Chile con Grace-o: Visit From an Apostle!!!

Hola Amigos!!

I can't wait to tell you the best part of the week so I'm just going to start with it! Elder Christofferson came to visit our mission on Thursday. An Apostle! Called of God! Here in the cute little Santiago Chile East mission! What a blessing to shake his hand and listen to his counsel. At the end, he opened it up for questions from the audience. Someone asked how we can get rid of any fear we have to share the gospel. He shared a lot of ways to shed this fear, but something that he said really stuck with me. He said something like, "You have the greatest gift that there is to share. If you aren't sharing it because you are scared, you are thinking more of yourself than of the other person or of God. You are worried about what other people might think, or maybe you don't want to feel rejected. You are not thinking of the great blessing that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be in the life of this person, or the love that God has for him and the yearning he feels for this specific person to be able to return to him." Yeah, sometimes it's scary! We don't know exactly what to say maybe. But how sad would it be for this person to miss out on the great blessings awaiting them that come from the Gospel? So sad! I think this applies to everyone, not just missionaries. I get upset with my old self a lot. This week it was because I did not share the gospel with the people around me more. I was scared. I was thinking about myself. No no no. no mas!

Another thing that happened this week was a mission fireside!! President Morgan puts on firesides every month in different zones and invites all the recent converts and people learning about the church and the missionaries to come. Converts are able to share their testimonies and there is a lot of singing and President shares a message as well. Hermana K and I sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". I don't really love singing in front of tons of people if I'm being honest, but I love this song and we wanted to share it. I like it in Spanish. Here it is!

1. Yo sé que vive mi Señor;
consuelo es poder saber
que vive aunque muerto fue
y siempre Su amor tendré.
Él vive para bendecir,
y ante Dios por mí pedir.
Él vive para sustentar
y a mi alma alentar.

2. Él vive para sostener

y con Su mano proteger.

Él vive para escuchar

y oídos a mis quejas dar.

Él vive para alentar

y mis angustias sosegar.

Él vive para ayudar

y a mi alma consolar.

3. Él vive, mi amigo fiel;

me ama para siempre Él.

Él vive ̮y siempre cantaré:

Él vive, mi Señor y Rey.

Por Él la vida yo tendré;

la muerte yo conquistaré.

Mi gran mansión preparará,

y viviré con Él allá.

4. Él vive, ̮y yo lo honraré.

A Cristo siempre alabaré.

Gozoso, canto con fervor:

Yo sé que vive mi Señor.

Él vive, ̮y yo lo honraré.

A Cristo siempre ̮alabaré.

Gozoso, canto con fervor:

Yo sé que vive mi Señor.

You asked me how I gained my testimony of the Book of Mormon. You know, that’s been something that I’ve thought about and my answer is not very clear. Some people can name a specific event of how and when and where they gained their testimony, but mine is all over the place! It comes from so many sources and experiences. BUT! I was thinking about how I gained my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, and I think it started when we would all sit on your bed in Japan, reading all together, and I would circle all the places where it said "Lord" or "God". I don't think I understood a whole lot of what was being read at 3 years old, but I knew that it was a book that brought us together as a family every night. And since then it has been growing slowly but surely. I think the pivotal point, when I really yearned to read it, happened in the CCM (Missionary Training Center). We had an hour of personal study time but I wanted MORE!! I was learning so much from reading the Book of Mormon, and I wanted to learn it all! I still do! That is a part of my testimony. It has come with time and continuous prayer and searching. I'm very grateful for my testimony and also for the knowledge that it will always continue to grow. There's no plateau-ing when it comes to testimonies!

In other news...Hermana Ence, my last companion, and I had one progressing investigator the entire time we were in Javiera Carrera and he's getting baptized on Saturday! Of course right after we have both left haha. His name is Javier. I think I only mentioned him one time because I was scared to jinx anything hehe. Pero si!!! He's getting baptized and he's a changin' his life! Woohoo!!!

This week we had an ant infestation! And we talked to hundreds of people! And we laughed a lot! All signs of an amazing week in the mission life