week #78 Baptism of Ana and Jhan

Hey!

Was a good week! We had baptisms! TA! Ana and Jhan got baptized this week! Juan Ibacache´s wife and son! We have been working with them for a little bit now, like 3 months but finally almost all the family are members of the church! Now it´s just the other daughter that lives with them that isn´t a member. Her name is Tamara and we´ve shared a little bit with her but she doesn´t really care all that much but we´re going to keep working with her so that she can get baptized as well! More about baptisms we might have one more coming up this week! We have a girl that went to church this Sunday. My comp found her during the week and invited her to church and also to baptism. She´s nice and has a chance of getting baptized this week. Her name is Nelva. She is 15 and has a baby that just was born like 2 weeks ago. Pretty crazy but she´s nice and is receptive. She lives with her family in the tomas. Part of our sector is just like a city of tomas, there are still parts of the tomas that I have never heard of or know about. But there a lot of people that live there with some sad stories but they are usually nice people. Well you get all types of people in the tomas lol... But yeah she has the possability of getting baptized this week! This also might be my last week here in Alto Hospicio.. We are in week 6 of this transfer and there is a good chance that I´m gone this transfer to another zone or something! But we´ll see what happenes next week if there are any changes or not. We actually have to go to Antofagasta this week to go to leadership council this Thursday and I´ll pretty sure they´ll tell us our cambio there in the council. So that should be my week coming up!

Other than that this week was good. Just a normal week of just working and sharing the gospel with everyone that we come across! Also our converts have been progressing a ton! There are a lot of them that have been receiving callings in the branch and have been progressing a ton! Thanks to the members as well! The members here have been working pretty hard to help out the converts to stay and progress! Actually one of our converts Sebastian Flores has been real excited to leave out with us to visit people. He has been calling us like everyday this week asking us if he could go out with us and visit people. He´s 19 and in his last year of high school, he has actually told us that he would like to be a missionary as well! So we´ll see what happens but it would be pretty cool if he left out on a mission! He´s only been a member for like 2 months now.

Also this week I had an comp exchange with a new Elder, Elder Jibaja from Peru. He is in his first transfer in the mission field! He is super awesome and with all the fire to talk with everyone about baptism! I went over to his sector to work with him and to do some interviews for a couple of their investigators that got baptized this weekend! Also had to go to another sector that same day to try and help out with another baptism in another sector but didn´t work out as well lol. It was actually an investigator that I have known for quite a while now. I actually knew her in Antofagasta when I District Leader. It was a girl that lived here in Alto Hospicio but she was visiting family in Antofagasta for summer vacation like 6 months ago. In Antofagasta the sister missionaries were teaching her and she was on the edge of getting baptized in Antofagasta. I did her baptism interview in Antofa but her mom didn´t give her permission because she wanted her to get baptized in Alto Hospicio. Well she still hasn´t gotten baptized but I went and visited her this week and talked a little bit with her. I invited her to get baptized Sunday after church because the missionaries were preparing a baptism service after church and she actually accepted and I did another interview with her and everything. The missionaries passed by her baptism clothes the next day and everything was good. But then she didn´t go to church..... She´s real lazy seems like lol. In Antofa she was like always going to church and mutual and everything but since she´s been here in Alto Hospicio she still hasn´t gone to church. It´s weird how the people change and how lazy they are as well lol. But definitely interesting situation knowing someone from another sector in the mission like 6 months ago and returning to see them again and stuff.. Oh her name is MariaJose just in case... But yeah that´s what happened there. Here in Chile it´s hard to get people to go to church. Idk why it´s so hard for people to go to church but that´s the hardest part that we have is bring people to church. We even leave out with a member super early every Sunday morning in a car to go and wake people up and bring them to church.... No Church No Baptism!

No there are always dogs in the street. There are good dogs and there are bad dogs. But every where in Chile they have just dogs everywhere. There are more dogs than there are people. And there is more poop then there are dogs lol😂 But everythings good. My pants are in a wearable shape now lol. I have no clue what kind of dog it was because there are all types of dogs here and so many types of mixes. But yeah we were just passing by a street to go and visit an investigator and the dog just started barking at us with a group of other dogs and when we passed by and were knocking on the house the dog came up and bit my leg.... Always got to look out lol.

No I didn´t by the East Carolina jersey.. lol. Why would I buy that thing. Just thought it was funny to find that jersey in Chile ya know.

Hopefully everything works out in the place that you want to work! Would be pretty cool to work at Blizzard!! Hope that everything works out for ya there! But the Lord will put you where you need to be, also where I need to return home to as well lol!

