Working HARD!!

Hey everybody, sounds like you all had a fun week, with lots of Chili haha i on the other hand only have Chile...boo bad joke ha. That´s too bad that Halloween rained all night, I remember that almost every year Halloween was just a bust for weather, with snow or just -20 degree weather. Good to know that Utah´s keepin the tradition alive. So Landon wrote me and told me about his engagement, that´s sooooo awesome, yet he disobeyed me and is getting marrried before I get home, oh well he´s a happy dude. He also said that he´s comin to AF next semester to live with you guys, that´ll be so freaking fun I bet, he´ll be like my replacement for you all since we´re very similiar haha. That was really cool to hear that Mckay and the choir sang thriller...we never did anything cool like that. Speaking of Mckay, dude you hang out with some cute chicks. And everyone, THANK YOU so much for the package you sent. It was super fun getting those letters, it really meant a lot reading your testimonies and everything you wrote me, I loved it. The pics were awesome too haha and you all look great too. Thanks for the BYU poster, it´s already up on my wall! and yes there was hair gel in there, thank you! Anywaaaaaaaaaaays..
It´s been strangely cold and rainy this week, I think Elder Balkman brought a little bit of Seattle with him cuz it´s just been dark clouds and windy everyday. This week was a really good one; it´s true that we´re working super hard, and we´re really being blessed for it. It´s just nice to have a companion that I can enjoy the work with. Elder Balkman´s way cool, but often does random things hahah but I just laugh. He´ll just run up to a kid and ask him if he can borrow his skateboard, and will ride away. Funny kid. We´ve been working hard on finding new people, and we´ve seen some success. We were also able to reconcile ourselves with Camilo´s mom, she´s no longer giving us the cold shoulder when we go over, but Elder Balkman is definitely her new favorite. It´s good cuz Camilo and his sister came to church on Sunday, everyone was happy to see them after not having attended for a few weeks. We´ve been working hard with the ward as well to make sure that our recent converts and less active members that we´ve met are being visited, so that we can continue to focus on our main objective of teaching and baptizing!!! We have two new investigators that came to church on Sunday, Luis and Franco. Luis is a man that had attended our church many times before, and had met with the missionaries. He has doctrine and covenants, and is a good guy. He had a little problem with the bishop and that is why he stopped going, but he is willing and very happy to progress and to share the gospel again with us. His son, Franco, is a different kid, but he too is happy and excited to learn and share these things with us. He´s different in the sense that he wears all black, and listens to hard rock and roll, but he´s learning and reading and praying and now has attended church. They both have baptismal dates for the 21st of November, so pray for them and put their names in the temple please :)
Danitza is doing well also. Sebastian is kinda being rebelious and a punk, he put his ear rings back in, but told us that the next time we go to his house he´ll give them to us and not put them in ever again. Sadly the two of them don´t have good friends, and they often feel pressured to do stuff that they know they shouldn´t, but like almost every teenager, they fall every now and again to peer pressure. Danitza is excited about her baptism and understands a lot better that she needs to repent and keep the commandments well BEFORE her baptism in order to be baptized. Her attitude has changed a ton since she moved back home, and her mom joana is really happy with her and is helping her a lot. It seems that with me and Elder Balkman here, we´re accomplishing a lot of things that before weren´t possible, and I feel that we´ll have a ton of success together.
I also got an awesome email today from a former investigator that I was teaching here in Molina. His name is Christian, and he´s honestly one of the coolest people I’ve ever met here. Sadly I never got a pic with him, but he said he´d send me some. Anyways he had been meeting with the missionaries for over a year, but couldn´t be baptized cuz he lived with his girlfriend and they had a daughter, and also couldn´t stop smoking. Anyways they recently split up and he moved to a city called Linares. We called the missionaries there and gave them his direction so that he could continue progressing. I also sent him a triple as a gift cuz he´s always wanted one. He was really happy when the Elders showed up on his doorstep with that book with my testimony and name on the inside. He wrote me last week that he had stopped smoking, and this week the Assistants to the President called me and asked me if I knew a man named Christian, I said yes, that I had been teaching him here in Molina. They said they recently interviewed him and that he was being baptized this last week. This morning I had an email from Christian that said that he had big news that he knew I would to hear, but that he wanted to send me pictures to let me know what happened. I´m positive he got baptized, so I was pumped about that. it’s great to know that even when you don´t get to see the fruits of your work, many times God does the rest and eternal blessings come.
This week an ex missionary came to Molina to visit his converts and the Oyarce family. He served in 2004-2006, and also served in Piduco, Talca during his time here. He´s a convert that was baptized when he was 22, and is a way cool guy. We ate lunch with the Oyarces on Saturday and Sunday and so we got to know him and his family pretty well. It was fun talking about his old mission memories, and talking about people in Talca that we both knew. He´s now 1st Counselor in his branch. He was way chill and honestly still seemed like a missionary, he´s still single so that´s probably why he acts so young still, being 30 years old. It was sad to say goodbye to them yesterday after just getting to know them, but i guess that´s life.
The best news of the week, is that Jorge was baptized!!! He chose a priest in our ward to do it too, it´s Nacho Oyarce, and their whole family was way excited about it. We had to go to Lontue cuz now we don´t have a baptismal font due to the remodeling in the chapel. It was one of the most special and spiritual baptismal services i´ve ever had. Only the Bishop, the Oyarce´s, and Brother Peña´s family, along with Jorge´s family. But there was a special spirit with such a small group and it felt more familyish and personal. We sang a special number and the messages that were given all brought an awesome peace to the meeting. It was super special, and Jorge´s dad, Juan, wants more than ever to be baptized, just has to get married first. He´ll do it!!
Funny Halloween fact here: If a kid knocks on your door and you don´t have candy to give him, he has all the right in the world to just chuck a bunch of eggs at you and your home. It´s completely allowed, and a legit tradition here haha, me and Elder Balkman decided that part of Halloween is cooler here.
Well fam damily I love you all tons and tons and hope you all have a great week. Keep praying, reading, obeying, and the spirit will be with you always. Elder Balkman has a little yoda toy on his desk, so i thought i´d sign out with this, may the force be with you.
much love,
Tanner