Losing Elder Furner to the Office

I will miss this good missionary!

August 5, 2015

         Today wasn’t horrible.  I don’t know if there is such a thing as a bad p-day.  Shoot, even when we don’t do anything special, I really enjoy myself. Today we just went shopping, exercised, and went out to eat with an investigator.  We went to a Peruvian restaurant where we ordered this fried seafood dish that was essentially like a good plate from Red Lobster. I was expecting something way different or exotic, but I guess Peruvian food is really pretty normal.  After lunch, we went to a civer where the miracles happened.

Miracle #315L Her in Chile, they take very very inconvenient lunch breaks and close businesses for around 2 hours in the middle of the day.  All of the civers let us in anyways to write our families while they eat lunch.

         The funny/crazy part of the day was also kindof a miracle.  Okay, it was a miracle.  On our way to the civer, a guy stopped us and said that he wanted the missionaries to pass by last week, but they didn’t.  He really really wanted a Book of Mormon.  Typically on my p-day, I don’t have anything on me, but for some reason today I had one copy of The Book of Mormon.  I literally had nothing else except for that book.  He was so excited and he is super interested.  We were blown away.

August 6, 2015

         Today kindof sucked, like a lot. First of all it RAINED all day long which meant that every Chilean stayed indoors and didn’t want to do anything.  All of the streets were flooded because the drainage system here is horrible.  The worst part was that the bishop cancelled the ward activity because of the rain.  We invited a ton of our investigators and less active members to that activity, so we had to cancel everything and come up with a new plan.

Miracle #316: I was feeling down today, but when we made a visit to one of our families, I remembered how much I love these people. This realization helped to turn my day around.

         The funny part of the day was how everyone reacte to us.  EVERY single person said, “What are you doing outside in this rain?”

August 7, 2015

         Today was a rough day.  I had motivational issues today.  I got outside and did everything, but I was in an off mood.  It didn’t help that I was exhausted thanks to our District Leader who begged us to stay up and play a game with him for an extra half hour.  For someone who gets up at the normal time it would not be a big deal, but I get up early so that loss of 30 minutes really hurt me.  PLUS, staying up late is disobedient, what the heck is our leader doing by encouraging us to be disobedient?

         Miracle #317: When we went to visit the G. family tonight, they were getting ready to go to the ward talent show (the one that got cancelled and no one called them).  Thankfully, we arrived in time to tell them and we had a nice visit with them.

         The funny part of the day was that it stopped raining which was the reason the activity was cancelled.  We ended up contacting for a while at the end of the day and it turned out rather well.

August 8, 2015

         Ugh! Elder Furner is getting transferred early.  We got a special call to let us know that my comp is leaving for the office.  He is going to be one of those “special” elders.  Basically, he will be living in a really demanding work environment with tons of work, a horrible diet, no personal time, no sleep, and a ridiculous amount of stress.  I will miss the guy.  Other than that , the day was mediocre at best.  It is cold here in the mornings, then it warms up just a bit in the afternoon, and then it gets freezing cold again in the late afternoon.

Miracle #318: For once we made a call to a future investigator and actually had a lesson result from the call.

         The funny part of the day was going to say goodbye to Elder Furner’s recent convert A. It was funny because when we told her that Furner was leaving, she didn’t believe us. She said that we have played so many jokes on her that she doesn’t believe us anymore. She remained incredulous for over an hour.  We also made delicious no bake cookies for our last normal night together.  It is going to be hard for these next few weeks because I get a temporary companion for a week or so and then my official new companion.  This means that I will be the only one with any clue what’s going on in my area. 

August 9, 2015

         I am really hating one of the missionaries in our apartment right now. He is really hard on me, especially in the mornings.  He acts just like a teenaged girl and just tears you down emotionally.  Any ammunition that he can think of he throws at me and especially pitches hard at my insecurities.  He is the first person in a more than a month that has made me want to punch him in the face. It’s all “up to me” as to how I will react, but I can honestly say that I haven’t gotten much more patient since Castro.  But this does lead into my miracle for the day;

Miracle #319: Elder _____ does NOT have a broken nose right now.

         The fun part of the day was that Elder Furner and I had a good acapella musical number.  We also had fun visiting all of the people that Elder F. wanted to say goodbye to.  I try to make my goodbyes a final opportunity to bear testimony and leave a spiritual message, but not everyone tries to do that.  Elder F. just likes to hang out with people.  I am okay with that, just not for LONG periods of time.  I have gotta get more serious, motivated, and obedient.  This sector has a lot more potential.

August 10, 2015

         Wow, my temporary comp. is going to be quite fun…NOT. He thinks that he is hot stuff and corrects everything that I do in an offensive way…and has atrocious Spanish.

Miracle #320: We had a great lesson from contacting where we even invited them to be baptized.  The only bad part is that my new comp didn’t want to share the first vision with them…so we didn’t.

