week #96 - baptism of Aida

Hey!! Happy 17th Hailey!!!! Have a great day!!

This week actually went pretty well! Aida got baptized!! We definitely had a miracle as well! She has been ready for her baptism and everything but this weekend her family went to another city and she didn't want to get baptized without her family present in the baptism... But we put a little pressure on the family to get here Saturday earlier than planned so that she could get baptized. Well they got here Saturday afternoon and she got baptized!! It was actually a really good baptism because we had the "Open Church" activity in our branch this Saturday as well so there were already a lot of members there! It was a good baptism. Also the other Elders here had 2 baptisms as well so we were all able to baptize together this weekend! We are still working with David as well. We haven't really been able to see him ths week he has been pretty busy. But I did play a little bit of ping pong with him and his friends when we found them. It was pretty fun. I beat them all like 3 rounds which was fun haha. But we are good friends and everything with David but he`s a little different. In the sense that his faith isn`t that big but we`re trying to help him prepare and everything to get baptized. He didn't come to church yesterday either. We actually had quite a few people promise to come to church this Sunday but we only had 1 investigator in church. A lady called Elia. She was the one who came to the general conference a few weeks ago. She finally had time to come to church. She is really cool but whats hard is that she works all the time and hardly has any time. If she had more time to share with us she definitely would be a member already. Stupid work here! Takes peoples lives! But we still have a couple sold investigators that we have found in the week but we just have to find them and teach them more and get them to come to church!  Other than that everything's going well here in Tierra Amarilla with my comp and everything! I`m pretty sure we wont have any transfers this week, but you never know. Transfers are always crazy!

A lot of people here for the summer just go to the beach and pretty much just camp out there. Others will also take vacations and everything to like southern Chile and all that. But just depends. But summer here doesn't like officially start until like December so we still have like another month of school and everything. But even more crazy now finishing school with all the tests and homework and everything. The educational system here is a lot different! It`s a lot of studying!

Also this week we had a urgent skype video call with our mission president. He made us the promise that we can baptize weekly now. Before as a mission he always said that we can baptize monthly and now he told us weekly! I`ve always talked with him and asked why he hasn't just told missionaries why not weekly because it is definitely possible to baptize every week. But he always said that the Lord still hasn`t told him that. So I guess that Lord told him now! Now we going to do everything to baptize weekly! Right when I`m finishing as well he gives us the promise of being able to baptize weekly haha!

But just another good solid week of just working hard! I dont think we`ll have any transfers this week. I`ll probably just stay here with Elder Riquez to finish things out! But you never know transfers are always crazy and sometimes things happen that you never thought so we`ll see but I`m almost positive that nothing is going to happen! Yeah, but hope you guys have a great week! Love you guys a ton!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pics: Photos of Aida`s Baptism!!!

Photo with the boys! Francisco and Matias. They are a couple members from here in Tierra Amarilla. Francisco actually got baptized in Utah last year when he went down there to visit his cousin who is a member in Utah to visit the states. And while he was there he got baptized. They are both really cool, they usually come out with us a lot. We hang out a lot with them as well. Last Pday we went around Copiapo with them and then afterwards we made food. Heres the pic!

week #95 baptism for Maruja

Hey!

This week was pretty solid! We had a baptism this week! Maruja got baptized this week! Nicole pulled the same thing this week as well so I think we are just going to drop her...... Anda a laar(lavar)... But yeah Marujas baptism was really good. A lot of members already know her and everything so a lot of members came to the baptism! Pretty much all her family are members active in the church and now it was her time to get baptized in the church! Also Aida was super good to get baptized this weekend but she was really busy with a ton of stuff and couldn`t make it so we are planning her baptism this weekend! We also have a youth that came to church this Sunday. His name is David and is 17. His sister is a convert whos like 19 who actually got baptized secretly in the church without her parents knowing because they wouldnt have supported her. But her brother came to church and we have started to share with him more because before he shared a lot with missionaries as well. But he is really cool and likes the church as well but we have to go to get to know the parents more as well to see if they`ll let him get baptized or not. But that happenes a lot here. Find a really cool youth that progresses a ton but their parents wont let them get baptized. The same is passing with the other Elders here in Tierra Amarilla, they have a chick coming to church and all the activities and everything but her mom doesnt give her permission to get baptized....lame.

