One Last Letter......

Well Family, this is my last letter. I would like to quote John in 3 John 1:13-14.

``I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and  pen write unto thee:

 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face   to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.´´

Thats it. Bye see you soon.

Elder Farnsworth

Then a little while later, this came:  

 Ok, ok that was a joke sorry haha i guess ill write one last letter. 

Look, i just wanted to write a few things that i have learned in my mission. This was a hard experience. There is no sugar coating it. It was hard. There were long days (especially the mornings), a lot of frustration, sadness, sickness, and sometimes (not that often) boredom. Ive had tough companions. Trust me, living with someone with another culture is hard. BUT. It was way way way worth it. I cant explain how much it is worth. PERO VALE LA PENA. Maybe not even looking at the most obviously side of it, which would be help other people come unto Christ. Even if we dont consider the people that we can help and the service we do, it is worth the pain. Why? Because of all the stuff I learned, and the stuff that I gained. That might seem selfish but remember, I am just considering why the mission is worth the pain for just the personal gain, not even the other results.

First and formost, Ive learned to be humble. None of these things have been mastered yet, im just starting the process. At the beginning of my mission was way humbled with a semi dangerous sector, a latin companion that didnt know english, who was also 8 years older than me and ex military. I became a little prideful with time but i am learning every day how to be humble and accept help and ask for advice. 

I have also learned how to trust and obey my leaders. Thanks to my father, i was able to learn that before the mission and understand it from what he told me in letters during the mission.

Ive learned that im just starting the learning process. Haha ive really understood the gospel in these 2 years, but there is so much more to understand and learn. The mission was just a great base to start this learning process.

Ive learned how to be sensitive to the needs of other people and try to understand them more and what they are going through to be able to help them.

Ive developed more love for all the people. I really had a problem with that and some people in my first transfer because the chileans joke a lot and come off pretty rude normally. But i learned first how to love them so much that i didnt even care what they said, then i learned that everything they say isnt with bad intentions!

Ive learned to laugh at myself. Haha well at my mistakes. Also, how to laugh when they insult me or reject me. Maybe not in that moment (just so they dont see me laughing) but it makes for some good laughs later.

Ive learned how to minister in stead of just visit or teach. Ive learned how to love them and follow the Spirit in all things, especially important life decisions.

Ive learned that Satan really does have power, BUT God had way more and will always win and we will too because we have bodies and the potential to become like God.

And I have learned that we are really in the last days. We need to prepare ourselves more. The heart of mankind (including members of the Church) is turning cold and love is lacking.

But I KNOW that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King and that we have the power to have eternal families. I love you all and I love Chile and my mission but my time has come. 

SEE YOU TUESDAY, THE COUNTDOWN HAS STARTED

ELDER CURT FARNSWORTH

Doing service cleaning the church chairs with a fire hose. And finally i got my package this week..

Hey guys-

what happened, why is it tuesday again? oh my gosh its going so fast i dont even know whats happening. I wake up and then 30 minutes later i go to bed. 

So this week was pretty rainy. But with a trusty broken umbrella that i found in the house i stayed nice and dry. We found another house where a bunch of haitians live. Here the old houses are pretty big but they are really weird i dont know how to explain. They have like patios and different parts of the house. And people here remodel the houses to turn it into like a bunch of apartments. So foreigners just getting here always live in a small room and share the kitchen and bathrooms with a bunch of other people. So every time we go to these houses, there are generally like 2 new haitians that get interested and listen. The problem is finding them all again cause they work so much. But yesterday we met one that knows spanish super good and he got baptised in the domincan republic. Hes less active probably because of the move but he is super cool and he was translating everything for us! Im almost certain there are more foreigners in our ward than chileans but oh well. My companion is super funny like theres never a serious moment with him hahah. Its getting really weird, they just sent me the schedule for my last week here and i just had my interview to renew my temple recommend. I love you guys a ton and cant wait to see you soon! 

 

                                               Curt's companion having language study

Pic with Marlene Aro, a bolivian sister who is super cool but she moved this week. They have an awesome story that ill tell you later.