         The funny part of the day was how we got into this lesson in the first place.  I bumped into the grandson for scaring a cat and started talking to him and making friends with him.  When the Grandma said she was too busy with her grandson, I asked the kid if he wanted to hear our message.  He shouted, “Yes!”  and with that we got into out appointment.  Who knew that being good with little kids would come in handy in the mission field.

August 11, 2015

         Today was a good work day. We had a ton of lessons set up and only 2 fell through. Even though we taught 5 lessons we still had time to contact and sadly didn’t find anyone who was interested.  I think that I will do just fine with my temporary companion…not sure how I would do if it were permanent. He has good insights as a missionary and that is all that matters right here and now.

Miracle #321: Today we had a division with a youth in our ward but when we got to his house he wasn’t there.  Just about 1 minute later, his dad drove up and agreed to go out with us.

         The funny part of the day was listening to two American missionaries in our house talk about their high school days.  They were HORRIBLE.  They were mean and cruel and played jokes (mean ones) on the less fortunate people.  I told them that I was glad to never have set foot in a high school.  This was a mistake because then they turned on me and started mocking me for being homeschooled. It was just ridiculous. Somehow the subject turned to how I can’t throw a ball worth a crap, which they related to the fact that I never attended public school.  One of them said, “What if you are at the fair and your girlfriend wanted you to win her a stuffed animal by winning a throwing game?” I told them that I would never have to worry about that because I plan on having a good enough job to be able to buy my girlfriend what she wants.

The Week of Ward Activities

July 29, 2015

         Today was a pretty good p-day even thought we just kind of sat around due to the fact that my comp is till sick.  We had a fat-kid moment when we made and ate tons of oatmeal cookies.  I tried to let them sit for a few hours before my workout, but I didn’t wait long enough…I actually got sick.  It’s over now though and other than that we had a very uneventful day today.

Miracle #308:We had a ward council meeting today! (It is only the third time on my mission that I have been to one of these.)  It was a good meeting.

July 30, 2015

         Today was an all right day.  We had a lot of our citas fall through.  We also contacted a TON today , but it really didn’t turn out very well.  The worst part of the day was getting totally chewed out in a lesson for falling asleep.  This member heats up her house really warm, which is not common here in Chile. So here we are wearing all of our warm clothing, in a warm house after lunch…it was just a killer.

Miracle #309: The miracle family from last Wednesday was our 9:00 appointment, but just as we walked out of the house, the mother drove by and stopped us to let us know that they wouldn’t be able to meet today.  The miracle is that she told us that she wants us to call and reschedule and gave us her phone number.

         The funny part of the day was having a totally immature, yet hilarious Zone Leader in the house.  All he wanted to do was talk about women, and he kept making crude jokes and generally inappropriate comments.  I just don’t see how guys like that make it into leadership positions.  There is literally nothing that I see in him that I want to emulate.

July 31, 2015

         Today was a pretty stellar day.  We basically just went from person to person teaching lessons today.  It was well executed, although we weren’t able to plan any of it in advance because our ZL took up all of our planning time last night. There was a huge contrast between yesterday ad today.  I was unusally off yesterday and uncharacteristically on today.  I would like to be able to even things out a bit so that I am more consistent.  I did struggle to stay awake in a few lessons today and I am trying to come up with a solution to that problem.

Miracle #310: We had a really good lesson with someone who’s basically heard every missionary message before, except for the lesson that we came up with.

         The funny part of the day was probably when Elder Furner got swarmed by cats in a lesson.  He had one on his lap and was petting it when another jump up.  All of a sudden one of them started growling and hissing.  Elder Furner had no idea what to do when they started fighting. Poor guy was just caught in the middle.  We visited our old senile friend who is all alone.

August 1, 2015

         Today was a great day but not because we had lessons, because we didn’t, but we had an awesome ward activity today.  Most of the day was absorbed in the activity and related jobs that needed doing.  The activity was my 2^nd dessert competition. It was, if possible, even better that the first.  Practically the entire ward came and supported the activity. This time, the desserts didn’t run out, so we all stuffed ourselves to the bursting point.  It was totally worth it!  After the activity, we had an appointment that we couldn’t make it to because the judging went way too long. 

Miracle #311: There ended up being 4 nationalities who participated in the competition: Peru, Canada, Chile, and USA. So it was the first international dessert competition.

         There were 2 really funny parts of the day.  The first was with the other elders.  We couldn’t find our magnetic name tags earlier today and we had to leave without the outer tag on.  When we got to the activity, the other elders revealed their dessert….9 kilos of jello!  Then it clicked, they put our name tags in the mountain of jello!  

        The other funny part of the day was playing a missionary game where the point was to get someone else to volunteer to offer the prayer.  The game is to say “Yo” followed by something to do with water.  In the end someone says, “Yo lago” which sounds like “Yo la hago” – which means “I’ll do it.”  It is a game that only works in Spanish.  There was one other fun part of the day and that was when the members that we live with played Queen on their stereo during our dinner hour.  We rocked out to Queen while cooking our dinner.

