Happy One Year and a Baptism!!

Well..here i am with one year in the mission. I feel...weird but good! haha its gone fast and i dont know where the time went. But thats awesome that so many are going on the mission now. Waiting for someone to get the call to Santiago North!  But Spencer is coming close to West mission so thats sick! Well for my feelings about one year in the mission, theres a lot to say but im not the type of person that says a lot so sorry hahaha. My companion asked me the other day if i feel more mature after a year. I told him that ever year of life, a person is going to change, hopefully they are going to get better and mature. But in the mission, you are going to change a lot more than in any other place. Im changed after just one year and i know a lot more about the gospel and other things in the world too. We teach that the church helps us be better people, not just with spiritual things but physical. I can physically do more things and im more independent. Im loving the mission and trying to live every moment to the fullest. I think ive found the way to truly enjoy it and work as hard as possible. Many times i fail im not that dilligent or pacient or loving or obedient but i feel like im doing what i can. In the scriptures, it says that every man with be given his portion to work and serve. It also says that we can run faster than is healthy. We have limits, and sometimes like Alma, i wish i was an angel to be able to help everyone, but thats selfish and stupid. God gives us the ability to help and do what we can, and we shouldnt expect more. I feel happy in my mission because i now know my purpose in life.

This we had a baptism!! Finally haha i know have very few baptisms in my mission (my second actually) but like my president told me, some missionaries plant the seeds, some work the earth, and others reap the fruit. But this time i could reap the blessings! We had the baptism of Rose who is from Haiti. Duma baptised her and the ward helped a ton! There was a surprise special number (4 men sang God be with you till we met again) and it was super awesome and almost everyone was almost crying (or already crying). Rose shared her testimony that she was almost killed when a car hit her but recovered from the accident and wanted to change religions. Her brother is a less active member and that is how we found her. She is so cool! 

My companion got called this week and hes going to the Juan Fernandez Island (Robinson Crusoe Island)! So i dont know when he is leaving but probably next week. My second companion in the island...The week was pretty fun and the next week we are gonna have 4th of July and my 1 year mark so thats crazy! Oh ya and i took a picture with a welding mask haha. Love you guys, I know that this church is true and that we can live together as a family forever because of the temple! Love you and miss you! 

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

Chile or Haiti??

 Feliz dia del padre! y feliz cumpleaños Katie! 

First off, womens soccer? are they playing womens soccer there? Here it is the Copa America! or the American Cup! Thats why you saw something on Facebook. Its huge, almost like the world cup. And its in Chile! When Chile plays, we have to enter the house early..it stinks haha but nobody listens to us if there is a game so President Videla just told us to go inside and study. Its crazy cause you can here the screams of the people and you know when they score goals! And it smells like barbaques when they play haha. My companion is going crazy because he wants to watch when Peru plays but i dont let him haha, he gets distracted with every TV. 

its funny huh that Spencer and Brent are home now, i have a year in the mission and a lot of others are leaving now! Hey, tell Weston Birtcher that im here in Bastian (Elder) Pino´s ward. He´ll know who it is haha an elder from his mission in Peru. And my companion is from Tacna and he says that he remembers that Weston played the violin or something in conference or something idk! Small world! 

This week i have a cool experience that i want to share. We went to a lesson that was really important and we basically ran to get there cause we were a little late. We are knocking the door and calling and everything and they dont come out. We find out that they arent there and I dont know about my companion but i got really discourage. I was super tired and i just wanted to have that lesson. I starting to think stupid things like Why do i work so hard and never have results or what am i doing wrong. I just felt stupid i dont know. But we decide to visit a less active sister so lived close and we are walking there when we pass a man unloading groceries from his car. We almost pass him, discouraged, but i offered our help. He declined and my companion saying that we are always there close if he needed help. The man said something like but where are you normally? Or something i dont remember but then i knew that we needed to talk more with him and i offered a pass along card with our number and kind of joking said that we could wash his car or help with something else. I showed him the card with Christ and said that we teach people about Christ and how to have more faith and he said that he didnt need help but he was really interested in our message because hes looking for a church for his family. Hes super awesome and wanted to go to church without even teaching him but he didnt go. We are hopefully going to teach him wednesday, but like i said...Chile has a game...so we will see. But the Lord prepares people to receive the Gospel! It was just what i needed when i was discouraged. 

A haitian family that we are teaching (with less actives and non members) is progressing a lot and we hope to have a baptism this week! Last night we finishing teaching all of the commandments and she said that she was ready for baptism. The less active brother got excited because his wife is coming back to Chile (she was in Haiti for 2 months) with the kids that arent members and they arrive just in time to see the baptism! Hopefully with them we should have like 10 haitian members going to church!! 

Im loving the mission. loving the scriptures and the people here. Its crazy the cultures i see here in chile. Even the Chileans from other parts of chile are different. I know peruvians, colombians, haitians, arabians (by the way their desserts are so good haha), argentines, braslians, and probably more and that doesnt even count all the missionaries i know. I love this gospel and i love the unity that we can have with people from all over the world.

Love you guys, 

Elder Farnsworth

A picture of Spanish class with my favorite haitians haha Duma (member), Rose, Fredo and Wilbert (investigators). Rose is the one that is going to get baptised now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hola fam!

