Hola familia y amigos (si todavía los tengo jajaja),
Today I took a big risk. We needed a haircut and the only hair salon was a hair school with people who are practicing. But it was cheaper so I took the chance, and it worked out! (kind of) I was going to have a gospel discussion with the stylist but I thought it might be better if I let her shaking hands concentrate on not slicing my head open.
This week has been interesting as the whole country is preparing for their independence day (aka let’s celebrate). The new people we have been teaching have also added a little spice to the week.
The young women's president has a friend living with her who we are teaching, a self proclaimed hippie--she likes suffering and believes in a 4th dimension with energy that is directing our lives. As missionaries we are told to "teach people, not lessons" and this has certainly been helpful advice as we teach her. Sometimes I get a little lost in our discussions, but she did come to church on Sunday.
We have also been led to people, namely less actives. It never ceases to amaze me that 1 in 6 people I talk with on the street are Mormons. We helped a guy with his couch and he invited us inside to talk with him and his girlfriend. After 30 minutes he said, “OH! I think I was baptized in your church when I was little, I don’t remember." They also came to church this week.
One of our plans fell through and we left off of our schedule one evening. As we were walking down the dark, shadowy passageways between the apartment buildings at night, a lady was walking with her two kids and stopped to talk to us (a less active). Turns out she walked a different way to get to her house and found us! We went to her apartment and shared a message with her husband, a Jehovah Witness, who at the end said, "Yeah, I'll read your book because you guys actually took the time to listen to what I think and not just tell me I'm wrong."
Funny and sad moment at the same time: It was rough not having water for 4 days so we finally went to the water place for a 2nd time to ask what was going on. Everything was in order according to them; I pleaded with them to have someone look in our house, which they did. They went into the bathroom and with the turn of a faucet the sound of rushing water was heard. WHAT?!? Turns out my companion had been confused with the shower and ended up turning off all the water in the house without realizing it. I didn’t know if to yell or cry, so I fell down and laughed.
Love,
Elder Phillips
Editors’s Note: many have expressed concern about Austin, the missionaries, and the people of Chile after hearing reports last Wednesday of an 8.3 earthquake in Chile. It hit south of Austin’s mission, but reports from the church say all the missionaries in Chile are fine. Luckily Chile is prepared for earthquakes—they have early warning systems and plans in place in the event of a big earthquake and possible tsunamis. They evacuated people from the coastal areas, but since then all has returned to normal in most areas. There have been a small number of casualties and some damage (aftershocks are still occurring) but much less than what you would expect from such a big earthquake. Our prayers are with those who were closer to the epicenter of the quake. Here is the report from Austin’s mission president for their mission, which is in the Northern part of Chile and doesn't include Santiago:
“All of the missionaries continue to be fine. The tsunami alert was lifted early this morning and those that had to be evacuated have all returned to their areas. The earthquake was far enough away that many of the missionaries did not even feel it, some in the southern cities of our mission felt it more strongly. The cities in the mission were not really affected except for a few items falling from store shelves and some coastal damage to beaches, piers, boats, etc., from small tsunami waves. Everything is pretty much back to normal, the missionaries are happily working, sharing the good news of the gospel.”
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| Chile's Independence Day is coming |
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