Piano Week

November 18, 2015

Today was very tiring.  We decided to bicycle all the way out to the river at the end of our sector so we had to do all of our buys early this morning. We got everything done and had a little bit of down time which I used to exercise and prepare everything for the week.  My comp chose to take a nap, and honestly, by the end of the day, I wished that I had made that choice. I was running on fumes.  It was a pretty good p-day overall.  We also go news of our new district.  I am not the DL of Elder Diaz.  He is the same elder that I have been around for more than half of my mission.  It is funny because he was my DL at one point.   He is now training a gringo.

Miracle #466: I actually found whole grain foods today.  Chileans usually eat while bread and don’t use whole grains, so this was a surprise find for me.

         The funny part of the day was getting to the “river” and seeing the poor abused little thing. There was a ton of construction work and pollution. The fun part of the day was just riding along a back road and suddenly spotting a Narnia-like entrance into a field. My comp wasn’t all that excited, but for me, having not seen nature in over a year, I was pumped. I had to walk in and explore. 

November 19, 2015

         Wow, today was good!  This morning we had to go to the church to do some computer work.  I got the opportunity to practice piano for 45 minutes or so and it was great.  I practiced a fun Chirstmas piece that I and working on.  I sure did get frustrated with my lack of dexterity.  I have lost a LOT of my ability and it bums me out.  Other than that, I tied to let my comp lead the sector today.  I have tried a bunch of different things to help him, but I think that the best thing is to just let him figure it out on his own.

Miracle #467: One of our investigator’s, V. and his family, continue to grow closer to God.

         The funny part of the day was probably being on foot all day and realizing how slow it is and how much it sucks.  We spent the whole day close to our house so it didn’t make sense for us to ride our bikes. We were able to throw cards and make lots of contacts. 

November 20, 2015

         Well today was interesting.  This afternoon we had to do another baptismal interview and once again my comp was chosen to do it. It is no big deal, the Latins just have an easier time communicating with another Latin.

Miracle #468:  The miracle was when we were biking along and I spotted someone whose lesson from today fell through.  We were able to set another one up for later this week.

         The funny part of the day was what my comp decided to do as plans B,C,D,E, all fell through.  Instead of just working in the area where the appointment fell, he decided to bike around randomly for 20 minutes.  I did a pretty good job of not showing any irritation.  I also had a fun time being the primary pianist today when they had a program practice. 

November 21, 2015

         Today was pretty great.  This morning I got to do my first real baptismal interview and it went really well.  After that, we had weekly planning and comp inventory.  I think that we got things worked out once again.  Today mostly ended up being filled with stake stuff like choir practice and adult session of the stake conference.  It was really hard for me to sit through choir practice because no one has a clue what they’re doing and the director can’t read music.

Miracle #469: This sector has incredibly receptive people.  We went to visit a contact from last week and she had already read the first 14 chapters of the Book of Mormon.

         There were several funny parts of the day.  The mission office got robbed during the time that the choir was practicing.  This is in the same building so that is tragic because no one heard it.  One of the senior couple Elders broke the glass on the door because he was so upset.  The organist for the stake conference happened to be the wife of said elder.  She got held up taking care of the situation in the office and missed the stake conference, soooo I was asked to play for conference cold turkey. When I started playing, I didn’t realize that the organ’s volume was turned all the way up.  When I played the first note, I literally jumped off the seat and then immediately thanked my lucky stars for the few organ lessons that Sister Winston taught me.  It turned out fine in the end.

November 22, 2015

         Well today I learned a lot.  I kindof has an aha moment when I realized that I need to be more loving with my companion.  I am going to start treating my like I treat the people we teach.  Today was stake conference so it was a decent day.  There isn’t a whole ton to tell, but this week ended on a good not.

Miracle #470: We have almost he entire first half of the week booked.

The funny part of the day was when someone deflated my tires as a prank.

November 23, 2015

         Well, I liked today. Sort of. We did divisions with a very sick Elder Diaz and I had to just sit in the house with him.  I didn’t like the day becaue of that, but staying in the hose did allow me to read The Book of Mormon for close to 4 hours.  I actually finished the book in this marathon session.  In the end, I felt an overwhelming sense of love and appreciation for the people who gave their lives and followed the Lord so that this miraculous book could be in our hands.  I was so overwhelmed and thankful. 

Miracle #471: Once again I was able to test the promise of the Book of Mormon and strengthen my testimony even more.

         The funny part of the day was drinking 3 liters of mate.  There is not much to do when you are stuck at home all day long.

November 24, 2015

         So today was all right.  This morning we had a really good district meeting that I am pretty sure that everyone liked.  The day of work in the sector started a little late because we had to receive our new bunk beds.  They are awesome solid wooden beds that don’t squeak when we move.  The best part is that our room now smells like wood.  All of our planned lessons fell through today so we did a lot of useless contacting in a very unreceptive part of our sector.  It was an all right day talking to my comp because we talked about the scriptures. 

Miracle #472 The only two things that didn’t fall through were the most important visit of the day and the most important division of the day.

         The funny part of the day was probably being a zombie all day from being tired.  There were a couple of times today when my knees randomly buckled and I almost fell down from exhaustion.