Lo Ovalle 3 - Week #1

¡Hola Familia y Amigitos!

So, we had cambios yesterday and today and recieved a call at about 12:00 last night (when I was trying to sleep). As you can all probably see by the title of this e-mail (or blog post...later) I had a change. Fortunately I live in the same house as I did yesterday, but now our ward has 3 sectors and 6 missionaries... Wow!!! I'm with Élder Jensen from Sandy, Utah, who arrived in the mission 3 weeks ago and will be going to Concepción on the 4th of May. So, once again I'm training... but only finishing it up this time. In 3 weeks more I've got no idea where I'll be in the mission or who will be my companion. Fun times, fun times! It appears that I won't have a normal transfer in my mission... Also Élder Davenport is now one of the district leaders here in Quilicura and is still with Élder Diaz in Lo Ovalle 1.

Yesterday we had 2 more baptisms, Javiera (14) and Carmen (71) finally were baptized. Carmen is the mom of Patricio, that we baptized in Febrero, and have been working with her for a while trying to get her where she felt ready to make a commitment. Javiera is the daughter of a menos active sister that we found recently and who isn't in the ward roster. We are continuing to teach her family and are working on the conversion of her dad, who has changed a lot in the short time we've been teaching them. We are also preparing for a few more baptisms within the next couple of weeks, hopefully before Élder Jensen and Élder Diaz leave.

Dad: About the menos activo futuros élderes... You might try to adapt part of that message I sent you title Permaneced, I know it isn't written specifically for the members there, but it has a lot of very good and inspired points that could be used in the context you need. I've seen the miracles that can be wrought by the powerfulness and the sencillez of that message. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so. Also here is the link to the message por se acaso http://www.lds.cl/s/ (the link to the message is on the left hand side under the title Permaneced). Also there were a lot of the General Conference messages focused on rescatar. Tambien si lo puede encontrar habia algunos, o todos, los discursos de la Conferencia de Estaca por Chile recien (por satelite) que tuvieron el enfoque en el rescatar. Cualquier cosa que hace, ¡buena suerte!

So work sounds good and fun for everybody. And Gabe sounds like he had a really tough weekend, he should really try to rest more! LOL. Also shout out to all of the family!!! If you are reading this I'd love to get a letter or an e-mail from you!!! (And even if you aren't family!) It is always good to hear how everyone is from their own mouths. Also, congratulations to Jodi and Nicole on the new additions to the family that should be coming along shortly!

I love you all and miss hearing from you! I feel like my e-mails get more and more boring every week. Eventhough every day in the mission is a different experience I feel like piling it all into one letter doesn't have the same effect. Wish I knew how to share more of my experiences with y'all! Pero igual, know that I love you all and miss you! Look forward to talking to y'all for Mother's Day in a little less than 1 month.

¡Todo mi amor y carino! ¡Les amo muchisismo!

-- Élder Todd