I don’t really feel like writing anything right now… My back pack was just stolen... it had my scriptures, my journal, my camera and all my pictures in it.

 I want to cry.

We were eating in a restaurant and I put the back pack right next to my feet. A guy came into the store, went up the stairs to the bathroom, 10 seconds later came down and took my back pack and walked out. Out of the 4 people we were sitting with no one noticed! But we saw all of it on the security camera.  Pray for my back pack.

HE FREAKING TOOK IT RIGHT OUT OF MY FEET AND I DIDN’T NOTICE!!

In other news Mom, be friends with Marcella Santillan.  She and her family are like the greatest people...if you guys ever come down to Chile I want you guys to visit them. One of their sons is on a mission too! But they have a couple things that they asked me to ask you. Their whole family is way into scouting, it is very new to this part of Chile but they have opened but troops and scouting groups all over Concepcion... they wanted to know if you guys could send them some scouting stuff to them in a package to me. She saw your pictures on Facebook and got soo excited that you were in scouts too! .it would be great if you could buy or get badges, patches or stuff that the scouts could earn and use I don’t really know exactly but it is easier for us to buy that stuff in the states then it is for them.. And scouting is very important to them

Also if you could put the sound track to Johnny Lingo on that pen drive of music that would be great. They would like that too.

One thing I would like to eat is Reeses... They don’t have that here so send some of those if you can.

I can’t really think about anything I wanted to say right now because I am distraught about my backpack.

But in better news cambios (missionary exchanges) were today and I am going to be a father! I’M TRAINING... I don’t know yet if I’m going to train a gringo or Latino

The baptism of Michelle was a success.

This week in my studies I got in depth with the Book of Mormon. Carla and David, our investigators, were getting a little bit confused on the story of the Book of Mormon… whose son was whose, why are there like 25 different Nephi’s and Alma’s, what happened before and  what happened after Jesus came, and who are the Jaredites and Mulekites.

So I decided to create my own time line for the Book of Mormon... Starting in 2200 BC with the Jaredites and ending in the complete and utter destruction of the Nephite population. My time line is 3 pages long with reverences from scriptures in the Book of Mormon and Bible.

I understand the Book of Mormon on a whole new level now.

To help Carla and David we had a family home evening with them and with a giant white board drew out the whole Book of Mormon story and timeline… (More simplified then my notes obviously) but now they understand the Book of Mormon much more and are so excited to study all the stories we talked about.

I love you family and friends….. I’ll let you know about my new companion next week.

Jan 21, 2014

Every single day is a chance to learn something new. Especially on the mission

This week I learned...  you should always smell your Coca-Cola before you drink it, just in case there’s more than just soda in there.

- you should always be careful when you tell a aventista that the Sabbath day is on Sunday, because if you’re not smart about it they will pull out their pocket size bible and lecture you in the street for 10 minutes.

-asking someone to use their bathroom to get into a house could lead to miracles

-when you’re tired and you don’t want to work, work harder because God is just about to dump some blessings on you

-there are like 1000 different ways to eat pancakes here in Chile 

-following the spirit is the most important thing in mission work.

- don’t leave the window open all day long, because then flies will invest your home and you will spend every free moment of your time with a fly swatter in hand. (This week I have taken the lives of 98 flies...it had to be done)

We had a great activity in our ward Our goal for this  sector is to unify this ward and help them help themselves...with this activity we just wanted the ward to have fun and get to know each other, and our investigators better. The activity was called TARDE MOJADA!!! Which in English means ¨ wet afternoon¨... yeah I know maybe it doesn’t translate very well from Spanish to English, and it wasn’t my first choice of a name but we just had to go with it. We played a lot of fun games with water balloons like volleyball, bobbing for apples (but bobbing for water balloons) egg toss (but with water balloons)...you get the point...

And like all other good things, it ended with a water fight.

This week as well we finally got a wedding date for Carla and David. They are going to be married on March 26 and baptized on the 28! It was quite an adventure to get this date set, we went to 3 different offices in 3 different towns to try to get a date set earlier, but March 26 was the earliest. My companion is sad because for sure he will leave before they get married but I’m likely to stay and be their WITNESS!!!!

