Monday, February 11, 2013

Cookin' Summer in Chile

Cookin with Elder Garcia and Fabian

Final Product:  Spanish dish, Tortilla de Papas



Dear Family!

Ahahaha!  Thank you so much for all of the pìctures -- they made Andrew look like a superstar -- ahahaha!  The house looks beautiful with the hills all green, and what exactly is Phil doing out in Maryland?  Lumberjacking? 

(below are some of the pics mentioned in Elder Nate's email)

Andrew performing in Mr. Heritage Halls competition

Early spring in hills of Martinez

Lumberjack Phil....?


I wish Phil would write me.......................  It's good to hear that Mormon Prom was a hit, and that youth activity (to visit temples in CA) sounds amazing!  Visiting all of the temples in California -- we are really so blessed to have so many temples close to us, and I don't think that I realized how much of a blessing it is, until I got here to Chile.  On the temple grounds here in Santiago there is a hotel-like place for the people from southern Chile to stay in when they come to the temple.  Some people only have enough money to visit the temple one time in their whole lives!  Wow!

Well, this week was really nice.  The highlight of it was definitely yesterday when I had the opportunity to confirm Eduardo as a member of this church; what a blessing!   I didn't know that I was going to do it until about five minutes before the confirmation, but it all went smoothly.  Definitely, it was a moment of my mission that I am not going to forget any time soon.  We had ward council after the meetings, and we discussed potential callings for Eduardo to help him to integrate into the ward as best he can, as soon as possible.  All of this ward involvement started happenning when Hermano Jara joined the bishopric.  He has helped us out a TON!  

This week was a really good week for Elder Garcia and I, because on Wednesday we found a whole family that we are starting to teach!!!!  We found them from the list of old investigators in our area book, and they are so cool!  Missionaries stopped visiting them about 2 years ago because the Mom and the Dad in the family aren't married, but when we came to visit them, they told us that they have plans set to get married a little later this year!  The parents names are Mauricio and Isabelle, and their kids are Filipe (13) and Ronald (12) and they are all great.  On Saturday night I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to give the Isabelle a blessing of healing, and that was a really good experience for me, and hopefully for her too.  We have a Noche de Hogar (Family Home evening activity) planned with them later in the week.

Also, we are continuing to teach Claudia, the girlfriend of Mattias.  She was out of town this week, but she is really excited to go to church for the first time this Sunday.  We heard that her mom is reading the pamphlets that we give to Claudia, so we are going to try to start teaching her too.  Basically, what I am learning right now in this sector, is that the people who have friends or close relationships with people that are members, it's a lot easier for them to progress in learning the gospel.  It's a lot more comfortable to teach them, and they are more likely to join the church and to stay in the church.  That is why members working with missionaries is so, so important!  Go help your missionaries!  

On the 9th of February, I completed my 9th month here in the mission......WHAT THE HECK?  Nine months?!?  That scares me; that number scares me.  The time is going by way way fast -- I still feel like I just got here!  The time flies....before I know it, Andrew will be in Brazil, and Phil will be married (I think he is just kidding on this one)......

Whelp, sorry if this email was a little shorter than the rest -- I wasnt very good at writing in my journal this week.  I love and miss you all.  I'm praying for you, and I look forward to hearing from you again next week.  Keep being amazing.  The Church is true!  

With lots of love,

Elder Schwartz

Cutting Onions.....

No comments:

Post a Comment