"All I need is the air that I breathe and to love you‏..." - The Hollies

First of all, Dad, I owe you a huge apology. I was waiting until June to send your birthday package for your birthday on JULY 14...Yeah, I´m an idiot. J-U-N-E 14th.....I´ll have to remember that for the next year :/ 

Just know I sent a little something off to you last week for your birthday that should get to you in about 2 or 3 weeks...I died when I read mom´s email when she said you celebrated Father´s Day AND your birthday. Sorry...

"Don´t you know I´ve had diarrhea's since Easters?"....I am pretty sure I have been sick since day one. Four months in Chile and I am still suffering. I was up all night throwing up...I have an appointment with a doctor in Viña on Wednesday. Pray that we can find a solution.

This week was an absolute blessing. Hermana Martinez and I are working like crazy! It is amazing how much you can accomplish in one day. The ward we are in is extremely difficult to work with.  Like I expressed last week, they are really lazy at helping with the missionary work. A lot of it has to do with the past missionaries that have been in this ward. 

When we met with the Branch President, Juan Carlos, to talk about Alejandro´s baptism, he told us 2 or 3 of the worst disobedient missionary stories I´ve ever heard.  Nothing pisses me off more than a disobedient missionary! 
But, then again, these missionaries were more than disobedient. Their stories were freaking apostasy - taking random people down to the beach to be baptized in the ocean without teaching one lesson, an Elder babysitting one of the Sister´s babies so the other elder could spend the afternoon locked in a bedroom with who knows who, etc.  Terrible experiences that obviously put a burden on the future missionaries....kill me. 

After much work with the Branch President and Alejandro, we were able to have a baptism for him yesterday! All went well and he was happy as could be.  He has the sweetest spirit and is incredible with reading and understanding the Book of Mormon. Watching someone convert to the Gospel makes all the stressful, discouraging moments not seem like such a big deal.

we were able to have a baptism for him.

We have been spending a lot of time working with Familia Nivarro Hidalgo and teaching them the law of chastity and eternal marriage.  Finally, after 12 years of living together, they finally accepted our invitation to help them get married and went and bought a fecha to get married on August 14! We are praying all goes well and that we´ll be able to baptize Cecilia, Emilio and their oldest daughter the following weekend :)

Our new technique to finding and teaching is offering to teach people English for free. We already have two new investigators: Daniel and Mauricio. Daniel is a 19-year old student here at the university in Valparaiso.  He lives with his brother and their family. Their mom is a member and so all of them are familiar with the church. We taught Daniel The Restoration last night and he accepted to get baptized July 14! His brother and their family are perfect...we just need to spend time with all them together. Wahoo!

We are waiting to receive Books of Mormon in English to help them learn. It´s a great way to share the gospel, teach and help them learn English!

Mauricio is 15.  His family (mom, dad and older brother) invited us for once (their version of dinner) on Saturday. We spent a lot of time with the alphabet, pronunciation and taught about the Book of Mormon. Mauricio showed up at church yesterday and loved it! He is stoked on the idea of Young Men's. So awesome!

I was stoked when I read that you were able to see the worldwide missionary conference yesterday! It was sooo GOOD and so perfect and I am so ready for all the new changes and counsel! 70,274 missionaries! 405 missions! Can you believe it! What a great time to be a missionary! This church is TRUE. 

Best Pday EVER w/ my new shirt & fav sandwich in Chile.

It's crazy to think that changes are already next week! Where does the time go? Seriously. I´m about 1/3 done. This mission is literally the hardest thing I´ve ever had to do. Trying to balance out every plan, investigator, emotion, goal, language, bleh, everything is so bloody hard at times...but it´s all worth it in the end :) The conference last night made me excited to come home and work as a missionary member.

I am happy you all had a beautiful summer week! It sounds like McKenna is adjusting well and having amazing experiences. She looks so happy in the picture with Tay Tay and Becca :) They are such amazing examples. I always use Tay and Becca as examples of how the youth should be when I am teaching the youth here. I have the best family in the world!

Thank you so much for your emails and love this week! You are all amazing. Be happy and remember how much I love you!

Love, 
Hermana Pendleton