (the kid) will be getting baptized on the 10th. He went to church on Sunday and we were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation yesterday.

We also have an amazing Venezuelan investigator, Isidro. He was a reference from other missionaries and we were able to teach him twice before he left on a work trip. He came back last week and we got to teach him last Sunday and he accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of March! In spite of that, we knew if he were to go to church and continue progressing, we'd need to get some members involved. We have 4 Venezuelan men that could possibly help us but they all said they couldn't for one reason or another. One we know generally works late; the others needed a way to get to Isidro's home because of the distance. We had only a couple of days to find a solution and we didn't, so yesterday, we were walking to our appointment with Isidro, kinda sad because we didn't find anyone to accompany us. Then, all of a sudden, we see Benjamín (the other Venezuelan) across the street waving at us!

In retrospect, if I had seen an Angel further down on the same side of the street I was on, I would still have crossed the street to talk to Benjamín.

We talked to him and he said he got home early, so he came with us to teach Isidro and it was a success! He helped a lot and is going to pick him up to come to Church on Sunday! He also said that he's going to talk to the other Venezuelans so that they can have a sick food-making night and invite Isidro and his family. And if that weren't enough, he then bought my comp and me TWO completos each! and a Fanta! We talked for a bit and he gave us some advice for our sector because, despite the great success we've been having, we're facing some challenges, as well. He just came home from his mission a year ago so he helped quite a bit.

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear baseball caps and speak with a thick Venezuelan accent! Basically, the Lord came through in the clutch, like always!

We've been really working hard to change the game and get out of our comfort zone and it's been bringing lot's of miracles and blessings!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Sierra

P.S. I forgot to mention the special conference we had with Elder Christofferson. The choir number went well. It was I Know My Redeemer Lives (in Spanish, of course.) A simple two-part but it was pretty and I was very happy to sing in a choir again. It was a great experience and it gave us front row seats to see Elder Christofferson!

He spoke about various things (I don't have my notes on me heheh), particularly grace and repentance, and then answered some questions. He also talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation. He actually left us with a homework assignment to make a 1 page summary of the BoM. I'll have to tell you more about it next week.