Pichidegua!

Hey all!  This week was a pretty dang good week, I've been feeling a lot of energy and the drive to work like crazy!  Which was good.  We kind of killed ourselves working in Pichidegua however and then I had to recover a bit but now we're back up to good energy-levels.  Anyway,

Pichidgua:

So the original plan was for me to go Tuesday morning, stay Wednesday morning (we had to stay in until government people came to survey us because it was Chile's census) then go home Wednesday evening after the census, but once I got there we found out that there weren't any buses all day Wednesday, so I'd have to go home Thursday morning.  So, I spent two full days in Pichidegua!  It was an awesome feeling.  When I walked in the house, the smell brought a flood of memories back.  Despite how difficult it was there, the memories were all good, which is the cool thing about memories.  So, I was on cloud nine the whole time just being back there.  Everybody we saw was super excited to see me and I was ecstatic about seeing them, so it was a great couple of days.

First off, we saw Luìz and Jesika who were eternal investigators of four years that didn't want to get married and their recent-convert children, Carlos and Fran.  I had heard they weren't going, which worried me, but I found out that the Dad had always been going but the mom had back problems, and because she didn't go the kids didn't either.  We talked about how much we needed them and how much we wanted to see the branch progress since we have a missionary as a President finally and how we needed their help and they seemed pretty excited about going to church at the end.  Success!

Next came fma. Peña, a family who was reactivated when I was there who went inactive again.  They got caught up in work, again, but we gave them the same speech we gave to Luìs and Jesika and they told us their plans to start going to church again.  They'll rearrange things with work to be able to go, so we'll keep praying for them!

Next I showed Elder Villavicencio where Christian lives, because after Elder Kammerman and I left nobody had passed by them again, but they kept going to church.  I had only been in bus, but this time we went in bike and it was a 1 hour ride solid.  They were the Peruvian family who started going back to church that we met through the son, Leper.  The Dad, Christian, is an incredibly spiritual investigator that loves going to church and wanted to get baptized but he has to wait to get legally divorced to get married to Leper's Mom.  They're still doing great, they were going to church as often as they could, but that's still not too often because they have to have a friend drive them and he's not always there.  They love going though, so they're getting a car now to be able to get there every week.  Elder Villavicencio got to know them well, and he'll be passing by now, so that was also a success.

We went by almost every member, and most of them are doing pretty dang well.  A lot of them are exactly where they were, a few are doing much better which was good to see.  The only real heartbreak was Ivan.  We talked to him for a few hours both nights, but the good thing was that we made a lot of progress.  It was hard to see a member who was so strong and helped us so much be so far from the truth, and being far from the truth has negatively affected his personality and everything I knew about him.  We were able to dig deep and understand why he didn't believe anymore, apparently he never really had a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and the fact that none of the members did anything bothered him.  I don't know if he'll come back, but at least I understand him, and he knows that I love him unconditionally and he loves me back, so we're at peace.

It was fun being with Elder Villavicencio.  We came to the mission together and have been in the same zone 7 changes, so we know each other pretty well.  We've both grown a ton, and we had a great time talking about the mission and what we've learned.

Calle Larga:

Things seem much better there lately according to Alejandro's last letter.  Rosa's and Rene's son got baptized this Saturday which is exciting, and several of the people that we were teaching are progressing well.  As far as I know they still don't know about the Bolivian family and I don't think they're teaching Patricia anymore, but we'll just have to keep praying for them all.  Alejandro's been teaching the missionaries English/Spanish which has apparently been going well.  He's also studying English in the University as always and it seems like he'll be going into storytelling too!  So there's a lot of exciting stuff too.  Alejandro's Mom went to Pedro's baptism, I think that's the first time she's gone to a church meeting in 16 years.  She was apparently uncomfortable, but we have a lot of hope that she'll come back completely as well.  With time.

