December 1, 2014
Okay so first off.... did anyone else notice this? Once I´m far away, the unluckiest man alive, everyone starts getting lucky. Hmmmm... mark this experience down Trevor, and never forget it. That´s cool though.. I think Tanner´s right.. I deserve 250 dollars. I wouldn´t complain. Glad I could help :) I´m so unlucky.. I was known in my last house for being really unlucky by the other 3 missionaries I lived with. It´s a joke. Anyways this week... S GOT BAPTIZED! It was awesome.. we had to lift her down into the font in her wheelchair, which was a little awkward, but it all turned out fine. She had to do it twice cuz the first time she didn´t go all the way down. She´s the mom of a member, and wow that´s another story. The daughter´s husband baptized her and confirmed her, and we got into the font to help her to do everything. There was one point she was in the font and she just started like floating and just started laughing her head off. Hahaha it was funny and a little awkward, but it was cool. This week we also had a meeting in Concepción for all the zone leaders. They did it on Wednesday, instead of today, because as a mission, or I guess all the missionaries in the world are focusing on something different this month. They wanted to start it as soon as possible. It´s Christmas season obviously, and I don´t know if you guys have heard, but the church came out with a video called ¨He is the Gift.¨ It´s about Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. Anyways we´re going all out with it, and it´s helped us find a few new investigators. In all of our contacts in the street, we basically talk about the video. We even have to keep track of our numbers with new people we find doing it, and send a weekly email back to the church. Anyways on December 7th, it´ll be on youtube as the featured video, and will also be advertised in Times Square. The church is going all out which is cool. The next day, on Thursday, we taught the zone class, and it went really well. We just talked about the video and ways we can apply it here in Chillan. I believe that on December 6th, we will be going to the big plaza here and have it on repeat on a big projector and doing contacts. We´ll see how that turns out. The video is found on christmas.mormon.org.I don´t know if you guys have heard about it, but you guys should go watch it.. it´s awesome. Anyways, the other missionary I live with, Elder H, is from West Valley, and he´s on his second transfer. He told me the other day they made a Mormon Message on him, because in 7 days he went to 7 temples, and did family history for like 90 something of his ancestors. He got a letter from Neil Anderson is the mail and stuff, and they had camera guys in the MTC following him and stuff. Anyways the video is supposed to be out within the next month or so.. so that´s pretty cool. I honestly can´t believe it´s already December. I´m looking forward to Christmas.. we´re going to be doing an activity here in Chillán, just like last year when I was here... well not here but in Yungay.. but we traveled here for the activity. We don´t know exactly what we´re going to do, but this year they left it up to the zone leaders here to figure something out. We gotta talk to the other zone leaders and think of something.. I´m not very good at that stuff haha. That´s about all the updates for this week. N is progressing well towards December 13th.
Congratz to Utah for finishing the regular season at 8-4. Sounds like they overachieved the expectations with their hard schedule they had.. hopefully next year they can kill it. Good luck to them in the bowl game.. let me know where we´ll be playing and against who. Thanks Mom for getting that hard drive... you´re awesome. I was expecting you to like be asking me what I wanted you to do now, but you already sent it. What a baller. That will be sooo nice.... trust me. We have interviews with the president coming up on Wednesday. Anyways thanks for the pictures.. Teagan´s and Hayden´s pictures/drawings made me laugh. Love those ballers. The picture of Bella with the stuffed dog also gave me a good laugh.. she´s so freaking cute. Is she still getting fatter? Well I should probably go... gotta put in a bunch of numbers... so fun right? Haha anyways thanks for everything and I´ll talk to you all next week!!! NEILSON OUT!!!!!!
Friday, December 5, 2014
Just chillin in Chillan... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEAGS!!!!
