Monday, November 18, 2013

Hermana Mercado's 63rd Letter from Chile!

Highlight of the week. Conference with Elder Holland. It was so good! We had the conference with him Tuesday in the morning  in the city and since we are on the coast and hours away from civilization, we went into Maipu Monday evening to stay the night. We got to stay the night with Hna Selk y su hija, Hna Puchi! It was so great to see her! I love that woman. It was a little weird because she is living in my first pension but working in a diferent ward.

So Tuesday morning we got up at 4am to get ready to leave and get there early (we wanted to get good seats). Elder Holland is very funny and very passionate. Take away message I got: the Lord doesn't want 14 month or 16 month sister missionaries. He wants the full 18 months. So working to the end my friends! 

Side note. I also got to see Hna Moody in the conference because all the missions of Santiago got together to see Elder Holland. It was so good to see her!

It was a good week, but my mind is kind of a blur. That seems to happen a lot. But changes. We got a bit of a surprise. Both Hna Rodriguez and I are leaving El Quisco. But it is being left in good hands. Hna Marquez will be doing a whitewash and training there. I am now in el barrio Los Libertadores en la zona Los Cerrillos. City. Our sector is la plaza de Maipu and a little more. But I'm excited. I'm with Hna Venegas the hija of Hna Bigo. She was in my zone when I was in Ciudad Satelite and she is awesome. So she'll be my last companion to send me on home. We have a lot of work to do. It's gonna be good. 

--Hna Mercado

ps.I'll send pictures next week. this computer isn't reading my camera. 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Hermana Turville stuck in the stairs!

"The cutest Kitty in the world"

Hermana Mercado and Kitty

Kiara

Trick or Treaters

Misioneros de Quisco

Ensalada de tomates y maiz

Misioneros de Quisco

Hermana Rodriguez gets a hair cut!

Hermana Mercado gets a haircut!

No bake cookies, yum!

Hermana Mercado's 62nd Letter from Chile!


This week was much, much better. We didn't have to take any crazy trips to Santiago, so we had a lot more time to work in our sector. Found a couple of new people to teach. Lincye, a 20 year old girl we found knocking doors. She has a one year old son and is very open to talking with us. Really sweet. Also Juan Carlos, who we received as a reference. He's a 50 something year old gardener. He is an interesting man. When he took the hand of Hna Rodriguez he said she is a fearful person. When he took my hand he said I have a lot of sugar in my system and I need to drink more water.

We had another baptism in the ward this week! Leonardo, an investigator of Elder Calixto y Elder White. He is amazing. He's given his testimony twice already in sacrament meeting. He's a colectivero, 30/40 year old man with a lot of enthusiasm. His wife, children, and mother came to his baptism. I'm pretty sure they're all going to get baptized as well. Carlos came to see the baptism! it was the first time he was able to see one, so that was good. But he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon. He says everytime he tries to read it, his head hurts. Ugh! Excuses, excuses. I really have no idea what he wants. So we are just going to press forward and see what we can do to help him.

This Sunday was the primary program. So cute! Rene came! We were able to have a tour of the church with him after sacrament meeting and as we were finishing in the baptismal faunt, he told us that he wanted to prepare to be baptized the first week of December. To say the least, we're kind of happy :) 

And tonight we have to travel to stay the night in Maipu so tomorrow we can get up early for the meeting with Elder Holland. It is going to be amazing! But I have a feeling I'm going to be very tired.

--Hna Mercado 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Hermana Mercado's 61st Letter from Chile!


This past week was interesting, challenging, but also gratifying. We lost a lot of time with going to Santiago for my visa (I had to renew it), a multistake activity in San Antonio, and ugh! I feel really bad for our numbers this past week. There are no excuses. This week we are going to work even harder. Hna Carter gave us good advice to follow the steps in "Nuestro Compromiso al SeƱor", so we've put goals and made plans of how we can exercise more faith. 

Satan has been working really hard in our ward, especially now that we have 8 missionaries. Trying to tear it apart from the inside, attacking the leaders of each organization in a different way, especially the bishop. I have never met a man with so many challenges, so much opposition. But he stays strong. He is such a good man. But this past week we became aware of another major challenge that is occuring among the youth in our ward. My heart hurts. We are doing all we can to support and help the bishop, but sometimes I feel inadequate. Please keep el Quisco and Obispo Rivera in your prayers.

Good things. Even though going to do visa errands is never fun, it was nonetheless fulfilling. We did good contacts while waiting in the tremendous lines. I met a woman from Bolivia, and we also met a woman from the states who is married to an Argentinan. I also had some time to get to know my nieta, Hna Nelson, a little better. She also had to go to Santiago that day to take out her visa. She's really sweet, speaks Spanish very well for only being in the field for less than two changes, and has no fear in contacting people.

It was Halloween, and also a long weekend because the 31st has been made a Protestant holiday. So, for the long weekend, Quisco filled up with people again. Lots of little children went out to go trick or treating in the late afternoon. There were lots of people drinking too. It was getting a little sketchy, so we went home a little early that night. Hna Turville played a prank on us where we got scared pretty bad. I thought it was pretty funny, but Hna Rodriguez was not amused.

Saturday there was a multistake young single adult activity in San Antonio. We the missionaries were there to help them do contacts and give away a Book of Mormon. Cualquier referencia! It went really well. One woman that we contacted (two jovenes and I) said that we had come en el momento preciso. I was also able to see a lot of jovenes from my first ward because their stake came out to this activity.

Victor Lopez, one of our menos activos that we have been visiting came to church on Sunday! And Carlos, one of are investigators that we had left because he didn't want to commit to baptism yet, well we felt really strongly that we should have one more lesson with him, on faith and repentance. In the lesson, his challenge/doubt came out and we were able to clear things up for him. We were so close to commiting him to a fecha. He has committed to preparing for baptism, and committed to praying about the fecha we have put for him (25 de Nov). Even though this was a challenging/frustrating/emotional week, the Lord continues to bless us for our efforts. I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but I continue to be amazed at how merciful he is.

--Hna Mercado