San Fernando 2:

Things are doing pretty good here as well, Lorenzo and Gladys (Àngela's and Lorenzo's kids) are progressing and learning well and will probably be baptized early June.  We have some other new investigators in the woodwork but this week we were working a lot with the members and planning activities and things to help the ward be more unified.  It's been working well, we're gaining confidence with the members and they're all being more active.  We'll probably try to do an activity every week to help the ward be more active and build more unity.  We also had a zone conference on Friday, and I got to see all the missionaries from Santa Cruz.  I got to see Elder Covey again, which was awesome, and Elder Davis as well.  Most of them I hadn't ever met though, and when I met one he read my tag and told me right away that he had heard a ton about me... kind of worrying but I'll just hope they were good things.

So that was my week!  Lots of work, but life is good!  Changes are next week, I'll let you know what's going on, but I'll probably just stay here with Elder Figueroa to finish off.  I love you all!

Love

Elder Fox

The Prince of Peace

Hey all!  This week was much better.  Last week the stress of several things combined with the disappointments from Calle Larga to make writing kind of a mess.  But things are better now!  The week was pretty uneventful but I still have a few updates.

Pichidegua:

I'm going tomorrow!!  Pretty excited, I'll be there from tomorrow morning to Wednesday night, so we'll have some good time there, at least that's the hope.  We need lots of prayers to be able to find Iván and help him and help bring back anyone else we can.  It'll be a good time, and I'll let you all know about it next week!

Calle Larga:

Things still look kind of grim over there.  Got word from Alejandro that the Bolivians (the two woman who were reactivated and Elder Sawyer baptized one of their daughters) stopped going to church because the Bishop wouldn't keep paying their rent... we wanted to be careful and we were pretty sure that they weren't going only for the money because they went to church for the first time since childhood and it was the bishop who offered them instead of them asking, and on top of that they bore really sincere testimony several times, but regardless it seems that they got offended.  There are a few other people we were teaching that it seems they aren't doing too well, so pray for them!  To my knowledge René and Maricarmen are still doing well though so that's the great news.

San Fernando 2:

The baptism was great last week, as I said, and last Sunday we went to their house to give them some health blessings and blessings of comfort because they were going to take their 6 month old son, Jorge, to Santiago to get a dangerous heart operation.  The chances were about 50%, but Angela has a ton of faith.  They didn't have any place to stay there either, but they put everything in God's hands and He provided, the operation went perfectly and they were able to stay at a special free hotel type thing that the hospital has for people who don't have anywhere else to stay.  They came back yesterday and everything is good!  Now we're going to focus on teaching and baptizing their children, who were going to be baptized with Ángela but her husband decided that they weren't ready yet, and we agreed.  In another family, there's convert named Mariana who's little sister told us this week that she wants to be baptized, so we'll be working with her too.  Lots of miracles!

Oh, also, I haven't given a lot of details lately so I've forgotten to mention Fernando, a member from the Guadalupe branch that helps us out a lot.  He's the one who put the picture of the family home evening where they made me the cake on facebook, and he's awesome.  He's a recent convert himself, Elder Edwards (Porter) taught him and helped him get baptized, and now he's already got his papers submitted to go on a mission and he helps us every now and then.  We went to his house Saturday to help him and his Mom paint, which was a good time.  I've learned how to paint pretty well here because I've done it so many times, it's definitely my favorite type of service.  They gave us breakfast and lunch for it, so it was a pretty good deal!

On Sunday we had a little easter program which was a missionary activity.  It turned out pretty well, we had some talks and sang ''He is Risen'', ''I know that my Redeemer Lives'' and ''I Believe in Christ.'' Then we watched the easter video and all the videos about the principles of peace.  The members really enjoyed it so I think it went well.

Speaking of which, it was easter weekend!  Easter weekend is a little different here because everybody is pretty suspicious so they all think it's a huge sin to work any day of the weekend so the entire city is basically closed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if only they did that every Sunday) and nobody can eat any meat but fish.  So we had a lot of fish!  It was good fish though.

