Funniest Story of the Mission!!!

9-7-2013
Familia!!!

Okay, I FINALLY sent you some pictures so I don't have as much time to write today. But, I´ll be quick! :)

Taylor & Hna. Howell in the middle...not sure who the other 2 are.

This week started out great! We had lots of people in the iglesia on Sunday (not quite as many as we wanted though), and between the investigators and menos activos we were running for all lados trying to talk to everyone and make sure they knew where to go. Church is starting to give me a little bit of stress haha because there are always so many people to talk to. Sometimes we get a little frustrated because we really need the members to talk to our investigators and the menos activos more, but then I thought..."How silly. I am frustrated because we have too many people to handle?? Wow. I think I need to count my many blessings!!!" And so then we laughed, and that´s what we did :) What a good problem to have right?? But really, family... when there are people you don´t know in the iglesia... talk to them, ya? :)

Ivan is still progressing lots! Everyday he is giving up a bit more of his cigarettes, and we are so grateful for that because we gave up cookies and Peanut Butter to apoyar him! haha and man, let me tell ya.. that is tough stuff! But the elders gave him a blessing On Sunday and I think that is really helping :) He has just got to stay strong and change those desires. Pray for him lots!! Also, we are trying to help him gain a firmer testimony of the Libro de Mormon because it has hit me so hard lately that if converts don´t have a strong testimony of that book they aren´t going to remain active. There are lots of recent converts in this sector that we are working with, and without exception, the ones that are super firm on the gospel are the ones that read the BofM everyday. There is no better way! :)

Speaking of recent converts, we have been working lots with Claudia and Huayupe this week. Oh man, do I love those kids!!! We have lessons with them together lots because we have to have another mujer to teach Huayupe, and basically those lessons are my favorite. We want them to get married haha. But ONLY after he serves a mission. Right now we are trying to encourage him lots to serve because we know it is the only thing that will solidify his testimony and we know he was baptized at 21 for a reason. But we´ll see how it goes! Lots of prayers there too! :)

Okay, I gotta tell you all about the funny story of the week this week... more like funny story of the mission haha. We have this family of investigators, a mom and her 3 kids that are absolutely AMAZING! I love them so much. But sadly, every time we have gone to visit them these past couple weeks we have been out of BoMs... oh the shame! So the other day we decided to drop off 4 BoMs at their house with a little note during the day before they got home from work and such. Well it was raining super, super fuerte that day and so we had the books all tied up in a plastic bag and we going to put them over their fence. Well it was raining really hard and I didn't want them to get wet on the ground, so when I peeked over the fence (its really tall and made of wood) I saw a washing machine and thought, I´ll just throw them on the washing machine instead! They´ll be lots safer there. Unfortunately, my aim isn't quite as good as I thought and I didn't see the big bucket of water next to the washing machine..... and they landed right in the bucket of water! I just about panicked hahaha. So then the dilemma was, do we leave four BoMs in a bucket of water or do we hop the fence in skirts??? We couldn't get over, so obviously the only logically thing to do was get down on my hands and knees in the mud and have my compañera climb on my back and use the hook of my umbrella to rescue the Libros and toss them onto the washer! Bahahaha oh my gosh did we laugh hard, rescuing these books in the pouring rain! But we did it!! And I don't even think they were wet! Miracles of the Lord :) 

Other than that, pretty good week! I love Hna Howell so much and we are just happy all the time! There are always things to work on of course, but I just love the mission and this sector and my compaéra so much :) It was a really great week. Also, I just wanted to tell you all how grateful I am for my Savior and repentance. I have been studying that lots this week and it just blows my mind how repentance really is a gift and how amazing it is that we have this opportunity to change and grow every day. We are children of our Heavenly Father and He loves and we have all of His potential because of Jesus Christ! :) 

I love you all and mom I LOVED your letter! I could just picture ya talking into your phone driving to the temple haha. Thanks for all the update on the kiddies and such. I am gonna write Ty next week! I think I have a bit of advice to give in that category ;) And tell Jakey I love him so much and he is the coolest and that he is going to LOVE high school! And tell Jaden and Carter and Kaci that I miss their sweet faces and I talk about them all the time. And Dad that I love him tons and I am so proud of him and the hard work that he does everyday. I am so grateful! I love you all so much! Be happy always because eternal life is waiting! :)

Your Chilena,

Hna Teeples

New pics!!

