Hey all! I have to be fast again haha so sorry that I keep doing this. The week was great though! It was a little complicated due to new years and the fact that we spent all of Thursday at leadership counsel, but next week we'll pick our progress back up!
So I didn't end up telling you about what we did for Christmas! At least I don't think I did... anyway, after church we went right to Alejandro's house to do Skype and then we went out with him to visit some members and came back to his house for Christmas dinner! Which was super tasty. Here they open presents on Christmas eve so we opened everything the night before after we ate tacos with a part-member family that we're good friends with.
New Years! We ate tacos again!! We've been eating a lot of tacos lately haha but that's what the other elders in the house chose so we made tacos again! They were the best yet though, we had a lot more time to prepare because we had to go in early so we took our time to fry vegetables and make good chipotle sauce and it was heaven. We went to bed at 11:00 as normal but I set an alarm for 11:55 to be awake for the new year but we were all so sleepy that when we heard the noise outside at 12:00 we just grunted ''feliz año nuevo'' and then fell asleep again.
Funny story! So we were in our English class last week when Alejandro (he teaches the class because he's studying to be an english profesor) the difference between american and british english because he speaks british english. And then, pausing, I said ''well... I say to-may-to... and you say tom-ah-to.'' and it was so tragic because I thought it was so funny but obviously nobody got it because nobody speaks english! Then I proceeded to explain the differences in the accent better.
This week we went to Rancagua on Thursday for the leadership conference and asked Elder Haar and Elder Figeuroa to go with Alejandro to our English class in our place. Of course, the one week we're not there, 9 nonmembers came and at least 1 is interested in knowing more about the church. Pretty exciting though! We'll have to meet them this Thursday.
SWEET I finally have time to share my thought really quickly. The thought was inspired by Alejandro on Christmas when he dropped us off out our apartment and we ended up talking in his car. The thought has to do with the relationship between sadness and happiness, and how crucial sadness is for our existence. Alejandro was talking a little bit about how he wasn't used to feeling sadness often, but coming back to church has prompted that feeling a lot more, and my comp said something pretty profound about being grateful and enjoying sad moments, because at least you're feeling something. He went on to explain that all the happiness that we have in life results from sadness. And it really hit me! I loved the movie Inside Out before I left on the mission, but I just started understanding it. When sadness leaves, happiness naturally leaves with it, and the results are only feelings of anger, envy, and fear. When we choose to never put ourselves in positions where we'll suffer, we choose to actually never be happy. My mission has simultaneously been the most difficult and most wonderful experience of my life, and I know that most people who have served feel the same way. If we don't feel sorrow with respect to the church and spiritual things, we never feel inspired to change. Those who don't hurt in church never progress. Sorrow is actually a very necessary part of our mortal existence, and its purpose is to actually help us to find happiness. So we need to be grateful for our sorrowful experiences like my companion said, and realize that it is only the gateway to greater happiness and peace. And of course, it is only the atonement of Jesus Christ that can truly turn our sadness into happiness.
I love you all! I hope you have a great week! The church is true!!
Love
Elder Fox
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