Hi everyone!  This week has gone by really fast! I can't believe it's already monday! We've had a really great week and I've learned a lot.

So here in Rio Bueno there have been a lot of baptisms in the past but in this past transfer, they all stopped.  It has seemed to me like the pool of good, progressing investigators ran dry.  So we've been working really hard to find more people and get or investigators to church and progressing.  So far, we haven't had a ton of success in that aspect, which has been really frustrating to me.  I got really frustrated one day when all of our appointments fell and we had no one progressing, so I went in to my bed and prayed to know what to do.  After praying we went to work.  That day still wasn't filled with success and finding a ton of golden investigators, but I felt I special calm that I've never really felt before.  The next day in my personal study I read in the Book of Mormon about the people of Alma who were a people very righteous, doing everything right and living like they were supposed to. In Mosiah 23:21-22 it says, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to achasten his people; yea, hetrieth their bpatience and their faith.Nevertheless,whosoever putteth his atrust in him the sameshall be blifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with thispeople." Later the Lamanites come and they are put under captivity, even thought they were doing everything right. Later, the Lamanites put them to work and their burdens were almost too heavy to bear.  They pray, all day long, in their hearts, and the Lord, "Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I willcovenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the aburdens which are put upon yourshoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, evenwhile you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand asbwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a suretythat I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their cafflictions."  Later the Lord provides they way for them to be freed from bondage.

For me, this story taught me a lot.  Sometimes, even if we are doing everything right, being completely obedient and have the Lord first in our lives, we are going to have challenges.  The Lord has a plan for each of us and will guide us to be who he wants us to be. And as He brought us to the challenges, He will bring us through the challenges as well. I may not end up with the most baptisms or most "success" here on my mission, but as long as I am obedient and working as hard as I can, the Lord is going to help me get out of it what He needs me to get out of it.

Hope that everyone has a great week, I love you all, thanks for all the support!

Elder Dower


The following is some answers from Cam to some of Mom's questions.


First of all, no, I cannot believe that it's March, in two weeks I will have completed a third of my mission and I still feel like I'm just starting! That's crazy that Ash is 16! I feel like I just turned 16 and that was 3 years ago!

So for your questions...
1.How is the work in Rio Bueno?  Do you have a lot of investigators? Are you tracting quite a bit?
 I mentioned a little of that in my other email.  We're doing a lot of finding (I don't like the word "tracting" haha). We have lots of investigators but none of them has popped out as a real prospect for baptism so far.
2. I want to send a package soon.  Would you like a couple new ties?
 Funny that you ask that because yesterday, our mission leader bought a giant bag of a thousand ties to sell and let us have the first pick. He sold them for 5 for about a dollar, so I ended up buying 20 haha, they're kind of old ties but it was fun.  As a missionary, you can never have too many ties, so if you'd like to send a couple, I would be happy haha.  
3. Does your Mamita do your laundry or does she just fix lunch?
Mamita just does lunches, we take our laundery to a different member each week to do.
4. How is the physical area different than Punta Arenas?
It's HOT here. Haha your right 80 is about what it is here in the middle of the day. Here there are a lot more trees than in Punta Arenas, but really, it looks a lot like Syracuse here, I don't know why.
5. Is the food different?
The food is about the same as in Punta Arenas, which isn't way different than in USA.
6. Do you get more/less rain than other areas of Chile?  Have you had a lot of rain yet? Have you used your rain gear yet?
It hasn't rained yet since I've been here since it's summer. In winter it starts to rain a ton in all parts of our mission besides Punta Arenas.

I'm going to try to take more pictures this week to send.