Week of Miracles!

Familia!!! :) y otros!

Okay, basically tons has happened this week and I am super excited to tell you all about it! :) It was definitely a week of miracles! :)

So first, the sad news... remember Carolina and her grandma?? Well they told us on Monday that they don´t want to hear the discussions anymore. Pretty sad haha. What a way to start out your week, right? But they are still super nice and we will pass by every once in a while to see how they are doing :) But... lots of happy news!!! We had this awesome lesson on Tuesday with an investigator named Morelia. She is basically ready for baptism, she just needs a little ¨push¨as she said haha. She has a testimony of the gospel and really feels that it is right, she just needs to get to church! But this lesson with her was so amazing!! We had a member with us and it was such a testimony to me that members are SO IMPORTANT. They make the lessons. Because then automatically the investigator has a friend and they can relate better. It was incredible! And Morelia and her two daughters are so amazing!!! I really hope she gets baptized. We just have to be that push :)

Also, we had another awsome lesson with an investigator named Angela. She has such a desire to do what is right and obey Heavenly Father and she just wants to make sure the church is true before she commits to baptism. We taught her the plan of Salvation this week and she loved it haha. We gave her a drawing of the Plan and I drew a picture of her in the Celestial Kingdom with Heavenly Father haha. She laughed and loved it haha :) And then at the end of the lesson she asked for a bunch of pamphlets to share with her friends and family, like 6 of them and a BoM! Haha it was so great! She is a missionary and she isnt even a member yet! :) She has a bit of a hard time reading because her vision isnt great, but she said she read a little of the BoM the other day and afterwards she just felt so happy and was singing haha- Oh Angela! She is such a sweetie :) Once again, she just needs a little time and our support!

The last story is the biggest miracle of the week! We started doing this thing in our zone where once a week we all meet in one area and for three hours divide up that sector and all proselyte. It is to help us have more energy and find new investigators and such in each sector. This week was the first and we were in the area of other elders in our zone. We divided it up into 5 sections, and bam! Preach the gospel and see how many contacts and lessons we could get haha. My compañera and I were really praying for a miracle and boy did we get one!! Towards the end of our time we turned onto this one street and there was a man on a bicycle waiting to turn onto the main road. We said hello and went to knocking on doors. About 5 minutes later I looked and saw he was still waiting to turn and thought maybe we should talk to him, but we continued with our doors and he left. A few minutes later however, he came riding his bicycle back down this little street and to his house at the opposite end and then just kind of stood outside, leaning on his fence. I got this impression again that we should talk to him. We kept seeing him! haha. So we did. We started talking about the gospel and wow... he had such a desire to learn! He didnt have a set religion and I could tell he just wanted direction in his life. We taught him the Restoration and he was so receptive! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said just yesterday he had been thinking that he wanted to read a book and now he was really excited that he had one to read! Then we invited him to be baptized and he accepted. And then we invited him on a specific date and he accepted that! We could tell he felt the Spirit and we about died of happiness haha :) Because it wasnt our sector we were eager to tell the elders about Henry and how they had a baptismal date and the appt we set for them to meet with him the following Wednesday. When they looked in their planner they saw that they already had plans to visit his street that day. Haha how crazy?! It was by far the coolest experience ever!! Such a testimony builder for me that this gospel really is true and everything is in Heavenly Father´s hands. He works through ALL of us to help those that need salvation and I know that Henry is one of those people! We are so excited for the elders and really he gets baptised before we leave!!!! Oh man, this gospel is true!!!! :)

So yeah, basically this week was awesome! I was studying today though and I wanted to share something I learned about patience in PMG. It has been a bit difficult to work with our ward members lately and find members to go with us to lessons and such, and I have been stuggling a bit wth my patience haha. But then I read in Mosiah 23:21-22 and it says that patience is having confidence in Heavenly Father and his will and timing. I realized that when I feel anxious and impatient I am not trusting in Him. Wow haha. I need to have more faith! I love the example of the people of Alma in Mosiah 24:13-15 because they are patient in all their afflictions and therefore, they are HAPPY and trust in Heavenly Father. I know that as we have patience and trust in the will of Heavenly Father, everything will work out the way it is supposed to :)

Oh, almost forgot... awkward story of the week!!! Last night when we were calling in our numbers to our district leader, his companion got on the phone (they are the other elders in our ward) and asked if we wanted to get together after lunch on Pday and play table hockey. We asked who else was going to be there and when they said no one, just them, we said, ¨Lo siento elders, I think we are going to be busy at that time. We have lots of things to do.¨ ...... can you say AWKWARD?? haha.  To all my elder friends out there, do me a favor and don´t ask the sisters in your area on dates. They will say no and probably laugh a bit at your expense ;) bahaha. 

Family, I love you so much!!!! Have a excellent week and keep remembering to always choose the right and have patience in the Lord´s timing! Eternal life is waiting!! :) LOVE YOU!

Your Chilena,

Hna. Teeples

FAMILIA!!!!!! And Otras! :)

Okay, basically I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for al of your support and emails! I love them! :) And like I said before, not much time to write, but I can write letters later, it will just take more time to get to you haha. Anyway, second week in Chile!!!!

I am loving it here! The food is seriously AMAZING, the people are super friendly, and my compañera is awesome! Hna Yepez and I are figuring out the ropes of this opening a new area thing haha. It is a bit difficult, but so far we have had good succes finding and contacting people! All of the missionaries in our barrio (there are two elders also... we split the area) are all new and so it is crazy stuff! haha. We are all figuring it out and getting to know the ward, but it is seriously so fun! There are long, hard days, and some that are a bit easier, but it is all so rewarding! Like the other day.... we were knocking on doors and such and we met this lady. She was busy, looked tired and told us she wasn´t interested. We said that was okay and whatnot but before we left I had the strongest feeing that I should tell her Christ understands all of our problems and challenges and everything will be okay. The change in her face was incredible! She didn´t accept our invitation or anything, but I know that simply saying that she felt better. I don´t know what will hapen with her, but I will never forget that look on her face! :) There have been so many experiences like that this week! So many times when we were praying for someone to help and then the next door we knocked on there was someone who was having a really hard time and needed help and encouragement and we were able to give it. That feeling is unmatachable!! Holy cow!!! :) I think we have found a couple awesome investigators from it and I am super excited to see how they progress. This work is real! Jesus Christ is our Savior!! Sooooo many people need that strength in their lives and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share it! :)

Also, I was reading in 1 Ne. 10:17-19 today and I just love the promise there! If there is something we are looking for... an answer or reassurance, there are things we need to do. First, have a desire to find it and then search diligently for that answer, and THEN Heavenly Father will bless us with the Spirit to help us understand. I love that promise!! It is the same for us as it is for investigators, and it will never change. How cool is that?? The Spirit is always there to help us learn but first we have to study it out on our own... we have to do our part. I needed that haha. Oh man, I love the scriptures so much!!!! I love studying them because I always learn tons. Everyone, kiddies especially, read your scriptures everyday!!! There is so much Heavenly Father wants you to know :)

Love you all and hope you are having an excellent week!!! Can´t wait to read your emails, all!!! :)

Your Chilena,

Hna. Teeples