Grateful for everything

t was so good to talk with the family this last week! I'm so happy everyone is doing good and is happy. 

On tuesday we had a conference with the whole mission. We watched the christmas devotional and president Videla talked to us. I love the missionaries here. There is always a little lunch after conferences and that's the best time. Eating and chilling with everybody. Oh yeah and that is when I got the package, Thanks so much for that!

We spent Christmas eve mostly with members. I know I've said this before but I seriously love the members here. I've been here about five months but it feels longer. It's almost strange how much this ward feels like home. We spent the night with the Vicharra family. They're super nice to us. We ate peruvian food that night that was way good. I'm not sure about the rest of south america, but at 12:00 is when all the little kids opened there presents. I wish we could've stayed until than because I wanted to see their adorable little girl open her presents but our curfew was at 11:00 :( I think I'll always remember walking home in the hot, summer, chilean, christmas eve night. My first christmas away from home. But feeling such comfort and peace. 

For Christmas we got to sleep in! first time in forever! until 8:00! ha :) The Vicharra family invited us back over to their house to eat breakfast with them. They had a little piano and Jimènez was playing hymns and we were singing. I don't think I've mentioned how good my comp is at playing the piano, like seriously he's amazing. After that we went over to another family to skype.  I was really excited to talk with the fam and as soon as I saw everyone it was like I had never even left. I wish I could've talked all day! oh well. After that It was pretty much just a normal day of work.

We received a reference from somebody on the street to visit a man name hector. They told us that he used to talk to the missionaries all of the time. When we met him he was laying in a bed. Half of his body is paralyzed. After talking to him for awhile we found out that he was baptized in the church awhile back. He was such a nice older man. Jimènez asked if we could sing a song for him. He always asks that, not that I'm really complaining. It's only that I have a terrible singing voice and his isn't a lot better :) anyways he suggests that we sing count your many blessings. While we were singing he started crying. Afterwards he told us he was so grateful how much the lord has blessed him in his life. Someone who has not been able to leave his bed was crying because he was so grateful for what he had. 

I read this talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf this week. I really liked this one part: Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us.

I hope everybody has a wonderful week this week! Party hard for new years eve! 

Elder Terry

Christmas week

I can't believe that it's already christmas week! I'm so excited to see and talk with everybody again!

We had a good week this week. On Tuesday one of the kids in our ward had his birthday. His name is howie, I don't know how he spells it though. He lives with his grandma and his grandma told us that he hasn't had a birthday party in a couple of years and if we could help her out with that. So we invited all of the kids his age to his house, and bought a cake and some chips for a surprise birthday party. Howie was so stoked when we showed up to his house with all of his friends and cake. His grandma was so thankful, she told us that they weren't planning on eating cake with him for his birthday because they couldnt afford that. 

Yesterday, we had a really cool experience. One of our investigators has a girlfriend who is a member of the church. They want to get married but the girlfriend said that he has to get baptized before they get married. He feels stressed out about all of that. He told us that he doesn't want to get baptized for the wrong reasons. He likes what we teach and likes the Book of Mormon and wants it to all be true, but he just hasn't gotten an answer that he is looking for. He told us that he reads his Book of Mormon every night and brings it with him to work because he just wants to know if it is true or not. And he's not lying, he has his Book of Mormon all marked up with notes and highlights. Elder Jimènez shared his experience with praying and receiving an answer that the book of mormon is true. Than he asked me what my experience with getting my prayer answered was like. I told him the truth, that I don't have a definite one time miraculous experience where everything came together and I knew everything was true. My experience is that I have read diligently the scriptures and have had many small experiences of feeling the spirit. And they build on each other, until now I can say that I truly do know that God exists and this is his church. Line upon line. 

Kind of in relation to this I have been thinking a lot about a couple of scriptures that I would like to share. The first is in D&C 58:6. 

6 Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you—that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come;

The first part of this scripture makes sense, that we were sent here to be obedient. But I didn't understand the second part, What does it mean that ´´that our hearts might be prepared to bear testimony.´´ There is a cross reference to Isaiah 43:12. I really like this scripture. I think that we come to earth to realize that Jesus is our savior, and is our redeemer. His grace and his mercy are real, and he does exist. It's not easy to come to this knowledge because it requires patience and diligence. But he wins our hearts and he gains our trust through big and small things over time. He is always with us always his hands extended for us to come to him, love him, and trust him.  

