Staying

My dear people,

Happy day!! I am staying in Lirquen for at least 4 more weeks!! (Yes, this next cambio is only 4 weeks. The one after will be 8 weeks. Crazy, huh?) Elder Saénz called at 6:50 this morning to break the news, and I held my breath as he announced my name first. ´Hermana Oldroyd.... Se va.... a quedar!´ (Hermana Oldroyd... is going..... to stay!) I´m very very happy that I´ll be able to stay and teach a couple of the investigators that we have. They´re so dear to me! I hope that they can progress and take the decision to be baptized. I promise I´ll do all I can!

As for this week, we had a mini cambio! Hermana Mena, who is basically our sister zone leader, came to Lirquen to work with me for two days, and Hermana Peterson went to Chiujuansito. (Still don´t know how to spell that.)

 

Sister Mena

It was so great and I learned so much! She helped me learn how to plan more efficiently, how to organize things a little better, and I learned a lot from watching her teach. She is loving and sweet and humble, from Ecuador. She came Tuesday after lunch and stayed until Thursday afternoon.

As for this cambio, Hermana Daglio is leaving to another sector, and guess who is coming to Lirquen? None other than Hermana Mena!! I was quite thrilled when I heard the news. Not that I don´t love Hermana Daglio- she is great but there is also a whole lot more involved with her that I´ll try to write in my journal. Always more to write than there is time for...

This week we had Henri at church! We´ve taught him four times now, and the last time that we called him to verify our sita and his reading, he said ´Yes, 7 is still great. The pamplet? Yes, I´ve read it three times.´ Oh. Wow! He is super sincere and really wants to change his life, so we´re going to work to help him quit smoking and prepare for baptism. He´s super, super open and ready to learn, and he buys cookies and juice for us every time we come over. Just to keep illustrating how much I love him, he also sends the cookies home with us if we don´t finish them. Little blessings, my dear people, little blessings.

As for Luis and Mercedes, (did I write about them last week? I sure hope so...), we had a struggle with them this week. Luis was never actually at our sitas, since he lives in Penco and just drops by to see Mercedes. We didn´t know that when we first started teaching him. Long story short, we did all we could this week but we didn´t have any contact with Luis. We were able to teach Mercedes and she is progressing in her knowledge of the gospel. (Already a member, but very inactive, just in case I didn´t write about her last week.) The bad news is that neither came to church. We´re going to keep working with them!

Comment on Chilean culture- they love media of any kind. Lots of the members here have their TV on all day, watching news or telenovelas or whatever is on. Others prefer radio, and our ward mission leader Hermano Tomas Torres has headphones in all the time. Funny man, I´ll have fond memories of him. They also watch movies in English, and they´ll watch old church movies as well, with subtitles in English.

Love you all so much! I hope you feel how blessed we are to live in this place and time. Just think of all the people around you, the ones you love, the ones you don´t, the ones you just don´t know. Each has his or her own world, each is living and learning and growing, and we have the sacred privilege to take part in each others´ lives. Think about the influence that you have and take a moment to evaluate the way you are using that power. Our common bond as human beings is our dependence on the Lord and Jesus Christ for our eventual salvation and our present happiness. We need him now and forever, and we are each equally indebted to Him as our Savior. This plan really is perfect, and He really is our perfect guide. Turn to Him in all you do!!

yours always,

Hermana Oldroyd

Special bracelet from high school friend Kristine  

 

Erica beams after her call home on Mother's day

 

Gloria Aguayo Llanos in the middle, their son Neil on the other side of her, their son Dallyn, and Marcos Llanos

 

Hermana Daglio woke up and made breakfast on Mothers day! With our missionary diet, it consisted of toast, a little bowl of eggs, cookies, and Ecco. Yummmm

 

Me on a more typical day... Bulky bag, black jacket, hair in a ponytail and looking quite ´functional´rather than decorative. Oh and the chickens!! Another Hawaii flaskback