Family,

This week was so very great. Monday we were picking up
missionaries that were arriving from other places in the mission.

Tuesday was such a crazy day. We found a great new investigator. A
brother of a sister who wants to come to church and be baptized. His
sister is a member but inactive, but she also wants to reactivate and
become active. We were really excited.

Then as we finished the night on Tuesday we were walking to the apartment. As we were walking we hear someone yelling from far away and then we realize that he is saying Mormones!! Mormones!! Elder McCusker and I weren´t really sure what we should do, because we thought it was possibly a drunk man coming at us because in the streets the drunk people always yell at us and say Elders como estan?

But we waited for him and then he came to us and it was a black guy and he was winded from running over to us. Ha-ha he apologized for the way he came to us, but he started to say that he was from Columbia and that he and his family were receiving the missionaries there, His name is Enrique. He then starts to tell me yeah do you guys know the other elders there in Colombia? Elder Lopez and Elder Mussleman. Elder Mussleman was playing through my head. I remembered that Billy Mussleman (the one I played football with at Lone Peak) is in Colombia serving a mission!

Elder Mussleman was teaching Enrique in Colombia! It was so cool!! So
now we are teaching Enrique and preparing him for baptism. He accepted a baptismal date for the end of this month. He came here to look for work, and the missionaries in Colombia told him to find us when he got to Chile. What a small world eh? Enrique is awesome, has a sincere desire to serve God and follow him. We taught him a few times the week, brought him to a baptismal service and then church.

Elder Galvez is from Mexico and is training a new missionary. They
live with us in the same apartment. I got up on Wednesday morning and
then met the new elder and started to talk to him for a bit. He is
from Heber, Utah. I could tell that he was in a little bit of culture
shock. I had impressions that whole morning that I was going to need
to help this elder. So I asked him if he was hungry and made him some
breakfast. He was really quiet throughout the entire day. That night
when we got to the pension I asked Elder Galvez how this Elder was
doing. He said that he was not doing very well at all and wanted to
call President Dalton to go home. Elder McCusker and I looked at each
other and we decided that we would need to pull him into our room and
talk with him. The Elder was really struggling and wanted to go home
and he expressed his challenges. Elder McCusker and I shared our
experiences with him and talked to him for about 30 minutes or so. He
decided that he would continue on. Elder McCusker and I were the
perfect people to be able to help this struggling missionary from the
experiences that we have had.

He is doing a lot better now. He looks like he is going to stick it out. What a blessing it was to be able to be in the right place at the right time to be able to help this missionary. It is amazing how the Lord puts people where they
need to be. We are continuing to look for ways to help this missionary
and serve him. He improves every single day.

Thursday we went to Antofagasta for the leadership council. It was a great
meeting and we were all edified and uplifted. President Dalton was
able to teach us many new things and tomorrow we are going to have a
zone meeting and Elder McCusker and I are going to teach the things
that we learned to the zone. It’s called a zone training meeting.

Friday we found a great family! We received a reference from
Antofagasta and then we went to teach the family. The mom is a member,
but she has 3 daughters that aren´t. When they go to Antofagasta they
go to church with their grandparents and they have been loving church.
So they want to come back to church. They are the cutest little girls.
They are Katia(12), Karla (11), and Kiara (6). They came late to
church and they almost didn’t come because the mom said we are late we
maybe just shouldn’t go. But the girls started to get mad at their mom
and they showed up. We were so happy. I will get and send some pics
soon.

Alina and her family are also doing so well. She and her 3 boys came
to church. We were so excited. Also her sister who was inactive also
came to church with her. We taught the restoration to the boys
yesterday after church. It was a great lesson. They are also preparing
for baptism. The ward is doing so well up here. We have seen so many
miracles and blessings. The ward attendance jumped up to 117. When I
got here it was around 80, with all of these efforts of the 6
missionaries and the members we have seen many blessings.

So right now we have 6 investigators that we are preparing towards
baptism. The zone is also doing extremely well. I am so happy. I am
loving being here as a missionary. The Lord has blessed us so much, we
are so very grateful for the wonderful blessings and miracles that we
have seen in the last week. I know that this work is true. I know our
Savior lives. This is the best thing in the world. Declaring and
sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that brings me
such satisfaction and joy. I love you all. Hope you have a great week.

Elder Newman