C H E P I C A (Mar. 13, 2023)

Hey everyone! I had an amazing week and hope you all did as well! This was my first week in my new area, Chepica, and I love it! This little town is so great! It's super small and chill, and I honestly think it is so golden for the mission work! Also shoutout to my new comp Elder Wendel because he is a complete BEAST and I probably learned more and improved as a missionary this week than any other on the mission! 

To get started in explaining our work here, I have to talk about Hermana Ines. She's 60 years old, about 4 and a half feet tall and is a SAINT! We're trying to open a branch here in Chepica and she is completely determined to get this thing opened and do it now. She leaves with us everyday to go and teach and she knows every single person in this town and is constantly thinking of who we can baptize, I have never met someone so consecrated to the Lord's church and his work. She is unbelievable! A quick story about her, we were out walking to a lesson and she tripped and fell walking down the sidewalk, and like face on the pavement fell, she went down hard! We freaked out and tried to help her up and she was saying it was her hand that hurt, she didn't seem to care much, so she got up and came and taught the lesson with us, after she apologized to us and said she better go to the doctor. So we split up and about an hour later we get a picture and she's in the hospital in Santa Cruz in a sling with an IV in her arm and everything, the next day, she's in a sling, and still insists on serving us lunch and after we eat, she says, "donde vamos hoy?" and we took off and taught a bunch more people and she did it in sling and all, did it all week long. In only one week, she has changed my life, and I can't wait to keep serving with her and learning more from her.

Another awesome thing that happened this week, we were eating in a restaurant one day and we get a call from a random phone number, and it was the APs, they asked us where we were, and we said eating in this restaurant and they said, yeah we're right outside, then they just walked right in. It was super crazy, then they sat down and said we're gonna do exchanges for the afternoon. So I went with Elder Romero and it was a crazy day. I had only been in Chepica for a day and a half, so I didn't know anyone or where anything was, and he obviously didn't know either, so we went and prayed that we could be directed by the spirit and find people to teach this day. First of all, Elder Romero is insane, he is the best missionary I've ever met, we contacted so many people that day, knocked a ton of doors, and actually taught a bunch of lessons and found some really good new people. I was able to learn so much! I learned how to be better at just going all out and not fearing any one. Applying some small things I learned from Elder Romero has made a huge impact on me. 

I'll try and give a quick rundown on the people we're teaching, and I'll make it fast because I know I'm writing a ton. We have Davor who is on date to get baptized on the 25th this month and he's so ready, it's awesome! We have a family, the husband, Andres is a member, and the wife, Carolina, and 2 sons, Vicente and Facunda are all 3 on date to be baptized. We found a new guy named Patricio, and long story short, when we found him he didn't believe in God, and one day later, after some powerful and spiritual testifying, he's on date to be baptized. We have a lot more people we're teaching and I'll do my best to update you guys on them as we move forward with all of them. To sum this week up, it was so full of miracles and it was the most fun I've ever had on the mission. 

If I could leave you all a spiritual note, I'd just talk real quick about faith and the importance of it. If we want to get anything done in life, and especially in the work of the Lord we must have faith in what we do and that we can achieve the vision of what we want to do. We left everyday knowing that we were going to find someone and we had the faith and did what was necessary to make it happen, and every time we found someone. I promise you that if you truly put faith into what you do, your results will improve. I also want to leave you with a quote that hit me pretty hard this week. I'll just leave with you all and let you ponder on it. Let me know what you all think.

Where do you get the knowledge to say "I know Jesus is the Son of God?" John said, "Of this no man needs teaching." The gospel of Jesus Christ is not knowledge. When people say they are glad to have a knowledge of Jesus they speak in what we call a manner of speech. The gospel is a feeling. It is controlled and governed by the power of the Holy Ghost, and this great personage has been assigned to administer the gifts and the spiritual powers of this life and you cannot and never will be able to take the place of this power as it ministers unto and influences people.

I hope you all have a great week! Also, if you want to message me, send me something here on my email and not messenger, because I can't respond to you guys on there now. That's it for this week, I'll check in again next monday with y'all!

Elder Micheli