Just found these pictures she was tagged in!!! Thank you to Claudio Andres Villegas for posting them! Made my day!! :o)

Staying in Osorno!!!

8-31-13
Familia!!!!

Don't have much time this week so I am gonna try and be speedy fast! :)

First off all, we had cambios but Hna Howell and I are both staying!!! Woot woot!!!!! We are so excited! There is still so much to do in this sector and it is just bursting with potential this week! :) The first couple days were crazy though because with cambios and being in Osorno, the centre of everything, we were super busy Monday and Tuesday, going to the bus station and bringing sisters to our house and the mission home to stay the night as they were all rotating around. Because we are the only sisters in Centro, when there are extra sisters that need somewhere to go, it is always with us haha. So we spent a lot of time at the bus station those two days. And that included being there when the group that went home this cambio was leaving.... oh my goodness, it was the saddest thing!!!! To see a bunch of missionaries we know all choked up because they are going home. It hit us big when we realized that is going to be us in just one short year. Holy cow!!! We made a new resolve to work our hardest and give it all to the Lord! Because I know that time is going to come faster than I think! It was also fun to see the Ericksons, the other matrimonial couple. Haha I love them so much!!! They remind me so much of gram and grandpa and he taught me how to chop wood! :) Basically i love the Goodmans (our bishop and his wife) and the Ericksons so much. I am gonna miss them tons when they leave in December!

With that new resolve to work hard, we have seen so many miracles this week! Starting with Ivan.... he has a fecha!!!!! FINALLY!! We met with him Wednesday and talked about his smoking...he decided to give it up ahora and we set his baptismal date for the 28 of Septiembre. We have been calling him every night to check up on him and poco a poco he is giving them up! Tomorrow he wants to give them up completely and some of the elders are going to give him a blessing. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and the friends and family I know that hold it! And we are so stinkin´excited for Ivan!!! He is gonna get baptized soon and we get to see it!!! Woot woot! (Brandon... my Ivan is better that yours hehe).

Also, we had a cita with Claudia and her friend Coni yesterday, and he pareja Cesar was there for the lesson too. Turns our when he was little he and his family listened to the hermanas for over a year, but then they left really suddenly and he has been kind of bitter about it. But last night as we talked about the Plan of Salvation, and read the scriptures he was so so excited and so eager to learn more. We gave him another copy of the Book of Mormon and he just thanked us over and over for bringing the gospel to his family otra vez and giving him that book. Oh my goodness, it was such an amazing lesson! They are both so excited to learn and Claudia is right there reading their homework assignments with them from the BofM and helping them understand. And they are going to come to church on Sunday with their little adorable 5 year old daughter Augustina! We have a family!!!!! I am so excited! :)

Another miracle we that happened this week was with another recent convert, Huayupe. He is 21 and got baptized a year ago but is the only member in his family. He is awesome and accompanies us lots and ever since I got here I have been wanting to teach his family too. So last week we decided to fast with him for the opportunity to teach his parents. He has been giving us pointers and stuff (his dad is like this famous judge here is Osorno) and we finally passed by his house this week (during the week when Huayupe is in Valdivia for school) and his dad let us in!!! We didn't talk for very long, but we did talk about God and his beliefs and such. It was so easy, he basically just told us everything without us asking! Haha and then said we could come back another day! There is still a long way to go before I think we can get the rest of his family to think seriously about the religion, but we are opening the doors for us or future missionaries. The power of fasting, I tell ya! :)

