January 22, 2013

Hola Familia,

Thanks for all the emails. I hope everyone is doing great. This week has been interesting. I feel like just copying and pasting Hermana Noordas letter because thats how I feel except I eat ice cream instead. But really I am learning a lot of patience here. Thework is hard. The people are prideful and nobody wants to talk to us. We will knock doors and see and hear them but they ignore us, or the yell at us, or just dont want to talk to us. We have alot of condos here and those are pretty much impossible to get into. I keep thinking of Joshua when he conquered Israel. There were two problems, giants and walls, or in my case, pride and gates. so I keep saying to Hermana Mercado that we need horns and to walk around the house 10 times and then they will come out. We are still working on finding horns or ways in which they cant escape. 

So this week after a meltdown and a blessing I decided to start studying patience. Not the patience that everyone thinks of when they are waiting in line at the grocery store or the movie theater but the divine patience that God has. This patience is being able to walk around for hours and hours in the sun and not talking to a single person but still continuing to work with a smile on your face. This patience is knowing that there is a purpose to all the heartache and hardwork. The patience to plea to the Lord for the strength, courage and faith to keep going. I love the scriptures and what they teach of patience, that with our faith and dilligence it is through our patience that we win our salvation. I think this is true, much of the trials of this life is how we reaact to situations. We can be facing a problem and complain about it, stop working, give up on life, or we can have the patience to walk through our afflictions, still experiencing the exact same afflictions but with out hope and faith in Christ. This is the type of patience I am learning. It is good I think, still hard, you need patience to learn patience, but this week has been better because I am learning. And there are little miracles everyday.

This week also was a little heartwrenching for me. We have a inactive family that is going through some rough rough times. He is a return missionary, was in the bishopric and about a year ago the whole family went inactive. She is great, stong women who has the desire to return to church but cannot because of difficult circumstances in the home. This week he left her and their two children and is with another women. It is heartbreaking. I dont know what to say or do. But my heart aches for her and the pain that she is going through. The only good this is the she came to church on sunday, broken and frail and shamed to what has happen she came to let the Savior heal her, yet she still ahs a lot to pass through. There are a few things that I have learned through her experience. One I never want to get married. And then after I think about it and realize this isnt likely I come to the second conclusion. The church with all its rules and meetings and whatever, is not here to make us busy. It is here to help us live the gospel, to remember our covanants, to strengthen our families, and to keep things like this from happening. Still this could happen, it is true, people have the choices, but with the strength of the Lord the liklihood is a lot less. 

Another story from this week. Two weeks ago while knocking doors we found a member that is not in our list and not active. He is probably one of the first members in Chile and now has about 70 years. We was thrown out of church and never returned although he knows it is true. So we found him and have been teaching him. Yesterday he came to church and was so excited to be there. sCary of course, he hadnt been in church for over 40 years. But he came and gave the sweetest testimony is sunday school. That we wants to return to church, he knows that it is true and recognizes all the blessings that he has from God. There was a sweet spirit there testifying that it is never to late to return, not just return to church. You arent returning to church, you are returning to  Jesus Christ, the man who gave his life so the we could overcome of faults, our weaknesses, our mistakes. What a wonderful blessing we have, to repent and come closer to Christ. Nothing is impossible with Christ. That is why I am here, because people can change. I love when people ask what church we are from and we reply The Church Of Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to have the restored gospel in our lives. I testify that it is true, there is no other church on the earth that posess the truth and the authority of God. I love you all! 

Hermana Iroz

Photos

1. I made a measuring cup... out of a bottle. Dont judge me.

2. La Familia Vergara!

3. I am legal!!! I finally got my carnet!