Thanksgiving in Chile!

Hey Yáll!

This week was so awesome! We had two big things in mind as far as goals go. This first being to really find new investigators. We have been so busy trying to find people and have been praying so much to know where we need to go. We were not able to find as many people as we hoped for but we were able to find some that we will be passing again for this week! The next goal we had in mind was how much food we could be able to fit into our stomachs before we exploded on Thanksgiving. There are 4 gringos in the house...hence...we went ham! *or turkey if you really want to get technical* they don’t celebrate it obviously so there was not any huge turkeys available, so we got huge chickens instead. Each of us ate half a chicken, tons of mashed potatoes, pan, gravy, and of course, PIE! I got to make it all because these goons here have no clue what they are getting themselves into when it comes to cooking. I made a lemon cream pie on thanksgiving and because it was my comps birthday on Saturday, I waited to make the peanut butter Oreo pie then. It was so beautiful. I cried just little....

This time here has been amazing and I really do feel the Lord helping me in all that I put my heart and mind to. If you want to receive help from the Lord, you need to search it out diligently. The angel did not just tell Nephi the significance of everything of what his father saw in chapter 11 of 1 Nephi; he asked if he understood the meaning of these things. If he did not understand, he helped him according to his diligence in searching for the truth. Search diligently. Strive each and every day to live like your Father in Heaven wants you to live. He will bless you. And you will come closer and closer to the Spirit as you do. 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week this week. I pray for you all and love you so much! Take care! Ciao!

All in God's timing

Hey Yáll!

This week was absolutely crazy. We had two baptismal dates ready for Saturday the 14th and were all ready to get interviews done and everything. Then Satan dropped a huge bomb and it blew up into pieces....Edit, is not married, has not been for 30 years, and doesn´t want to be.....that doesn´t work! Then Enrique said that he didn´t want to be baptized because he didn´t feel 100% still. He’s been like that for the past 5 weeks and we were trying to explain to him that sometimes it just takes a step of faith to know it´s true, (that step being the steps down into the baptismal font). He didn´t want to though. We prayed like a ful!! ( a lot) He ended up actually choosing his own fecha (date) to work towards... 19th of Dec. I probably will not be there but we are still hoping and praying for the best!

We challenged basically everyone we talked to to baptism this week. We REALLY REALLY REALLY need to find people that are ready! We were challenged in our district meeting to do so and It´s actually pretty fun. You just start talking to people in the street, get to know them a bit, develop some sort of a relationship AND WABAM!!! Baptism!! Most people were all like, "what the??" while two crazy gringos are staring at you with cheezy grins. And some others were all like,"hmmmm....maybe if God tells me." it didn´t really work as well as we wanted to, but we shall press on!

Life is great as always! I love Chile. The language is still kicking my rear but I am still driving through with a ton of paciencia. I love all of you and if there is one thing I could say to you after this week, it´s, "Have Faith and Be Happy!"

Love,

Elder Callister

Chilean Cinnamon Rolls

Hey Yáll! 

This week was so much better! I felt a lot more energized. 

The week started off pretty rough. I was walking down from one of our dinner appointments

on Tuesday and all of a sudden I just doubled over in pain in my gut. I knew it was the end of my life......then...I didn´t die...so that’s good :) I was told by the mission doctor to go home for the rest of the day. I somewhat listened....after we found some one really quick and taught them ;) then I got home....and realized that someone had stolen my memory card adaptor....with my memory car in it. Choa no mas with that. That was a real downer but that did not stop me from working my tail off this week. We had a district goal to get 10 invitations to be baptized this week for each companionship and if we got it I would make cinnamon rolls for everyone tomorrow. We got 11 ourselves and I am pretty sure that everyone else did awesome too! We came out with 5 baptismal dates and 3 new investigators! FAITH BABY!!! Just got to have it.

 

Today we went to Los Saltos del Laja as a zone. It´s pretty much a huge waterfall that you can walk down to and get absolutely soaked. So we did....and we got wet...and it was awesome. They had tons of little tiendas too which were fun and we bought some sweet stuff!

 

Thanks again for everything and for all the love and letters you send. Much love and prayers from Chile!

