November 25, 2013

Important note about mailing packages:  Please mail all packages through normal US Mail Postage Services (or Canadian Postage Services) and not through private postal service, such as Fedex, UPS, etc. etc.!!! These private services will charge the recipients of these packages (most of them, at least $100.00), or the packages will have to be returned (if not paid for).  

HAPPY THANKS GIVING!

Because Chile doesn’t celebrate thanksgiving I took it upon myself to celebrate the holiday in my studies. 

-Give thanks to the lord Salmos 100 (psalms)

-Thank your heavenly kind with all your soul Mosiah 2:19-20

-Sing to his praise give thanks to his name alma 26-28

-Live in thanks giving daily alma 34 38

-D&C 59 7 give thanks in all things

-Do all things with prayer and thanksgiving alma 46 7

-Give thanks unto go for everything you are blessed with alma 46 32

-Be thankful in all things 1 Thessalonians 5:18

and my 2 favorites

-D&C 78 19 ¨he that recieveth all things with gratefulness, shall be made glorious¨

-D&C 136 28 ¨praise the lord with singing music dancing and with a prayer of thanksgiving¨

be grateful. amen.

Because there is no Thanksgiving the missionaries decided to celebrate Christmas EARLY! Last Monday we had a Christmas family home evening in the church for all of the investigators, recent converts and less actives. We shared a message about Christ, sang Christmas songs and watched a short movie on the birth of Christ. It was so great! We decorated the room with Christmas light and a Christmas tree! In that same room as the baptismal fount, and we decorated that too with lights and even floating candles in the water... I don’t really know if that is against the rules of the church building to have fire in the buildings.. but if it is, I hope the prophet is not reading my blog, and if he is, that’s awesome that he’s reading my blog. And I’m sorry about the whole candle thing. 

It was really fun to decorate for Christmas, I kept thinking of how we decorate our house with an explosion of lights and nativities too.

This week my companion and I realized the pitiful state we were in, not having that many investigators.

…Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUS...yeah we decided to pray and fast about it.

I have been studying a lot about the importance of fasting and praying specifically for things we need. I prayed specifically that I wanted to find a family to teach. A family of 4 with 2 teenagers a boy and a girl. I prayed specifically that I wanted to share an experience in my life that would help the family progress in their knowledge of Christ.

The Lord always answers our prayers, maybe not in the way we expect. and not in your timing, but he always answers.

I expected to find a perfect family. I expected to knock on a door; a family is all sitting there. We teach them, and they all want to get baptized. 

My answer came through a less active that we found this week. She was baptized when she was young and hasn’t been to church for about 20 years. We found her while we were contacting and visited her the next day. During the lesson, we began to talk about her life and her family. She has 2 kids a boy and a girl Cecilia and victor (ages 18 and 12)

During the lesson, her daughter walked in and we were able to teach her too. I felt prompted that I needed to share a story about this gospel in my life. It was only after the lesson I remembered what I prayed specifically for.

The Lord is always willing to bless us and help us. We just need to ask, and then work to achieve what we asked for.

Fasting without prayer is just not eating for a day. Fasting with a prayer of faith provides miracles.

November 18, 2013

This week was pretty difficult. And not just for the missionaries but for the entire branch of Quillon. Un hermana (a sister) in the branch here in Quillon passed away this Thursday.

Maria Victoria has been fighting cancer for much of her adult life, she went through all of the therapy for many years and for a while everything was stable and looking good. only about 6 weeks ago her pain began again, very slowly. first it started with back and nerve pain, then with lack of energy. then after a while she was not even able to leave her bed for more than a couple of minutes.

My companion and I were the last people to give her a blessing 2 weeks ago before she headed off to the hospital in a different city for more testing. it all happened so fast. no one was really expecting it.

Her family was very special to us as missionaries, we celebrated 18de September in there house, we had family home evenings with then many times. every Sunday we would have lunch with them. when in their house it felt like home almost because of her love for us. Much of that love for missionaries she has is because she has a son serving in Peru right now, so she wanted to be around us as much as possible because we were like her sons.

I am so grateful for the knowledge we have of this life and the life after. it has helped her husband and her son feel at peace, when everything in their world has changed.

