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Elder Joseph Gordon
July 17, 2017 “Church Audits, Junk Food, and Baptismal Interviews”
Elder Bravo and I embarked on our journey this last Friday to go do church audits of 4 branches that don´t belong to the mission, being that they don´t belong to a specific district. Due to some difficulties on Friday we ended up leaving really late (8pm) but we arrived fine 4 hours later in the city of Chañaral. We stayed in the house of the only 2 elders serving in the whole city. Even though they are far from other missionaries we could tell that they still had lots of excitement for doing missionary work. One of the elders there, Elder Santos, was HILARIOUS!!! He is from mexico and before being a missionary he was basically a gangster hahaha and he has sooo many jokes, oh man I was dying. hahaha
When we woke up in the morning we got back in the car to travel another 2 hours into the mountains to visit a small town named “The Savior”. You could say that I was pretty pumped to visit the Savior hahaha yeah ok cheesy jokes sorry. El Salvador is an old mining town that was established by an American Mining company. The city and housing designs are all “gringo” based with big front lawns and wide streets. To get there you have to drive up a huge mountain and the altitude hurts your head at first.
When talking with the Branch President he told us he needed help with his computer. I know nothing about computers , but with the help of the Holy Ghost …..and well….a youtube video we fixed the problem!hahaha, I was grateful to be able to help him out.
Going back down the mountain we passed by the town of Diego de Almagro where I served for 2 short months! We had a few hours of extra time on our hands so we visited ALL the members(being only a handful). It was amazing to be able to talk to them again and see how they were doing. Those members are so faithful, I don´t know how they do it honestly!! They are are alone in a little old ghost town, but they still maintain their testimonies strong as can be. We were able to teach a family who was visiting one of the church members while we were there and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and to be baptized. They accepted to read…..and that´s it hahaha, but I had to try! We also visited some of the recent converts and my old investigators. It was amazing to see the 7 month old baby of one of the women I taught of which was pregnant at the time I had being serving there previously, it made me realize how much time has passed by.
It was painful to me, as we visited the ward members and investigators, that everyone said the same phrase: “Oh! The Elders are back!! Oh you guys are going to be working here now, we have missed your presence so much!!” It was awful telling them that we could only stay for the day. I know the Lord has a special place in his heart for those people.
We stayed another freezing cold night in Chañaral Saturday night and in the morning assisted church with them. While doing the Audit the Branch President expressed ALL of his stresses to my companion and I. We assured him that the church has not forgotten the Chañaral Branch and that they are watched over and prayed for. They recently had a flood that destroyed part of the chapel.
Sunday afternoon we made our way to the coastal city of Tal-Tal, Elder Bravo had previously served in that city so we were able to set up a lunch appointment. It made me happy to see the joy of my companion as he was able to talk to his converts and friends. My companion told me that when he left the city that there was a family that was ready to be baptized and for some reason the new missionaries had not passed by them for a long while. We passed by and soon enough I did 2 baptismal interviews and they both passed and they will be baptized this next Saturday!!!! We tried to have them be baptized that same day but the Branch President desired to wait another week. At any moment the Mine could call them to go to work so we are praying that they can be baptized this week and that the mine stays out of service for a week longer!!
The Lord was able to work other miracles also while we were there for a few short hours, it was amazing!!
On the way back home we were passing through a very isolated part of the Atacama Desert know for its visibility of the stars. We stopped for a few minutes to look up and marvel at God´s wonders. It was one of the most amazing night skies I will ever see I think.
All in all the trip was awesome and we were able to do much good!!!
I have a strengthened testimony that Christ lives and that Heavenly Father has a plan for everyone of His children.
Love you all!!! Have a good week!!
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July 10, 2017 part 2
Suprise Birthday Party of a recent convert named Yasna!!
Lunch with a recently returned missionary who lives in our ward, he is a stud and always leaves with us to go visit people!! 
The Baptism of Diego this last Saturday!!!!! Diego is flippin awesome!! He has been receiving the missionaries for a while now and finally took the decision to be baptized just when I arrived!! His dad is re-activating in the church as of now, he does not remember anything about the church because he was baptized when he was younger , but it has been amazing to see the Spirit reminding him of things little by little. After the baptism of Diego his sister(far left) told us that she also wants to be baptized!!! This friday she will be baptized!!!!! This family has a lot of struggles in the gospel, but we are trying to go step by step with them to get them all back on the path.!!
Never want to leave this place!!!! Antofagasta!!!!
Elder Bravo!!! Che-Querido!!
