Wow, This is the Lord's Work! 8-2-10

Hey loved ones,

"Wow!" is all I can think after this past week of work that Elder Coloma and I had together. I thought of the scripture in Alma 26:28,30,31 various different times this week.

"28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

The ward in Quimey is incredible. It is the first well-developed unity of the church that I have been in while serving in Chile. All of the Priesthood and Auxiliary Organizations have their leaders and there is an average of 110 every week in church. It is a joyous feeling to serve here. The funniest part about our sector is that it is one of the biggest of all of the sectors in Santiago part of the mission and is EXTREMELY similar to Murrieta and Temecula neighborhoods. For example, there are many new neighborhoods that are being constructed with decent modern designs like the houses we have in home. Also, they are constructed in a somewhat country-side environment next to hills just like Murrieta is. It is so tough to not think about my house once in a while knocking these doors and entering them. The recent converts here are amazing and already work with us. Like a kid named Nicolas (14 years old) who wants to study at BYU and teach with us. Sweet action!!!!

I will admit that I was a little against the idea of my personal change to Quimey from Peralillo, but I got over it after a few days of work in my new sector. Actually, I now feel extremely blessed to be put in this area and confidence I am entrusted with from our mission president. I love serving with Elder Coloma and with this ward. There are so many dedicated members that want to help us in the missionary work and dedicate themselves in serving with all of their efforts. It is a refreshing change to know that I am not the one with my companion doing almost everything in the church on Sunday. I was able to relax in Sacrament Meeting and just bear my testimony of the Gospel. I will miss having a grand responsibility in the congregation where I am serving but I am even more excited to completely focus on the missionary work now.

We have various baptisms coming up in two and three Sundays (15 Agosto and 22 Agosto). We are working hard to have as many lessons with members as possible because the members are finally excited to help out in the Missionary work. The missionaries here have been trying to acheive that for some time now but just recently we are getting them to take more responsibility now. What a grand blessing!!!! We were going to have a baptism yesterday with a 19 year old named Rolando but his mom said that she was going to throw him out of the house if he got baptized. She doesn't like the church and wants him to wait but we are going to personally fast for him soon and fix the situation with the Lord's help. Lately, I have been more conscious about the example I set and how I can bless the lives of the other missionaries in our Zone. They are all great and I am so excited to work with them.
I am finally living with 4 missionaries in a house together and it is a blast. The other companionship is Elder Johnson (9 Months in the mission) and a newbie, Elder Berrio, from Colombia. They are hilarious, hard-working, fun missionaries. I love living with them and helping them. I will have to make room on my camera soon to take some pictures. Well that is all folks for this week. Take care all!. ;-D

Con mucho amor,
Elder Boaz