Faith precedes the miracle

Comida Chilena with my Presidente Chileno- empanadas con queso and mote con huesillos (rehydrated peaches soaked in juice or honey with wheat)

Uh oh. It’s not even winter yet and it’s already FREEZING. It almost snowed here for the first time in like a decade (it didn’t though). It did rain however (a lot) so right now the air is nice and clean and the view of the Los Andes mountain range is beautiful from our apartment window.

When it was raining it was a big concern because on Saturday our ward and another ward that shares our building had planned to do a “Capilla Abierta” activity which is basically the equivalent of taking a Visitor’s Center to the chapel. It’s an activity just recently making its way to Chile and it’s the first time I had ever participated personally. It requires a lot of sacrifice, planning and inviting from the members or it doesn’t work at all. I was impressed by the efforts of the members from both wards, especially the attitude that the activity would go on even if the rain and wind continued. In general, Chileans aren’t exactly the most “weatherproof” people, so it was exciting for me to see that kind of positive mentality.

A view of all the rain from our apartment window

There was a really heavy rain here in Huechuraba until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when all of a sudden the rain stopped completely. This happens to be the same exact time that the activity began. In the end, it was a huge success as 31 non-members came to visit, as well as some inactive members. One of the non-members was one of our investigadores (Segundo) who came out of the activity saying that he’s going to start cancelling all his Sunday activities (probably futbol) so his whole family can come every week and get baptized. He does need to get married first, but he already has plans to do that soon. That’s just one of the many examples of miracles that comes about because of these activities.

That day reminds me of the scripture in Ether 12 when it says, “if there be no faith among the children of men, God can do no miracle among them; wherefore he showed not himself until after their faith.” The members impressed me with their faith, and from 4-8 in the afternoon we all witnessed the miracle.

The rest of the week was good too. On Tuesday we received and spent the day with the new missionaries and they all talk differently. One Elder is from Bueno Aires where they pronounce every “y” and “ll” with the sh sound. The other Elder is from the coast of Colombia where they talk almost as if they are singing. One Sister is from Spain where they speak “true” Spanish with vosotros, the “th” sound with their Cs and Zs among other things. Another Sister is gringa, she speaks well for a new missionary, but she’s still gringa. The other Sister is from the Philippines and she speaks her native language, Tagalog, and a little bit of English, but zero Spanish.

It was a great week and we look forward to meeting the new mission president in 10 days!!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Birrell

The Last Leadership council of Presidente and Hermana Videla