Week 72/76 Happy Groundhog Day!

Did everyone read the Book of mormon everyday last week?? How'd it go? 

I finally found a statue of Arturo Prat! 

thanks to our intercambio in Chiguay, we also saw a dog attack another dog, but overall 9/10. We had lunch with the mom of the bishops wife, from the Linares ward! We ended the night with a Zone Home Evening, that consisted of a spiritual thought and a game of seek and find with random objects around the house. They would say something like "find a spoonful of suger and eat it" and the last companionship to do it, lost. Other random tasks included: 

• put on a hoodie

• apply chapstick

• get the lint tray from your dryer and clean out the lint

• put on a baseball cap

• show us your mattress cover. 

We ended up dressed like frat boys, laughing our heads off, with elders bringing entire mattresses into their tiny study rooms. Safe to say they won the bag of Goldfish.

The next day we got home and I dropped my intercambio things off at our apartment before heading to district council. In the middle of district council I remembered that we were going to start another intercambio with collao, after district council. So guess who did an intercambio in another area with only the clothes on her back and a Preach My Gospel manual in hand! 

Finally, on Thursday I was back in my area with my companion. 

In the mission we recieve money on the 15th and 30th of every month. The 15th of January was a Monday, so we received money and used a portion of it to buy groceries. Then we used the other portion to buy our weekly groceries the following Monday, the 22nd. But when Monday the 29th rolled around, we were down to the last of our bus money. We bought what we could at the store and decided that with the money we recieved on Tuesday we could buy some fruit from a fruit store nearby. 

But of course, God is a God of miracles, and He always provides. The elders in our ward dropped off eggs, cookies, chicken nuggets, and chips on Tuesday, and then hotdogs and nectarines on Wednesday. So I got home from intercambios with a pantry fuller than I left it. And then an hermana had bought a surplus of peaches on a deal and she gave us some of her extra peaches. That was a tender mercy this week. 

Then things started to get crazy. We met with our friend Aroldo. He brought us cookies! Then we sat down and asked if he had any questions about the church, and he was like 'yeah, do you guys do baptisms?' so we invited him to pray to know if he should be baptized at the end of the month. 

Then we found out that our friend Leymaris is moving to Santiago this week. So we got in contact with some hermanas in the Santiago East Mission, and we had a lesson all together. We are sad to let her go, but we trust in God's plan. Maybe, after more than a year of meeting with missionaries in Concepción, Santiago is the change she needs to make the decision to be baptized. 

Speaking of baptism...

Friday afternoon, we had just confirmed everything for Adrian's baptism, we were sending out the invites to all the ward members, when we get a text from Adrian. 'Hermanas, al final decidí no bautizarme.' So we spent a good rato panicking. We called Adrian and tried to help and invited him to pray and everything. But like he said, in the end he decided not to get baptized. Please keep him in your prayers. 

After that fiasco, we decided that we couldn't let this mal moment ruin our day. El campo está blanco, afterall.

We kept working, contacting, sharing, and smiling. That's when we met our friend Ayrton. 

This week didn't go how I thought it would, it rarely does, but I know God is preparing some very good things for the people of chillancito. I'm just glad to be an instrument in His hands. 

This week I want to invite you all to reflect in Moroni and Pahorans actions in Alma 60-61. While reading these chapters this week, I did lots of self reflection about times when I've judged a situation or jumped to conclusions, or how I react when others make assumptions about me. I've decided that I would like to be like Pahoran. Not take offense, or throw the blame back, but accept their side of the story with love and patience, calmly explain my side of the story, and come to a peaceful solution. 

I think we all could use a little more Pahoran in our lives. 

61:9 and now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. I, Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgement seat that I may preserve the rights and the liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free. 

Love you guys! 

- Hermana Pratt