 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, whenthere was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

 Please tell Paul and Luke their big brother knows they are never alone and the Savior is their best friend.  That would be an amazing Christmas delivery from me.  

Like I said in the beginning I'm so excited to talk to you guys this week and see your faces. Have a wonderful christmas!

Elder Terry

My first baptism

Ha the picture with Emma and her date is so awesome! Why are Paul and Luke so messed up?

So I'm finally official in Chile! I finished up all of the visa stuff this week. The whole process was so fun. All the missionaries that I came with went together and we went to a few different buildings and had to be there on time, kind of adventure status. I love the missionaries that I came with, but it was super awesome just to chill with Clarine again for a day. Oh yeah they took my picture for the card and it turned out terrible, I was so mad. I looked so goofy haha. Actually I looked LIKE goofy. 

We had our first baptism! It was amazing. Marisol, all of her family are members except for her. She has a phobia of water but she was so brave she did everything no problem! The best part of the whole ordeal was that her son got to baptize her. Her son is 19 and wants to go on a mission and he was the main reason that she got baptized. The spirit was so strong, everybody was feeling it. Even our bishop, I love him, but he is like one of the coldest dudes in the whole world ha. In his testimony he started crying talking about their family. Me and Jimènez had smiles cheek to cheek that whole day. That night there family went to this concert at the temple together. I know it sounds cheesy, but they walked in all of them holding hands. You could just see how close they felt and how much love they had for each other. Dont get any bright ideas family, we are not holding hands when I get home.  Im just saying, it was really perfect for them.

So this concert was at the temple. It featured Marvin Goldstein and Vanessa Joy. I don't know if they're famous or not but everybody here was really excited that they were coming haha. All of the Santiago missions went. I got to see some more of my friends from the south mission that came together with me. The music was amazing. It was all in English, which I thought was lame since Im now such a master of Spanish ;)

So this week I met up with a lot of people that I came together with to the ccm. It's weird that we were only together for six weeks, but when we see each other it's like seeing your long lost friend. I hug Elder Clarine like hes my brother when I see him.  I'm so grateful that I got to go to the Chile ccm with so many amazing missionaries that are such good examples to me. 

Honestly this week was just so much fun. Weeks like this don't happen much on the mission so I definitely lived it up :) I hope everybody has a wonderful week and enjoys the Christmas season! Ten more days till we can skype.  Merry Christmas everyone!

If you're small, you might be Great!

I'm glad you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving! I had an awesome turkey dinner also.. NOT :) I forgot it was Thanksgiving until late at night on Thursday. We had a baptism set up for last Sunday but things didn't work out so we changed the date to later in December. But we had a good week this week.

On Wednesday we had a conference with a few other zones. The church made a video for Christmas titled, ´´he is the gift,´´ it's not very long only a little over two minutes but it is really good. You might've heard about it already but the church is going to market it really heavy. They bought advertisement in time square, have a youtube take over day where they are the only advertiser, and missionaries in my mission are testing the effectiveness of it and are supposed to talk about this video with everyone and record how successful it was for finding people. Watch it! it's good.

Thursday we had a family night at the church with members and our investigators. It was way fun. We got a good turnout, a lot of people showed up. We had food, played games, and watched a Mormon Message. I know a little crazy right?  It was a fun night with super good feelings.( unlike many of the Terry family home evenings where I timed your long lessons with a stopwatch and Paul literally bawled from how bored he was ;)

So in our ward there are two pairs of missionaries, our sectors are split down the middle. In the other sector there is a kid named Jose. Jose is seriously everyone's friend just because he is so sincere and nice. We had lunch with him and his family on Sunday and it was a blast. His favorite missionary was a missionary that was in that sector for 8 months. I know this missionary, he's a good missionary, but during his time in Dorsal he didn't have the success that he deserved. I could imagine him feeling discouraged about not having any baptisms in his time there. But seriously, this family talked about him the whole time. They love him. Because the missionary was so good to that family, Jose, wants to learn English and live in the United States. Realistically, I don't know if that will actually happen haha but you can see how much this missionary meant to that family. Often times we don't realize all the good we are doing until after. I hope I am planting seed here like that.  I hope I see this missionary again so I can tell him how he really impacted that family. I really like this scripture. D&C 64:33. Have a wonderful week everybody! Can you believe it is already December? crazy.