I am so glad for the chance I have to be here and to learn from my experiences. In our lives, through our experiences God shapes us and turns us into the people he wants us to be. In the book of Mormon it say that learning is good, only when we arte humble and follow the councils of God. 2 ne4fi 9: 28 29

 No person can truly learn in this life through arrogance and pride. God hides things from the wise and prudent and reveals them unto babes- matt 11: 25

When we want to learn from God we need to be humble like a child... ¨learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart¨ 

Be humble, be a child, and learn from God. He has the answers waiting for all who are willing to ask.

Parents please thank the ward and everyone who has sent me letters in the Christmas box for me. I really loved to hear from every one and can feel the love from the ward. Especially the butlers who sent a Christmas card to me! They are so great.

January 13, 2014

I can’t even believe that Ryan is on a Mission right now. How great is that, he is going to have a blast in England, plus Elder BOS is just the coolest name ever! What person in their right mind would not what to listen to a missionary named Elder BOS?!

That is soo awesome that the temple in Gilbert is having open houses. I want to go to the temple! Elder Holland said that they are going to start the construction of the temple in Concepcion this year... but we need a miracle for it to be completed in a year and a half (so I can go)

How is the temple in Tucson going? Have they started it yet??

This week we focused on Rodrigo a lot to prepare him for his baptism. And just when we thought all was well and he was ready for his interview with the district leader, he goes and tell us that he went to jail 15 years back. So we had to schedule an interview with him and the president of the mission 1 day before his baptism. He was so nervous but he passed and we dunked him this past Saturday.

His health spiritually is great as of now, but his body is slowly diminishing. His heart is too big which is causing bad circulation and stomach problems. He’s living in and out of the hospital right now but he is not living alone. He now has the companionship of the Spirit.  God promises us many times in the scriptures that he will not leave us comfortless, that he will send us help.

Maybe he won’t take our pain away but he will make it light.

But we have to first come to Him. I LOVE the verse in Mathew 11 28-30

He invites all who have burdens, who have pains, who have difficulties to come unto his rest.

In the book of Mormon, God explains that he will not free us from all of our burdens, but he will help us bear them. He will give us the strength to push through. And while we are chugging along eventually we will realize that we are stronger and our burdens are lighter. Mosiah 24 9-24

Speaking of difficulties my last zebra pen has died. I am officially out and now have to resort to using a cheap normal pen. It’s a tragedy.

So this week I have realized that I am maybeee not in tip top shape anymore like I used to be. We were talking to one of the members about this (his name is Hermon Neftali and he only has one leg. but he threw shot put of the Special Olympics! And now is in a professional wheelchair basketball team) and he said we could run to his house in the morning and work out with his weights! GYM TIME.

Elder Jensen (my district leader, he is huge and played football for BYU before the mission) and I went one morning. And I am still unbelievably sore... and we went last Wednesday. How pathetic.

This week we had a family home evening in the church for all of our less actives, investigators, and recent converts. We shared a spiritual thought... and then played with BALLOONS! One of the games was pretty much exactly like Quiddich (from Harry Potter) but with balloons but we went running about with broomsticks between our legs don’t worry.

They work is picking up a lot in our ward. The members and getting more excited and we are finding many great new people to teach. 

Oh and also one of our investigators (David y Carla who have been coming to church for about 3 months and have all the missionary lessons but can’t get baptized because they aren’t married) has finally decided to GET MARRIED! My companion and I have been thinking and praying about them a lot these past weeks, trying to figure out what to teach them to help them take this final step before their baptism... and our brain went straight to the book of Mormon. IF a person can get an immovable testimony of the book of Mormon everything else will fall into place.

 We decided to share a Mormon message about the book of Mormon and we invited one of our recent converts to join us and share his testimony about this book. After that lesson they decided to go to the next day to take out a date for their wedding. The Book of Mormon is true and changes lives. I pray every day and ask the lord if this book really is the words of God not because I don’t know, but because I trust in the promise that the Lord will always answer my prayers and that he will strengthen my testimony every time I ask him.

If you don’t know if the book of Mormon is true, read it and ask.

And for those of you who do know, read it and ask again

  We went to the beach again this P day. All I want to do is jump in and SWIM!!!! But I can’t.

  

So it turns out that baptizing people is the closest thing I got to swimming, so I think I will just focus on doing that a lot...

