October 22, 2012

Hello everyone,

How are things going for you?  This was a pretty exciting week here
for me.  We were able to have a really special experience this past
Friday.  We went up into the center of Santiago to have a special
devotional with Elder Bednar.  We were lucky enough to arrive early so
that we were able to sit in the sixth row.  It was a really amazing
experience to be able to learn from him.  The devotional was based
upon question and answer.  He would talk to us, but he expected a lot
of participation from the missionaries.  Then at the end, he just
allowed us to ask anything that we wanted.  It was a really great
experience to be able to learn a lot more about faith from him.  One
other thing that was neat about that meeting was that Elder A
performed a special musical number for us, singing "I'm Trying to be
Like Jesus.  It was a really neat experience to be able to listen to
him sing in person.  I shook his hand and said hi to him, but that was
about all.  He is actually a really shy and humble person, which is
really interesting coming from someone who has performed all over the
world.  But really the greatest part of the experience was being able
to listen to the testimony of Elder Bednar at the end.  Our mission
president wrote down some of the testimony that he gave which I want
to quote here:

THE TOMB IS EMPTY.  HE IS RESURRECTED.  I AM HIS SPECIAL WITNESS.
HE LIVES AND HE STANDS AT THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH.  HEAVENLY MESSENGERS RESTORED THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KEYS OF THE PRIESTHOOD.  I AM A WITNESS THE KEYS ARE REAL AND ALL OF THOSE KEYS ARE IN THIS CHAPEL TODAY.  THEY BIND ON EARTH AND BIND IN HEAVEN.  ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE.   I GIVE YOU MY SOLEMN WITNESS THAT ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE.
AS AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST I INVOKE AN APOSTOLIC BLESSING ON YOU TODAY……

The powerful confirming testimony of the Holy Ghost as he declared
those things helped me to know certainly of his divine calling as an
Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He truly is a special witness of
Him.  I have no doubt of that and even more, I have no doubt that
Jesus Christ lives and guides this church today.

One thing that was also good this week was that we are finally
starting to get some success in this sector.  We are starting to find
some really good people and are being able to teach more.  That is the
best thing.  I hope that we can continue to have that success here
along with even more.

HOW TO SURVIVE IN CHILE (not for mothers to read)
Now this one is a real tip on how to survive in Chile.  Meaning like
not die.  **Avoid "blocks" during major soccer games.**  To explain,
blocks are like apartment complexes.  But really ghetto apartment
complexes that were originally made to get people out of living in the
streets.  So in general they are not really safe areas.  It just so
happens that we have a ton of those in our current sector.  And we
were there visiting a less-active member during a soccer game between
the two major rivals of Santiago, La Universidad de Chile and
Colo-Colo.  While we were there, there where some firecracker type
things that imitate the sound of gunshots.  I think it's kind of like
shooting blanks because they sound like little explosions.  Luckily,
we decided to get out of there after not too long and the member
accompanied us out to the street corner so we wouldn't have to worry
about any possible problems.  Then as we are walking away, about 3
minutes later or so, we hear a gunshot.  You can tell the difference
because gunshots are louder and echo more.  By the time we were well
away, the game had ended and you could hear all of gunshots on the
other side of our sector.  But there weren't just a few.  There were a
lot.  I was just happy that we were a good 20 minute walk away.  In
general, you don't need to worry too much about people shooting at
other people during those times, but you have to worry about wild
bullets that end up falling from the sky and can do some major damage.
 Although there are people who die from time to time in these parts.
However, it is kind of like in the states were really the people that
are in most danger are the people that are involved in drug
trafficking and things like that.

So moral of the story... DON'T BE INVOLVED IN DRUG TRAFFICKING AND
AVOID SKETCHY PARTS OF TOWN AFTER BIG SOCCER GAMES.

That counts as "street smarts," right?  Probably just not street
smarts that moms want to hear.  Well the good thing for Mitchell is
that in Viña del Mar mission the only rough part that I know of is in
Valparaiso, so hopefully he won't have too much to worry about.

Alright, well I hope that you all have a great week, and I will talk
to you later.

Elder Stollenwerk