March 2, 2015

 

So, where to start....
 

I´ve got a new companion named Elder Marshall from Orem, Utah. He´s awesome :D I find him to be very loving and humble. Fun fact: Elder Marshall has memorized a scripture every day since he began his mission! Elder Marshall´s also got problems with his foot, which is part of the reason he was sent here to Osorno (from Punta Arenas). We still don´t know what´s wrong. The X-ray doesn´t show any problems, but the doctor says we should try an MRI. He thinks it´s a stress fracture, but we can´t confirm it yet. I learned a lot about how doctors work as we went to the mission nurse, the doctor´s office (only to find that they were all gone for lunch), the doctor´s office again (to see if we could come in later that day), the other doctor´s office where you can get an MRI (we weren´t actually supposed to go there yet, but we thought we did), and the doctor´s office a third time (this time we got looked at), and tomorrow we have an appointment with the MRI doctor. I now know how to steer my way through the Chilean medical bureaucracy :D.

Elder Marshall´s not allowed to walk much, so we´ve been in the house a lot. A lot of missionaries get stressed when they have a lot of time cooped up in the house, but to me it´s so relaxing :D I´ve gotten to organize so much stuff that´s been a mess for so long and I actually took a nap! We´re working on a plan to be really organized this transfer and improving our daily and weekly planning. I´m not sure we´ll actually get to put it in practice if his foot doesn´t get better soon, but he says it hurts a lot now. We´re going to work a lot with the members and do divisions so we can visit the families that are most important to visit.
 

I told you I was going to talk about Jose. He´s an investigator that the sister missionaries found almost 3 weeks ago. He said he quit smoking like the moment he began talking to them. He came to church the next Sunday and participated in Gospel Principles class. Or rather, he started talking about how he didn´t like one of the talks in sacrament meeting and was considering standing up to object. He talked a lot and it we never really did get to talk about the topic of the class. The same thing happened in Priesthood meeting. He noticed all the flaws of the members of the church. He´s pretty smart and is very observant, and is especially bugged that members arrive at meetings late.

Anyway, the sister missionaries didn´t lose faith in him and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He read 22 chapters in 2 days, but he didn´t just read them, he took notes and analyzed everything. I had the chance to talk to him about order in the church and he couldn´t just show up and object to everything, he needed to have Charity, recognizing that the members of Christ´s true church are learning too and the best way to make things work is to help instead of judging and to love instead of pushing. The sisters also talked to him and were very clear. He changed 180 degrees! He came to church in a white, button up shirt (something he said he´d never do because it looked prideful to him (but the sisters explained about respect and reverence)) He participated in the classes, but not in a disruptive way, not taking too much time while still being insightful. He´s just taking everything in and changes every time he realizes that he does something wrong. It´s amazing!!! He even helped us do a home teaching activity last Sunday and visited less active members with a member of the bishopric. I´m really excited to see when he´s baptized :D
 

Love you all :D

-Elder Connor Chrisotpherson