Well that was about it for this week! The mission is the best! Lot´s of ups and downs and the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, but it is definitely the best!! Just going to get out there and give it all this week like normal!! Love you guys a ton!! Hope you have a great week as well!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pics: Baptism of Ana and Jhan!!!

We played soccer today for P-day! Also played a little 1 on 1 with Elder Ambao from the Philippines. He´s like the only other one in the zone that actually plays basketball! but it was definitely fun to play a little ball as well today!! Been a long time!

week #77 -- More work in the vineyard of the Lord -- bitten by a dog!

Hey Happy Father´s Day!! Hope that you had a great father´s day yesterday! Looks like you guys had a good time!

This week was actually a pretty good week! Busy of just companion exchanges again! We have been working a lot more closer with the missionaries in our zone to be able to help them out a little bit more and help them work as well! Our zone is actually really awesome and mostly all the missionaries work really well! So there isn´t a ton of problems but we still have been working a lot with them to be able to raise their expectives and faith. In the Zone right now we have a total of 13 baptisms and this weekend coming up we should be having 7 baptisms in the zone! So we should get to 20 baptisms this month! In the mission right now we have 94 baptisms with 64 baptisms for this weekend! So if everything goes well this weekend then we should reach 157 which should break the records here in Chile for the most baptisms in one month!!! So pray that everything goes well this weekend! We´ll be putting all our trust and faith in the Lord this week in his vineyard! We should also be having 2 baptisms this weekend as well! Ana and Gian are finally getting baptized! It´s Juan Ibacache´s wife and kid that finally went to church this Sunday and are going to get baptized!

But yeah this week I had companion exchanges with Elder Barney on Tuesday. Elder Barney is a really good missionary. Definitely think that he will be a zone leader pretty soon because there are 6 zone leaders going home this transfer so I think that he will have a good chance of being a zone leader be we´ll see where the Lord calls him. But definitely a good day with him on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday I had another exchange with Elder Wheelwright again. He is also a really good missionary! Had a good day with him as well but actually a crazy day as well. So first thing that happened that day is that a dog bit my leg....😬 Ripped my pant open and everything... Didn´t really do any damage or anything to my leg but did rip my pant open... I was able to fix my pants a little bit but I think that the sister that washes our clothes will be able to fix it for me lol.. But don´t worry everything good. Also that same day in the night we had to go down to a part of our sector that is pretty dangerous at night. Usually it´s pretty chill but it´s dangerous because it´s dark and there wasn´t like anyone else around. So we were going down and being that we are on top of a mountain and it´s winter time we normally get some pretty wicked fog and sometimes can see a lot. And just when we got to this part of the sector the fog hit really hard and we passed by a dude that asked us what time it was then started to follow us in the dark and fog. So right when we got to the corner of the street we turned the corner and just started to run.... Well nothing happened but it was a little sketch... But yeah that was my day with Elder Wheelwright. We were actually talking a little bit about snowboarding and stuff like that because he skied a ton and was just about to get sponsored before the mission but then he left out on the mish. Definitely excited to get home right in time for the snowboarding season! Then on Thursday I had a exchange with Elder Dominguez in his sector. This is his first transfer in the mission and the first time in his sector alone having to direct it. Was an interesting day but it was good as well! Welp other than that this week just working as normal and finding new people to teach and baptize!

Sounds like the job hunt is still going strong! Hopefully everything will work out!

Looks like I´m going to have 2 pairs of shoes.... Whoops. Today we were walking around outside of Sofri which sells like a ton of stuff from outside like stuff from the States as well and I found a really nice pair of running shoes in my size for like 40 bucks! They were super cheap because like no one buys that size of shoe here in Chile so they dropped the price of the shoes a ton and they only had a couple pairs of shoes but they were super cheap and I couldn´t hold myself from buying them... So yeah I bought them lol. But I can´t believe that I´m already going to be 20 in a couple months! Time just flies by!

Other than that this should be another busy week! A lot of stuff like normal that we have to do this week! Love ya guys a ton! Have a great week!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pic: So when we went out buying today we found a jersey from "East Carolina" hahaha😂

week #76 -- Conference week with Elder Christensen and Elder Bragg

Hey!