August 2, 2015

         Today was a good day as well.  We had the most spiritual testimony meeting that I have been to here in Chile. We had some people come to church who never show up and it was super cool. After church, we went to give the sacrament to someone before going to lunch. The rest of the day was really good.

Miracle #312: The ward was really unified today and I think that it had a lot to do with the activity yesterday.

         Today we had a giant ward division where we left to invite people to the activities that are happening this week.  This Tuesday we have a ward family home evening, and this Friday we have a talent show.  We have all this stuff because this week is our ward conference and they have a weird custom of doing a week of activities before the conference.  I am not complaining because activities are the bomb!

August 3, 2015

         Today was pretty good.  This morning we had an unusually good district meeting, which helped us to be more motivated to obey.  I am not a disobedient missionary, but I could be stricter with myself. This meeting motivated me to want to be better.  After the meeting, we went to lunch where we wasted time talking to a family in the ward. I’m really the only missionary in the ward that tries to get out of appointments on time.

Miracle #313: We had a lesson with a super stubborn less active members who never agrees to go to any type of church meeting.  But, through gentle persuasion, they agreed to come to the activity on Friday.

         The funny part of the day was when passed by to visit a new investigator family.  Here in Chile, neighbors watch out for each other and try to protect their neighbors.  When we knocked on this family’s door, the neighbor told us that they were not home, and he insisted on it even though we pointed out that their gate was open and their lights were on.  Then just 2 seconds after that, the father of the house walked out to greet us…the neighbor quickly ran inside.

August 4, 2015

         Today was a good day.  We started out the day by going to a cita with R. They were going to get bread, but we volunteered to get it for them.  We decided to run a kilometer to go get this delicious whole wheat bread.  When we got back, they freaked out and claimed that wheat bread tastes nasty.  Ughhh!

Miracle #314: We had an awesome activity today with a really good turnout!

         The funny part of the day was when one of the families we visit made fun of poor Elder Furner….he was not amused.

Poor sick companero

My stash of healthy food.

July 22, 2015

         Well today was sweet!  I really had fun with our p-day which I will explain, but everything was overshadowed by the incredible lesson that we had today.  So for p-day we essentially just did a CRAZY workout in insanity (the 2 hardest workouts back to back) and then we planned a lesson.  Usually we don’t have a lot of time during the week to plan our lessons, so today it was a great use of our p-day.

Miracle #301:  This is a really long miracle.  A week ago we met a family who seemed very nice but we really didn’t know how it would turn out.  Today we had our first real lesson with them. It was amazing.  The spirit was mind-blowing throughout the whole lesson and Elder Furner and I were super unified.  During the lesson, I was guided by the spirit to say things that I’ve never said in ways I’ve never spoken. Throughout the entire lesson I also had the desire to invite them to be baptized.  My mom had just emailed me a message today about the importance of being bold and extending baptismal invitations.  So, with a lot of trepidation, I extended the invitation and they accepted the invitation!

         The mother commented to us that when we shared our message with her with such happiness, she felt curiosity piquing and the beginnings of the spirit witnessing to her the truth of our message.

July 23, 2015

         Today was tolerable.  We did our weekly planning while at the same time making whole wheat crepes.  They were so good!  After planning, we started setting companionship goals and we both decided that we need to shift into high gear.  It is so great to have a comp. who has a high gear to shift into!   

         Other than that, my day was rather diarrhea filled.  I don’t know what was in our lunch, but it did not sit well with me at all.  On the bright side, my time on the toilet was well used memorizing scriptures.  We had a fun family home evening with Perez Guzman.

Miracle #302: A less active member we have been teaching went on divisions with us today and she remembered all of the things that we have been teaching her and applied it to the lesson.

         The funny part of the day was talking about the plethora of Chilean sayings that I have been learning.  When the Chileans spout these idioms, I can now understand them. I may not have a 100% Latin accent, but I am now able to understand everything that I hear.  I need to keep working hard on the language so that I can master it in the next year. 

July 24, 2015

         This week is a heck of a lot slower that last we.  We haven’t been able to find all of the best people in our sector and it is so frustrating.  Everyone who was progressing kindof disappeared.  I lost my last agenda which doesn’t help us either.  It is really hard to find people when you don’t have their contact info.  Elder Furner and I did alright today with everything.  The only bad part of the day was some of the wastes of time that the members had us do.

Miracle #303: Rosita got over her fear leaving with missionaries today.  We didn’t have a lesson for her because it fell through, but she still went out with us and it was a good experience.

         The funny part of the day was probably stretching tonight with my companion.  He cannot stretch at all.  But we are determined to improve his flexibility!  It was also funny when both me and my companion were practically falling asleep in the visit we made to our old senile friend.  I am still not entirely sure how long we were there…but neither is Elder Furner.