Other than that this week has actually been pretty slow. Not a ton happened this week. Seems like no one was home and there was like no one in the streets either. All the kids are entering into the last downhill of school and all that here before summer vacations. Also there was like a huge stop of school here for like a month and a half without classes so the kids are making up all that time now with a ton of homework and school on Saturday as well. So seems like the whole city is pretty much dead which kinda sucks. A little slow the work here but we are just going to keep working hard. The Lord always puts people in our way that are ready to receive the Gospel in their lives!

Looks like you had some fun at the concert that you went too! I feel like if I dont go a day here in Chile without smelling marijuana then it feels like I`m not in Chile. So I definitely feel you there haha.

Yeah still have 2 more weeks in this transfer and then we head into the last one. Its a weird feeling because I never thought that I would honestly get to this point but the time has just been going fast and I cant believe it. I still feel like I`m just starting the mission and am still learning things every day! Its a weird feeling, I want to get back home to just get back into life but I also want to stay here and be a missionary! Its weird but the best thing to do is just to accept it and turn the chapter when the time comes!

Other than that things are going well here in Tierra Amarilla! Love you guys a ton! Hope you have an amazing week!

Love
Elder Newkirk

A few photos from the baptism from this weekend! 

I found on the camera that it has a time lapse feature so I used it from our trip from Copiapo to Tierra Amarilla which turned out kinda cool!

week #94 -- Tierra Amarilla still working hard!

Hey! Happy Birthday tomorrow Dad!! Hope you have a great day!! Going for 50 right? just like mom haha

My weekend was definitely pretty crazy. The week actually went really well. On Tuesday I went out in my sector working with one of the zone leaders, Elder Critchfield. We found a ton of people and did a lot of good work that day with him. Then the rest of the week was just working. Then we get to Friday when the fun starts happening. So last email I mentioned Nicole a girl that we`ve been teaching and went to church last week right. Well she progressed a ton! She stopped smoking and stopped a lot of things and was super ready to get baptized. She had her interview with Elder Critchfield as well and passed and everything was good! Then we get to Friday, we went to go pass by her house in the night to pass her the baptism tunic and everything, we get there and there is dude in her house. After the lesson and everything we were thinking who that would be and stuff like that and he said that he got there to live there in the house so we got scared and were thinking that it was her boyfriend or something like that. So we passed by Saturday morning to double check everything to make sure she was all good(same day as the baptism). We found out that the guy is her daughters dad...... She said that they dont have any relationship at all anymore and they are also in different rooms sleeping and everything but we still had to find what was going on and if she could even get baptized because that still is like living together without being married because they obviously had a relationship before. So we called all our leaders and everyone until we got to mission president to see if she could still be baptized or not. He told us to call him in an hour after thinking about the situation. So we got to ok to baptize her if there wasn`t any relation and they were pretty much just living as friends and everything. So we went a told her and everything was good again for the baptism. Then like 1 hour before the baptism she  sent us a text message saying that she couldn`t make it to the baptism because something happened to her nephew and had to go and see him fast... So we talked with her and branch president and everything and planned the baptism for Sunday morning before the sacrament meeting at 9am and everything was back to being good. So Sunday we got up really early at 6am to go to the church and fill up the font and everything. Then it got to like 8:30 and she wasn`t answering her phone or anything so we felt like we needed to go her house to see what was up. We went booking over to her house and the daughters dad answered the door half asleep saying that she left really early in the morning because the daughter was sick... So she ended up not getting baptized. I honestly think that she was up there in her house yesterday morning but we still havent gone to visit her so we really dont know whats up... Pretty stressful and kinda sucked but still we good and just going to keep working hard here with animo!

