Si Pudiera Sonreir Más Lo Haría (If I could smile more I would)

November 10,2015

Si Pudiera Sonreir Más Lo Haría (If I could smile more I would)

Hola mi gente,

So this week was a scorcher. It's getting hot down here, and we're only in November. As all of ya'll are getting into the Christmas spirit, I just feel like going to the beach. Man is it hot!

So this week Elder Marquina and I worked our cans off and saw very little results. Así es la mission (That’s how the mission is). We have some great investigators, but this week was a tough one for all of them to come to church! They all work on Sundays, and can only attend like every other Sunday! We did have our eternal investigator Julio in the church though, so I guess we should just count our many blessings.   

REGISTRO CIVIL (civil registry) FINALLY OPENED UP AGAIN! After about 2 months of strike they finally went back to work! Freaking government employees, they're the same everywhere. Do you know what this means? This means that Rosalia and David can get married; the trick is getting their respective companions to agree. The coolest thing is that Elder Marquina and I fasted specifically for the strike to end with the social workers and the following day (yesterday) it opened up again! 

The goal for the mission the month of November is 100 baptisms. Considering we're such a small mission, this would be quite the achievement. Pray for Santiago Oeste, Tim Tebow style if ya have to, whatever works, we just need the blessings. We're all working our cans off out here. 

So our Zone is rocking it, basically the whole Sud America Presidency has their eyes on our zone because we found the most new investigators the month of October in all of South America. I do have to say that it has a lot to do with the book mom gave me. I showed Elder Nalesso how we're contacting lately, and he's applied the same principles. Needless to say, it's working. It's amazing. 

As a zone we're doing a 40-day purificación, where we basically fast or give up a certain amount of things for 40 days in order to become better missionaries. We read an article about a missionary who was super obedient, but just like all of us, he always had something that distracted him a little from the work. In his case it was golf. On P-Days they could play golf, but he found that if they played golf on P-Day he would wind up thinking about golf the rest of the week until the next P-Day. So this missionary gave up golf for 40 days and some other things that distracted him, and ended up baptizing 16 people by the end of this 40-day "purificación." We all fasted this weekend in order to give up certain things, and I truly believe we'll see the blessings for doing it. Try and think of things in your own lives that stop you from progressing, and try to give it up. It's a 40 day process, but by the end of the 40 days, you'll find that you'll have no desire to do that certain thing ever again, because you'll be accustomed to not having it. 

Elder Marquina was really down in the dumps about his feet this week. He's reached the point where he's just sick and tired of it. He wants to work hard, but he can't walk without pain and it drives him crazy. I told him about my knees my freshman and sophomore year of XC and told him I know EXACTLY how he feels. He finally opened up to me yesterday during companion inventory and he says he’s just super grateful to have me as a companion. Apparently his last comp wasn't all that obedient and he's seeing the blessings of our obedience and diligence in his family. His parents have plans to finally get married and they want to be baptized when he gets home. Before I got here apparently they weren't going to church and were separating themselves from the church. It's cool to see how diligent Elder Marquina is, so that he can see the blessings in his family. He's a huge example to me as well. He comes from a family situation that is completely different from mine, but he's so strong and has a great testimony of the gospel. I'm super blessed to have the family and life I have, and Elder Marquina makes sure that I know that I should never take my family for granted. He's super jealous. One Elder in our zone named Elder Arroniz (He's from the U.S.) he saw a picture of my family and he said "you have such a beautiful family Elder Weaver, heck, I want to get a Christmas card from you guys and I don't even know all of you." Ha-ha, so there you go! You guys rock! 

Yesterday we were teaching a lesson to a little girl that has 9 years and she's apart of an incomplete family or a family where not all of them are members. Her name is Fernanda and she happens to be the one that's not a member. She is a spaz. I think her and Adin would get along just great. She's WAY SMART! Holy cow she speaks so well in Spanish and does not sound Chilena at all. Elder Marquina and I are blow away about how smart she is. She's super upbeat too, and puts a smile on our faces. She gets super excited when we come over. Yesterday she asked us "hay baños en el reino celestial? (Are there bathrooms in the Celestial Kingdom?) Dios y Jesucristo comen y si comen, van al baño? (God and Jesus Christ eat and if they eat, they have to go to the bathroom?" We told her that she has some really good questions and that she makes us laugh. She told us "si pudiera sonreir más lo haría (if I could smile more I would)." Talk about a positive influence! 

I challenge you guys to keep positive with everything! THE HOUSE IS FINALLY DONE! BE HAPPY! Just do what ya gotta do and keep positive! I guarantee your lives are not as hard as some of the Haitianos we teach. Talk about "homes." We are very blessed! 

I love this gospel, and I love my Savior. These may just be the hardest two years of my life, and the best two years to draw closer to my Savior. I can now say that I know maybe a little of what he went through as he was trying to teach his true gospel, and I can say that I feel a little of the rejection he felt. I love my Savior and I know that he loves me. This gospel is true. End of story.

Alma 26:16-Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

Sent all ya'll letters today. Sorry if they're short. I don't have much time! Thanks for the support from everyone!

Oh, and WAY TO GO BYU XC!!! I am so pumped for them! VISTA XC WITH THE 4 PEAT AS WELL!  V.I.S.T.A VISTA, VISTA VISTA! VISTA NATION! 

Love,

Elder Weaver