November 24, 2014
Hello everybody! Thanks for all the letters and everything. I´m doing well here in my new sector. Mom, to answer your question, yes I am still zone leader.. senior zone leader that is now. I´m enjoying being with Elder Sperry.. it´s brought back a lot of memories from good old Jordan High. We have a huge zone.. a ton of missionaries and it´s a lot of work. I´m so tired. Like for reals haha. Anyways we´re just working hard doing what we can. We have some good investigators as of right now. A few of them had not been accepting baptism dates for awhile, but we got S, a lady that´s like 80 to accept a date for this Saturday, She had been still drinking tea, so I think that would be the only thing that holds her back. We´re also teaching a guy named N, and the appointment we had he would not accept a baptism date. We talked with him, and then a couples days later, his girlfriend (a member) told us he had picked a date for December 13th. They say he´s pretty committed to that date so hopefully all goes well. The house I live in is probably the nicest one I´ve lived in. Now don´t start thinking it´s way nice, cuz compared to back home it´s a dump. But it´s bigger than my other houses and cleaner. We basically live in downtown Chillan. I think I like Concepcion better.. it´s more city like. It´s pretty hot here right now, and only going to get hotter. It´s all good though.. I just gotta wear a ton of sunscreen. The ward here is pretty sick.. we had close to 200 people in church, and it reminds me a lot of Santa Sabina. We live like 2 minutes away from the church so that´s nice too, just like Santa Sabina. Mom, here is what happened with that picture. The zone leader I replaced here (Elder F) finished his mission, and both his parents came to Chile to pick him up. They went to all his sectors and visited all the people. They came to church on Sunday here in Chillan, and afterwards he wanted to take a picture of us to send it to our parents. It was weird seeing him with his american parents here in Chile. Haha the Mom I could tell was kind of in culture shock. She said Chillan here was the least economically depressing area she had yet seen here. As I laughed, she was like, ¨was that a good way to put it?¨ Haha they´re from Huntsville, Utah or something like that.. I don´t remember. Anyways just to fill you in a little on that.
No, they don´t celebrate Thanksgiving here.. so we´ll just be doing the regular thing. Happy Birthday to Teagan.. can´t believe he´s 6. We played soccer today at our church, which was pretty fun. That´s all I can think of. As for our address. we live on a street named Arauco. Arauco 32B. We live right by a Homecenter Sodimac and Tottus, 2 giant stores. We have to open a white garage door type of thing, and walked towards the back to get to our house. Congratz to Utah for beating Stanford and then choking against Arizona. Good luck next week against Colorado. There´s a kid in this zone that was also in my last zone that´s going to play for Colorado. We always talk college football when we´re together. He´s huge. We were kicking a soccer ball and he told me I need to walk on somewhere as a punter. Haha he´s a cool kid. Anyways that´s about all I can think off.. sorry I´m just so freaking tired and have a horrible headache right now haha. But thanks for the letters, and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And also once again, Happy Birthday Teags, I love you!
Love you all!!!
Hello everybody! Thanks for all the letters and everything. I´m doing well here in my new sector. Mom, to answer your question, yes I am still zone leader.. senior zone leader that is now. I´m enjoying being with Elder Sperry.. it´s brought back a lot of memories from good old Jordan High. We have a huge zone.. a ton of missionaries and it´s a lot of work. I´m so tired. Like for reals haha. Anyways we´re just working hard doing what we can. We have some good investigators as of right now. A few of them had not been accepting baptism dates for awhile, but we got S, a lady that´s like 80 to accept a date for this Saturday, She had been still drinking tea, so I think that would be the only thing that holds her back. We´re also teaching a guy named N, and the appointment we had he would not accept a baptism date. We talked with him, and then a couples days later, his girlfriend (a member) told us he had picked a date for December 13th. They say he´s pretty committed to that date so hopefully all goes well. The house I live in is probably the nicest one I´ve lived in. Now don´t start thinking it´s way nice, cuz compared to back home it´s a dump. But it´s bigger than my other houses and cleaner. We basically live in downtown Chillan. I think I like Concepcion better.. it´s more city like. It´s pretty hot here right now, and only going to get hotter. It´s all good though.. I just gotta wear a ton of sunscreen. The ward here is pretty sick.. we had close to 200 people in church, and it reminds me a lot of Santa Sabina. We live like 2 minutes away from the church so that´s nice too, just like Santa Sabina. Mom, here is what happened with that picture. The zone leader I replaced here (Elder F) finished his mission, and both his parents came to Chile to pick him up. They went to all his sectors and visited all the people. They came to church on Sunday here in Chillan, and afterwards he wanted to take a picture of us to send it to our parents. It was weird seeing him with his american parents here in Chile. Haha the Mom I could tell was kind of in culture shock. She said Chillan here was the least economically depressing area she had yet seen here. As I laughed, she was like, ¨was that a good way to put it?¨ Haha they´re from Huntsville, Utah or something like that.. I don´t remember. Anyways just to fill you in a little on that.
