WELCOME!

Bienvenidos a la Mision Chile Santiago Norte! We love the Savior, and are blessed to be part of this great work, to share His gospel, and invite others to come unto Him. We are grateful to have this incredible opportunity to associate with such fine young men and women and other couples who are serving in this wonderful part of the vineyard. We decided to share this mission through a blog, with any who would like to know more.... All of the lessons, talks, training, conferences, and meetings are obviously done totally in Spanish, but for the sake of this writer, the notes are here in English, for speed in typing, and therefore, mixed with a bit of both worlds. We hope all of our missionaries, families, and loved ones can enjoy this blog, in spite of the writing, grammar, language, errors, etc. This will be a miraculous journey, and we invite you to share and enjoy it with us.

Lovingly, con cariño,
Presidente Michael May
Hermana Carol May

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Out of the mouth of Babes….November 8, 2009

This morning we had our ward Programa de la Primaria en la reunion Sacramental here in downtown Santiago, Chile. What a miracle it is to see the work of the gospel as demonstrated by the Primary in each ward of the church. Our ward had about 30 Primary age children on the stand, not to mention a few babes in arms out in the audience who were dealing with stage fright to have to perform in front, and also a few too young to be included in the nursery age too. It was still delightful.

Our ward in LaDesa is made up by about 45% single women, 20% of North American families who live in the area, work either for the church in various capacities, or mining, copper, or gold companies, or the husbands are mission presidents in the 3 missions here in Santiago, and the other 35% Chilean families, single men, or youth. With the mixture of children on the stand, it is easy to see what a melting pot our ward really is, including different cultures, countries, languages, and skin color. But they blend beautifully in this ward, thanks to the gospel and the Lord’s teachings of loving one another.
Today the theme was F-A-M-I-L-I-A-S, spelled out on individual darling big letters glued onto someone’s prized scrap booking papers, being held by the nervous and fidgety hands of the 8 chosen children to stand in front. Little “A” in the front of the line could never get his paper to stand up from holding it by the bottom, but as a young 5 yr old, he wasn’t too concerned either. After the Santa Cena, the theme was introduced by one of the adult Primary leaders, and then the program got underway, and it was the children stealing the show the rest of the time. They had beautiful primary songs, that we are familiar with; “I’m trying to be Like Jesus, (Estoy tratando de ser como Cristo) Love one another, (Ama a otros) Army of Helaman, “Where love is,” (Donde esta Amor) and “I feel my Savior’s amor” etc. They did sing one verse in English to everyone’s smiles!
Then as we listened to them give their parts, I thought it was the same in every ward. Parents craning their necks to get a better view of their darling son; with his hair slicked over, tie on crooked, but grinning ear to ear, or the precious little daughter with cute pigtails and ribbons, hair braided or down, or stuck up in a special-prepared ‘up do’ just for this BIG occasion! The children looked nervous as they would whisper and talk between themselves until a teacher within reach could tap them quietly to whisper the universal symbol of ‘Shhhhhhh” which they instinctively all know. However, it was also great to see the parents whispering and nervous too, “I hope little Juan doesn’t forget,” or “Maria, you’ll be great”—showing the thumbs up sign, or “Why is Silvana fiddling with her hair ribbon…Silvana, put your hands down, don’t touch your hair anymore!” It was a Primary sacrament meeting anywhere in the world.
However, what touched me most, as the meeting went on, was the simple doctrine that was being taught to all of us, by these innocent and knowledgeable young members of the church. These are some of the truths they taught so powerfully:
• Jesus wants us to love one another
• Jesus was baptized by immersion
• John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
• Jesus rec’d the Holy Ghost
• I can be forgiven of my errors if I really repent
• Our home can be a place to learn to love and forgive others.
• Heavenly father wants us to have eternal families
• Our family can be together forever if we are married and sealed in the temple
• Heavenly Father has a plan for me on this earth, to be happy
• We can help the Holy Ghost be in our home be showing love to others
• If we repent of our mistakes, the Holy Ghost will be with me to help me make right decisions.
• I want to have an eternal family when I get bigger like my Mami’ y Papi’
• We can all be baptized and have the gift of the holy ghost in our lives

When the program ended, I felt that we were truly nourished by the good word, that we had been fed by the spirit, and taught doctrine and truth. This was by simple testimonies from those who trust in their good parents, feel the Holy Ghost, and are not afraid to open their mouths and tell us about what they know. Great examples of wonderful missionaries, and I can picture them in 14, 12, or just 6 yrs, out serving full time missions sharing the same truths, and declaring bolding of the things they had been taught by goodly parents and shared bravely today. What a privilege to be in such a setting with these great young children and future leaders of tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Bueno, busque en el blog, pero no encontre por ningun lado algun correo o alun sitio para comentar, asi que utilize es articulo.. bueno el punto es que he mirado todas esas foto tienen en la parte inferior del blog y pues no logre encontrar a mi hermano elder chavez, un Nicaraguense.. solo quisiera saber si no tienen alguna foto de el por casualida... pero bueno mi nombre es Johannes Chavez.. saludos..

    johannesenrique@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete