Week 14.... Christmas Day and the power of prayer!!!

Feliz Navidad from Chile

Hola!! 

How was everyone’s Christmas? I hope it went really well. Christmas here was not the same, but it was still really good. My first Christmas in the mission was really fun. 

We spent Christmas Eve at the house of my Branch President, who is super rich, and we had a huge feast. We ate so much food. It was so awesome!

  

 That night we had a super spiritual night. We watched the video, HE IS THE GIFT and then we all bore our testimonies on the video. 

This Christmas was by far the best Christmas for me to remember the true meaning of Christmas. The Birth of Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Redeemer. I have a bigger testimony of our savior than I have ever had before. I am so grateful to be out here serving and building my testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ.

 Christmas day was super fun.... I got lots of good stuff!!

 

 

the cyber cafe...getting ready to Skype!

Skyping my family was by far the best part. It was so good to see everyone. I won’t lie, more than a few tears were shed. These were not tears of sadness; these were tears of complete and absolute joy. Immediately when I saw my mom, I burst out in tears. Ya, you can all laugh at me, but it was honestly the best Christmas gift I have ever had!!!

 It was so good to be able to talk to them and bear my testimony of the things I have been learning. I was able to share Helaman 5:12 and then Mosiah 3:19… by far my favorite scriptures right now. It was so weird being able to bear my testimony in English. It was so cool. Honestly, I was feeling the spirit super strong in that moment. It was super awesome. I really loved talking to my family, but as soon as the phone call started, it ended! 

 After that I had to refocus myself, and refocus on the work that we needed to do. I thought I was going to be homesick the day after Christmas. A lot of missionaries say that the day after Christmas is the worst day ever. I thought for sure that I was going to have a hard time. But I didn't have a hard time. I just refocused my mind on the work. 

I love the quote in Preach My Gospel that says the cure for everything is WORK!!! That is so true. When you work you don’t think about your family. That is what I have been doing, just working hard and focusing on my investigators. 

This week was super fun, full of activities and parties. It was a great week!! I want to hear about everyone else’s!! How was your week?? Hope you all had a great Christmas!!

Christmas night....
 Chilean Monopoly with Elders Cox, Sotomayor, and Ehlen

So, for my spiritual thought this week: I want to share an experience with you that actually happened today. So last night, I realized that I hadn't gotten my carnet yet. A carnet is the ID card that you need to have to be legal in Chile. You have to have it or you will be deported from Chile. So as new missionaries, we have 3 months of a traveling visa and then after that you have to get your real visa. So I tried to go to the PDI but it was closed every time, and things just kept happening that it didn't work out. So last night I called up to the mission office and they were so mad. They told me that I was going to have to pay a big fine, might get thrown in prison, or possibly be deported, because I have been illegal for over 30 days. I was so scared. That was last night at like 10 p.m. I immediately began to pray. I prayed that nothing would happen to me. I really wanted to stay here and continue serving my mission. I didn't want to go to jail. So I prayed this morning, I woke up and continued to pray all the way to the PDI. When we walked in there, this guy starts talking to us. He then takes my passport to another room and looks at it. I then say another prayer and hopes he doesn’t notice that I am illegal. He then walks out and calls us into another room. He then begins to talk to us. He looks super mad at first. Then he starts to speak and he is super nice. He notices we are missionaries and so we start talking to him about the gospel. He tells us that he has been talking to the missionaries and we talk to him about Jesus Christ and it was really awesome. He didn’t even notice that my Visa was expired by 30 days. It was the biggest miracle that I have experienced thus far. 

My testimony grew so much in the Power of Prayer. 

I testify that God hears and answers our prayers. If you will go to God in your time of need, he will answer you and bless your life. 

I am no  longer illegal...and get to stay in Yumbel Chile!!!
(at least until next transfer)

I love you guys so much hope you have a great week. Feliz Navidad and a Merry Christmas!!! And this week… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!