(Melissa here. This is a letter from the Stake President from the Stake that Jeremy is serving in. I'm sorry I can't translate. My spanish is minimal. However, He included a picture of the missionaries serving in the stake.:D )

Queridos Padres de los Misioneros de la Zona de Quilicura:

 

Hace dos semanas tuvimos junto a su hijos e hijas misioneras una actividad, con todos los misioneros de la Zona y con los líderes misionales y misioneros de Barrio, la que consistió en hacer una actividad de servicio, preparar un desayuno con tostadas francesas, maple, frutas y jugos y luego de esto un tiempo para compartir experiencias espirituales y como podemos trabajar juntos. Fue muy bueno ver el tremendo ánimo que tienen sus hijos en ayudar a establecer la Iglesia en este lugar, son jóvenes y señoritas excepcionales y buenos, Uds. les conocen mejor que yo y ciertamente estarán de acuerdo con mi impresión.

 

Esta actividad nos ayudo a conocernos y sentirnos que somos un equipo y que si trabajamos juntos podremos hacer mejor todo lo que se requiere.

 

Se que cada semana esperan con ansias saber de sus hijos y saber como están, tome una foto de ellos como grupo y se la estoy enviando, todos están bien y contentos, queremos ayudar para que siempre estén bien y protegidos, son de mucho valor para nosotros como son para Uds.

 

Se que algunos de Uds. han permitido que sus hijos estén en esta tierra lejos de casa, posiblemente pensando que sus hijos y Uds. están sacrificando mucho por causa de esta Obra, quiero decirles gracias por permitir que ellos estén aquí y apoyarles. Puedo ver en los ojos de sus hijos y sus sonrisas el gozo que sienten de ayudar a otros a conocer a Jesucristo y aceptarles como su Salvador. Hay muchas cosas importantes para hace en la vida, educarse, trabajar, formar una familia, pero una a la que no podemos decir que no, es al simple llamado de Jesucristo cuando dijo “Ven sígueme”, esto es lo que sus amados hijos están haciendo, les felicito

 

Ellos valoran lo importante que son todos Uds. en sus vidas.

 

Que tengan un buen día

 

Hno. Pedro Correa

Pdte. Estaca Quilicura

 

 

Elder Donohoo tiene la asignación de traducir este mensaje para los queridos padres de habla inglesa.

 

I was at a members house for thanksgiving. We had rice and meat, which is pretty common here but it was good all the same. They said ´todays a holiday in the united states right´ lol I had completely forgot. Oh yea todays thanksgiving. I have a horrible memory for dates.
As far as how my week went, we were excited to see two of our investigators: Karen Lopez and her mother in law Nancy come to church. We met Karen about a month ago and she is golden. She said she wants to come to church in the first lesson without us even talking about church. When we invited her to be baptized she said she was already baptized but she wants to be baptized again. Her husband also shares with us and hes also awesome but hes a little more anxious about going to church has in the past been a barrier because he always has chores and things for the family to do on sundays. His mother Nancy is also great and she is grateful to us for coming to share the word of god with her son who apparently has been distanced from god for a long time. He is off traveling for his work and Karen took the opportunity to come to church :)The little child of Karen was also with her. He is two and a half years old and kind of a little monster. During the sacrament he went off running through the pews and stood on the front pew in front of everyone for about two minutes and then came back. Luckily theres a member who always gives the missionaries juice and snacks(not exactly sure why) but I used it to share with little alexander and it seemed to help him sit still. Luckily its a family ward and it happens sometimes. The ward seemed to understand. I really hope Karen wasnt embarrased. It reminded me of me when I was a kid haha. We separated for priesthood and releif society and after that they just went home, we couldnt catch them before they left. it was kind of weird but were going to visit them this week to see how their experience was. I am praying they had a good experience.Well thats pretty much it. There are other people were working with but as of right now theyre the ones Im most excited about because they actually came to church.Thats all for now. I hope every one at home is doing really well. I love you all very much. Have a great week.

Jeremy Miklich

P.S. still having trouble sending the pictures from the baptism. sorry...

