The picture is from a mission conference with Elder Zeballos. He is easier to see this time.
July 28- Hey mom.
I am happy to hear that all is going well with you guys in your trip. I love the pictures. It is a great Sourin over california. I love all of the pictures of the ocean. That Is somethine I love about chile because I am so close to the ocean. I dont get to see it much but when I do it is awesome. Where I am there isnt much landscape by the ocean that is that great. WE arent in a place where the beaches are that great in chile but thats fine because I dont go to the beach and right now we are in winter.
This week was really great. Yesterday our investigator Javier was baptised. It was so awesome to see. He has made a lot of changes in his life to get baptised. He said that when people talk to him about it he just tells them straight up that he got baptised. He knows that what is most important is that he his happy and confident with his choice. Now we are actually starting to teach his aunt who was an old investigator. It was so great to see him get baptised yesterday. I am so happy for him and am excited for him to receive the spirit.
I love reading the letters from Kevin because I have been reading my journal from one year ago when I was in the mtc and I said a lot of the same things. haha. It is so great to hear that he is happy and doing well. I bet he cant wait to get to france and start teaching.
You asked a little bit about what I am doing as a district leader. I call the missionaries in my district each night to see how there day went and if they need anything. I have two sisters, two elders, and the two zone leaders in my district. So sometimes, like yesterday I am calling the missionaries for like 45 minutes. Each sunday we have to ask for all of their numbers for the week. ANd a few other forms that we have to fill out each week or month. During the week we have exchanges (I think that is what they are called) with the other elders or the zone leaders. They are for one day and I am in my area with a different elder or I go to the area of another elder. Also generally we have district meetings that I have to do. It isnt a ton of extra stuff but sometimes it uses up a lot of my time in the nights.
We dont really go on a lot of splits with members. I have done them before. Our president doesnt really like them because there is more power with two missionaries than with one missionary and a member.
Things are going really well with my companion. WE have had some great lessons and found some great poeple to teach. WE are really happy and are looking forward to august.
THings are going really great and I am looking forward to this week. This last week we had a conference with Elder Zeballos from the area seventy. It was so great. I love it when we have conferences with the president and other general authorities. We have had 3 general authorities here in the last 8 months. It was awesome to see him using and Ipad for everything too. haha. Scriptures, to write or draw. ahah.
I love you all so much. Have a great week. Happy Birthday Megan and Dad.
ELder Hamilton
Aug 4- Hello
It is so great to hear from you all this week.
This week went really well. We were doing the stand. It is this thing that our mission has started doing. There are 6 missions in south america testing it. WE are the only mission in chile doing it. I like it a lot. It can be a little boring but I think that in the long run it will bring a lot of people into the church. So we are also using these little cards that say mormon.org/preguntas this is a website that has different questions that we are using to try and make people think and have more interest. Here in chile a lot of people have technology. It isnt very expensive and almost everyone uses touch phones and other technology. So it makes it better to use the internet to share. In all of the missions that are trying this website and the stand 40% of the web traffic is coming from our mission. So we are see that people are looking at the website which is good. We are trying to invite more people to visit. We have been asking the members to post it on their facebook so that other people can see it. I love seeing how the church is starting to involve more technology. I know that other missions are using ipads and facebook but we just have to wait patiently until those things get down here to chile. Thats what happens when you are almost at the end of the continent. haha.
We are working with some people and are hoping that they can progress more. We have a few people that I have a lot of faith in. I think that is something that I have learned a lot about in my mission. We need to have faith and really show it. I have gained a great testimony of fasting. I didnt really like fasting much before my mission. Now I have been awed to see the blessings I have received in my life through prayer and fasting. I have had a lot of oportunities to fast especially in this last month and I saw a lot of results from that. God really is so willing to bless us when we obey and consagrate our lives to him. I am so grateful for that.
I cant believe that we are in august. The weather is doing good. We are almost done with winter. During the day it is a little hot. At night and in the morning it is colder. I didnt want to get out of my bed this morning haha. Winter didnt last too long and it wasnt ever really that cold so i am so grateful for that. In the south of chile it rains a lot and everyone says that it is cold. I remember in the mtc my companion was going to concepción which is in the south of chile. He had to have a sleeping bag for his bed because it gets so cold. I have heard it is so pretty down there but I hate the cold.
This week I also had a pretty cool experience two times that has to do with my journal. I am sorry to say that growing up I never have been that great with my journal. I always remember the quote from a leader of the church that says something like this, I have not given you these experiences just for yourself, write them down. But even when I though about that growing up I still struggled writting. In the mission It has been way easier. In the mtc I did it everyday. In chile I havent done it everyday but I write several times a week especially when I have some experience. Sorry i am getting of subject, But about the experience that I had this week. I have been reading what i wrote in my journal exactly one year ago in the mtc and I have been so shocked to find that things that I wrote one year ago have been the exact words that i needed this week in my life. Im not joking. One of the days this week i had writen in my journal "I dont know why I feel like I should write this but I feel like I need to write this down." Then I wrote about the choice and ability that I have to change and be the person that god wants to be. It doesnt matter what other say but I can be the person god wants me to be. It was so amazing because when I read it It was just what I needed. So I invite you all to write in your journal. It may not mean a lot to you now but maybe in the future you will find exactly what you need.
I love you all. Thanks for your constant prayers, love, and support. I think of you all and pray for you often
Les amo
Elder Hamilton
