4/29/14

I completed my first week as district leader. Which pretty much meant that I called a lot more people this week and taught a district class.

So far I am really enjoying the added responsibility and teaching other missionaries. For my first district class we talked a little about how we can be more consecrated in the Work of the Lord. To serve him with all of our heart might mind and strength. A lot of people think is very hard, to just forget yourself and go to work... and they are right. At first it is very hard, but once you get to that point, there is a peace and a happiness that comes along with it that I have never felt in my life. I mean this mission is only 2 years of my life that’s like nothing...

Everyone is so busy all the time... they have work, school, families, friends, and things to do, stuff to buy. People to please. It makes me a little sad that people miss the simple and most enjoyable parts of life within the rush.

I have heard too many times this week... “I don’t have time to talk! Or I’m in a rush" bummer... because I was only trying to bless your life.

Missionaries as well make that same error. Some get caught up with the numbers and the busyness of the mission that they don’t see the simple miracles that happen every day. There are people we walk by every day that have never heard the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So why not take the time to talk to them (or at least talk to the ones that are not "too busy")? Why not say hello to every single person you pass? It’s very simple and easy to do.

We were walking to lunch this week and I saw a women watering her plants. And in her window she had a sign that said "sells plants and cactus"

CACTUS!! I was so excited! I so talked to her, and I so bought a tiny tiny cactus and I named it spike (original right) and then we got to talking and we are going to go back this week to teach her! High five cactus (but that would actually hurt)

I also bought another plant for our house and named it "La Suzie" we can’t have a pet so might as well buy a plant right.

This week I studied 3 Nephi when Christ appeared and taught to the people in the Americas. Wow it was so powerful. Jesus truly is the savior of the world and he visited many parts of the world to tell us. He suffered all of our sins! He’s not going to be quite about that. And I won’t either because what he did is everything to me.

Every single person that is reading this. I invite you to read 3 Nephi chapters 16-19 this week. In these chapters I feel that we can get a deeper grasp of the divinity and personality of Jesus Christ. And his infinite love he has for all of us.

I know that Christ is our Savior. That this is his Church that he restored through modern day prophets. That the book of Mormon is not just evidence of this eternal fact, but it is our way of getting to know PERSONALLY Christ.

April 21, 2014

There we were anticipating cambios all week long. Who was going to go? Who was going to stay? Where were we going to go? I thought for sure one of us (Elder Castro or I) were bound to go because we have already been together for 2 cambios and I have been in CERRO VERDE for 3. But never the less Saturday night came with a call from the president.  He said he had a "special assignment" for me. I was really wishing that he wanted me to go undercover or be a spy for the mission or something... but he asked me instead to be district Leader!

So I will be staying in Cerro Verde for 6 more weeks with my some companion Elder Castro. And I am unbelievably excited to stay. I was dreading saying good bye to the members here... I have grown to love this place and the members so much.

This week was a miracle week. It started rough but I think that once someone works to their tipping point and they think they can’t do more... that’s when we see a glimpse of what we are really made of, and what’s most important to us.

This week we go to the streets determined to find someone, because we had no one to teach. And we can’t help people come closer to Christ unless they let us into their house. Sunday night all of our plans fell and all we had left to do was look for a future investigator...  kind of... because we didn’t really know where he lived. We just had a general idea. But we were determined to go anyway.

Eventually, out of ideas we saw an apt building open, so what did we do? Go inside... and what did we find? A family to teach!

I am so grateful for this Easter season to testify that Christ Lives. He is our Savior and He overcame our sins, our pains, our weaknesses and all else that we lack from being perfect... which is a lot.

But he did this out of Love for us and Love for our heavenly father. I find comfort in the fact that he knows me, personally, better than I know myself. And I am trying to make is will my work.

April 17, 2014

Last week of the cambios... I might stay in Cerro Verde for another weeks or I’m going to some other place...I don’t want to leave... but we will see what happens.

This week we finally got to see Rodrigo and Nataly again! He was the guy that was sick and we baptized him like 2 months back. He left his house to go north for a while because he thought that devils lived in his house... but now he’s back...but not in our sector :( he did come and visit us and we had a Family home evening with him with yjr cantillan garcia family.

HE is not sick anymore... crazy story: he went to a witch doctor. (Not recommended) and they did all these weird things to him and made him eat something which I’m pretty sure was against the word of wisdom. When he got home he threw up...giant black worms. Gross.

 Speaking of gross this week we contacted a gangster... he showed us his still oozing stab wound in his side. He said that we could pass by on Thursday but then Thursday when we called to confirm he told us that his busy doing gangster things... he literally said that in English "I’m doing gangster things" so were thought it best to not pass by... the thug life is a hard life.

This week we didn't have any water in our house for 3 days. No water, shower, no cleaning dishes. Lots of flies. Turns out that our water bill isn't played automatically... who knew

This week in our struggle to talk to every single person we see and talk to them about JESUS... has yielded to mixed results. I have narrowed all of the people down into 4 groups, the first 3 being a lot bigger than the 4th.

