Luke 22:42 -- "Not my will, but thine, be done"

Hey family!

   I imagine that everyone is preparing for the vacations of Thanksgiving, and I can´t even believe that it´s that time of the year again.  I have not eaten turkey for a little more than a year now (in the MTC we were given turkey) but chicken and rice always makes a good Thanksgiving dinner.  Signs of Christmas are starting to appear, but that doesn´t throw out the fact that it´s summer here.  My second hot Christmas will be amazing!  Here in the plaza of Quillota, a huge blow up Santa Claus popped his head out of no where and is staring at everyone that walks by. His huge head (brother Callister) is creeping over the top of one of the super markets here and I feel insecure with him watching. I will take a photo and send it your way next week.

   Yesterday Felix was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We held his baptismal service in a small classroom because his wife can´t climb the stairs that lead to the sacrament room.  Man was it hot in the classroom and I´m sure Felix was grateful when he entered the cool water.  I have a photo of the baptism but left the chord in the apartment.  You will have to wait till next week to see it.  The conversion story of Felix is amazing and I will always remember the faith he showed when he prayed for the truth to arrive to his doorstep.  An unforgettable experience!

   Yesterday Nico ( the joven that was baptized around 3 months ago) passed the sacrament for the first time and his parents, who aren´t members, came to watch him.  They arrived late and weren´t able to see it but they still were able to be spiritual uplifted with the talks and classes given.  We had an amazing Gospel Principles class where Nico´s dad shared how we had changed his life when we began teaching Nico.  He confessed to us that he had never taken interest in religion nor in God until recently.  The whole family was passing a hard time and for the first time in his life, he prayed to God for help.  The next day Nico met us and 4 weeks later was baptized.  Now Nico´s dad is sharing many deep personal feelings with us and we are able to apply the Gospel to every one of his needs.  An unknown miracle.  

   Yesterday we had 6 investigators who arrived at church (a new record for me) and they all have good progression.  The Lord has seen our dedication and work and we have been trying to humble ourselves so that the Spirit can whisper promptings to us. 

Have a good week!  Don´t distract the missionaries too much this week because I´m sure that Thanksgiving is a hard week for missionaries in the United States. Maybe some of you could even go with them to a few appointments!

Love,

Elder Weidman

I forgot my agenda in the apartment...

Hey family!

   I don´t have a scripture for today because I accidentily left the agenda at home and I have shared a photo to show my embarrassment.  I don´t know if I have already sent this photo before but I´m sure you will never get old of the attractiveness that radiates. The food was delicious. 

   Our investigator, Felix, is progressing very fast.  He is the man with 70 years who prayed to the Lord one morning to find the true Church and that same evening we knocked on his door. He is 100% certain that we were an answer to his prayers and I feel very blessed to know that.  Before the mission I had always heard of stories like Felix, but never thought that I would be the Lord´s instrument in one of these stories.  Miracles will always occur with exact obedience. He´s a funny yet amazing experience we had with him.  On Friday, we stopped by Felix just to drop of the Restoration dvd (a short video about Joseph Smith and his amazing quest to find the truth).  He promised to watch it before the appointment we had the next day.Saturday arrived and he excitedly let us in.  He told us that he had watched the video two times and had loved it, and then, while speaking, he began playing the video again.  When we heard the actors speaking in English we realized that he had not understood a single word from the video because he had watched it in English! That, however, didn´t stop him from feeling the Spirit testify to him of the truth of this miraculous event.  A feeling of love for my Heavenly Father came to my heart as I realized how much He had answered Felix´s prayers. We watched the video and Spanish and he loved it even more!  Yesterday he arrived at church even though the President Elections of Chile began in the morning.  He told us that going to the true church of Jesus Christ was more important than being the first person to vote. He will be baptized on the 24th of this month (next Sunday). 

   Thank you for your prayers in my behalf.  Let us pray for those who have suffered from the recent natural disasters.  What an amazing knowledge of the Plan of Salvation we have that has been revealed by a true prophet!

Love,

Elder Weidman

John 15:16 -- I have chosen you

Hey Family!

   I hope that everything is going well.  I bet the temperatures are starting to drop but here they are doing the exact opposite.  Hotter and hotter each day but that means that I´ll be getting a nice tan soon.  Excited for Thanskgiving Break in a few weeks? 

