Fifty-three

I was able to visit Dr. Call in Providencia.  I had a bad case of pink eye 2 weeks ago so I had a check up with him.  The awesome thing was that it was free.  To think that I had a renowned plastic eye surgeon specialist looking at my eyes I felt super pampered.  No worries everything is fine ;)  It was fun because my comp and I stayed after to help him for a bit to translate for some of the latino elders that were there for him because he does not speak spanish.  I am soooo grateful for the blessing that I am receiving for knowing a little bit of spanish.  

Zone Conference was this week.  In Independencia (my last zone).  It was fun seeing all the Hermanas misioneras that I love!

Smog.........smog.....read the reports of the air in santiago right now.  Incredible.  They are now putting restrictions on people driving and everything.  Lots of the missionaries are calling with flu s/s and HA etc. due to the smog.  I think the only medication is RAIN.  This last sunday, Presidente Christensen of the branch, read aloud a letter that the area presidency sent.  As chile this next sunday we are going to be fasting for rain and paying a generous offering.  We have faith that Heavenly Father will listen to our prayers.  There is a great power in a true fast.

Noche de Hogar (FHE)..we did in the house of the Fm. Y.  They walked more than 30 minutes in the cold to partipate in the NDH.  Increible.  They are a new family that we are teaching.  The sacrificies people do to feel the spirit and to learn more about the gospel of Christ.

Last night our appointment fell through so we decided to knock doors.  We do not do it too much.  I felt like we needed to go to this new pasaje that we had discovered a couple days antes.  Heavenly Father blessed us.  In less than 30 minutes we had set up multiple appointments and a family invited us into their house (Does not happen too often).  This family is amazing with sooo much potential.  One thing I love about the mission is to feel the spirit guiding us to where we need to go.  There are people prepared to hear the message, and Heavenly Father knows where they are!

Please keep M in your prayers.  She is organizing her life right now, and needs a lot of support!

Love you guys mucho mucho mucho

Hna Duffy

Fifty-two

This week has had its ups and downs...until this morning.  There are moments in the mission that change your life ..forever.  And this morning was one of these.  All I can say is that I know Jesus Christ knows all, has felt all, and wants that we trust in Him so we can progress in our lives.  The Atonement is real.  I read the last part of the talk the Pres. Packer gave in General Conference.  We should not live in our guilt, but we need to move on.  We will never be able to do everything, but the key is to keep trying.  When we repent sincerely Heavenly Father erases the memory from his mind and we should too.  It does not help us to live in the past with our weaknesses.   In the mission it is sometimes easy to worry about the little things and to lose sight of the bigger picture.  I am so grateful that I can live each day with joy as a confide in my Savior.  

La Copa America is happening here in Chile....yah!  It is like the Mundial ...again.  Don´t worry Caden...Chile is going to win...Colombia can come in 2nd ;)  

We have been trying to get in contact with a man named R.  He served in the mission, was married in the temple, but now him and his wife are in the process of a divorce.  Since then he has not been attending church.  A couple of weeks ago we felt to pass by his house but he was not there so we left a note in his fence.  This week we passed by and were able to visit him.  In the end of the visit, he started to share a experience that he had.  He told us that one day he felt lost in the life and felt far away from God and he did not know what else to do so he knelt down and prayed.  Two days later he found our note in his fence and for him that was the answer to his prayer that God had not abandoned him.  Wow.  Heavenly Father answers the prayers of his children in so many ways.

Hermano P (he lives in Valle Grande) gave a talk this domingo.  He said that when we are called to do callings for Heavenly Father we will never have all the knowledge how to do it, but the part mas importante is to be worthy.  There are people who wait until they are ¨perfect¨to do things but this will never happen.  We need to be worthy aka keep the commandments and act with this faith.

