People Falling from Heaven!

Hey famm!

Wow christmas is already here basically. And yes unfortunately i have officially less than 6 months..we will have a christmas conference with the whole mission the 22nd i think. Elder Williams already came back like 2 months ago ive seen him a few times!! its gonna be so fun to see all my friends. Wow these crazy mormons are all getting married so fast haha. 

This week, we now have a renewed focus in investigators and we arent even counting less active lessons and recent converts (we should still visit them but not as much) and a lot of missionaries are complaining but i liked the changes. We worked really hard to find new investigators because the people we have arent in their house that much. And we found 9 new people and one of them went to church with us and is really prepared!! Hes sweet, he just got here from Peru and hes a little older than we are. Thats the best part of Batuco, there are a lot of young people! and young families! Wow the first days were so hard cause we were just in the street all day contacting and looking for people on the lists and everything, but the people just started falling from heaven haha. One day, we were looking for a house and we went to the wrong street and stoped to look for the address. A kid comes down the street and seems really nice and i ask him how his day went and he shakes my hand and we start to talk. Then we ask him if we can go to his house and he lived right there so we taught him. Another day, a lesson fell through and we didnt have out bikes (because my wheel was messed up) and so we didnt know where to go. We start walking and a guy is outside his house. I heard (Hola Elder) so i thought he knew us and i contacted him immediately. He had never talked with missionaries but my comp recognized his shirt as a colombian soccer team and they started talking about colombia (they are both from colombia) and we started teaching him and his wife. We literally saw the hand of the Lord in our week. I love the promises and miracles that we have. I know this is the Lord´s work and we are just doing what we can and he does the rest. The Sister missionaries in our branch are taking out the trash so we should see some progress in this branch!  

We also had a Sector attack in a little town where some sisters are struggling (or were struggling) to find people. Their sector is like 5 towns but Presidente Videla asked them to focus in just one town without members basically. So the whole zone went and we contacted and now they have 50 references to look for! haha those sisters are legit, they have nothing and they are still doing really well. The zone is really good. Love you guys, make room for Christ in your lives in this month and your whole life. It will change your life.

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

That sounds like a sweet activity! Invite everyone! haha activities are such a great way for people to learn a little more about the church in a normal way. I know, whats up with Brent getting married? doesnt seem right haha just kidding love you Brenty. Dont know about Skype, but im almost certain we only have 40 minutes now. But the good thing is that Alli and Katie will be home so it will be easier!

So this week is really short haha cause we just wrote on Wednesday...but a few fun things we did were go to a water hole thing called La Laguna but it was pretty ugly..supposedly there are carp there so maybe i can go fish haha! And we contacted the farm houses over there and we talked with someone the first day and they told us to come back the next morning. We return and a kid was there and he said they were doing the chores and we said we can help. He said ´´hold on´´ and went to ask his cousin if they needed help. He came back and said they were going to wash the rugs. So we helped them with that and it was pretty fun haha they arent really religious but we sat down and talked with them more and they said they want to change some things that they are doing. And another day we went to the limit of our sector (with the Panamericana, the highway that goes through like all of south america) and contacted there. We found some pretty cool people too!

Yesterday we were just starting the sacrament meeting and there is a brother with epilepsy. He went up on the stand and was talking with the second counselor and i didnt pay much attention. The second counselor grabbed him and was basically carrying him out of the room. We opened the door and followed them and gave him a blessing immediatly. We was having an attack like a seizure but after the blessing he was totally fine. It was amazing to see the priesthood work to bless other people. Im so grateful for the second couselor that was ready and knew what to do. It makes me grateful to have the Lord´s priesthood. I love my Savior and all of you. Thanks for the prayers!

Elder Farnsworth

 

 

Wow pretty trunky with the thanksgiving pics hahaa good to see the family and the house and hear some fun stories. I dont really remember what we did Thursday, nothing special...even though there are two gringos that live here they dont celebrate anymore. So you are probably wondering why I havent written until today. I dont know either haha. We had a conference on Tuesday with a Seventy (Elder Krasnoselsky) so they changed P day to wednesday for some reason i dont know but its all good!! Haha. This week was pretty good, we went far into the fields and outside of the town to go talk to people and we didnt find a ton but there are people! We need more people to teach because we always have a bunch of lessons with less actives that are going to come back to church soon. We are trying to find more investigators to see who progresses. The problem is that here, people arent home a lot when they think they are going to be there.

