May 16, 2011

This week went well, we were able to find some good people to start teaching, several full families which is pretty rare to find here.  So we are excited to start teaching them and of course hoping for the best. 
 Things are going well with our investigators, the other day we tried to put a baptismal date with Magdalena who we've been teaching for a while now.  We tried for June 5th and the Spirit was super strong there and I felt for sure she will say yes, and she wants to be baptized really bad.  But when we said June she was like, Nope!  Not in June (because of personal stuff she said), it will have to be July.  So, bummer that I won't be here but the most important thing is that she will be getting baptized! 
And Francisco and Pamela are doing well, we couldn't find them the end of the week here but I think we are going to try and pass by tomorow. 
I do really like the Restoration dvd, I've seen it so many times and I still enjoy watching it.
To be honest I don't think I'll see any baptisms before I head home, but I want to leave as many people as I can preparing to be baptized.  We have a good bunch of people so I feel good. 

I'm not training Elder Hollister actually, he was a zl before, in my first sector actually.  So we have fun talking about El Sauce and the people there.  He was comps with my MTC companion, Elder Mills.  Funny how the mission works out sometimes. 
I tried to patch up my shoe with some adhesive stuff but by the end of the day it had been worn off.  So, I'm just going to have to go these 3 weeks with a hole, hoping it doesn't rain haha. 
Yesterday and today I have been sick, just like a common cold type of thing.  But I stayed in the house yesterday to rest.  My throat still hurts a ton and is swollen, but it will go away soon.

Yea, President and Sister King are awesome, I'm so glad they are my mission president. Great people, and they helped me out a lot. I don't really have any new pics to send, I'll try to take a bunch these next weeks.

Ok, well I hope you all have a great week, and that every heals up nice and stays healthy. I'm gonna keep working hard here, and finish strong. Love you all and am praying for you.
Love.
Elder DeLong

May 9, 2011

Well, the Mother's day call has come and gone. Actually, the family was able to do a  conference Skype call with Jeff. It was great to actually see him as well as talk to him. So not a very long letter after that.

Wow, so it was wayyyyy fun to be able to talk to everyonw yesterday.  I loved it!  We are one awesome family ;)  Haha, no but really, it's true.  I love you guys and am so grateful to have been born into this family.

Everyone looked great!  I'm excited to see you all again in just a few weeks.  But like you said I need to stay focused, and don't worry.  I am :) 

We are teaching some great people and we have the goal that by the end of this change(before I go home) we will have 5 baptisms or 5 people with baptismal dates.  So we are going to work hard to reach that goal.  Yesterday after Elder Hollister got done talking to his family we went and taught a lesson to some inv named, Francisco and Pamela.  It went really well with them.  Me and Elder Clark found them and they have been progressing really well.  We watched the Restoration dvd with them and Pamela starting crying during and had some really good questions at the end.  So they are excited to keep reading and gaining a testimony about this message of the restored gospel. 

Today we didn't go play any sports or anything, we are still sore from Basketball Saturday haha. But we went to eat breakfast and I got some bread with scrambled eggs(in the pics)


 Well, I really don't have too much more to say since I talked to you just yesterday. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the pictures.  And keep on reading the BOM! Love you all and you're always in my prayers.
Love,
Elder DeLong

Yum! It is so good. They eat a lot of that kind of bread here, in just about every meal. It's not a meal without their "pan".

May 2, 2011

We have been curious to find out who Jeff's last companion/replacement will be for his last six weeks of the mission. Here is his second to last comp Elder Clark.

So my last comp will be Elder Hollister!  He is a really cool guy, I know him from before because I was his DL out on the coast.   I told him too, One day we'll be comps.  And what do ya know he will be my last here on the mish. He is great, we get a long great and he'll help me finish the mission strong.  So I am really happy, I was nervous to see who my last comp would be.  But I am very relieved that it's Elde Hollister.  He is from Springville Utah.  He played football too, corner back.  Elder Clark actually went to San Antonio!  How cool is that, I know he'll enjoy the coast a lot.

Things here in Chile are going well though.  We still have quite a few investigators that are progressing well.  We hope to see baptisms this month, I'd really love to before I leave.  But if not, I'll be just as content to know that the seeds were planted and starting growing.  And miracles happen.

Man, sorry to hear about the lousy weather in MN and all of the states, I hope all the tornadoes stop.  Those aren't cool, and one of the only downfalls about living in the Mid west. 
 And as for mothers day I will be doing Skype on Sunday at 6:30 here which should be 4:30 there and 3:30 in Utah.  I plan on calling you guys in MN first and then calling the others in Utah.  So you shouldn't be getting a call from me before then, unless something changes about when I'll be calling.  Haha, it will be a lot of fun to talk, then in less than a month I'll be talking with you face to face!  Pretty crazy. 
Haha, mom you crack me up because you are using all the little text abreviations, its funny (lol).

I told Jeff that the 150 millionth copy of the Book of Mormon was recently printed, passing another milestone in the book’s 181-year history.
Wow, 150 million copies, it's fun to say that I've given away a tiny little chunk of that :) 

On the mission I've had lots of cool little experiences. For example, the other night we were walking around knocking some doors because all of our appt had fallen through. Then we walked by this guy cleaning his car (a nice 1983 Porsche) and we got like 20 feet past went I felt we should turn back and talk to him. So we turned around and contacted him and turns out he was a really cool guy and we were able to note down his address and we have an appt with him for tommorow. It's just cool little experiences like that or little miracles that strengthen the testimony of a person. So we need to always be looking for the little miracles in our lives :)

Well, I hope that you are all well! I love you all and look forward to talking with you on Sunday. Take care (Cuidense!)
Love,
Elder DeLong