We also have a couple of other investigators that are really good that can also get baptized this weekend. Aida has been doing good and stopped smoking for a little bit now so if she doesnt smoke this week she could get baptized. Also we have a lady called Maruja who is a mom of a ton of members and everything. Like she whole family are members active in the church, she even has a granddaughter in Utah studying. But she has never been baptized. Well she got cancer looks like... So now she also wants to get baptized finally. Sometimes strong things have to happens in peoples lives to change them. So we`re also going to be working with her this week so that she can get baptized. Also we had a girl come to church this Sunday as well, Yasiara! She is really cool but we honestly haven`t taught her a lot or met her parents that well so we have to go and see whats up as well with her. Shes really cool and got a long really well with all the young women in church. We also have a couple other people that didn`t end up going to church yesterday like normal but we`re going to keep working with them to help them go to church and get baptized!

Yeah on Monday it was a good hike. We got pretty high up there! But yeah those dogs just followed us up the mountain lol. A couple of them were members dogs just following them. But yeah pretty much in every city here in northern Chile there are just a ton of dogs. But today for Pday we played soccer like normal as a zone and watched Shrek lol. Shrek is one of movies that are approved to watch as a zone so we watched that today. I honestly dont know why Shrek is on the list but it was good haha. Long time since I`ve seen it! A little different in Spanish as well!

That would definltey be cool to work on fireworks sometime as well! Would be cool to see them from right under!

Hope you guys have a great week! Also have a great birthday tomorrow Dad!! Hope you have a great day! Also have fun at your metal concert! Love you guys a ton!

Love
Elder Newkirk

week #93 -- working in Tierra Amarilla

Hola como tai po? Feliz Cumpleaños Mama! Espero que ha tenido un gran día!!

Esta semana fue buena! Mucho caminando en el sol, esta haciendo mucho mas calor cada dia! Pero estamos bien trabajando aquí en la viña del Señor! Solamente tratando de traer almas a Cristo en este tiempo que me queda! Well so things have been going well with the investigators as well! We are teaching someone who is called MariaJose. Her boyfriend is a member of the Church less active and has been listening to the missionaries for like a month now. She´s 17 but she is really cool and we´re trying to get her baptized. She pretty much has everything and has gone to church as well but now just says that she wants to feel an answer and a desire to get baptized. So we´re just going to keep working with her to help her out because I know that she has already gotten an answer and everything but we´re going to just help her out to enter into the waters of baptism. Sometimes agency sucks lol! The missionaries here have also been working with another investigator for a while who is an old lady who's been going to church but she has to stop smoking so that she can get baptized, her name is Aida. She is actually really close to stop smoking she has gone from smoking boxes a day to like 1 or 2 a day and she has also gone a couple days without smoking so she is really close as well. We also have another investigator who went to church yesterday with us who is a single mother who has 3 little kids who just got here to Tierra Amarilla from southern Chile who lives in a Toma. She is really really good and really receptive and everything. She also just has to stop smoking and she´ll also be ready to be baptized because she has been progressing really fast because it was just a contact that we did in the street with her but she is really cool, her name is Nicole. We have also been sharing with a lot of other people who are also really cool but still haven't gone to church and havent been progressing as much as the other but we are going to keep working with them to help them to progress more as well! Sunday morning we had a lot of people committed to come to church and we got out in the street at like 8:00-8:30ish to go out and pass by all the people who said they were going to church to wake them up and help them come to church. A lot of people fell..... But that's normal and happens all the time. There are a lot of people that say yes, yes ,yes but when it actually comes down to it......Different story... But other than that things are going good down here. I´m having some fun here just working hard till the end!

Conferences and interviews with President went really well! In my interview President was asking me about some of my plans and all that after the mission! Gave me just a little bit of advice, I bet he´ll give a lot more when I get to the end, but it was some good advice and told me not to worry about it. Also told me that I was one of the best missionaries that he´s had in the mission which was cool and that the Lord was pleased with the work that I was doing. Also gave me a shoutout in the conference that we had with all the missionaries from the south part of the mission! Definitely a good feeling to know that I´m working hard and doing a good job! but it was a good conference and learned a couple things but not anything too big or different.