I dont actually remember when thanksgiving is =/ if its on a weekend, Ill be eating with a member and we usually eat well with the members, theyll have no idea about thanksgiving though.
Living on my own has brought with it this challenge, I dont know how to cook. Ive been living off hamburgers for the last couple months (At least I learned to cook that myself). Elder Lizama (my comp from mexico) used to work at a shop for fast mexican food (Tacos, burritos, I imagine its what Im used to calling taco truck) so hes off pretty well on his own. He makes his own tortillas, and then he makes tacos from them, sometimes he shares :) Quick food is pretty easy, yes they still have panaderias on every block and sometimes in unlikely places (In the middle of the street). In these shops they also sell cheese and ham, also potato chips, soda and candy. Sometimes a quick lunch is a sandwhich and chips, Its not bad. On weekends we eat lunch with members and they stuff us.
Elder Lizama is a strong missionary. Hes a convert. He left for his mission a couple months after he and his family was baptized. This coming year he will have more time as a missionary for the church than as a member of the church haha. Something pretty cool is he was sealed to his family the day before he left on his mission. For his short time as a member, Im surprised by how much he knows. He says he studied nonstop while he was in the MTC and for that he knows the Bible really well and he knows almost the whole history of the church. During the months he was preparing for the mission, he read the book of mormon all the way through (I finished it during my third month here in Chile). His personality is kind of a mix between Julio and Alex from the YSA branch, I found it kind of easy to get along with him, and its also kind of a refreshing reminder of some of the friends I had back home. I get a sense however that hes used to running with a more talkative crowd than me. The language barrier is part of the reason although I would say thats not really so much of a problem anymore, Im pretty confident in spanish. I should probably try talk more. He also works really hard. He has a real passion for helping other people and sharing the gospel, hes always talking about what people need and what we need to be doing as missionaries.
That said, I must say that I dont always agree with some of the decisions he makes. lol Its comforting to know that Im not the only missionary in the family who has trouble working with his comp. I feel like I have some really good ideas about what were doing wrong to change to help this sector but in his fire and flare he usually just follows the momentum that comes from his own head. Its a problem of communication really, Ive voiced something in the past and he shut them down quickly without discussing it and for that Ive been more timid about voicing my opinions. Its something were working on. Changes happen on the second of december, well see what happens.
As far as the work is going, its going slowly. For the last two sundays, we have had no investigators come to church. This seems to be the hardest thing to invite someone to do. Were teaching various new people, Im waiting to see who will progress. One lady we met knocking doors accepted a baptismal date but said she doesnt want to go to church, were not sure what her doubt is. Shes really nice and she gets along with us well. we teach her in the door because we cant enter her home because theres no man in the home. Another family really enjoys talking about joseph smith and some deep doctrines of the bible with us, we have to be careful or well find ourselves there for hours. They dont want to come to church either. Im sure were doing something wrong or there is something we could be doing better. One thing ive noticed about the people that have prospects of progressing is that they seem to have a good experience with us. I figure thats the most important part. If they simply have a good experience with us, They usually let us come back. Im thinking about how I could do more of my part to invite the spirit so they have a good experience.
Well thats all for now. I hope all is going well for everybody and that you have a great week :)
I love you very much
Jeremy