1. People that don’t believe in God but are very nice

2. People that do believe in God but are very rude and have nothing nice to say to us.

3. Less active members that are very nice but do not want to commit to anything!

Come on guys WE ARE TRYING TO HELP YOU!

 And finally 4. Those who the Lord has humbled and prepared for us! (Many are talked to but few are chosen... why are they not chosen? because their hearts are too into the world and not in the ways of the Lord-my version of dc 121:34 35)

I am just so blessed to have the knowledge that I have about our savior Jesus Christ and his restored Church, that it doesn’t matter how many people reject, and shout at me... because there has always been opposition to the truth. And we need to stay firm in our faith in this our time more than ever.

I loved General conference so much. They stressed the importance of standing firm and being courageous.

"Courage not compromise brings the smile of Gods approval" Thomas S. Monson and Russell m. nelson (this was said more than one so it MUST be important)

One of my favorite talks was elder Holland’s (as always)

We wonder sometimes if it is worth it to go on a mission, to talk to your friend about the gospel, to stand up when you’re all alone, or to have a moral standard... I am here to say that yes it is worth it, because if not we will be left spiritually and sometimes physically desolate. We need to be the difference, be the rock that doesn’t move. It doesn’t matter if the times are changing... God’s laws do not.

Sometimes we think that we can selectively obey the commandment and still be alright... I have heard so much here in Chile, "not worry, I have Jesus in my heart so I don’t need to go to church, he will understand me" or “I don’t need to follow this commandment because it’s hard for me... but he will understand"

 False. Christ will always forgive sin, but he will never condone it. He might be full of mercy but he is so justice as well, he is willing to help us if we try, try to be better, try to stand strong.

Christ-like Love is the greatest need we have on this planet, and Christ like obedience is right up next to it.

Favorite 2 quotes from general conference

"You are more important to God than a tree"-Elder Neil L Anderson

"Give people the Gift of your attention"-Randall L Ridd

You want a gift from me? Write me a letter and I will give you the gift of my attention when I read it

Pictures! We went to the beach! And we did a service project with the youth of the ward and gave breakfast to people who live on the streets in Concepcion! It was awesome

April 8, 2014

This whole past week we have been inviting every single person we talked to go to General Conference and I am so glad we did because it was SOO GOOD. 10 hours of pure revelation from prophets and apostles in our day! I wanted every one of our investigators and members to go because when watching there is no way to deny that these men are called of God. 

And we sure have been talking to a lot of people these past days. Elder Ballard a few weeks back has issued the promise that if every missionary would contact 10 additional people every day they would see changes and success in the mission like never before. So that means 20 contacts per day, 140 additional people to talk to every week apart from our lessons and other duties as missionaries. And man is that promise true. Promises from prophets are great!

So about the whole earthquake thing… I am completely fine... Nothing at all happened as north as I am. There was a tsunami warning and many of the missionaries in our mission had to evacuate their houses and head to the hills but what was called a tsunami ended up being 3 meter waves... Which is so surf able. But who does need your prayers is everyone who was affected by the quaking... Our stake in T sur is doing a food drive for them. We collected a lot when everyone gathered to the stake building for general conference. I know it might just be a little thing but service is service and people need our help if we have the means to do so. 

This past Tuesday for district class we learned about how to teach people, according to their needs instead of just spitting out scripture verses to them. One of the greatest things I think about the mission I thing is being able to teach people. I love teaching because it is so personal. I have the opportunity to get to know people, truly know them, find out their hopes, dreams, desires, and help them understand their divine potential as sons and daughters of God. This week we were walking to a lesson when I received the impression to contact this one house. As a zone we have stopped door contacting for a while now, but I really felt that we should. So we did. It turns out that this guy Herbeth (weird name right... no offense to anyone who will ever read this blog who has the name Herbeth) is a less active member of the church for more than 15 years. He is addicted to every type of thing you could be addicted to and sees no future in his life what so ever. We had the blessing to get to know this guy and teach him of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, that no matter what we have done, no matter what we have been through, no matter how far we have fallen he will be right there to help us up. Because he’s been through the same. He is the only one who knows us and can give us hope.

This Sunday we had a baptism of Celestina del Carmen Pozo Bustos! I think that this baptism perhaps was the most disorganized, dysfunctional and utterly hilarious baptism that I have ever been to, heard of, or witnessed. This lovely old lady Carmen planned on getting baptized the Sunday of conference before the meeting. We had her baptism interview planned for Tuesday but she thought that her baptism was that day, so instead of waiting for us at her house she decided to go looking for us with her towel and change of clothes... but she doesn’t know how to use a phone and doesn’t know where we live so she was roaming the streets looking for us as we were waiting and then eventually wandering the streets as well trying to find her.. Eventually she gave up and went to her daughter’s house in Panco... Which is like 3 hours away... Finally she had her interview the next day when we found her... and passed!   Everything was ready and prepared but she couldn’t choose between my companion and I who was to baptize her... So we flipped a coin, and Elder Castro won (first mistake... I now know that you should never flip a coin to determine who will perform an ordinance of the Lord...That’s doctrine according to Sayre, I would follow it) we planned to have her baptized in the stake center instead of our building and because it was a much farther walk we decided to take a bus, we didn’t know what bus would get us their however, confident and crazy Carmen said she could get us their without a problem. Next thing we know we are in an industrial park.  

