Elder Haddad Turns 20

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, and sorry for not writing a letter this week. But I do have a good experience. The travel department from Santiago came down to come and train Elder McArthur on the visas. The last time they came down they had promised Elder Shobe and I lunch out, but we never took them up on the offer. This time we definitely took advantage. They took us to a 4 star hotel here in Osorno and we chose some Italian restuatrant.  I was looking at the menu and I thought it said cerdo..which means pork. I thought it was pork stroganoff.. Which is like meat sauce with gravy and pasta.. sounds pretty good...There's no way you can get that one wrong. I had misread the menu and it said ciervo, which means deer. So I ended up with a deer stroganoff. But instead of noodles it had raw onions and pickles. It was sooo gross, but something I will never forget! 

The new sheriff

We had a really funny week.

So yesterday in church one of my companions gave his first talk ever. Elder Jarman is just ending his training, a picture will be attached of him below, and he was assigned to talk on missionary work. He prepares this great talk with all kinds of jokes he especially was trying to make fun of me in the talk. He said, “Elder Haddad had to leave a lot of things behind to come on the mission, his family, college, a girl, and even his hair.” Trying to make some type of balding joke when everyone knows I just hold the record for the highest hairline in the world. Anyway, nobody laughs or understands the joke. Then Elder Jarman says, “thanks to the mission I am a better person.” In Spanish it would be, “gracias a esta misión, soy una persona mejor”. But Elder Jarman says “soy una mujer” which means, “I`m a woman”. Hahaha that joke got plenty of laughs, the whole room was crying. Probably won't ever forget that, he earned a new nickname too, Hermanita Jarman.

In other news, I'm getting changed assignments, I'm now the “comisario” which means Sheriff. Watch out! Basically I am the housing and materials administrator, anything that has to do with pamphlets or rents, ect. I'm back with Elder Shobe and still finishing the training of Elder McArthur my replacement. The MacArthur's are a matrimony couple that got to the mission 2 weeks ago. They are from St. George. Pictures to follow. 

The MacArthur's

Elder Jarman

It says, "Never let the true feeling die"

Puyehue National Park

We headed down to Puyehue National park this last Monday. It´s about an hour east of Osorno, and is famous for its natural hot springs. We left Osorno with thick fog and all of a sudden it turned into a sunny day. Luckily it wasn’t a very touristy season so we didn´t run into too many people. There were some grandmas enjoying the water, but besides that we had the park pretty much to ourselves.

We hiked around some small waterfalls and along the stream. The river is cold, but the small pools next to the river have hot water come from them. We hiked around a bit and saw some pretty great views. It’s really impressive how beautiful the South of Chile is, it is such a great place to explore.

Elder Haddad

To My Hero, Elder Wertner

I am definitely one who has a testimony that through our trials we are made stronger people. I believe that we are able to progress and learn from whatever life throws at us, and as we learn to become more diligent, obedient, loving, caring, hopeful, ect. 

This week Elder Wertner returned home under a medical release. I have never met anyone with a desire to work as hard as him. For as much pain as he was going through, he pushed through every day. He encouraged me when I was unmotivated and always kept the spirit up. He was diligent and obedient, in every aspect of the mission. I am so grateful to have been able to serve with such a great companion and friend. Maybe the closest person I knew to a 4^th missionary, someone who has given everything they have to the Lord. 

He never complained. He never gave up. He had taught me one of the most important lessons of my life, how to endure to the end. I commend you for your service and love for the people.

I wish you the best Elder Wertner,

Sincerely,
Elder Haddad

Maria Ines and Paulina

We had an excellent week here in Ovejeria. We have worked so hard to be able to find people and we have been diligent and obedient. One of the biggest fruits I have seen on the mission is how your hard work always pays off. One of the miracles we have seen in this sector is that the people are coming out of nowhere. We almost always have had someone new investigating church, someone new for the members to get to know. About 3 months ago our ward committed to doing a nightly prayer. All the families of the ward kneel down and offer a prayer for the missionary work, so that we can find people, so that they can share the gospel, so that the people are receptive. This practice has resulted in miracles. 3 Baptisms in the last 2 months for a ward that hasn't had a baptism in 1.5 years. Everyone is excited, the missionaries, the ward, and the new investigators.

This Saturday we had a really nice baptismal service for Maria Ines and Paulina. About 8 weeks ago we found them knocking doors. We did a simple contact and set up a return appointment in the house of a member. They showed up for an activity at the member’s house and from then on we have been working with them to help them prepare for baptism. The Delgado family has helped so much with their conversion and also our ward mission leader Orlando.

Love,

Elder Haddad

The Break Up

Email from May 2

Sometimes in the mission we pass through break ups. We find and teach people and over the weeks be develop great relationships with them. They become great friends, and they begin to recognize the great change taking place in their lives. You help them through the hard times and the trails they have, and they see the hand of the Lord in their lives. This week one of our investigators asked that we not pass by again. I was not put to tears, but it was sad and hard to imagine that all the changes that we had made in his life.

There is something I have noticed with people who go through this sort of change. It happens with investigators and with members. This is one of the greatest teachings I think I have learned on the mission. The power of praying daily, reading the scriptures daily and going to church every week. Three things that seem so simple but they are the direct cause to what I would believe of almost every person going inactive.

This isn't the first time I have seen this happen, but when it does happen, we try our best to leave the investigators with our testimony and with our continued prayer. This gospel is something I want to commit myself to for the rest of my life, and I want to commit myself to always having the habits of praying, reading the scriptures, and attending church.

We have had our fair share of trials, but we have seen so many miracles. We have found some amazing investigators, have helped people become more converted to the Lord. This has been the greatest experience of my life. 

With love,

Elder Haddad

                                                              Selfies with Leivita

Asking for help

This is from April 25

Sometimes it´s amazing what we can achieve when we ask for help. To all the people who read this blog who are friends, family, members, and non-members, I want to explain this amazing thing that happens when we ask for help. Sometimes we don't feel that we have anyone to turn to, and for a long time I relied on friends for their advice. There is something great that I realized, there is someone who knows us and wants to help us. He is someone we can always trust in and reach out to. 

This week we put our trust in the Lord and reached out to him. We pleaded to be able to find some new people to teach, and like he always does, the Lord completed his promises. You could say it is a coincident, but I would have to say that it is more than odd luck. On splits this week we tried specific prayers, giving exact details to what we were going to do and what we wanted to achieve. Though it seemed unlikely we always achieved our goals. We found some great people, among them is a new kid named Dieres. 

We taught him the restoration and he prayed at the end to find out if the Book of Mormon was true. He prayed and played the guitar which was kind of interesting, but it was super spiritual.

Our new investigator Dieres

Christmas photo 2015 a little late. Some great memories from Punta Arenas. (In this photo it is 7:00 AM and the sun has already been up for 4 hours.)  Elder Weyand, Elder Alder, and Elder Carmona

My computer crashed this week :(

Picutre of the campo