January 19th 2015

well Grandma phillips testimony thing is way cool and im definetley going to print that off to read a couple times!

well this last week was fun and we had a ton to do. we presented that replica del consejo and it went good! haha its a little smaller group of missionaries but it was fun we jsut needed them to participate more and so we are going to work on that a lot more between now and next time to have a better relacion with everyone.! 

and then we ahd interviews with president and it was really good and its really fun to be able to talke to him and it helps a ton also. he wants me to talk to more poeple in the street and so im having fun with that and we are seeing more poeple coming to church! we taught this one lady and she came to church and it was really cool! haha she totally loved it and met a ton of peoplel and we are going to put a baptism date with her this week so that she can make a convenant witht the Lord! lots of prayers for her and the rest of the investigators and the branch so we can keep activating people!! that would be great!!! we also have a baptism planned for this saturday we are going to need a miracle but that is what the Lord does for the obeidient and the diligent so we are going to do our part and help someone make a covenant!!

i just wanted to say how greatful i am for the time i have left in my mission and for everything that i have learned! its just so incredible to me how cool and how much the Lord does for everysingle person and how much he Cares about us! its a special feeling to know that im a representative fo the Lord. i want you guys to know how special you are to me and that i love you guys so much!! its a blessing to call you guys my family! keep being the best family in the world and i just want you to know that you are always in my prayers and know the Lord is watching out for you!

elder ethington

2 nephi 31 20

ITS THE BEST!!! (nacho voice)

mom I LOVE YOU!!

Jan 12, 2015

haha its was a pretty fun! we had a good week and im getting really use to my new sector and we are teaching a lot of people now and we just have to start going and getting some more people baptized. we have 2 people with a baptism date but they have been listening tot the missionaries for the last 3 years and so we are just really hoping that they can recieve and answer to thier prayers that they need to get baptized and we are goign to invite them to the mutual this friday where they are going to have a surpise movie and so of the youth from the ward are going to go visit the kids. they are 13 and 14 and are just a hard nut to crack. we also had a sweet family home evening with a married family here that are really receptive but they dont understand the restoration. they nodd their head and are good and trying to believe but they arent doing a ton to really try and find out that its true. we had a family that reciently got sealed in the temple tallk about how they know that they are an eternal family and the investigators really liked it but they still didnt understand that it is only available in the Church of Jesus Chirst of latter day saints. haha and so we are going to keep teaching them so that we can help them really understand. they had a baptism date so that is why we are pushing so hard to get them to really understand and everyone in the ward really likes this family! ¡¡¡¡¡THE LORD CAN DO ANYTHING SO VAMOS!!!!! 

so as missionaries our focus has now changed and the only 3 things we are focusing on is Baptize Retain and Reacivate. and the only 3 things that we are tracking is baptisms, book of mormon placed and how many people came to church. and we had a really good week!!!! we had a 124 people come to church so we are basically in the best branch in viña! haha it was freaking sweet!!! and we just had a member call us and tell us that we ahve a FHE tonight with some people that arent baptised and they ahve came to a chruch 2 time and they have gone to a couple of activities so we are pretty excited about that and its just a huge blessing that the Lord just gave us!

we had the meeting with pres and his wife and the asistens and it was incredible!!!! so we started off normally with a scrpture and testimonies of the new leaders and then the leaders that are leaving. 2 of the old asistents gave their testimonies and it was really special to see how much they love the God and Christ. and then presidente Kähnlein felt like we needed to do another prayer and he offered it. ...... litterly the most spiritual and loving and awesome prayer i have heard on my mission! of the 40 or so pèo0ple that were there at least 30 were crying by the end of his prayer and it was just so cool to see the lov ethat he has for the Lord and for us and for all the  missionaries and it was a cool moment. i choked up a bit when he started praying for the missionaries. it was a really special moment. and then we had a good time and i learned that i need to lear from my weaknesses and from my past and that is how i can keeep on getting better!!!!!

i love you mom and i thank you for what you write me every week and it help me a ton to want to help other people!!! i love you so much and i cant wait to talk to you next week!!!

hey also if you could send me a scan of my mission call that would be fantastic so i can print it off!

