This week we had the opportunity to go to the mission home for a christmas activity. It was really awesome. We had a christmas lunch, the mission president spoke about the life of christ and the impact it has on all of us and we watched videos that the church published of the birth of Christ. They were really powerful and Moving.

This week has been a blessed week for us. We are really excited to be working with this family. The father, Sergio, met the bishop last week and it sounds like they get along well. He also commited that he would be in church every sunday. The mother also met the representatives of the Relief Society and when she introduced herself she said she was taking steps to be a member of the church :) During the last meeting we had with them we watched a movie called together forever which shows several different people talk about their lives and how the plan of salvation has impacted them for the better. There is one story that shows a family who lost a child and they talked about how the knowledge that one day they would be able to be together with their child again has helped them. After we watched the movie the son started to cry and the father said thanks to the church of jesus christ we will be able to be together forever. They truly are golden, Im really blessed to be able to see them progress like this. We were also blessed to see another young investigator in church and when I saw her in the classes it looked like she already had tons of friends which is awesome.
Well thats all for now,  I hope everyone is having a great week.

Jeremy

I hope everyone had a great week.

The last couple weeks have been very exciting. We found some new people who are really golden. We met them tracting. One family is a family of three, a husband, wife and their son. The wife said she saw us knocking on doors and she knew that we would be coming over to their door. The husband looked like he was going to be tough. About half way through our discussion the wife said that she has been thinking that they should be thinking about being active in a church and we happened to come by. The husband had some questions and my companion who is a star with the scriptures answered all the questions he had and backed it up with scripture. The next lesson we had with them I was on an interchange so I wasnt there but Elder Lizama came to me after the interchange and told me it was a miracle. The lesson started with them saying they read and then they asked if we do things like baptism. They said they want to come to church and we invited them to be baptized on the 30th. The husband has some less active members in his family and he invited them to his house to have dinner and try to get them to come back (hes already doing his home teaching). He really amazes me. we were talking about the baptism and he said I really feel like im headed there because I like this church. Im pretty sure hes going to be the next stake president.

We were also blessed to see Raphael and his sister Romina come to church. With them its a little harder to see their interest because theyre more easy going but they keep their commitments. I remember the first lesson we had with Raphael. We asked if we could share a message with him and he said sure why not. Its not what I would consider to be our best lesson, Raphael was watching football and it seemed like we were talking to the wall. I wouldnt of thought that he would be one to read and come to church but he does. We left them with third nephi chapter 11 which talks about the coming of christ to the americas. It also talks about baptism and thats what seemed to catch the attention because when we came back Raphael asked us about baptism and what it means. We hooked him up with a baptismal date and now hes considered a progressing investigator.
It was neat to see the name of our sector in the mission news along with the other sector who met the norma for the amount of progressing investigators but it was truly a blessing to see these people make progress. They are making changes in their lives and I just grateful that the lord allowed me to be a part of that. I didnt do anything, the lord knows his sheep and he knows his work. Im just grateful that he allowed me to see him work.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

I love you all very much.

Jeremy

Hello family and blog readers,

por fin hay photos.

photos of the baptism weeks ago

It sounds like everyone has been doing well, and had a good holiday. I would feel a little left out but I was there in spirit. My Thanksgiving went like this. ¨´Elder Lizama who do we have lunch with today? no idea. Lets check the list. Brother lizana. lets call him. ¨¨Hello brother lizana, do we have lunch with you today? Oh yea I forgot, Well come over my wife is cooking rice.¨¨ we go to their house. ¨¨Elder Miklich, how do you like chile? I love chile. do you miss the united states? sometimes but not a lot. Today is a holiday over there today right? It is? oh yea, Thanksgiving. I forgot.

And then I thought about what yall were doing and my spirit separated from my body so I can be with yall. It would have been nice to play the game of life. I miss that game. The latino elders here arent very big on board games. I say game and they say oh you mean la palota.

This elder has a great idea to send christmas cheer. Talk to all of your friends and tell them that the gospel of jesus christ has blessed your life. Than find your nearest missionary companionship and tell them the names of all of these friends.

This week was awesome. We basically had five people tell us straight up that they want to be baptized. It was an awesome gift from the lord.

I want to apologize to all the people reading the blog for the lack of pictures. Im technologically retarted and It takes about twenty minutes of my alloted internet time to figure out how to send pictures.

Speaking of which I spent twenty minutes of my alloted internet time figuring out how to send the pictures I sent and now I have to go. I promise next week will be more detailed.

I hope Jacob is doing well and that his elbow healed. I also hope dad has a safe trip to Colombia.

I love you all very much. Have a great week.

Jeremy

(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