April 1, 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

First off, I´M AN UNCLE!!! I am so happy to hear about Cynthia Katherine´s birth. I am going to go print off pictures so that I can brag to everyone here now.

Second off, forgive me for not sending a letter last week (possibly the only week in my mission without sending a letter?) We had a zone activity in Calera (half an hour away) and we were sure that we would have time to write afterward... but we didn´t make it.

So, I´ll try to wrap up two weeks of amazingness in just one letter. It´ll be hard, but here goes.

W´s story--continued. We went by to visit him on Wednesday, only to discover, through W´s tears, that his estranged and depressed wife took advantage of his blindness, and "kidnapped" their daughter V from school. He was pretty distraught, we helped him get to the police office and make a statement, as well as to pray (we also fasted). After 5 days without hearing anything positive, the ex-wife brought V back. She´s doing pretty good now, from what we have seen.

We are teaching Y, E, and C (have I already talked about them? Friends of F and A, we met them when they came to their wedding party and every single one of them sang. They are pretty talented like that). They came to church last week, this week they didn´t make it, but they are really taking in the gospel like a man lost in the desert drinks water. It is a real pleasure to be with them.

C isn´t doing too well, she hasn´t gone to church for a couple weeks just because she keeps sleeping in. We are trying to help her (teaching her and doing service), but your prayers are definitely appreciated on her part. It tears me up inside that she not be doing well, she isn´t technically "my" convert, but I imagine how I would feel if it were Y in her place.

B (13), F´s step-daughter, asked us to go to her school this week and give a short presentation about what it is like to be from another country living here in Chile. We also got to talk a good bit about the church, and we ended up leaving a couple copies of the Book of Mormon with the teacher, along with pass-along cards for everyone in the class.

Last week, we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with An and A, a family from the ward. They invited their son´s friend F (11), who had been going to church for a few weeks. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon, to pray about it, and to be baptized. He read what we left for him that night and said a prayer. He described what happened next like this: "I felt something really deep inside, like heat, like it was taking all the bad stuff out of me." Later that night, he had a dream in which he heard God´s voice. He asked Him if the Book of Mormon was true, and God answered him that it was, that he should be baptized, and that he had to behave well and keep the commandments. With an answer like that... We taught him basically everything in a short week. His parents were absolutely delighted to see this light turn on inside of him, too. F was baptized this sSturday and confirmed on Sunday, and we are now teaching his parents. After he came up out of the water, he gasped like he was surprised and said, "awesome!"

CM was also baptized and confirmed. Her mom is doing very well, coming to church and everything, and her sister J (who had always been active in the church) started getting to church early, in time to take the sacrament, which she had never before been able to do. CM looked just happy enough to burst.

So, there are two very action-packed weeks packed into a short letter. I love you all, have a great week, happy easter,

Viviendo el sueño,

Elder Jason Ray