Ward activity we had this Saturday!! It was AMAZING!!!! IT was called “Casino Mormón”. Basically all the ward and investigators played bingo and other games(without money involved, just stickers) and meanwhile we tried to ” preach the gospel” to them while they played. The object of the game is to see who will listen to the missionaries and who will be more involved in the games. In the fifth round of bingo all of a sudden all the lights go out and you hear some creepy laughing and then the curtains open and some youth from the ward were dressed as skeletons in the dark. (If I had not been a part of the behind the scenes it would have scared the poop out of me!!) then a narrator explains that those who had listened to the missionaries and not used all their stickers would be allowed to go into the next room. In the other room there was beautiful music playing and 4 missionaries with the bishop dressed in white. Everyone receives a lesson on the importance of staying on the straight and narrow path in this life and preparing for the next one. Eventually everyone is invited into the room and hears a message from the Bishop. It was soo cool and our investigators loved the activity!!
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July 10, 2017
Bendiciones, Cuentan y Verás
For this email I am just going to send pics and explain what has been going on recently in the mish. 
We Recently had a flood, this is us driving next to a pick up in town square.
This is when we tricked a missionary into thinking that you could put a “mirror effect” on the computer. hahaha 
This is the office elders watching a movie in the mission house on P-Day. Woop!! (From left to right) Elder Bravo(Commissary), Elder Muñoz(Secretary of Visas), Elder Shelton(Assistant), Me, Elder Faúndez(Secretary), Elder Prada(Assistant), Elder Rios(Secretary).
We recently had a leadership conference and we had SOO MANY packages from missionary family that we had to pack and send out to the missionaries.
This us having a barbeque in the with the President Ferreira after conquering all the challenges of “Transfer Day”(When all the missionaries change where they live to go work in a different city or area) 
P-Day with the zone playing soccer with President and the office gang!!
Here we are sending the missionaries home who have finished their 2 years of service, this is my old Zone Leader who helped me out a bunch, I love this guy!!!!Elder Court)
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It was really hard to send Elder Prada home because I have been with him for a long time in the office and he has been an amazing Assistant in this mission, he has been one of my best friends in the mission. He was raised really poor living in Columbia, he has many talents and abilities but not many opportunities in Columbia. President Ferreira told him in his last interview that he would help him get out of his current situation. He might actually be coming to live in Utah!!! I have a lot of respect for this guy and all that he does. 
My Comp and I receiving the new missionaries on their first day in the mission. We always take a picture with them at the famous arch of Antofagasta!!
Hahaha locked out of the apartment for a few hours at night waiting on the other elders.haha
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June 12, 2017
We found a new way to contact people in our proselyting area that allows us to find people who are ready to receive the Gospel while at the same time not wasting a lot of time trying to convince people that aren´t really interested. We simply say that as missionaries we prepare people to get baptized and we ask them if they would like to be baptized. If they say no we then teach some principles about the restoration of the Gospel and ask if they would like to know more. If they say no a second time we simply give them a pamphlet and let them go. NOW, the difference between my mission and…the mission of…. I don´t know……Elder Ott haha is that this actually works for the people here hahaha. The majority of the time people actually get interested at the second point and once in a while we find someone that says they would love to be baptized right off the bat! I love the people of Chile and sometimes I feel like I receive a clearer image of how Heavenly Father sees his children here in Chile. Our brothers and sisters here are so open minded and many times innocent as a child. They are willing to talk and to help out a neighbor, they don´t get embarrassed as easy. They are not perfect by a long shot , but I love them a lot.
We had some rough times this week due to the fact that yesterday we went to visit a family that we were teaching that was progressing beautifully, they told us that they will not be attending the Church anymore and maybe they will look for another, better one. The mother is a less active member and she told us that she felt mistreated and is going to move to another city in order to escape her current life….All of this happened basically because she went to the Bishop for help and the Bishop was very kind, and told her the truth, he offered help…but she did not receive the answer she was looking for.
It is saddening to see our brothers and sisters putting their salvation to the side solely because they were offended by a church member…It was humbling to see just how fast Satan can make us forget ALL that we know and cherish about the Lord.
Now putting that thought aside, this week WE RECEIVED SO MANY BLESSINGS!!!! wow we found a DUMPLOAD of less active members and were able to strengthen them and to start working with their family members who are not members!! We have one family that we are teaching that is specially close to my heart. The Castillo family members are all members of the Church apart from the grandma (Silvia) who is 76 years old. She talks…..A LOT. hahaha so it is a constent battle not letting her go on with stories. We have been able to have really focused lessons so far and we actually set a baptismal date with her for the 24th of this month. Her grandson said the greatest thing in the first lesson hahahahahahaha. He told her that if she gets baptized on the 24th she would be able to go to the Temple with them in one year when he and his fiance get sealed. She was kind of doubtful when we first put the baptismal date but then when her grandson said that…haha… you could see that the wheels starting turning in her head. Oh man I love this sweet little old lady so much!!!!
Wow I don´t have any more time to write, but lots of love from the office and I!!
¡¡Chao!!
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Elder Joseph Gordon 