Speaking of which, I wanted to share Helaman 3:35 with you all. I don´t know if I shared it already but I just love it so, so much! I have been reading more of the "4th Missionary" like I told you last week and it is just changing my whole perspective on the mission and life in general. This week I read so much about how important the desires of our hearts are. We can be doing good things and be exactly obedient but if it isnt what we want to do, we wont be happy. He said. "It is up to you. You cannot be changed to become more like God if within your heart you fight against God... and hold fast to what you rather would do... Your world is in your head. Get your head right and your heart will follow and you will be right." Oh man, it hit me so hard haha. If my desires arent the same as Heavenly Father, then really it doesnt matter how obedient I am. I wont be happy. And so... we have to change our desires! And we do that through lots of praying and fasting and praying some more! That is why I love LOVE Helaman 3:35. We have got to give our hearts over to Heavenly Father :)

Love you all so much family!!! Loved your letter and sounds like things are going great with the kiddies in school and Ty in Alaska (so fun that you got to Skype!) and I loved the pics of Carter´s bday! I need to be better at sending pictures haha. I hope you all have fun with grandma and grandpa this weekend! And I cant wait to read all your emails! I love you all so much and miss your faces! Choose the right but more importantly WANT the right things because eternal life is waiting!!!! :)

Your Chilena,

Hna Teeples

Have soft hearts & follow the Savior...

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

Week of Miracles...

8-17-13

Hey Familia!! 

Well, this week was seriously one of the greatest weeks in the mission... seriously SO MANY MIRACLES! Haha a couple days Hna. Howell and I were just thinking... holy cow, another one! This day couldn´t get any better! And then it did! :) Lots of stories to share!

So first of all, remember how I told you about our Zone conference and how we decided to fast to be able to find more bautismos through our menos activos and recent converts and such? Well, we have already started to see the fruits of that fast! And it all started with Claudia! The recent convert I mentioned before! Oh my goodness, that girl is so amazing!!! We didn't see her for a while cuz she travels a lot, but when she got back she was so full of stories to tell us and miracles that had happened in the past week. Basically everything she prays for happens haha. I have never met anyone with such great faith! We just adore her :) Anyway, on Sunday before a lesson with her, we passed by a contacto close by in her neighborhood. He wasn't there, but his wife, Coni, was. Turns out that Coni and Claudia are best friends, and Claudia had been telling Coni all about us! Haha we had no idea, but she was so excited to meet us and said that she wanted to have a visit with Claudia and nosotras during the week. We were so stinkin´excited when we got to Claudia´s house!!! Pos su puesto, she had an amiga that we could teach! :) So we taught her once this week, and it was so great! Her desire to learn is so honest and open, and turns out she has a lot of connections with people in the ward, and of course Claudia! It was so cool that she already had that immediate support from a friend to help her learn and grow her testimony. Power of fasting, right??? We are so excited to see her progress!! :)

And that isn't even the half of it! So many other miracles! For example one night we were passing by another contacto, super bueno, but whose family lives in Santiago and he lives solo here for work for a short while. We didn't think he would be home, but when he was and invited us in we thought,"Chuuuta! What do we do? We can´t enter:" and its kinda of awkward to stop by someone´s house just to tell them you cant come in. Well. right in this moment, a hermana from the ward passed by on the sidewalk and said, ¨Hermanas! DO you need help?" Oh boy, did we ever! Haha so we went in with us and helped us teach the lesson! What a miracle it was! :)

Things are also progressing really well with Ivan and Marlen. We had a couple amazing lessons with Ivan this week and we can really see him growing! He comes to church every week now and even went to the Noche de Hogar that we had this week in the capilla. He has a problem with the Word of Wisdom, but we had a lesson with him about that and instead of his usual excuses, he was so receptive and is already trying to change. He has the desires, just needs to do it! He knows it will be hard, but we are hoping and praying that this goal will help motivate him to pray more and then... get baptized!!! :) Haha with time, but it is our goal. It has been amazing as we have talked to other people who knew him before about how different he was hace como 2 or 3 años, and how he is now. He didn't want anything to do with the church before and now he is going every week! Miracle :)

