Chica in Chile: Latino District now

We are now the oldest district in the CCM. woohoo! Sunday was my last sunday in english for 18 months. agh. Solo español. District 5 left this morning, sad day... They have seriously become family. I can't wait for our CCM reunion in 2 years lol.

So last week we talked a lot about focusing on the spirit and recognizing the spirit in our lives. We did an activity where we walked into the chapel (just our district), just sat there in silence, and tried to comprehend our feelings. Sad to admit but I don't think i have walked into the chapel before and felt the spirit like i did during that activity. I have taken advantage of going to church too often. I felt so much paz, comfort, gozo, amor, gratitud. Man.. I just let the spirit speak to me. It was really incredible. Too often i forget the feeling of the Holy Ghost. I challenge you all to look for the feeling of the spirit. We had another lesson on recognizing the evidence of God. If you seek the evidence of God, you will find it. God is everywhere in our lives; he is in our hearts, our minds, he is in others, as well as in the beauty all around. Look for the hand of God in your life and I guarantee you will find it. Even look for him in situations of doubt and confusion. He will be there and he will help you. As we were sitting in the chapel our maestro told us to think back to our baptism day. All I could really remember was myself smiling. I picture myself in my baptism dress in front of the font with my hands behind my back and I have the biggest grin showing my crocked teeth. It makes me smile now knowing what a great decision I made when I was 8. I didn't really understand fully what baptism meant but I knew I needed to follow christ and that was enough for me.

We taught the Restoration to a couple of investigators and it strengthened my testimony so much of how much faith Joseph Smith had. This is the true chruch that was restored in 1823. He saw God. (BTW i memorized the first vision in spanish!) I know we can all receive personal revelation to know of the truth. I am so lucky to be doing this work, on this day, in this time, in this country. The gospel WILL not fail. It is my job to help people progress and I am determined to be a succesful missionary. Successful means different things to different people...I want to touch peoples lives and to convert them unto Christ forever. How are you going to continue to convert yourself?

We talked on Sunday about recognizing the spirit. (recognizing is key!) God answers prayers but we need to focus on the answers he gives us and how he answers. A lot of the time answers are just thoughts that come to mind. We must pray with real intent. I have heard this SO many times. I thought I knew what it meant until President Dahl asked us what it meant lol. Praying with real intent means praying with the intent to act in order to recieve. When you pray and ask for something think how you are going to do to obtain it. Acting is so important.

Funny story... so confort= comfort, but in Chile 'confort' is a brand of toilet paper, so if you say "confort" everyone assumes you are talking about toilet paper;) lol

Oh, and my comp was in Alysha DeLange´s ward!! (a good friend from San Ramon/BYU)

Last week we did our excerices with the Elders. We found this awesome park on one of our runs! They have parks everywhere here, no joke, and a ton of them have exercise equipment! No wonder the U.S. is fat. I am getting better at Volleyball! woohoo. That is pretty much the only time we spend at Alcantara (our home). We have personal study, breakfast, exercise, get ready and then we head to the CCM for everything else...every day haha. I have gotten the schedule down though. Little sleep but hey I function well! (goes from 10-10 at the CCM)

We committed Alejandra to baptism!! It felt so good. We were pumped!! My spanish is still really broken, but I am definitely improving. I need to work like a mad woman these last 2 weeks. EEK it's the real deal come feb 11.

I will be writing at this time next wednesday.

Keep doing what you are doing! If you are struggling, pray! I promise you will feel better. God wants to hear from you!

I love you guys

Hermana Thompson