Taken for granted

 Hey hey hey everyone. Its me coming at you through my moms email adress becuase the last 5 hours of my PDAY I had no Wifi! Unfortunately couldnt talk a ton with others today but it was nice to be in the moment for sure.

I find out transfer news tomorrow and will see where im going wednesday! Sofar I have spent my whole mission in Santiago Zapadores. This ward has become my family so this sunday was very bittersweet. I was able to bare my testimony alongside two of my friends and one of my converts. It was so so sweet hearing the strong testimonies of those I have taught in my time here. My companion also bore a really beautiful heartfelt testimony and it helped me feel peace that I will leave this ward in great hands.

There was a night my comp and I knocked a ton of doors and were slowly going crazy in this winter coldness. I made a funny edit of us tap dancing outside of each door.

I am fully legal in Chile now! I have an ID and everything!

All the chapels here have HUGE gates. Whenever we EVER unlock the gates to use the chapel the town spies notify their gang masters that the church is open then they all come and ring the doorbell yelling "tia!! Tia!!". Whaat do they want? To play soccer in our parking lot/soccer court. We said ya okay this time since there was an adult with us and they played crazy. We were doing a ping pong activity with our friends then after decided to play soccer with them. Oh yeah, all of the "spies" are 10-15 year old little boys. Theres about 25 of them so its a fun time. Elder Arteaga brought his nice camera and got some good shots of us playing. It was honestly such a fun highlight of my week and I have cool photos to remember it as well!!

Its one of the elders birthdays today so we have been going to a lot of family home evenings for his birthday! Lots and lots of cake. Well we went to the park for pday today and ate more cake, played guitar, sang songs, played soccer, and lots of mind games. (Mind games in Spanish are really hard. And weird) 

It was super super bittersweet because it felt like the end of an era here in Zapadores. But time must go on! The work must keep moving!

Speaking of work, I have baptism coming up this Sunday that I probably wont be here for but she seriously is such an incredible person. Her name is Denise and she is 15 years old. She loves the book of mormon and wants to become a missionary one day!!! I love how she is ALWAYS willing to have a lesson no matter what time of day it is.

We planned a second lesson with this 17 year old boy in person. Shortly after we left and went to go eat lunch he texted us asking if we wanted to go get ice cream with him as the lesson and we said... uh sure yeah. He then proceded to tell us "with full respect you two looked really good in your outfits today"- HAHA yeah so... we sent the elders to go to his lesson. Just kiddinggg but we didnt do the lesson. Bless his heart. 

Spiritual thought:

One of the missionaries shared something about how he grew un without the playstation because his family didn't have a ton of money. His cousin had the playstation and so he loved to go over to try and play it. But when he would go over his cousin would just say "eh. Its fun but its always there so I don't know". The elder was shocked. His cousin has this SUPER AWESOME playstation that he never uses and just thinks its whatever.

      Now, think about the members of the church. There are so many of us members that forget what we truly have. We have Gods words and answers at our finger tips. We have this community of people that are willing to help at any moment. We have bishops to talk to for guidance. We have priesthood blessing to help us in moments of sickness or affliction. And what do we do sometimes? Take it for granted. We go to church with a straight face. Sing hymns blandly, pray without a care, we are annoyed when we have to give a talk. It happens.

      I know this gospel is a gospel of passion love and joy!! We can sing hymns with a smile! We can ask for priesthood blessings and use that gift! We can talk to God whenever we want! This is incredible and it is here for us.

If you aren't entirely a member of the church of Jesus Christ I want to invite you to think and use the blessings that are in your life. Be grateful and try not to take things for granted. You family, friends, loved ones, God, prayer. All of it.

I love you all and I hope you can feel the love of christ in your life this week.