A Letter to Dad

Zone Conference

Hey DaD!! 

I absolutely cannot wait to see and talk to you in 3 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! Please make sure you have a christmas mate to celebrate the occasion and connect with those Argentine roots! 

Que bueno that the Gilmore is home! It's so great seeing missionaries return home and the differences within them. If they were good before, they are exceedingly better and it's like (Name of missionary here) 2.0. Tell me how his talk goes! 

My companion and I have had such a good week! We have really been working on being more diligent, and the blessings have been coming as a result of our efforts. We are teaching one mujer named Maria Isabel who is de oro!  She absorbs everything we are teaching and has such an eagerness and willingness to apply everything we are teaching.  We also found a family this week!  We haven’t been able to meet with them again, but they are prepared to receive the gospel and hopefully we will see more progress from them!  We are really looking for more people to teach since our sector doubled in size and the elders who had it before was not teaching anyone.  Our sector is tan cuico (rich) so sometimes it’s a little more difficult finding people to teach, but there are people prepared everywhere and we just have to look hard and be diligent to find them! 

I don’t have any breastfeeding puppy stories, but one thing that was kind of funny that happened this week was when we had divisiones.  Our coordinadora is new and she told me she was nervous for this because it was her first divisione as a coordinadora. I kind of thought to myself (why are you nervous Im the one that has to lead the sector!!) so I told her she had nothing to worry about.  At the moment, the bus arrived to take us, and the other 4 elders in our ward back to Machali from Rancagua.  We all climbed in the micro like normal and I gave the driver my pesos.  The bus then lurched forward and started driving and as I looked behind me I saw that the micro had left WITHOUT. MY. COMPANION. 

My mouth was hanging open and I was just in shock that that had actually happened, that my mind just froze and I couldn’t remember how to say stop in spanish!  I was thinking, chuta, do I jump off the bus to stay with my companion or wait for her to try and jump on the micro....all while watching her face of disbelief grow farther and farther away from the micro. Luckily, the elders say my dilemma and yelled "Pare! Pare!" for the bus to stop. She got on the micro, and just looked at me with a face that said  "this is why I was worried".  I just started laughing and laughing along with the rest of the missionaries.  The rest of the division went great, but now I always make sure my companion is on the micro before me! :p 

Hopefully you thought that story was a funny.  I thought it was, but sometimes you just have to be there! 

The missionary work is going so much better. They actually don;t have a lot of pan dulce here! For sweets they eat these really light wafers that have manjar (dulce de leche) a dentro and are always snacking on cookies and crackers! They also have an obsession with jugo and bebida to a point where they actually get kind of offended if you ask for water.......and they usually give you one of the 2 anyways!  It reminds me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding "you don;t eat no meat?!?!?!   Thats okay I make you lamb". Here in Chile "You don;t want bebida?!?!?! That’s okay I’ll make you jugo".  It’s been really fun getting to know the members, they LOVE the missionaries. We have several viejitas in our ward that are like our grandmothers. They always bring us dulces in church, and sign up all the time to make us lunch. We also have a ton of go to families that are like our older friends. Don;t worry, I don’t have a replacement mom, dad, or brother here in Chile, you guys still have those titles down pat :) 

My companion and I have really been fighting to do everything with exactness and give every ounce of our efforts in cada cosa and finish the day knowing we gave everything. One huge blessing that has come from this, is Maria Isabel.  We contacted her our first day as a companionship and it had to have been one of the most awkward contacts of my life, but by some miracle she let us in her house and we have been teaching her ever since!  She is so eager to learn everything, and even more importantly apply everything into her life!  She even made a flow chart about the relationship between various people in the Book of Mormon as she studies!  We absolutely love her and I have learned so much seeing her grow. One of the things that has really hit me about her is how much she treasures the Book of Mormon.  After reading it, and when we returned to her house to talk about it, she got really emotional and said "I just had no idea....why didn’t anyone tell me this before?".   Well, that’s kind of the whole purpose that we are here in Chile and specifically Machali!  Maria Isabel treasures the Book of Mormon, and recognizes it as the guide to help her in her life like all of us should.   I have learned so much about the Book of Mormon, but especially how much we need to place it as a priority in our lives.  I seriously have no idea what I was doing before the mission and think all the time why the heck did I NOT study it every single day for an hour???  It was always something good in my life and something that was always there, but it wasn’t placed in the highest regard as it should.  It is a gift from our Heavenly Father, specifically for us and for our benefit. There’s a lot of people that wonder why they haven’t received answers to their questions, and usually its because they aren’t also diligently reading the scriptures.  I love the line from the hymn "what more can He say than to you He hath said?".   Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with another testament of Jesus Christ to guide us and receive answers, and if we aren’t doing our part to study it, we only miss out on the blessings and knowledge of what He has already given us.  I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, and that through it we are able to receive the revelation we need to aid us in our lives.  We have everything we need to attain a fulness of joy in this life and the next, and the Bible junto with the Book of Mormon give us the blueprint on how to do so.  I love this gospel, and know with all my heart that it’s true. I never want to go back to the way I was before the mission, but that’s why we always keep moving forward and always look up :) I love you padres and cant wait to see you IN 3 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) 

DOMINIQUE'S ADDRESS:

SISTER DOMINIQUE NICOLE TEMPLE
CHILE RANCAGUA MISSION
ALCALDE EDUARDO MELERO 883
CASILLA 2-C
RANCAGUA
CHILE