Melipilla: Lockdown!

Wow, what a week...last week was another great week! Hector is ready for his baptism on October 26th. Elder Staheli and I are so excited for him! We truly have seen a change in Hector and have been able to be instruments in the Lord's hands to help bring him unto Christ and His Gospel. Hector is literally like my brother; I love him and will be forever grateful that he was wearing a basketball jersey that caught my eye and gave me the courage to go talk to him. I enjoyed some great completos this week at Hector's house. You guys gotta try a completo! Dad told me not to try them but the ones I had were incredible. Our other amigo, Ansy, made progress this past week too. I still need to learn more Creole; it's hard having a language barrier because I love the Haitian people so much. This week we were also blessed to meet new people to teach, which is always exciting. 

But now, Chile has gone off the wall. We were in a lesson on Saturday when we received a text, "GO HOME IMMEDIATELY." Elder Staheli and I started running home as fast as we could, we saw fires and smoke everywhere; it was chaos, absolutely nuts. We have been on lockdown in our apartment ever since. Church was cancelled on Sunday and we have not been able to leave our apartment except this morning to get more food and water. I am in a member's home sending this email quickly and then I will be back in my apartment until further notice. The violent protests are against the government because of economic inequality and years of pent up anger. The protestors have been burning buses, public buildings, plazas, Metro stations and looting stores. But I am totally safe and enjoying it!! Don't worry, Mom. Haha! 

I encourage you all to take some time this week to study the scriptures. Since I've had extra time to study in lockdown, I've tried to apply a great method for personal scripture study that I learned in our last zone conference from my mission president's wife, Hermana Mitchell:

1) Come up with a question and write it down. It can be a question literally about anything--

Church related or not, just a question that has been on your mind.

2) Pray about your question and ask for the Spirit to be with you as you study. 

3) Now study and focus.

I love this method for personal scripture study and it has really helped me everyday this week; I have been able to find answers to my questions and truly feel joy in reading the Book of Mormon. Go give it a try! I hope Elder Staheli and I can get back to work soon and the protesting stops so we can leave our apartments. 

Love you all,

Elder Zwick