Elder Ethington 

Jan 5th 2015

haha well that is crazy about josie! haha i miss the breakfast at 12! haha that was always way fun to do! ç

so i got changed to a sector thats called Las Torres! haha its really fun and we are on top of a hill! it was freaking sweet because we watched litterally one of the worlds biggest firework shows from our house! haha all of Valparaiso Viña and all the way to Con Con they have huge freight boats lined up in the ocean by the beach and then 5 min after midnight they all start shooting off the same fireworke show and it is seriously one of the coolest things i have ever seen in my life! haha! and then whole world was just partying haha we live below a bunch of people that arent members and they were offering  wine to everyone and me and my comp were just like "its alright we dont drink.... " and they weer all just like "umm ok... who are these freaking weird kids!?" it was really enjoyable and we had a good day. haha i had to pack all my stuff on tuesday and it was freaking a JOKE!!!! i have so much crap that i have use i have dont. haha it took me 3 hours to pack all my stuff and get it all ready and we barely had time to say good bye to everyone. it was hard to leave everyone and i actually felt like sector sick you could say. on friday i prayed so that i coulk feel better about  being here and have more fun while working here. haha i finished my prayer and i started reading in the BoM 1 nephi 10:20 and i just laughed and realized once again just how much Heavenly Father has a plan for everysingle one of us and how we can really know that everything that we do here on the earth is for a reason! it was a really cool experience to have the Lord answer a prayer that fast because i was really missing people from there a lot and it was hard adjusting to the new sector. i forgot how it is to get to a new sector and not have anyone know you and just have to start from zero again. but i felt when i got to the sector that i needed to read a letter  the obispo BAVI gave to me and so i have been reading that and it just talks about really letting myself be and servant of others, forgeting myself in the bettering of others and just enjoying my mission as a missionary and as a person. im really excited to keep on applying it and i feel like i have only been here for a really short time but that i have changed and learned alot in so little time. my comp is elder Tinney. we were in the MTC together but he was in the other district and it is really fun to be with him. he is litterally the most organized person that i know and so that is something that im going to learn how to be better at because you know me and im not the most organized person in the whole world and im really excited to learn how to be better at that and learn to be more efficient in everything. there is a really funny family here with the fam campos. haha they are all return missionaries and they litterly are just a bunch of partiers. yesterday (sunday) we went over there to see if they could come with us to lesson today (monday) and they were al ljust in their swim suits hanging out they had just gone for a nice leisurely swim in their giante pool that looks alot like the one the you guys bought. haha so someone left a super tight hollister shirt and my comp has some hipster glasses and i snapback. so enjoy. haha

Dec 28th

hahah well it was really fun. cool little experience.

so the last two times that i have talked to you guys i am just wrecked afterwards and i usually cry haha and this time i didnt have that desire. i love you guys alot more than i ever have and i wanted to talk to you guys for a lot longer and i really was happy to see you guys and sad to say goodbye but i seriously was so happy after and i still am. i know that that was a blessing from the Lord that he gave for being obediente. its really cool to see how it the Lord does that. that call really changed how i looked at the call. like really it made me think of just how short everything really is and like that call is jusr kinda like a check up because like you said mom its so short everything and it just ends all of the sudden so you guys can better your bottom dollar that these next 8 months are going to fly by! haha i almost dont want it to happen! it wierd.

2 more experiences.

1. so one elder this week got sent home. the difference that you could feel between him and a normal missionary was really quite crazy. you could litteraly feel that he wasnt being obedient to the rules or the commandments. and it was just another testimony to me that wickedness never was happiness because that is goignt ot follow him for the rest of his life knowing that he wasnt able to make it. the elder was from my group when i got to the mission so its jus wierd to see in how much we really can change ourselves if we want to. i hope that elder can come back because he is a nice person and he connects with people really easily!