One of these pictures with the start fish is exactly like one we took in Newport Beach!

Also I don’t know if I have thanked everyone that has sent me packages and letters officially yet. If not...

THANK YOU so much. It is always great to her from you Brother Andrews. Your humor is just want I need to get me through a hard day.

Grandpa Brown and Grandma Mina thank you for your letters and again for the package...I’m glad all is going well in your ward and in your lives. I am so grateful that I got to see you guys before I left on the mission.

Hannah Fox... By the end of 2 years I’m going to have a stack of letters from you that I don’t even know who I will fit them in my suit case... But keep them coming.

I'm WRITING YOU GUYS SOON! But I don’t know where to go to mail them yet...but just give me some time.

Jan 6, 2014

Well we have officially been on a mission for 6 months and 4 days... WHATT. It is so crazy to think that we are a fourth of the way done with our missions (it’s even worse for you Hermana’s...you’re like a third of the way done)

So this is the first time that I am writing to all you, my FRIENDS from the CCM and family. Hope all is well in all of your different your sectors, states and countries. as for the Spanish, its way better than it was in México, but I still haven’t mastered how to be funny in a different language, and I’m also not that funny in English so that might be one reason.

As for me I am working hard here in Talcahuana Sur! Where there is a lot of wind, a lot of dirt and a lot of apartment buildings that we can’t enter because there always LOCKED. Sometimes we get lucky and follow someone inside, or catch the door when someone’s leaving but other than that it’s hopeless. I think soon I might resort to throwing rocks at their windows. 

This past cambio I have been seeing so many miracles in my sector, in this new ward and in the people we are working with. An old investigator names Rodrigo called us this week. Said that his family had a family home evening and felt the spirit. And he wants to be baptized this Saturday. His wife is a less active and about 5 months ago other missionaries married them but stopped working with them because Rodrigo didn’t want anything more to do with us Mormons. But not all of that has changed and he is ready to take this step in following Christ. He is also very, very sick with stomach problems and might not make it through this year depending on what the doctors tell him today. Pray for him and his family.

In our ward we have completed 4 baptisms in 5 weeks and we have 1 more this Saturday. It has been more than a year since this ward has seen this success. This energy is beginning to affect the members as well and animating them to help us in the work. The Lords has is truly guiding this work and we have the opportunity, the privilege, to help. We are the Lords hands and it’s AWESOME.

Family, friends strive to be the Lord’s hands.

Also this week we also went to the beach for a zone activity! Enjoy my photos.

December 31, 2013

 FAMILY! 

It was good to see you guys

That was like the fastest hour and a half of my life... and I didn’t even say half the things I wanted too but no matter... there’s always mother day...And that’s right around the river bend! (Yeah I know your starting to sing that Disney song)

Christmas was pretty awesome here too. Way different then in the states but I have to give them effort for trying. I just don’t understand why the Santa Claus here wears the same amount of clothing as in the states... I mean his fluffy giant red pants and coat look pretty uncomfortable to wear in the Chilean sun... I’m sure he sweats a lot.

Anyway it is tradition of Chile to have a big fancy dinner Christmas eve. And one of the members invited us over to their house and fed us until we had to loosen our belts. It was so good. But I ate shrimp. And I didn’t know we couldn’t eat shrimp on the mission... so I feel a little bad about that...but it was good. 

This family also gave us a stocking full of goodies! I was actually surprised how many members gave us gifts... I got a new tie, Chilean candy and baked goods and also RAY BANS! There so sweet and original... and even if there not I’m going to pretend that they are. But now I have the rayband song by b.o.b stuck in my head...

The best part about this week however was the BAPTISM of FRANCISCO. I gave the talk at his baptism and explained that this what he was doing was the best gift he could give to Christ. To be an example of him in all times in all things and in all places. He is 21 and thinking about serving a mission, he has already been to lessons with us and loves it.

The baptism was at 9 in the morning because he needed to work at 1030... So we needed to wake up at 4 to full up the baptismal fount with hot water... (Because we promised Francisco hot water)  BUT because of our mid night run to the church the next day I was taken ill. I tried to work through it and ended up throwing up outside of an apartment building...classy.

 I have been studying the life of Christ a lot...I mean every day I study that but this week my focus was on how we can have the spirit of Christmas, or the spirit of Christ always in our lives.

