BLESSED TO BE SERVING THE LORD

That is so crazy that all happened!  [Referring to Elder Chase Omana's accident].  The car is absolutely smashed! You have to tell Diane and their family that I will be praying for them and everything! That is so sad but it's a miracle that he is getting better and everything! And that is sad about Bapsie too! 

Everything here has been great though! We now have quite a few people on date and a few others were reactivated yesterday! This area is literally on fire now! It was so sweet because on Tuesday we had a lesson with Karina who is the daughter of Hermana Velez and we had it down stairs with Hermana Rojas and it was amazing! Hermana Rojas has a story just like hers so the spirit was so strong and Karina loved it! She has came to church the last 3 weeks with her 2 daughters and son and she is now on date for the 6th! Hopefully 2 of her kids will be baptized with her but we still aren't sure! I am loving everything here so much! 

We have another family who is a single mother and her kids. She loves church and she told her work that she couldn't do it on Sunday's because she had to go to church and the ward just loves her! We put her on date for Christmas Eve and she was so ready and she has such a strong desire to make the covenant! She texted us and told us she was going to Virginia for a week to see some of her family but she will be back soon because she has a promise to make with the Lord! We were so happy because she is progressing so well! 

Everything is going great here! But for Christmas I don't really need anything! I am happy with everything I already have here! It's the biggest blessing to be out here serving the Lord! For Thanksgiving we already have our whole day booked basically so it's going to be great! We may have to eat like 4 times so I am nervous but so excited at the same time! What are your plans for thanksgiving this week? Love you mom and have a great day! And did you ever get the pictures of Flors baptism??

Elder Garrett Eichers

Illinois Chicago Mission

TOO BUSY TO WRITE

Mom! I am so sorry that I didn't have the chance to write really today we just had some do some urgent stuff so the time that we planned to talk we had to leave and help some other missionaries! Everything is great though and I am loving Everything! I will write you a letter this week!

Elder Garrett Eichers
Illinois Chicago Mission

THREE HUGE MIRACLES

This week has been great! To start off Elder Perez and I will be staying together! I am really excited because we still have so much work together to do in this area! I am a little nervous though because three transfers is a pretty long time but I love Elder Perez so much! We have been having so much fun together but we still get tons of work done! 

There were three huge miracles that we have had this week though! The first is that this week we were over at the Guzman family's house and the Grandpa is active and the grandma is just reactivated and this week we had a lesson with them. The Parents are less active and their son just barely turned 9. We have been working with them so hard to return ever since I have been in this area! We have tried everything and we finally found the answer this week! It's a pretty direct answer so when I write you a letter I will share more about the experience with you! But anyways this family is on fire right now! They are inviting us in now an extra time a week and the son Steve has a baptismal date for the 29th.  They came to institute/mutual and everything this week and also to church! We are so excited for them because they are stepping up so big right now!

The second miracle this week was we have been working with the Huicochea family since I have been here and so the grandma in the family is named Hermana Velez and she is a member! So Karina is the mom and she has the strongest testimony of the church the only thing is that her husband is against everything. She has been trying to talk to him about letting her come and everything and take the lessons but she is scared something was going to happen. This week on Wednesday when we were in district meeting I just felt like we needed to offer her a priesthood blessing and so we went and we had an amazing lesson and then we invited her to receive the blessing and when we put our hands on her head and I said he name I just started crying. It was by far one of the most spiritual moments in my mission! After we walked out Elder Perez and I just looked at each other and we were just like I promise I wasn't crying just sweating out of eyes and we were laughing so hard but the lesson was just so amazing!! I felt how much the Lord has for her that day! Then she came to church with her 2 daughters yesterday and I was so happy!! It was so amazing!!

The last one was that there was a baptism yesterday in Chicago 4 so I got to go up there and see all of the members! I loved it and was so happy to see Flor get baptized and then we got to help in the confirmation! Elder Lee got to baptize her! I don't have the pictures right now so I will send them next week! 

I am so sorry to hear about Grandpa but everything will be okay. It's kind of crazy because we always testify of the plan of salvation but it has never been so real yet because nobody close has really passed away but it just makes the joy of the gospel that much sweeter! I just am loving the people here and this Gospel.

I love you more than anything though mom! I hope you have a great day!

ZONE HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY

This week has been great! Thank you so much for the packages! I am so grateful for you sending them it always makes my day! I haven't seen the one for Rojas yet but hopefully it will come today! 

