Dani and Chuli

I spent this past weekend visiting my friend from the mission Elder Silva. He happens to be pretty cool, but he lives over four hours away so this is the only time I have gotten to see him. The trip was really cool and we had some really brilliant conversations. However, my favorite part of the entire weekend was meeting Dani and Chuli. These two girls are cousins and they have been members of the church for one year.

These two nineteen year-old girls are from the hood in every sense of the word. When they met the missionaries they were going to go to a party in another city that was going to last them the entire weekend. The missionaries were brave enough to invite them to church and for some reason they went. They said they really don't know why they chose to go to church, but they told their friends afterwards that the "mormon party" was pretty cool too. Ever since they were baptized they have faithfully attended every single sunday and every single activity. If there is somebody who needs support, they are there to support. If they are asked to do something they do it. The best part about these two girls is that they have been through really hard things and they know what it feels like. They also know what it feels like to be from the poorer part of the city where gangs and drugs are prevalent. In short, they have the potential to be examples for a lot of people who are going through rough times and for those youth who are straying.

Yesterday Chuli got up to share her testimony and among other things she thanked her cousin who has been her best friend and her support since long before they joined the church. She shared a beautiful testimony that was both incredibly sincere and insightful. It was a great experience to get to know those girls this weekend and laugh with them and hear their testimonies. The gospel really is the only way that we can be truly happy.

In short, the best part about being here in Chile, in case you were wondering, is the people.

P.S. In the next installment I will tell you about the sixty-five year-old woman who was my dance partner at the ward party. If she were only younger...