God Loves All the Babies!

This week was a good one. Hard, but good. Lately, our focus has been on the babies. 7,8 and 9 year olds are the best!!! We have been teaching a 7 year old, Emilia, who is getting ready for her baptism. Her mom is a member but her dad is not and he wouldn't give his permission for her to be baptized until she knew all the things. So we are helping her do that! She learns so fast and remembers everything. At 7 years old, she already has a testimony of these things and can't wait to be sealed in the temple someday to her family. She is awesome and I love her.

Then there are Michael and Jose Luis!! They are the little brothers of Ignacio and Cristobal and every time we go to visit them, Michael asks, "So when can I be baptized?" We are teaching them a little bit at a time because they are a little rowdy, but they love to pray and one of them always offers the opening prayer and the other the closing in our lessons.

Also! There's Daniela! She lives in the area of the Elders from our ward. Hermana Navarrete has a real knack for family history and Daniela's papà (also not a member) wanted to learn more about his family, so on Friday we were able to cross over and visit them. While my cute comp was helping with family history, I was talking with Daniela and her mom. Daniela took notes and drew pictures of all the things that the elders have taught her over the past few months, and she was so excited to show me them all. On Sunday, Daniela was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints! 

Fittingly, this week I read a talk by Neil A. Andersen from 2015 that made me cry. it was about welcoming the children and youth and young adults that are following their faith without the support of their families. If you know people like this, reach out to them. Every day, if possible, because every day is a struggle and they need the support of a loving person, family, and ward!!! God loves the children and so should we!

Tammy is a cute mom who has been listening to the missionaries on and off for YEARS. She is pretty closed off and hasn't opened her heart to this message for a looooong time. But this week there was a change. She was really LISTENING! Listening to understand! We have invited her to come to church every week since I have been here, and this week she accepted the invitation! Stay tuned!

WEEKLY I +C UPDATE!!! On Saturday we went to the temple with Ignacio and Cristobal. They were nervous, so we went a little bit before their session began to sit in the gardens and talk about the Temple a little bit more. We were able to share our testimonies about the temple and they felt a lot more peaceful. We entered, and when their recommends were scanned, the temple workers at the front desk welcomed them by name. So special for them!  Knowing someone's name can change everything! They were able to be baptized and confirmed for their brother and one of their grandfathers. What an amazing experience it was!!!

Osnel is a new friend that we found from Haiti. We went to his house and got to know him a little bit and shared a message of the restored gospel. The whole time he was repeating the things we said, analyzing them in his head. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray to know if what we had shared with him was true. He said, "Oh I feel like it's true. but I'll pray about it just to know for sure." Way to go Osnel! You're awesome!

In just plain old life-related news, I found my fanny pack, which has been MIA since I left Texas, and it looks quite nice with every outfit that I have here. Rock n roll.

No dog stories sorry:( 

Ciao! I love ya'll! Thank you for making me smile every time I think of you! All of you had some sort of impact in the 20 years of life that I have lived that helped me make it here to Chile and I am grateful!! Hugs and kisses.

Imagine a picture of me smiling here!

Ok, I will :)