May 26th, 2015

Hey family! So right now I am writing to you In Chillan.
Due to the fact that I am dying in 3 weeks or so the president has given us permission to come here to buy recordatorios...reminder trinkets...recuerdos...
I don’t know what their called.
But I’m here shopping for all of the traditional Chilean.
I am having so much fun finishing the mission. And I assure you that I am working so very hard as well.
The Mestre family are doing very well. 5 out of the 7 members of the family went to church and they loved it. They stayed for all 3 hours and enjoyed the classes a lot.
This week in our lessons with them we focused a lot on the book of Mormon and the way that they can gain their own testimony of the restored Gospel.
The answer is so simple that sometimes people don’t do it.
1. Read the book of Mormon
2. Pray and ask God specifically if it is true
3. be willing to act upon the answer you receive
I Think sometimes we under appreciate the amazing privilege that we have to talk to God our Eternal Father, sometimes  we don’t even take advantage of this great gift to give thanks and to ask for the things we need to know.
After our lesson with them and before church started we asked Cecilia (the mother of the mestre family) if she prayed and if she asked.
With a smile on her face she said that she did, and that she knows it is true and sent from God.
It is difficult to describe how the Holy Spirit communicates to us, because it is a description indescribable.
One can try to use works, but it comes in a way that words cannot describe.
In Galatians Paul says that the fruits of the Spirit described as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance”
 But that’s very generalized
 Other prophets have also felt and tried to describe it... Elijah found himself one time on mountain before the Lord, he felt “a great and strong wind …; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kgs. 19:11–12).
How curious it is that the Lord was found in the still small voice.
I think the best way to explain it is...
When you fell it you know...
And when you look for it with "full purpose in heart" (Jacob 6:5) you will feel it.
#knockanditshallbeopen
This week I also had the chance to go on a mini cambio with Elder Alfaro in Longavi
Longavi is very similar to Yungay and it was great to go back to the campo!
We were led by the spirit as well that day to a little old lady sweeping the side walk in front of her house.
We offered to help, then we shared with her the gospel.
She explained to us that she felt very lonely and wants to feel God closer in her life
#wecanhelpwiththat
From that experience I learned that life doesn’t follow our plans.
We need to be willing to let go of our day to day plans and errands to fulfill the plans that God has for us.
That’s about all folks
I love you!
HEY Austin’s home... CRAZY!
My dad on the mission Elder Barker is married CRAZY
McKay is 18 and graduated high school #CRAZY
Any other news? Let me know

May 18th, 2015

So I guess this is when the countdown truly begins…

 It hasn’t even hit me that I am coming home yet. I hope it doesn’t hit me.

Anyway... this week was awesome

Tuesday my companion and I went to Concepción for a special conference just for the missionaries that are dying in the mission this cambio. It was really great because I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I came with that I haven’t seen for a very long while.

This conference was called the “trunky conference”

For those of you who are not familiar with the word trunky it is a term that Spanish speaking missionaries use to describe those who are home sick or disoriented, or those who are thinking about their home or are materialistic minded… (It doesn’t really have a very good translation)

So all of us old guys who are dying were invited to this conference, but it was really good. President just explained the importance in finishing strong and not laying back.

The height of the bar at where we finish our mission is going to be the height at where we set our lives...

If that makes sense... (I took my notes in Spanish so this is hard)

This week has been a roller coaster. I feel that this week God has testing my knowledge... making sure that I am applying all that I have learned in these 2 years into my work.

We have been planning, calling people, working hard, talking to everyone, working with the members and being exactly obedient but we were not seeing any results from our labors. I remember at one point during the week I paused and prayed, telling God that I am doing all that I can, but that I didn’t know what he wanted to me to do or to learn in that moment… I remember, that right after my prayer a feeling of peace fell over me and Ideas started to enter into my head... For the rest of that day, we were guided by the spirit to many different houses. One of those being the house of the family mestre.

