Elder Ballard!!!

Feb 18, 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

What a week. Here are just a few word teasers to give you a taste of the week, and hopefully I´ll have enough time to explain each of them.

Volcano’s. Ashes. Blackouts. Chilean Barbeques. M RUSSEL BALLARD. Separation. Russian, French, Dutch and Canadian Tourists. Purranque reunion. Transfers Free Pass.

The big news really is that Elder Ballard came yesterday and spoke to the mission--for the first time all of the mission Chile Osorno was in one meeting (okay, with those from the south in the meeting via satellite poor things..). 

As my president said, with tears streaming down his face at the end of the meeting: "This has been a day that will change all of your lives. Because it has undoubtedly changed mine." The mission hasn’t received the visit of an apostle in years, and yesterday we had elder Rasband, elder Ballard and the area seventy. The spirit that was in the room simply testified, and I feel like my vision has expanded to the magnitude of what we are really doing. There were two points that settled in my soul that I need to change. Elder Ballard spoke about the importance of internalizing the doctrine…that we have to "pay the price to bring the doctrine from our head into our hearts, and then we can teach with our own words, with the guidance of the spirit, and without fear." Elder Ballard taught with such utter conviction. He looked at us all with his piercing blue eyes and elevated us. Took us to his level. He told us about his mission--he served in England, and he said that he arrived and his first day was taken by the mission president to a stand for a street meeting in Hyde Park. "And my president drew out my name, and hoisted me up with these firm words: `Elder Ballard--Preach the Gospel.' Preach the gospel? What in the world was I going to teach? And so there, in Hyde Park, I decided to teach about baptism. And so I said everything I knew about baptism. In a minute and a half. And that night, I kneeled in my room and begged in prayer the forgiveness of the Lord for being so unprepared to be his representative and teach his doctrine." This story has resonated in my being and I can’t get it out my head, along with one other question that Elder Ballard asked. "How much faith do we really have? If we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. So how much faith do you all have?"

Oh man…I cant even explain everything. I can’t even say one tenth of all the Elder Ballard said, but here are the big ideas: Preach my gospel? PURE GOLD. Read it. study it. know it. live it.

Talk with everyone; teach with conviction and this spirit. 

To sum it up, we all stood and sang la Luz de la Verdad in the end (in English it´s hark all ye nations?) and as we sang the last verse I couldn’t get out the words as I processed what it says, "We have been called by God to serve, to every nation and land we will go. We are going to teach with faith and power the name of the Lord." We were all in the city of Puerto Varas (one of most beautiful cities that I have ever seen) and so after the conference, we went and sang, all of the missionaries, in the Plaza, as Tourists from diverse countries swarmed around, and then Hermana Rivas and I contacted (oh the stories I wish I could tell you from lost tourists that don’t speak Spanish and are just so happy to find someone who speaks English and Spanish ahaha)

I feel spiritually elevated. Stretched, and elevated. Like I have seen another plane of how to do missionary work, and in seeing this plane, I have been stretched and realized how much I am lacking. But I am going to keep trying to arrive there. I am so far from where I should be as a person, as a missionary…but I am going to keep striving.

Ah, one other thing that happened this week. For a long time now I haven’t understood why we focus so much on the family in the church--.how to protect the family, how to help your family etc. etc. Especially as I have taught investigator’s, less actives and others that are the only members in their family and I would always inwardly squirm when all of the church meeting focused on the family.

But just on Sunday, Hermana Rivas and I were headed to see a family on investigators that we have (that had a date to get married) and as we got closer we first saw Veronica in the street, and then we heard the bang on the door, a hurriedly packed bad and faces streaked with tears--we had arrived just as Veronica and her children were leaving. "mom and dad are separating" the three year old Katy told us decidedly, peeking from behind her mom. We had arrived in the moment of the big fight, and we walked with Veronica, holding her bags filled with odds and ends as Miguel hovered behind, following her and begging her to leave their daughter.

I have never seen such real pain--the absolute suffering of a family that is being torn apart. The moment that they took the bus, breaking the complete silence. Miguel running back to their now empty house an I looked at my companion and we both cried. THIS is the suffering that the Lord is trying to help us avoid.

That experience, coupled with Elder Ballard, helped me elevate my vision.

I just hope I can live up to it.

I love you all!!!! Press forward in the cause!