2. another elder finished his mission this last week. he was a really really good missionary and yesterday he called us after his interviewed to leave with president and he was just talking to us about how it was and everything and he said that one of the coolest parts of the whole interview was that president just told thank for what you did, you worked hard and you did your part. and the elder said that he just felt like that whole worldk just shrug off of his shoulders. like just a huge confirming moment from the spirit that what president said came from that Lord and really he had done what he was called to do. i litterly almost cried hearing that just because i figured out how bad i want the Lord to tell me that. haha it was a really cool learning experience to see how much i have changed. my heart has changed. what i want had changed. im not the same person but im happy with that because im the person that the Lord wants and needs me to be so that i can be His insrtrument. funny example of that is currently in the CIBER where we are typing katy perry is playing. at the beginning of my misison my heart like hurt not beign able to listen to music like that just becuase i like music a lot and that is what i wanted to listen to. and now one year later i have no desire  to actually listen to the song and i dont like what she says in the song at all. its so crazy the purifying proccess that the Lord will take us on if we let him. it not just for me in the mission right now its something that each of us have to do in our entire life and that is how we feel accomplished and we find happiness.

haha well that was my spiritual rant! it was awesome to see you guys!

LOVE YOU ALL

love you mom and seriously you look SO SKINNY ITS CRAZY! KEEP DOING WHAT YOUR DOING IT WORKS REALLY WELL!!!! CONGRATS!!! :)

and thank you for the sugar cookies! they were delicious!!!!!!!

Dec 22nd

well we wil be talking at 7 pm here so im pretty sure that 3 pm there. im not sure if that is right but just know that at 7 pm in chile i will be waiting to talk to you guys!

have everyone thats wants to be there come.. haha its me last christmas out of the house and that would be a cool gift!

im going to go get the packets taht you ahve sent today so im going to wear what ever youve sent! as long as its mission apropriate!

i know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. The KING of  HEAVEN and EARTH was litterlly born next to herd of sheep cows and pigs. if you want something to inspire you this Christmas season study of life of the man who saved yours. There is no gift greater than the Lord that was given to us by our Loving Heavenly Father. i know that JESUS really is that person that gives us peace that will never fail to fill our hearts. i know that we are not perfect. i know that we make mistakes but i know that throught the atonement of the Savior we are saved from the sins, the mistakes, the regret, the embarasment, the shame, and the fall by being righteous. BE faithful to Him, He is the only perfect person that we can believe in. I know He lives and that i LOVES US. BE THE GIFT THAT YOU GIVE TO CHRIST.

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!

elder ethington

remeber i only have 40 min and i have encharged ely to let me know when i have 5 min left so that i can leave you guys with a prayer! i need your help with this beacuse its really hard for me to not talk for a long time!!

love you mommy!!

tu hijito.

December 15, 2014

well that was a sweet scripture! haha that made me feel kinda good! haha thank you mom i will be reading that for quite a while! thank you!

so for christmas we are going to talk at the bishops house and we are going to talk at like 7 ish but we will figure it out this next week and tell you what we are going to do and then next thing you know we will be talking to each other! i will jus say now that i only have 40 minutes to talk. haha i know i said that last time but i want to be obedient so if you guys could help me with that and just have everything ready! im going to end that call with a prayer in spanish so start listening to chilean spanish and invite who ever you guys feel like wants to be there FAMILY friends.... the dogs... haha and not howards butt crack.. please.

monday

had a FHE with the bishop and his family and we ate pancakes with fruit and it was way good to have those we even ate them with syrup! haha

tuesday.

we had a good day. we had to wait like and hour for our lunch to get ready but we definetly  made a dominos bridge with all the little kids and made videos with it haha. one of the little kids as we started lunch just busted out in a rap that he made up on the spot. haha it was about the chicken we ate. and then we bought some stuff for the stand and then we taught raul and elias y elias. adn then we had a meeting with the High Counselmen asigned to mission work.