Also yesterday Tierra Amarilla had the highest attendance that I think that they have ever had. We broke like 90 people that came to church. We literally ran out of seats to sit on and we were just standing up in the back of the sacrament meeting lol. Also had to bless the water 2 times because we ran out as well. The branch here in progressing a lot and a lot more people are coming to church. So the work here in actually going really well and we are working well with the branch and the members!

Yeah to train a new missionary there is a program that the church has which is called the first 12 weeks which is just like a little book that we study from to train the new missionary coming into the mission field. Other than that it is just an example like you were saying and just helping them accustom to missionary life and everything. But Elder Riquez is already a good missionary so there isn´t a lot of training to do lol.

Today we got up and went on a hike here also with the branch with a couple of people that came with us. It was actually a pretty good hike. I´ll send some pictures! Tierra Amarilla is just a little town the is just surrounded by mountains so there are a lot of hikes here that we could do. But it was pretty fun!

Looks like you guys also had a fun time down there in Boise!! Too bad for Dalton´s team but next game they´ve got it for sure! I bet Dalton is just like a machine out there playing football. I´ll have to go watch one of his games sometime as well! And geez you guys are rich just buying a new car! Looks like the Lord is definitely blessing you guys! Don´t fall into pride there lol😉 But that will be a good car to go up snowboarding this year! Hopefully we´ll be able to get out to the mountain a lot! I´m stoked!! but looks like things are going well and you guys had a great weekend! Have fun getting back into the normal schedule this week!! Love you guys a ton! Have a great week!!!

Love
Elder Newkirk

week#92 - working hard in Tierra Amarilla

Hey whats up?

First week here in Tierra Amarilla has been pretty good! Its quite a small town but it is a lot of fun. Definitely the most green part that I have been in. Our house is out back of our Mamita who gives us lunch which is like in a forest. Its actually pretty cool. I`ll have to take a video and send it to you guys. But everything's going well here with my new comp. He`s not super newbie because he`s been out already for one transfer but I came here to finish his training. But things are going really well with him. He is actually really cool, also teaches really well! He is also really funny, I`m having a lot of fun with him. We have also been working real hard in Tierra Amarilla. There are actually quite a few solid investigators here that we are working with. We should be seeing some baptisms here real soon! Definitely a lot different not being a Zone Leader anymore either. It`s now just way to chill and I really dont have to worry about anything else just my sector and my comp. I actually kinda miss being Zone Leader is was a lot of fun and I learned a ton. But now we just have to worry about the sector and get out there and work hard!

Conference was also really good this weekend. A lot of good talks! I really liked the talks from President Uchtdorf about our pathway back to our Heavenly Father. Elder Holland about perfection. Elder Callister with pure fire about the Book of Mormon. But I think my favorite out of them all was Elder Rasband`s talk about Gods plan for us and how he makes the moves for us on the chess board and that there is no coincidence in life. I definitely am going to have to print out some of those talks and also listen to them to study them out because there were a lot of great talks this conference. But Sunday morning I didn`t really listen to all that well because I was pretty sick. Saturday night after Priesthood session a member took us out to eat completos and I think I ate a bad completo and was throwing up Sunday morning. But in the afternoon I was feeling better and today I`m back to normal. But yeah stupid completos, soo good but sometimes risky lol.

But yeah everything's going good. I don't have all that many photos to send this week. One with my new comp here in the cyber. Also I found one of my converts from Tal Tal. Remember Yerack??? He`s here in Copiapo studing now and still going strong in the church!! It was really cool to be able to see him in the conference! But I`ll try to get some more pics for this next week. Today we are also going to play soccer with President with the 2 zones together. Also have interviews again with him today and zone conferences with President tomorrow. So that should be fun! But yeah that's about it! Love you guys a ton! Hope you have a great week in Boise!! Send me pics too!

Love
Elder Newkirk