We learned in the Conference that we need to purify ourselves and they we can work better with the members and double our success. We are in a District and not a Stake, and they are talking a lot about how close it is to being a stake. So we really need to pick it up and we can have another stake here in Chile! That would mean that this mission wouldnt have a district. We had a meeting in Santiago one day and i had to meet up with some other elders to go there while my companion was in our sector with another missionary. We ended and we were going back to our town to meet up with them but then we found out they were in the town of the other missionary so then we had to go there and i came back with my companion..i was in the bus the whole day basically hahah it was awful but oh well. I dont really know what else happened, but its pretty cool this place. Im gonna come back in shape with all the biking and service we do. And its hot so im good haha but we eat a lot of fried food cause my comp is colombian and likes to good and eat well haha! Love you guys, love the mission, and i love my Lord. Check out the new video for Christmas!! Think its called A Savior is Born! 

Elder Farnsworth

 

_https://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HP_SU_11-29-2015_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

 

 

 

It's Legit!

WENNNNNAA fami.

So Batuco...is legit i love it hahah. The branch is big cause another town comes here too and this weeek we had another primary program (two in a row!!) and 143 people it was sooooo crazy they told me that has like never happened. The sacrament room is so small haha people were standing and all the kids where on the stage. Legit. Ya mom ive heard about Los 33 it was really big here. Umm so we are the only 2 missionaries in the town and all the surrounding farms and stuff but there are like 5 other little towns (2 bigger ones and some smaller ones) and that makes up the zone with like 18 missionaries i think. There are 2 sisters in our branch but they are in another little town that comes to our branch so we never seem them expect for district class and church. 

My comp Elder Agudelo is from Bogota Colombia and hes 24. He got baptized 2 years ago and has been in the mission 4 months. His girlfriend is in the mission in argentina i think and nobody is a member in his family. Hes really cool, he likes to have a good time but hes really focused at the same time and already knows what hes doing. 

We have an investigator that came to church for the first time. Shes a members sister and this member is starting his mission papers. Hes really cool and his sister is a great investigator. Shes got a little girl, and the sister missionaries actually started teaching her in another town but now she moved here. There was also a branch activity with latin american culture and a sister from Ecuador made from fried banana and some kabobs and a few other things and there were things from Paraguay and Argentina. It was pretty fun and it helped me get to know the branch a little more. We did service for this sister in the branch and dug a trench to put pipes in and we were legit building a whole ghetto piping system haha it was fun. The bike was killing me and then we figured out my tires were low on air and we filled them up and now i love the bike haha. We went down the main road a little to some farm houses type things and everyone was sooo nice except for one guy that said One moment when we called his speaker thingy and then we called again and he told us to leave or he was going to chase us off with a gun hahaaaa it was rediculous. So funny, one crazy rude guy among so many nice people. ITs chill Batuco i love it. Everyone says im going to finish here haha.

Love you guys! Chaooo

Elder Farnsworth 

A Transfer to the Country!!

CAMBIOS!! (Transfers lol)

Guys....drumroolllllllllll!!! i got changed and im in the country in a little town!!!!! ayyy one of the few parts of our mission like this. Im so stoked its legit. And im with Elder Agudelo from Colombia!! Hes legit hes 24 (why are all my comps way older, oh well i need to mature) and hes in his third change! We are gonna kill it. haha and Elder Brady from Queen Creek (who was in my ward for 7 months) is zone leader!! im stokeddd. Its legit hot here (ok not really but im already used to santiagos climate) and there isnt air conditioning. we have bikes!! 

Wow this week was hard cause they told us that both of us were leaving on Thursday!! that was way early so it was hard to stay focused. But now im super excited to be here. Gerardo (the teenager that got baptized) was confirmed this week and received the priesthood. We participated in both of those and he was soooo happy. There were a bunch of stake members there to prepare for ward conference AND the primary program so the attendance doubled! And everyone congradulated him! it was so legit. 

I dont have much to say this week, but i want to share with you the importance of not judging people. We are all imperfect and all tempted. It is easy to see the bad things in people and be prideful, but now my goal is see the good in everyone and forget the bad. Especially people i wont see for a long time. I want to be humble enough to learn from every person and see their potential. I love this gospel, i love my family and i know that i can live with an eternal family one day thanks to the priesthood power.