33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

We all think we are small but guess what?  If you do, then get ready for some GREAT to proceed out of you.  Love you guys.  Dont waste time doing anything but having fun and serving others.  Max said so!

Anchor for the Soul

This was a good week for me and Elder Jimènez. We had some problems with the house though. Our house is so ghetto. We had somebody come and fix some stuff. We thought it would be an easy fix but it took the dude forever. And it dragged on for three days. Ha it was so frustrating. We couldn't go out and work because we had to stay in the house with him. The repairman was actually pretty cool and we became friends and ended up talking to him quite a bit. The last day he finished everything up and was like ¨after you shake my hand you need to wash your hands, because I have herpes¨ haha oh my poor innocent Springville heart.  lol.

English class started out really strong and we had new people coming all the time but it's has slowly been decreasing. I really hope this is not a reflection of the cool teacher. We have English Wednesdays and Saturdays at the church. Wednesday was probably the lowest numbers of English class. There were three kids, and I just hurried and did all of there homework, and we played soccer after that and had a blast. But Saturday was awesome. This woman came in and she was really cool. At about the end of the lesson she stopped what she was doing and asked me why in the world I was serving a mission. For one of the first times on my mission I had a conversation with no pressure to ´´teach´´ about God but just be myself and connect with someone. It was really good. She said she doesn't really care to believe in that stuff but she is interested why a kid from the United States would come to Chile for two years to serve a mission. It was awesome too because maybe for the first time I didn't have to translate in my head when I was talking to her It flowed like a real and easy conversation and I have just felt grateful for that.

We have a baptism this week with Marisol (hopefully!). Marisol is such a good person. All of her family is members but she wants to get baptized now because her son wants to serve a mission. Two of her kids had birthdays this week. I gave her son that wants to serve a mission one of my ties. All his younger siblings took the tie and were rubbing it on there faces and super excited that it was from the United States. haha they didn't know it was just a cheap tie from Wal mart. Her little daughter had a big party with all of her friends and ate cake. I think people would be surprised to see just how similar people are no matter where they are in the world.

One night we stopped and talked to this older woman sitting on her porch. She was really nice to us. At the end of our conversation we asked if we could leave with a prayer. She said that she wanted to pray in her style, and after we could pray in ours. It was a great experience.  I felt the spirit so strongly in both prayers.  God always listens to us.

We shared this scripture with one of our investigators. Ether 12:4. I really like this scripture. Sometimes it's hard for me to express how I feel.  But I really like how it says that faith and hope are like an anchor for the soul. Even though everything doesn't make perfect sense we continue forward with faith in god. I hope everybody has a wonderful week! Enjoy thanksgiving, eat extra food for me! 

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Earthquakes and English class

Hello Family! 

So we had a really good week this week. One of our investigators name is Marisol. Her whole family was baptized except for her. She is honestly the nicest woman you will ever meet. We had an awesome lesson with her this week with some members of the church. Everything went smooth and the spirit was really strong. Afterwards she told us, for the first time everything is starting to make sense in my mind and in my heart. I was so happy when she said that. She wants to get baptized but has a huge phobia of water. So we'll see how that goes.

 

On Sunday we went on splits with the other missionaries to help get their investigators to church. We were running late and I felt frustrated because I didn't want to be late for the Sacrament. So we get there and we sit in the back. I felt flustered and was in a bad mood but I saw one of our investigators sitting in the very back by himself. I went and sat by him. He told me he was really worried that he was going to have to sit by himself at church. If we would've been on time and sat more towards the front, I would never have seen him.

Yesterday there was an earthquake. I love the earthquakes haha. But we were in this womans house and she started screaming and panicking. The earthquake wasn't that big but her screaming actually made it kind of scary. They always tell us we need to relax and not panick in an earth quake and now I know why.

I love the ward and the people here. They are so cool to the missionaries. Always so willing to help us out.

Every Saturday and Wednesday we have classes of English and piano in the chapel. We put up fliers and advertisements in stores and more and more people show up. Its getting exciting that we are starting to draw a crowd.  I like teaching English. It actually helps me with my Spanish.

I hope everybody has a great week. Try not to freeze! It's warm here but honestly ever since September the whether has been just about perfect.

Elder Terry

Chile loves Greg Ostertag

I'm glad everybody had a good week this past week. I was happy to hear that you went to a Chilean restaurant! But you got the most gringo food possible! :)You need to try the traditional food next time!

