Week 13!

We did a lot of traveling this week. We went to Concepción early in the week for an interview with the President again, went to Lota for the weekly meetings there, and then on Thursday we headed to Cañete, which is about 2 and a half hours south of Coronel. Early that next morning, we went to Angol for a conference. They had me cook steaks and longanizas for about 70 missionaries. I met two other missionaries from Texas! That was pretty exciting, even if one of them was an Aggie. That was unfortunate. You really hate to see something so good go so bad. Hook ´em. I heard my Longhorns won! That was exciting news. Anyway, I found out that I will definitely be training this next transfer, which begins next week. I´ll still be in Coronel, probably for at least another 12 weeks. That´s how long training is. I´m not sure where Elder Smith will be going. We have a possible baptism this Saturday! It´s Lientur, but he has been in the hospital lately with some heart problems, so we will see how he is doing when the time comes. Other than his health problems, he is doing great spiritually. I have faith that the Lord will give him the health that he needs to enter the waters of baptism. He regularly expresses to us how much appreciates us and all the changes he has experienced since he began learning the gospel. A lot of these people don´t realize that they teach us just as much as we teach them. There is always something to learn from everyone. It´s up to us to figure out what it is and then to apply it to our lives. We met a 23-year-old named Raquel on Monday. She has two kids, Vicente (3) and León (1). I don´t think I´ve seen children with as much energy as they have. It´s impressive. We got along really well with them. In fact, when it came time to leave after the first lesson we had with her, Vicente started to cry. It´s really fun to teach her. She really wants to create a good future for her children and is really confused about why there are so many churches and why we can take one verse of scripture, show it to 5 different churches, and get 5 different interpretations... sounds a little familiar. Those are the exact questions Joseph Smith had. Christ established one church, the word is one, so there should be one church and one interpretation. I found Ezequiel 37:16-20, which talks about the stick of Judah (The Bible) and the stick of Joseph (The Book of Mormon, Lehi was a descendent of Joseph). God has put them together to make them one, and with them both we have the fulness of the gospel. I shared that with Raquel and she really understood. She has strong desires to find the truth and I know that that´s all it takes to find it. We just have to put forth some effort, show the Lord that we have the faith to do it, and He will bless us with an answer to our prayers. We are also working on having more activities in the branch. Some things in the past really destroyed the branch, so it´s hard to build it back up again. But, as we work with the members, leaders, and less active members, I know that we can make the Coronel Branch a Ward. I know that´s what the Lord wants and we are doing all that we can to make it happen. I hope it has rained some in Texas. You all are in my prayers. 

Chau! 
Elder Reynolds