No, they don´t celebrate Thanksgiving here.. so we´ll just be doing the regular thing. Happy Birthday to Teagan.. can´t believe he´s 6. We played soccer today at our church, which was pretty fun. That´s all I can think of. As for our address. we live on a street named Arauco. Arauco 32B. We live right by a Homecenter Sodimac and Tottus, 2 giant stores. We have to open a white garage door type of thing, and walked towards the back to get to our house. Congratz to Utah for beating Stanford and then choking against Arizona. Good luck next week against Colorado. There´s a kid in this zone that was also in my last zone that´s going to play for Colorado. We always talk college football when we´re together. He´s huge. We were kicking a soccer ball and he told me I need to walk on somewhere as a punter. Haha he´s a cool kid. Anyways that´s about all I can think off.. sorry I´m just so freaking tired and have a horrible headache right now haha. But thanks for the letters, and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And also once again, Happy Birthday Teags, I love you!
Love you all!!!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
¡Me voy a Chillán!
November 17, 2014
Hey everyone! Here we are another week down.. yes Mom the weeks are flying by. it´s crazy. Well yes we did have changes today, and I will be leaving! I will be going to Chillan.. to a place called Dieciocho (Eighteen). Apparently it´s a sick ward. It´ll probably be a lot like Santa Sabina. And guess who my companion will be? Hahaha it´s crazy.. but Elder Ryan Sperry. Guess what high school he went to? Yep, he´s a Beetdigger. Haha we know each other really well, so that should be fun. I´m actually way excited. Anyways there´s a ton of changes that happened this transfer. It´s kind of crazy.. a ton of people are going home and there were a ton of changes. Two missionaries from my zone now will also be going to be new zone, and Elder C, my companion in Santa Sabina, is a district leader there. We get along well, so I´m actually excited for this change. The only thing is................ Chillan IS SO HOT. Oh my gosh like for reals it´s like an oven there. That´s about all the information I can give you Mom.. I will basically live in downtown Chillan, and I heard the house is pretty decent and big. And I´ll live with 2 other elders from Utah, and one from Mexico. I´ll be able to give you some more information next week obviously. This week was a little slow.. the only good thing really is J and his son. We had such an awesome lesson with J. On Thursday we went to the church and played soccer with him and other people in the ward, and Saturday morning we had the lesson. We talked again about the Word of Wisdom, as he´s had a problem in his life with it. He said a lot of awesome things. He said that he knew the Word of Wisdom was real and true. He said when we were all playing soccer, ¨even the worst player was running around like a crazy man without getting tired.¨ He also said he has stopped drinking coffee, and has seen a big difference. He used to smoke, go out to party, and nothing mattered to him. His wife told him how much he has changed, and how much she loves it that he has been sharing with us, because she is so much happier with him. He´s still drinking a little bit of tea, but said he is going to stop. He´s such a great investigator, and I know he will be getting baptized. He will also be on of the best converts in the mission, and I´m sure of that. I won´t be here to see his baptism, but I feel good because I´ve been teaching him for 5 months and I´ve seen how much he´s progressed. He was asking what happens after baptism, so I have a feeling pretty soon here he´ll finally decide to just do it. The wife too, in time, will probably get baptized. She´s really cool and receptive as well, but just works every weekend. Other than that, the week was a little slower. We knocked a lot of doors and found like 3 new people, but probably won´t progress. That´s about it for the updates for this week.