So we had a successful week this week. Life is a lot better when you have a little success, right? So Friday was a really awesome day. We had a bunch of fixed appointments that we had high hopes for. And it all worked out perfect. Usually people don't answer the door or they are so extremely busy they can't even talk for just a minute ha, but Friday was different everybody was home and wanted to talk to us. In the night we were literally running from one appointment to the next when we saw someone on the street bending over with people by him helping him. Honestly his face was so bloody I couldn't even recognize him. But Elder Jimènez recognized him as someone we talked to in the street earlier. He was drunk, and while crossing the street he fell and smashed his face against the curb of the sidewalk. We helped him to his house and his neighbors took him to the hospital.

The next day we called him and he said that he wanted to talk with us. When we got to his house he told us that he lost 2 teeth, split his lip, and got four stitches in his eyebrow. We kept asking him how he felt, if he was in pain. And he always responded with no I'm totally fine. I think I have done that too much in my life, pretend like I was fine when I was in desperate need of help. He wants to keep talking with us, I hope we can help him. I think he feels something when we talk about the Savior, and is ready to have that in his life. 

On Sunday the Primary directed sacrament. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen!. I know I'm probably bias, but the Chilean kids are the most adorable in the whole world. It was exactly the same as back in the states only with less kids. I grinned from beginning to end, it was a total hour of perfection.

Russel M. Nelson came to Santiago and spoke with all of the missionaries. Before he gave his talk we all got the chance to shake his hand. It was so awesome to see one of the General Authorities and shake his hand. He and his wife gave awesome talks. Elder Nelson showed us tips on studying the Book of Mormon that I thought was really interesting. It was fun to see all of the other missionaries, and get a spiritual recharge.

So I read Marie's email and hers are so fun. She always did make me feel so boring!

So I have been thinking about how we receive a testimony and an answer from God a lot this week. I wish I didn't do this, but I always am waiting for this wonderful manifistation that will take all my doubts away and I can just know for sure all the truth. I read a talk from Elder Bednar that I really liked. He said for most of us we receive light very slowly, like from night to day. You don't know exactly when everything became so clear but before the sun came up you can see everything. I really liked that. I think everytime I have asked for guidance, I have been guided. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the whole world than Santiago, Chile serving my mission.I really feel like I am not an miraculous manifestation person, but I am definately a night to day kind of person.  And in Chile I can see the sun pretty clear.

ok one more story, this one is just pure awesome. This dude stops me in the street and just like everybody else here says in English ¨hello, how are you?´´ At first I just smiled and nodded and ignored it, but he kept talking in english and it was obvious that he knew how to speak. So I told him I was from Utah, and he told me that he loves the Jazz. I was like serious?? Who is your favorite player? And he stands there and is thinking for awhile and was like.... Greg Ostertag! 

Have a wonderful week everybody!

Elder Terry

Candy Success!

So we had transfers this week. I'm staying in Dorsal with Elder Jimènez. I was happy about that. I really love and feel comfortable with the ward here. They are such GOOD AND HUMBLE people. I'm glad that I got to stay here, I feel like I still haven't done all that I was supposed to here.

So on Tuesday I went to an orthodontist because my permanent retainer was loose. I was worried about getting it fixed here but they did a perfect job. We got permission to travel outside of our mission to go to the orthodontist. On the way there we took the metro for about 40 minutes. The metro was packed the whole time with each station people came and people left. As we were walking in the streets to the orthodontist we passed by a bunch of people. Santiago is a very big city. For some reason I just felt REALLY small, especially being a missionary. Santiago has over 6 million people in it. How are the missionaries supposed to help all these people come to Christ and hear the gospel? I realized one person like me is an ant.  The next day I got a letter from the stake that was really comforting. Thank you brother Briggs and Brother Nance! God has a plan for everybody and it's only possible through  his son. I realized that if I only get to a few people, and we can change their life for good over the next few years, I did exactly what I came here to do. 

We took a temple trip with one of our investigators. His name is Isaac. I think I have talked about him before. He is so awesome. He feels overwhelmed with his life. He has problems with mental issues. He told us he smokes 30 cigarettes a day sometimes more but doesn't have a job and has no money. The temple tour was really good. Even though we didn't go in there is such a real peaceful spirit at the temple. 