July 25, 2015

         Today had the potential to be a lot better of a day than it turned out to be.  We ended up contacting for around 2 hours and found some good people.  It was the first day that we really have done contacting as a companionship and I really enjoyed working with Elder F. Right now, my comp and I are stretching and writing in our journals so it is hard to concentrate…but it is an efficient use of our time.

         So today we had some rough lessons which were made even less pleasant by the fact that we were fasting.  Fasting is getting easier for me, but still I am definitely not a fan. 

Miracle #304: We got a last minute division with a member so that we could go and visit a single woman and teach a lesson.

         The funny part of the day was the huge waste of time that turned out to be our last two lessons.  We brought an old talkative man to visit an old talkative woman.  We sat there for WAY too long not knowing how to start the lesson, then we didn’t know how to end it. I was exhausted all day today so we are sleeping in a tiny bit more tomorrow (in other words we will get up less early than usual.) This sector is tiring.

July 26, 2015

         I’m sick of Chilean church.  The talks that people give here are so confrontational and given without love.  I miss the spiritual talks given in the states.  The saddest part for me is hat I know what it should be like and how powerful the spirit can be in sacrament meeting.  I suppose that I will go home and appreciate what I have a whole lot more because of my experience here. Other than that, church was all right.  We had some decent visits with the people we teach, and our fast turned out really well.

Miracle #305: We were fasting for a few people and one of them came to church today.  We found another one of them right after church after over a week of being unsuccessful in finding him.

         The funny part of the day was seeing the Chilean justice system work today.  As a preface, you need to know that the Chilean police are so poor that the civilians take matters into their own hands. So, instead of having a house alarm that calls the police, their alarms set of a siren that alerts everyone in the neighborhood so that everyone comes running out of their house with guns and running around like a bunch of batmans.

July 27, 2015

         Today turned out to be a good day. It started out with a really weird lesson with R. where he told us that he wanted to retaliate against a man who wants to kill him.  Naturally, we advised him not to do anything. After that lesson, we went to interviews with the president.  I miraculously did not get chewed out in this interview.  He told me that someday I might be a good leader if I could get control of my pride.  It looks like I won’t be getting a responsibility any time soon. (oh dang)  This afternoon absolutely everything fell through and we ended up having a blast knocking doors.  We actually found a lot of new people that I am looking forward to teaching.

Miracle #306: We got to he end of about 4 hours of contacting while having fun the whole time.

         The funny part of the day was when Elder Furner wasn’t feeling well so he laid down for a rest.  He said, “My whole body hurst!”  I told him that he could be getting a fever and should take some ibuprofen.  He refused to believe me. Then a few minutes later he said he was nauseous and had a headache.  So I repeated myself and he refused to believe me again.  Then he started getting chills which is when I said, “Elder, you say that you don’t have a fever, but you are describing fever symptoms.  Take ibuprofen and you will feel better.”  He finally conceded and took the meds.

July 28, 2015

         Well my comp was sick today, so we were in the house most of the day.  It wasn’t an entirely unproductive day, however because I organized the crapily make contacts list in our cell phone (almost an hour) and updated our area book (the rest of said hour). 

I have spent way to many days in the house in this sector.  Between the soccer tournament, lazy companion, frustration, and disease…possibly 3-5 entire days worth of time have been spent inside.  While I was in today, I read a ton of the Bible.  It really wasn’t a bad day except for the fact that we had a ton of citas set up. Oh well, my comp. is a good hard-working elder and he needed the rest.

Miracle #307: When we left to do morning contacts at 8:00, we taught a lesson!

         The funny part of the day was making fun of Chile in a way.  I have decided that when I hear the word “Chilena” (Chilean woman), the image that pops into my head is a really attractive 20 year old woman with a 3-5 year old kid latched onto her leg and maybe another one on her hip.  Seriously, it is a common site here. The fun part of the day was working on a musical number with Elder Furner.  We are singing the words of “Divina Luz” to a special version of “Savior, Redeemer of my Soul.”  For the last verse, I made up some sweet harmony parts for me to sing.  We are psyched for it.

 

Forward Progress with Elder Furner

July 15, 2015

       Today was a good p-day….finally.  Being with Elder F. feels really weird in a good way because it seems like we are just on a very long division.  We finally got our room all set up and it so legit.  Today we just bought some stuff for cooking as a companionship on weekly planning days.  

I had a really good time just talking with Elder F. all day long.  Even though he had a good comp in his last change, today he told me that he feels like he is working better with me than he was before.  I sure do reciprocate that sentiment and it is nice to have a comp. who actually seems to like working with me.  We also teach well together and I feel really excited about the missionary work in this sector.