This week has been an interesting week. We had a baptism on saturday yay Alexander Maita!!! I met Alexander during the first week when I transfered here. From what I understand he has been investigating the church since before I started the mission. When I got here he already had been to church ten times and was pretty active in the YSA program here.
Hes 23 years old, his family is from Peru. They moved here when he was a kid I think. It was kind of cool to be a part of teaching him, it was a little strange because hes so close in age and usually the young adults here arent really so receptive. He plays guitar and spends a lot of time skating. It reminded me a little bit of working in the YSA branch back home. Hes really a cool guy, hes really smart,  and knows a lot about the culture in many countries including the united states. Hes quick to correct my spanish, which Ill admit bugs me a little bit because he talks so fast that I cant understand him when he talks. Hes pretty laid back too and hell joke around when were teaching which helps releive the tension from some of the bigger commitments we extend and at the same time he talks openly so we were able to talk about the doubts he had, it was refreshing to be able to teach someone like him. That said he was really a roller coaster of an investigator. I remember when I got here we were only able to meet with him once a week because of work and his girlfriend. His girlfriend seemed to be against him meeting with missionaries. We didnt understand why. We did what we could with one visit a week but it wasnt much. We invited him to be baptized and he told us he didnt want to and he talked about his doubts but i didnt really understand them. His mother than got into the advanced stages of pregnancy and told him that she doesnt want other people in the house while she is there. We had to drop him because there was no time at all anymore to meet. Two weeks later he calls us and tells us that he has more time to meet because things have been changing at work and he can meet during the week. We went and visited him and he accepted the baptismal commitment right away. I dont really understand the full story of what he didnt tell us but I have my theories. During the two weeks when we werent meeting he broke up with his girlfriend. He also told one of the girls in the YSA program at church that he had a crush on her on facebook, she didnt respond. My theory is that he was afraid that he was interested in the church for her and when she didnt respond he found that he still wanted to be part of the church. It would explain why the ex girlfriend was so against it at the time. Anyway I dont know all the details of what happened with these girls but Im certainly glad that he has a spiritual testimony over all.
The baptism took place on a saturday because he wanted it to be small. He got his wish, we gathered with about eleven saints from the Lo Campino ward and held a small low profile service. The calefont was out which meant that the water was ice cold. On top of that my companion who was to baptize him forgot his baptismal clothes so they found a tunic in the baptismal closet for him to use. He looked like the angel Moroni. I have pictures but im still trying to figure out how the system works here, I dont have a cable of my own so I have to borrow my comps. Ill try and include them next week. Other than that it was a very spiritual meeting. After the meeting we went to a members house for a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) to celebrate quietly. It was a nice night.
The next day was a stake sacrament meeting. They told us that he would be confirmed the next week because that was the policy, but the stake president has the power to change that. The representative from the stake asked us to come forward for the confirmation. We were completely surprised as we walked up with Alexander. When we got to the front, they asked me to do the confirmation O-o. So I gave my first baptism of fire in the spanish language on the spot in front of hundreds of chillean saints. Im sure they noticed Im a foreigner and Im sure I grew from this experience. More importantly, the spirit did direct me to bless Alexander to be a strong member and I know he will be.
In other news, we dropped about five other investigators and are brainstorming ways to find people more commited. Im trying to focus on the good news.
Anyways, I love you all very much. Until next week.
Jeremy

Here there were a good number of little kids dressed up to get candy in the rich part of town. It was neat to see the families together with their kids doing something. Most of the people we talk to dont really understand the tradition. One woman said she thought it had to do with devil worship. To me a day to honor the dead makes more sense but its still a lot of fun to get into the halloween spirit.

Here things are going well. We will be having a baptism this saturday. His name is alexander, hes the guy who wanted to be baptized on wedneday, we came to a compromise that makes it possible for people to come. Im really excited for this one because it will be the first time I assisted in baptizing an adult lol. The missionaries have been teaching him for a long time and so this is a fairly big event.

In other news we have been teaching several people that show a lot of interest. some came to church. others accepted a date to be baptized. We have had trouble however finding them. It seems that we can get one good lesson in with someone and then they disapear, theyre not there for their appointments, theyre not there whenever we come by they stop answering the phone. Theres not much we can do in situations like this, we will keep trying, coming by but other than that, we cant do anything. it seems like this is one of the biggest obstacles to the missionary work here. Its frustrating but we keep moving on giving thanks for the success that we do have.

Its obvious that the only way to see success is by working with the members. Ive never seen anyone baptized who didnt have a friend in the church. When missionaries share the gospel, it can be a wierd experience, but when members share the gospel, its not weird, its like sharing a neat experience with a friend. Its hard for me to understand what I can do to help members do missionary work but this is where my thoughts are.

Things are going well here, Ill talk about the details of the baptism when it happens.

I love all of you very much. I hope you have a great week.

Jeremy