Maine to Chile … and Back: 40th B-Day "the BIG bad box arrives"

40th B-Day
'The BIG bad box arrives"

Hey Family.

I GOT A PACKAGE THIS WEEK FROM DAD AND THE BOYS!! =) Happy happy. It was so cute... so we are in the chapel every week for a meeting that we have as missionaries. Well at this meeting the office always brings all of our things that have come in the mail. So this big box was waiting there and Hermana Flores says to Hermana Tax in a quiet whisper... "WE GOT A PACKAGE!". I had told them a few weeks earlier that I was waiting for packages and we would share what was in them... and to not worry... because the Latinos NEVER get letters or packages or anything due to the cost of sending mail. So needless to say they were pretty excited. =) I carried that thing for almost 2 miles. I came home with bruises on my arms hahaha. But I'll tell you what the things inside were worth it... Like a toy in one of the cereal boxes. It now is on my phone for the entire mission. =) Thank you so much!

It's starting to get cold here. We are wearing jackets and carrying less water. It kind of hit like a brick. One day it was hot... really hot... the next a drastic change to cold. They say the weather is affected a lot by the earthquakes... and if there is a big one it gets hotter... so it was getting colder gradually, but then they had a huge earthquake in the North of Chile... hence the surge of hot... anyway. it's getting cold that's all I know. which means it's getting warmer there (I hope for you guys). Mom I have started drinking herbal mint tea... I think it might become a new addiction. 0_0

I just finished reading this talk: A Reservoir of Living Water by Elder Bednar from 2007. Here is the link. http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1686. I realized more and more as I was studying this talk that I really was not reading the scriptures or the conference talks like I should have been. I was only skimming through... not studying in order to hold constantly to the iron rod. I encourage all of you to read this talk this week before General Conference this weekend...

So we had another run in with Hugo. He was the man that was riding the bicycle and stopped and asked us how to get a Bible because he found a Book of Mormon in the street and wanted to read it and the Bible together... Anyway we met with him to give him a Bible... He is so great. He has started reading the Book of Mormon that he found... It was from an Elder Zuleta and Elder Russell to a Luisa. I have no idea who they are. I am planning to find out if they were previous Elders in the mission... anyway, he is so excited to read. He really wants to know what this book has in store for him. He has our number and will call with questions, but for now he does not want to give us his directions for the missionaries to pass by. Pray for him. =)

So I learned something this past week in Relief Society. We had a lesson on sharing the gospel. Being missionaries... We read Matthew 7:9 together. Which says: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?". So I got thinking about this. How many times do we have friends who are asking us for bread (the gospel principles we know... the thing that sustains our lives) and we give them a stone (something that they really didn't need... a pat on the back maybe). How many of my friends who have asked me about the gospel... and I just gave them a stone back? I know of a few... How sad is that! I have made a resolution to give all of those I can come in contact with... not a stone, but bread. Let's give our friends and neighbors the thing that sustains our lives... the gospel. You've got missionaries in your wards and branches to help you out. USE THEM!