Also, we has a great lesson with Marlen this week! She has been reading and praying and told us that she wants to get baptized. HUGE, because she knows it will mean a huge lifestyle change. But she feels so good about and we set a fecha with her :) I seriously love her so much!!! She never wants us to leave haha. Our goal now is to get her family involved... she has 3 kids and her husband but right now she is the only one taking the discussions. But with a little help from members, we can do it! :)

Speaking of members, another miracle.... usually we have a really hard time getting members to lessons with us. But this week we have already doubled the number of lessons we usually have with members. So incredible! The lessons are so much better with members. Help the missionaries, family! :)

Other random news.... I have a disease in my fingers. Haha just kidding! But I do have two that have been swelling up and really red and stuff and Hna Rappleye thought it might be a spider bite or something so we had to go to the doctor this week. That was an adventure! Haha turns out it is just something from the cold... weird. But I just have to make sure I am wearing my gloves and take this medicine stuff. 

Also, mañana I am giving my first talk in Spanish in my barrio! And Hna Howell and I are teaching Relief Society. Lots of teaching haha. I am a bit nervous cuz I think President and Hna Rappleye are gonna be there, but I am excited about the topic I chose.... the Restoration!! And how we all need to strengthen our testimonies of it and then help others receive testimonies tambien! :) Haha I have been on a Restoration kick lately. Every time we watch the DVD with investigators, I am just in awe at how they are leaping for joy, begging us to be baptized. It is just so amazing!! I love what Elder Nelson said in his talk"Catch the Wave".... "I cannot speak of the Restoration in tempered tones!" That is exactly how I feel :) I feel so blessed to have this knowledge and know that we have real profetas today tambien. I love the Ensigns and their talks! We are so blessed :)

Think that is about all I have time to share from this week of miracles haha. But seriously, it was amazing! And YOU all are amazing!!! Thanks so much for all your support and stories! I miss those kiddies tons and loved reading about their stories from this week! I busted up laughing at what Kaci said about the massage kit bahaha. Tell them all I love them and good luck in school this next week!!! And sweet Carter has a bday coming up pretty soon, I believe :) I am so glad you all are doing so well and I love and pray for you always! Every week I feel more and more blessed for the family that I have :) I hope you all have an amazing week this week! Keep your heads up (kids with school haha), listen to everything to prophets say, and smile everyday because eternal life is waiting!!! :)

Your Chilena,

Hna Teeples

Can't do the work without MEMBERS...

8-10-13
Familia!!!!! :)

Can I just start by saying I love you all so much? Really, you all are the greatest :) And I felt like there were lots of questions last week so I am going to answer those first this week!

First... my compañera. She really is awesome! I need to send you a picture of us... eating haha. That seems to be all the pictures we  have really haha. But I really love Hna Howell! I have learned so much from her spirit and strength, especially with her mom and everything. She has three sisters, but only one is active. Her dad isn't active either, and although her mom went through the temple before she died, her parents were never sealed in the temple. It makes me sad because I know she wants really badly for her family to return back to the church. But you would never know that she has these struggles with the way she talks and teaches. She is such an example! :) We are still struggling a bit with having unity and the Spirit with us consistently in the lessons, but with continual talks and practice we are getting better everyday :) 

The other two sisters I live with are both from Peru and I adore them!!! Living with another companionship isn't without its struggles haha, but all the good times make it totally worth it. They are both two of the sweetest girls I have ever met! They are always cooking for us (AMAZING food btw) and the other day they gave me this cute little cover for my agenda that they made. They are seriously so loving! I have learned so much from their animos and their service. They are constantly hugging us and talking in their English that just cracks us up! Pretty much love my Hna Medina and Hna Llanos! :)

