week 1 transfer 6

Wow this week has flown by, I can't believe how fast time is going here in the mission.  So this week I got my new companion, Elder Walker, who is 6 foot 6, and from Provo.  It's pretty hilarious walking around on the streets and seeing people faces when they see him haha.  We're having a really good time here in Rio Bueno and I'm really looking forward to this transfer, besides the fact that summer has ended and it has been really cold and really rainy the past few days.

So this week has been really great.  We've been trying to focus on strengthening our relations with the members these first couple weeks of the transfer so that we can have their support for the rest of the transfer which has been working really well.  Last transfer I never really got to know a lot of the members so I've enjoyed getting to know them and hearing their stories.  Almost everyone here are converts so it´s great to hear their stories about how the missionaries found them and how they found their own testimony.

As far as investigators go, it's been a good week. Hernan and Carolina came to church yesterday and we had a lesson with them last night.  We talked about how the Spirit can help us in our families and how Hernan recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism will help them in their relationship.  Basically once they get married and Hernan gets baptized they'll be able to have the Spirit more in the house and won't have as many fights as a couple.  Hernan really wants to be baptized, he said that if he could, he'd do it right then, they just need to take that step of faith and get married.  Something has happened this week that changed Carolina's attitude because before she said that she had already made up her mind that she was done with Hernan but last night was more open to the idea of marriage.  We challenged them to pray and fast about getting married and to go to General Conference next week.  We also met with Jessica this week and she's awesome, she wants to follow the gospel and everything, it's just more difficult for her to go to church.  We also haven't seen Felipe for a while either so hopefully we'll be able to visit with them both this next week.

I'm really looking forward to this next transfer.  As a companionship we've been focusing a lot on looking for ways to hasten the work here in Chile, ways we can find to do the work a lot more effectively than it has been done in the past.  We're trying to follow the counsel of our leaders and work through the members.  It's been said so many times just about every time the prophet or apostles speak that it must be extremely important for us to work together in the work.  So my challenge is for those of you who are not full time missionaries to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with someone, and then look for it to come.  I know that it will and by sharing the gospel we will enjoy our own lives much more.

Thats all for this week, thanks everyone for the updates and for your support, hope you all have a great week, love you all!

Elder Dower

Ok, question time.
1. How many people did you talk to this week? Was it more than last?
We definitely talked with more than last week.  Instead of trying to find which person I'm going to talk to its a lot easier to just talk to everyone I can, It's gotten a lot easier.
2. Were you able to meet with any of the people you found last week?
Not really, its been wierd, everyone is gone this last week, I don't know why but hopefully we can see them this week.
3. How many people came to church?
In the branch we had about 80 we had one investigator, Hernan.
4. How do you do transfer s there? Do you take your companion to osorno, or do you wait with other missionaries in your area?

Normally, up here in the north we go to the big city that is closest, for us, Osorno, or Puerto Montt or Valdivia, and wait for our new companionl