Jan 27, 2015

Hello friends and family,

Hope you are all doing well. I’m doing great so don’t you worry.

This week we have been working with the members to find new people to teach and everything seems to be going rather slow to be honest.

The problem is not finding people to teach, because we could go out and talk to everyone and knock on some doors and find a lot of people. But that’s not we want.

We are focused on helping the members find, teach and participate in mission work.

Even working with the less active members is though the members, now, we don’t go out looking for members less actives but we need to go through the organizations and work through their focus group. This type of work requires a lot more planning and a lot more order, but I know it is more effective.

The right way is more often than naught one of the harder ways.

This week we had a ward activity! Karaoke night! It was a lot of fun (even though not many people here have singing skills)

Some things that I learned in my studies this week....

- Prayer is more important than sleep.

-if the consequences suck, it was a stupid decision

-if doing what’s right is hard work, does it anyway because you deserve the struggle. But don’t fear a hard task or a struggle, because after pain comes gain.

-have confidence in yourself. You are a lot greater than you think, and if you’re not, your potential is. So have confidence in the potential you.

Just some words of wisdom from a humble missionary.

Love you family.

I haven’t taken that many pic... sorry...

But let’s play a game...

I spy... the Mormon Church!

(It’s pretty easy to spot)

January 19, 2015

With this new vision that we have in the mission Chile Concepcion we have been working a lot with the less actives and members... I think that working this way is a lot more efficient and a lot more effective... We have been planning family home evenings and activities so that the members can invite their friends and less active families that they know. We have been seeing a lot of success through working this way.

I know that this is the Lords work and not our own... All usually all goes well when we look for the will of the Lord and not our own.

This week we had a zone conference and saw the movie meet the Mormons! It was pretty good but the Spanish voice over was a little off... I want to travel the world and do service projects like that guy does in Nepal. It’s officially on my bucket list.

This week we are going to have a karaoke night ward activity... get your cameras ready ladies and gentleman... it going to be huge!

This week I heard a quote that I like that said, "We are the results of our decisions"

It is a great responsibility and privilege that we have; the ability decide, to use our agency how we want to.

But we will gain traits, attributes, habits and qualities based on how we choose and how we act.

We are who we are based on what we decide.

If you want to be good decided good.

If you decide to do stupid things... your stupid

If you want to be like Christ. Decide to follow him.

Simple as pie.

January 12, 2015

Here in Tomé town we have been trooping along, doing what we do best: the Work of the Lord

This week...

I had a mini-cambio with an Elder Edwards, a new missionary from Gilbert AZ! He has about 5 months on the mission and doing awesome. He is a really great missionary and has so many desires to improve himself.

I think that is one of the secrets to the mission, and to life in general; always have the desire to learn more, do more, and gain more. Now I’m not talking about consumerism here, not more things material, but things eternal.

Remember...

D&C 130

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

 19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

Also, just for a warning...

D&C 131:6  It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.

-We also woke up early to run at the beach and found sea lions chilling on the shore... I got so close enough to touch it but then it saw me, turned around, roared. I was surprised how similar the roar was from what I remember from the Lion King... they really are the lions of the sea (just really fat and lazy)

- This week we worked with the members and leaders of the church to create a mission plan for the ward! We are so excited to start applying these ideas and plans into our daily work. Our vision is to have an average of 200 active members by the end of the year... that’s doubling our numbers in 1 year... difficult, but not impossible with team work and FAITH.

-I gave a talk this week in church about the importance of being nourished by the good work of God and I love the scripture found in D&C 88:76-79

 76 Also, I give unto you a commandment that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth.

 77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.

 78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

 79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

The work of God is the ultimate truth. What power it gives us right? I love it

- THE CONCEPCION CUP. We had a rugged tournament of dodge ball today with 6 other zones...I am sad to say our zone didn’t win but we still had fun and pegged a lot of people.

We won 4 out of the 6 games that we played... not bad right?

It reminded me of sophomore and junior year when CDO had their dodge ball tournament. Good times right.

- We have a new investigator from Colombia, named Joanna; she is going to be baptized 7 of Feb.

Her hair is so long, it goes down to her knees. She has already read half of the book of Mormon and loves it.

I have such a strong testimony that God speaks to us through the scriptures the bible and the book of Mormon. I know that WHOEVER wants to know  if the book  of Mormon is true only needs to read it, pray to God our father with real intent, with faith and with a sincere heart and He will make it known unto to you.

Millions have done it.

Millions know.

I am one of those people and will stand as a witness of the truth of this gospel forever.

I love you family and friends,

 Oh and btw… I only have 1 hour to write and do zone leader paperwork on the computer. So there is not much time to write my friends... so sorry! But I will try my best...