I´m a little disappointed I didn´t get a score update on the Utah game.. I was definitely excited and anticipating to see how it went, but it´s all good haha. Yeah Mom, I knew there was an MTC here, I think it´s actually been here awhile. Hayden and Teagan are gonna play junior jazz!?!? Haha oh my gosh what ballers. I´ll miss the majority of the season, but that´s awesome. I´m gonna practice with them when I get back :) I enjoyed the pictures Brian sent me.. straight up ballers for reals. Guess what else this transfer has in store? Thanksgiving is this week right?! If so, Happy Thanksgiving and good luck Black Friday shopping. But even better.. CHRISTMAS!! I´m excited. Anyways not much more to update you guys on. I forgot my notebook of dreams because it´s already packed away, but next week! I love you all and I¨ll talk to you guys next week!!! :)
Hey everyone! Here we are another week down.. yes Mom the weeks are flying by. it´s crazy. Well yes we did have changes today, and I will be leaving! I will be going to Chillan.. to a place called Dieciocho (Eighteen). Apparently it´s a sick ward. It´ll probably be a lot like Santa Sabina. And guess who my companion will be? Hahaha it´s crazy.. but Elder Ryan Sperry. Guess what high school he went to? Yep, he´s a Beetdigger. Haha we know each other really well, so that should be fun. I´m actually way excited. Anyways there´s a ton of changes that happened this transfer. It´s kind of crazy.. a ton of people are going home and there were a ton of changes. Two missionaries from my zone now will also be going to be new zone, and Elder C, my companion in Santa Sabina, is a district leader there. We get along well, so I´m actually excited for this change. The only thing is................ Chillan IS SO HOT. Oh my gosh like for reals it´s like an oven there. That´s about all the information I can give you Mom.. I will basically live in downtown Chillan, and I heard the house is pretty decent and big. And I´ll live with 2 other elders from Utah, and one from Mexico. I´ll be able to give you some more information next week obviously. This week was a little slow.. the only good thing really is J and his son. We had such an awesome lesson with J. On Thursday we went to the church and played soccer with him and other people in the ward, and Saturday morning we had the lesson. We talked again about the Word of Wisdom, as he´s had a problem in his life with it. He said a lot of awesome things. He said that he knew the Word of Wisdom was real and true. He said when we were all playing soccer, ¨even the worst player was running around like a crazy man without getting tired.¨ He also said he has stopped drinking coffee, and has seen a big difference. He used to smoke, go out to party, and nothing mattered to him. His wife told him how much he has changed, and how much she loves it that he has been sharing with us, because she is so much happier with him. He´s still drinking a little bit of tea, but said he is going to stop. He´s such a great investigator, and I know he will be getting baptized. He will also be on of the best converts in the mission, and I´m sure of that. I won´t be here to see his baptism, but I feel good because I´ve been teaching him for 5 months and I´ve seen how much he´s progressed. He was asking what happens after baptism, so I have a feeling pretty soon here he´ll finally decide to just do it. The wife too, in time, will probably get baptized. She´s really cool and receptive as well, but just works every weekend. Other than that, the week was a little slower. We knocked a lot of doors and found like 3 new people, but probably won´t progress. That´s about it for the updates for this week.
I´m a little disappointed I didn´t get a score update on the Utah game.. I was definitely excited and anticipating to see how it went, but it´s all good haha. Yeah Mom, I knew there was an MTC here, I think it´s actually been here awhile. Hayden and Teagan are gonna play junior jazz!?!? Haha oh my gosh what ballers. I´ll miss the majority of the season, but that´s awesome. I´m gonna practice with them when I get back :) I enjoyed the pictures Brian sent me.. straight up ballers for reals. Guess what else this transfer has in store? Thanksgiving is this week right?! If so, Happy Thanksgiving and good luck Black Friday shopping. But even better.. CHRISTMAS!! I´m excited. Anyways not much more to update you guys on. I forgot my notebook of dreams because it´s already packed away, but next week! I love you all and I¨ll talk to you guys next week!!! :)
Monday, November 10, 2014
ARE YOU SERIOUS UTAH?
The Utah game.. I honestly can´t believe it. What a joke. Haha it was so weird I just stared at the screen thinking.. what the freak?! Sounds like the game was closer than the final score indicates. That play probably changed the whole game. I didn´t get an update from Jon, so I imagine he´s still pretty upset.. haha oh my gosh I legit couldn´t believe that play.
