This Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference. It was a really good experience and turned out nicely. We had a member of the 70 speaking from Argentina, and he had a really cool way of teaching which made the conference really helpful. First of all, for the Saturday session and Priesthood morning session he brought everyone on the stand down to stand in front of everyone, which consisted of the Temple President and his wife, The mission President and his wife, and the Stake Presidency. Then we went in talking about the two grand topics of missionary work and temples. He made it interactive by calling on people from the audience to answer specific questions, read scriptures, or give a comment. He also asked the leaders to give their ideas. We went over everything from indexing to family search to temple attendence to inviting others to participate. On Saturday, He called on all the youth to stand up, gather at the front, and he had them take pictures and send it to a friend of family member to invite them the the meetings tomorrow. He talked about hastening the work of salvation and our part in hastening the work. He called on missionaries to comment about the missionary work and how the members can work more with the missionaries, including going to lessons with the missionaries. The 70 talked about the sacrament, and enduring to the end- but not the end of life but the end of the week to renew your covenants another time. He said that attendance at ward activities or other meetings aren´t important to the church as much as participation in the ordinances, like sacrament and temple attendance. He talked about when we take the sacrament it should be like having a personal interview with the savior. As you can tell, it was a very good meeting, and a great push for the members to work a little harder in the church. A funny story was told by someone from the stake presidency that goes like this. He saw a photo of two babies, one white and the other brown. The brown baby said to the other, comparing him like a loaf of bread in the oven, they took you out to early and your too raw. The white baby said to the brown, they left you in to long and you got burnt. It seems to be a little funnier in spanish the way he told it. And I wish you all were here to hear the 70s awesome argentinan accent. This week was a good one, but quite a bit colder than the previous one. Cold to the bones. We are always trying to improve as a mission, and the norms set by the president challenge us for the better. There more help with the young men now. Also, Patricio Catalan came two sundays ago to our suprise because he hasn´t came in forever. but unfortunately his wife is unreceptive and when we knocked on their door we heard her whisper out of view, tell them I`m not here. The world cup of soccer is starting soon, and everyone will be watching everyday, which might mean mean a little challenge to get as many lessons in. Everyone knows Chile doesn´t have much of a chance, but soccer is so huge in south america that everyone will be watching regardless. Veronica always loves to hear from us, but we have yet get her to church. It is a little dificult for her health and because her husband isn´t very receptive. We keep pushing on though and we will get her there this week. You guys enjoy your summer heat and I´ll try to push away the cold, I love you all, Elder Chandler.
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