Wednesday.

had interchanges with a struggling elder. we spente till 5 going to his knee therapy and then coming back and it was just a really slow day. haha we walked around and a handicapped guy came with us to a lesson and after to get back to his house we had to put our arms around him and half walk half carry him to the top. he got hit buy a bus and came out of a coma 3 months later and he remembers everything for about 5 min and then he forgets. but he is way funny and spoke like 10 whole words of english but it was funny!

Thursday.

we found a new investigator who can get baptized really quick but after we shared "He is the Gift" we didnt find her for the rest of the week but we are goign to find her this week and she is going to make a covenant with the Lord and Get Baptized!  adn then we taught Agusto about the restoration a little.

friday.

we had christmas conference!!!!!!!!   it was freaking sweet and i love christmas!! haha its so cool. me and elder dalton were talking and it just feelslike a good christmas. like its a real christmas and its becasue we are focused on Christ. its fun! haha and we got a new USB drive to be able to use in the lessons and everything with 16 GB of videos! hahah thats like a christmas miracle for a missionary..... haha! and then we taught the fam bernal after about the sacrament and it was a pretty fun lesson!

saturday.

we taught a investigator about eternal marraige and the restoration and how they are connected and it was super cool he understood really well and lets just hope he puts it in practice and marries his girl friend!!!!!! and then we taught raul about faith in jesus christ. raul just makes me laught to hard. the man is litterally so simple in everything that he has turned int o one of my favorite people in chile! haha he has recieved in the last week 4 blessing for his health because he has a testimony that they work. haha and then after raul we taught elias and elias about continuing to learn and endurin gto the end by watching the video about John Tanner!! watch it! haha its crazy!

sunday.

no one came to church but we are going to had a lesson with raul about repentance and then a lesson with hno agusto (who didnt come to church) about the restoration fo the gospel. and we also watched the video about the good samaritan. his favorite part was how faithful his animal was...... ( LOOK DOWN AND SLAP YOUR FORHEAD BECAUSE THE MAN DIDNT UNDERSTAND A SINGLE SPIRITUALL PART OF THE VIDEO BUT ITS OK BECUASE IT WASNT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT FOR THE LESSON) 

some total we walked 64 miles this week... i have a whole in my new shoes already but dirt doesnt get it somehow so we are all good!!

love you mom!

i challenge you guys make 100 cookies between now and christmas and give them out to all the neighbors with a note and a scripture from the bible attached! Romans 8 :18 is a fantastic scripture but choose one that you guys feel is the right one!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ps. i didnt send a package becuase we cant send packages with clothes of candy for some new rule in the government so im going to buy the stuff and we will have christmas next september!

December 8th

haha i dont have time to do a journal thingy this week it took a while to send all the stuff this week but we had a good week. on friday we had counsel with pres and we watched the HE IS THE GIFT and its freaking sweet. haha everyone was just like crying and it was kinda cool to see how the spirit works in everyone. we then were able to find two new people to teach that next day and one of then Sandra, is MARRIED!! and she totally wants to know more about God and all the churches and she was really happy to watch the He is the Gift video and we are way excited to get some more people to teach with this bad boy! haha its sweet and everyone want to feel the christmas spirit so we are just using that to baptize everyone! haha  we had interchanges with the asistens this week adn it was pretty fun adn we had a good day. haha we walked a ton. i also talked more to elder arimitstead at the counsel meeting and we do a lot of the same stuff! haha its way fun and we are goign to have to hang out after the mission a couple times! haha he even snowboards! thats the best part! and he eats at betos frequently so you know that he is choosing the right! and i bought a new shirt beacuse all my other ones are just sweat out adn starting to get kinda nasty! haha