January 5, 2015

Now I am in Tomé and I am loving it here. It is so beautiful. But HUGE. And there are so many hills to climb. This sector is famous for having the biggest and steepest hills in the whole mission.

Seriously Google map this... there's a community in Tome called Cerro Santo. And a road that goes straight up for at least a mile. When you drive up it feels like you are taking off in an airplane and when you walk up it you just want to fall over and die. My thighs are burning just at the thought of it. But I have a goal to run to the top before I leave Tomé.

My new companion is Elder Ainge, a basketball player at BYU, His dad is the manager of the Celtics team in Boston. Sweet right.

We are working really hard in our sector and trying to unite ourselves with the members as much as possible. In our Zone and in the mission in general we are changing the focus completely. All the work we do now needs to be with the members. The stereotype missionary that knocks on doors and works alone is dying out. We need to be with the members working and strengthening from the inside out.  If we just baptize and leave we are just making room for more less actives. Just like President Hinckley said every convert needs a friend in church, an assignment, and to be nourished by the Good word of God. Only with the members we can do that.

This week with the bishop and the ward leader we created a new mission plan. It’s a good one. I am excited to get started

The stake has challenged our ward to double the attendance in church by the end of this New Year. We have on average 100 people coming every week. So by the end of the year we have a goal of 200. The secret to this is working through the less actives.

There are so many less actives here in this place. 50% of the people we talked to on the street have been baptized into the church but don't go. It’s shocking.

To give you a better idea... In our ward alone, in the records of the church show that there are 1247 members...but only 100 come every week. We got a lot of work to do boys.

This week we woke up in the morning and ran on the beach. It’s like a 2 min jog there.

Seriously this sector has on old town California feel to it. I LOVE IT

Here are some pics from the week.

Oh and happy New Year. Almost forgot

December 15, 2014

This week was so awesome.

We have been using this video ¨Él es la Dádiva¨ (He is the Gift) almost every day.

 We share it with members with investigators and with random people on the street, and we have found a lot of new people because of it.

One day we were walking through a park and my companion and I for some reason automatically changed directions at the same time towards a guy sitting down in the grass. His name was Bridoir. It turns out that he is not a member but his wife is a less active from about 20 years ago and they have been looking for a way to get closer to God. We had a lesson later on that week to watch the video ¨He is the Gift¨ and they ended up in tears because they felt that this is what they were looking for.

ALSO this Friday we were with our mission leader and one of our appointments fell so we went to a nearby future to see if she had some time to talk. She ended but being an old family friend with the family of our mission leader, and lost track of each other for years. We were able to reunite them and share of Christ.

ALSO the shirt of my companion ripped so we went to a small store to fix it and we ended up sharing this video with the owners and now they are excited to go to church and understand more about the restoration of this gospel.

 We have a new Investigator named Francisco! Who is planning on getting baptized the Saturday after Christmas!

His girlfriend is a member in another town and has been assisting church over there until he found out that there one right close to his house. He came with us this Sunday and love the ward.

And Valentina (the daughter of my investigators that live in Yungay) came to church with 2 of her friends this Sunday in collao.. And her family went in Yungay. They were so nervous at first and didn’t want to go in but, toward the end of our gospel principles class they didn’t want to leave.

And I have a lot of other stories similar.

I love that I have the chance to help people feel the light of Christ and his love for us this Christmas season.

This week we had open house so that everyone could get to know what we do in the church buildings. Every church organization was in charge of explaining their function and role in separate rooms so that as we walked through the halls people could go into whatever room they want to learn about what we do. We had a lot of participation from the ward and everyone had their part to play. We were in charge of contacting and herding people from out of the street, into the church. The activity ended up being a success! We had about 10 or 11 tours... and of course at the end... we showed He is the Gift to them all...

I have probably seen that little 3 minute video more than 100 times

But if you haven’t seen it yet go to

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Wednesday I had a mini cambio with an elder in my district named Elder Bennit.

He is in one of the biggest wards on the whole mission with about 220 members.
OH yeah... And my companion is sick... he has problems with his head and jaw... I think that he somehow pinched a nerve in his jaw... He is on hard medication and is loopy all the time... it’s hilarious...

One of the members that we worked with that day gave us 8 kilos of cherries.

I love the cherries here.

I love YOU! Have a good week

Have a good Christmas.

December 8, 2014

Brother and sisters from my lovely home ward of Casas Adobes,

 What a pleasure it is to write to you this day, it has been a, long time since I have written or prepared a talk in English so I hope that everything is understandable.

I would like to thank everyone for your support and your prayers, for my behalf and for those other missionaries that are serving from our ward. Really we are all fighting for the same goal to bring all unto Christ through his restored gospel. What a great mission we have. An eternal mission. And one that we are all part of.

The Christmas season is a beautiful time of year for other people to take a break from the normal hustles and bussles of life and spend time with the family, to go on vacation, buy presents, get presents to decorate our houses and prepare for viajito pascuero (Santa clause).

