Great Week

Date: April 30, 2012

Area: Santiago, Chile

Companion: Elder Peterson

Hey family,

This week went by really fast. Well fast in the sense that its monday agian and slow in the sense that it seems like an eternity since some of the things that happened, happened this week. if that makes sense at all, probably not... but anyway it was a really great week. Elder Peterson and I are enjoying our time here together and I can´t believe that it is the last week of the change already. Compared to the last change that lasted FOREVER this one has flown by.

The weather here is getting really cold and it rained for the first time this week since I got here. But it really rained. We had our parkas and umbrellas and I even busted out my big rain boots cause the streets here fill up like rivers. Apparently they haven´t heard of drainage here in Chile yet. haha. But actually today I feel like I´m back home in SD cause its sunny and warm and a perfect day. After the rain the valley was really clear because it washed all the smog away and all the mountians around us are covered in snow and they look beautiful! and they are HUGE! It was awesome! I wanted to take a picture but I didn´t have my camera with me yesterday.

This week was a good week with Cristian. He is the one that was going to get baptized this last Sunday but he didn´t end up getting baptized. He has had a problem with smoking for about 40 years and he wasn´t really wanting to give it up. I think he thought all along that he would just be able to get baptized without much effort on his part. But this week Elder Peterson and I both were feeling like he wasn´t ready for baptism. We really wanted him to be but we didn´t feel it. So Wednesday and Thrusday we were praying alot to know if it would be best for him to wait or not and we both felt like he just needed a little bit more time. We told him that we were going to have to move the baptismal date a week but that he would still be able to get baptized. We left and it was obvious that he was a little sad but we came back the next day and he was a changed man, he was bright and excited. He had a new light about him. He was so excited to tell us that he had thought about what we had told him and quit smoking the night before, for good. It shows in his countenance that he is changing and is now truly prepared for baptism. It is great to see how this step in his life is changing him, what the gospel can do and is doing for him. It has been an honor to know him and to be able to help him through these changes in his life. He is finally doing it for the right reasons, because he knows that it is true and that makes all the difference. It is great to see that!

A down side of the week was that we had a family that we were teaching and they were doing awesome! We were so excited for them and the Mom and two kids wanted to get baptized and it was going so well and then the Dad se puso pesado (he got mad sort of a thing) and he basically didn´t want us to come back. there are already so many problems within that family but he just made things worse. If the Dad doesn´t want us to come then we cant come but its sad to see them reject the very thing that would help them with all their problems, everything is easier with the help of Heavenly father.

But anyway I´m glad to be here, I´ve got a great companion and a great area. I´m lucky to be where I am. Thanks for the love and support,

Love

Elder Holland