Lemme tell you, Chilean Independence Day parties are way different in the field than they are in the CCM. Last year, I was just a confused little gringita in Santiago Centro, gaping at the culture shock, let's just say, it was a FUN week. We had a ward party, a special lunch (BBQ YES YES SO MUCH YES), cualquier empanada, everyone was playing traditional music really loud, lots of traditional dancing, it was just delightful. Estoy enamorada con Chile, nunca quiero salir de aqui!
As for the work week, let's just be honest, we still have our work cut out for us. We did a lot of prayer about who it is that is really progressing and who it is that we should really use our precious time for, and in addition to that , it was Independence Day. Not very many people were home, and if they were, they were...ya know...eating, drinking and being merry. In the end, we finished up every day literally limping, but we endured to the end of each day, not coming in any earlier than 9:00 (hashtagobedient), we had a handful of lessons and more street contacts than I have ever had in my whole mission. But we felt good by the time we made it to the end of the day, and then the end of the week, because we knew that we literally gave every single possible effort, no wasting any time, not giving up...I know that that is such a missionary thing to say. But it says in PMG that a successful missionary is one who works and gives the effort, not one who baptizes every Saturday and Sunday. We are EXHAUSTED, but we are happy :)
One good experience we had actually happened in choosing to stop visiting one of our investigators. It was kind of tough, because we don't have very many, but the spirit was so strong and so evident that we could not deny it. It happened with Jorge, I think I mentioned him in the last email. We had an amazing experience receiving revelation for him, shared Alma 34:32 which is just REALLY direct, and when we got around to sharing it, testifying, Hna. Salazar and I were just exploding with the spirit! IT WAS SO STRONG! We were crazy with our testimonies! But when we asked him how he felt, what he could understand from what we shared, he said "I don't know, I'm just thinking about other things." And then he went off on a rant about science. We have literally taught something about The Plan of Salvation in every lesson because he always has some doubt about it.
But it was just interesting because, as we listened to his rant and his questions, we both had the answers coming to our minds, where they are in the BoM or ways that we could explain it simply, but neither of us felt prompted to say anything. I didn't understand why, and at that point I still didn't have the whole story, but we ended the lesson, and as we walked away, I just thought to myself that maybe it's a bad use of our time. Then Hna Salazar said to me "I feel so strongly that we have to stop teaching him." We both shared our feelings of being prompted not to respond to his questions, knowing that it has all been explained to him numerous times, he will read any phylosefy (OH MY GOSH I CANNOT SPELL IN ENGLISH) book but not the BoM, and we just shared one of the most direct, face slapping verses in the BoM, and he didn't feel anything, while we just basked in the direct light of the spirit.
So we stopped visiting him.
But we both learned the importance of following the promptings of the spirit, even if it's hard.
Although, just because that happened doesn't mean that it wasn't a wonderful week. In our weekly zone meeting, our zone leaders asked us 20 or so missionaries to hand over our agendas that we use for planning and proselyting so that they could do surprise inspections, to make sure that we are using them and using them directly. At the end of the meeting when we got announcements and such, the zone leaders wrote on the white board "the good the bad and the ugly" of the agenda inspections, and Hna. Salazar and I got special recognition for having the most organized, legible, easiest to follow agendas in the whole zone. hashtaglawofconsecration pays off being an organization freak sometimes!
Saturday was our toughest day- we left at 10:30 and contacted till the end of the day, stopping only for lunch in a member's house. All the appointments fell through, no one was home, we got yelled at a few times and 3 people we contacted only wanted to debate. Even as a missionary with almost 13 (BLASTED) months in the mission with an equally experienced comp with 9 months, its tough navigating the debaters. By the end of the day, we were tired and a little defeated. Not enough to be bummed out, but just a touch deflated. And then, FINALLY, we entered a house and were able to teach. It was a less active family, and we taught the Restoration, which is literally the most taught lesson by every missionary on the face of the planet, but we were just so STOKED to finally be able to teach that we taught with our whole soul. We were laughing and getting along, serious at all the right parts, and they came to church the next day after a month of not coming. That's just got to amount to something.
I know this church is true. I love being here, in spite of how difficult it is, in spite of the exhaustion from this last week, in spite of all the little difficulties that I could focus on, I adore Chile and I adore being a missionary. There is absolutely nothing else that I would rather be doing. Sorry if this is short, I did the best I could haha so just be bold and stay rad and do what you do and let your light so SHINE!
Hermana Harkins
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