!ERNESTO SE BAUTIZÓ!

Welp, I don`t have a ton to say this week, except that !ERNESTO SE BAUTIZÓ! And it was wonderful. He was soooo nervous! This whole week leading up to his baptism he`s been so nervous, but excited. Les cuento una historia… We told him about the interview that he was going to have to have with our district leader before his baptism. So he would know what to expect, but even though we did that he thought about it too much and just about made himself sick of anticipation. We went to see him the morning of his interview and he told us about how he was so worried about it that he was up until 1:00 in the morning praying that everything would be all right…. Oooh! This just about broke my heart! But we reassured him that everything would be alright. He told us he felt like a bride before her wedding (haha, I got a kick out of that, but he was serious!) He passed his interview with flying colors and proceeded to his baptism el Domingo. And it was wonderful. Though I sat by him in the baptismal program and I noticed while we were singing he was shaking. But you can see in the picture that I sent that he is such a sweet old man, and I have really enjoyed seeing his change and excitement to take this important step in his life.

Other great news…The other day we were knocking doors and found ourselves at the apartment of two little black girls from Colombia. There weren`t any adults there so we set an appointment for another day. Usually if they are little kids, we don`t set up appointments because it doesn`t really work out. But I REALLY wanted to teach them, because how often are you going to run into black people from Colombia?? They were cute too J So we went back yesterday and to our surprise the little girls were there, but their aunt and uncle (Monica and Jairo) were. And they invited us in!! And we taught them and it was a wonderful experience. They are smart people and very interested and especially interested in how the gospel helps families be happy. Sounds like they`re looking for some spiritual guidance and they felt that it was more than a coincidence that we were able to stop by. So I`ll keep you updated on them, I hope to meet the little girls too!

AND In 2 weeks Elder Scott is going to come and speak to OUR stake. And just our stake. Woohoo! I am excited for this J

ANNND, well that`s about it for this week, Thank you for writing me, I love my family so much.

Hasta luego!

Hna. Jones

Villa Teniente

Howdy howdy howdy

Okay, so here I am in Villa Teniente. It`s been… a really long week. Probably the longest one of my whole mission. Buuuuut, that`s alright, because I`m learning a lot of stuff being here with Hna. Motta.

And good news is that we have a baptism this next weekend! It`s of an old man of 66 years named Ernesto. He is so sweet, and is so happy that he`s found the gospel. He`s only been listening for a couple weeks now, but he always says how his life has already changed a ton. I don`t think I`ve met anyone quite so determined to do whatever it is that the Lord asks him. At the end of one lesson, we left with him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet to read so that we could talk about it the next time. When we got there and asked him about it he said that the day earlier he was reading the pamphlet and it just happened to be right before he had eaten breakfast. Like everyone else here he`s big on coffee. Though when he read it, he decided for himself that he wasn`t going to drink any more coffee so he had something else for breakfast and got rid of his coffee. We didn`t even have to commit him to live it!! He says that when he goes to church he feels like he`s walking on the clouds. He feels the spirit so much and recognizes it. He has had a lot of personal spiritual experiences and confirmations with prayer and his heart has been so deeply touched. It is wonderful! Right now he is struggling with the dilemma that he wants so badly to tell his 4 kids about his decision to be baptized and share the gospel but he is scared that they are going to reject him for his decision. So he`s praying for this and has the faith that everything will work out well. He is a great example to me and I am learning so much from him.