   This week was a week full of contacting and knocking doors until the last second.  But seriously, all day long in the sun we were happily knocking doors because we literally had no progressing investigator when we started the week. After many hours of dedication and sweat, we were guided by the Lord and found a family Saturday night at 8:30. I was acually in another area on a split but my companion told me that the family was literally waiting for God to knock their door.  He invited them to church and, even though they had to cancel plans, the whole family (mom, dad, son of 9 years, and little girl) arrived at church the next morning and loved the sacrament meeting.  Another investigator that we found named Felix also was able to make it to church.  These 4 investigators are our prime focus for the month of November and we are constantly seeking the inspiration of God to help these investigators and find more.  Another awesome experience was being able to give talks in sacrament meeting with 20 minutes anticipitation (does that word even exist?). 

   I expect a good number of photos of when the family gathers together for Thanksgiving!  I can´t believe that it´s already that time of year again.  The Christmas Music started about 2 weeks ago and it pumps me about so much that I am excited to work in the heat!

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

D y C 61:3 -- Contact all!

Hey family!

   Sorry for the shortness of this email.  Like you know, time is limited on the internet.  We have transfers on Wednesday and we will accept what happens.  Elder Sosa and I have been together for 12 weeks now so anything can happen, but it´s not too common that a companionship is together for more than 2 changes.  We will find out where the Lord needs us to be.  This past week I had a division with an Elder I lived with for 2 changes in my first area.  Now he is going home tomorrow and I had the opportunity to do his last division.  We shared many experiences and changes we have had in our lives since Limarí but more important we worked extremely hard.  This elder had 5 days left in the mission but it seemed as if he had just began the mission due to the excitement he had for the work.  He set me a great example of how to end and continue after the mission.  He is a true servant of God who has been made into a new creature due to his obedience and complete dedication to Heavenly Father.  

   We are lacking a bit in investigators but this week will be crucial in order to have a baptism in November.  The Lord knows the desires of our hearts and we must be greatful for the results whatever they are.  I love you all!

Elder Weidman

D&C 130:21 -- Obedience to each commandment

Hey Family!

   Well the major event that happened this past week was the baptism of the family that we have been teaching!  As you can see in the photo that the father (Jaime), mother(Silvia), and son(Cristobal) were baptized Saturday night. The youngest (Pia) will be baptized on the first weekend of December because that is when she turns 8 years old.  The baptism was pure Spirit and I will never forget the joy that was felt there.   I baptized the dad while Elder Sosa baptized the mom and son.  Then we switched yesterday and I confirmed those that Elder Sosa baptized while he did the same to the dad.  The ward was very excited to see this family make a huge step in their life and many told us that this gave them more desires to share the Gospel with others.  I don´t have much time left, but just wanted to let you know about and see the family that has helped me realize more and more that the Lord needs me here in Quillota.  This is truly His Work and He always knows where we need to be.  This week we need to work very hard in finding new investigators who are waiting for us.  The days are getting hotter and hotter here while I imagine that where you all are it is getting colder and colder.  Have a good Halloween!  The Chileans also celebrate Halloween but not as amazing as the United States, but that´s ok because it means that more people will be available to listen to our message!  

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

Romans 10:14 - "How shall they hear without a preacher (missionary)"

Hey family!

   October has flown by, just like every month in the missionary.  Each day gets hotter and hotter and my companion and I are preparing ourselves for the summer that is coming. The good part about the change in the weather is now that it is warm enough to play basketball or run in the morning for the 30 minutes that are given to us.  We take advantage of it as much as possible.

