This weekend was great. I haven't had a better birthday in all of my life. I surely do appreciate all of the birthday parties that you threw for me, but being in the mission truly comes to show that when you are serving others you are happy. On Saturday I had the idea to buy a bag of suckers and give them away to all the people we visited so that I could share the joy with all of them too. It was great. I saw smiles from many and I know that the Spìrit of the Lord touched their hearts as I did a small guesture for my brothers and sisters here in Santiago. I also got invited to lunch by some of the members here in the branch and it was great to be remebered by those around me. I feel so loved here and I feel like the members are seeing the work that my companion and I are doing and they are starting to be more willing to help us out with visits. On Saturday my companion and I found a family, and in fact it was the first visit we had that day, and as we were getting to know them I found out that their little daughter and I share the same birthday. It was a cool experience and I hope and pray that this coming Sunday they will come to church with us. Also on Saturday my companion and I passed by the lady who always cooks us lunch (my favorite member in Santiago) and she also gave us food and for my birthday she made us Brownies with vanilla ice cream which was soo delicious. I love being a missionary on my birthday because everyone is just so nice.

This weekend was another weekend of miracles! The best part of this weekend was that one of our investigators that we have been working with for about three weeks stopped drinking so that he could come to church on Sunday. My companion and I have been praying for this to happen for about 3 weeks and the miracle finally happened according to the Lord's time. What a blessing it was to be able to see him come to church and although he didn't stay for the whole time he made the effort and he showed up with his wife. I know that this family will enter into the kingdom of God as we work with them to change their lives and repent. I love being a missionary.

This same weekend I also had a nice call to repentance as my companion and I were contacting. I was getting really frustrated and fed up with the people and the excuses they were telling us and I was losing my patience. I was beginning to lose the Spirit. We kept going from door to door rejection after rejection and I was getting irritated and impatient with the people. We knocked a door and a man came out and we began to talk to him and he let us in. I thought to myself that we deserved to be let in and when we walked in the house I saw a woman sitting on the couch with a blank look on her face, I could tell she was sad. I asked the man if that was his wife and he said yes and that she looked sad because she had lost movement on the right side of her face due to a stroke three months previous. I asked the man if he had any kids and he said yes and I asked where they were at the moment because none of them were in the room with us. He responded, "They are resting in peace right now. They all passed away when they were young." I felt tears come to my eyes and a voice came to my head telling me, "You think your patience is wearing thin? This is truly a man whose patience is wearing thin." I felt as though I had committed a serious sin with the amount of guilt I had. We shared about the Plan of Salvation and how these two people could find that love and joy that they have been searching for. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have. This is the only true and living church! I love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Love,
Elder Turner