Valparaiso!

Hey Family!

   Well I forgot to look for a scripture for today´s email since I´ve been busy getting used to my new area in Valparaiso.  I´m going to try to send some photos because I love the sights here.  We practically live in the downtown Valparaiso but our area covers 4 hills that are extremely steep.  My dream the entire mission has been to come to Valparaiso to preach the Gospel and it seems that it was in line with God´s will!!  All of Valparaiso is separated into 2 zones therefore our zone is called Valparaiso Oeste.  Our area starts on the shore line of the sea (every morning we  run along the shore line for 30 minutes while the sun rises!), then continues through ¨El Plan¨ (downtown), and ends at the top of some hills.  We share the ward with 2 other missionaries who live and work in the hills only.  The part I love most about Valparaiso is the huge amount of people that live in the hills.  The houses are literally stacked one on top of the other.  I´m going to try to send a good number of photos so that you can see the amazing lifestyle of the people who live here.

1. The view from our apartment.  We live on the ninth floor of an apartment building in the downtown.  The little tents are street stores that stretch down for around a half a mile. 

2. Every morning we run alongside the sea rocks.

3. Baptism of Freddie. That´s my companion Elder Baird.  He´s from.... SPOKANE WASHINGTON!  He doesn´t know if he knows Danny or not but he says that he lived in the Spokane North Stake. He´s from the North Point Ward.

4. A picture of one of the hills. The ways to climb up the mountains is by steep stairs or straight up paths.  When ever we take buses or taxis around, I feel like I´m on a rollercoaster for the steepness of everything. I´ll grab a photo of some of the paths and stairs for next week.

5.  The building in the middle that has a hole in the center is for congress.  Our apartment building is the building to the right that is red and white and that has a tree blocking half of it in the photo.

Those are the pictures that I have so far.  Also I have an amazing experience that happened on Saturday.

   We left lunch and began walking down the hill to arrive to the chapel.  Before he had even reached the stairs to walk down, a woman yelled to us from her porch asking for a Book of Mormon.  Elder Baird and I looked at each other and excitedly entered the gate to give her what she desired. She invited us in and then confessed that she had had a dream about us where we had led her across a bridge.  We testified that that bridge was the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that the first step was Baptism and Repentance.  Susana (the woman) accepted a baptismal invitation for the 16th of this month and then committed to go to church on Sunday.  She fulfilled her promise by staying for all 3 hours yesterday and even brought a friend with her! The whole ward exciting met her and invited her to continue attending every week to which she accepted.  A blessing for God!

I love you all!

Elder Weidman