The Schnettlers are the family that we have almuerzo with everyday, except Pday and Sunday. They are amazing! Pilar, Emilio, and their 3 daughters were all baptized in Enero and it is amazing to see what an impact they have had on the ward! There are very few active members here in this ward, and so the fact that they all were baptized basically makes them a miracle family. Mission goal: find a family and baptize the heck out of them!!! Haha :) Really though, they are awesome and we have lessons with them lots to help strengthen their faith. They are pretty rich in this area and all want to be Yanks and like to talk in English a lot, which pretty much always has Hna Howell and I laughing. They are hoots! President Rappleye is really good friends with Emilio and when they finish their mission in June next year, they are all going to Disneyland together! Hna Howell and I may or may not want them to wait for September so we can go too.... haha. 

So now that you all know a little more about these wonderful people, you can know a little more about this wonderful week! :) We had a Zone Conference this week and it was so uplifting! Out main focus was the leadership training from June and we watched lots of clips from those talks, and also the video of the missionary family. I LOVE that video!!! It blows my mind every time and makes me want to raise my family to be missionaries just like that :) And here in the mission we are starting that process to help the members start to see mission work as their responsibility and us as helpers. Honestly, our baptismal rate in the mission is really low right now i comparison to other missions close by and President told us that it is because although we are working hard, we aren't focusing the the mejor fuente para find bautismos... the members! The menos activos! The conversos recientes! We need to focus on them and their family members and their amigos and THAT is how we are going to have more success. Hna Howell and I talked lots about that and decided to fast to help us open our eyes to the people that are right in front of our eyes, living with and next to our members! We have already started to see the blessings of that when just last night we found a menos actina sister who is the only member in her family and has an incredible story and explained that her mom said one day she will get baptized too. Miracle?? I think yes! :)

Other awesome miracle this week happened Sunday.... before church we went to pick up an investigator, but she wasn't ready and we had to wait for her and arrived late to church... missing the Sacrament! We were really sad because all the wards start at 10am here so there was no other ward to attend and we had no idea how we were gonna get through the week without the sacrament. Well, later that night we were in the house of Ivan, an investigator, and his mom is a little old member that cant attend church. And just 5 minutes after we arrived, who should walk in the door but Bishop Goodman to bring her the sacrament?!? Ahhhhhhh I have never been so happy to partake of the sacrament in all my life!!! It was such a miracle and I know its because Heavenly Father knows His missionaries need that strength every week. I am so grateful for my Savior and the amazing opportunity to remember Him every week in church. Never miss a day familia!! 

I love you all so much, and it was so good to hear about your week last week!! I CANT BELIEVE SHELB IS ENGAGED!!!! Send her all my love and best of luck! :) Dang the world is changing haha. I hope you all are having an awesome week! Enjoy the last on summer and remember the keep your eyes open because there are opportunities to serve and share the gospel everywhere! D&C 136: 32-33 says if we are humble and contrite, the spirit will help us see these opportunities right in front of us. I know that is true and I know this church is true! Choose the right always, count your many blessings, and share the gospel because eternal life is waiting!!! :) 

Love your Chilean,

Hna Teeples

His missionaries...His friends....

8-3-13
Family!!!