And i found Frodo Baggins door in the Shire.

What's Up?

Whats up family and amigos?

Here we are another week more feeling like only 2 days have passed. But what can we do. So my birthday was pretty cool, my comp made me a chocolate cake and we brought that to our lunch on Sunday the day before cause the family that always gives us lunch on sundays is super cool and they always make us asado (barbaque). So i feasted. Then they told us to come back on my birthday for a little bit to give me something. We went last night and they gave us completos (chilean hot dogs with tomato and avocado) and some more cake. We wasted a little bit of time there not going to lie but just like an hour..oops sorry. Im trying to use my time the best i can haah dont have that much more! We have been struggling a little after lunch cause there arent people we know to teach. So we have been doing a lot of contacts and looking for names of people on lists. We have a lot of people to teach in the nights and i keep practicing creole but its hard to pronoun haha. At least i can say basic stuff and gospel words that they dont normally understand in spanish. This sector is legit and i know i was sent here for just 6 weeks to finish for a reason. I hope i can just leave it all ready for my companion and the next elder to baptize a ton! haha and hopefully get a last baptism or two. if not, well thats okay too. Im happy with my mission, its been fun and ive learned a ton. And im also happy to come home. Theres a time for everything! Love you all

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

                    me being stupid in an alleyway that had a house number but no door haha

 

Juanito and completos. Hes a sick member that always goes to lessons with us and he hopefully will go on a mission soon.

WHATS UP FAMILY.

Ya mom thats true what you say, stuff always happens for a reason. I always know when an investigator is going to fall through on us because the member we call (in every experience ive had) cant go. Haha like the member cancels on us and i just know, well, Gods got something in store for us so lets see!! Wow i wish i could just remember that every time cause if we look on the negative side we get depressed or down on ourselves and the spirit quietly flies away haha. This week was pretty cool. I was so stoked that we were going to have 8 investigators in church because they all committed with us. 1 showed up. But, we have priesthood here first, he went to priesthood then dipped out cause hes kind old and got tired so thats ok. But the rest...bleh. Oh well haha next week right? I just want to see this ward change for the better in these next 4 weeks, hopefully some baptisms obviously. Elder Chire is really good at teaching and President Videla actually told me that hes staying to take my place as district leader next change. Wow so like always theres a lot to tell but i dont really know what..We found an awesome family from Bolivia yesterday when we were with our homie Cristian (young man recently reactivated) and she let us in and we taught her and her little girls. The kids just came right up and listened before we could even invite the whole family. Her husband works until late but we will meet him soon hopefully. It was so nice to teach them after contacting and being lost the whole morning and afternoon. We watched Meet the Mormons in the chapel with investigators and members like 30 people all together. And we had a mission conference with Elder Walter Gonzalez (area president) and me and my companion played the roles of investigators/less actives and he and his wife were missionaries haha it was cool, we did it in front of the mission. Well half. But we learned a lot and we applied the stuff he taught in the first lesson after the conference in the night. 

Love you guys lots thanks for all the letters for my birthday haha last week of being a teen i guess! 

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

 

 

 

We went to go play soccer and football a little today in a sweet field with another zone and had a mini asado that me and the zone leader prepared cause i dont really like soccer..haha

What up fam bam here we are another week! wow there are a lot of stories but i really just dont know what to tell you haha. its been pretty crazy. stressful, but fun at the same time. there are very few members here. but theres actually quite a few cool guys that go with us all the time so we had a lot of lessons with member. My companion is freaking out cause we didnt have a lot of lessons according to him and we had a good amount according to me haha the differences between our last sectors. Mine was one of the slowest hard sectors and his was Los Andes, relatively far from Santiago where everyone lets you in. But its all good, i do know that we can have a lot more lessons but we have to find some people first. There are a ton of haitians and peruvians in our sector. Well this whole part of santiago.

