first off
shout out to roddy for heading to the mtc this week! i tell your story to
people all the time. so many people are scared to take the first step as a
family, and dont know if their families will follow. you did and your family
has changed forever. Siempre recordaré a su familia y yo sé que el señor va a
bendecir a toda su familia por este sacrificio que están haciendo. Siempre
relato a las personas la experiencia que tuvimos en el templo, la hermosa
oportunidad de ver una familia sellarse por toda la eternidad. Será dificil,
pero familias necesitan el mismo conocimiento que tienen ahora. Hermana Carmen,
déjelo ir! Él cambiará para siempre y traerá más bendiciones a su vida que
podría imaginar. les quiero mucho.
Anywyay, it
has been such an awesome week yet again. I was a little worried about some
people in my district because we have all been really sick. the change of
weather is throwing us off (or at least thats what all the chileans say, i have
no idea if that really makes people sick or not.) so some people had to stay in
the house, some people couldnt work some days, just general frustrating things.
But still we had an awesome week!
Domitila will
be getting baptized this saturday, so we are super excited about that. She is
just progressing so well and really has a 100% testimony already. We explained
the word of wisdom to her and as we went to ask her about any doubts or
questions (usually a million) she said "no". so we asked her if she
would obey it and her answer was "Well how could i not? its gods
commandment, i have to obey it! Of course i will!" hahaha well i GUESS
thats a good enough answer? i mean reason enough. she kind of gets the point.
But anyway we are so excited for her. Its been really cool to see the chain
effect with juan pablo and diego. They were the ones who got their parents to
come back to church, who are now bringing their grandma to church as well, and
are just being such little faithful members. Marcelo and Paola didnt come this
week so the boys just went alone. haha so awesome. And Juan Pablo passed the
sacrament for the first time yesterday! It was just this sweet little tender
moment as i watched Julio bless the sacrament (also, he got called as ward
secretary today. kind of a lot of trust for someone with 2 months in the
church! But he will do great. he is super nervous but i know will just be an
amazing asset to the branch) and then juan pablo passed the sacrament to me. It
was just so sweet to be receiving ORDINANCES from the very people that i got to
teach and watch God change. Few things much cooler than that. We are having
julio work with one of our new investigators right now as well so he will be
baptizing in 3 weeks as well. Pretty cool, huh? I was a proud missionary.
ANYWAY long side track, domitila is fantastic. Sweet lady, already active in
the church and ready to keep going. hasnt mised a sunday since we found her.
just so proud!
Joaquin and
Claudia also came to church yesterday! That was one of the sweetest moments i
can remember. I have gotten SO close to joaquin. We have talked a lot
about his family and him and i have also gotten really close. He will be one of
those people like Hector from Arauco or Marcelo here in coronel that i will
miss like crazy. He even drove us home the other day when it was raining and
everything. His daughter Leyre will be getting baptized on the 4th of May, so
we are super excited about that as well. We are trying to get his wife Claudia
to get baptized the sme day, but she is just waiting for an answer still.
please keep them in your prayers! It was so precious to see them in church
because we just dont have young families here in our branch. marcelo and paola
and them two are the only young families, so we really love them. It was a
great week to watch them progress and i think we will have some big news about
them in these next few weeks! I just love the gospel and how it literally has
the power to change our very nature.
Last thing, i
went on divisions this week with Julio, and my comp went with our branch
president. Poor guy didnt understand a thing. Hahaha i felt so bad but we had
12 citas that day and not enough time to visit them all, so we had to. But it
was SO cool being a missionary with Julio. He just loved it too. he even,
during a lesson, thought of and FOUND a scripture that HELPED an investigator.
Like Doris (antonellas mom and also julios neighbor) was saying to julio (we
are still working with her but she has to quit smoking. she is down to about 1
or 2 a day but just cant take the last step....pray for her as well please!)
that he just looks SO much happier these past couple months. Its true. He still
hasnt found a job which has been a huge trial for him, but it brought me to
tears in one of our lessons as he testified of the difference in his life. that
things hadnt gotten better but he just felt happier, more loved, and more
peaceful. that he is a better julio than he was 3 months ago. crazy how people
are changed with the truth of the gospel. But he showed her 1 nephi 3:7 and
just said that the Lord would show the way for her to quit smoking because he
commanded it. Touché, julio, touché.
I know there
are a million more things i wanted to talk about. This happens every weeek
where weeks are just SO amazing and then i forget it all. but i really, REALLY
love my sector. I am truly going to miss this place so much when i have to go
here. I would serve my entire mission here in coronel if i could. We had
another miracle this week where we put two baptismal dates for the beginning of
may with a family that has one active daughter who is actually waiting for our
mamitas son who is serving a mission, and we found her this week and found out
her two brothers arent members, but want to be. yeah, guess we can help with
that. then later on we found Miguel, or he found us. he came to church on
sunday and was like "hey i went to conference last week with a friend and
loved it. she said i had to come here to receive the missionary lessons and go
to church." like seriously?? He CAME to church, said he wants to get
baptized, and wants to change his life through coming to Christ. Like those
dont happen. but Miguel Cabrera is our newest miracle and i am SO excited about
him. Miracles are happening. Your friends are ready for the gospel. Share it
with them, because they NEED it.
This week i
realized the most precious thing i have is my sure testimony that Christ is my
Savior. nothing else matters. But not everyone has that. Your friends, family,
vecinos, they all need it. Share it with them and do NOT fear. The spirit will
put in your mouth what to say. It puts chilean in mine, chinese in mary´s, and
whatever you need in yours. be ruthless in sharing the gospel and inviting
people to participate in the happiest thing you have.
Also, our
house is literally 30 degrees. The windows were frosted, i can see my breath in
my own house, and im dying of frostbite. Okay the last one is dramatic but I AM
SO COLD. Freaking chile.
and, i found
the street corner today of "Mary Magdalene" and
"jerusalem." If anyone doesnt believe that i am in a HEAVY religious
country....
LOVE YOU!!
Elder Tengberg
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