I´m back in Arica and Only Six more months until Christmas!

I made it! :) I am in the ward Diego Portales with Elder Jensen from Hagerman Idaho, he has 6 weeks here in Chile.

Last Sunday I had a good laugh as we read in Alma 8 during Sunday School about Alma returning to the land of Ammoniah in a different sector to preach again, as I applied the scripture to my life I pointed it out to Elder Marín and we laughed.

Elder Rojas (my second companion in Pozo Almonte) started his mission in Diego Portales and also has come back up here to Arica and we are in the same district.

Elder Sorenson my Zone leader in Alto Hospicio also is here in Alborada as his last transfer.

Our zone is again very young in the mission. Everyone expect two missionaries, (Elder Soreson and Elder Relei) has less than 10 months in the mission. So that is a basic lay out of the zone.

The Ward Diego Portales is very into the missionary work. We have several ward missionaries and a ward mission leader who is very enthusiastic for the work.

Elder Jensen still has cultural shock and so he doesn´t know his sector extremely well so we are starting up a new with a ward list getting to know everyone in the ward. I am grateful that I have this chance to see really how far I have come with my Spanish and my teaching and abilities in missionary work, and realize if all of that is only in 7 months...wow it´s going to be an awesome two years.

Have a Wonderful day - because you can choose to

     Elder James O. Gillespie

Happy Day After Father's Day

What a great thing that Father´s day is a Sunday that we have the chance to come to church and show our love for our Father which is in Heaven. 

Transfer week.--- Drum roll please...

I´m going back to ARICA! 

  I´m going to the ward Diego Portales, in the same Zone I was in before. My companion´s name is Elder Jensen, and that makes the limit of my knowledge. I will be leaving from Iquique at 5:30. I´m excited. However sad to leave. That weird feeling that everyone knows at some point in their life right? Sad to leave but happy to go. 

 I love it here in Pozo clearly I have days were I wanted out but I will be more than happy to come back some day. Elder Marín and I had a lot of fun together with us both being fairly new we worked and with both of us not having much experience plowed a new course for ourselves. 

   This past week we had the opportunity to help build two houses. The first with some investigators that Elder Rojas and I started teaching, Cesar and Beliene (Something like that) and we put the up the the celling of the first floor and the the floor of the second floor, and through this we met Cesar Dias´s dad Cesar Dias and with talking to him he told us the story that after drinking for 28 years one day he said that he would never drink again, and has done it. Pure will power, and from his example several of his friends have given it up as well, now we just got to convince his son to stop as well. So the lesson is you can give up drinking, smoking and/or any other addiction you might have just got to put your mind to it and you don´t know who else might look to you for that example. 

     The second home we helped build we walked to a part of Pozo called Las Quientas and in route we passed a house with a family working and one of the walls getting it ready to put up. So we decided to go and ask if they wanted help, expecting the answer, "No" because we normally receive that answer; however Pedro surprised us in answering, "Ya" so we finished up one wall and put it up. Then said that we could come Saturday and help again. So Saturday we came and built 3 walls and put them up. 

     I felt great. Working hard again with my hands I loved it, and felt right back at home, expect that people still talk Spanish. However I learned some good words in construction like measuring tape. 

Have a Wonderful day- Because you can choose to

     Elder James O. Gillespie

Elder Gillespie

Well we have started to have more activities. Saturday we had the whole branch come to the chapel to watch the Chile vs. Venezuela soccer match complete with a barbecue. Great turn out and a lot of fun, with playing soccer in the court out back, cooking, eating, and with good people what more do you need?

We have a family who moved here not to long ago from Peru and his Sister is a member here in Pozo and so we are working with them, and we have much hope.

Fairly often as we walk down streets people will call out to me asking me in English, "Hello, how are you?" or "Hello! What´s your name?" Generally all the English they know however I have discovered that it becomes a great reason to go and talk with them and start a conversation.

Exciting news of the Branch- Hno. Luis Herverad recieved the Priesthood this Sunday, We, Luis and us, have been working to help Luis stop smoking and we have been clean for a little over 2 months now.

Thank you for your prayers

Have a Wonderful day- because you can choose to

     Elder James O. Gillespie

Special Conference

Elder Marín and I had the chance to go down to Antofagasta for a special
conference with all of the small city missionaries. President Bruce has a
special new vision for the small cities.
   We are to have activities in the church all the time with the purpose to
save souls. The church is one of the biggest, and beautiful buildings in all
of Pozo and we want people to come in and see what the chapel has so that it
no longer just is, "the chapel at the end of the city" people come and know
the building, and enjoy the time there.

We have two investigators named Cesar and Beliene (something like
that) and she has been reading The Book of Mormon and it changes people
without them even realizing it. She has a change in appearance and speach.
The Book of Mormon has the power to change people, and they came to church
for the first time Sunday, I couldn´t stop smiling.

Learning a new language story:
Yesterday we made a contact had a small lesson. Asking when we could return
she said, "depende de mi marido" (Depends on my husband) What I heard,
"Depende de mi Mario" (believing Mario to be the name of her husband (It´s
not it is Patricio)) so I ask, "When does Mario´s turn end" and she was
really confused thinking I was talking about her neighbor whose name is
Mario. Anyways so after laughing at that I learned the new word of Marido

Have a Wonderful day
    Elder Gillespie