Another crazy week here in Osorno! :) Haha the days are seriously always full of crazy happenings here close to the mission home. I think I am going to have quite a hard time leaving when the time comes haha. I am getting used to having Elder and Sister Goodman in our ward and the cinnamon rolls and cookies and pumpkin cake  she makes :) And i have to tell ya it is pretty funny to randomly run into President Rappleye every once in a while. Hna. Howell and I were walking back from a meeting in the capilla the other night and we walked passed the mission home, and President just happened to be looking out the window and got this huge grin and waved for us to come in haha. The Goodmans and the Ericksons (his two counselors and their wives) were all there too so we spent a few minutes talking to them haha.They were all going out to dinner with the Schettlers, the family of our mamita haha. So many connections in this area! I always love talking to them because they all remind me of Grammy and Grandpa! Haha it´s kind of a funny thing that happens here, but I´m not complaining! :)

Other awesome things this week... so remember Claudia that I told you all about last week? The recent convert from Punta Arenas that we ran into? Well we had two lessons with her this week, re-teaching her the lessons, and holy cow... she is so amazing!!!! Every time we leave we are just in awe at how much she knows and how strong her testimony is after just a couple months. For example church... she hasn't missed a Sunday since she first started going to church and she travels a LOT. But she said that she can´t miss a day because she needs to take of the Sacrament and it is what God asked us to do. It is incredible! She is so cute and always has "once" all ready for us, and then we sit around the table and talk about the gospel like friends. Hna. Howell and I love it so much!! The lessons with her are always so great because she has just amazing things to say as we do, and I think I learn more from her than she does from us haha. Seriously, she is of ORO!!! And we met her Dad for the first time the other day, which was awesome because she wants us to teach him the lessons and said that she purposely reads the BoM at meal times so that she can share with him the things she learns. Haha holy cow. Of oro, I tell ya! :)

We also have two other investigators, Ivan and Marlyn, that are progressing lots! Ivan has been attending church for the past few weeks, but is struggling to pray... this is a concern of ours because without prayer he will never receive an answer. We have testified so many times without success, but the other day the Spirit was really strong when we bore testimony of prayer so hopefully he prays. Pray for him!! He is so great and we have seen so much progress, he just needs to get down on those knees. Marlyn is also amazing! We had an amazing lessons with her yesterday and she is going to church with us tomorrow too :) She really loves everything we have taught and has a great family, we have tons of hope for her! WE invited her as well to be baptised yesterday and she accepted 31 de Agosto tambien if she receives her answer. Woot woot!! So with a bit of faith and an abundance of prayers and a few cambios in sus vidas, hopefully we should have dos bautismos the end of this month! :)

We seriously have so many amazing people in this sector, it blows my mind sometimes. BUT... we are having lots of difficulty getting in contact with them again. We will have an awesome lesson one week with the Spirit so strong and then our next lesson cae and we cant get in touch with them again. Oh man, it can be frustrating. Yesterday was a bit rough and several lessons fell through and Hna. Howell and I were talking about how sometimes we imagine the Savior and think, "If I was just more like HIm... if I just had more charity or could testify with more power or teach more clearly, then more people would open their doors and I would change more lives." But then we realized that isn't the case. He was and IS the perfect teacher, missionary, friend, perfect EVEYRYTHING and how many people rejected and are still rejecting Him?? Tons! More probably than actually listen. That realization hit me pretty hard... we suffer in the same way He suffered and are rejected even when we KNOW they understand in the same way He was rejected. And as his missionaries, his friends, we bear the same burden He bore. And then all of the sudden after that, I felt better :) Sometimes the days are hard, and sometimes I am tired and frustrated because no one opens their doors... but I stand with Him and can´t but be happy when I think of that :) D&C 122:8. Scripture of the week! Read it :)

Love my Savior, love this sector, love you all!!!! Loved the letters last week and excited to read them this week! The pictures of the kiddies are so CUTE, looks like you all are enjoying the summer!!! Dad, loved your letter last week and hope your class was amazing, as always! Oh and parents... HAPPY ANNIVERSERY last week!!! Forgot to tell ya, but I am seriously so grateful for you both and your examples. My appreciation of marriage has shot up in the mission where I can so how hard Satan is attacking the families and it makes me so grateful for you both! Miss the kiddies, give them all hugs for me! Have a great week and love everyone always because ETERNAL LIFE IS WAITING!!!! :) Love  you all!!

Hna. Teeples