Cristina's Baptism

¡Hola familia mia!

Sounds like life keeps moving on and you can´t find any free moments. How are grandma and grandpa? I received your letters last week and was really excited to read all of them. Mom, I didn´t know that you had a problem with your face that was so bad. I thought you had toothache problems and earaches and it is that you have some kind of nerve damage! I hope everything is better now. ¡Que loco! Anyways, I hope grandpa is working in the greenhous and grandma is still busy with the blankets. I bet everyone is going to love them. Well, I have yet to go and pick up my moneygram--we have been really busy and we haven´t made it to Rancagua in the last few weeks. By any chance is there a reference number that came with it. I was told that I need a number that you should have gotten after you sent the money. But if not I think that I can still get it. I hope that you used my full name though because I have to used my name from my passport and if you put it in as Cori I might not be able to get it. Anyways other than that Everything is fine.


So, yes, the word is out in Chile, at least with the members, that David Archuleta has arrived. He is being trained in the old area of my companion. She was excited to come to Graneros but disappointed that she missed out on the famous missionary. He is going to do a special musical number in Rancagua during a devotional, I think, of the area 70. This is actually really cool because the Chile Rancagua Mission is the only mission in South America with this special young adult program. I think Heavenly Father knew what he was doing sending a young famous singer to Chile Rancagua! Lets just say I won´t be surprised to see a lot of people wanting to attend special devotionals with an amazing musical number!! I have yet to meet him, but that doesn´t mean I won´t get to!


This week was absolutely amazing!!!! I LOVE MY COMPANION!!!!! AND..............WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!! Se bautizó la Cristina!!!! I have a feeling that this change we are going to see a lot of miracles. I feel like she is the companion I have been waiting to have. She has the same desires that I do about the work. I think both of us understand that we are willing to work together or change something in order to be a more unified companionship. She is so amazing and not just because she is helping me with my Spanish!! She is teaching me how to be a successful missionary and how to love the people with all you heart. And it helps that we both have really good senses of humor!


This week has just been so amazing and filled with lots of work! I have realized that when I work hard and feel good at the end of the day, this is what it means to have fun on the mission. It's not about getting the work done and moving on to other things. IT'S about dedicating my time and effort to everyone of our investigators. I am so excited that she is so amazing!  I have learned so much already from her.


This week was soo cool! We had so many tender mercies and opportunities to meet and help people. There are two people I want to tell you about. 1. Cristina, our baptism. 2. Paola, our investigator.


1. Cristina
She has a huge fear of water. And in the past this stopped her from being baptized. So we had to practice with her in the font a few days before hand so that we could figure out the best way for her. The night of the practice she was in the water for almost an hour with our ward mission leader trying to figure how she could be submerged under the water without having a major panic attack. Well, we got things figured out, and decided that we would need two priesthood holders in the water to get her under! The day of the baptism was a little crazy but with 2 men, 1 Cristina, 1 chair and a font FULL of water she was baptized. It was probably the coolest thing to watch how her faith carried through every moment of it.

In the begging when we first started to teach her I thought that she was only doing things because the missionaries told her to and not because she had a real conviction of it herself. Well, this week those feelings completely washed away! IT WAS SO COOL!!


2. Paola
Paola has been an investigator for a long time. She is not married to the man she is living with because they want to wait to receive her money from the government to receive a house. If she gets married she can't get her money.  In the beginning she was really difficult to teach because her kids are crazy and she didn´t really like us. But with lots of patience on both ends we really have a good relationship with her. One day she taught us the Word of Wisdom and told us that she lives it now because when she is baptized it will be easier to live it. WHOA!! Que bakan! On Sunday, in class, we were talking about prophets and the importance of prophets. The question was asked, "Why is it important to listen to prophets?" She answered in the class, "Because we want to have the Spirit with us always."  I started to cry because in that moment I knew that her conversion was in the Lord and not in the missionaries. I think this is the best part about the mission. We are a part of their conversion because we are the only ones who can invite them to be baptized.  But to watch them gain their own relationship with their Heavenly Father is amazing--and then to desire the Spirit. TOTALLY AMAZING!


This is all I have time for, but I love you guys and hopefully in the near future I will be sending more pictures since I had to take these with another Hermana's camera.


Oh funny story. This last Monday we had another little earthquake in the middle of the night. Well, long story short, my companion woke up in a panic and yelled at us all to go downstairs. The next morning she didn´t remember much about it!! haha!


Oh, to answer your question mom: I am living with one of the Hermanas that was in the house the last few changes. Hermana Hunsaker from Idaho. She is really cool and a lot like me! I love all the Hermanas in the house with me, they are all amazing!


Love you all!!!!


p.s for mothers day i get to Skype......so hopefully you will have a computer with you guys on this day!!


(Received Apr 23, 2012)