Hey family how are things going? Everything is going great for us down here. We had a week that went by really fast! On Thursday, it was thanksgiving for all of you but down here its kind of unheard of. Elder Allen and I decided to make some homemade strawberry-blueberry cheesecakes to celebrate the special day. We made them from scratch. Well Elder Allen crushed the cookies for the crust that is and I did the rest ;) haha. They ended up turning out DELICIOUS!!! I will send some pics.
We kept one and with the other one, we took to a family in our branch, the Vega Ibañez Family. The dad is in the District Presidency and the mom is the branch relief society president. They have three little daughters that are hilarious. They are just a downright awesome family but are really going through a financial struggle. The dad works out of town all week long and gets home for the weekend and the mom is a school teacher and takes care of the three girls at the same time. Between health problems of the girls and all of the church responsibilities, the hermana ibañez kind of had a mental breakdown from stress. Her husband was really worried about her and on Sunday asked us if we could just pass by a couple of times during the week to say hi and see how she was doing and if she needed anything from us. We passed by on Tuesday night and she wasnt doing that great and kind of told us what was going on...stress. So........we took her the cheesecake and she told us that it was a miracle for her that we would make her a cheesecake. One of her companions in the mission made one one time and she loved it. She asked us why we were giving it to her and we told her that it was thanksgiving. She asked us what exactly that day meant for us because she had heard some things but wasnt really sure. After telling her about the history of the holiday, she started crying. She was so grateful for what we did and later on in the week, told us that she absolutly loved it. It was a great thanksgiving for my companion and me.
The following day, Elder Allen and I went out to a little town about 2 and a half hours away from Ovalle called Combarbalá. It really is out in the middle of nowhere. We went there to see the possibilities of putting the church there. There hadnt been missionaries there for over a couple decades. The elders from Punitaqui, Elder Allenbach and Elder Clemence went with us too. They had talked to a few people on the bus going out to Punitaqui that were interested in the church so we went out to see what the deal was in Combarbalá. Turns out that it was an awesome trip. We got there and found the guy, Nelson, who is a black guy from the Dominican Republic and teaches english in his own institute. He studied in Harvard for a year and has a bunch of family in Boston and Miami. We didnt really have a plan of attack when we got out there so we decided to say a prayer and go do some contacts. Elder Allen and I had 2 hours to do contacts until we had to return and teach Nelson and his family. We started doing contacts in a neighborhood and got into the first three houses that we knocked, all of which had interest in the church and what we were teaching. A few of the people had family members or friends that were members in other cities and were very interested in learning more. The other elders ended up getting into 4 houses in the three hours that they did contacts. It was a really neat experience doing contacts where missionaries have never been. People really were interested in what 4 gringos were doing in there city. We got a lot of stares as we walked through the streets. It was pretty funny. So it turns out, that as we were teaching Nelson and his family, he pulls out a picture of his baptism and tells us that he was a member and got baptized 13 years ago in the Dominican Republic. He was interested in having the church out there and now we understood why. None of his family were members and he had a lot of friendships in the town. He teaches english to the mayor and is great friends with one of the town representatives. We sent a report to President Gillespie about the trip and the success we had so now we will see if the church spreads to Combarbalá.
On Saturday, we had a baptism! Ignacio Sanchez (26) got baptized. He was a member referral from November 1st and got baptized on the 28th of November. He was so excited for his special day and was really happy for the decision he made in his life. His friend that introduced him to the church and who invited him, baptized him. This week, the branch president, Presidente Varas’ parents accepted baptismal dates for Christmas Day or Christmas Eve! That will be so sweet if they keep progressing to be able to have a white christmas in chile! We have our work to do in order for that to happen though. It is crazy that there is only one week left in the change! It has gone by so fast! Things are really going great in the sector. Elder Allen and I are getting along really well. We started over on the Book of Mormon this week. I am about ready to finish 2 Nephi.Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Take care this week and talk to you all next week!
Chao,
Elder Nelson
