Elder Ballard...kind of!

February 17, 2014


Mamá,

Well, I will start off by telling you that we have been doing a lot of traveling. So we left Porvenir on Tuesday to come to Punta Arenas and drop off Elder Keetch at the airport. Elder Powell got here on Wednesday. We left Thursday for Porvenir again. But we had to come back yesterday for a special Mission Conference!  Wanna hear who came?? Walter F. Gonzalez of the Seventy, Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Twelve! Legit! They were all in the chapel in Puerto Varas up North. All of the missionaries from Pucon to Puerto Montt were actually present in the conference. We had to be there through satellite, Zona Punta Arenas and Zona Cohyaique (too far to pay for all of the plane rides).  It was sweet, actually. Let me tell you about the miracle.

We were in the capilla, and it was like a conference call kind of thing. We could see them in the capilla in Puerto Varas y in Cohyaique. But there was some kind of a problem that we couldn't hear the people speaking from the pulpit in Puerto Varas. They were scrambling trying to fix it for like a half hour. Cohyaique also couldn’t hear anything. So then we all just knelt down. All 30 of us in Punta Arenas and all 24 in Cohyaique, saying a personal prayer that the transmission would work so that we could hear the words of the apostles and authorities. I looked up from my prayer for a second on the big screen to see all of us on the web cam and all of Cohyaique kneeling in prayer. It was POWERFUL; 54 missionaries praying as fervently as they could to be able to hear the instrucciones of the apostles. The spirit came into that room almost like I have never before felt in my life. We all finished praying. We are sitting there for like a minute and then.... boom. There is sound and we get to hear the conference!  It was a miracle. It was seriously the coolest thing ever; definitely a highlight.

So, the talks were great. We will just say my whole perspective of the mission has changed. I am just so pumped up to keep working; To better my efforts; To increase my knowledge; To work hard; To keep going strong. It was definitely great to be "present" at this special mission conference.

Okay, so I will tell you a little bit about my companion. He is the coolest guy. He is from Heber. He is a soccer player, and I think that he is going to play in the university after the misión.  He is super nice. 19 years old. He has 6 months on the mission. I think that he is an absolute missionary machine. He speaks the language really well; really well for the time that he has. He knows what he is doing. He talks to people. He works hard, which is awesome. He has a good, positive attitude. He is just a really good missionary.  We get along really well. Really well.

The food here in Chile just isn’t very healthy. It is just all carbs; potatoes, rice, bread, sometimes I gain a little weight, but I lose it quickly. With Elder Powell, we get up a half hour early to leave to go jogging. So I am already losing a little bit of weight. I was totally going to send you a picture today, but I left my cable in Porvenir. So next week will be when I send pictures. Deal?

Wait... Lindsey Bills and Ethan Clark are getting married.... to each other? That is crazy!! Super crazy!  I didn’t know that.

Hey, I sometimes worry about you having a back surgery like that while I am not there. Who is going to take care of you during your rehab?

Speaking of Elder Borup, we are sleeping in his house again tonight and tomorrow night, I think. It is always super nice to talk to him and remember all of the good times in Ovejería.  He was a super good companion for me.

Hey, send Jordan a B-day shout out for me. I don’t have his email address and I haven’t sent a letter yet. Deal?

Well, have a good week. Be safe. Be good. Read your scriptures. Okay?

Elder Warren