LOTS OF PHOTOS

Hola familia

This week I learned a lot about listening. We had a lot of great experiences with that. First we were teaching a husband and wife who are less active. The husband asists sometimes and asisted all 5 conference sessions but the wife has struggled a lot. After talking with them and more than anything listening she started telling us about how she feels like she lacks faith. She has two chidren handicaped and that has always been hard for her to understand why that has happened. Also her son joined the catholic church so in a way she always felt like she was denying him respect by being different. It was such a great spiritual lession. She started to cry and said that she would start reading in the book of mormon to know if it really is true. We are going to have a family home evening with them tonight and we are excited to talk to them again.

We also did a contact this week which was really great. We were looking at our map a little lost to be honest and a woman passed by and we said hi and she responded really nicely so we started talking to her. After a minute she started telling us about her husband and kids and how she was abandoned by her parents and was raised by her grandma. She has always felt really lonely in life. Never really has had friends to talk to and her husband works 7 day in the north and then is here 7 days (I dont know if I have ever explained that to you all but a lot of people work in turns like 7 days working 7 rest or 15 -15 or the worst 15 working 3 resting. It is for all of the mines that are here in chile) She said that she feels lonely and has faith in god but wants to understand more of him. We gave her a book of mormon and are going to pass by this week when her husband gets home. 

Then finishing the week yesterday we were teaching a less active woman who is married with a nonmember.  We were talking to her for some time and then started to share with her. At the end she started opening up and sharing how she is feeling. It was amazing again to see the spirit working in her and helping her share with us. I love when the people feel so comforable sharing with us. She said that she has tried to share the gospel with her husband so many times and there is nother more that she wants than to be with her family forever but that isnt how he things. He has other priorities. He also works 7 for 7 and she used to also so they hardly ever saw eachother. Now she is here in illapel looking for work closer to home and is hoping that that will help. We encouraged her to keep obeying in all things and trusting that in some time he will choose to change. 

With the volcano. We have heard a ton about it. I dont know what is going on here in chile. Last year there was a fire in Valparaiso, and an earthquake, flood and now volcano this year. There is a lot going on here. We are not affected at all. It is cloudy out but I dont think that it is from the smoke. It is getting colder and I am using all long sleeve now. burrrrr....

I love you all so much. I cant believe we are ending april already it goes faster each month. I love you

Elder Hamilton

LOTS OF PHOTOS

SOME FROM THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON THE MISSION WEBSITE

Set your limits now

Hi everyone

It is great to hear from everyone. I love getting emails and hearing how everything is going. This week was really great as usual with a lot of different experiences. We had interviews on Friday with President Kahnlein. They were the last interviews before he leaves in june. I will still have one more before I leave. I am so grateful that I am able to finish with president and Sister Kahnlein. They are so great. I loved my interview. We talked about what I had been learning in the book of mormon as we are reading itfor the fifth time as a mission. We also have been studying vitue and we talked about that. I asked him what I can do to make sure that in my life I can keep the spirit that I have had on my mission and the constant progress that I have seen. He talked to me about the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference in october of 2011 which talks about staying within our limits. I love the talk a lot.It is one of if not my favorite talk. He told me that in order to ensure something in the future we have to set our limits now. So he encouraged me to decide now what I want my limits to me. What things I will do to help me reach these goals and What things I will never ever do. 

This weekend as a zone we fasted for the people who have the asistences to be baptised in the zone this month of April but for other reasons (Live together without being married, doubts, or they need parents permision) they couldn´t be baptised. On sunday after church we heard about a miracle. A young man has been investigating the church, going each week to the meetings, and even going to seminary each day after school. He couldn´t get baptised becuase He didnt have his fathers permision who is himself a less active member. On sunday we found out that he got permission. On friday he was talking to his dad as he was getting some things ready for the next day. On saturday he was going to go to the temple in santiago with the members of the district. As they were getting things ready and talking together his dad ended up giving him permission to be baptised. Now on saturday he is going to get baptised. I love these miracles each day!! There are so many. I have gotten a stronger testimony of fasting in my mission. It really works! 

To finish this week off this morning We were taking showers and our gas tub started leaking a lot of gas so  I called my companion out of the shower and we took the gas tube out of the house and opened all of the windows. Luckly we were already low on gas and were going to buy more gas today so not a whole lot of gas was lost but it was a little scary. We turned off all of the power and started trying to air out the house with our towels. In the end we got it all out and we got more gas to take hot showers and to cook with but It was an interesting story. 

I love you so much Thanks for your prayers and support. 

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton

Let virtue garnish thy thoughts

You got a dog!!!!! Wow it just goes to show a husband is much more convincing than a son. I bet he didnt even do a presentation haha. I want to see a picture of it!!! I cant wait to see it. Will is stay small or get huge?

