It has been an eventful week for us.  We were able to watch and listen to the graduation ceremony as Jacob finished his basic training at Fort Jackson, SC.  We are so grateful that Liangzi took us along through Skype as we witnessed the event.  We are proud of Jake and are touched by his desire to serve.  He will now go to  Fort Gordon, GA for his AIT training in Information Technology.  He will be there for 6 months then receive his first duty station.  We hope he will be assigned to a base in the US but we shall see.  The military has a way of shipping people as far away as possible from family.  We just need to get used to it.

 

 

We had another experience this last week that I believe I need to mention. As I have stated part of our responsibility is to coordinated activities in family history in the CAS where we are assigned.  A young man came this last week who touched me in the spirit when I saw him.  He was a little scruffy but clean.  He said he had heard from someone that we could help him find information of his family. His name is  Cristian Valenzuela for an area by the Ocean and had traveled up to our center to see if he could build his family tree.  I sat him down to help him set up an LDS account and asked if he was a member.  He said that he did not know for sure.  The story is that he said hi family had at one time been members of the church and he was baptized at 8 years then did not remember much after that.  I told we did not need to know that at this time but went ahead and set up a free visitors account.  We got he and his parents in then went to his grandparents.  He knew their names and where they lived but he did not know either of his grandmothers names or anything about them.  He did know where they were buried and we found the cemeteries but it has not been long enough time passed that we could see the records on the computer.  I told him that the best would to take a trip to the cemetery and visit the graves and get all the information that he could for the stones then search the on-site records for anymore information then come back.  As we talked he told me that he has had a strong feeling about his ancestors and the need to find them.  He had been nagged be the feeling to come to our temple to see if they could help him.  He also indicated after working in the Center and talking to me he feel a strong feeling in his heart that he wanted more and was drawn to the church.  I told him that he was probably still and member and that his bishop could help him find his records.  If in fact he is not a member the missionaries in the ward closest to him could help him understand the feelings that he has been having.  We looked up the ward closest to his home, got the bishop's phone number and the address of the chapel.  He said he was going to go to the chapel on Sunday and visit and try to talk to someone about his membership record.  I asked him to let me know how it went and call me.  He said he would, and hope he does.  He was so happy when he left to go to see the graves of his two grandfathers. I felt like I was on cloud nine the rest of the day.

 

We also finished the last of our Education for better employment workshop on Saturday.  The students were happy to be finished but all said they wished it wasn't over because they had learned so much and felt their testimonies had been strengthened by attending. 

 

One of the young women who attended had been battling depression and missed a couple of classes.  She was feeling better and wanted to come to the last one and finish.  I told the only way was for her to go online get the material and do all of the assignments before class and bring it with her.  She was their and had the work all done and was able to complete the course.  I talked to her after and was able to share with her a personal experience and afterward she said that it helped and she was sure she would get better.  When you see a young person struggle so much your heart just bursts with love and hope for them.  I have spent a lot of time and effort with these young people and have grown to love them as if they were my own.  They have formed groups with an app called "whatsapp" and have added me to their groups.  It is fun to follow their conversations and see what they are doing.  During the work shops they have really gotten close and are helping each other all along the way.  The gospel is marvelous at how it brings strangers together and turns them into families almost who care for each other.  I love this new self-reliant initiative and have already seen amazing things come from it.  I know it is inspired to help these people who struggle with life.  The most amazing part is the part call "My Foundation"  which is totally spiritual. Sometimes it is hard to get them off from those topics to move into the rest of the workshop, but it is wonderful to witness the spirit working in their hearts.

 

I had the opportunity to attend a group meeting in the Los Platanos Ward the other night and witness a group who are trying to start their own businesses.  The facilitator was very good about including all of the participants and working through the material.  Their was also a spirit of brotherhood and helping each other be a success. I was impressed how they each had worked hard on their commitments and accomplished some real headway into seeing their dreams come true.  I am supposed to attend next Wednesday as well with one of the area managers to witness the group meeting.  So far most of the stakes are having the meetings on Sunday and the manager will not be here to participate.  We will see if we can find another while he is here.

Friday we took the day off and closed the center because in have been tied up every Saturday since just after Christmas and Chris has had to do all of the shopping and taking care of the domestic responsibilities.  That is fine with her but it is hard for her to get the groceries off from the bus and haul them all home.  So we closed the center and I helped her all day.  It was so good that we could spend the day just with us and work together.  Because of her lack of the Spanish language she has not been able to participate that much with the people but she keeps trying and I know that if she keeps it up by the time we finish she will be a big contributor.  I am proud of her desire to learn and do better.  It is really hard because if you do not speak or understand the people are nice but they don't work at it much unless you ask.  They just are sensitive and do not want to embarrass any one. 

This week we have a meeting with our mission president on Friday which is being called a leadership meeting.  It will be held at his home and just the senior couples are invited.  Not sure what to expect but I am sure it will be worth while.  Until next time we are praying for our new Stake Presidency and the new stake.  We are anxious to find out about all the new changes and the leadership in the new stake.



Yesterday and last Wednesday we had two groups of students who finished the "Education for better employment" workshops.  It was a bitter sweet week it was hard to say good bye and not know if we will see them again but so rewarding to see them with all of the tools to get into school and earn an education so as to become the leaders in the church and in their communities.  As I have said in past posts these are some of the best in Chile and they are excited to go out and prepare themselves to make a difference.  We are proud of them and pray for them.  It is impossible to not love them and have a lasting relationship.  They have formed groups on Whatsapp which I had never heard of but they invited me into the group and it is fun to see their conversations and also inspiring to see how they speak of spiritual things in their communications.  There are several who are return missionaries and they told the rest that they should plan a night when Elder and Sister Ellis are working in the Baptistery to do baptisms.  So they are planning to get together and go out together for ice cream and come to the temple on a Tuesday night to do baptisms with us.  They are all working on family names to bring.  To us that is the great showing of success in the workshops we have participated in with them. 

 

The group at the top finished on Wednesday ant the group on the bottom finished yesterday.  What a great day.  We are so blessed to be here and to be able to work with these people.  Our only fear is that as we get the stakes to more fully grasp the initiative of self-reliance we will see less of the participants and work more with the Ward and Stake leaders. 

 

One of the rewarding assignments that we have is to hold the Self-reliance workshop with the missionaries who are returning home.  They are so surprised when the come into the room and see their whole name on a placard without the titles of "Elder or Hermana" in front of their name.  When we start out we explain the just for today they are regular members of the church and not full time missionaries.  We are preparing them to return home and understand a little of what is in store for them.  They are a bit shocked and interested in the first names of the other missionaries.  Many of them have never known that information.  I tell them to look around and take note because all of these are part of their network of contacts.  We had 18 in this last group from the Chile Santiago East mission.  There were7 Latinos and 11 Americans.  It is amazing to feel their spirit and energy and sometimes a bit overwhelming.

 

 

The Returning missionaries CSE mission 2/5/2015