We had a lot of great things happen right this week like today we are having a zone activity and we played a game called quittage like from Harry Potter and we did basketball while on broom sticks and the hoops were way up high! Then we carved pumpkins and we did Apple smashing today! I am exhausted but it is so much fun! We have been having lots of success but I will write you a written letter this week because I honestly have no energy right now! I love you more than anything and you truly are the best mom! I am so grateful for everything you do and seeing all of the people and families out here it makes me so grateful for the situation I have! Also, tell grandma that I love her and I am thinking about her! Also tell grandma and grandpa E that I love them too! I love you more than anything mom and thank you again for the packages! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

IT'S A GIRL!

This week has been great! Hermana Rojas had her baby this morning at 3!! Their baby is so cute we went and saw her this morning and she is tiny!! Her name is Mireya Isabella Rojas! Last night we were having a lesson with them and she gave us some of the food that she had made earlier and after we could tell that she was breathing pretty hard and then she went during the night to the hospital!! We have no time so I will try to email later but I probably won't have time! I love you more than anything though mom! You are amazing!

And also Hermana Rojas was talking about this candy that she loves that is from Utah that are called Utah Truffles. They used to sell them in the temple store! But please can you find a bunch of them for their family! Also if you want to send her something for her and the daughter do it! The moms name is Mireya Rojas and the daughter goes by Isabella Rojas!

A BUNCH OF NORMAL STUFF

This week has been pretty good so far! We haven't gotten the package yet but hopefully soon we will get it! And I haven't met Liz yet, where is she in Chicago because I would have to search for her because we only have Spanish wards in our building so we are not in contact with a lot of the English members. That's so great too that Amy is coming home from her mission! I feel like she just left!

This week was great though but there have been some crazy things that have happened! Our area and our ward are progressing so fast! We have a bunch of investigators in our area that we are working with that are close to being baptized they just need some more time so there are big hopes for this coming month! We have this new investigator who is 17 and her name is Eli and she came to church this week and we were so excited! The young women were so great with her and brought her right into their class and it was great! She is so funny but it is so sad because her parents are having tons of problems right now and she is in the middle of it so it has been rough for her but she said one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard and we know that the Lord is blessing her! Then on Sunday we have been teaching a family and the youngest son went into the mental hospital and so we went and taught him and it was a pretty weird experience. The only visiting hours were right during church so we had to miss our two classes and we made it back just in time for sacrament!!

Also, this week we were on exchanges with the APs and I went up to their area so we were in the Lake Shore YSA so we were right near the city on the north side and it was so much fun! It was so different though because it was the first time in forever that we haven't had a dinner appointment! But we went out to dinner and we were eating and my companion at that time walked in the bathroom and he brought his iPad in there and then there was this super shady guy who walked in after him. You know he is shady when you feel scared around him and you're living in the south side of Chicago hahahaha. Anyways he walked in the bathroom after him and he saw the iPad and basically just took off because he found the iPad. The other elder remembered literally 30 seconds after he had gotten out of the bathroom but the guy had just walked out of there. He had stolen it so fast! I felt so bad for the other elder! So we were pretty bummed but we went and contacted and we got shut down by like 90 people on the train and the last one we met was amazing! She was talking about how she had something tragic happen recently and she has been praying for something in this last week and I straight up told her that God was answering her prayer right in that minute! I felt like such a boss saying that! We had so much happen that day and so it was a miracle that we got on that train because if we would have had the iPad we would have been somewhere else.

Nothing funny though happened this week though sadly, just a bunch of normal stuff!

ROUGH PASTS

I am so sorry to hear about Jo Rose, that makes me so sad to hear. I remember always going up there and swimming and then after playing play station in their basement.  But this just makes the gospel that much more important, that they can all know they will see her again.

That is great too that you went to DC. It looks like you had so much fun there and loved every minute of it!  Conference was great this year too! I felt like this year it was so direct and so simple for everyone to hear and to learn.

But this week we have seen some pretty great miracles, we started teaching this young couple who has had some of the hardest challenges in their life.  The wife has gone through lots of domestic violence problems throughout her life and her family has struggled from it for years. Now she is with her new boyfriend and they are about to have a baby. The boyfriend used to be a gangbanger but now he is trying to clean up his life. They talk about all of their friends and cousins that have died out on the streets so the plan of salvation and also repentance has been helping them so much.  He is even starting to get his tattoos removed because if he goes outside a lot of people will recognize him and the tats and they will try to hurt him. Anyways we got him a white shirt and tie and we have been teaching them.  They came yesterday to conference and they have also come to members homes with us to family home evenings and we promised him that if he came to the family home evening with us although it is someone else’s turf that we would all be safe.  They are progressing so well right now and they asked us about the marriage and the baptism deal and they were willing so right now we are trying to work on that.  I am so excited because that was always my dream to convert someone with a rough past ever since I heard Chicago.  They truly are children of God and I love that they don't have to focus on the things of the past.

I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great day!