AJ's email from 5/28/12

View of Rain from AJ's pension

       well the last couple of days this week got kinda long. i definitely like the rain, but i hate it as a missionary. it makes it so hard to do anything, especially in a sector as big as el monte. cuz then we have to start walking and people dont answer their doors and lots of people go to bed early. so i think the only thing that i actually enjoyed about the rain, was the rain itself. to be honest though it was a lot of rain. it started around one on friday, while we were in lunch, and stopped raining yesterday around 3. and it wasnt like it went on and off the whole time, it rained the WHOLE time. and most of it was a down pour. every couple of hours it would sprinkle for about 10 or 15 minutes, but for the most part it just looked like a shower with all the water coming out of the sky. but then today the view is awesome seeing the mountains on the other side of santiago. cuz in the middle of the city you cant see the bigger ones that are behind the big ones and in the campo you normally cant see them from the air being bad. but the air is pretty clear today and you can see the mountains towering over the littler ones covered in snow. its awesome

More, and more, and more rain

        before i start with what happened this week though, there is something that i forgot to mention last week. there are 2 kids in our branch that are preparing to go on their missions right now and the both got their call last week. they are cousins so its kinda cool that they are leaving together, since one baptized the other about 3 years ago. the one who was baptized 3 years ago, joaquin, is going to cordoba argentina, kinda in the middle of argentina. the other, benjamin (who is the branch presidents son) got a calling that is a little more interesting to me. he is going to fresno california. i think its awesome for him that he is gonna be able to serve in the states and have that experience and to be able to learn english. they both leave in august.

        so last monday we played soccer. and i played the whole 2 hours without stopping while most of the others would play a little and then rest. and towards the end it got to me a little. i dont know what happened but my achilles started hurting all of a sudden. not real badly but enough to bother me while i walked. then tuesday i woke up and it hurt a lot. i couldnt even walk up and down the stairs in our house. i kinda had to hop a little which was funny. so i had the zone leaders call the doctor and set up something to go in. and on top of that we did divisions so i went with elder mcbride to cordillera and was walking the whole day which didnt help me at all. so wednesday morning we went to santiago and the doctor told me that i will be alright. i just strained it and so i have to take iboprofen and rest a little and ill be alright. and that worked out alright cuz yesterday i was back to normal where i could walk without it bothering me at all. but it still kinda worried me on tuesday when it was really bad.

       what i realized from going to santiago though is that im pretty happy that im still in the campo cuz its still kinda hot in the middle of the city. and we are going into winter right now. so im glad that im out here where it cooler and makes it easier. the other thing from santiago is that i had forgotten how big the mountains are. it was so impressive as we got closer and closer to them. cuz there is nothing like it that ive ever seen before in the states. wednesday we went and taught maritza and we kinda just read a chapter of the book of mormon with her and talked about it a little. then after that, i felt impressed to share my testimony with her and it was great. you could feel the spirit so strong and i felt so good after i shared it with her. cuz i really want her to have her own testimony and stay strong after she gets baptized unlike half of the people here that get baptized and are gone between 6 months and a year.

Cutting bell pepper at the short skinny counter

        thursday we got into the house of a cousin of the relief society pres. her name is guadalupe. it was funny though cuz she is really nice and likes to joke around, and she has had lots of missionaries come to her house before. so the first thing she said after she told us her name is "you guys arent gonna convert me, no one can". and so i couldnt help thinking "ya we`ll see about that". but because of that, we did things a little differently with her. instead of trying to share something right away, we just talked with her about whatever for an hour to kinda gain her confidence. and there were a couple of times where she asked questions that had to do with religion so we were able to teach a little that way. then later that night we were looking up names of inactive people from the ward list. and one of the doors we knocked, an older lady came out to talk. and the first things she said to us were "well look who showed up from no where, the lost people". apparently no one from the church has gone by their house in a really long time and she seemed kinda interested in the church again so we set an appointment to go back on tuesday. and i hope that most of the family is there cuz there are 7 kids and all them have kids also. so that could turn out to be something big for us.

Rice for dinner on a rainy night

         sunday we had the district conference here so we got to see president king and hermana king cuz president has to be there being the head authority in the district. they really  kinda focused on missionary work and how important it is for the members to do their part. they talked about knowing who the people are around you and gaining their confidence so that you can share the gospel with them. president shared a story about a lady who got baptized in republica last month. she is a single mom living with her 3 kids in the middle of santiago and her neighbor is the one who introduced her to the missionaries. but the member lady started by doing things like offering her help and inviting the lady to christmas dinner and other things like that. so when she asked the lady to come over and have a family home evening with the missionaries there, the lady had enough confidence to trust her and accepted. a month and a half later she was getting baptized. i hope that it helped some of the members here realize that we can only do so much as missionaries. its really the job of the members to find people and help them progress. we just teach to get them there. so i liked that a lot.

         that was basically everything that happened this weekend. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care

Its a miracle!!! He's eating something with a vegetable in it!
Missions are AMAZING!!