Turning Twenty in Chile

8 June 2015

Dear family,

Happy birthday to Adria! And me! I am two decades old! Hermana Fullmer made me pancakes for breakfast before we went to district class. I opened my package during lunch and we had a birthday party during our hour of dinner.

 The teachers are striking again. No one has had classes for a while and it's forecasted to last through June. People are irritated, resigned, bored. What it means for the missionaries is that everyone is home twiddling their thumbs and waiting for us to visit them during their free schedule. We have more appointments than we can meet and it's great. We did divisions with two future sister missionaries this week. 

I am trying do more to teach with members and involve them during the week. We also invited one of the future sister missionaries to teach with us on Tuesday and she helped us teach an investigator. She explained the Book of Mormon, shared experiences, drew a map of how to get to church, and when we set a new appointment volunteered to come again. I'm wondering why I haven't been more consistent in inviting members before. It was different in more rural areas but here all of the members live in our sector and they are close to our investigators. It's spectacular!

I was really excited for an appointment this week that fell through. We ate lunch with a family last Sunday and asked for referrals. One family member, a returned missionary, mentioned an old woman who lives in their street. He didn't know her name but always says hello. We visited that house and met the old woman's nephew, who also lived there. We taught him and he accepted a baptismal date. It was really fun to call the member yesterday and say, "Your referral has a baptismal date! Would you like to accompany us to teach him?” The member came but the investigator wasn't there and has been busy recently. Next time!

We're teaching a new investigator. We have only visited three times but have already seen progress. The first time we visited her she told us that she had met with missionaries before and that she wanted us to teach her but that she wasn't going to be baptized. The second lesson we invited her to be baptized and she wasn't sure. The third time she accepted a date with a "what have I got to lose attitude." She even discussed it with her husband and decided she had nothing to lose, she could only win. Third time's the charm. We want to teach her husband but he is in the hospital after a recent operation. 

Thanks for your prayers, birthday wishes, cards, the beautiful package, emails, pictures, everything! I love you and hope you have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Eva VanCott

This is the internet cafe we are in right now! Creepy green stairs.