HALFWAY Mark...

Hello everyone!

Last Wednesday was my halfway mark! The 11th! Crazyness, right?

And there is a week left until transfers! Transfers are the 25th! I have been in Recreo with Hna Hanks for 3 transfers! And we are loving it! We will see what happens next week!

This Wednesday is the 18th of September! THe Independence Day of Chile! People are gonna be partyin it up down here! 

Chile played Spain in soccer! Spain is the world champion right now, and CHile was winning the whole game...until the last couple minutes, when they tied. So. Interesting. Bring it on Alaena. :)

The Rojas family! News! THeir baptism is scheduled for the 29th of September - we are so excited! Lets just hope and pray that they go to church every sunday before that!

We taught them this week, and when we entered their house, instead of the usual atmosphere of chaos and fighting, it was calm! And happy! And they were all smiling! THe church helped them find a job and they are a lot more chill. We taught them the Sabbath Day and they were talking about how they usually go out to eat on sunday at McDonalds and fight a lot. But then they said that from now on they are going to go to nice places like parks and stuff, and Francisco talked about loving his family and about how grateful he was to have them. The whole time he had his arm around Carolina and kept kissing her on the forehead as we taught. Ah so cute. At the end of the lesson, we all kneeled in a circle and held hands, and little 9 year old Martina prayed! It was precious. Carolina and her daughters came to church on Sunday, and it was great. :)

One of our investigators, Javier, who is like 60, is super awesome, and is like a long lost great uncle of mine! Haha we joke a lot and get along well. Hes a super smart guy and has always disputed religion. But when we share messages, he actually listens and agrees with what we say. We wrote our testimonies and a letter in a Book of Mormon for him and gave it to him as a gift. The next time he saw us, he genuinely thanked us for the gift and for the kind words. We had a lunch appt with him and his mom, a member. At the end when we shared a message he had a lot of doctrinal questions and doubts on whether or not God even exists. But we shared scriptures and about the temple. And after I explained something, he just sat there silently for a minute and said, "Hm. They trained you well at that CCM (MTC)." 

Nancy the less active came to church too! She was really happy that we had visited her and made her feel welcome. We also taught a little old grandma that is a member and it felt just like I was with my grandma, listening to stories and sitting by her bed while she showed us family pictures. Oh so adorable. :)

I am currently reading Jesus the Christ, which is a highly entertaining read, and very intelligently written. Its like my Harry Potter book on the mission! haha.

Little Blanca, the old lady with Alzheimers, told us that she loved us this week. :) Made my heart melt.

I learned a cool lesson this week - a breakthrough, you could say. I just wanna share that with you guys. I was thinking about the mission and about how much every second means, and about helping others. You could apply that to your life. Dont BS your way through life! Dont just get by. Go above and beyond, and always try your best. This life is the only chance you get! In the words of Dumbledore, Use it well.

We really are our own worst enemies. Dont look at yourself that way. Look at yourself the way Good sees you - with unconditional love, endless potential, and a grand plan. :)

"Fear not, little flock, do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." (D&C 6:34,36)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Miss you!

Hermana Amy Schrader