Monday, June 15, 2015

Obedience, Mapooche Market, Birthday, Blessings



*Moms Note:  Connor didn’t have a lot of time this week to answer all the wonderful birthday emails he got, he wants to thank everyone for writing to him, he said it was good to hear from you!  Because his time is so short, he writes his letter the night before and takes a picture of it to send, then I get to type it up :)

Hey guys! This past week was another hardworking, rainy miracle-full, and good experiencing week.  My relationship with Elder Katschke grows and gets better every day.  We are learning a lot together and trying to become better missionaries/people.  Being with him has been a pretty big change to my mission, we are planning a lot better, working a lot harder, and being 100% obedient.  We have been able to see the blessings and miracles that come from those things. I will tell you guys about this week from the beginning and going through the week.


Last P-day was a lot of fun!  We went to the Mapooche Market, which is way fun and entertaining to go to.  We met up with a bunch of other missionaries there.  Also while we were there, there was a man who was doing sketches of people and I had him do one of me!  It was kind of funny because a pretty big group of people circled around us to watch some really old Chilean sketch a young gringo from the United States.  Also I was able to tell him a little more about what we do as missionaries and our church.  After that, we all went to Jack’s which is a restaurant of a guy who is from the States and he makes real hamburgers!  It was a lot of fun, good first P-day with my companion. 

The next day was really cool too because we were able to find a family name the Family Sepulueda that the missionaries here use to contact a lot and it would be really cool to see them progress and help them. 

The next day was…  my BIRTHDAY. Haha not really anything happened, it was just another hard working day. In the morning I opened the package from my family which contained the softest blanket I’ve ever felt that has my name and mission sewed into it, also a poster that everyone from my extended family had signed and wished me a happy birthday, which was awesome as well.  But probably the funniest part about it and the most like my mom thing to do was, there was all the materials in it to bake a cake! I don’t know when I am going to have time or where I’m going to do it haha but it’s going to be a good time when I do.  There were however a couple things that happened on my birthday with our investigators and members that were cool as well.  But mainly just a chill day.  It was my first birthday away from home which made it a little hard because I missed all the birthday texts, and wishes and posts on social media but as well, it was cool to experience it here in Chile. 

From that day and on, temperatures in Chile dropped, it’s pretty cold here and at the moment we don’t have any sort of way to make heat, like no stoves or anything but we are working on that.  Thursday we found another really good investigator that the missionaries has been contacting named Maria.  She’s very good, really receptive and truly wants to find the true church.  Also that night the American Cup in soccer started.  Soccer is huge here so we weren’t able to work during this time and we actually were able to watch a little bit of it.  Chile won 2-0, so as you can imagine, all of the Chileans were going crazy. 

One of the last things I’m going to talk about in this is about the visits that we have been able to have with members this past week.  We talked with two returned missionaries who talk to us a lot about their missions and their lives now and how the mission has affected them.  I know that this mission has affected and changed my life.  I understand obedience a lot more now and especially why we do the things that we do.  And the best thing of all, I have grown to have and understand my testimony and know what I believe.  The mission changes lives.   It’s amazing.  It has changed mine for the better.

The last thing I am going to share with you guys a little bit is a little miracle that we saw in church on Sunday.  All this week me and Elder Katschke have been striving to find investigators and commit them to attend  church this week so that they can progress towards baptism because it’s Elder Katschke’s last transfer in the mission and we want to baptize together.  We had found and committed about 8 people to church by Saturday.  But Sunday came and one by one they all fell and didn’t come.  It was really hard to see because we had worked so hard and had prayed and fasted to be able to have someone come to church this week.  No one showed up until an hour into church, an hermano  in the ward came up and introduced us to his nephew… and invited us to come to his house this week because he is interested in our church!  Also an old investigator showed up to church as well! The Lord is blessing us.  Even if we aren’t able to baptize together, we promised that we would leave this sector better than it was and prepared for the next missionaries that come.  Well, that’s it for this week, sorry it was a little long! J  Hope everyone has a good week, love and miss you all!

Elder Clay

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