¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
Whoa, that's such exciting news about the robotics team! First place outright at regionals, I'm so proud of them! That means they have another sweet ride awaiting them in St Louis! If I see Elder Maxwell tomorrow when we do our transfers with all the missionaries, I'll be sure to tell him, because he was a big part of the legendary team 67 from Michigan.
Speaking of transfers, Elder Rojas is leaving Olmué to go serve in Gomez Carreño, one of the wards where Dad served! I'll find out tomorrow who my new companion is. Elder Rojas is the only missionary from our zone who is leaving besides the 2 sister missionaries that completed their missions, so Sister Hart from Colorado Springs North stake, Sister Palomino from Colombia, and I will have new companions and everyone else is the same, which is really exciting because we have such a powerful zone, and we're so excited to go another round together.
Thanks for all the questions you wrote me! Here are the answers: In Olmué, we do computers in a cyber by the plaza, which is by the Unimarc, where we get groceries. My first 4 weeks here we didn't do that though, because we would do everything in Viña while we were there for the doctor. Unimarc is just like a little Safeway or regular grocery store, and we can get pretty much anything we need there, it being the only grocery store in Olmué. You asked last week if we do service during the week. Preach My Gospel advises us to always search opportunities to serve everybody, so we normally have a service project once a week, which we find just by talking with people and asking if they need help with anything. In Olmué, we tore down half the house of a member who is rebuilding it. He bought the house and wants it to be a lot different, so we offered to help him out because he doesn't have a ton of time, since he works and studies and everything, so we spent a couple hours one Saturday breaking it down with hammers, board by board. We also cut the hedges of a recent convert one time, and one time in my other ward, Elder Diaz and I asked a random lady if we could serve her in any way, and she had us paint her school where she was the teacher, so we painted all the walls on the outside. As we go about the day, I always look for an opportunity to help someone with their yard work or carry groceries to their house or whatnot, you just have to be creative, as with everything in the mission... and in life, for that matter.
We bought the backpack that I am using at Walmart for 15 bucks before I left, and I have no idea what the backpacks are like from the MTC. I suppose they would probably be of good quality, and ready for hardy missionary work. The one I have is pretty funny to look at just because i have sewed it back up in several places, and it just looks half dead all the time, and I replaced the main zipper a couple of weeks ago by sewing on a new zipper I found in Villa Alemana. I would suggest buying a quality backpack, it will be worth it.
The earthquakes of Chile are funny, because there are always tiny little tremors, and it's always a hot topic. Everyone is terrified of earthquakes, including all the Latino missionaries from other countries where they have never even felt an earthquake. The first earthquake last week, I think it was Friday night at about 2 in the morning, but I barely even woke up as everything was shaking back and forth. My companion was terrified, but I only woke up for about 7 entire seconds before falling back asleep. The second earthquake that must have been the 7.1 earthquake in the south was barely noticeable for me here. I wouldn't have known it was trembling unless I saw the plants on the windowsill moving, but it did last for a few seconds, so I suppose it must have been pretty strong at the core. Everyone here has this uncanny ability to feel the tremors, but I'm just waiting for something really disastrous to happen, then I'll have something to talk about.
We always strive to give the investigators a vision of a baptismal date to strive for. Almost all have accepted a baptismal date that they would be baptized on if they feel that God answers their prayers to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that God restored his authority on the earth through Joesph Smith, because we know with a surety that God will answer each of their prayers if they really show Him that they want to know. The difficult part after that is getting them to want to know that this is true, which is the great importance of really, truly understanding the plan of salvation enough to teach it to people, giving them the vision that their Heavenly Father has for each of them specifically as His children. He does not want us to settle for what we could achieve on our own or depending on the world, because it is literally nothing compared to what we gain as we rely on the Atonement of Christ and make sacred covenants with Him by the authority that He Himself instituted and recognizes. Anyways, the biggest stumbling block for progression towards their baptismal date is going to church, because they are often too lazy to get up in the morning. We are really focusing on general conference as a wonderful opportunity for them to really progress towards their baptismal dates.
Cecilia had a baptismal date that she was really progressing towards before her husband fell into a coma, but he woke up from it early last week and now they are back in their house, where he has to lie in bed 24/7, and she doesn't leave the house because she takes care of him. He is slowly getting better, as some days he'll move a different finger or open his eyes, but he's nowhere close to walking yet, and doesn't really talk. She is really calm about all of it though, and is happy that they're back in their home. She's wants us to keep coming back, but she doesn't know how she's going to go to church or get baptized because she can't leave her husband alone and she doesn't know who could take care of him for her.
I am sooo excited for general conference, because it is simply the best opportunity for every person on earth to grow and hear what God wants for us directly from His prophets today. It's also a really easy way to tell if they truly are prophets or just phonies, because it is unmistakeable the Spirit that testifies to our hearts as we listen to their words. The stake center in Villa Alemana has a satellite, so we have to go out there from Olmué to watch it. I love you all!
Love, Elder Kimball
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