Hi everyone!  It`s funny that you have been talking about it getting colder and the snow in the mountains and such...... I think this winter may change my mind about the cold... as I haven`t experinced it in a long time!!! hahaha!

Anyway, you were asking about the investigators. We`ve haad some ups and downs with different people. Last week we found a Colombian man named Jorge that had lots of interest in our message and even began reading the Book of Mormon... however, he didn`t make it out to church.... and when we had the opportunity to meet with him after the first visit, he kept telling us that it doesn`t matter if we go to church or not because we can have God in our hearts, and everyone that believes in Christ is worthy to enter Heaven. We tried to explain the importance of church, but he kept coming back to the point that ``God is love``, and found it difficult to accept that God is also order. In the same visit, we were interrupted by a man that told us the church sends missionaries from the US, because we`re spies for the government! hahaha! We also found a young woman from Perú named Tanya that works in a hotel. She has tons of interest in the church, and wants to learn more and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true.... however her job makes it complicated for her to come to church, and her boss told her she couldn`t take time off to attend. So that kind of stinks... but we`ve also been teaching a woman named Ana, that is active in another Christian Church, and after the first visit she told us that she`d read the pamphlet we gave her, and we also gave her a Book of Mormon. When we saw her again, she told us that her pastor had told her to not read the Book of Mormon or continue talking to us. We told her that if she wanted to know if the Book of Mormon is true, the only way would be by reading it. She is now progressing and has decided to read the Book of Mormon anyway, because she truly wants to know if it is or is not the word of God. We`re continuing to help the investigators progress, and seraching for those that are ready to hear our message. Anyway, I`ll talk to you guys later! Love you!

--PJ

Hi everyone! My letter is short today, because I`m running kind of short on time again....

I`m glad to hear that the family is doing well! As for me.... this was a pretty good week, helping new investigators, (and old ones too) progress toward baptism. We have several that have lots of desire to receive their own answers to be able to be baptized, such as Raul and Cristina, that are good friends of the bishop, and are very humble learners..... as well as Josè, who is a young man that has lots of real intent and has quickly picked up on our challenge to start reading the Book of Mormon... as well as his girlfriend Fernanda, who is the daughter of a less active member. However, none of these investigators came to church yesterday, for different reasons. :( But, we`ve just got to keep working hard, and the Lord will bless us for our efforts. Yesterday was also the mission farewell of Pablo.... our ward mission leader. He left last night, and is serving in Brazil! The ward is doing great as well, and we`re continuing to help the people that we find each day! Love you guys so much, and hope you have another great week! I`m doing great, and enjoying being on the Lord`s errand. :)

Love, PJ

Hey, Everyone!

I´m doing great! This week was a really good one. Last Monday night, we had interviews with President Ferreira, and then we had Zone conference and lunch with him on Tuesday. Also, In the night between Monady and Tuesday, there was an Earthquake here that was a 6.3 (That´s something super common and relatively small here.... but in any other part of the world, it makes the news! hahaha!) We just woke up, and then went back to sleep. We didn´t even get out of bed! hahaha! But the yellow building that you saw in the photo (last week) is right next to our apartment building. But It´s the exact same building model. Anyway, the rest of the week, we were visiting and trying to find investigators. We had four investigators that came to church (two of them came by themselves, without us inviting them!!!) There was a young man that came with several less active members, and a woman that was curiously looking outside of the church, and we invited her to come back when the meetings started. And she came!!! It was great! We alse had an amazing lesson with Raúl and Cristina yesterday (the bishop´s friends), and we taught the Plan of Salvation. We felt the Spirit really powerfully, as did they, and when we finished explaining, I asked them if they would like to have Eternal life, and they quickly said yes. We then asked them what they thought would be their first step towards Eternal Life. They quickly recognized this first step, or covenant for them to take, as baptism. They are progressing tons, and we´re working hard to help them, and find more interested and willing investigators. Today, we went to a place called the Morro de Arica, that´s like a big plateau at the bottom of the city, where Chile won a battle, and claimed the city from Perú. We also played Volleyball and Frisbee with the zone, and I got burried in the sand. hahaha!

I´m glad to hear that the family is doing well. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
-PJ

Hey, Everyone!

Sorry again for last week! But as for your questions, My companion, Elder Pasigan, speaks Spanish, English, Tagalog, and the native language of his specific island: hiligynon (I don´t know if that´s how you spell it).... But yeah!!! And the other two Elders in our apartment are both from the US. One is from Pleasantview, and the other one is from Florida. As for conference....we had a gringo room, which was great! I always like watching conference in English, because all the speakers are actually speaking my native language....

But as for the investigators that are progressing.... I had mentioned a little bit a 19 year-old girl named Belen. She previously didn´t believe in God at all, until bad things started happening, and she desperately wanted to know if He existed... so she prayed and felt that she had recieved a confirmation of His existence. She later came in contact with missionaries in Santiago, and when she moved to Arica, she put her own name in the church reference system, for the missionaries to visit her. She has progressed a ton, and this whole week we were preparing her to be ready to be baptized.... and so, on Sunday, she was able to make this sacred covenant with her Heavenly Father:

It was a good week, and we were able to see the fruits of our labors. We are now working with several other investigators that are also progressing rapidly toward baptism, such as a couple named Raúl and Cristina that are friends of the bishop and his wife, and have tons of desire to follow God and are willing to be baptized when they recieve their own answers through prayer.

Now, as for the photos that I took from leaving Calama and entering Arica... there are a lot. It was super sad to leave behind the Oasis ward, because I truly grew so close to them, and several of these families in the photos truly became my family while there...

Hope you enjoy the photos!!!

But I´m glad to hear that you guys are doing well! We´re just working hard to prepare the other investigators to be baptized. Hope you have another great week (and that I sent enough photos) ;)

Love, PJ

  

Hi there!  First off, yes... the trip to Arica was long.... but safe and without problems. My companion, Elder Pasigan has 14 months in the mission, and doesn`t have much of an accent, as he already spoke 3 languages before learning Spanish. And we also live with 2 other elders from the US.  

This first week in Arica has been a good one. Arica is really pretty, and we have several investigators that are progressing a lot, such as a man named Juan Pablo, who has been addicted to cigarettes for more than half of his life, but has put faith in the Lord this week, and has cut down from 20 cigarettes to 7 in a week! We also have an investigator named Belen, who is a 19 year-old girl who previously did not believe in God... but decided to do so after the occurance of several difficult situations in her life, and is now progressing tons, and is progressing toward baptism! The members that I`ve had the opportuniry to meet are also very good people, and willing to help the investigators progress.

As for General Conference... it was truly amazing!! I especially liked Elder Holland`s talk about trying to improve, but in constructive ways. It`s something important to always remember as a missionary, if I also want to influence others to feel the spirit and be happy. But to be honest there wasn`t a single talk that didn`t make me feel the Spirit strongly and recieve greater insight for myself and the investigators. I loved them all, and once again... it was too short ;) .

Anyway, I`m doing great, and I`m glad that you and the family are doing great as well! I`ll let you know how next week goes!  Also, I`m really sorry, but I`m short on time again! I feel really bad, because that`s happened a few times. I promise I`ll write more next week, and send all the photos... 

Love you!

--PJ