Suprise! I had a baptism this Saturday! His name is Manuel Sepulveda! He`s a little abolito and is just a great guy. So that was a good time. Not much to say about it, except that it was a really cool experience. His sister who is super catholic came to his baptism and said she really liked our way of baptizing. She came to church the next day too! So we`re going to start teaching her and hope that she`ll follow Manuel`s example!
So, I have some kind of weird sad news. Our golden investigator, Pablo from a few months back, I found out last week that he passed away in Santiago from cancer. It was kind of a horrifying shock. It made me realize how cynical I can be; the whole time we were calling and he wasn`t answering or would answer but wouldn`t come to his appointments with us, I was thinking he was purposly avoiding us and making up excuses when he said he was sick. It really made reflect on the lack of compasion I have, and that I don`t know the situation of these people. I have to hope for the best of them and think the best too. I really think the progress he made and the things Hermana Kleinman and me taught him will help him out.
We`ve been offering a lot more service lately! The other day we dug up the front yard of an office so that they could replant the grass. WOO!! Jeans and hats! It`s so fun to get the whole zone together *cough* ten people *cough* and help out the town like that. We`ve also started volunteering to teach english in the high school, and have been doing that for about two weeks. Good stuff. The kids are honestly little butt heads but it`s fun making fun of them.
I am not lying or exagurating when I say I loooooove the mission. I love my companion and my little town Gorbea and the people we`re teaching and the other missionaries and the ward members and everything. BUT. I have a problem that I have had my whole life; the grass is always greener problem. I had been enjoying the mission but not as much as I cuold have been, mostly because my mind was always thinking about the future. The next cambio, the next companion, when I get home, that`s when my life will REALLY start. ANd I expressed this sentimiento to my companion, who told me I should read The 4th Missionary. It talks about how a good missionary, a great missionary, can go home unchanged and dissapointed with their mission if they only are obidient to the rules with their might and strength but hold back their heart and mind. The simple trick is to stop thinking about home. I have not once been home sick on the mission. I really do love Chile and I can pretty easily adjust to new situations, but my thoughts of the future kept me from focusing on the now. I have a bad habit of counting time (for example, I have 146 days in the mission today). And this is another thing that`s really holding me back from forgetting myself and going to work. But this week, my attitude really changed. I started to be happier in the street. I started to look forward to knocking on doors late at night, becuase I`m here on the lords errand. I`m here doing the most important, sacred, concencrated work on the planet, and I flipping love it!
I love all of you guys and wish you the best! Have a great week!
Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!
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