They are a family of 6 (a mom and her 5 kids)

2 of the kids were baptized 2 years ago but were promptly forgotten about and stopped coming. We came in at the perfect moment and now the whole family is willing to progress and learn more.

This past Sunday, the family came to church and loved it!

I know that the Lord hears and answers the prayers of all of his children.

This week we also had a district conference and we have a new district president!

We also had interviews with president Arrington and they took us out to at afterwards at a really fancy Chinese food restaurant! Haven’t eaten that in a long time!

I also might have possibly broken my thumb toe playing soccer this morning. I’m walking with a limp like an old school pimp.

That’s about all I have time to say...

Happy Birthday McKay!!  

I love you family!

May 11, 2015

 Happy mother’s day! It was so great to see all of you yesterday... even though time flew by and we didn’t get to say much...

But have no fear, just wait 5 weeks yeah?

This past week was full of changes and surprises. My companion elder Wiese went home last week. I was working with elder Del Rosario and elder Garrido for 2 days until my companion got here Tuesday. My new companion is cool. His name is elder Incil and he is from Lima Peru. We are having a lot of fun together, but we are a little lost in our sector still because I have only been here for 6 weeks and this town is very big and all of the streets look the same.

This week the seminary teacher was sick so I was assigned to teach seminary for a couple of days. It was pretty fun to be with the kids and teaching them. This year they are studying doctrine and covenants.

We actually had a pretty good turn out here as well... enrolled in the class are around 15 kids but around 10 or 11 show up every day.

The weather is changing rapidly...the cold and the rain is coming in fast.

We got rained on 1 day this week, and we weren’t prepared... we returned to the house soaking wet.

My shoes do not have any grip on the bottom so every step feels like I am walking on banana peels.

I have almost fallen in the water flooded streets and muddy sidewalks at least 37 times.

I love you all.

Us on our bikes...

Elder Santos from Brazil

Elder Garrido from Columbia

Elder Incil and I

May 4th, 2015

Yeah so sorry for last week. I didn’t have much time to write because we had a zone activity in the mountains and then in the afternoon we had to take the long and lonely bus ride to Concepcion for a leaders meeting.

But events were very awesome however!

For our zone activity we went to a cabin in the mountains of some members of the branch. We got there really early in the morning and because it was so cold we stayed in side for a while and played mafia! But it was the Spanish Mormon version of it called ¨oh pueblo de nefi¨

Then when the sun came out we played capture the flag in the forest! We explored, we went down to the river and then we grilled for lunch!

For our leadership conference we talked about how we can better help our zone.

President shared with us part of President Uchtdorfs priesthood talk on, seeing things as they really are; instead of focusing on the looks, worry about how things really are.

I really like that concept. I think that people worry so much about how they appear to be when they should worry more about how they are.

The help others we cannot just get to know their superficial need but the desires of their hearts and the hope that truly drive them to do what they do.

I was a very good conference.

 On another note winter has come. And it come on fast. I’m worried that our bean plants won’t make it.

With winter comes Christmas! Hot chocolate, and carols!

 We have decorated our house with a little Christmas tree and I now listen to Christmas music in every moment that I can.

I have even started passing out "he is the gift" pass a longs again.

I am just full of the Christmas spirit. But my companion is not. haha I have been driving him insane!

Speaking of my companion... Elder Wiese has finished his mission and is on his way back home!

We have had such a blast together. Wiese is the man.

Now with these new cambios (my last cambio) I will be with Elder Incil from Peru.

In Tomè I did a mini cambio with him in his sector of Ditchato, he is really cool!

Here’s the best news, out investigator Kathy got baptized! She is super awesome and has a solid testimony.

Always before baptisms there are difficulties and she passed through pretty much everything, from her kid sick in the hospital, to her family not supporting her, to personal problems with her health but with prayer and strength from above she did it!

She even bore her testimony this past Sunday. It was a sweet experience to hear her say with confidence in front of the congregation that this church is true, and that she knows her savior lives!

I have 6 weeks left in the mission. I am going to go out with a bang.

Love you family!

And those that read this blog...you’re the best