Hola familia!

How is everybody doing?  I loved the pictures of the cars mom!  All the cars here are so boring.  Thanks for all of the emails.  I feel so loved.  I always get so many emails.  When people ask me how many girls I am writing.  I always answer "Rightnow I am writing 5."  They dont realize that I have 4 sisters, and my mom.  Haha they always get so jealous.  So this week was really awesome! (most of the weeks are).  

So after playing tennis, eating and writing you guys on monday.  Me and my comp took a bus down to the very bottom of our mission.  We went down to go teach this new investigator that we have.  The little city is called Valle Nevado.  It is my favorite place in our area.  It is about a 20 minute bus ride.  So anyways, we were going to go teach this new guy and his family.  We were so excited to go teach him, because he was so interested.  But when we got to his house, he was having a big party, and had forgotten about our appointment.  FLIP!!!  So after that we were kind of in a down mood.  But we went over to the familia Novoa to go teach them.  But they were not home either.  So the day was going by pretty terribly.  But we decided to go contacting in this area we both havent been in before.  So by now it was probably about 8:45pm.  We contacted for a couple of minutes with no luck.  So we decided to take the bus home, and go teach a different family.  So we went to what we thought was a bus stop.  We waited for all of 5 minutes, and the bus came.  But when we called for it, it did not stop.  I looked up for the bus stop sign, and realized that it wasnt a bus stop....  I thought "well this day is sucking pretty bad."  So we walked a little bit to look for another bus stop.  We got to the bus stop, and I looked behind me and said to my comp, "Lets contact this house."  It was 9:00pm.  So I went up to the house and yelled for someone.  This little lady walked out, and said "Hola!"  We introduced ourselves, and told her who we were.  We talked with her for about 5 minutes, and then we said "We would like to share our message with you and you family!  May we come in and share it with you."  She said "Sure."  Me and my comp looked at each other with our mouths hanging open....  So we walked right in, and sat down on her couch, and she said "Wait let me go get my daughter."  I was so confused at the situation.  It was 9:00 at night, and one white latino and another gringo come up to your door, and ask "Can we come in and teach you?"  And she said yes!  It was so crazy!  We taught her and her daughter about the restoration.  They had never heard of mormons, or the missionaries.  It was so cool!  The spirit was so strong.  After the lesson we asked if we could come back again, and they both said "yeah!"  But they also said "Next time we want our husband and daughter to listen."  I must have been drooling all over the place....  It was so awesome!  

But there is still more to the story.  So after we got done teaching them, it was 10:00 at night, and we were 20 minutes away from our house....  We walked up to the bus stop and waited.  But no bus, or car was in sight.  I decided that I needed to pray for a bus to come.  10 seconds after I opened my eyes, I hear this guy yell from across the street, "Ven!"  Which means You guys come!  So we walked accross the street, and he said "Hey hop in my car."  I thought to myself....  "What the heck."  We got in his car and asked "Why are you driving us?"  He said "Well there are no buses here at this time of night, and I had a feeling that I needed to help you guys out."  I didnt realize that I had said "Thank you Jesus, you are the bomb."  Out loud.  HAHAHA!  He took us to another bus stop and said "This bus stop has lots of buses that come by."  This guy was not a member, and had no idea who the missionaries are.  It was a mircle!  But it was 10:15, and there were no buses coming.  So I said another prayer, and sure enough, when I opened my eyes, there were lights in the distance.  It was a bus!  I was in shock.  We got on the bus, and the bus took us to the bus stop nearest to our house.  But we were still about a 1 mile away from our house, and it was 10:21.  So I said another prayer, that we would make it home on time, and that we would be safe.  Sure enough we got home at 10:30 exactly, and were safe.  

This story tesitfied to me that Heavenly Father and Jesus look out for their missionaries.  We were giving it all we had to be obedient, and we were doing the lords work.  I am so greatful for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.  The power of a small prayer and some faith can go a long way.  

So Yesterday we went to go teach Celmira (the really old crazy lady).  We got to her house, and yelled for her.  She peaked her head outside and said "Elders I am not doing very good."  We quickly walked inside, and she had slammed her finger in the door, and her finger was split wide open.  You could see her whole finger!  It was so gnarly!  She started to cry and tell us that she has been feeling so terribly lately.  She told us that she has been praying so much for health, and peace.  But nothing was happening.  She said that she has been praying to the Virgin Mary.....  We said to her, "You need to pray to heavenly Father."  She told us that her son has been a jerk, and that we have Her love that she used to have for her son.  Pretty weird, and sad.  But it gets even weirder, and freakier.  She said "I dont want to live anymore.  I know that tonight I am going to die.  And when I die, I am going to come visit you and your companion as a spirit, and show my love for you guys."  I was like "Oh no you are not!"  That is freaky!  I was freaked out...  She asked me to give her a blessing.  So I did, and we left.  Last night I didnt have any spirits come by, so I think that she is ok.  But still a really weird experience.

So it has been a very fun and eventful week.  Thanks for everything!  I love you guys!  Especailly Mom, Dad, Kate, Camille, Abby, and Emma!  My challenge this week is to not under estimate the power of a small prayer, and a little bit of faith.

Chow 

Elder Whiting