On sunday we got to church and 6 haitians were sitting in the church. We talked to them and they just showed up alone, but they are from the sisters sector..and here they start with priesthood and have sacrament meeting at the end. then two of our investigators showed up too. I taught gospel principles about baptisms and one of the haitians asked when he could get baptised haha! Then there was two confirmations in the sacrament meeting of two people that got baptised last week. One was a haitian sister from our sector. The bishop confirmed the first guy and then pointed to me to confirm Marie (the haitian). She is the ONLY HAITIAN ive met with 4 names and i couldnt pronounce like any of them but i did it hahah. Then we blessed the sacrament. haha doing it all! but its fun, keeps you on your toes.

well thats about it, ill tell you more stories in 5 weeks haha and my companion records a message every night so i will forward those to you and dad and sid can translate haha. Love you guys! 

Elder Farnsworth

Elder Chire es loko

And the Zona Colina upside down

Hello and Happy New Area!

What up fam bam here i am in Independence Missouri.

Sike. Im in a place called Independencia (both the ward and zone is called that). Its close to the mission office and downtown Santiago. I have never been really close to here. And here´s the best part, im whitewashing! Haha my companion is Elder Chire. He is from Guaras Peru (my 4th peruvian companion). I think Tyler was here in independencia but i dont know if it was this sector. Ive been to the church here before for zone conference. Its one of the biggest chapels in santiago i think but it sounds like our ward only has 50 people. Elder Paredes my old companion has been here for the last 6 months and he knew somehow that i was coming here (maybe because our little friend Elder Simmons is AP) and he told people that i was coming. So yesterday we just showed up and contacted whoever we could. We didnt have anything to do cause we didnt have time to really look at the area book. But lucky a member called us and helped a little and we found a kid in the street thats a member and always went with the missionaries. God helped us a lot haha. And the sisters that are in the ward called us and asked us to give 2 blessings to 2 different sick babies (their investigators daughters) and we went with them to the first one with our ward mission leader and to the second one with a guy that went on his mission like 9 months ago but had to come back a little while ago for his leg. But hes leaving soon again. So we were able to meet a few people. Well i dont know what else to really say haha he we are for the last change with my boy Chire who´s going to kill me. The ironic part is that the biggest cementary in santiago is in our ward.

Love yall 

Elder Farnsworth

Sorry dont have a camera cord to charge it...ill buy one today hopefully

Hola familia once again!

So im not going to write a letter because we are going to Skype.

Nah just kidding ill still write a little bit. This week was legit. Well i mean im used to having weeks with all sorts of different results so they are all good in some way or the other but this week we had some more new investigators and talked with more haitians and yesterday we had 4 lessons with investigators when the whole last week we had like 10 so not bad to start this last week of transfers. We went to find someones house (we contacted her in her work and she explained where her house was) and we talked with her daughter. Then we went to another tentative appointment. On the way, a guy stopped us on the bikes and we went over and he said he had seen us looking for the other house and hes been looking for us for like a week. He shared with the missionaries like a year ago and i had actually contacted him in my first week here but he was too busy with work then. He said he wanted to start listening and going to church again! He says he never felt ready to get baptised but we will see. And we had a lesson with this Methodist guy or something and he tries to pull the same stuff on us about Joseph smith not being in the bible and the book of mormon being fake without even reading or understanding. I normally get mad and tell them all the logical stuff but this time we both stayed calm and explained and it took a few times explaining but we just bore testimony and he decided he is going to read when Christ comes to the americas. So that was a better experience. We never know what will happen but give them the chance! And there was this other lady we contacted that seemed really good and ready and she said we should come back in the night. We finally made it back yesterday (we had spoken with her other times but she was alone again or something else) and she looked nervous and her husband came out and told us to go away and never come back. Im really used to getting rejected but that one hit me hard for some reason. I really believe she wanted to learn and is prepared but he isnt letting her. That just made me so sad but a few minutes but you got to keep your head up and find someone else. Feel bad for her though..

Love you guys see you on sunday for skype Happy mothers day mom!!! 

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

We did a random not planned object lesson with Lehi`s vision (see picture haha). And my comp just playing guitar and me being an idiot what else