J said he loves the church and everything, and that he´ll get baptized, but wants more time. He does know that changes are next week, and most likely I´ll be leaving. M, I don´t know.. we haven´t had too much contact with her. I enjoyed Dad´s letter tho.. that was really cool. We´ve helped her with a few of these things, but invited her to pray. She did, and said she felt it was false. She´s just been looking at stuff on the internet. She´s trying to destroy the Book of Mormon, and if she can´t, she´ll believe it. But thanks a lot dad.. If we have another visit with her, I´ll mention it. I don´t know, I´m a little frustrated with all the investigators here so I don´t wanna talk about it a whole lot haha. All the new people we find are just nice people, but the first thing they tell us is that they´ll never change their religion. People here in Chile just don´t like commitments, at all. Anyways, I´ve learned to have even more patience with them. This week was decent.. not a whole lot to report. It´s basically the same thing every week. I could tell you about some more people we´ve found but they won´t be progressing. Like I said, they are really closed in their ways and make sure that´s the first thing we know before they let us into their house. We had a zone activity today. We went to a church, played some sports, and had a barbecue. We played soccer, volleyball, and attempted to play some basketball. Well that´s about the weekly update. Way boring.. sorry I know. Yeah Mom, time is flying by.. I honestly can´t believe it. Well, okay, I feel like I´ve been gone for sooooo long, but at the same time not really. It´s weird. :) Just kidding. That´s not too good about Grandpa. Good thing they found it though.. I´m sure he´ll be fine and I´ll be praying for him for sure. Heather, I hope my notes were of help to you. By the way.. what week are we planning on going to Disneyland in May? I love Disneyland.. is it going to be a Holiday week or what? Just curious. Mom I´ve been thinking of my Christmas package because you wanted me to think of ideas. Did you for sure decide to send one or what? Because I know you were thinking of just saving the money for something else.. like clothes. I don´t know.. what do you think? Obviously I wouldn´t complain because I love packages.. but I don´t want you to feel like you´re obligated to send me a package just because it´s Christmas. Anyways, just a thought.. let me know. Well that´s about it for this week... thanks for the letters and everything. Still in shock about that play.. but good luck to Utah this week against Stanford. The next 2 years we don´t play Oregon or Stanford right? I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!
P.S. My dream- I finish my mission (I´m not trunky) and I get to the airport in Salt Lake. I got to my family and I´m excited, but I just casually say hi to them. After a minute, I realize I haven´t given even my mom a hug. They laugh and say how they thought I didn´t want to hug anyone because it was against the rules and they thought I was just a super square missionary. I laughed and told them I had just forgotten. On our way home in my mom´s new car, my mom pulls over and tells me I can drive the rest of the way home. I was so nervous because I hadn´t driven a a car in such a long time. I got in and started driving, and it was a little awkward and hard for me, but I got used to it. Then I woke up.