Halloween here was so cool! I got a bunch of funny pictures with the kids.. The kids in Chile are adorable! We bought a bunch of candy and filled our backpacks with it and gave it out to the kids, probably spent too much money on all the candy but oh well :)  I think candy for the Chilean kids may be the best waste of money I have ever spent.  And for sure Im doing it again next year. We found some really nice families and set up some appointments this week from Halloween night that was good!

 Know that I am having the most amazing once in a lifetime experience even if it is a little bit hard! Have a wonderful week!

Teaching English and Playing Piano

Hello everybody! It's such a confidence boost to read all of your emails each week. Thanks for all of the love and support!
Well I broke my retainer, and there are no orthodontists over here, so I am embarking on the world of orthodontia myself.  Super glue and my shaky hands are about to repair this retainer.  Say a prayer for me.

So were kind of struggling with getting and maintaining investigators. We've been thinking of ways to find more people. My companion knows piano and we had a piano class for anybody interested this last Saturday. Not to brag but I am really good at playing a song called hot cross buns.   And it was a lot more successful than I thought it was going to be. Everybody wants to learn English so I've taught English classes in peoples homes. That may become one of my best methods.

We were walking past this house and we saw a man and a woman sitting outside enjoying the beautiful Chile sunset, because seriously every night it is incredible its like a light show, and we started talking to them. At first they said they weren't that interested but we were persistent and said we only needed 10 minutes. It went really well and we had a good conversation. The wife can't read very well and the husband has bad vision but can't afford glasses so I don't exactly know how they are going to read the Book of Mormon, but we'll figure it out! The situation feel humorous as I type it, but thinking outside the box is the only way Im going to do good work here.

Marie was right it definitely is starting to warm up down here in South America. This week it was around 90 degrees almost every day. Im sweating buckets!  Bet you wish you could still do my laundry ;) Have a wonderful week everybody!!

Birthday is the bomb!

 The missionaries here are hilarious.  Some were born to do 24 hour stand up comedy

This little girl is so funny.  She tells me funny stories all the time and I act like I'm scared out of my mind, but honestly I dont usually have a clue what shes talking about.  Shes seriously like my best friend right now.  When we see each other, we immediately start the her talking fast and me acting scared out of my mind act.  I love kids.

What's up everybody? This week is the best week of the year because of my birthday of course!

One of our challenges is getting investigators to church. So yesterday before church we stopped by one of our investigators house and asked if he wanted to come to church with us. He put down his cigarette and was like sure. Awesome. He told us he really liked the feeling that he had during sacrament. Sometimes you need to be diligent and at first the people just put up with you because they're trying to be nice, but I know that the feelings and words sink down into them.

I got my birthday package and I love it! The little missionaries are hilarious! Thank you so much for that! It was a little bit of a slower week and it was such a boost to get that package from you guys! I'm totally saving the candy and new tie for Tuesday.  Im also giving away all the stickers to the kids on that day.  My birthday is going to be the bomb!

We shared with a family yesterday. It went really good. We sat at a table me my comp and the son who was 19. There was another chair that I think every other member of the family sat in for a short period of time ha. For example, at first the dad would be sitting there but he got a phone call and left and then the mom sat there but she was cooking something and left. I wish we could've had the whole family sit down with us but oh well. They were super nice to us and said they would read the Book of Mormon. This one small promise from this family, has really lifted my spirits and made me feel so grateful to be doing this work.

My Spanish is coming a long good. It's hard to see progress because everyday you get just a little bit better. I still say alot of stupid stuff. But if I compare myself to just only a month ago, I'm a lot better. I hope you guys have a wonderful week this week. Eat some good food and remember me on my birthday! I am really happy and am really feeling alot of peace here.  Not everything is perfect, but it will never all be perfect.  Im growing and changing and it feels rewarding.  Cheer someone up this week for my birthday.  Love you guys!

Trash bags and speediness are lifesavers!

I literally was laughing out loud when I heard about you guys watching a scary disney movie from the 80's, and it was actually scary. I always loved October, please enjoy it! One of my best memories was last October when we played hide and seek in the dark with moms spooky sounds cd playing in the background, and Paul and Luke were crying in the pantry waiting to get found.  Oh man, I am laughing remembering that.  Good Times!

