President and Sister Resek

My last letter!!

Okay, ….. I am just gonna tell ya that I think this may be the last time that I am going to write before I come home because next week I am going back to a couple of areas to visit some people before I leave. We can do that our last p-day and we will be traveling a lot, and I don`t know if we are going to get time to write much, but I will at least check my email. Juuust so you know :) I am especially excited to see Pablito and Karina. Hna. Olson told me that Pablito had to give his testimony in a baptism and was SOOOO nervous but carries around a little note I sent him a few weeks ago and had it in hand when he gave his testimony so as to give him courage. It was so cute!

Well, if you didn`t know, it`s COLD here. Actually at this very moment, it`s not that cold, but in the mornings and evenings and nights its cold. Winter is definitely knockin on the door.

This week we did divisions… I went to Baquedano (another part in Rancagua) with Hna. Pinto. We lived together in Graneros when we shared sectors and we always talked about how we wanted to be companions, but it never happened…. So we were THRILLED to be together for one day! I felt like we were walking on the clouds all day long :) We had an awesome lesson with the cutest young couple who are truly looking for the truth. We shared the message of the restoration and we talked and answered questions and testified and the spirit was very strong. They kept saying how the message just made sense, but more than that, they FELT that it was right. The dad, Juan, said that with all the different religions that he had shared with, he had never FELT like he did when he heard the message. It was awesome. I loved that moment. I love moments like that when you can feel the spirit testify of the truthfulness. I don`t know if I recognized that feeling before, but I definitely can`t deny the feeling now. Though today we had a sisters lunch for all the sisters here in the Rancagua area and I had to say goodbye to a few of my old latin companions/friends like Hna Pinto and Hna Bonilla and it was pretty heart breaking.

Though some more good news is that we are teaching a single Jovencita named Malu that is actually about a year older than us that has a little boy. Her friend is a less active returning to the church joven named Diego and last week he just showed up with Malu and she wanted to learn more. She is wonderful and is preparing to be baptized for the 2nd of Mayo. I love teaching her because she really wants to learn and we just seem to connect well :)

Patricio was confirmed yesterday and he seems so happy. He got sick this last week because the water was cold when he got baptized :P oops. But he is doing well.

Does anyone know if they sell mate yerbas en the US??

AND THE COOLEST NEWS FOR TODAY….. We just now got a phone call from the Hna. Cabezas (the Colombian Hermana that is helping us with Jairo and Monica) and told us that she went with them to the registro civil and found out that they can legally get married here in Chile with just their passports (that was the doubt) and that they have decided that they want to get married!!! They are still not exactly sure how much time they have to wait before they can get married, but there is a great chance that they will do it before we leave and be baptized too (at least Monica…. Jairo is having a hard time leaving behind a few vices…) But I am so excited for them!!!! Yesterday we had a FHE again with them and with the Cabezas and I felt so at home and with so much love for Monica and Jairo and for the Cabezas. I am very happy that the work is progressing. I even made no bake cookies with REAL peanut butter and they were a big hit.

I haven`t felt any temblores this week. I kind of miss them.

Bueno, I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you so much for writing me! I love you so much!

Hna. Jones

Patricio Got Baptized!

Hey heye hye heyeyehkafdashalghajlgad

Hey, I just want to say thaaaaaat PATRICIO GOT BAPTIZED!!! There, I said it. And I am going to say this too…. it really almost didn´t happen. This was the most opposition in a baptism that I have seen and experiences in all of my mission. For about 100,023,423 reasons. I will tell the story another day. I actually spent just about all of my hour in an email to the president (I had a lot to talk about this week) , so I don´t have much time.

But Patricio is happy and it was truly a miracle. He felt overwhelmed. It has been over 5 months that he was sharing with missionaries, and years before too. He was ready and he felt that wonderful spiritually clean feeling…. and that is what I am here for. To be able to see and experience that change though the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Something beautiful that happened is that MONICA came to church yesterday with Jairo, but in a pretty skirt. That means a whole lot when the investigators or new converts go out of their way to buy church clothes. Her birthday was this week too and we did a tiny little surprise for her and she cried with joy and a gratitude. She wants to get baptized so bad. But now Jairo is having cold feet and doesn´t know if he wants to make that commitment. The hard thing is that they are still living together. She is willing to leave him until he makes a decision so she can be baptized, but is dependent on him, it´s not so easy here to go out and find a supporting job and especially when you're illegal and waiting on papers. She is trying to figure out her options while Jairo figures out his. The good thing is we have a wonderful member family that have taken them under their wings and are helping them in every form. I don´t know what we´d do without them.

Well… I love you all so much - sorry this is so short. Thanks Mom and Dad and Cal for writing me. I don´t know what I would do without your supporting love and words!