Miracle #295: We had not 1, not 2, but THREE burgers today.  One was a fish burger, and 2 were hamburgers from 2 different less active members. Mmmmm

       The funny part of the day was when the califont (water heater) ran out of batteries so we couldn’t take a warm shower.  Hermano Perez, the member we live with, started flipping out about it because he felt so badly about us having to take cold showers.  The nearest store is about 5 minutes away, but I think that he was only gone about 2 minutes.  HOLY COW, by the way he reacted, you would have thought that his house was on fire and he had to get the hose.  I really love this family that I live with.

July 16, 2105

       Today was another stellar day.  This morning we had another good lesson with R., the ex-drug dealer.  He has stopped selling drugs and feels a ton more calm about his life.  His family really likes me, which has helped me feel better about my situation.  In the afternoon we had a stake young men’s activity where the kids of the stake left with the missionaries from 3:30-8:30.  Elder F. and I are really cheap, so instead of taking public transportation, we just walked all the way to our sector.  We walked a TON and we also taught a TON of lessons today.  The member kid that we got died with all the walking and the work.  I forgot how well conditioned we are as missionaries to doing this work.  By the end of the day, this poor kid sweated through his suit.  I think that we walked around 20 km today.

Miracle #296: Despite losing 3 hours of our day to the youth activity, we had 4 good lessons and 3 divisions.

       The fun part of the day was probably making cookies with Elder F. while planning for the week.  We then took the cookies to our lunch appointment as our dessert where the members made fun of them….until they tried them.  Chileans suck at making cookies.  I think that gringos are the kings of desserts.

July 17, 2015

       T’was another marvelous day!  Elder F. and I are killing it in this sector.  We started this day with a not-so-great morning contacts, but had an incredible rest of the day.  We spent the morning finishing our weekly planning session and putting our area books together (combining them).  We also made pizza pockets at the same time!  After a really really late lunch, we got so tired that we almost crashed but them we finally hit the streets. ALL of our lessons were good, but one of them stood out above the rest and it was once again with M. 

Miracle #297: We desparately searched for a man to go with us to our lesson with M. (since she is a single woman), but we couldn’t find anyone. The miracle is that when we got to her house to tell her that we would have to reschedule, there was a man in the house so we were able to teach.

       There were a lot of fun parts of the day today, but probably the funniest thing happened during the morning contacts.  We walked past  R’s house and the light was on so we yelled “R., wake up!” Then as we walked away we heard him yell back, “I hate you!”  Another fun thing is that we met a new dog friend today who likes to run in front of us…I named him Toyota, you know, like a 4-runner.

July 18, 2015

       Well I guess that 5 killer days in a row was just too much to ask.  Today was only a good day.  We had to do a new morning routine because another missionary in the house complained about us doing our exercises too late in the morning.  We actually get up an hour and a half before he does, but he doesn’t like the time that we choose to do our exercise.  We thought that it would be more thoughtful of us to do our quiet studies early so that we didn’t wake the other missionaries, and then exercise when they are getting ready in the morning.  But I guess that they would rather us do it the other way around.

Miracle #298: We got through an entire lesson with 2 very active boys.  It was definitely a battle, but we won.

       The funny part of the day was probably when one of the little boys played a joke on me that ended up with me getting kicked in a very sensitive place. Another fun part of the day was when we talked with a very respectful Jehovah’s Witness.  This is the second time that this has happened on my mission and it is really a nice experience because usually they are very rude to us missionaries.

July 19, 2015

       Today was a hard Sunday because our strongest investigators didn’t go to church today. Ughh!  We even left to look for people before church and after sacrament meeting we tried again to find them.  We walked well over a mile and NO ONE was home.  It was super disappointing to get your hopes up when people promise to come to church and then have them dashed as you call at their door and realize that they aren’t going to leave. #missionarysadness.  Other than that, I gave a talk today about the need for missionary work and it turned out okay. The rest of our day was a bit slow, but overall it was another good day.

Miracle #299: V. read all three of the chapters in The Book of Mormon that we asked her to.  She says that she never wanted to read before, but now that she is reading, she loves it.

       The fun part of the day was getting tons of food from members.  A lot of it is really bad for you, but we have figured out how to turn down food without being rude.  Elder F. and I are having a good time working together.  We make fun of each other in a happy way. 

July 20, 2015

       Today was zone conference.  We learned a lot but we went hungry and didn’t get out of the conference until 6:00.  All of our other plans fell through today and we just had to contact for a few hours and then have a family home evening.

Miracle #300:  Carlos and Hermano Perez went through our list of members that we need to visit and cleaned it up for us.

       The fun part of the day was telling stories with Elder F. all day long.  I really appreciate my new companion, he is a great missionary.

Elder Furner's morning contact hairstyle.