This week we were trying to meet with this woman named Margarita. She never answers her door. I swear it almost seemed like she was trying to ignore us! :) But we finally got a hold of her. She said that she didn't have any time to talk to us ( What? Could this explain all the ignoring us?)  because she had to move trash out of her house. We said that we would do it for her. At first she was hesitant but she agreed to it. We cleared out a BUNCH of trash from her garage! All those years taking the trash out has really paid off for me now.  After we sat down and talked to her. We had a good conversation. We're always looking for small chances to serve! I noticed it softened her heart and she was more open and warm to the message.

Ok so guess what?  There is a lot of drunk people here! Usually they are pretty funny to talk to but sometimes it turns into a bad situation ( don't ask). This dude was begging us to come into his house and try some of his "special drink" that he made. He insisted, and we basically had to run away from him.  Good thing I'm speedy as we all know.  Later that night a dude kissed my hand when I went to shake his (ew). A lot of interesting experiences with different people here!

I'm learning just to enjoy every single moment. Every day is another gift to serve. I love you guys so much, and always keep you in my prayers! have a fantastic week! Tell Paul I havent been eating a ton of chilli in Chile but Im on the lookout for some!

Mission moment on a rock

Happy birthday mom! I hope it was absolutely wonderful, you deserve it! That's lame that some of you guys are sick. It's starting to warm up down here in South America so I'll enjoy the sunshine for all of you :)

Elder Jimènez is awesome we get along really well. It's definitely helping my spanish having him as my companion. We talk pretty basic but it is getting easier to speak and also to understand. My keyboard is really messed up this week, I hope you can understand my email.

One night this last week we stopped and talked to a homeless man on the corner of the street. i think it was the most spiritual experience I have had yet. Honestly I thought it was going to be a waste of time because I thought he was drunk and not interested in what we had to offer. At first we asked him if he knew where the person we were looking for. He told us yes and gave us a little bit more specific questions. Actually he seemed pretty coherent.  He asked us what we were doing and we got into a conversation. I felt like we should stay and give this man our time. He was telling us that he had too many problems to face so it was easy just to forget about it with alcohol.  Alcohol had been his only relief in life. We told him there is always hope no matter what it seems like. I looked right in his eyes and said there was hope for his life and God wants him to be happy.  Honestly I don't know if he really believed what we were telling him, but he looked at me with a desperate desire that he wanted to believe it so much.. It was cool, I sat there and realized just exactly where I was at. I was in a foreign country sitting on a rock in the dirt talking to a homeless man about the most amazing truthful good news there is. What a loving God that would send me to Chile for maybe no other reason than to have a conversation with this homeless man on a rock no less,  who was so robbed of hope and hearing a message of hope made him sit up and take notice that there is a loving Savior named Jesus Christ and he has a plan for each of us.  I know it sounds strange, but I felt a love for this man that burned in my whole body.  I felt like he was much more important and noble than his homeless body would lead you to believe.

Conference was a huge spiritual boost. I was able to watch it in English. I took a bunch of notes for every speaker because I just felt like the words were answers to my questions. I am so grateful for general conference and the chance to listen to the living prophet and the apostles give advice and bare testimony of the Savior. None of our investigators showed up to any of the sessions. haha Lame!!

This should be a good week. We have good goals and a lot of excitement for the work especially after conference. Have a wonderful upcoming week everybody! Please tell Aunt Aryn thank you for me for her awesome email.  It made my week.

We live again

 Most beautiful skies you have ever seen are in Chile.

 Met up with some of my old friends

 Super cool views as we walk

 I knew before I came the kids would be my favorites, and I was right!  These guys are so cool.

 A golden Family.  I really am falling in love with these people.

What a fun week for you guys! Paul and Emma going to school dances, dope! Luke I'm so happy for you it's not even funny. The mission sometimes is hard because I miss my little brothers and sister so much, but it makes it easier when I hear how happy you are. Please be happy for me.  Thats all I want.

My first week with a Latino comp. It was awesome. We talk pretty much all day even if we have to make it simple. This transfer will really help my Spanish. He wants to learn English so we also speak a llittle bit of english. My comp is from Buenos Aires and said Marie is in the most ghetto part of all of Argentina! That is so awesome!

We found the coolest investigator this week, mainly because of his name. Maximiliano (insert applause here). He was super cool to us. He is about fifty and is an artist/painter. He honestly has some paintings that are amazing. We taught him the restoration and at the end extended a baptism commitment. He got all mad at us and started asking a bunch of questions. Honestly, I REALLY like when investigators get mad to a point and ask a bunch of questions. It shows that they are thinking and want to know why. Honest whys lead to honest answers.

