Happy 18th of September Chile!

Dear Family,

This week is the 18 of Septiembre, which is the national holiday here in Chile. That means that this week we will be eating lots of empanadas, barbeques, mote con huesillo, choripan, and just a lot of really yummy things. The streets are lined with flags and everyone is excited.

Deyse and Millaray
They almost made me cry last Monday. We got to the appointment, sang and when we finished Deyse said, “Hermanas we want to invite you to a family home evening.” I asked her when and she said, “Now, do you have time?” We had prepared something to share with them, but we chucked that out the window and listened to a beautiful message about the Good Shepherd. It was so cute how they planned everything out, with scriptures and pictures. I learned that we need to recognize our shepherd´s voice and follow him and not follow the stranger´s voice. They are getting baptized next Saturday and the day can´t come fast enough for them.

Carolina and Andres
We found out at the start of the week that Carolina smokes and we set goals so that she can quit. She went from 5-6 a day to now 2. The bad news, she didn´t come to church. I am trying to figure out how to increase her faith so that she will want to go to church. We also found out during the week that Andres was baptized but not confirmed, so he is going to get baptized again and get confirmed. He is thirteen and is such a good kid. He spends a lot of time in the nearby field flying kites with his 6 year old brother, Alexis. Andres and Alexis came to church with us yesterday and sat quietly like little gentlemen during the whole sacrament meeting.

Sergio
He prayed! He felt a little scared after his prayer because he felt chills when he prayed and now he knows that the church is true, that he can talk with his Heavenly Father and he will be held responsible for what he does with the answer to his prayer. He told us that he waited for everyone to go to sleep that night before he prayed. He said that the next day he just wanted to do everything right. When he entered the smoke filled bathroom at work he didn´t have the urge to smoke, he was patient with his coworker and avoided getting into a fight, and he wants to be baptized.

Have a great week. Love, Hermana Arnold