Keep your chins up, keep on swimming, and keep on repenting, and we will have the peace.  The purpose of this life is to have joy, and this joy is only available through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hna Duffy

Fifty-one

Hola, 

This week was the first week of this new cambio.  We are focusing on keeping our faith up despite of disappointments.  In the mission we would super hard to set up appointments, but when you have a day when not a single appointment works out this is a trial of your faith.  One starts asking yourself, what is the point of setting up appointments when all of them fall through.....BUT the feeling one has when somebody honors their appointment and the lesson goes well, this is a joy that words cannot describe.  The mission is an emotional roller coster but the thing I have learned is that it is important to confide in Jesus Christ in EVERYTHING:  

I am learning how to live in the moment.  My mind works in a way that there are always like 20 things running through my mind at the same time.  Which it gets to the point that one cannot focus or give something your all because your mind is clustered.  The Spirit will not always compete with a mind plastered with lists and sticky notes of reminders.  We had a Council of Leaders this week and one of the assistentes said something that impacted me mucho.  He said that as missionaries when we are acknowledging the people in the streets (contacts or even just saying hi) that is evidence that we are forgetting ourselves and looking for ways to serve.  I love that!  

O...a miracle happened.  The doctors titered his medications but he stayed in a coma.  He also developed a fever of unknown origen.  But one night he woke up.  Now he can see and hear.  The doctors are confused because the reality (medically minded) he should not even be living.  Because 97 percent of the people who have an accident like he had die instantly.  M (his wife) said, the doctors do not know why he is healing, BUT we do.  How great is the faith of this beautiful daughter of God.  Please keep praying for him, because they are just in the beginning of this path of recovery.  

I started to read Jesus the Christ....wow.  

Today we went as a group of hermanas to San Cristobal (it is a mountain turistica here in Santiago).  It is soooooo beautiful.  We visited gardens and lo pasamos chancho ;)  see pics.  I was awesome to drive us and was the best tour guide ever!

I love you guys un montón.

Have a FABULOUS week.

Hna Duffy

Fifty

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!!!!!!!!!

I was a great birthday.  I passed the morning with the Hna C (she is seriously the sweetest girl ever).  She made me breakfast and with our morning exercises she did repiticiones of 24. haha.  We had a wonderful lunch with an investigador named M and in the night we celebrated with the Family S.  I did the mordisco of the cake and thanks to my comp Hna C almost a tortazo (when you slam the face into the cake). 

This week was a little different but a week I will never forget.  

First off, I met the new doctor, Dr. C and his wife.  We traveled up to Providencia (where the temple and the CCM are) to have a meeting.  He is a famous plastic eye surgeon from SLC.  He will be learning a lot of General Practice here.  While we were in his office an Elder came in to have a sliver taken out of his finger. I smiled while I watched this doctor lovingly take care of this Elder, and to think in the qualifications of this Dr. and his willingness to serve the Lord.  WOW.  It will be really fun to learn from and work with him.  DAD this could be you in the future ;)

Wednesday, I received the saddest phone call I think I have received in my life.  M (the women who just returned to the church after years of inactividad with her husband O) called us to to say that her husband had a serious accident in his work and that he was now in induced coma in the ICU.  I guess he was working with a compressor (he is a welder/handyman) and the compressor exploded which sent metal flying (which hit his head) and him as well.  And he sustained a open head injury and lost a part of his cerebro.  We received permission from our presidente to visit M in the hospital, and seriously I will never forget this experience.  She has SO much faith and confidence in the Savior.  We believe in miracles but we also believe in the will of God.  She is so grateful that before this accident happened they had put their lives in order again and that Heavenly Father permitted them to repent before this accident. She knows that their sealing in the temple is eternal.  I know Heavenly  Father has a plan for this beautiful family and that He put the gospel of Christ back into their lives (I think I have written about their story a couple weeks ago) and thanks to the Atonement M has peace. It has been amazing to see the support from the branch also...priesthood blessings, prayers, food, etc.  Zion at work here in Valle Grande.  LOVE IT!  The M and O are like my Chilean parents and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father let me be a part of their life. PLEASE keep them in your prayers. 

As a mission we were able to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish from cover to cover.  I was able to finish it this morning!  Even though I do not understand ever word in spanish, I can feel of its power.  I think my morning studies here in the mission have been some of the most precious moments I have had here.

Cambios today! andddddddd I get to stay here in Valle Grande with Hna C (it will be my 4th cambio here)  yeeahh.  I love this sector tanto!  

I love you guys so much.  Thanks for your prayers.  Thanks for your counsel and words of encouragement. 

Hna Duffy