   A little update on my investigators. The only set of investigators that we have who have signs of progression is the Cortez Family.  They are a family of 4, 2 parents and 2 children, 3 of which are able to be baptized because they are older than 7 years old.  We have seriously seen miracles with this family.  I know that I have mentioned experiences with them in the past emails, but since I have more time this email I´m going to try to give the whole history of them.  Everything started with the Zone Conference we had with President Kähnlein around 5 weeks ago, which happened on aMonday.  His main focus during the whole entire conference was on finding the chosen families who are ready to hear and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives.  Immediately after the conference, my companion and I made a goal to find one of those chosen families.  1 hour later, while looking for a less active family, my companion accidentally knocked on the wrong door, thinking that it was the house of the less actives. Out of embarrassment, he started walking away when I told him the truth, but than I told him that we should wait and see what happened.  He happily agreed and we excitedly waited there.  2 seconds later, the dad of the family, Jaime, opened the fence door and excitedly told us to come in.  During this first visit we met him and his son, Cristobal.  They explained to us that their family had met with missionaries once before but then they never returned to the house and the contact was lost.  We quickly explained our purpose and set a follow up appointment for when the entire family would be home.  

   The next appointment was with the entire family, on the following Saturday.  We were able to meet the mom, Silvia, and the daughter, Pia.  During the second appointment, we watched the Restoration video and shared about the importance of our message.  We could tell that the son, Cristobal, was interested in the message and wanted to know more but the parents didn´t have the same desire to learn but they still wanted us to continue coming over because we were nice and funny. We invited them to church on Sunday but they didn´t have enough time to clear their schedules in order to go.   Throughout the next 3 appointments, we began to focus a lot more on Cristobal and the following Sunday he came arrived at church for the last hour.  We were very worried because this was the 5th Sunday of the month which meant that all the members were together for the last hour.  For the 3rd hour, all the adults in the ward had a little conference about who would clean the chapel for the rest of the year.  Instead of settling the matter very peacefully, the members started arguing and contention was there.  Cristobal wasn´t too impressed but luckily we had a baptism (for Nico) right after the meetings and he felt the Spirit there.  

  The following week, we met with the family twice and taught only about the importance of prophets.  They accepted our invitation to attend General Conference and the whole family arrived for the session when President Monson talked! They absolutely loved his words and immediately gained a testimony.  After conference we had an amazing lesson that was centered on the covenants we can make in the temple in order to be sealed for time and all eternity.  They accepted to invitation to be baptized the 20th as a family, and every lesson since than has been pure Spirit.  Whenever the family has a doubt or fear of being baptized, they begin reading in the Book of Mormon and then it disappears.  Due to lack of teaching, we moved to baptismal date to the 26th and they will for sure be baptized as a family that day.  They committed to live each commandment that we taught them and tomorrow they will have their baptismal interviews.  Pia turns 8 in December and her dad or brother will baptize her.  In one year from now they will all be sealed in the Santiago Temple!!!  Due to time, I haven´t been able to include more details but I want you all to know that every aspect of Missionary Work (ex. work with members, videos, commitments, family home evening, prayer, EVERYTHING)  has been used to help this family and now I have a strong testimony of the divine power of Missionary Work.  

   Well I included a few photos so that you can tell how happy I am.  I hope everything is going great in your lives!

1. A Primary kid who came with us for a few hours this week.  

2. Posing in front of the Reloj de Flores (Clock of Flowers)

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

I'm not disobedient

Hey family again,

   I´m not disobedient because my companion and I received permission to spend 1 hour on internet in the night time.  I´m sure that you all are dying to know if my companion survived his deathly wound.  The truth is yes and he didn´t even have to get a shot.  We went back to the hospital for another hour of waiting and then they confessed that they had no supply of this shot.... Patience is a virtue and the Lord will bless us for the 3 and a half hours that we waited! I´m sure that someone saw us in the hospital sitting against the wall so that the tv wasn´t in our site and now they have a desire to listen to the message.  Keep the faith!

   One more thing. Nina mentioned in her life update that everyone would be together for Thanksgiving and maybe we could all tune into Google Circle to have a video chat.  I was actually thinking about that and wanted to know if everyone will be able to access internet on Christmas for the family video chat.  If not, I could ask President for permission to do my ¨family time¨ on Thanksgiving instead of Christmas, but I would only be able to do it if someone in the family isn´t able to on Christmas.  I need to know within the next week so that I can call President soon and ask. Does that make sense? If not, ask Mary.  I´m sure she understands. (If you don´t understand Mary, let me know now.) 

   The Lord is hastening His Work!  Did everyone give a reference to the missionaries this week? If you didn´t..... I´ll send Banjo to make sure you do it. 

Have a good week! Love,

Elder Weidman