Hna. Jones

A Great Semana

Weeeeeeeeellllllllp, it was a great semana. It was a crazy week. We are still learning and trying hard and praying harder for our trio companionship. One thing I love about Hna. Magalei is that she doesn`t let the crap fly like I had done a few times with Hna. Motta (because I wanted to avoid contention). She and Motta have bumped heads a few times, but I think things are getting across. We are just doing our best, loving one another, praying a whole lot, and leaving the rest up to the Lord. It will be okay. One thing that is great in the area is that we are teaching a man named Patricio. He is a dad of a member family that has been going to church for months now, but never felt ready, never felt the need to get baptized or stop smoking. Well, recently he felt strongly the need to be baptized after he took the personal initiative to read the Book of Mormon everyday. He has stopped smoking and is (we are planning) ready to be baptized this weekend. It will be very beautiful for him and his family. We had an awesome leccion with him about repentance and Hna. Magalei and I (Hna. Motta was sick that day) were jumping in our seats pretty much with excitement to see his excitement and desires to change.

Monica and Jairo went to two sessions of general conference!!! They loved it! And, the good news (and I hope permanent news) is that they have decided for sure that they are getting married (there had been doubts) and they are putting in the pilas to get all their paper work done. Today is Monica´s birthday so we are going to have a sweet FHE with them. One other thing that makes me so happy is to see the testimony that Monica has with the Book of Mormon. She loves it. Even though she is from Colombia she still has that sweet ¨oh no you di´int!¨ black attitude so it`s hilarious when we go to visit them and we ask about what we left her to read. She proudly holds it up to show us all the markings she made and does that ¨ ummm hummmm¨ lip jutting thing. If you can picture that… I love it. If there is one thing that I have felt and learned strongly in the mission is the changing power that the Book of Mormon has on the people. I know it`s because it talks of Christ, and teaches how we can apply his atonement and him in our life.

Speaking of Confernece, it was great, wasn't it? Once again I am amazed at how directly and clearly the questions I brought to be answered were answered. A LOT of things that were said were very helpful for me to apply in my companionship.

One thing that was very impactful for me this week was something that happened to Hna. Magalei actually. But it was such a strengthener to my testimony of the priesthood. Well, I am not going to include too many details, but a long story short is that Hna. Magalei was not doing so well and was able to receive a priesthood blessing from Elder Wengreen and other Elders. I could feel very strongly that the blessing wasn`t coming from E´Wengreen, but they were words that Heavenly Father wanted her to hear. She was able to feel better and is just fine now. Remind me to tell you about this experience when I get back.

We had a zone activity today and hiked a really brutal mountain. We didn`t actually get to the top because we didn`t have all day. …. But it was fun! Though I fell quite a few times and got a little scraped up. That was to be expected though. I seem to trip a lot these days.

Thanks for the pics!! I love them. Daneille is so grown up it makes me sick. I also got pics from Michelle and her baby. She is so cute!!! Sorry my pics didn`t work out. Maybe I`ll just wait till later to show ya`ll.

Well things are going well. I love the work. I love the Lord. And I love my dear dear family so much. That`s the truth.

Hna. Honez

P.S. I forgot to add an important detail to the blessing story for Hna. Magalei that when the elders were giving the blessing the assistant recieved a phone call right at that very moment just to see if everything was okay. It was President Resek that called and he had had a feeling that something wasn`t right with some missionaries and so called to check in. At the very moment that he was giving the blessing. It was really incredible.

P.S.S. I forgot to tell that last night we had a pretty decent sized temblor and I got excited... I think I was going through aftershake withdrawls... terrible huh?

It's all Good

This week has been pretty awesome. I LOVE the enthusiasm that Hna. Magalei has for the work. We`ve worked hard, and invited people to be baptized. We have felt the guidance of the spirit too. We get along so great. She is hilarious and laid back but understands the importance of the work. She has had a big change in her life and feels the love of the Savior and her testimony strengthens mine and she firmly believes that we can always progress. I have felt very well with her and things with Hna. Motta have gotten a lot better too. It`s interesting being in a threesome, kind of awkward walking in the street, but it`s nice if we ever need to be in two different parts but close by because we do this cool triangle thing where one hermana is in the middle and can see us both.

So we`ve had this reference for couple of weeks but his is only available on Saturday afternoons. But the thing is he lives FAR away from where we`re working. We went last week, and didn`t find him. We went on Saturday and again, we didn`t find him. But I was thinking about what Preach My Gospel says about references and how sometimes if we can`t locate our referral, maybe there is someone else waiting and needing the gospel close by. So we started knocking doors on this street where never before would we have gone out there (because it`s so far) and knocked like 4 houses and found a woman named America. She is GOLDEN (we think). And wants to get baptized. And we had to be brought all the way out there for the referral that didn`t work out to find her, because we wouldn`t have found her otherwise. It was AWESOME. I love how the Lord works in mysterious ways. Though we only taught her once but I am certain she will progress.