Organizing Chaos

Hey guys!
Well, its nice to hear stories about how cold it is in California and in Utah, because here it is blistering hot! The other day the tempurature rose to about 90 degrees, which for those of you who live in Utah doesnt sound like much, but when you live in a city that lies right underneath one of the largest holes in the ozone and has one of the highest UV ray penetration in the world, it makes everything seem like an oven. The best part is tracting in it. We basically run from tree to tree, trying to find shade wherever we can. Its quite a challenge at times, but Im gonna come back from my mission nice and tan... well, at least I´ll have a super nice looking farmer´s tan.
Things here in Tocornal have not slowed down, and it seems like people just keep showing up, asking us to change their lives around. The only problem is that there are a lot of them. I mean, a LOT. We are teaching about twenty some odd people that are progressing, ten that regularly go to the chapel, and about five with batismimal dates. It´s every missionarys’ dream. But it has shown to be a challenge as well. God is always testing us, at times in ways we dont understand at first. He is poking, prodding. But more than anything, he is molding. Sometimes we dont like it and dont want to be molded that way, so we dont let him. We are molded however we allow ourselves to be. The big question pressing on my mind is this: Who is molding me? God? Or do I allow my circumstanes and external factors shape me haphazardly into some random figure that I dont even recognize?
Right now, God is poking me with his big celestial stick. We have way too much to do, so we need to manage our time and prioritize everything so that everyone stays happy and growing. God is trying to make me more organized. I know that after reading that sentence, both my mom and dad will kneel down in prayer tonight and thank the Lord for finally answering their prayers. Honestly though, I found out that when it is something that is really important to me, I’m pretty darn good at it. We have about five whiteboards listing all of our investigators, what their problems are, and a calander with times that are the most likely for them to be home. I write everything down now in my planner. I discovered that my thoughts were like balloons; I could only hold so many before a few of them floated away. So I write everything down, nail down the balloons, so I can hold more in my hand. We are really good at getting things done, and the pensionists, the people that com check our apartments, said that our apartment was one of the cleanest ones they have ever seen. Okay, mom and dad, before you break out in dance, I need to say that I am still the same kid who left on the mission in the sense that I am still super forgetful and my thoughts are still usually up in the clouds. One hermana in our ward called me a “cabeza de pollo” (chicken head) yesterday for leaving my hymnbook at her house. And it is still hard for me to focus on one thing at a time without jumping to another. Elder Chapman calls it my “leaving the station” look. I realized that I need to do something that I really love to be able to organize myself. Its a curse, but I just have to get over it. Elder Chapman though told me that I should really get into law, of all things. He says that I like to argue too much. His dad is a personal injury attorney who basically sues the companies that my dad works for. So there you go dad; another career path. Tell me what to do. Elder Chapman says that if I get into something like personal injury law, it wont be as much paper work, and I also get to help out people that have gotten hurt in accidents. The only thing is that eventually I would probably have to sue Wellpoint or something, so Im still in the air. But Im basically trusting 100 percent in what you tell me to do as my career path (patriarchal blessing).
Im sorry this email was more on the drier side this week. We have a lot of people progressing that I wanted to talk about (Omar and Veronica, Maria Jose, etc, etc), but I kind of went off on the organization thing for a little too long. Next week will be more entertaining, I promise.
Thanks for everything guys, I love you!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover

PS- mom, para que sepa, I have lost weight on the mission, but I am still a 16 collar because they need to be long enough. And also, I would like peanut butter. Lots and lots of peanut butter. Thats my mission here in Chile besides converting people, sensationalizing peanut butter to the masses. Thanks, I’ll be looking forward to the Thanksgiving package, thanks!