Baptism

"Brother Soto was baptized, the father, and WOW it was an incredible experience. I honestly think it was the most powerful spiritual experience I have had in my life. He is amazing.  He has begun a new life with God. His testimony after his baptism was incredible. He said, 'I know that this is the true church of God not because you are all so nice or that this is a beautiful church, but because of what I feel inside. I KNOW this is the church of Jesus Christ.' He talked about how we just popped up to his door one day and how we are his little angels that have brought his this knowledge. The spirit was so strong, every single person in the baptism had tears in their eyes. I will never forget that feeling for the rest of my life. There is no greater joy than bringing somebody to the knowledge of God. I am so privileged to be the missionary that God worked through to be with the Familia Soto.  I am so incredibly happy for them. Things always happen for a reason." 

Soto family

Staying in Placilla with a new companion.

"I stayed in Placilla!!!! It was such a surprise. Hermana Stott left and she is now companions with my old companion Hermana Siler.  My new companion is Hermana Ortiz, she is from Guatemala! I finally have a Latina companion. She will help me with my Spanish. wahaah!  She is so incredibly sweet and loving to every single person we meet. I absolutely adore her. She is so easy to live with.  I will send a pic of her next week!"

"Our investigator family is still strong and will be baptized next week. We made two other baptism dates last week for September so we are excited about that."

"Saturday, we went to teach some recent converts, and they were in the middle of making hot empanadas from a homemade wood burning oven. It was very delicious. Chile is quite the place. I love it here, I can´t believe I only have 11 months left...Enjoy every moment, because life passes by so quickly. 'Be still and know that I am God.' "

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Viña del Mar from the highway.

Maggie with Sis. Stott.

The posse.

Teaching a Wonderful Family & Anticipating a Transfer

Our investigator family accepted baptismal dates! They will be baptized on August 25. They are strong and so converted. They are a miracle family. The mom made my companion and me scarves and gloves that she crocheted by hand for ¨Children’s Day¨. Its on August 11 (I think we should start celebrating that day.) The spirit is strong in every lesson. They are so happy!!! 

We had an appointment with them, but they couldn’t come till later. But, they left their keys for us with the guardian in front of their condominium, so that we wouldn’t have to wait in the cold. Of course we couldn’t just go chill in their house, and so after we convinced the guardian to go to church we left a note with him to tell them we left.

Changes are this week, and I don’t what’s going to happen. I really really want to stay so that I can be here for the family's baptism. I feel like I’m going to leave, but hey, more places to bless, wahahah!:)

On an split with another sister missionary in the area.

A gift of bread to a couple of hungry missionaries.

Gloves and scarves given to Maggie and Sis. Stott as a gift.

"Octavio", the hot water bottle.

The bedtime snack of Ecco and toast.

Still Teaching & Sopaipillas

No new pictures...so here's a repeat.

We are still teaching the our investigator family!!!!!! Wahoo!! They are amazing and all of them want to be baptized!! Manuel the father, daughter, son, and mom. She is such a sweet heart. In our lesson the Spirit was super duper strong. We taught the Plan of Salvation and focused on temples and how they can be an eternal family. They are so sweet to us. They call us their little angels and they love when we come over. I am amazed how God orchestrated the whole thing. It started when we found the grandma my second week here in Placilla. I am very happy with only the thought of them:) They always make cake or scones with herbal tea. 

O side note, Chileans make scones with pumpkin, they are called sopaipillas. They are really delicious. You are approaching fall and so you can do a little Chilean meal and think of me. Another typical Chilean meal: rice, one egg, and three hot dog links...definitely not weird in Chile. haha. The best part of Chile is their Once (a Chilean evening snack). It feels amazing to have some herbal tea or Ecco in a warm house when its cold outside. But we are marching towards Spring, which makes me super happy:).

Entire family at church, Using too much money, & Happy to be a missionary.

Since Maggie did not send any new pictures came this week, I chose to repeat this one! It's one of my favorites.

"This week was great. We taught the family we found last week!!!! A member family came with us, and it turns out that the two mothers have a lot in common and so they got along great. They have been prepared by God for a long time for us to come, the spirit was super strong. they are excited to dive into the gospel. and... They ALL came to church. Allelujah, they did what they said they were going to do!! Love it!! We were sitting in the chapel and then minutes before the sacrament the entire family walked in!! We were filled with such a rush of excitement, we began to tear up. We moved so that they could all sit together. And they stayed for all three hours!! Count on three baptisms in two weeks:) The whole ward was so great and welcoming!!"

"I got in trouble for leaving the heater on all night long last month...who knew! And for using too much water in the shower. And to top it off, I dropped the shower head and broke it last weekend--so I will need to call the mission building repair man to fix it."

"Sorry I didn't really take pictures this week, I will take more this week. And know that I am super happy and that this experience is incredible. I am very accustomed to being a missionary. I can see how normal life would be a different adjustment to get used to."

Tying a Family Together

Maggie and her companion knocked on a door of a part-member family, and it turned out that there were three generations of family members there... "They were so surprised to see us. We ate amazing bread with avocado and a breakfast cake kind of thing and we watched a Mormon Message called 'Mountains to Climb'. We bore our testimonies, and the Spirit was so so so strong. Just that morning the son was saying that his family needed to pray more. It was just amazing how God had prepared them for years in order to listen to us yesterday. And we knew exactly what to say and how to say it because of the spirit. I love it when we don´t have to try and convince people of the truth, they already recognize it. :) Can you imagine a whole extended family baptized and in the temple!!! I pray with all of my heart. Pray as well, because they are amazing. This week we are going to bring the Bishop!! their neighbor!!"

Shopping at Jumbos (the Costco of Chile).

The kitchen in the apartment in Playanch--on a split last week.

On a split in Playa Ancha last week.

A Good Week in Placilla

"Our bishop is incredible. He told Sister Stott and me that he doesn’t want us to leave Placilla. That was a nice compliment. He had us stand in front of the priesthood and relief society and we set dates for family home evenings and they will invite their friends and neighbors."

"Last week we found a Columbian couple (who conveniently live right next to us, the next door down, in our apartment complex) and we had a family home evening with some members and we watched a video how families are forever, and the husband began to cry. They are firm in their evangelical belief, but he feels something different with us. Ya we are going to work on that."

"This week we had splits. I stayed in Placilla and a sister from Columbia came and lived with me for 24 hours. It was so fun to get to know someone for a day. We had a full day and we found 4 new investigators. We do splits every week; tomorrow I am going to travel to a hill in Valparaiso and live in their apartment for a day. I am super excited about it."

"Last week we had a meeting with all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training leaders and assistants and president in Viña. It was all day long and way intense. We looked at the baptism numbers and other things we need to work on. I love my president he is amazing. We have interviews with him this week." 

On a split in Placilla.