The Roller Coaster Effect

wow. this was one of the craziest weeks of my entire mission. its also been a couple of extremely hard days...

let me start off by saying that i 100% love the mission, i love the Lord, and i know that everything good and bad that happens is part of his plan and that if i continue to excersize faith everything will be for my own good. with that being said trials are still challenging. if they werent it would defeat the purpose of passing through hard times. they´re supposed to be that way even if one achieves a knowledge of our Heavenly Father´s plan. however it does help to put things in perspective and know how to climb out.

this week we had a miracle. last sunday an investigator named Susan showed up. her name is not susan but were gonna leave it at that to keep it confidential. shes really rich, lives on the beachside in an incredible department, and yet received us with full intent to learn and progress in the gospel. she came to church because of a very long story, basically becuase she met a couple of ecuatorians in santiago, invited them to her house in La Serena, and they because to preach the gospel to her during their 2 days here. when we arrived her house last week she was really prepared. she had already fasted and donated a fast offering, and quickly gained a testimony of the book of mormon. we taught every day for about 2 hours to finish all of the teaching this week because she wanted to be baptized on sunday and had all of teh church attendences.

we seriously grew to love this lady a lot in such a short time. she was chosen, and every lesson progressed so much. she read the whole book of 1 nephi in just a few days. committed her friends to go to church and her baptism shortly after talking about missionary work, and was even excited to get a calling in the church as soon as possible. she received multiple answers that she was following what God wanted her to do. shes 60 and since she was 16 she had smoked, and five months ago at the age of 60 randomly decided to quit. as soon as we taught the word of wisdom, law of chastity, and tithing she fully accepted all of the commandments. however saturday in her baptismal interview, when she didnt pass becuase of something that had happened over 40 years ago something went wrong. when we called sunday morning to verify if she was coming to church she explained that she had decided not ot move forward and that she took the intervi3ew as a sign that its not for her.

for a long time even after sacrament meeting had begun we stayed on teh phone with her and just bore testimony. its easy to look back after the fact and see the things that you could have done better.. and thats whats hard. i know that it is her decision and she decided to not make the right choice and have another interview with someone older to help her repent. but its been hard to get it off my mind. its really really sad to see someone progress, see the light, and then reject it. we wont give up on her, but its gonna be hard from here on out.

we found a few other good investigators this week even though we put a lot of time into helping susan. one of them is a venezuelan that is a boss. he´ll progress fast this week i think.

im happy. we played beach soccer last monday and ate sandwiches on the coast. we taught a lot. worked a lot, and im know im giving my 100%. sometimes i wish things went differently but i dont doubt that the Lord knows best and im doing what he wants me to be doing. i love this work.

on wednesday we have changes. i think elder giustozzi is gonna get moved. ill miss him. hes been one of my best comps and we get along better than any other ive had on my mish. we drink lots of mate, play lots of soccer, and almost never walk in silence. hes a stud. we´ll see what happens on wednesday. this week i find out who my last comp will be.

love you guys and i know that this is the Lord´s church. im completely dedicated to give it all this last change of the best two years of my life.

 23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

2 Nephi 2:23

-Elder Allred - Chilean street raptor