I really enjoyed this week as an opportunity to remember the last week of the Savior's life.  I gave a talk in church about His last week, and studying and writing the talk during the week was the best thing I've ever done to celebrate easter.  As I've said in a past letter, during my mission the life of the Savior has become a lot more personal to me, and I relate in a lot of ways to the weaknesses of His original apostles.  The kind of love that He shows them in the description of the last supper that John gives is especially touching to me, I don't think I've ever been able to read that part of the scriptures in my mission without tears.  It's a great reminder that God takes us in our weaknesses and in His mercy allows us to do His will.  That He always loves us, that He's proud of us, and that He walks with us every step of the way.  He's infinitely more patient with our mistakes than we are, and with the mistakes of others' as well.  My experience here in Chile is a testimony of how God can change our hearts and make us into His.  All it took for me was to get on the plane, and God took care of the rest.  As I read, I felt an overwhelming gratitude for how He's enabled me throughout this entire process to do His will, how He's changed me and how He's always guided me to the places where I needed to be despite my stubbornness and occasional outright rebellion.  I know that He truly is the Prince of Peace.  I started this week feeling really frustrated, but He helped me feel peace.  We will always have weaknesses, but if we exercise faith in Christ we can have a hope that He will do with our lives that which we cannot, and that He will make us into His, and will enable us to help and love and serve His children along the way.  I know that He lives, and I know that His atoning sacrifice is real.

I love you all!!  I hope you have a great week!  And Happy Easter!

Love

Elder Fox

Baptism

Hey all!

Sorry, this is going to be a really short letter today.

San Fernando 2:

Baptism!!  It went well, we had it Saturday with Guadalupe and Angela was so excited and so happy!  It was awesome.  Some of the elements of the service were a little odd because everyone in San Fernando 2 is really old so the "welcome to the ward" was kind of pathetic and they may or may not have forgotten her name haha but the baptism itself was great.  We went to a nearby apartment after the baptism and had a barbecue with a family that we did a long service for earlier, helping them move.  So that was a great day!

Other than that there wasn't much, we were passing by their house every day to get the baptism ready, and we had several other lessons but nothing of great significance.

Calle Larga:

Something happened there this Sunday.  I'm really confused, don't know what's going on, definitely would appreciate prayers for the people I taught there.  I know Alejandro and the converts are going to be fine though, I'm just frustrated with the members.

Pichidegua:

Elder Villavicencio was set apart this Sunday with the recently reactivated guy I talked about last week as first counselor and my grandson as second counselor.  Exciting stuff!!  Still don't have it fixed whether I'm going to go or not, I'll need to call Elder Villavicencio today to ask him.

And that's all for this week!  Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes!  You're all the best and I love you so much!  Shout out to Elder Crane and all the other YSA that apparently sung happy birthday to me in my house!  Have a great week!

Love

Elder Fox

Hastening of the Work

Hey people!

I loved conference.  A ton.  Conference was amazing.  I'll share some thoughts after the weekly update.

Calle Larga:

So, Hermana Evelyn came to eat lunch with us on Wednesday, as was predicted.  She was really excited to tell me all the things going on down there.  She told me that Maricarmen's baptism was amazing, that they had brought gourmet for everyone for the refreshments (the members she lives with put on receptions and other events for a living) and that it was a very special baptism.  She also said that a ton of people when to Nashani's baptism, which was awesome because we were worried nobody would go because she's young and it was at a weird day at a weird time.  So it was a relief to know that both baptisms were a success.  It seems like everything else is going really well there, that the missionaries are working with the members a lot.  Evelyn worked with the missionaries on Tuesday, the day before I talked to her, and was really excited to tell me about several less active and part-member families they found that are really interested and are showing a lot of potential.  So, miracles!  Alejandro also just let me know in an email that René got married and baptized as planned, so that's really happy.  Alejandro's also doing really well, he watched general conference which I was excited about because, as I said earlier, I really loved this conference.

