8-24-13
Hey Familia!!! :)
First off, I have got to say that I LOVED all of the pictures!!! First day of school kiddies!! Woot woot! And Alaskan bro with his girly friend.... bahhhh, still cant believe it! Haha. That kid needs to write me before he heads off to Wisconsin! When is that by the way? October? November? I would love to know! :)
So basically this week started out AWESOME! We had THREE investigators in church, a MIRACLE in my book! I was so stinkin happy! haha. Ivan, of course, another investigator se llama Isabel, and Marlen!! Woot woot! She finally came! :) We also had lots of menos activos that we are working with and had seen so much progress with this one couple, I was so happy. It was a perfect day to give my talk! :)
Ivan and Marlen both are still progressing so much, we are so excited! Ivan was asking all these questions about baptism and where we do it and such on Sunday, and he always goes to church and participates lots in the lessons. The elders didn't even know he wasn't a member! haha. Right now we are working with him as he is giving up all his word of wisdom problems. It is a process, but he has come so far since I got here, I have no doubt he will be able to do it. He also was struggling to pray on his own (he did it once before but not after), BUT this week I called him to see how he was doing with his compromisos, and when I asked how his prayers are he said, "They are really great!" for the FIRST TIME EVER. I just about died of happiness, and Hna Howell too. And then he went on excitedly to tell us that he has been reading in the BoM and how he found a Liahona about temples and he has been reading that and had a zillion excited questions. Haha seriously the happiest phone call of my life! I have no doubt that baptism is just around the corner! He just has to obey the Word of Wisdom and then we are gonna get him in that water! September 14 is what we are thinking :) Man, I wish you all could see how far he has come!
Marlen is always doing splendidly! We taught he daughter the other day too, so we are poco a poco working to teach all her family, and they both are going to go to church tomorrow :) The only issue she is having right now is that she wants to get baptized but has an inner confliction because she doesn't want to give up her faith in the Virgin Mary. This was something interesting for us, because we don't really understand why anyone would want to worship her, but it is huge for Catholics. We explained while we have great respect for her, we only pray to our Father in Heaven because He and Jesus Christ are the only ones who understand exactly how we feel. And how whatever doubt she has she can resolve reading the BoM. She felt better after that :) We are so excited for her too! It is amazing to see her progress and how much the gospel is changing her life! That will make 2 baptisms in September, por lo menos! :)
Another menos activa that we have been working with lots is Zelma... her husband is sick in bed and she cant leave him alone in the house. She has been really bitter towards the church and us for not helping more and when I first got here all she did was complain when we stopped by. But a couple weeks ago we took her cookies and ever since then her attitude has been completely different! She always lets us in now and lets us help he with her husband and doesn't complain about the members and even smiles occasionally! :) We watched a video of Christ the other day and she bore such a powerful testimony of Him and how she has decided to confiar en Him and how he is helping her change. She has come such a long way in these few weeks, it is amazing!
I am just so happy with the growth in the people we have seen here in Osorno! We still have our rough days, and there are still lots of people to teach, but whenever we think in Ivan or Marlen or Claudia or Zelma or loads of others, we feel so happy! And with all of the mistakes we made this week and the weaknesses we have, we have realized it has absolutely nothing to do with what we are doing haha. It is all Heavenly Father! :) Sadly, we have cambios next week and it is possible that one of us with go, but we wont know until later today or tomorrow.... ahhhh!!! We are both praying that we can both stay here!
Other changes that happened.... I can now email whoever I want! And we have a little more time on the computer! Woot woot! YAY!!! :) I still wont have time to write everyone back, but not I have the option! The blessings are just pouring down :)
One thing I wanted to share this week comes from a talk we have called "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E Colbridge. He talks about a million different things that are so powerful and as I have been reading it this week, it has given me such a new perspective on the mission and how I need to be the "4th missionary." One thing he said about faith is " If you are not doing what the Lord would have you do, you cannot believe in yourself, you cannot believe you are worthy to receive God´s help and guidance in your life... you cannot have faith not because you don´t believe in God, but because you cannot believe in yourself." Wow haha. He also emphasized how "The purpose and central blessing of life is CHANGE." We are here to change, in the mission and in life, and if we aren't changing we aren't fulfilling our purpose. And if we aren't doing what God wants us to do, we cant have faith! We wont be changed by the mission, or we wont be changed by life. HUGE. That hit me pretty hard. We can do good things but if our heart isn't in it, it doesn't matter. Family... have soft hearts and follow the example of Jesus Christ :)
Love you all SO MUCH! Thanks again for all your support and the photos! I hope school is going well kiddies, and Dad with work, and Ty in Alaska, and Mom with Young Women´s. I love reading about whats going on with all of you :) Also, I believe Carter has a bday soon!!! CARTER, my sweet boy!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I cant believe you are turning 10! Holy cow, double digits! I love you so much sweet boy and miss your hugs and smile! I hope you are loving school and your class with that cute girl you like ;) Keep reading the scriptures and praying everyday and pretend I am doing the raptor for ya on your bday! I love you so much and hope you have a great day!!! :)
Choose the right familia, change your hearts and be happy because eternal life is waiting!!! :)
Your Chilena,
Hna Teeples
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