What a week. Seriously, i say that every week, but every week just gets better and better and crazier and crazier.
So first off i just want to say that I think I might need to change my major at BYU to being a marriage counselor. Literally, this week I have had four SEPARATE investigators have problems with either law of chastity, marriage, whether they SHOULD marry or not, or any myriad of ridiculous problems. And heaven knows that i dont know squat about marriage, so it was cool to see the spirit work through me in some ways that i couldnt have done myself.
Update...we baptized cristian! The water was around 50 degrees. Needless to say, I let elder ramirez take that one haha. we had some problems with the little thing that heats up the water for the font, so after about an hour of trying to fix it, we just turned on the cold water and let it fill up. Haha i felt so bad for Cristian. But HEY im sure the spirit warmed him up so it all evens out, right? I attached a picture of his baptism. Thats his brother Johan with him that we baptized last week. They are such studs and we are going to be asking them to come with lessons with us. We are planning on making missionary name tags for them both today haha. They both want to serve missions and are just some of the craziest smartest kids in the whole world. When we ask them questions like "What is the purpose of baptism? why do you want to get baptized?" we get answers like "for the remission of my sins. I want to be clean". hahaha umm yeah thats the reason but what freaking 10 year old understands that? it shocks us every time.
Speaking of other 10 year olds (im noticing a trend among my first few baptisms....) Valentin and Juliana couldnt get baptized this week. Juliana had bronchitis and with the water as it was, we decided it was best to wait until this next saturday to have baptisms for them. our zone leaders were kind of mad at us because our numbers were way down as a zone (we in Arauco had 3 of the 5 baptisms of the zone of 9 companionships). But it was definitely best for that sweet little family, and thats the only reason we are out here. Numbers dont mean squat, thats for sure haha. As far as their parents go, Paolina is so ready to be baptized. We are working with her to try and get her to take baby steps to help Freddy progress too. I got Valentin to ask his dad, "Will you go to church with me dad? i dont want to go alone" and it worked, but then the next morning freddy bailed and his mom went with him instead. Either way, that was one of the days where i became a marriage counselor and talked about the importance of praying together as a couple and looking for the best in the other one. We find what we look for, so when we look for good things, we find good things. And as we thank our significant others for things, their desire to do those things grows. So we committed them to praying together every night as a couple and hopèfully that helps.
Cecilia and hector are struggling. They want to get baptized but dont think they can do this so fast. In Chile, single mothers get help from the government (they get a house) so if they get married before January or this next year they lose the house. First of all, way to go chile in screwing yourselves other with the marriage epidemic haha. But we are really working hard with them. its a hard thing to ask, but i know that heavenly father doesnt put material things in our path so that we can choose THEM over him. Thats for sure! So we are focusing with them on the blessings they can receive if they take that big leap of faith and get married. That it will define their future as a couple and definetheir love for the lord forever. I really hope it works out!
Other news...its becoming spring here. I am popping claritins like they are tic-tacs. Can someone please send the white kid some more allergy medications?
Haha one other funny thing before I go. So there are a ton of crazy evangelical people here that literally understand NOTHIGN about the real aspects of the bible but instead just chooose to rant about Jehovah and go on crazy rants. Its odd. There are some really great people too of that faith, but a large majority are just more into outward expressions of a lack of inward faith. So the other day, with some guy named Ruben, we were trying to pray and he ended up praying OVER us and praying an additional minute after us. His prayer consisted of about 300 "Si señor, muchas gracias señor, si si si padre, muchas gracias". so naturally i threw in some amens at the endof his prayer. If you cant beat them, join them, right?! I found it hilarious and so did elder ramirez, so i guess it wasnt all that bad. Oops.
Lastly, i am loving readig the new testament. My goal is to finish it before Christmas which in spanish is like 8 pages a day. I figured as cristmas might be a little difficult, i need to be even more focused on the real purpose of it and christ. I love it so much. Luke 9:61-62 stuck out to me alot this week, which basically was when a disciple asked if he could go take care of somehting first before following christ. Christ said something to the sort that anyone that can put his hand to the wheel and look back is not fit for my kingdom. Well heaven knows i had a change of attitude this week! But i realized that he calls us when he needs us, not when its convenient. He doesnt want us when we have taken care of everything, have free time, and are conveniently ready. He needs us NOW, and he needs us forever. When we try to give a little bit more effort and look back a little less, miracles happen. We are seeing it in Arauco as he just hands people to us on silver platters. We found 16 new investigators this week and taught over 40 lessons....crazy, huh? Im just loving it here. These people are awesome and I oculdnt be happier!
I am finally starting to really enjoy my mission. The spanish is improving, and i am starting to love people more. I love you all the most still though! Haha have a good week.
Ciao familia!
Elder Tengberg
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