A good week, First there`s Gorge, an amazing investigator who has gone through a lot of tough things these last few weeks. One day, a little before I arrived in this ward, he was sitting on a bench, alone, in a big park next to a busy street. He was thinking about how he would end his life. He heard someone talking to him, so he lifted his head to find two missionaries standing in front of him. That was my companion, elder Lopez and the Zone Leader, and they began to give him hope. He saw them as angels, sent from God to change his life. Then I came and got to know him. His was living on the streets, sleeping in the park, but shortly after I arrived he found a room to rent. He is gathering money to buy a bed and kitchen. He has been prepared to recieve our message, he is so willing to read the Book of Mormon and has accepted a baptismal date for the 30 of may. He knows we were sent by God to save his life and give him hope, to change his life. We expect to see him in church for his first time this sunday. I am so happy for his progress. There is also an 11 year old investigator that is progressing. The missionaries have been working with her and her family for quite a bit of time now, she has gone to the church various times, but the problem is she has no support from her family. Youth have to attend church for at least 4 months strait if they don`t have the support from an adult in their family to get baptized. She had a fight with another girl at church and has stopped reading the book of mormon and going to church, but we were able to convince her to go last sunday to church, and she had a good time. She is strong, but with the financial problems at home, it is hard keep at it. Other than those two, we have few people here that we are teaching. But, I like to work hard and we are hitting the streets and doing plenty of contacts, trying to talk to everyone. The ward is good sized, with an average assistance of 85 in sacrament meeting. For now the meetings start at 11, but in a few weeks they will start at 9, flipping the schedule, starting with Priesthood-Relief Society, and ending with sacrament meeting. Thats because we recently changed buildings and now share a building with another ward. I had a little cold this week, but keep working. I love you, see you next week. Elder Chandler
Transfers!!! After 7 changes and 10.5 months in Quimey, I had changes and now I am in the Parque Subercaseaux ward. I am really excited to get to know my new area, and am going to miss Quimey a little too. Parque Subercaseax is a lot different from Quimey. Quimey is the sector furthest south in the mission, and now I am in the sector most to the north. Quimey is a sector with a lot of country, really rural, and one of the largest in the mission. Now I am really close to the center of Santiago, which means a lot of city, a lot of towers and department buildings, and stores. In fact we have a huge Jumbo mall in the sector. There are a lot of people, and we are just a few minutes away from the subway station. And there are a lot of rich people here. I love city life, but it can be a challenge on the mission because we cannot contact department buildings to find new people. But I am really excited to get to work and make a difference here. Right now we have very few people we are teaching, but I expect to change that and have success here. I already know I am going to love it, and I`ve only been here 1 day. My companion is from Columbia, cool huh. Every one of my companions have been from a different county. Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico, California, Argentina, Peru, and now Columbia. I am learning a lot of culture, I only need a Brazilian and I am set. He only has 8 months on the mission, but is a hard worker. Today for pday we went to the Plaza de Armas, in Santiago Centro, and went to a national museum, and a catholic cathedral. The Cathedral was very interesting. It is huge inside, with ancient architecture, luxurious statues of the Saints, and Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. It is beatiful with all the detail they put into it, and the paintings on the tall arching ceilings. There were even people kneeling in front of a booth to confess their sins. It is amazing, but I am greatful to be a member of the true church and the beautiful simplicity that there is. But, it was a good experience to learn so much about another church. I love hearing how you are all doing, Jeremy on the mission, Josh and new job with amazon, Amy and Kate and your experiences in school. I love you all and can`t wait to talk for mothers day. Sincerely, Elder Chandler.
Paintball! It was incredible. That was on the list of things we couldn´t do for pday, but President gave us permision, if everyone in the zone went. It was my first time playing. I will want to play more when I get home, we played for 4 hours but I could have played all day. It reminds me of when we used to play airsoft. The field was sick, with a lot of obstacles around the an old house, which made plenty of cover to hide behind, including old cars, towers of tires, old metal barrels, bushes and trees, and a lot more. The last team to have players on the field won. It is definatly a pday that I will not forget. This week Sister Taylor went to the doctor and they told her she had to rest, and shouldn´t walk on it, so she borrowed a wheelchair and her companion has been pushing her everywhere to get to their apointments. Today they went to paintball with us, which required us to take bus and they take turns pushing her chair to arrive to the foot of Cerro Chena where we played. Her comp played while she watched and took photos. This Saturday Pilar is getting baptized, the wife of moises who got baptized without her wife knowing about two years ago. His wife goes to another church and at first was really stubborn and didn´t want to listed to our message at all, especially the book of mormon, but I have seen a huge change in her while I´ve been here. The other elders are teaching her, but in just the last couple months she has been to church without missing a single sunday, she has been reading the book of mormon, and going to ward activities. She went to Conference and was writing notes the whole time. She is really excited for her baptism. There is also a youth convert baptism this sunday, a young man who is 14 years old named Brandon. The missionary work is really bombing here in quimey. Me and Elder Esteves worked really hard this week, getting to know new people and helping older ones make commitments and progress. We are almost at week six of the transfer. Hey, how did you like General Conference, super stong huh? And a new temple in Haiti!! That is amazing news. There are a lot of messages to read over again and share them with others. Remember, as the world grow more wicked, the church becomes stronger and stronger, you can see that clearly in so many ways, the faithfulness of the members, the strong missionary force, the numerous temple that dot the earth, ECT. It is so amazing to be a part of something so big. Study conference, and change the things you need to change to be more spiritually strong. I love you all, I hope you had a good easter. Did the easter Bunny bring a lot of candy, LOL. Love, Elder Chandler.
Sunday was Joven Combatiente day, which if you remember from last year means that we had to return to the house early because there is a lot of violence on the streets. Luckily for us, San Bernardo is peaceful, and nothing bad happened. We had to enter at 6PM both Saturday and Sunday, but saturday we recieved permission to stay out later to go to a baptism of the sister missionaries in our ward. We did take advantage of the extra time though, and played Bang, a fun card game. It was a gift for Elder Peck, and came in chinese, but thanks to Elder Peck he was able to teach us how to play and we had a blast. Saturday Juan Carvajal was baptized, and it was an amazing baptism. His wife was baptized about a year ago, and was crying with the happiness that she felt to see her husband baptized as well, one year later. She bore testimony that God answers prayers because she had been pleeding every night that her husband would change and join the church. They both pleaded that thier daughters, most of them older that 18, would also be baptized so thier family could be eternal. The spirit was strong. Brother Garrido did the baptizing, who helped a lot to friendship him, and help Juan make the same decision that he had taken almost a year earlier. On Friday we had the Quimey Talent Show, and we had a good turn out. Sister Taylor did her sheep immitation BAAAAABAAA, the Soto family did a theater act from the bible, the young women danced, and Brother Barriga, the ward mission leader, and Brandon, a youth investigator did an amazing martials arts fight. It was a good activity and we laughed a lot. Brother Fica went to church!!!, I do believe in miracles. We have been working with the Fica family, and Sister Fica goes to church, but feels really alone in the church without her husband. Her Husband works late driving taxi, and sleeps in Sunday. But he came Sunday, at last due to a little convincing. Me and Elder Esteves keep working hard, contacting and finding new people to teach. We have a lot of good investigators. Today we played soccer. I am trying to make the best out of my last few weeks in this ward. I love you all, and with you the best. Mom, that april fools joke was not funny. Love, Elder Chandler.
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