 Every one is searching for Christ in one way or another, and I think that is one reason  why people love the holiday season,  not because of the presents or the parties (okay maybe a little bit) but there is an different atmosphere, a spirit of service and  of love, and of Christ. I have been able to see this more than ever this year on the mission.

Christ is who I seek, Christ is who I serve. He is the Brother that I love. And I know that he lives because I have found him in my life

But not all have found him, not all can feel him, only those who have the desires to follow him, and allow him into their lives and hearts.

Thomas S Monson once said ¨ in these busy days there are many who have time for golf, time for shopping, time for work, time for play but no time for Christ. Lovely homes dot the land and provide rooms for eating rooms for sleeping, play rooms, sewing rooms and TV rooms, but no room for Jesus¨

Don’t we remember the story.....¨and they laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn¨?

Jesus is our savior, our redeemer, our King. But sometimes we forget it.

MAKE SOME ROOM FOR JESUS PEOPLE

Merry Christmas and a happy new year and ¨god bless us, every one¨ (quote by that little kid in scrooge)

December 23, 2013

Talcahuano Sur, Cerro Verde Baby

As for my new sector it is very different than Quillon. It is in the outskirts of a big city and we are like 5 min away from the ocean! (But I have only seen in one time bummer right.) I am in a ward now and not a branch. At first I was happy to hear that, but it turns out that this ward is smaller than the church in quillon. On paper the ward is Huge, but no one goes to church. I think they must have missed the day when we taught the 10 commandments, or must have blanked on the 4th one when it said `` Acuèrdate del dìa de reposo y santificarlo. `` In translation, ``go to freaking church``

Apparently there hasn’t been a baptism in our sector for about a year. But we have already changed that. My new companion, Elder Sanchez baptized 1 person a week before I got here and my first week, we baptized another. This coming Saturday we have 1 more! WHATTTTT.

 The Lord has truly prepared people for us here in this sector. So many of the missionaries in the past have found many great people to teach here, but for some  reason (I don’t really know why) never committed them to act, to read to pray to be baptized. It is so important for us as members and missionaries to get people to do things, to develop their own testimony. They will not learn anything if we just talk and talk and talk and they don’t act.

Our new house is much bigger than the one in Quillon, and my bed is somewhat comfortable, except for that fact that it is the most squeakiest contraption of a bed I have ever had the misfortune of sleeping on. Seriously, I turn my head 3 cm and an explosion of squeaks and groans burst from every fold and bend of the metal frame. But in reality I don’t know what is more loud, my bed, or my companions snores. 

We have a great pool of new people to teach and I am very excited to get started.

 The 2 zones of Talcahuano and Talcahuano sur got together this week to sing to a group of kids and families who are in need. We joined with some charity group to help out and it was such an awesome experience. I love this season of Christmas because the Spirit of Christ is so much more prevalent.

Remember the real reason we have this holiday, and give thanks to our savior and Lord this week.

I love you all and can’t wait to talk to you Wednesday!

Grandma and Grandpa Stewart I got your package and loved it. You were right I was very surprised to see what was inside. Pleasantly surprised of course. My companions and I will enjoy every single packet of hot sauce form Del taco I received. But I decided to save the bubbles for Christmas morning.

As for the loss that has happened this week

I don’t think words can describe exactly who he was, because for those who knew him know that he was greater than just mere words. Lezo has always been a great example to me, as an athlete and as a person. I remember in high school Track I was always so excited to train hurdles with him, 1 because he is an amazing athlete and 2 also because he was just so fun to be around, except when he would do that weird thing with his mouth and glee on you, ha or give you a 5 star on the back. He always seemed to live on the bright side of life; he had a spirit of happiness and joy about him that I will never forget. I feel privileged to have known Lezo and to have called him my friend.

While thinking about Lezo a scripture in the bible come to my mind. This comes from the New Testament in parts of John 14,

``let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In My father’s house there are many Mansions, I go to prepare a place for you.
...I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your Heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
If ye loved me, ye would rejoice...for I go unto the Father, and the Father is greater than I. ``

In times of hardships and pain the Lord is close to us, he is so close, yet we cannot see him. But we can feel his presence and his love. He is here for us. And we are here for you.