Pichidegua:

The moment has finally arrived when they're going to replace the branch president of Pichidegua with a missionary.  I'm extremely excited about this.  Elder Villavicencio is going to be branch president in Pichidegua for the rest of his mission, which I'm really excited about as well because Elder Villavicencio is exactly what Pichidegua needs, and Elder Skalka (my grandson) and him make a perfect pair.  President Jimenez was a great guy, and one of my good friends in the mission, but because of the distance between him and Pichidegua and his lack of time that branch has been slowly dying.  President Harris is willing to go to great lengths to get the branch on its feet, so he's given Elder Villavicencio freedom to do whatever it takes.  That includes taking me over there on divisions to go talk to the members that have gone inactive since I was there.  YUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.  As you could imagine, I'm extremely excited about this.

Also, good news from the Pichidegua front, the less active that got reactivated right before I left who gave us pie got the Melchizedek Priesthood just a few weeks ago!   Yuuuuuuussssssssssss.

San Fernando 2:

We're having a baptism this Saturday!  It's a woman named Ángela who lives in the campo and is amazing.  Apparently she was atheist before the missionaries were teaching her, but now she has a lot of faith and is reading and praying regularly even though she doesn't know how to read that well.  Her husband is a less active that's returning to activity, but he has a bad smoking habit.  She's really prepared though, so we're excited for this Saturday!

So that's all for the weekly update.  The work here is being pretty hastened as well.

Today was my birthday!  It was a perfect birthday weekend, we watched conference with all the elders in the house that have become my good friends plus Elder Villavicencio and Elder Skalka from Pichidegua and Elder Musselman and Elder Arroyo from Chimbarongo (they're in my district) which was an awesome group.  Then, today, we went to a river higher up in the Andes and barbequed choripanes there.  The sights were absolutely incredible and the choripanes were awesome.  We had fun relaxing y the river and rock-jumping and skipping stones for a while.  It was one of the best p-days of my mission.  Also, the Dodds (a senior couple assigned to help less actives in the district and now Branch President in Chimbarongo as well) came by our house this morning to give me a cake and wish me happy birthday, which was extremely thoughtful.  It was the closest thing I've had to American cake since I've gotten here.

I'll send pictures next week because I probably won't have time here.

Conference!  If I had to peg a theme to the conference, I would probably call it the hastening of the work.  I loved how the talks centered around the necessity of building and maintaining faith, the importance of staying anchored to our hope, and the eternal significance of learning charity.  I especially loved the Priesthood session, that focused on leading in a way that strengthens others.

It's pretty obvious to see, from the things they're discussing in the conference, that the work is seriously hastening.  It's clear that the time of the fan blowing the chaff from the wheat has already begun, and that nothing but true discipleship, consecration, and love is going to keep us to the path that leads us to our Father's presence.  Alejandro sent me an article that I really liked about the changes that we'll probably be seeing in the church, a steady change where we'll start seeing a decrease in hypocrisy, hate, back-biting, evil-speaking, vanity, and pride within the church.  I agree with this theory, as I've already seen it with the kinds of miracles we've been seeing down here.  Those who aren't converted won't stand, and those who are converted will become converted by keeping the commandments of God, especially the incredibly simple requirements of study, prayer, church attendance, temple worship, and genealogy.  We will learn faith, hope, and charity to new degrees, as all of three of those attributes are being tried and tested.  We will put on the armor of light through our obedience to the commandments of God.  Regardless of the chaos of the world around us, as disciples of Christ we will only shine brighter against the opposing darkness as we maintain our hope and our eye single to the glory of God.  Only those who are standing close to the Savior will stay standing.  Then, once we are converted, we will also have the responsibility as Peter had of strengthening our brethren, and lifting others in every way we can through our love for them.

And that's the hastening of the work.

I know that this is all true, and I especially know that President Monson's challenge to us is the single most important thing we can do in this time in order to stand where we need to stand.  I know that Christ lives, that He is the head of this church, and it is only through following Him as His true disciple and servant that we can have happiness and offer that same happiness to others.

I love you all!  And I hope you keep reading the conference talks in the weeks to come!

Love