As you can tell by the title, this week was a bit hectic for me due to a few things. For those reasons, I wasn´t able to find a scripture for the title of this email, but next week I will include 2 scriptures! Don´t worry, I´m still beyond happy to be here in Chile serving the Lord. No doubt, no doubt. Well to bring you up to date on the missionary work here in Parte Alta first I´ll explain why it has been hectic. Over the past few weeks, my companion has been talking with President and, through revelation, they came to the agreement that he would return home in order to fully prepare for the mission. Right before the mission, he had committed a few acts that he felt he could deal with alone but through time on the mission, he realized that he needed to return home in order to fully deal with those matters. I feel blessed to have been his companion for the past 3 weeks because he has truly changed me and helped me focus more on my purpose as a missionary. He worked until the last minute before he stepped on the bus to head down to Viña and I will continue walking in his footsteps. He left Parte Alta with 2 baptismal dates, and I know that many members were inspired by him. He is happy now back home, and he is making the necessary steps in order to return out into the field. He was an amazing example for me, and I know that the Lord put us together for this small amount of time so that we both could grow closer to Him and each other. So that meant that startingTuesday night at 11:30, I was the only missionary for Parte Alta! Now let me explain how the next few days went after Elder Dawson left.
On Wednesday I spent the whole entire day with the zone leaders in their area. I had to call all my investigators and some members to advise them of the lack of missionaries in Parte Alta, but there were no troubles there because lucky enough (not luck, but rather thanks to the Hand of God) all my progressing investigators have wives that are strong active members in the church. The members took the responsibility of stopping by all of my investigators to make sure that they were keeping their commitments and to answer any questions that they had. I was glad to be informed that all of the investigators were perfectly fine and that they would still be there waiting for me the next day. At the end of the day, I asked the zone leaders if they knew anything about my future and they said that they only knew that my companion would be coming in the next 3 weeks....
Thursday was one of the coolest days of my mission because I was able to spend the whole night walking around with my Branch President in order to visit all my investigators. The zone leaders dropped me off at the chapel in Parte Alta and then President and I left for a couple of hours to teach and catch up with Ed and Pat (the two investigators with baptismal date). At the end of this email I will update you guys about the progress of them both. It was quite different being the only missionary in the lessons, but I knew that the Lord was guiding me the whole time. He allowed me continue with the success that Elder Dawson had before he left. At the end of the night, some other elders, from the sector closest to Parte Alta, picked me up and we slept in their house that night.
Friday I spent the whole day in the area of the other elders. Saturday we spend most of the day in Parte Alta, making sure that the less actives and investigators were able to go to church. Sunday was another cool experience because a member from my branch picked me up in order to go to church and then I spent the 3 meetings with my investigators as my companion. A strange experience especially because all the youngens were calling me ¨solo¨, which means something along the lines of alone. They´re just jealous because I always beat them in Ping Pong each P day. Last night I was informed that my companion will be arriving tonight around 4:30. His name is Elder Morales and he is coming from Con Con B, my most recent area!! He is actually the elder that took my spot when I left and baptized one of my investigators. I´m really excited to meet him and here all about Con Con. My 2 companion from Con Con (Elder Farnsworth) actually went home a couple of weeks ago due to more surgery that needed to be done on him in the States. He was the missionary that was all sickly when we were together, but right now he is recovering from yet another surgery in Florida. Elder Morales (my next companion) has been with the other missionaries in Con Con A, but now he is being sent up here by President. This means that there will be no elders in Con Con B for the next 2 weeks until the next change meeting comes up. I know that this emergency change is inspired by God therefore the members and investigators in Con Con B won´t be badly effected by it.
A quick update on my investigators.
Pat - I mentioned a little about him last week. He has been an investigator for 11 years, but now he is making the final decision to be baptized thiscoming Sunday. He will have his interview on Wednesday and there is not a single problem with him. I feel that I have not done much to help him, he has prayed and done everything himself. I´m blessed to be here during this amazing moment in his life. His wife is a member and they have a goal to get sealed to their children in the temple a year from now.
Ed - Ed is amazing. He has changed his entire life for his baptism. Every lesson is spiritually impacted and I know that he has true desires to be baptized and stay strong in the church after. His baptismal date is for the 11th of August. One lesson we had with him was about the Word of Wisdom. During that lesson he was actually drinking tea. When I committed him to live the Word of Wisdom, he took his cup and dumped out all the tea without a second thought. He has had a spectacular change that is continuing to grow everyday. His wife is also a member and they also have a goal to get sealed to their children a year from year.
I realized this week that in almost over a year, I will be coming to the end of my mission. The last morning of the mission, President allows all the departing missionaries to do their first and last session in the Santiago Temple. That means that possibly I might be at the temple when these two families get sealed to each other!!! We´ll see what happens, it´s still tons of time away.
Well that was my week. I hope that you have enjoyed my email and I thank you all for the prayers that were made for me this week. This morning I was able to relax a little bit by painting and playing with a legit dog. But not as legit as Blue. And not as stupid as Banjo.
I pray for you all!
Elder Weidman
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