Hey everyone!

Solid week this week.  Two highlights of my week were first, our lesson with Christian, and second was a family home evening. 

We met Christian and his wife and taught them the Plan of Salvation.  They were super receptive.  The wife started crying and told us she knows God sent us to her house because she had a desire to change her life but didn’t know how.  We gave them a Book of Mormon and when we went back to teach them Christian had questions about Joseph Smith, Mormon, and Moroni.  It was awesome. 

We also did a family home evening with another investigator and the other elders and their investigators.  We had like 20 people.  We watched the Joseph Smith restoration movie and ate sopapillas (super good bread you eat with salsa, jelly, avocado, etc). 

Our week started out tough.  We lost Sergia.  Her husband won’t let her go to church or continue with the lessons.  She has the desire and wants to move forward but her husband won’t let her. 

I spoke in Sacrament meeting for the 4^th week in a row.  I was assigned the Plan of Salvation but 5 minutes before the Branch President changed it to something else.  I’m trying to develop a sense of humor in Spanish to try and show more of my personality but my jokes just crash and burn.  But then people laugh when I make a fool out of myself, but either way I’m getting them to laugh! 

One thing I will never forget happened when we recently taught 3 Haitians in the house of a member, Hermana Jenny.  We were all crammed into Hermana Jenny’s little kitchen and the Haitians were trying to tell us about their living situation.  They didn’t really speak much Spanish.  My whole time in Chile I’ve been thinking about how lucky I am and that I have so many blessings that many people in Chile don't have.  Hermana Jenny quietly turned to me and whispered, “How lucky are we?  We have so much compared to these guys.  I am so grateful”.  BOOM.  That seriously hit me like a wall.  It was a super powerful moment for me.  The humility and gratitude that these people have is insane.  Hermana Jenny was giving up her food to feed these 3 guys.  Amazing experience.  I wish I could better describe how I feel.   

Our bedroom - for 6 Elders

The attached photos are of my apartment (6 of us in one room), the hole in our ceiling (the rain doesn’t really get our stuff wet because we stay on the other side), me and Elder Chipana (Chips), and my closet. 

I appreciate your support so much.  I wish I could reply to each email individually but I’m limited to just one hour per week at the internet café.  But I take pictures of your letters so that I can look at them on my camera during the week.  It helps get me through the tough times. 

I love you all,

Elder Vincent

The hole in our ceiling



My closet