In the Oven

It's Hot...

Hellew! How's everyone doing! Good? Great! I'm doing just fine and dandy down here on the other side of the world. Doing lots of work and teaching lots of people.

Elder Wallentine and I were doing some thinking the other day, about the Mission and Mission Experiences. We've always imagined ourselves as being these all-knowledgeable beings throughout the mission. Every passage of Scripture Memorized, Spiritual Experiences coming out of our nostrils, and Converting everything that moved. But we've rediscovered a truth that we've known all along... Conversion is a life-long process. We learn to love the Lord and to do His will, to rely more on Him, to depend on His mercy, kindness, and love. It's like, the Mission is two years of the Basics, and nothing advanced, deep, profound, or mysterious. It's all the basics, all the beginning steps, all the wonderful things that people (investigator and missionary alike) need to experience in order to return to live with God once more. It's like 2 years of Primary, with less pretty pictures nor songs. It's pretty intense as well. At least, I'm enjoying it.

Right now we're focusing on a family that Elder Wallentine found some three-odd months ago. They're really good people, and progressing amazingly. Recently, Jaimy, the 14 year old boy of the family, went on a young mens trip out to Casa Blanca, Chile, where the church has a couple hundred acres of land for campouts and stuff. He came back really spiritual, and it's been a lot easier teaching him. His 16 year old sister is a recent convert of about a month, and the parents are starting to come around as well. While it's kind of lame to not baptize the entire family at the same time, we have to baptize people when they're ready, as not to put off the day of their repentance.

Anywho, that's pretty much what's going on down here. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold whilst you can, because I sure miss it. It's been like 35 degrees Celsius here. I don't know what that converts to, but I feel like I'm burning up. I got some mean farmer tans going on.

e'horspool

P.S. - I talked to Gonzalo Sepúlveda, who was the companion with the Holt kid. He remembered his name. It was Garret Holt. It's a small, small world