Julio and Karen are our golden investigators waiting to get baptized but can't, because of divorce issues. For the first time Karen opened up to us and said that it is really hard because her brother died and she wonders how he is, and feels so sad without him. I read a talk from Elder Shayne M Bowen called Because I live, ye shall live also.  (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/because-i-live-ye-shall-live-also?lang=eng#d) First of all Elder Bowen is amazing because he served in Chile :) but he said that of his babies died when he was only 8 months old. It's the hardest thing that could ever happen.I cant imagine living through that. He wondered if literally his heart was going to break. Without all of his family being together, in this life, he cannot be truly happy. But he feels peace and comfort because thanks to our Savior, we will live again and if we are faithful God promises us we will live with our families together forever with himself and Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for this knowledge.

I hope everybody has a wonderful week. Thank you for your emails, they are such a boost :)

Race with Patience

Lukey I wish more than anything I could be at your baptism this next week! You look so good in your pictures :)

 September 18 is like the independence day in Chile. But of course it wasn't really just one day it was more like thursday and the weekend!

On the 18th we hung out with ward members all day. They cooked us the best food. So much meat. Like every kind, steak, chicken, sausage, pork chop. It was so good. In the night we made empanadas. It was cool because they showed us how to cook them. The food was so good.

Changes were this week and I have a new companion! Elder Jimenez from Buenos Aires Argentina. That must be destiny as Marie would say.  She would say 'See Max, we are so connected"  I think Marie is rubbing off on me because I think this comp is connecting me with Marie.   I've only been with him a little bit but he is awesome. It's his first time being senior comp so we'll see how that goes! He keeps telling me he has no idea what he is doing, which is making me a tiny bit nervous but hey, its all good.  We both are going to work hard and love these people. Sunday night Elder Pence met with some families from the ward to say goodbye. It was pretty sad but he got moved up to zone leader so he was happy about that. 

I love this quote this week I just want to send it back.

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” 

I have a testimony of "the wait"  The wait is actually what we do most of our lives.  We are waiting for some prayer to be answered.  We are waiting for the language to come.  We are waiting to get better or feel better.  We are waiting for someone or somthing to change.  And life has given me moments when prayers are answered and I know for a fact God is there, but guess what.  The wait begins again.  Waiting for investigators, waiting for the new comp to learn the language, waiting for your little brothers  baptism, waiting for more money or more patience etc.  Im trying to be happy in the wait.  Im trying to even see the wait as the whole purpose of my life. I love love love the scripture in hebrews 12, Paul says let us run this race with patience. Just take it day by day.

Have an awesome week, Luke I'm so happy for you and your baptism.

Yelling the discussions is ok

Hola Familia! How is everyone?  Remind me again when Luke gets baptized?

                                      Tomato sandwiches.  Tomatoes everywhere!  So good!

 A few of us missionaries hit some golf balls for Pday.  It was fun to do somthing Dad and I always did.

This week started out really slow. We were doing a bunch of walking and didn't have a lot of success. It's funny how just one day changed everything. On Friday we taught more lessons than we did that whole week before. Missionary work is fun because you never know what the next person you talk to, or the next house you knock on, can lead to.

We met this older woman named Olinda. Olinda is probably 75ish years old. She is pretty deaf so we have to talk pretty loud for her to hear us. Sometimes my comp and I crack up a little after yelling at her for so long.  She is the biggest sweetheart in the whole world. She told us she read the Book of Mormon and believes in it. She feels huge sadness for her son. Her son, who is not probably over 50 is addicted to drugs and steals money from Olinda for his drugs. Olinda started crying trying to explain the situation to us. She feels so sad and so helpless about it. We told her we loved her and were here to help her in anyway we can, and we know that Christ and his gospel can bring her hope and peace. I also remembered my promise to find people who are really hurting who could really benefit from the message of the Savior.  Olinda seems like a beautiful answer.

We had a huge service project on Saturday with a bunch of the missionaries. We went and painted old buildings along this street. It was fun to see some of the missionaries from the ccm and also get to meet new ones. The buildings were looking a lot better when we were finished.

I hope everybody has a wonderful week this next week. Life is meant to be enjoyed, so enjoy it :)