I love you family so much and I love the knowledge that we have in this gospel that families are eternal.

That this life is not the end.

That our progression does not stop after this life but continues.

I am grateful for my savior and the strength he gives to us, the love he as for us, and the peace we can feel in his presence in times of difficulty.

With life so hard, the savior is so close

One thing that I have learned this week is the importance of goals in our lives.

We can’t get to where we want to go without knowing where we want to get to (I feel like that's a thing captain jack sparrow would say)

People want to achieve many things in this life. For example para mi (for me)...I want to find investigators, then I want to take them to church, then I want to take them to the waters of baptism, then I want to take them to the temple. Then I want to have a huge fiesta in heaven.

I cannot do any of those things without first planning and setting goals about how to find people ready to listen

If we want to be better people we need to set goals top do that... we are not going to just magically change in the middle of the night. 

Pray always. The lord is our best source for peace and direction.

Love you! If you have any questions or comments email me! or send them in a package with nutella and hot Cheetos.

Grandpa Brown and Grandma Mina! Thank you so MUCH for your letter and your package! It has made my week and my stomach very happy!  I love you and am so glad I was able to visit before my mission.  Hi to everyone in NC from me.

Nov 11

Besides the Great drought of investigators that is occurring in Quillon right now I am doing just dandy. As the days pass by it is slowly getting hotter and hotter. It’s like home! Just really green and there are flowers and fruit everywhere.  There might be a famine of investigators, but not of fruit here in Chile, my favorite are the cherry trees. We will just be walking in the campo (field) and eating cherries right off the tree! So delicious. I am excited for the peaches and grapes too, there not quite ready to eat yet.... but there’s a peach tree right outside my window and I have been staring at this one peach for about a week now. How great will be my joy when it’s ripe!

As for the obra misional (missionary work), we have been working very hard. I think because of our work I have begun to see the hand of the Lord more in my life and also I have been able to witness more of the miracles in life. Miracles are the natural result of the correct application of eternal principles. When we are obedient, diligent, understand and apply eternal principles in our lives, miracles are promised and easily overlooked, so pay attention. The small tender mercies and miracles of the Lord are marvelous.

In Church last week the obra misional was in charge of assigning the talks and hymns in sacrament meeting. We had the brilliant idea to have a special musical number in church! No one really does that here, but traditions have to start somehow. All four of us elders sang the primary hymn Armies of Helaman, half of the song in Spanish and half in English! It was a blast. 2 of the elders could not hold a tune to save their lives so we didn’t necessarily sound good, and perhaps half the branch was choking down their laughs during are special song but it was all worth it. I want to organize a choir for Christmas! But we will see. 

I got into a huge fight with my companion this week. He doesn’t believe that anyone has been on the moon. now I’m pretty sure that I paid attention in history class, seeing that my father was my teacher, I thought that it  was common knowledge that Neil Armstrong was the first person on the moon correct?? People in Chile seen to not believe me when I say that... it’s frustrating

People in Chile are just stranger and stranger. We had a lesson with an investigator, less active and recent convert all at the same time this week (good idea right). All of the people had kids, it felt like a McDonalds play house during this lesson, but anyways, one of the babies of the less active started crying, and crying and wouldn’t stop! So what did the mom do? She started to breast feed her baby right there, right in from of us. Without a blanket or anything and then continued to carry on with the conversation like nothing was happening. I guess it was for the better because the baby stopped crying. 

Apart from all of that...

This week I have learned the realized the blessing and ability we have in this life to progress, or to change.

People say that leopards can’t change their spots and that is true; good thing we are humans and can change. We can change our thoughts, our habits and our actions the ability to progress is only possible through our brother Jesus Christ and his infinite atonement for us. Through the process of repentance, sincere true repentance, we are able to look at our past as a learning experience and press on into the future with new found wisdom. 

Sometimes people get stuck into a pattern of thinking that progression is impossible. Maybe they believe that they sinned so much that there is no hope of being forgiven, or they are not good enough, or smart enough to progress. 

A lot of the time I have noticed that it is just a matter of laziness being content with mediocrity.

