January 11, 2010

We were excited to see the picture of Rosa, the investigator that Jeff has been working with for awhile, at her baptism. He now gets to work with and teach her as a new member:

Yes, it was great to be able to see Rosa baptized :) Right now she is in the south again, doing medical exams. She should be back in a week or two. Now she is part of the new convert retention, so yes, the missionaries will continue to teach her for 2 more years. We do have investigators still, some that are progressing better than others. Wer have two little kids, Bladimir and Eveline, whose mom, Betsabe, was inactive. We contacted her in the street one day and found out she is a member and have now re-activated her. We had plans to baptized her kids the 16th (next Saturday) But President Jones wants them to asist the church 10 times in a row. They are at 5 so that means they need 5 more which will take them to the end of February. They were pretty sad that they couldn't get baptized the 16th, but I think it will be better this way. We also have some other families that are interested in the gospel, so things are going well.

We continue to experience very cold weather here in MN, while Jeff is sweating in the middle of summer in Chile:

Haha it's still below zero? I'm sorry. It's beautiful outside rigth now, there is a nice breeze so it isn't too hot.
Yea, it sounds like you have had really cold weather recently, I am a little jealous. Like I said, I was made for the cold, not the heat. But the last couple days haven't been too hot. Especially today, it's perfect. There is a nice breeze and the sun is not too strong today. If every day was like this I'd like that.

I mentioned that I would be teaching a lesson to the YW on the mutual theme for 2010 using some of the new dvd that the church has put out. It looks like he has seen most or all of it. I'm glad, as it is very good & shows some youth from Chile in it.

I saw the CD for the new For the Strength of Youth theme for 2010, the Bishop got it yesterday and showed it to us. It's pretty cool, the scripture is in Joshua somewhere.

Doug had sent him a quote from President Hinkley on prayer:
The trouble with most of our prayers is that we give them as if we were picking up the telephone and ordering groceries ─ we place our order and hang up. We need to meditate, contemplate, think of what we are praying about and for and then speak to the Lord as one man speaketh to another. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18). That is the invitation. Believe in the power of prayer ─ it is real, it is wonderful,it is tremendous.

Thanks for the quote, that really made me think about the way I do my prayers. It's always so hard, especailly at night, to take the time needed to really do them the right way, something I need to work on. But I do know that the power of prayer is real, and that every time we offer one to Heavenly Father He is listening.

OK, well thanks for all the love and support, you are all always in my prayers. Enjoy the cold, and hope you all have a great week!
Next time I write I'l know if I'm leaving or not.
Chao! Love,Elder DeLong