We also just started teaching a family and all are members except the Dad and daughter. Right from the beginning I took a liking to this family because they are so open and warm and the Dad, Milton reminds me SO MUCH of MY dad. He even looks like him…quite a bit actually (I showed them pictures of Dad and they were like ¨WOOOWW!! He`s the same person!¨ Well… Milton has listened to the missionaries since years ago but is so hard hearted (says everyone) and for this he hasn`t accepted the gospel. But recently he has started to accompany his family to church and every time we leave him something to read he reads it! The first time I left him Alma 7 and he loved it. He said that the scriptures about the atonement really got to him. He gets excited about what he`s read and the honest truth is I see SO Much potential. I see him thinking and I see him receptive to the message. I really want to continue with him though my struggle is that Hna. Motta doesn`t like their family for something that the 16 year old daughter said (she got offended) and she says that there is no way Milton is going to progress….and so I have no support from my companion. So it`s obvious when we`re there she doesn`t want to be there. When we teach them (and a lot of other people in fact) I feel such a lack of unity. It`s so hard. I really don`t know what to do. Keep praying I guess. This has been my struggle. I think also it`s because I came from Guadalupe with Hna. Olson and she`s been like my right arm and such a support and right now it`s just so different. In fact one day I thought about writing president and telling him I wanted out… haha. That was a thought for like 5 seconds and then I remembered a story that Dad told me in one of his letters that he had a rough time with one of his companions and they fought it out a couple times and went to talk with president because they wanted out and he told them ¨Tough¨ Everytime it goes bad in the life you can just call quits, you gotta work it out and keep being strong. That`s what I`ll do for the next little while. I have felt a lot of help and strength from praying. But really things are going alright. The area is awesome. It`s definitely a lot more ¨ghetto¨ than all my other areas. The Branch is also very strong and the chapel is really pretty. It really is, it`s got pretty palm trees in front and I really like palm trees, so… yeah.

We also found a little family (though they aren`t married) that is desperately looking for help because they are stuck in drugs. They are Vanessa (17 years old) and Jonathan (22 years old) and little baby Benjamin. They immediately felt that we were sent to their home to help them and are very faithful that through Jesus Christ and his gospel they will find help and hope. I feel the same way too.

Funny thing… last night someone asked me if I was from Spain. Ha ha… if not Brazil ( and people still say I sound like I`m from Brazil), then I`ll be from Spain.

Well, I hope everything is going well over there. I love you all so much. There is an Hermana here who`s husband died of a heart attack at a church campout just a couple of years ago. When she told us the story it broke my heart so deeply and I cried with her. It made me think of my Dad, and my mom and family and how much I love you all so much, I don`t know what I`d do without you. So as I will take care of myself, you all too need to take care too! I love you so much!

CHAAAOOOO

Transfer to Rancagua

Alrighty then... I have a lot to tell ya`lls...

I`ll start with the baptism of Carolina. It was beautiful! Her whole family went and it was very touching. Though with her baptism came a little drama. But only personal deep down drama.... Let`s flash back to my time in Graneros. Remember Sergio? The very special cute old man that wanted so desperately to get baptized, but couldn`t because he couldn`t get a divorce? Well, If you don`t remember it was really hard for him and for us too, but he continued working for his divorce. ...Now flash forward to last Wednesday at about 10:30pm. I get a call from the assistants to the president with good news. That things got all worked out and that Sergio was going to be bapized that Saturday. At 6:00pm. And I had permission to go back to my old area and be there for his baptism. I nearly died. Because the baptism of Carolina was going to be Saturday at the exact same hour, so I couldn`t go. I got all stressed out because I knew how much it would have meant for Sergio and Ilda for me to be there, AND I wanted to support them. Okay, I thought, We`ll just see if it`s possible to change the baptism of Carolina to Sunday So I could go to BOTH. Easy cakes, I thought. Hna. Olson and I prayed and crossed our fingers and prayed some more as we talked with the mom of Carolina. When we presented the new schedule, she simply said ¨No, It will be more comfortable for us to do it Saturday...you haven`t already changed it right?¨ What Carolina´s mom didn`t know was the ¨why¨ for the schedule change and I didn`t have the selfish heart to tell her that I want to change the baptism of her daughter so that I could to go another baptism. I am sure they would have felt bad and not important. So I didn`t say anything. Just ¨Okay. Saturday it is.¨ But inside I was shouting ¨No! But you don`t understand, it`s SERGIO, it`s GRANEROS!!¨ `But... in the end it all worked out well. The baptism was absolutely beautful and I am so grateful we could be a part of it. Though Hna. Black yes, went to the baptism of Sergio and since she lives with us she showed us the pretty pictures. He looked so happy! The sisters from Graneros baptized a little girl also at the same time and the person that baptized the little girl was LEONARDO!!! (The dad of the family that we baptized). Hna. Black said that everyone was asking for me and Yessica cried because she thought I was going to come. When Hna. Black told me this and when I saw Sergio and Leonardo in the pictures I started crying too. I don`t know why, really, in fact it was one of the most beautful things that has touched me in the mission - Sergio being able to be baptized and Leonardo being able to do a baptism. Though my heart hurt so deeply because I couldn`t be there, and because they felt bad that I didn`t go. I cried a lot. A lot a lot, but I am incredibly happy for them and touched and overwhelmed with gratitude.