All that that is a lie and a trick of the devil. He is trying to stop us from reaching our divine potential as heirs of our Heavenly Father.

On the mission I have learned an eternal principle. If you want to be better than you have ever been, you have to do things you have never done. Progression requires bravery and courage. It’s not easy to change sometimes, but we are not alone in our efforts to learn and progress.

We have the savior right by are side to help us. He is not there to condemn us, but to fight with us.

I love the phrase in D&C 88:  62 63 that says draw near to me and I will draw near to you.

Simply in this life, progression means drawing closer to Christ, and when we grow closer to him, we grow more life him.

This requires action on our part, to take the steps in becoming like Christ, following his example and his evangelic. Faith, repentance, baptism, the girt of the Holy Ghost and keeping his commandment until the end of our lives. We can’t just say we are going to be better; we have to do the things that will lead to a better life.

Learn wisdom by humbling yourself D&C 136: 32

Oh be wise, what can I say more Jacob 6: 12

Love you all!

November 4, 2013

This week I have definitely learned the importance of a positive attitude!  The mission is hard, our numbers this past week, were horrible. We didn’t have that many lessons, mainly because we don’t have many people to teach, not many members could accompany us, and we haven’t found any new solid investigators for about 2 weeks.   It is so easy to get discouraged in the mission and in life sometimes. In those times that I wanted to give up or stop working, or not try my hardest, but then I just think... I’m a missionary, a representative of the Lord. I am called by a living prophet to bring souls unto Christ. I have a firm testimony of this gospel and I know my purpose in this life. And I AM IN CHILE. I’m learning how to speak another language and I’m changing lives, changing hearts and families....see, now I already forgot what I was complaining about, I’m too busy thinking about how great my life is.  It is so important to never get caught up in the little hassles of life, because they will overwhelm you.  This is a trick that Satan uses, he tries to make us forget the blessings we have, our purpose in life, and who we are. For when we lose sight of that, he has more power over us. Never lose sight of the person you want to be, never stop trying to be that person. Look to your goals with a positive attitude and with the faith that you will complete them.  This life is full of hardships. And I am so thankful for all of them because through them I have learned to rely on my savior and his atonement. Remember he has walked in your shoes; he knows how lost and scared you sometimes may feel. Most importantly He knows how to help if we just let him in.  I am called as a representative of the Lord, and was the His life easy? Of course not, so why do we sometimes expect to receive blessing without going through trials?  This life is hard, because SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE Just remember whenever you are spit upon, whenever you are mocked, or abused, or whenever you feel that there is no hope or no help for you, and you fall to your knees praying to God, Asking him if there is another way...you are kneeling shoulder to shoulder to Jesus Christ. He is always close by; we just need to take the time to recognize his hand in our lives "I will go before you face, I will be on your right hand and on your left, my spirit will be in your  heart, and my angles round about you to bear you up" DC 84.88 I really hope all of this makes sense I’m typing really fast. This week our ward had Halloween activity. Halloween isn’t that huge here in Chile, but I only found that out after I decided to paint my face and arms blue and dress up like the people in the movie avatar. Also, not many people here in Chile have even seen that movie avatar, so pretty much the ward thinks I’m a weird gringo who likes to dress up and paint his skin blue. But I guess it’s true because it was pretty fun. At the end of the spiritual part of the night the ward had a dance! It was so hard to not to dance. I miss dancing so much! Also it was a little strange to me that the dance was in the sacrament meeting room... But hey that’s how we do it here in Chile I guess. CAMBIOS! (Transfers) This week! I was so nervous this week because I had a pretty good chance of leaving Quillon. But I’m here for another 6 weeks. I have mixed emotions about this. I kind of wanted to leave at first because I wanted something new, something exciting. Also because I wanted to leave the problems that exist here in Quillon. But that’s not how the mission works, nor how the Lord works. I know there is a lot more work here that I have to do and I got 6 more weeks to do it. It is starting to get pretty hot here in Quillon too. And I LOVE IT.  I think my favorite part is the fruit everywhere. Cherries strawberries, grapes, and peaches everywhere!  Love you all!