January 12, 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! :D Thanks for all the little things I didn´t notice till now that you do to make things go really well :D

So, this week´s been pretty intense. Today, everyone learned about their transfers. Everyone in our house is staying, so Elder Salgado and I get another transfer together :D He´s really relaxed. It´s nice a lot of the time because it´s easier to make decisions (he just kinda goes with whatever I say).

The week before transfers is always a little more stressful because everyone´s wondering what´s gonna happen, but along with that, our three baptismal dates all fell through. Well.... Kinda. They’re all right on the line. We fasted for them for the second time this weekend, and they´re all hanging on. Each situation is pretty complicated.

That´s kinda a weird part of the mission. Before the mission, you hear you’re supposed to baptize as many people as you can, but it´s not at all that way. Like 20 or 30 years ago, people were baptizing tons and tons of people that weren´t prepared, and the church in Chile is still recovering from the damage. That´s why we have stakes the size of large wards and wards the size of small branches. You´d think people would have learned, but missionaries still baptize people who aren´t ready to keep their baptismal covenants. We´re not here just to make church membership swell and to make as many stakes and wards as possible, we´re here to bring people unto Christ and to help them with the WHOLE Gospel, not just up to baptism. All the commandments. Every one.

Funny how personality attributes have strengths and weaknesses attached. Self-mastery is when we make choices that magnify the strengths while correcting the weaknesses.

Oh hey, speaking of keeping commandments, I was discussing with the members about how everyone works on Sunday. It´s interesting how every Sunday is legally a holiday in Chile, and it´s illegal to have to work more than 2 Sundays in a month, but very few companies are following that law. People think that by working more Sundays, they make more money, but IT´S NOT THAT WAY. Preach My Gospel is clear that the prosperity of whole nations decrease when the nations neglect keeping the Sabbath day holy. That´s what´s causing all the prices to go up (stuff´s more expensive here than in the States). Moral of the story? Keep the Sabbath day holy. It´s worth it. Litterally, it´s worth it. You are more prosperous by living that way.

I love y´all :D
-Elder Christopherson

PS: This letter´s late because the internet died for a few hours everywhere within a few hundred kilometros.