July 21, 2015

       Today started with contacts in the subway (not my favorite) and then with divisions with the district leaders.  I say DLs because we have 2 of them now.  They are a companionship and they are all right I guess. I didn’t really want to go on divisions because things are going great in my sector right now.  My district leader did not want to speak to me in Spanish, which was weird for me. Also it was weird because the members just gave us money for lunch today. Then it got even weirder when the DL took me to lunch at a place where the sister missionaries were also eating.  So we ate lunch with the sister…2 elders, 2 sisters…ughhh not super comfortable with that.

Miracle #300: I was able to convince my DL to let me do my personal study even though he didn’t want to do it, and I learned a ton.

       The funny part of the day was realizing how uncomfortable it made me to be around girls.  
       One of the best parts of the day today was finding out that ONE OF MY INVESTIGATORS FROM MY TIME WITH LEÓN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!

Elder Furner to the rescue!

July 7, 2015,

This was a good day overall.  We had 2 divisions in the same day.  The first one was a funny one where we went around with the recently released relief society president and NOT ONE PERSON accepted us.  It was pretty hard core rejection….good times.

Miracle #286: On the other division of the day, we taught  a woman a lesson who we met the day before on contacts, and it went really well!

It's chilly in Chile.

July 8, 2015

         Today was a cruddy p-day.  In the morning we went to a zone activity that I really didn’t want to go to because they played soccer for 4 hours and ate a bunch of junk food.  I ended up doing an insanity workout with an old mission friend, Elder Jaeger so it turned out to be a little bit fun.  I went to the activity because my comp. wanted to go and I really didn’t want him to throw a fit, lose all motivation, and then blame it on me.

Miracle #287: The other elders each have a member of their companionship who is sick, so they needed help with their appointments which meant divisions for me!!!

         During the divisions, Elder Valle tried to give me some tips to use with my comp which kindof helped.  The worst part of the day was the scathing letter that I got from the president. The gist of it is that I am a terrible, angry, out of control missionary and I will be miserable my whole life if I do not change.  Yeah, it was a really motivational letter.  So I have been torn apart my all of my leaders while they believe anything that my lazy, unethical, disobedient companion tells them.  I need a change.

July 9, 2015

         Today was even worse than yesterday.  I don’t know what to do because everything that I have done so far has been wrong according to my leaders.  My comp. doesn’t want to do anything and I am sick of trying to do everything.  I get in trouble for not somehow getting him to do his part, and I also get in trouble if the work is not done.  It is a no win situation.  He is worse than a brand spanking new missionary.  He fell asleep AGAIN this morning because “his head hurt” and he ignored me when I wanted to do weekly planning, so I had to do it on my own again.  Then he magically recovered from his headache just in time to go to lunch.  BUT today something good did happen, I just stopped caring.  I know that it is awful, but I just gave up trying to think of ways that I could change to make this companionship work.  He ended up just sitting around the house while  I planned lessons and studied.  We did have one lesson today and a miracle.

Miracle  #288: In the one lesson that we had today, our investigators accepted a baptismal challenge and set a date for August 2^nd!

         The funny part of the day was nothing. Right now I am hating my life and I don’t know how to fix it.  I can’t figure out how to love my lying, lazy companion and according to my president, I am screwed for the rest of my life. I am feeling pretty much like a loser missionary going nowhere.

July 10, 2015

         Today was slightly better than yesterday. I told Elder R. that we were going to work today and that he was going to lead.  That ended up meaning that we basically walked around all day long doing nothing in particular.  I tried to talk to him all day, but he really is not interested in talking. 

Miracle #289: We actually still found a couple of interested people in our random wanderings today who my companion actually spoke to.

         The funny part of the day was leaving my comp out to dry in both the lesson that we taught.  I just stopped talking and it was pretty darn rough and awkward….but he needs to do SOMETHING.  The other thing that happened today was that we got to attend the funeral of Elder Boyd K. Packer.  That was a great blessing to me because it helped me to feel the spirit.

July 11, 2015

         Today wasn’t a good day, and not because I didn’t try.  We started with a good lesson with a less active member who has had some drug abuse issues in the past.  I really feel for this member and I have such a strong desire to try to help him.  When we came home, we found that the crazy member of the ward had come into our room and DESTROYED it.  I have had it…I can’t stand it anymore.  I just lost is and was so ticked off. I am sure that the president will hear about my temper again, but to be fair…why should we have to put up with this crap?  If I don’t clean all this mess up, my leaders will get after me again.

Miracle #290: A neighbor who lives in front of us, knocked on our door wanting to learn about the path of God.  He was only a little drunk so we will see what happens when he is sober.

         Today I once again handed the reins over to my comp.  At 8:00 we ran out of things to do and he just wanted to go back to the house.  I advised against it, but we did want he wanted anyway. Thankfully, changes were announced tonight and Elder R. was indeed promoted but he will be leaving our sector which is being shut down.  I get to stay here in the sector that will absorb my old sector and my new comp will be Elder Furner.  I did indeed get demoted to junior comp., but I don’t care because Elder F. is the best and we are going to have a blast while working hard.

