God takes my awkward offering ....

(Happy Birthday, Carlie!)

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes, Casilla 27.144
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile

This week was another week of miracles! Really though, God is so good to us!

First for this weeks funnies!  I always get myself in trouble because I respond to the drunk people on the street. This time they started talking to me and at the end of the conversation in a mix of Spanish, English, and nonsense, one yelled "Bendiciones!" (Blessings!) I thought he said "Religiones!"  So I yelled back laughing 'Yeah, Religiones!' They thought that was pretty funny!  But to make it better, all of the time now when I run into one of them that was in that group, they always say "Hey! Religiones!"  Turns out I was the confused one that time;)

Now for the good stuff! P____ and her family are as cute as they can be.  It is so hard to not live in their house! They just make me so happy.  The second I walk in there is something really beautiful going on.  There is always something to learn from them. My favorite story of their family this week is from P____. She has been having a really rough time after her vacations. She had a nice break from all of the crazy things that happen in her house and when she came back everything was still waiting for her, but this time with a vengeance.  Her kids are all really sick. Whether that is mentally, physically or sometimes even spiritually (We are working hard to fix that one;)) Anyway she said one night that she was crying and needed help. She was praying to God and opened the Book of Mormon. She was so excited to show us the next day what she opened up to.  It was the prayer for the sacrament bread. She read that to us the day after and then again. This time she explained why she liked it so much. She took the bread to mean the bread of life. That if we feast upon the bread of life which is like the scriputes we are going to have all of the blessings that it lists. It was really beautiful to hear her think of that verse differently than I had thought. That verse always had this rigid interpretation for me because obviously it is about the sacrament. But I was wrong! Of couse the bread does not have to mean the sacrament bread. And how beautiful is it that God used that scripure to help her feel comforted!? She also told us the story again of when she knew the Book of Mormon was true. She said that after I asked them to pray about it, She did and she felt like she did not get a response. Then she was in this help group for her daughter and everyone was talking about their kids with special needs and suddenly this women stood up and said, I am Mormon, and I just know that there is someone here that is looking for answers, and I know that this Book of Mormon is true! What!? She had told that story before, but I obviously did not understand it. You don´t get a much more direct answer than that! 

And now for B_____! I love them!!!! They are doing so well. We were running super late to their lesson because we were with M____, but on the way we thought really fast about what date we were going to give C____ to get baptized. (don´t do that! We should have planned in advance but God is good to us and gave us an answer anyway.) We both agreed that we felt really good about the 13 of April. So we went to the lesson with that date in mind. When we got to their house the first think C____ said was I have been thinking a lot about a date, and I feel pretty good about the second week of April, which is the 13 of April!!! It was awesome! God is totally in this!  And that man is connected to God! It was really beautiful! Then we had a great lesson!  It was really cool because at the end I got to testify again about you guys. It was one of those experiences that I LOVE as a missionary. The moments when it is so important what you say that God feeds you every idea. The moments where every one goes silent because what you are saying is exactly right and you are even surprised at how wise something sounds as it is coming out of your mouth.  I am not an eloquent person, and less in Spanish, but God takes my awkward offering and helps us all learn from it. Even though it is weak and small. It was a really cool ending to the lesson and the spirit was really strong. M__E___ is still a little behind but she knows it is true. It is going to take extra work with her, but I am excited for her to see the change that happens when suddenly her husband is a priesthood holder! 

Mom has been asking me about I___L___. He is the nice man in the hospital that bascially changed my life in a few short moments. I have not written about him in a while because they told us that he left. So we thought he was not there. He was there the whole time. Which is actually a bummer because that means he has been there for the 9 months that I have here in Chile. That is a long time! But it was cool for us because we got to go and see him again. My new comp had never met him. We went with Y____ again. It was beautiful!! The spirit is just as strong! The first time we went he thought Y____ was another missionary (he cannot see). But this time he found out that she is not baptized. It was adorable!! He had some of the most beautiful things to say! He said to her "Y___ you need to get baptized and you will quickly find that it is the best decision that you have ever made in your life, and then he told her that when she gets baptized she will not just be run of the mill Y___ anymore but people will see a difference. Then he bore this powerful testimony about how it has changed his life. And how he knows he chose the right thing when he got baptized. Then he gave her two weeks. After that he said: "Y___" and when she looked at him he had two fingers up. It was awesome! My favorite part was when we talked about his sweet daughter. The spirit was so strong when Y___ asked him if he feels his daughter and he said "oh no, I have seen my daughter!" The way he said it made the spirit so strong I could not move. I felt other people in that room! It was really beautiful! We were all crying by this point. It was a really beautiful day. Y___ walked out saying, "okay, chiquillas, how are we going to do this? I have to get baptized!" Too bad she has to go to church still before she gets baptized. She has to work and it really is pretty necessary if her and her son want to eat, so we are going to keep praying that she will finally find a job that is Monday to Friday. I know it will happen! 

And to top this week off, R____ finally went to church! Taylor, I used your lesson with the brownies and told him to just try the gospel! I told him that I can explain how rico these cookies are all I want, but you are not going to know until you participate! It worked! With the help of the primary president (Who is awesome!) He came to church! I hope he feels the blessings this week! 

Anyway family I love you a lot ... now my letter is really long and I have a lot of people to write. But I love you all a lot! This gospel really is true! I am learning a lot about giving our awkward part and then watching God do the rest. It is really beautiful! I get so frustrated because I am not a perfect missionary! I mess up all of the time! I know I am not who I want to be yet, but He still loves me and He keeps working on me! He blesses me with people who change me ... who give me a new view of this world. And to make it even better He helps me fall in love with people more and more every day and so the changing process just becomes something full of joy! I love testifying of you guys! It feels so good to see how you are all progressing! God is working in our family! He is using our covanants to bless us! I love watching Him do it! I hope you guys can feel Him doing it! Because He is! He is good! He lives! He loves us! Thanks for everything family! I love you so much!

Hermana Webb