Hey guys!
So I have some pretty exciting news.... I am leaving! Hahaha I am getting transferred from La Serena to Quilpue (pronounced “kill-poo-WAY”). I really have no idea what it is like, but it is really close to Viña del Mar, so I will be right in the middle of all the action. I am way excited to go down and meet new people and be in a new ward and live in a new apartment. Everything will be new! I won`t know who my companion is until I arrive in Viña. I am sad to leave this area, and especially this ward, but it will be good to have a change.
I gave my first talk ever in sacrament meeting in Chile yesterday (crazy huh?). I gave a talk about how we can follow the example of Jesus Christ in our lives by keeping the commandments and submitting our will to His. I was very blessed with the words that many people needed to hear, and I felt almost as comfortable speaking in Spanish as English. I really felt a lot of love for the Chileans here in this area, and I know that I will miss them a lot.
During my time here we have brought quite a few people to the church for their first time, and we have brought others who hadn`t gone for a long time. I was so happy to look into the crowd of people and see all of the faces of the people that I had been able to help. I feel very happy and blessed to have been here and to have helped so many people.
So here’s a crazy thing that happened. One Sunday in the church, my companion and I were sitting next to an investigator that had come to church for the first time in her life with her family. The last speaker finished his talk and we all prepared to sing the closing song. Our music director is a young girl who uses a boombox and church CD´s to lead the music because the piano is broken. We began to sing the song, "How great thou Art", but the congregation started too early. The members paid no attention to this poor girl who realized the error and tried cutting off the congregation. Nobody noticed, and they all continued singing while she wildly waved her arms and tried with all her might to stop the singing. Our investigator was staring at the girl when a member sitting next to me (who has epilepsy) starts to have a seizure. Three men jump up and try to escort her out while the rest of the congregation sang on oblivious to all of the commotion around them. This sister makes it all the way to the entrance when she faints and hits the floor. About half of the congregation realized what was going on, but the other half kept singing on! Our investigator was staring at this sister, horrified, thinking that she had fainted from an overload of the spirit. We had no idea what to do, and neither did the bishopric. So, we just kept singing "How great Thou Art!!"
This is one of those in the moment stinks but later is funny stories. Fortunately, we were able to explain to the investigator and the sister was just fine.
Well, I love you guys and can`t wait to hear more from you next week!
Elder Hales
So I have some pretty exciting news.... I am leaving! Hahaha I am getting transferred from La Serena to Quilpue (pronounced “kill-poo-WAY”). I really have no idea what it is like, but it is really close to Viña del Mar, so I will be right in the middle of all the action. I am way excited to go down and meet new people and be in a new ward and live in a new apartment. Everything will be new! I won`t know who my companion is until I arrive in Viña. I am sad to leave this area, and especially this ward, but it will be good to have a change.
I gave my first talk ever in sacrament meeting in Chile yesterday (crazy huh?). I gave a talk about how we can follow the example of Jesus Christ in our lives by keeping the commandments and submitting our will to His. I was very blessed with the words that many people needed to hear, and I felt almost as comfortable speaking in Spanish as English. I really felt a lot of love for the Chileans here in this area, and I know that I will miss them a lot.
During my time here we have brought quite a few people to the church for their first time, and we have brought others who hadn`t gone for a long time. I was so happy to look into the crowd of people and see all of the faces of the people that I had been able to help. I feel very happy and blessed to have been here and to have helped so many people.
So here’s a crazy thing that happened. One Sunday in the church, my companion and I were sitting next to an investigator that had come to church for the first time in her life with her family. The last speaker finished his talk and we all prepared to sing the closing song. Our music director is a young girl who uses a boombox and church CD´s to lead the music because the piano is broken. We began to sing the song, "How great thou Art", but the congregation started too early. The members paid no attention to this poor girl who realized the error and tried cutting off the congregation. Nobody noticed, and they all continued singing while she wildly waved her arms and tried with all her might to stop the singing. Our investigator was staring at the girl when a member sitting next to me (who has epilepsy) starts to have a seizure. Three men jump up and try to escort her out while the rest of the congregation sang on oblivious to all of the commotion around them. This sister makes it all the way to the entrance when she faints and hits the floor. About half of the congregation realized what was going on, but the other half kept singing on! Our investigator was staring at this sister, horrified, thinking that she had fainted from an overload of the spirit. We had no idea what to do, and neither did the bishopric. So, we just kept singing "How great Thou Art!!"
This is one of those in the moment stinks but later is funny stories. Fortunately, we were able to explain to the investigator and the sister was just fine.
Well, I love you guys and can`t wait to hear more from you next week!
Elder Hales
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| The La Serena Zone - the final conference with President and Sister Gillespie |
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