Hola mi familia!!!
Les amo mucho mucho y espero que ustedes tuvieran una semana super bien! This past week has gone by so fast! On Tuesday we had Elder Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy come to our mission so we got to go to Viña to listen to him and it was amazing! When I shook his hand and said hello he goes Wow, Hermana Evans, aren´t you just the happiest person, which made me feel really good! It always amazes me how all of the general authorities I´ve seen speak (with the exception of general conference I think) never have any notes prepared. They just get up and can speak and it´s amazing and powerful. He talked about the importance of the Holy Ghost in conversion. He gave the example in the Book of Mormon of Alma the younger who was one of the vilest of sinners but then he was visited by the angel. When Alma the younger is telling his son about the experience he says that it was through much fasting and prayer that he received his testimony of the gospel. It wasn´t from the angel. He then talked about Laman and Lemuel. They saw angels, they received many manifestations from angels and from God but they never gained a testimony from any of that. Elder Robbins said that while powerful manifestations would be super awesome, they rarely happen. That the effects of the holy ghost on one´s heart are way more lasting and powerful than any manifestation from angels or what not. I thought that was super interesting and has made me think a lot more of what I can do as a missionary to help my investigators have experiences where the Holy Ghost can testify to their heart and their conversion process can start. He then did a question and answer segment with us so we could ask questions. I don´t remember exactly what one of the questions was but he ended up talking about success and he quoted Winston Churchill and said that success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. How awesome is that! He went on and talked a lot about patience and diligence and the atonement. How rarely it´s easy for missionaries but this is a time where we are learning patience, diligence, and that through the atonement in the end everything will be made right. We have to have the patience and the faith to keep going. I love when I can learn and understand a little bit more of the doctrine of the atonement. What a crazy wonderful power source it is for us to pull from every day. Whatever we need: strength, patience, diligence, charity, etc etc, when we turn and access the power of Christ´s sacrifice for us through prayer we´ll get the help we need. And if I´ve learned anything on my mission, it´s the power of prayer. God REALLY does listen to us!
This past week it was SUPER rainy for a few days. The roads here are crazy in the rain too. And when I say roads I mean rivers. At one point we´re walking on the sidewalk, not even in the street, up on the sidewalk and the water is up to our shins! I didn´t think swimming was allowed for missionaries but I guess rainy days in Chile are the exception. Crazy stuff. But it was fun because my companera and I were making up Spanish raps about the rain haha. But now this next week is looking like it´s suppose to be in the 70's and 80's so that´s great news too! It was crazy though because the next day after the huge rain we were saying how we hoped it would rain until after our studies in the morning and then it could start raining again after 9:30 when we return home and it was POURING that morning and then justo cuando we finished and it was time to leave, the rain stopped and it didn´t rain for the rest of the day. Spooky right? Ahhh.
This past week it was SUPER rainy for a few days. The roads here are crazy in the rain too. And when I say roads I mean rivers. At one point we´re walking on the sidewalk, not even in the street, up on the sidewalk and the water is up to our shins! I didn´t think swimming was allowed for missionaries but I guess rainy days in Chile are the exception. Crazy stuff. But it was fun because my companera and I were making up Spanish raps about the rain haha. But now this next week is looking like it´s suppose to be in the 70's and 80's so that´s great news too! It was crazy though because the next day after the huge rain we were saying how we hoped it would rain until after our studies in the morning and then it could start raining again after 9:30 when we return home and it was POURING that morning and then justo cuando we finished and it was time to leave, the rain stopped and it didn´t rain for the rest of the day. Spooky right? Ahhh.
Today we climbed the cerro mìyaka (spelling?) in Quillota which is where Parley P. Pratt had the revelation that everyone in Quillota would be a member of the church one day. It´s basically like This Is The Place: Chile! haha The view was BEAUTIFUL! I still can´t believe how incredibly blessed I am to be serving in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and I know He loves all of you!
Anyway that´s probably the most exciting stuff that happened this week--besides the fact that Chile won their partido in the mundial! CHI CHI LE LE VIVA CHILE!!!!!!!!!
Hasta next week!
Con todo el amor en mi corazón,
Hermana Evans