Love,

Elder Callister 

Food Poisoning :(

So this week I was sick.....the whole week! It was absolutely terrible. It was after our huge lunch on Sunday my gut just did not feel right, and from then on I just died. I traveled up to Concepción about 4 times this last week, once for my comp and 3 times for me. I got thrown into the ER on Monday, they found nothing. Wednesday got thrown into a different doctor, found nothing as well. Then Saturday they went and did an ultra sound on my gut aaaaaannnnnd nothing! It was just so great.

It was hard being told to stay in for so much time during the week. The work is so awesome out here and I hate having to miss out on it. But it was doctors’ orders and I felt like crud. I am still not completely better but I feel better now that I don´t have to stay home. 

I was given permiso to go and work on Friday. In about 4 hours we found someone (Juan Carlos) taught him and put a baptismal date....it was so crazy! Then we taught Enrique and put the date with him too for the 7th!!! We are so excited! 

The best part about the week was yesterday when we found out the first dude we taught, Juan, is actually a member......his is a bit mentally disabled and he totally forgot he was baptized 20 years ago.....I had not laughed so hard in a LONG time! 

Thank you all again for your letters and love! I love you all and hope all goes well this week!!

Love,

Elder Callister

Llamas and Spiderman

Hola everyone! 

This week has been Craziness! 

First I bought some Llama Socks and that pretty much made my week right off the bat. Then we took a trip to Concepción because my comp got sick. We then ate Cuchurin (cow intestine) and played with a little bunny rabbit. We ate A TON of meat, got ridiculously fat, Then Spider man came out of nowhere and captured me....he was holding me hostage for a few days but then.....I escaped to Neverland!!!

                                                 THE END
                                          (See pictures below)

 So that was pretty much how this week went....and it was awesome!!! We have been doing really great out here in Laja. Our lessons are so amazing and I have been able to feel the Spirit more and more. We have an investigator named Enrique who we are trying to get baptized the 31st this month! We are planning on having his friend Sofie give the baptismal challenge! She is so excited and really wants him to progress! We had a lot of citas fall this week but we have been running on a lot of faith! The spirit guided me through so much this week especially out contacting in the street. Everything was going super great and then all of a sudden I got sucker punched in the gut with this sickness. It got super bad yesterday and I had to stay home... :´( but I have faith! and I also received a blessing so that will help a lot as well! 

Thank you all for your letters and love! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic and safe week! 

With much love, 

Elder Callister

Oh and I thought of other things you could send for Christmas:

Starbursts
Swedish fish
TUMS!!!!
Aaaaand a little toy Suzuki dirt bike :)

 

 

 

Letter from 10/12/15

So my Birthday was so fun! The day before these two Hermanas from the ward (young women) left after the last Saturday session of conference and then came back without us knowing. Then all of a sudden they tell us to pause the Priesthood Session (we were in the church) so that we could come in to another room. I walk in and there was this huge Torta De Manjar with bebidas y Galletas! (see picture) It was so Awesome! They sing a different happy birthday by the way but other than that it is the same. I had a blast! Then the next day E. Yson made me a Frac Frita Cake (fried fracs). It was the best!

 So this week was pretty crazy! We had Cambios (exchanges) and we got a new Elder here in Laja se llama Elder Chidester from Henderson Nevada. This dude is so crazy! We have had so much fun this week getting to know each other and talking about his experience out on the mission (he´s got 20 months out here).

 This week we had a lot of citas (appointments) fall but we are still trucking along. I had a few times along the way that were pretty difficult. I got sick one day, then got a bunch of viruses on my memory card the next day, and then totally failed in a couple lessons with investigators. It was bad, but I was able to come out strong from it. I received a blessing from my comp and almost immediately felt the comfort from my Savior. You really do learn to come close to Christ in a completely different way out here. I love it so much and would not ask for anything else. 

Other than that the week was pretty chill. This week we have a ton of awesome plans and we are so excited to get going on them! I will let you all know how it goes! Hope you all have a great week!!!

Happy Birthday Elder Callister!

 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!! I had an amazing time with the guys here in Chile! I hope you all are doing great and will talk to you guys next week!