Changed...

Dear family,

I was changed! Yesterday night at about 10:20 they called me and told me that I would be leaving Turquesa. If I had received that call about two months ago I would have been jumping for joy, but last night it was the complete opposite. It crushed me. I really didn´t want to leave the Turquesa Ward. Over these last four changes there (24 weeks), I have really developed a love for that ward and the members there. We spent so long developing relationships and working with them in the missionary work that it is hard to leave them behind. It is also heart breaking to leave behind all of the people who are now investigating the church.

We finally taught the entire family of Angelina and Bastian. Her husband Andres didn´t want to leave the house, but we made friends with him and dragged him out. We then had a lesson with the Guerrero Family. Andres now supports Angelina and Bastian in their decision and wants us to keep passing by to teach him more. It is so sad to have to leave them behind. Angelina and Bastian should be getting baptized in 2 weeks.

Then we have Ana Maria and Yanara who were a blessing and a miracle. Ana Maria is a little quiet lady who stopped us in the street two Mondays ago and asked us what she needed to do to go to our church. We immediately set an appointment to teach her. She and her 13 year old daughter accepted the invitation to be baptized and are way excited for it.

We also had an amazing experience with our ward mission leader this week as well. When we first started working with him, he didn´t seem to care about us or anything. Over time we began to develop a good relationship and we started having him leave with us to lessons and doing divisions. Then this week he invited us to come eat dinner (chilean "once") with him. He is a convert to the church and the rest of his family aren´t members. We had seen them before, but he never gave us the chance to talk with them. This time he invited us to teach his family. We realized that he trusted us enough to teach them a little bit. We felt good to be able to help him and I am sure Elder Deviagge will try to keep working with them.
There`s also Nicole who is 16 years old and has been going to church and seminary for like a year now, but hasn´t been able to get baptized without her Dad´s permission. Yesterday we went to her house with the 1st Counselor of the ward and taught her dad. He now gives us full permission to pass by the house and teach her any time we want. She should be getting baptized in 2 weeks as well.

The list really goes on and on. Darling, Camilo, Christian, Cristian, and Francisca... The Lord has been pouring out his blessings upon Turquesa. Not to mention that we are also having ward members working with us every day of the week to help us out. Unfortunately my time is up there. It was heart breaking at first, but now I just have to move on. I trust that Elder Deviagge will be doing a good job with the sector next change. He will also be training a brand new missionary over there, so it should be really exciting for the both of them.
Right now I have been called to the JP Alesandri Ward. My companion is Elder Wyatt (a weight lifting health nut that goes home in 2 weeks). And I am the District Leader over here. One thing that makes me really happy about the new change is that we live in a really nice apartment building on the FOURTEENTH floor. We each have our own bathroom and lots of space as well. It´s weird though, in 2 weeks I will be receiving a new companion again. We´ll see how things go around here.

So yeah, that is basically my life. I know that everything happens for a reason and that changes are necessary. The Lord has plans for each and every one of us.

I love you all and hope everything is all good at home! Thank you for everything.

Love,
Elder Mooney

Miracles every day

Dear loved ones,

Chile is doing well. I am doing well. My companion is doing well. It is so weird here in the mission. We have six changes - each change to get as much done as we possibly can. The six weeks always go by way too fast, but at the same time it feels like I have been in the mission for years. I think once I hit that year mark time will go by even faster though :S

Just so you know, Kelly wrote me and seems to be loving life over there in Africa. It sounds like they have a lot of responsibility and a lot of work over there. I am sure she is handling it great.

This week Bryan recieved the Priesthood and next week his sister Darinka is getting baptized. Fun stuff right? We also finally got to teach Angelina and Bastian, the amazing family we found like a month ago. Their church scared them away from us for a time but we finally had another lesson. In the lesson she told us that the spirit has been telling her so strong that it is all true. She tried to avoid it, but she explained everything that the scriptures say. She feels a light filling the darkness. She is happier. Her mind is at peace. And best of all her family has been getting along better ever since we passed by the house. The went on vacation this week but will be getting baptized the first of August. Also, we have a 14 year old girl named Darling who was afraid to go to church with us. We got her involved in Salsa dancing in mutual and she now is completely comfortable. She should be getting baptized soon as well.

I honestly feel like even though we see so much rejection, so much sadness and negativity, the Lord really is blessing us with miracles every day. I feel like it is so hard to recognize the affect the spirit has in every situation, but as I pay more attention, I can see the spirit guiding us and helping us at all times.

Well I love each and every one of you. Melissa, thanks for showing me the conversation with Juan. He was baptized my second change in the mission. He is an awesome kid! Keep up the good work all of you and keep writing me!

Love,

Elder Mooney

"Nothing bad ever came from being obedient"

Dear family,

Things here in Chile are crazy. This Sunday our bishop was released and a new bishopric was called. We can feel some electricity now in the ward. Obispo Juarez is our new bishop and we are already good friends with him so that helps us out alot here in the ward. He was also called to lead the missionary work in the stake recently so we are hoping that he will keep that focus of expansion.

Sadly I didn´t do anything fun for the 4th of July. I decorated the house with the stuff you sent me though. My Argentinian? companion sure loved the USA banner and US flags all over the place... Haha and I think he especially like how I kept singing "And I´m proud to be an American, where at least I know I´m free......" It was kinda a sad holiday though. I guess the Chilean community just doesn´t care about our Independence day.

Our investigators have been a little shaky lately. It seems that we have lost a few. It is really sad to see that happen too, because they still want us to pass by the house and share with them, but if they aren´t willing to go to church or make any changes in their lives we can`t. It´s difficult. We are still teaching Darinka who should be getting baptized in two Sundays now. We are teaching another 14 year old girl named Darling. Her mom and aunt are less active members. Darling was going to go to church with us on Sunday but got scared last minute and didn`t. We are going to help her to feel more comfortable by making sure that she goes to the salsa dance activity this Wednesday for mutual.

Two phrases have really been helping me to stay focused and work hard these past few weeks. "Nothing bad ever came from being obedient" and "SACRIFICE brings forth the blessings of heaven." As we recieve new rules and guidelines here in the mission, sometimes it is difficult to change how we have been doing things since the beginning. The truth is though, as we sacrifice our time and effort and make those changes, the Lord will bless us for our obedience. The concept is so clear! Easier said then done though.

Well I love each and every one of you and hope you are well. Thank you for your love and support. You are the best.

Love,

Elder Matthew Mooney