July 12, 2015

         Today was an interesting day.  It was mostly filled with goodbyes to members of our ward. At church, my comps said his little talk/testimony to say goodbye to the ward.  After church we changed all of our appointments so that he could say goodbye to people. It was honestly just him hanging out with members, I mean seriously it was a lot of doing nothing productive. To make it even harder, it poured down rain all day long. 

Miracle #291: My “boots” which all the other elders said would get water in them, ended up working just fine.

         The funniest part of the day was when a less active member decided that he wanted to dance.  So he turned on his disco ball and started blasting music.  The other funny part of the day was Elder Valle splashing through puddles with his waterproof pants and rain boots.  He just sloshes through shin deep rivers in the middle of the street and thinks that it is pretty fun.

July 13, 2015

         11 month anniversary in the mish.  I am WAY TIRED! Like exhausted.  How am I every going to do another 13 months? Today was good though.  This morning, before our district meeting, we had a cita with R., the drug addict.  It was a great lesson and I can see that he is really improving and changing.  I really hope the best for him.  After that we went to the lamest district meeting of all time.  We did a few lame practices and then he had to leave so we just messed around in the chapel waiting for everyone else to finish so that we could take a zone picture.

Miracle #292: Elder Furner and I were able to plan everything for the week in an hour.  This almost never happens when you are in the beginning of a change because you are usually so busy.

         The funny part of the day was just joking around with Elder Furner.  We did some divisions while our comps said goodbye to more people and I learned that I am going to have a GREAT 6 weeks working with my new companion.  We are going to get a lot done and I know that I will be a lot happier.

July 14, 2015

         It was an awesome day!  The morning was a little bit hard for me personally because when we went to changes I was told that I would be the junior comp.  This just reinforced to me that the president has no trust in me as a missionary.  Yeah….well I am just gonna forget about trying to play the game and just do my job no matter where I get stuck.  Other than that blow to what is left of my ego, today was great.  Moving rooms really sucked, but wrking with Elder Furner was awesome.  We had a super busy day trying to get to the people in both of our sectors.  We were able to make appointments for later this week to fill our planner.  The only ting that we didn’t really do today in the work was contact….but we were busy, so I didn’t mind too much.

Miracle #294: Today we had another lesson with M. the miracle from last Tuesday.  It was a great lesson and we have lots of hope for her.

         The funny part of the day was when we visited this ANCIENT old man who is not all there, but who needs company.  We just made up stories to tell him and he enjoyed it. It was the first time in 6 weeks where I have felt happy almost the whole day.  Despite being demoted to junior, I am super happy with this change. 

Red, While, and Blue Week!

 July 1, 2015

         Holy cow! Half of my calendar year in Chile is already gone!  Today was actually a goo day.  I had a lot of fun.  We took out our monthly allotment and I uncharacteristically blew half of my budget on food which I am hoping will last me to the end of the month.  I made my companion buy me ridiculously overpriced candy to replace what he stole from me yesterday.  Overall, I felt a lot better.  I woke up with energy at 6:30 and studied, prepared, and played ping-pong for an hour.  All of that got me in a really good mood especially after I was able to email my family.

Miracle #281: We found an ATM machine that didn’t charge extra for a withdrawal.

         The funny part of the day was when all of us (except my companion) were doing exercises together.  It was a really hardcore workout and my companion decided he was going to join us because he wants to loose weight.  He lasted for about 20 minutes and then crashed on the bed while we finished the workout.  It was funny to see three people working hard and 1 sleeping. 

July 2, 2015

         Today was a really good day.  Elder R. and I are getting along a lot better because of my resolution to just help him in anyway that I can.  Today we had a companionship inventory where we calmly talked about our strengths and weaknesses.  It went rather well because I wrote only some selected weaknesses that I thought he could and would work on.  The good part is that typically when my companion is told to do something, he does try to do it if he remembers.  He can’t seem to improve by himself but he will try if you tell him what to do.  Even thought he constantly studies, nothing sticks in his head.  What really helps me to deal with this is to ignore the actual issues and think instead that he probably has a mental or developmental problem. 

Miracle #282: We had a lesson with evangelists and they didn’t fight with us.  Also we had divisions with a female member of the ward that went very well.

         The funny part of the day was when we went to the lesson and the woman answered the door telling us that her husband was not home.  I told her that we wouldn’t be able to come in to teach her without her husband present.  Then the woman said in English, :Don’t be a square!”  Well that was surprising and funny and a little frustrating. Non- missionaries just don’t understand the whole obedience thing.  I may not be 100% obedient, but there are some rules that I just won’t break.  Fortunately, the husband was actually there, just hiding in the basement.  He can upstairs after hearing the exchange and we were able to teach the lesson.

