Mini CCM and Franco's Baptism

Elder Cloward, Franco and Elder Hrabar.
Franco does martial arts and he is a body builder-
thus the fighting pose.

Franco's baptism

Photo of all of the youth and missionaries at the end of the mini ccm

Dear Family,

This week was pretty crazy but it went really well. During the week we talked to Rafael and he told us that he wanted to wait another week to baptize Daniela because he didn´t feel ready yet. He was ordained an Eder a week before Maximo, so we figured that he was worthy to baptize. But he told us that he wanted to talk to President Arancibia (the branch president) before doing the baptism. Elder Hrabar and I were both very impressed by his understanding of the Priesthood and the importance of using it worthily. Rafael talked to President yesterday and he said that everything´s cool now and the baptism will be this Saturday, the 27th of March.

On Saturday there was a mini MTC (CCM in Spanish) for the whole Talagante District. All of the young men, young women, and young single adults received a call letter (similar to the mission call letter that all full time missionaries receive) explaining that they would serve for a period of 12 hours and they had to report to the mini MTC (which was just the chapel in Talagante) at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. There were over 50 youth that came (that´s a really good attendance). They all had assigned companions and had to stay with them all day. In the morning they studied preach my gospel and practiced teaching Lesson 1 (the message of the restoration). At 1 o´clock the full time missionaries (there are 16 in the zone) came to the chapel. We ate lunch with the youth that were there, then we practiced teaching with them. At 3:00 the missionaries from the MTC in Santiago got to the chapel. Then from 3:00 to 6:00 we all went out proselyting here in Talagante.

The assistants (aka my old companions, Elder Butron and Elder Marin) also came to the activity. I went with Elder Butron and Elder Hrabar went with Elder Marin, and each companionship of missionaries went with a companionship of young men. It was way cool and a lot of the youth are excited to go on missions. I was really impressed by their testimonies and how valient they were sharing the gospel.

Then, at 6:00 we came back to the chapel and there was a devotional/testimony meeting and some of the youth shared the experiences they had while proselyting. Then, at 8:00 was Franco´s baptism. It was really special and very spiritual. He and his mom shared their testimonies after Franco was baptized. He said that he was never a very religious person, but then he felt the Spirit the first time he prayed and knew the church was true and that he had to be baptized. Then he said "if any of you here are investigators, and you´ve felt the Spirit, you all need to get baptized, like I did" it was awesome.

Here´s some other investigator updates:

1. Fernando- We saw him for the first time 2 weeks ago yesterday. We went with Fernando to an FHE with the young single adults yesterday. He felt really uncomfortable and left right after the closing prayer without saying bye to anyone. He´s going through a hard time right now, we are praying for him a lot so that he will feel the Spirit again like he did at the beginning.

2. Fernando the carabinero ( carabinero= a police officer here in Chile)- this guy is way cool. his wife, Margarita, is a less active member (but she came to church yesterday!) The family was a reference that Margarita´s mom (an active member) gave us 2 months ago when we ate lunch at her house, and now we are teaching them. Fernando and Margarita have three kids: Cristina, 6, Emilia, 2, and Benjamin, 6 months. It is really fun watching the kids run around and seeing the little girls take turns holding their little brother. It reminded me of growing up with 2 older sisters. I told them that my family was the same way! They are very receptive and have felt the Spirit a lot recently. The only complication is Fernando´s work schedule, since he´s a police officer. But we´ll worry about that later.

3. Francisca- she is twelve years old. Her mom, Isabel, is a less active member (but both of them came to church yesterday and last week!) and they live almost right in front of the church. The only problem is that Isabel´s husband, Francisco, won´t let his daughter be baptized until she is 18 so that she can "choose for herself" We´ll keep teaching her and pray that the Lord can soften the Dad´s heart.

4. Familia Rios- This family is awesome. We found them when Eder Marin and I were together about 4 weeks ago. They have come to church once, but they feel a lot of pressure to be baptized and are reacting badly to that. The mom still hasn´t prayed to know if the church is true, but she knows she has to. We think she´s a little scared to get a testimony, because once she does she knows she needs to be baptized. Elder Hrabar and Elder Marin visited them on Saturday.

That´s all for now, hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cloward

P.S. We haven´t felt any aftershocks this week. I think everythings going back to normal!