Last Week in Renca

Date: June 18, 2012
Area: Santiago, Chile
Companion: Elder Salz & Elder Chung

Hola Familia,

This week was another good one. I´m enjoying this area. The time is going by a lot faster here than it has anywhere else. It went faster in Huelén than it did in Corona Sueca and now it has gone by faster here than it did in Huelén. This is the last week of the change and after this change I will only have 9 changes left and when I think about it like that it really doesn´t sound like that much time! But things are going well here in Renca.

This last week we had interviews with President Essig which went well. It wasn´t anything big, they were like 10 or 15 minutes is all but he told me that I would be leaving the sector and would be getting another companion. He told Elder Chung the same thing. From what we all figured out it seems like Elder Salzl is the only one of the 5 of us that is going to be staying in Renca next change so that will be crazy. I´m kinda bummed because its a really good sector and I like the ward again but I guess thats whats supposed to happen so there isn't much I can do, just accept the Lords will and trust that there is a reason why I´ll be going to another sector.

But this week we had a missionary activity at the church on Saturday which was great. It was like a game night in the church where we all just played a bunch of little games that our ward mission leader came up with. It was actually really really fun! There were probably 30 to 40 people that showed up which was a fair turn out- I was happy with it. But it all started out really slow but then people started having fun and getting into everything and by the end of the night everyone was screaming, yelling and laughing and just having a good time so that was great. The bummer is that it was scheduled during the Chile vs. Venezuela soccer game which I think kept some people away, but other than that it was good. It was also really good because we got one of our investigators, Patricia, to come to the activity (we have been trying to get her to come to church for weeks now) but she came and had a great time and ended up coming to church this sunday and really liking it. She told us that she would come back next week too. She is the younger sister to a less active member and we went to teach her last night after we went to church and she had been reading the Book of Mormon and said that she felt really calm when she was reading it and that she thought that it was the word of God. She said that she thinks that the Book of Mormon is true so we are extremely excited for the progress that she is making. We are hoping to be able to work with her and get her ready for baptism here soon.

We also had an awesome referral this week from a kid in another ward named Ignacio. I am pretty much convinced that the youth in the church are the bomb and that they are gifted in sharing the gospel, it is so easy for them. But there is a kid in another ward in our stake who told us that he wanted us to teach his girlfriend who is not a member about the gospel. We were like, yeah, there´s no problem there, we can do it! haha. But the next day we met them at the church to teach her and he had already talked to her about the church and she loved it. She said that she had gone to some other churches before but that they didn´t feel right and they weren´t for her but that when she heard Ignacio talk about the church she felt really good and felt that it was right, that it was just right. Well we taught her and she really liked what we shared about the restauration and that she feels that it is right. She even came to church yesterday and is preparing herself for baptism at the beginning of July. We are very excited. I think that she will make it and we´re excited for her! The Lord is most definitely blessing us here in our sector.

Anyway, it was a great week and things are going well for us here in Renca. I´m glad that you´re all doing well (well Dad, you were a bit sick this last week. Take it easy for a while and get better! Go to the doctor!! ) Thanks for all the support. I can´t wait to hear about the Zambia adventures in a couple weeks either and Cutler´s polo tournament that he´ll have in a month or so. It sounds like things are humming along for you. But, have a great week! I love you,

Les amo,

Elder Holland