Elder Farnsworth

My companion. and Elder Prince from my group taking a selfie in the bus that took us to the new zone.

Hey family!

We have pday every 6th week in the change, yes we are about to have changes mom but i dont know whats going to happen. We cant go to the temple anymore for problems with the clothes and they are trying to figure it out with the temple president to see if we can go in the future but today we went to a museum in Downtown about Chilean History, it was pretty interesting! 

This week we were finishing everything up with Gerardo for his baptism and we met his mom and family (we previously taught in the church) and she is really nice! He asked him mom if he could bring his little brother to church with him in the future and she said yes and then we told him that he can be the one to baptise his own brother when the time comes. Hes such a good kid, and he wants to serve a mission so bad. It was cool cause when we taught him that he could be a missionary in like a year more, i told him that a good friend (Isaac) had a similiar story and that very day Isaac was going on his mission! We had the interview on Saturday and then we played basketball a little with him and the Bishops family and another guy. And my comp ripped his pants haha. Gerardo is legit at b ball and not even that many people play here so its pretty interesting. 

We did a ton of service this week and it was so fun. One day we were unloading a truck that was full of cabbage and we were cuting and cleaning the cabbage. Another day we were demolishing a house haha good stress reliever for anyone! We its awesome doing service cause we can help people, have fun, and get their confidance. Now in my mission i realize i just need to be myself, have fun, truly love each and every person and teach them the things that are going to help them. Thats what the gospel and this life is all about. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the missionary work of the members and i hope the members understood a little better how important they are in our success. All the baptisms ive had are from families that not everyone was a member or a reference from a member. I love you guys and miss you but i love the mission and im going to enjoy it for another 7 months. Thanks for the prayers and letters!

Love Elder Farnsworth

A few questions from his Dad:

 What do you do on Preparation Day? 

Here in our mission, there isnt much to do on P Day, but what me and my companion always do is go to the Centro and buy Peruvian food which is like the best in the world. So that would be one thing and the other Id have to say is climb some of the hills that are here in the city.

  And, beside baptisms, what is the best part about being a missionary?

And the best part of being a missionary besides a baptism is actually what happens before the baptism: when the people tell you that they know the gospel is true and they want to come closer to Christ. That is the best feeling ive had in my life. The happiest thing i have even felt.

The museum we saw today and a lot of the youth supporting Gerardo. The bishop baptised him!

Haha halloween is the dumbest holiday but oh well. half the people here hate it and say it is the devils holiday and all the other churchs are against it. i dunno. But the ward here had a party, we went at 9 when it started to see it but we left before many people got there. Nice missionary work mom!! haha we´re gonna have a reference for the elders when i get back!! that means you have to keep sending me stuff so the guy at the post office asks more!!

So the questions: What is the average attendance in sacrament meeting? Well it depends in the ward a lot but in this word, it is usually 85 people.

And, what do you usually get fed for dinner and how often? Also depends on the ward but the thing is we always eat lunch with members. Dinner doesnt really exist in chile. But here we eat every day with members changing every day, and we eat a lot of soups and noodles too. There is always bread and some days we eat rice with chicken or meat. There are a few typical chilean dishes that are hard to explain haha but now in summer we are going to eat a lot of watermelon and dishes made of corn.

This week we hope to have a baptism of a teenage who started coming with his girlfriend. At first he just kind of listened but didnt understand much, now he loves learning more and goes to mutual, seminary, family nights and everything. He wants to serve a mission! Kind of like the story of my boy Isaac!! We are really excited! 

So today i have 16 months in the mission. ITs going by so fast and i love being here more and more every day. No matter what happens, i just feel happy. This is the true gospel, i have no doubt of it. Love all of you.

Elder Farnsworth

 

one more question that Larry Blomquist asked:  

In his letter last week he asked for questions and I just thought of one. Does he like empanadas?  

Curt's answer to Larry:

Yes, I love empanadas of every kind haha they are amazing!

                           Elder Roper (utah) and Elder Sandoval (chile) with me and my comp

                                      DJ ing at the ward party that hadnt even started haha

       Some pictures that someone posted on Facebook.  Nice costume Elder Farnsworth!