Hey all! This week was awesome, in summary. It's starting to get a little hot here and all the kids just got out of school, which makes the fact that Christmas is coming up soon seem verry verry odd. Picture Christmas in the middle of summer vacation... weird right? Anyway, moving on.
Quote of the week: ''YOU can't smack my conservative face!!!''
- Elder Hadlock
He was a little upset to discover that I took a conservative/liberal test in school and only fell 2 points on the conservative side.
So Thanksgiving! Was pretty disappointing. Not gunna lie. But it's okay because we're going to celebrate it late next week! Elder Hadlock and I had this whole thing set up with the other missionaries where we were going to have thanksgiving at our correlation meeting on Thursday, where every companionship would bring something delicious (not necesarilly normal thanksgiving food, but still delicious) to correlation and we'd all feast. Then Elder Hadlock and I filled out our teaching record for the week... and realized that we had only taught one lesson the whole week. Which means that it would've been really irresponsible to waste an hour and a half at correlation when we could just give him our teaching record and talk to him about the person for 2 minutes and then go and work to try to find more people. SO we skipped correlation and went and contacted for the rest of the night. Then I was planning on buying ice cream on the way home so we could still have something, but the store by our apartment had absolutely no ice cream. So that was thanksgiving, but just because we worked really well and hard that day it was an amazing day, which I was grateful for. And Thanksgiving is much more than the food.
So remember Jessica and her son? Not sure if I ever said her name, but she was the girl I taught when I went on divisions in Talca and had the best lesson I've ever had with anyone. I ended up sharing my own conversion story and testimony and it brought the Spirit very strong and I could tell that she felt it. The Elders were teaching her before and she had a fecha but it fell because she didn't go to church, but last Sunday she went to church for the first time, and this Sunday I saw them both at the stake conference in Talca!! It was awesome. Also in district class this week Elder Villavicencio came up to me and thanked me for my testimony in the lesson, he said that he felt the Spirit very strong and he thinks that that's what made the difference in their progression. I think they'll actually be baptized! And even though they're not my investigators, I think this experience really helped me. I feel like I haven't really helped many people's conversion to Christ thus far, but with her and her son I know that through me the Lord was able to make a big difference, and that's a really awesome thing to know. They have fechas again, and I think this time they'll get baptized on that day.
We also had a lesson with La Mamá that went really well. We showed her and her less-active member son the video of the Restoration and then talked a little more about it and bore our testimonies about it. Then we were on the subject of baptism and finding the truth through the Holy Ghost for a very long time, and I can tell that she's progressing really well. When I met her, baptism wasn't even a possibility in her mind, and now she's honestly considering it. I just hope that she starts to feel her answer soon, because I think that right now she's actually honestly searching for one. I pray that she will have a strong spiritual experience. It's cool to see how the Lord softens people's hearts.
We also got to visit Christian and Megan again this week, but not much happened in either visit. We ended up talking to Megan about conspiracy theories (I have no idea how that topic came up) and we didn't have much time to talk to Christian, but he commited to talk to his boss about getting Sundays off work so we're super excited about that.
With the weather getting hotter service opportunities are picking up. Last week Elder Hadlock and I spent 4 hours or so painting texturizer on a ceiling of this woman from the fields that just moved into this just-built apartment complex, so before there was nothing but concrete walls. We were texturizing the ceiling while her and the Hermanas were putting wall-stuff on the walls. I don't really know what the wall-stuff is called in English. Elder Hadlock and I only had a normal paint-roller to texturize the ceiling however, so it's really fortunate that Chilean ceilings are closer to the ground. It was still a high enough reach to be exhausting, however. This week we painted the bishop's gate and fence, which took a solid 6 hours. I love service, it's my favorite thing!
I found a cool potential investigator this week by being a dork! It was pretty hilarious. Because Conti has tons of extremely steep hills and people decide to build houses and apartment buildings on said hills, they often cover parts of the hill in concrete to prevent things from happening. Elder Hadlock decided to climb up one of these instead of going around it when we were coming out of an apartment complex and about to go down the hill. Because Elder Hadlock did it, I of course had to do it, so I started up it but I was actually having a hard time, despite all my climbing experience. I spent about 5 minutes on the concrete slab because I HAD to do it to prove myself. After 5 minutes, a man poked his head out of his window in the apartment building and said ''You can do it!! You're spider-man!!'' I laughed and replied ''sii'po!'' After I finally climbed the concrete thing, he came out of his apartment and we started talking to him. He's a really cool guy, so I hope that we can be able to teach him some time. He passed us in his car the other day while we were contacting and he stuck his head out the window and yelled ''HEY SPIDER-MAN!!'' He's cool.
So this week I came to a cool realization by studying Jacob 5 really carefully. In this mission there are areas that are notorious for not having any success. At all. There are also areas that are notorious for having a lot of success (relatively), like Talca and Rancagua. Conti is notorious for having good success, not a exceptional, but pretty good success. So with how dry everything has been for the last 3 months or so, it definitely begs the question ''What more could I have done?'' It's a sad question, and one that I kind of got sick of asking. I realized a few weeks ago that as long as I'm trying my best God accepts my sacrifice, and I'm definitely more at peace with our lack of success, but the question inevitably comes to mind. Then I read Jacob 5 and found something spectacular. When the Lord of the vineyard goes to the vineyard and sees that the trees have brought forth corrupt fruit, He weeps, and says ''What more could I have done for my vineyard?'' This happens on three seperate occasions.
That really hit me hard. The Lord, the one Being who has done everything and will do everything perfectly, the Being who knows the end from the beginning and knows that He has done absolutely everything to bring His children back to Him, weeps when His children reject the gospel. Even though He knows the answer, He asks ''what more could I have done?'' After the third time He asks that in that chapter, (I think) He even says that He knows that He has done all that He could. He knows the answer to His own question.
We ask that question a lot. What more could I have done for my friend, family, sector, branch, ward, district, zone, stake, area, anything. I think we can find good comfort that God, the one who has done everything He could without infringing our agency has wept over that friend, family, sector, branch, ward, district, zone, stake, or area, and that He has asked Himself the very same question. Even though He already knows that He has done all He could. And as long as we accept the will of Christ and do our best with love, we do everything that we possibly can too, and we should also know the answer to our own question.
So those are my thoughts of this week! I love you all a lot, and I'm very grateful for all of you and all of your sacrifice. I'm very, very blessed. Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Elder Fox
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