J said he loves the church and everything, and that he´ll get baptized, but wants more time. He does know that changes are next week, and most likely I´ll be leaving. M, I don´t know.. we haven´t had too much contact with her. I enjoyed Dad´s letter tho.. that was really cool. We´ve helped her with a few of these things, but invited her to pray. She did, and said she felt it was false. She´s just been looking at stuff on the internet. She´s trying to destroy the Book of Mormon, and if she can´t, she´ll believe it. But thanks a lot dad.. If we have another visit with her, I´ll mention it. I don´t know, I´m a little frustrated with all the investigators here so I don´t wanna talk about it a whole lot haha. All the new people we find are just nice people, but the first thing they tell us is that they´ll never change their religion. People here in Chile just don´t like commitments, at all. Anyways, I´ve learned to have even more patience with them. This week was decent.. not a whole lot to report. It´s basically the same thing every week. I could tell you about some more people we´ve found but they won´t be progressing. Like I said, they are really closed in their ways and make sure that´s the first thing we know before they let us into their house. We had a zone activity today. We went to a church, played some sports, and had a barbecue. We played soccer, volleyball, and attempted to play some basketball. Well that´s about the weekly update. Way boring.. sorry I know. Yeah Mom, time is flying by.. I honestly can´t believe it. Well, okay, I feel like I´ve been gone for sooooo long, but at the same time not really. It´s weird. :) Just kidding. That´s not too good about Grandpa. Good thing they found it though.. I´m sure he´ll be fine and I´ll be praying for him for sure. Heather, I hope my notes were of help to you. By the way.. what week are we planning on going to Disneyland in May? I love Disneyland.. is it going to be a Holiday week or what? Just curious. Mom I´ve been thinking of my Christmas package because you wanted me to think of ideas. Did you for sure decide to send one or what? Because I know you were thinking of just saving the money for something else.. like clothes. I don´t know.. what do you think? Obviously I wouldn´t complain because I love packages.. but I don´t want you to feel like you´re obligated to send me a package just because it´s Christmas. Anyways, just a thought.. let me know. Well that´s about it for this week... thanks for the letters and everything. Still in shock about that play.. but good luck to Utah this week against Stanford. The next 2 years we don´t play Oregon or Stanford right? I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!
P.S. My dream- I finish my mission (I´m not trunky) and I get to the airport in Salt Lake. I got to my family and I´m excited, but I just casually say hi to them. After a minute, I realize I haven´t given even my mom a hug. They laugh and say how they thought I didn´t want to hug anyone because it was against the rules and they thought I was just a super square missionary. I laughed and told them I had just forgotten. On our way home in my mom´s new car, my mom pulls over and tells me I can drive the rest of the way home. I was so nervous because I hadn´t driven a a car in such a long time. I got in and started driving, and it was a little awkward and hard for me, but I got used to it. Then I woke up.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Por qué soy tan guapo?
Hello everyone! Thanks Trevor for the update on the Utah game.What´s up with all these overtime and last second games this year? That´s crazy.. I´m still wondering about how many seniors will be leaving.. I heard from someone else that Dres had a knee injury and is out for the season.. will he be able to play next year? Just curious... haha. Anyways I enjoyed the pictures of Carter and Brielle in their costumes.. haha so awesome. I don´t know anything about Iron Patriot yet.. he in Iron Man 3? Man there´s a lot of movies I haven´t seen haha. Here.. apparently a few people do celebrate Halloween. A lot of the members here are like.. no mormons can´t celebrate Halloween.. that´s bad. Well I´ll get started on the weekly update. Nobody was able to come to church this week. J and B went to a different city for the weekend to be with the family, and well . We are going to try and set a baptismal date with J and B for Nov. 15th, and we think they can do it. However, he says he doesn´t like goals and dates and all that. He loves the church and the Book of Mormon, and I know he´ll get baptized. Before I leave though, I don´t know. That´s kind of frustrating to be honest with you.. but it´s all good. The other day we were all talking in our house (the 4 of us) and they all were giving me a hard time.. haha they said the President sends me to all the hard sectors. I was like nah... but then after I started thinking about it, and it´s kinda true.. with the exception of Linares. I took it as a compliment however. If that´s what the Lord wants, I´ll do it. My sectors yes have been difficult, but I love all of them. Just keep praying for J and B for sure. Yeah in 2 more weeks we do have changes, and I imagine I´ll be taking off to finish in my last sector. I would like to train one more time before I end, but we´ll see what happens. I honestly don´t know where I would be going. Anyways we had counsel today. Before going, the whole week we had to be studying Elder Bednar´s talk in the October Ensign about missionary and temple work. We all had to comment on it and study it in the counsel as well. Just so happens that´s where Jordy and Melissa have their picture. It was good though and the mission is trying to change the focus to really tie in the missionary work with the temple. That´s about it for this week... nothing too exciting or different happened. We´re still trying to find some new investigators. Mom, I hope you can recover quickly and feel 100%! I´ll still be praying for you. I had another question.. Mom you mentioned we´re going to Disneyland in May right? Is the whole family planning on going? I hope so.. that would be sick! I can´t think of anything else.. but I should probably get this letter sent off.. I love you all and I hope to see a lot of pictures and updates on the Utah game against Oregon next week!!! GO UTES!!!!!!!
