Well, this last week was a little rough. We ended up dropping Catalina. She wasn’t progressing really well but was going to go to church yesterday. But when we passed by Saturday for a quick visit they had left for the North of Chile for two weeks. Yup. ¡Ciao! Hopefully later she can understand more the importance of baptism and can take that step. But for now we’ve done our part, and at least she has the Book of Mormon with a little knowledge we left.

We visited Solange a couple times this week. She said that she and her husband got into a heated discussion, which never happens, about us coming to visit her. We’re not too sure if he just doesn’t want us in the house or if he’s against her listening to us at all. She wanted to keep listening to us and hide it. She said that sometimes he leaves for a week for work, so she could go to church and he wouldn’t have to know. We explained that we’re happy she wants to keep listening, but that we respect her husband and don’t want to create problems. She’s going to talk to him and try and get permission to keep listening. We also gave her some pictures of Jesus Christ (Baptism, Atonement, Resurrection, etc.), which she loved. We really want to be able to get to know her husband and try to gain his confidence. But we’re a little afraid to pass by when he isn’t there and then having him show up and get mad. So we asked Adela if she could pass by to get to know Solange and invite her to a lesson in the house of Adela. Also, it is more ideal to take investigators to a member’s house. We’re hoping that it works and that we can talk with Solange’s husband.

Adela really is helping us a lot. We also had shared a little with her neighbor, Erika. But her husband, who works outside of Santiago (and is Yugoslavian--cool), came home for a week. He’s Catholic, and while he’s there we can’t share with her. So Adela invited her to church (she ended up not going) and also to a lesson at her house. The lesson went great, and we can see that Erika really wants to progress. The rest of her family are Evangelists, so she has husband pulling on one side, parents on another, and not wanting either one but not wanting problems either. We’re praying a lot for her to be able to make the right choice.

Last night we were walking to visit someone and passed a couple of women in the street hauling huge heavy garbage bags of cloth. Obviously we offered our help and, to our astonishment, they accepted!! No one ever accepts our help, no matter how hard the task. So we carried the bags for them and on the way talked with them. It was a mother, Leiry, and her daughter Jeagnelle. Yep, weird name. It’s pronounced like Jack-Nellie, and she’s about 30ish. They make fleece coats for work but sometimes carry the materials to a friend who helps them cut and sew because their department room is really small. Afterwards we went to their apartment/workshop with them and met Jeagnelle´s kids. Kirsti is 8, a boy whose name I don’t remember, is 5, and Ethan is 3 1/2. They are a great family. We sang for them and talked for awhile. They were really excited about the English classes we’re giving, especially to help Kirsti. She talked with me a lot about music because we had told them I play the piano. She also likes to sing and wants to learn piano or violin. Jeagnelle has a way crazy story. Aside from living in like 6 different houses in the same community, her husband drinks A LOT, and sometimes would get home and throw around chairs, plates, and sometimes hit her, whether she said or did anything or not. One time in the street he waited at a corner with a knife to kill her. (Actually not too far from where we live) But an old man who owns a small store close by (He always greets us. He’s way nice.) and a couple other people stopped him and he’s in jail now. The really sad thing is that this affected Ethan a lot, and he says to his mom "I’m going to kill my dad. He tried to kill you, but I’ll kill him." They said once he said to the mom and grandma, "You two don’t worry about anything. When my dad gets out of jail I’ll take care of him." HE´S THREE YEARS OLD!! It’s really sad, but Jeagnelle is taking him to a psychologist. We’re also hoping that as we teach them the Gospel an find him friends that he can forget about all that. They really are a great family and I’m looking forward to continuing with them. The grandma, Leiry, is separated from her husband, who is a member. She also works with a member who is actually part of a family that Elder King knows from his last sector. What a small world. We’ll be praying a lot for Jeagnelle and her family.

The other day Adela told us about a department that is up for rent close to her. Today we passed by to take a look. They weren’t there, but an old lady who supposedly is helping them took our names and number and is going to talk to the people. We might be getting a new place to live soon!! This is really good. It’s really freezing in the mornings. Not to mention that the toilet stopped working. We don’t know if it’s plugged up or if there’s another problem. When we flush it fills with water, which then leaves. But only the water leaves. Nothing else. So we try to use the bathroom in a store, the church, etc. But needless to say sometimes at night we just have to go. Without going into too much detail, the bathroom really smells bad. We’re going to try to find a plunger and hope that can fix it. Yummy.

Yesterday for combined 3rd hour the bishop showed a movie called The Butterfly Circus. The main actor is a guy who, in the movie and real life, has no legs or arms. It was a great movie. And the guy also gives motivational talks and everything. It was really cool.

Well, I’m out of time for this week. It was a rough week like I said. But we’ve changed some things, organized a lot, and this next week we’re really going to work hard. We have several people that we are teaching, and should have a lot of baptisms in June and July.

Well, have a great week!!

Elder Murdoch