19
May 2015
Dear
family,
It
was so fun to TALK to you on Thursday! My companion congratulated me on the
fact that I didn't cry and I spoke almost fluent English.
Remember
how I said we were going to visit an investigator who had accepted a
baptismal date for June 7th and we went and taught him about the Book of
Mormon. We invited him to church on Sunday and he came! We were so excited to
have a progressing investigator...until...after church we were using the ward
list to organize an activity...and...we found... him!..with his first and last
name and address. Either he is named after his father who was a member and
inherited his house or he is actually a less active. Maybe that's why he is so
receptive, right? He already accepted the gospel. If he is a member, there is a
lot for us to remind him of because he sure doesn't seem like a member when
we're teaching him.
For
our P-day we went to Quinta Normal with all eight of the sisters in our group.
It's a park with a lot of trees and several museums. We went to the train
museum, which is outdoors and has real train cars and train engines, some of
which you can climb in, on, and under. It is beautiful fall weather with leaves
falling and I enjoyed being outside.
We
went to the Natural History Museum afterwards—one I had already been to with
Hermana Gomez, Hermana Nuñez, and Hermana Clark in September or October. I
learned that the U.S. took a Chilean flag to the moon, along with the flags
from all of the other countries in the UN at the time.
I
also learned about the volcanoes and earthquakes here, tectonic plates, pollution,
etc. Since I'm a missionary, of course I was thinking about what I read in the
Book of Mormon just this morning in Mormon chapter 8.
29 Yea, it
shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests,
and vapors of smoke in foreign lands;
Cool,
right? We're living in these times! Through technology you all know when I
experience a little earthquake almost as soon as I do. And we all have been
hearing about the volcano in southern Chile and others in other foreign lands.
And pollution? We've got that too. From the top of Santa Lucia a few weeks ago
Hermana Young and I were talking about how weird it was that you can't see the
mountains in Santiago, even though they are there. You also can't see the
buildings in the distance. It's hazy. Google a picture of Santiago on a normal
day and the day after rain and you'll see what I mean.
I
also saw the exhibits of the ancient civilizations of Chile with a Book of
Mormon perspective. I have recently read in the Book of Mormon about the
destruction of the Nephites and the wickedness of the Lamanites who remained
and fell into apostasy. And as I walked through the museum I saw artifacts from
this period of time, the lifestyle of the descendents of Lehi here in Chile. I
read about an eight year old boy who lived centuries ago and was sacrificed to
a sun god and recently found frozen and preserved, dressed with interesting
jewelry and a headdress with condor feathers. Poor thing, tiny, cold, and
probably confused. Apostasy. He's in the Spirit World waiting for his vicarious
baptism to happen, I assume in the Millennium.
Read
the Book of Mormon! I love reading it even more as a missionary. I love sharing
it. I love the chapters where Mormon, Moroni, and other prophets speak directly
to us and to the people I am teaching. It's like breaking the fourth wall in
theater. It makes it so real.
I
am almost done with the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I have read the first half
in Spanish three times but kept starting over, twice before my mission and in
the mission I got to 3 Nephi when President Videla made a plan for us to read
it all together. This time I am going to finish it and then I am going to study
the Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon for a month before starting over
again. Mom, make sure you get me in an Isaiah class at BYU when you sign me up
for classes. And astronomy.
Read
everything! I love my hour of personal study and language study. Last P-day we had
an extra hour and I got to read in bed and study Jesus the Christ. I
don't remember the last time I had free time to read and it was
wonderful.
A
couple of days ago a little boy approached us on the street and asked us to
come to his house and teach him to read. He's a gypsy and my companion says
that the gypsies here don't study and don't send their kids to school. I think
we've contacted the boy's family before.
This
coming week we have ward conference and there are a lot of activities this week
in our ward. Tonight there is a movie night which we are helping prepare and Friday
we are participating in a talent show. Hermana Young and I are going to sing “Glorious” in Spanish. Thank you
Mom for sending a minus track because no one here plays the piano well enough
to accompany us!
I
love you! Read the Book of Mormon!
Love,
Hermana
Eva VanCott
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