The first week of the 50th year of a Chilean Mission!

¡Alo!

What an interesting week! I was sick for two more days this week (not much fun, but we work with it), but we have had a lot of good things too.

I forgot to mention in my last letter that we had a celebration for 50 years of the Mision Chilena! There had been missionaries in Chile before that, but it was merely part of another mission. It was very exciting to view the work that has been done in so short a time. A stadium in downtown Chile was filled completely with members and investigators, and after a brief devotional with the area presidency we got to see quite the show! Traditional dances from all over South America, depictions of various scenes from the book of mormon and historical highlights, and a spectacular choir composed of members from all over chile and over 600 missionaries (maybe more, I was in front). Overall, a lot of fun!

We´ve also had two Seventies visit this week, one from the Area Presidency(Elder Zeballos, to talk to the missionaries in our zone) and Elder Richards (for stake conference). We also will be meeting as a mission with another seventy, a member of the presiding bishopric, and an apostle in a meeting on the sixth, which we are all excited and preparing for.

We´ve been working with various families and people this week, and it has been wonderful to watch the growth happen. Much of our hard work paid off when we received a text at 11 at night from a contact/investigator asking what happens to a sinner if they die in their sins. After a brief conversation with her, we have one more person who is progressing towards baptism.

We have also been working very hard with the barrio here to reactivate more members and help them become more effective in their leadership positions. They just called four new ward missionaries to help us (for a total of 8 now!) and we have implemented some new programs with them to train them in how to teach and reactivate members on their own. We will be doing splits more often and assigning specific investigators and tasks to ward missionaries, meaning that we´ll basically have 4 companionships actively working in the ward at any given time. Overall, a wonderful time to be working.

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers. They are greatly appreciated and needed.

Off to a haircut!

-Elder Wheelhouse

Side note: We´ve started teaching some of the Flaite (FLY-tay, the ´gangsters´ of Santiago) various words in English, and they´ve started being a lot more friendly. Useful, when you´re out late and trying to get home on time!

Alma 26:11-16