Like i said, Elder Gines went home last week. He finished the mission. i miss him! he was one of my best friends here in the mission. its cool to know that we will be able to get back together back in BYU, that is if he doesnt get married before then!!!
People sometimes make me laugh, Last week trying to send all the missionaries to their new sectors we had sooooo many angry bus people telling us that we couldnt put our bags on the bus. at first i was struggling to maintain myself calm because i dont really enjoy people screaming in my face, but then i was able to just be calm and laugh it off. we had one person who let us put the first bag of one of the sister missionaries on the bus and when we went to put the second one on he rejected it... so i explained to him (calmly) that what we have in our bags is everything we have for two years and if she didnt get the bag on the bus she wouldnt have clothes to wear in the city she was going to be in. he started screaming at me telling me it wasnt his problem and that he makes the rules and that we werent going to be putting the bag on. so i asked the sister wich bag had more clothes in and she said it was the one that hadnt made it onto the bus. so, then i had to start begging him to just change the bags out so that she could have clothes wich he didnt want to permit either telling me that i must be kiiding, trying to play with the bags putting them in and taking them back out and that i had already put it in and it was too late. THANKFULLY, the lord softened his heart and after staying calm and offering to go gget the bag myself he finally permitted it. hopefully we will be changing buses before next cambio because mission wide we had huge problems with it. but thats ok! just hte adventures of the world! Plus when we went to go send the bags thorugh a shiping company it was super fast and really cheap. it was supposed to arrive 2 days from the ship date and only cost like 20 bucks per bag. lots of blessings.
We met all sorts of new people this week. thats one of the cool things about cambios. everything changes, and somehow that makes you be in different situations. so we have been in the attitude of finding more poeople to teach and we have been able to meet lots of new poeple and find people that we were never able to get in contact with before. its been a good week. we also had a lot of appointments fall on us but thats just culture here. all is well.
Funny thing about summer here that i cant remember if i have already commented... Everyone takes their vacations at the same time. everyone. so there is never anyone around. for example most wards here in copiapo drop by about a fourth of their attendance. if it usually had 80 it has like 60. but for some reason summer is also one of the best times to get new people to go to church. for example this sunday we had a lady who hasnt gone to church in almost 4 years go again! hopefully she will keep herself active! if she is active she activates the rest of her family with her! thats like 10 people more and 2 of them who arent baptized. so we are gonna be working with her! but that was a complete surprise for us! usually she doesnt even share with us when we go. we share with her husband who has started to be a lot more active as well.
Another novelty this week.... the Elders in my old sector Palomar got robbed... again. like three weeks ago they broke in while they were sleeping and and opened the unlocked door and stole about 400 dollars or so worth of stuff... and this friday we went over there to do aparetments checks and i filled out the paper and wrote that they needed to move because it wasnt safe.... just to prove my point that very day, like 3 hours after while they were out working they came back in, broke the locked door (crappy cardboard) and stole about 200 dollars worth of what was left! so they are doing an emergency move. they moved all their stuff into the house of a member and they are sleeping with us for now. sadly you have to get robbed twice to be able to move out of crappy pensions! BUT! im super grateful for 5th floor apartments with good doors and locks in apartments with security! yay!!
Its awesome to see how the Lord is hastening his work (alsost said apresurando becasue i couldnt remember that word)! we had a meeting with the ward, and a nother meeting with the zone leaders of the stake on sunday and they are starting to apply some awesome techniques to go out and strenthen every one of the weak members one by one. The Lord is calling for all of us to work right now, and he is preparing the people to be able to come back. When we hav faith and we put forth effort we can see huge miracles. My favorite part about the mission is seeing people who have changed their lives and the joy they have gained. even if that just comes from becoming fully active in the chrch after some years. when they are able to be truly converted it is the best. I love preaching the gospel. i dont know what i would do with out this experience. i will never change. this isnt just a mission for 2 years, this is the mission of a lifetime. God is real. and he loves us and Guides us. I hope that we can all remember that!!
Have an awesome week!! love you all tons!
Elder Gold
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