Well this week went by real fast! Tuesday we were in conference all day long. Pretty tiring! But it was a really good conference! Elder Christensen and Elder Bragg from the seventy were here and talked to us about a couple things. Honestly they talked about a whole lot of things and what we were doing as a mission and that we just need to keep it up. We talked about how we need to work as a team and that every sector has to baptize every month! That is the goal of the mission right now is that every sector can baptize and if we do that then we should be having a lot of baptisms in the mission as a whole. Let´s go break some records! But yeah other than that they talked about a ton of stuff also they talked a little bit about after the mission and things that we should always do and stuff like that. It was a pretty good conference! But it was definitely a long day! Then on Wednesday I had comp exchange and I went to Pozo Almonte with Elder Schmid to do a couple interviews for a few people. Then on Thursday I went on another exchange to La Pampa with Elder Wheelwright(long distant family member lol). But yeah it was pretty cool the comp exchanges! As zone leaders we always try to do exchanges to help missionaries out and to also do interviews for their investigators so pretty much the first day that I was able to actually work in my sector this week was Friday.

Also our baptism fell through this week. I really don´t know what´s up with Ana and Gian but they show a lot of interest but they never like do anything. Juan Ibacache couldn´t go to church this Sunday so when he doesn´t go then the whole family doesn´t go to church which is kinda lame. We are pretty much just waiting until Gian goes to church then they will get baptized because they both want do but Gian hasn´t gone to church yet... So hopefully that could be a baptism for next week! But this week coming up we might have a baptism. It isn´t 100% but it´s a possability. We need to talk a little bit more with the family. It´s actually a family of less active members, well the mom and dad. Then their daughters aren´t members but the mom and the daughters came to church this Sunday so they might get baptized this weekend if everything goes well! But we have actually found a lot of really good people this week that want to get baptized but still haven´t gone to church yet but they´re really good!

Still haven´t been able to get running shoes. I didn´t go down to Iquique today because we had a zone activity today. We played some soccer and we actually got permission to watch Moana!! We got permission because we had 22 baptisms in the zone last month so President let us watch Moana!! It was actually a really good movie, I liked it a lot! Then from there, there wasn´t a ton of time, went and got lunch and bought some things for the week and that´s about it! So I wasn´t able to go down to Iquique to look for shoes. I actually think it might be better if you guys just send me some for my b-day!

That´s cool that you were able to get grandpa´s stuff to do in the temple for him. If you want to wait for me you can!

Sounds like you have a couple leads for a job! Hope that everything works out for you! The Lord will put ya where he wants ya! Hope you´ll land a job ASAP! Will be praying for ya don´t worry!

Really sad about the news with Blair... Also will be praying for the family.. But God has a plan and he is definitely in a better place!

Other than that just a pretty chill week of just conferences and in comp exchanges! Not of ton of time to work in my sector this week but this week just gonna go out there and slay my sector! Get out there and baptized all Alto Hospicio! A tsunami is going to pass by! Hope you guys have a great week as well! Love you a ton!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pic with Elder Bragg and a pic of the whole conference with all the missionaries that were able to go. Only the zone leaders and the missionareis in Antofagasta were able to be present in person, the rest of the mission watched it from Skype. 

week #75 - more bautismo!

Hey!

I have literally no time to write! Sorry!!! I was in Iquique like all day looking for some good running shoes in my size but I couldn´t find any... Kinda lame! Wasn´t a huge selection! Like the only place that people told us that should have some was closed.... So I think I´ll try next week to go and buy some... So that´s pretty much why I don´t have like any time to write....

Well my week was great!! The Peñaranda Arqueros family got baptized!!!! It was pretty much a miracle that they got baptized! They almost didn´t get baptized this week.... Right before they were about to leave their house to go to the church they got in a fight and Jonathan got mad and went upstairs and told the family to get baptized without him.... But we were sitting in the church waiting for them to show up because they should have gotten there 20 mins before the baptism but they still didn´t show up and weren´t answering the phone. So me and my comp felt like we should have gone to their house. So we went there and animated them and everything and brought them to the church and they got baptized! It was really awesome!! We should also have baptism for this Sunday afternoon after church as well!!! Going on week 5 of baptizing! We are pretty much just out of stock right now... Got to find a lot more people this week!

Tomorrow we will be in Antofagasta for conferences. Elder Christensen and Elder Bragg will be there tomorrow! Only the zone leaders and the missionaries in Antofagasta get to go to the conference so I am definitely blessed! All the other missionaries have to watch it for skype! After the conference with Elder Christensen we have our leadership council so I will be all day in conferences! Should be pretty crazy and I´ll get home Wednesday like at 5 am........

That´s too bad about the job... Will definitely be praying for you guys!!! Hope that everything turns out! Just leave it all up to the Lord!!

Sorry I´m literally out of time! I´ve got to go get out there and work in the Lord´s vineyard!! Love you a ton!! I´ll write a lot more next week!! Sorry!!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pics: Baptism of the Peñaranda Arqueros family!!!