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| JUST A DECKING COOL BICYCLE THING THAT ELDERS MADE IN A DIFFERENT PART OF THE MISSION. ITS FAMOUS AROUND HERE, AND I JUST THOUGHT I WOULD SEND YOU PICS. ITS SO COOL! haha |
Hey guys!!
Wow the weeks are really flying by... sometimes its even hard to keep up with them! I hope all is well back home, because things are going great here!
So first off, Happy Birthday DAD!! and Happy anniversary mom and dad! Wow 2 awesome events for you guys to celebrate this week! Should be really fun. Umm... I know my letters probably seem pretty scattered, because thats how my thoughts always are when it comes time to writing. Luckily I write down the things that I want to share with you guys in my little agenda.
So to set the stage of this funny little story, you need to know and understand how many people absolutely STARE at us! Like its super amusing to see, that I guess we look like aliens to them or something... because we are 2 well dressed gringos, my comp is super tall, and we are stopping and talking to everyone all day everyday! seems a bit peculiar right? Anways... we had to finish cleaning out everything of the hermanas house since they got transfered. And so we were hauling a whole bunch of cleaning supplies from their house to the church, and so as strange looking as we already are, we each had a bucket of cleaning supplies in one hand and a mop or broom in the other. And everyone was just starring like who on earth are these people? hahaha it just made me laugh so hard inside... seeing all their reactions!
okay and really quickly we had a District class last week talking about the importance of working with members. And how we get the best references from them. Its totally true, I remember Pres. and Sister Laycock in mission prep telling us how member referrals are I think, the number 1 most effective way of finding people to be baptized. Yeah and so leaving chillan at the bus stop, (we had been there like 30 seconds) this 28 year old guy comes up to us with his girlfriend, and introduces himself as a member in one of the wards in chillan. And has been trying to find the missionaries, because he has been working with his girlfriend and she wants to be baptized. The first thing I naturally asked was if they were living together (haha because thats usually the first big obstacle) and he said. "No, we are already keeping the commandments and everything... all she is missing is to be baptized!" and she seemed excited about us sending the missionaries to visit her. And so about 4 days later my comp got a call from the missionaries who stopped by, and she has a baptismal date for June 6th and came to church! Seriously, a pure miracle! Fun to be a part of it :)
And we made pumpkin bars this morning in the church for the district, (pumpkin substituted for bananas) haha but it was fun!
Also... I had to give another talk yesterday, my comp and I figured they would call me since its been a whole 2 weeks or so since I gave the last one. And the branch president didn't ask me until 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started. And he said, try to speak about tithing if you can! haha but I think it actually turned out pretty well. I am just gratful for the gift of tongues, because it wouldnt have been possible without it!
Also something random is that the copa America is gonna be here in Chile this summer. There is a stadium in Chillan and one in Concepcion, that are both in our mission. should be fun to be so close and be able to see how everyone gets so excited about it!!
Also something really instructive I learned in the scriptures this week, that I hope you guys will take the initiative to study it afterward! :) After studying 3 Nephi 2:1, It helped me realize that Satan has a few ways to try to get US to distance ourselves from the Spirit. (see 3 Nephi 1:22 to first see how ALWAYS, after we have spiritual experiences, Satan immediately tries to follow them with lies, to get us to forget the things we have seen and felt.) This was the case after years of waiting for the sign of Jesus`s birth to come to pass. After Samuel the lamanite had prophesied about it, it finally happened... and exactly the way he said it would. To say the least, there were incredible signs and wonders that the people saw!
There are 3 steps listed that help us be aware of how Satan deceives the believers! : In chapter 2 verse 1, we learn that when we 1. begin to forget of the many signs and wonders we have seen, and 2. be less amazed, or impressed each time another one happens, and ultimately 3.our hearts become hardened, and our minds blind and we eventually don`t believe in any of the amazing things we have seen, felt, or even lived! This is Satans tactic. If he can get us to fall into his lies of "Nah, what you felt wasnt really the spirit." or "maybe that happened a long time ago, but things are different now, those things arent even true anyway." Whatever he may try to deceive us with. We need to be strong enough to remember how we DID feel when we had those experiences, and dont ever fall into the first steps of falling away. DOUBT.
Anyways, powerful lessons there! I sure love you guys and hope you have a great week!!
chao chao
Elder Hartvigsen
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