 That’s the Christmas season for some, but for us it is much different. Remember, we are special, we are a peculiar people.

We have a much deeper and much special purpose. That is to help others come to know more about the birth, the life and the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to gain a testimony of Him like we have.

The Christmas season is not for us to only remember Christ, we do that all the time. But it is the season to help others get to know him.

 We as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints are so privileged to not have to wait for December to come until we can think of the Savior’s birth and life. We have the chance to remember him and renew our devotion to him every Sunday as we take the sacrament.

We have been celebrating Christmas every day of our baptized lives!

We have the Christmas spirit all the yearlong because we have the spirit of Christ.

It’s not anything new...

...we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. 2 Nephi 25 26

But what is so special about this Christmas season is that we can help others find Christ like we have found him.

There is so many people looking for peace, for comfort, for the love that only the Lord can give.

What better gift is there, than the one that our father in heaven has given us? His son Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And what better gift could we give to him then helping his children return to his presence

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

I love a talk that our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson gave in a December ensign in 1990 titles the search for Jesus. He said...

In this marvelous dispensation of the fullness of times, our opportunities to give ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved.

As we remembers that when y are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God, we will not find ourselves in the inevitable position of Jacob Marley’s ghost, who spoke to Ebenezer scrooge in Dickens immortal A Christmas Carol.

 He was the first of many ghosts that visited scrooge in this classic tale. Wrapped in large chains that bound his body he exclaimed,

"I wear the chain I forged in life...I made it link by link, and yard by yard...Why did I walk through the crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed star which led the wise men to a poor abode"

Fortunately we have the chance this Christmas season to render service to others and to help them look up to that star that leads to our savior Jesus Christ.

I know he lives and I know that this church is true. I am proud to represent him in his work and I invite all of you this Christmas season to do the same.

In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

December 2, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FATHER!

Goodness it’s your birthday again? How the years fly by right? But good think you’re never going to die because you’re talking your vitamins right?? Good dad!

I love you!

What a week. Very busy week. We have been walking and running and talking busses everywhere. We had 3 different conferences/meetings in 3 different locations this week. 1. Interviews with the president in HIS HOUSE! 2. Zone class in the stake building and 3. Conference of the traveling assistants. All were really great.

In the mission now they are focusing a lot of working with the members. And I have learned that it is so much better then working alone. Maybe in the past knocking on doors and working solo was effective but now with the times changing, the way we work needs to adapt as well. And if the prophet said that we need to work with the members… I think it would be Smart to listen. We have some great members here in Collao that are willing and able to help us a lot in the work. Actually this is the first time in my mission that I actually have a useful and functioning mission leader who helps us. We actually has our first activity in the Ward this week. We have a dessert competition. I made a really good cake. An Apple and cinnamon cake but I DIDNT WIN. (I was tempted to vote for myself multiple times but I resisted the urge) it was still really fun and a lot of the people we invited went.

We have more dog Friends in our new sector as well. I don’t know why so many dogs here in Chile follow the missionaries… They are 2 dogs from the Street that follow all the missionaries. Their huge and get crazy excited when they see us.

The jump on us all the time and lick our faces... they have spoiled at least 3 of my White shirts.

I finally this week got the chance to go to the president’s house. It is so nice! I love it so much... we asked them if they were going to put up decorations and they said they are going to do it Monday. We offered to help! And then they offered us breakfast! So this morning after putting up their Christmas light we ate cinnamon rolls and fruit salad. SO DELICIOUS!

Well I hope that all is just going dandy this time of the year for you guys.  It is a great time to be alive and moving... there’s just So many things going on at this time … there’s Thanksgiving, birthdays, pumpkin pie, Christmas decorations and Turkey sandwiches. There’s family time, Secret Santa, Christmas dancing, coupons on everything buyable, Christmas lights Christmas music, debt, forced family fun,  cookie time and vacations… sometimes it’s easy to forget that we are celebrating  Christ’s birth.

I am so excited to be working in the service of our Lord during this time. And I am excited to talk and share this great message of Christ’s restored gospel.

The new message called He is the Gift is so great and we are using it almost every day to find, to teach and uplift the people here.

The church has never done something this big before for Christmas. This video will be on the big screens in New York City, it will be on the home page of YouTube on Dec 7... It will flood Facebook, twitter, and all other types of internet sites with the purpose of helping others focus more on the true meaning of this holiday.

If you have watched this video watch it. If you have not yet shared it with a friend, share it. If you are not a member of this church, pray and ask God if you should be… then do it.

God has given us the greatest of his son and his infinite atonement for us. Our gift to him is to just accept Christ more fully in our lives and follow him.

Christmas.mormon.org

Navidad.mormon.org

I love you