Monday, October 27, 2014
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEESSSSSS!!!
Sounds like we´re having an exciting season!! Blackout game and a win right at the very end... oh my gosh I would have been going crazy. That´s so sick though.. hopefully we can keep it going. One question I had.. do we lose a lot of key seniors this season? By the way.. thanks for all the updates.. and pictures. Love the pictures! LET´S GO!!!!!! What is the latest with the press and everything? Utah been getting a lot of attention? What are they ranked now? Sounds like the schedule coming up is pretty tough.. it´s the toughest schdule in the country right? Keep the updates coming! Also, Happy Halloween this week! They don´t celebrate it here... but I´m sure my nephews are excited to get a ton of candy... looking forward to the pictures of their costumes!
Okay for the update for this week. J and his son came to church again. They are doing really well and the son loves going to primary! He´s going to have an interview with another missionary on Wednesday to see what´s holding him back from getting baptized. It´s frustrating.. he loves everything.. and I even left him Alma 32 to read and he absolutely LOVED it. He told me it´s exactly what he needed. But for some reason he just doesn´t want to accept a date to be baptized yet. We´ll see what happens on Wednesday. M.. she´s also frustrating me. Everytime we visit her she starts talking about the Sabbath Day and how she thinks it should be on Saturday. She´s also looking for the actual evidence of the Book of Mormon. She says the ruins of the people in the Book of Mormon aren´t here and all that crap. It´s like oh my gosh.. she doesn´t even have internet so how would she even know? And yes, they are here. But whatever. She´s still going to institute and reading and everything, but wasn´t able to come to church. We told her we can´t teach her anymore until she feels okay with what we´ve already taught here and that everything is true. We talked about how she needs to look for the spiritual message in the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it´s true, but continues to break down every word. It´s like first she´s trying to destroy it first and if she can´t, she´ll believe it. But oh well, just continue to pray for her. We did have a talent show, and it went really well. J and B came, and really enjoyed it. At the last second, the young men´s president asked my companion and me to participate in a skit. This is the guy that has been trying to lose weight because he wants to serve a mission (he´s 25). Anyways he´s awesome and so we hurried and practiced downstairs. Let me just say, we were the hit of the night. We did an awesome skit, and after Jehu told me that I should be in Hollywood. That reminds me, a dude the other day saw a picture of Jeremy and said he looks like Jim Carrey. Anyways, hahaha I probably can´t send the video, but here´s what we did. My companion was the director, and basically a kid cut his arm, went to his dad, and the dad called the ambulance. The ambulance came, and took him away. But, everytime, the director didn´t like it. He kept changing it.. ¨no no no, we need more emotion!¨ We did it 5 times... (faster, slower, more emotion, hysterical, and normal.) Anyways, I was the ambulance and paramedic, and I just went all out. Needless to say, people thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Elder K, the senior missionary, filmed it with my camera, and you can hear him laughing sooo hard. Haha he said he wants to send the video into the mission to put it in on the Christmas video. Anyways, it was really fun. Okay, here´s a crazy story. On Thursday morning, my companion and I left early in the morning to go to the gym. As we were walking, a car flies by the side of us, turns in front of us, and slams on the breaks. 3 people get out of the car, with like FBI vests on, and shout at us, ¨HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACKS AND GET UP AGAINST THE CAR!!¨ I just look at my companion and we´re like WHAT THE FREAK? So they grab us and put us against the car and we´re like hey we´re missionaries!!! Then they look at us, and are like where´s your identification?? I, of course, didn´t have my Chilean license with me because we were just walking to the gym, but my companion did. I just point at my missionary plaque... I have... this. He´s like, ¨That´s not official identification.¨ Well no duh sherlock but I´m not whoever you think I am. Hahaha as soon as they realized we were different people, they were so quick to get into the car and they just drove off. After, a cop car drove by with the lights off really fast. Hahaha my bad luck never fails me. This coming week I don´t think there´s anything too exciting.. but that´s about it for the update. