Hey, my family!
It's been a good week in Lorenzo Arenas!
Elder Requena and I are working really well together! There are some quiet times between the two of us haha, but I blame mostly the language. Speaking Español is becoming a lot more like second nature with having a compañero Chileno! Elder Requena is from Santiago, just about 7 hours from here, and he's been in the mission for 17 months! He originally received his call for Venezuela, but was put on a visa wait in Santiago for the first 7 months of his mission and eventually reassigned for Concepción. He loves fútbol, and especially the team de La Universidad Católica. He's a bit of a fanático!
We are beginning the fifth week of this cambio! It's possible that I will leave Lorenzo Arenas in this next cambio, or the next. Usually missionaries stay in a sector somewhere from 4 and a half to 6 months (3 to 4 cambios), and I'm just finishing my third cambio here! It's crazy, right?!
So of all the things this past week, I wanted to share about a less active family that we are working with.
Chile has a huge number of members of the Church, but an unfortunately huge number of them are less active or inactive. POR ESO, one of the focuses here is reactivating!
Right now, we are working with José and Rosa Ormeño Sanchez. They are an awesome couple, members of the church who are less active, and grandparents of five (I believe) grandkids. They have a wonderful family, and are two really kind, talkative Chilenos. Elder Withers and I found them, and Elder Requena and I are continuing to teach them.
About a month ago, Hermano and Hermana Ormeño came to church for the first time in TWENTY years. Hermana made a commitment with God that she would go to church if he might bless their grandson that he might receive the health that he needed. And so they went, for the first time in twenty years. Their grandson got better. They're committed to going to church once again, and they're continuing to reactivate themselves in the Gospel.
I mention them super breve because I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to help them as a family come back into the Gospel. They hadn't been to church in more that twenty years, more than my lifetime, and I have the great blessing of seeing them come back. None of their kids are active, and none of their grandkids are members, yet their coming back as grandparents is the beginning of an incredible blessing for their family.
I thank Heavenly Father that I'm able to help strengthen their family, as I've known he has strengthened mine.
I know this church is true, and I know that there are many blessings in store for this family, as well as every family that might find the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I love you, my family, and I think about you all the time. You are my motivation, and I thank Heavenly Father for every one of you every day.
Mucho amor de Chile,
Elder Trent Sellers
