Happy Monday

Hey Dad!  I am so glad to hear about all the fun and success the family is having!  It is so true what Elder Ballard said about the basics!  They are truly so important!  I sure hope Emily had a great birthday!  I am sure she will do fine driving!  I am safe!  I am trying the same thing.  I gave a talk this week and felt a little bit more confident!  In District meetings I am talking a lot about investigators, and have some ideas in order to help.  We will see how it goes.  Honestly this week was a little weird.  Most of our investigators are getting cold.  Or really hard to contact.  However the Lord knows whats happening, and he is preparing his children.  I dont have a lot of worries.  We have found a guy that is an old investigator.  He is very nice.  His name is Jose.  Andres is progressing really well.  He is the store owner who is progressing really fast.  He knows the truth of the message and everything and he wants to get baptized, however he denied a baptism date.  I felt like it was the wrong moment to ask as well.  He said he wants to feel a little bit more comfortable.  He lives on the other side of town, so it is hard for him to get to church.  However he will get baptized.  Just a matter of time.  We have done a lot of contacts and the future looks bright.  God is preparing his children. Love you Dad!  

 FUNNY STORY

So this week we were going to knock a door and this dog started to try and bite us.  Up the street there was like 5 drunk guys and a drunk girl.  One of them tried to throw a rock at the dog and completely missed.  However he started talking to us and everything.  He was nice and invited us to talk to talk with his friends.  These guys were so drunk it was funny.  We start talking about how we are misionaries, and we said we are from the church of Jesus Christ.  They started saying oh pay your respects and funny stuff.  Turns out they thought Elder Sheppard was the pope.  So the girl kisses him on the cheek like twice and they start kissing his ring and saying oh pope pope!!  One guy starting crying! It was funny they then asked him for a blessing and everything and so we just gave them pass along cards and got out of there.  It was funny! They are really nice

Hey!  So first off to describe the people here, they are geuninly really nice.  They almost all drink tea or coffe.  However what I have noticed with the investigators in general is that you can see in almost every one that God has been preparing them to hear the message, and in the end they get to use there free agency to decide what they want.  It is sad to see the people know the truth however not choose to follow it.  The church was huge here, but because of some things it got weaker in Chile.  The first branch I was in. To be honest it was a good branch.  There were a ton of members now there are only 80 who come regularly.  In this type of branch there are a lot of people that stick out.  There are regular members and those that work really hard in the misionary work.  In another branch  of 40 people.  They all have really hard work schedules like everyone in Chile.  However they still found time to do there visits and they all had a huge love for each other.  The ward I was in is of 25 people who come regulary I am suprised that it is still a ward.  There is a lot of fighting and backstabbing.  They all talk about what everyone does wrong, however not to there face.  Not a lot of people do there visits so there obviously isnt a lot of love there.  It is sad.  In general the investigators vary depending on who they are.  Our new President will be Presidente Harrington I believe.  I am not sure.  What did Elder Hughes talk to you guys about.  Why he came home isnt to important.  He is a good guy and yes is different, but knows a lot and I have learned from him,  He is a good Elder.  Love you!