Family I hope everyone had a great week. 

My week went well. We did a lot of walking this week that is without a doubt. Last night my companion and I were so exhasted when we got home. This wednesday we had what we call La replica. It is when the zone leaders and the sister training leaders share all of the presentations that we received when we had our meeting with the president and His wife the week before. It was my first time doing it and it went really well It was a lot of fun. I like giving presentations. A lot of it was focused on Virtue. The president is doing interviews with the missionaries right now, I have mine this week, and he wanted us to study about virtue before the interview. I have really loved the study this week. He gave us a little pamphlet that the chuch has called let virtue garnish thy thoughts and I have been reading that and some of the talks that they suggest reading at the end of the pamphlet. It is a great resource for us all to read to help us with our virtue. In the world it is harder and harder to be virtuous I know it is  here in chile and I am sure it is the same all over the world. Now more than ever we have to strenthen our virtue and be not moved! In one talk I read it talked about the importance of temple asistance with virtue. It said that in almost every pornography case that this bishop had seen in adult men, The men had stoped asisting the temple before the adiction began and as our constant temple asistence lowers, so will our virtue. I am so so grateful that we literally have like 15 temples 4 hours from our house and we will soon have 2 in walking distance. I look forward to strengthening my virtue through temple asistance. It is what I have missed most these two years. 

We are really happy because after 3 months without a baptism in the zone Two sisters in a place called Los vilos baptised this weekend. We are really grateful to see that the zone is being blessed with more investigatores to teach and progress. As for our area, we are working to find more investigators, like always, because the ones that we have aren´t progresing much. I was very pleased because yesterday various less actives that we had visited durring the week went to church. 

It is still hot here generally during the day. At night it gets a little colder and in the morning but we are still not very far out of summer. Everyone says that it should already be colder now. I dont think that it will get that cold when winter finally comes.  

Like I said we have interviews this friday and I am very excited for that. Everyone that we have talked to said that the interviews have been very great. They are the last interview that president Kahnlein will have with the missionaries before he leaves. It wont be my last one with him seeing as I leave before he does by two weeks but I am looking forward to the interview a lot!! 

I love you all and hope that everything is going ok with everyone. 

Elder Hamilton

Tynan has wanted a dog forever.  Only problem was for years we already had 2 dogs and a cat.  When he was 9 he got a bunny but that really didn't help.  it will be a fun thing for when he returns.

very spiritual week

hola Familia

This week was so great. I loved it. It was a very spiritual week. I guess every week in our lives should be like that but this week was even more. On wednesday we had a family home evening with two members and a friend they invited over. We shared a short message and watched a video about a mom how has a lot to do during the day and is working so hard to be able to see her friend that night. In the end she was able to do a lot of good durring her day but couldnt see her friend. She is really sad for that and sends her kids to bed. Her son asks about the family prayer and he does it. In his prayer he thanks god for letting them do all that he wanted them to do. This makes her think about all the things she did that help others and did what god wanted.(http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/you-never-know)  It was great sharing this with them because with kids they could relate to it. It made me think about my days and how sometimes I am not happy with all that I get done. I have started trying to focus on what the lord wants me to do and less on what I want to get done. It made me look back on various days and see how what I could do with my time helped the lord help others. I love what president monson often says and I have felt it too. The best feeling comes when you act on a feeling of the spirit and later learn that you answered someone elses prayer. 

On friday we had the mission leadership counsel in viña. It was such a great reunion. We talked a lot about virtue and how we must be pure.It made me think about the temple. In Preach my Gospel in the section that teaches about virtue it says that a virtuous person is a temple recomend holder. This makes me want to do all in my power to obtain a temple recommend and be worth to enter there. The temple is such a pure place. I loved what Presidente Monson said about the temple. It is in the temple where we can really feel the peace that Christ was speeking of when he said My peace I give. It makes me so happy to see that they are announcing new temples again. It is really exciting for these places. 

I was able to watch the conference in english which was awesome and we watched the two spanish talks in spanish. It was really funny because the second spanish talk Elder Zeballos is an Area 70 over our area South america South. My companion commented to me right before the session started that he would love to hear him speak Then when they announced him we just looked at eachother and laughed. It was such a great weekend and I cant wait to hear and read the talks again. I just downloaded all of the sessions again to hear them. Isnt technology amazing. It is so much faster now. What a blessing. 

Well this was my week it was a good one. I hope you all had a good one too. I love you!

Elder Hamilton

Funny story to add. 

In the conference that I had with the mission leaders our president showed us two april fools jokes someone did for the church. It was so funny.

First he said that the church announced that We would now have church for 4 hours and then we could serve in a second mission for one year after a few years of not getting married. When he said that we had church for 4 hours I completely believed him. Then someone guessed that it was an april fools joke. haha.

I love you

 english speaking watching for priesthood

sushi friday