QUE PASA BRENT ERES CIVIL AHORA JAJA dude thats crazy brents home. I wish i was there to celebrate but its all good you can just wait another year. Hopefully there isnt a nephew waiting...good to see pictures of the family! Emily looks tall! 

Mom, mwen con parle creole. mwen apramn pitsi pitsi. hahah ya im still trying to learn creole but i know so little..it was so funny, in a lesson yesterday, our investigator from Haiti asked a question but in creole to Duma (the member) and he turned to me to translate but i asked understood!! soo im getting a little bit. hahaha. 

Well this week there were a few different things and we didnt have as much success this week but still it was a fun week. We had interviews with president (he interviews a whole zone at a time but once ever other transfer.) We had to close the church and we were waiting there (Elder Cordova and I and our Assistant Elder Banner from Idaho) and President Videla said that it was going to time a few hours more to finish so he invited us to eat lunch in a restaurant close the church haha. We were able to talk more and get to know him a lot and hes so funny! But then we had exchanges with Elder Banner for the day! It was a fun day. They showed Meet the Mormons in the church for the whole stake but we didnt have permission to stay..

Then there was Stake conference Saturday and Sunday. Presidente Videla and his wife and The temple president went Sunday! It was a good conference and there were a lot of people there. 

I filled my first SD card and this is the only picture i have on my new card. so here you go....elder cordova and i.

love you guys, keep being awesome, brent, no apagues tu luz misional amigo sigue normal pero sin placa y tambien cásate cuando puedas jajajaj! te amo amigo. Everyone else, keep helping the missionaries and doing your best to share the gospel. 

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

Hola familia!

The california trip sounds sweet! Id love to get out of the city for a while hahaha but oh well for now here i am. Until i get transfered to one of the few zones that is outside of the city. I hope so at least lol...but for now im loving it in Quilicura. It is such a sweet sector. There are so many people to teach and help. And there are a lot of haitians so thats sick too :). We taught english in an investigators house (haitian) and they teach me creole, i teach english, and my companion teaches them spanish. Its legit haha i can understand creole now a little more. 

Wow Brent already goes home...i remember when dad and i went to LA right after his talk. and now hes coming home. And mom, im not lying, nothing has happened to me in Chile haha i already told you the gangsters are my homies. No haha but really nothing has happened. And i was in a dangerous part for 7 months..i think they are scared of gringos that talk weird. 

This week was crazy...again. I love this sector, we can teach so much if we are dilligent. We had a new record (in my mission at least) of 42 lessons this week (that includes lesson with members, other lessons, lessons with converts and less actives) and we were able to meet almost all of our goals for the week. I really don´t know what we did, the Lord just helped us find people in the right time. Now there is so much work to do that we have to focus better and plan the most important things so that we help the people that are really going to progress and less actives that are going to come back. 

Well i have a funny/awesome story. We ate lunch Saturday and we should have started our fast after but we were running to a lesson and we forgot. Later in the day, we taught a lesson and a lady offered us cookies and juice. We ate a little bit and then left the house. We remembered the fast and didnt know what to do so we went to the house and started our fast late at night (well like 730..). Luckily, the lunch Sunday was with a sister who had to give us the lunch in Tuperware, so we choice to eat it late Sunday to be able to fast 24 hours. It was pretty hard because we basically didnt eat anything for like 30 hours (with exception to a few cookies right before the fast) haha but we did it. Want to know what we eat to finish the fast? Fish, my favorite hahaha but it tasted so good after so much time. We really saw the blessings of the fast and the help that the Lord gave us. It helped us to be humble and keep working because we would have been too hungry if we werent working. I know the Lord blesses those who keep His commandments and try to do their best in all aspects of their life. I love you guys and hope that you can have experiences like this in your lives at home! 

Love Elder Farnsworth

Guinea Pig!

We had transfers...but we both stayed! Elder Arce in the ward from El Salvador left...but Elder Garcia from Mexico came! My birthday was super fun! We had a few lessons in the morning and then in the afternoon, we went to the temple! Converts went and did baptisms for the first time and their family that arent members did a tour with us and Hermanas in the temple! It was awesome and we had a good time. A sister in the ward made cupcakes that day and was selling from her house (super common that people make food or something and sell it from their house) and she gave us some cupcakes for my birthday. Sunday, the lunch got canceled because the Sister was sick and Carito is in charge of finding us lunches and she invited us to here house to eat. AND WE ATE GUINEA PIG! Heck ya it was awesome. I was there last week when they killed it in their house and they saved it! Its a delicacy in Peru. It was so good. And they gave me a pie cake thing with pinnaple! It was awesome.

This week, on my birthday actually, i finished the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time in my mission. I understood it a lot more and marked a ton! It was so cool and we are going to do it again as a mission starting in July. Ive been asking every day for more testimony that the Book of Mormon is true to be able to know more and more without a doubt. I have seen so many thing and felt and heard so many things that testify that its true and i will never doubt it. We are trying to share as many Books as possible with everyone. We are asking for a ton of Le Livre de Mormon (french) for the haitians! We want a branch here in Quilicura haha they are so sick, they have so much faith. But we are just chilling here in Lo campino working like crazy with another transfer together.

Love you all see you in like a year! WHATTT!

Elder Farnsworth