 

Finally we got back to the church building and prepared for the baptism an hour before conference. As she was changing in the stall in the bathroom the door was jammed and she couldn’t get it open... She kept screaming and banging on the door "dejame salir satanas!" "Let me out of here Satan!" because she was thoroughly convinced that Satan was the cause behind all of her troubles... Eventually, with help from a little girl and elder who had to climb over and crawl over the stall, she got out. 

As she was walking into the fount she slipped and fell... hurting her back... but... again blaming it on the devil was determined to continue.

At this moment she told my companion that she was afraid of water. He being a very wonderful but very new missionary doesn’t quite know how to baptize people who are scared of water so he tried his best but... had to try many times... with a chair and without..and there I was standing on the side lines just trying to coach my son on how to baptize like a frustrated dad does when he’s teaching his son how to throw a ball and he doesn’t do it right.. I was stressing out hard core... but the fifth time is a charm! And she was baptized! 5 min before conference started we ended the baptism. 

I do have to look on the positive side... after the baptism she said that her back pain went away... Along with her sins! Yeahhh baptisms are the best!

I don’t have time to talk about how freaking awesome conference was but I will devote my time next week to do so. I have learned so much from this conference and feel spiritually full and bursting with insights and knowledge, I’m but please tell me I was the only one to think of those animal circus cookies when I saw the choir for the afternoon session on Saturday (they are officially the circus cookie choir in my book...if you don’t know what I mean go back and look at the color of their shirts)... or when the guy who talked about the Olympians and their 4 minute performance stared to sing that song.. 4 minutes by Justin Timberlake and Madonna...

I love you guys! 

March 31, 2014

Carla and David are so married and baptized! Their wedding and baptism went by quite smoothly thanks to the help of the ward. It was so great to see everyone working together to help Carla and David have a great night. The team work and service that everyone in the ward gave to pull this off was awesome to see.  Carla and David didn’t have sufficient funds for a dress so the ward found one. They wanted a small reception so we organized one, I wanted a chocolate fountain so we HAD ONE! It was delicious. 

Towards the end of the night the reception turned into a dance... and we couldn’t dance... so we left because the temptation was too strong, but everyone had a wonderful night.

Their baptism was this past Saturday and it was one of the most spiritual experiences ever! I had the opportunity to baptize David and my companion baptized Carla. After the ordinance they both got up and shared their testimony and experience preparing for a baptism and obtaining a testimony of the truth. Carla is the most sincere and spiritual person ever. Her love for our Savior is grand and her desires to serve him are pure. David as well shared his experience of coming to know this gospel and the program for scouts! He is a great example for the young men in our ward and will be a great leader.

This gospel really is here to change people forever, change their nature, and make them better than they were before. I have had the opportunity to work with, teach, pray for and fast for Carla and David and many others and have seen the changes in their lives. Thanks to the Lord and is infinite atonement for us, this change is possible.

That day for some reason almost everyone we talked to told us that they don’t believe in God. This really got me thinking about who is God and how I really know that he exists...

 

I am just so thankful for the faith and knowledge that I have that we do have a Father in heaven, that He loves us and He sent us here on the earth so we can obtain a body be tried and tested and learn all that we need to make it back to him, through the help of our savior Jesus Christ. This knowledge gives me a purpose, this purpose gives me the faith and hope, and faith is POWER! And I have a lot of power! Just kidding. (I should be more humble)

 ¨When you can dump a load of bricks on a corner a lot and arrange themselves into house; when you can empty a hand full of screws on my desk and let me see them gather themselves together in a watch- it will THEN be easier for me to believe that all these thousands of millions of worlds could have been created, balanced, and set in motion in their several orbits without any designing intelligence at all¨ Bruce Benson

¨We have our agency to believe in God some men train themselves to measure things by thousands and by millions, and say that these animals that they call men all came here by chance. And they are free to do so. But agency is ours as well, and we look up and in the universe we see the handiwork of god who measures things by dispensations, by epochs, by eons and by eternities. And the many things we do not know we take on by faith. But this we do know, all was planned before the world was, events based on the creation are not based on chance but based on choice¨ -Boyd K. Packer

¨Agency is the greatest God given right we have, and Jesus Christ is the greatest God given gift¨- Elder Stewart (yeah I thought of that one all by myself)

This week the cold and rain came on like a slap in the face. It’s starting to get cold. This week was the first week ever in my life I wore a scarf. I also have been taken ill by the black plague... (A cold no mas)

 

This past week I had a mini Cabio with Elder Tafur, he is from Peru and one of the worldliest person I have ever met. But also one of the people who has changed so much on the mission... he came into the mission acting like Tarzan but now he’s a little tamer... in public... which is good.

 

Also my dad elder barker is going to go home in 3 weeks! So this is a photo of our family... My dad his kids and his grand kids.