14 Months In The Cause Of Christ...Love It!

October 13, 2015

Wow, today I have 14 months in the mission! Seriously, time has flown! I cannot believe it! I treasure my time here in Chile. It has been so great dedicating my life to missionary work. These 14 months mean so much to me! Thanks for all your love and support...14 months in the cause of Christ...love it!

This last week was great! Sunday night there was a fireside in our stake center. Presidente Morgan came with Hermana Morgan and Katie, their daughter. It was a fireside about missionary work. All of the missionaries from our stake, and the two neighboring stakes formed a choir of missionaries.... We got to sing "Called to Serve", "Teach Me to Walk in the Light", "Love One Another", and "I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go". There were some missionaries who did some special musical numbers too. I felt the Spirit SO strong as we were singing! It was such a wonderful experience. I talked about it in my letter to President Morgan too. Music is a wonderful way to invite the Spirit. Our investigator, Juan Carlos, could not go...we were a little sad...but it’s all good because he came to church earlier that day! 

We did intercambios this week! I went to Jose Miguel Carrera with Hermana Stokes. We do intercambios within our stake now. Hermana Stokes is AMAZING! We entered the mission field together. She is from Utah, and we did intercambios together in our last transfer too. It was fun going to her sector because at night I got to see Hermana Rivera! They live in the same apartment. There are six hermanas that live there...so much fun! We visited one of their investigators, Karen. Karen has two twin daughters who are four years old...they were soooo cute!!! Karen and her boyfriend are not married...we talked about the Gospel. To be honest, sometimes it is so hard to sit in lessons without grabbing these people by the shoulders and imploring them to just pray and believe! Jajaja, I am SO grateful to be a discipleship of Christ. I KNOW His church has been restored to the earth today...what a wonderful time to be alive! It was a good lesson, and we felt the Spirit with her.

We had a lesson with one of our new investigators, Mariano. He has a serious problem with alcohol. We took a hermana from our ward to his house. He wants to quit drinking, but he was a little drunk during the lesson and would keep repeating the same stuff..... again, SO thankful for the Word of Wisdom and the revelation we receive through modern prophets. His life has been really sad...and the main cause is his drinking problem! Jaja, he kept showing us the Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets and told us he reads them all. We have been praying for him, and Hermana Vega and I are hoping he will choose to act out of faith. 

Yesterday we had a great lesson with another investigator, Rosario. She talks a lot!!! We ask her an inspired question, and she will answer it, but then starts talking about really random stuff....and she talks REALLY fast jajaja. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. I love the Plan of Salvation because it really helps us have an eternal perspective. We are meant to receive all that our Heavenly Father has...when we understand the glorious future that awaits us all of the daily distractions from the world become less attractive. 

Last night, the four missionaries from our ward went to our Bishop’s house for la noche de hogar (FHE). We watched a Bible video about forgiveness. Our Bishop has five sons, and one of them is on his mission in Osorno. It was a little crazy because their sons did not understand the parable so they had to act it out jajaja. So great!

I am doing really well! I have renewed my desire to serve my Heavenly Father. We talked with our Bishop Sunday before church (we were going to have ward council but nobody went because there was a time change), and he told us, we need to choose Christ. We should do things because we want to serve Christ and Heavenly Father. I realized before, I was doing everything because I expected blessings in return...I would sometime think, "oh, it’s all good because I will get to go home when this is all done", or "I will be obedient because I know Heavenly Father will reward me". I am not saying these are wrong perspectives/ attitudes, however it is better if we choose to obedient WITHOUT EXPECTING ANYTHING IN RETURN. There is power in obeying and acting simply because we want to do what God asks of us. I have been thinking about this a lot. We choose Christ. It is simple. If we act and serve simply because we want love God and Jesus, we will become better people. 

Last week I was ponderizing Juan 14:5-6...what I was able to retain in my memory "Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida. Nadie viene al Padre sino por mí". Love it! Jesus Christ is the way! His example is perfect. We can trust in Him.

I love being a missionary! It is the best thing ever! Cannot believe it is already October! So crazy! Hope you all are well. May God bless you this week!

Con todo mi amor,

Zone Leaders with Hermana Meg

Hermana's Mittleman & Stokes

Hermana's Rivera, Mittleman & Alveranga