July 3, 2015

         Today “we” did morning contacts.  Basically they consisted of mus leaving the house at 7:00 am walking to a bus stop and talking to people.  I talked to a bunch of people and quickly forgot that it was freezing cold.  While I was contacting for an hour, my companion just stood there shivering.  He didn’t talk to a SINGLE person.  Afterwards I kindly asked him how his contacting went, to which he answered, “I was too cold, I couldn’t do it.”  I told him that it was no excuse and he just wasted an house of his time. Then while we were studying later he decided that he was tired and got back into bed.  At that point, it finally got to me but instead of blowing up, I went to Elder Furner and Valle and asked for a division.  Generally, you should only do divisions with your leaders, but my district leader doesn’t care at all about what is going on with us.  We ended up with divisions all day.

Miracle #283: I was able to have a relaxed and productive day where I laughed and worked well with my companion.

         All day was fun for me, but the funniest part was probably when Elder Tormow bought a flashlight tazer and we played with it.  It wasn’t a powerful tazer, it just stings really bad for a few minutes.  He bought it for less that 10$.

         We are looking forward to the 4^th of July celebration for tomorrow with hamburgers and lots of good food.  We plan on watching the finals of the Americas Cup soccer tournament tomorrow where Chile faces Argentina.

July 4, 2015

         This morning the zone leaders came over and big surprise….they chewed me out again.  This time they got after me because my area book was not 100%.  I have been working on it solo since coming here 4 weeks ago, but it is not quite up to their standards.  My comp. has never touched it.  I told my ZLs that and they just said to stop making excuses.  Seriously?  I am basically training someone who has been in the mission a year and a half.  Then on top of that, they told me that I need to stop ACTIVELY helping him, that he needs to do things for himself.  Then my leader said, “ Elder Colvin, for the last week of this change, you’ve gotta take it up the butt. It’ll hurt, but just shut up and take it.”  I was actually feeling pretty good about how things were going with my comp. until this talk, now I am completely frustrated.  The only good part of the butt chewing was knowing that the ZLs are going home this week.

 Miracle #284: Chile won the Americas Cup for the first time in history, and it happened while I was here on the mission.  It made for a memorable 4^th of July. 

        I actually had many fun parts of the day.  Saying the Pledge of Allegiance to a group of 6 gringos was fun.  Playing Ping-Pong Beer with juice was really fun.  We literally drank 2 liters of fluid in 10 minutes.  I can’t believe how excited the people in this city were over the soccer game.  Screaming, horns blasting, fireworks, etc!  North Americans never get that excited over games.  Today we also had a gringo BBQ with hamburgers and baked potatoes.  It tasted soooooo good.  

July 5, 2015

         Today was different.  First off, it rained a ton.  It was pretty cool because Chile has been in a drought for a while and the area 70 asked for a country wide fast for rain.  I am thanking my lucky stars because the air quality here is ridiculously polluted.  We needed a good air bath.  The pollution here is so bad that just being outside all did does the same damage to your lungs as smoking 8 cigarettes a day.  At least it is better now.  Other than that, today was pure contacting, for literally 6 hours.  I actually really enjoy myself while contacting because I love talking to different people.  Miracle #285: Elder R. actually talked to a few members during church and set up appointment for them to teach with us!

         The funny part of the day was a bus stop contact with a lady who was sitting down.  As I started the conversation, she turned around and WOW…let’s just day that she was a beautiful daughter of God.  I kept having to remind myself that I was a missionary throughout the whole contact.  I remained focused and kept the whole conversation directed on missionary work…AND I got an appointment to teach her tomorrow.  Anyways, my comp. got a huge kick out of the whole thing.  I was super proud of myself for not getting flustered and for staying focused on the work.

July 6, 2015

         Well today was a game changer kind of day for us missionaries.  At our zone meeting, there were several announcements that came as a result of the recent visit of the area 70 to our mission.  The lamest of all of the changes was the announcement that the missionaries are no longer allowed to carry shoulder bags.  The 70 decided that we need to walk around carrying our scriptures in our hands.  I am super lucky because I brought a HUGE scripture case for my Spanish scriptures which is large enough to fit some teaching supplies in it.  I can’t fit as many as I need for the day, but I have to obey even it it defies logic and I hate it.

Miracle #286: President changed the definition of a lesson to include a contact if the contact teaches a doctrine or principle of the gospel.  I think that he wants to motivate the missionaries to contact. 

         The funny part of the day was when we were in a lesson and my comp said, “This reminds me of a scripture….well I don’t remember it right now.”  This is a common phrase that my comp. uses and the members we were teaching know this.  They gave him a really HARD time for not remembering.  I try really hard to be nice and understanding with him about his memory problem because I think he has a legitimate learning disability.  But, it really is annoying to other people when he frequently tries to share scriptures that he can’t remember. The challenging part for me is to figure out a way to smooth things over in the lesson so that we can still feel the spirit.