....My other news is that I have left Guadalupe this morning. I don`t think it has sunk in quite yet. I hate, but absolutely HATE saying goodbye. I actually only said goodbye to a couple people because it`s a terrible feeling. Instead I just left letters. Though last night we had one more lesson with Karina y Pablito. I was so nervous telling them. Karina cried a lot, and that was painful. Right when we got up to go, Pablito ran upstairs and came down again with his stuffed fozzy bear and gave it to me. That was even more painful. Then he gave me a hug (shhh, don`t tell anyone).... I don`t remember anyone telling me about this part of the mission. Leaving people that you love so much. Or maybe they did but I don`t think I believed it could be so bitter-sweet. Wow. I`m all choked up right now writing about this.

Well, if you were wondering I am in Rancagua now. In an area called Villa Teniente. It`s PURE APARTMENTS. I don`t know anything about the area or the ward yet, but I hear it`s a good one. There are a lot of people. My companion is Hna. Motta. She is from Peru. I`m excited, but kind of nervous. Presidente only puts companion with Hna. Motta when he trusts them a lot. I guess it`s been hard for her to work hard and be obedient, but I know this transfer will be a good one. I am just going to love her a lot :) Also, we`re sharing the area with the assistants to the president. I`m a little nervous about that one too... I really can`t mess up now!! (jk...hopefully...) Anyway it`s kind of nice to be in the main stream of things again (being in Rancagua).

Well, I think that`s about it for now. Everyone tells us here that there is a whole load of snow in the USA. Is there snow there? It`s still hot here.

Okay, I love you so much, thank you for everything. Be good!!!

!CHAAOOOOOOO!!!!!

Hna. Alison Jones

Manuel and Victor

Bueno…

This week was definitely a lot better than the previous week. The whole thing with Manuel and Victor turned out to be a very interesting situation. In the end Manuel ended up getting cold feet and turned around half way to Pichilemu and came back. We had a couple of awesome lessons again and everything was going well... until ....well, let`s just say we ran into another problem. We probably wont be teaching them for much longer. Which is terribly sad. But like you said, I am sure it just isn`t their time yet, and the seed has been planted. We`ll leave the details of that story for another day...

We had another awesome lesson with Elena... She is so awesome! I am convinced that Heavenly Father has prepared her and it is definitely her time right now to accept the gospel. Everything has just worked out nicely. She got a new job this week (she says at her anterior one she was suffering) She just broke up with her boyfriend who was living with her (woohoo! He`s out of the house!) and she is LOOKING for the truth. It was awesome, she had read and prayed and feels all together better since she started investigating. She said it was really weird how she suddenly has desires to read and pray and GO TO CHURCH, whereas this never happened before. She is very receptive to the spirit, and she recognizes it when she feels it. Things are going so well with her. The only thing is we can only teach her a couple times a week. But things are going well!

This week we have a baptism of a little girl 11 years old named Carolina. Her family is returning to activity in the church and she is very excited for her baptism. We are excited too!

Francisco regularly goes on divisions with the Elders. This makes me happy. He is doing very well.

There are transfers this week. This means that most likely I am going to leave this area. I think I will cry. But there is also the chance that I will stay here another transfer NOBODY KNOWS ooooohhhoooooo....

It has gotten so hot that they changed the schedule to studies in the afternoon until 5 o clock instead of studies in the morning... that`s weird being in the house at this hour but it`s good because I just about die at 3:30 working outside.

I am doing well, I love the mission, I love this work. I know it`s 100% the work of the Lord. I love my family too.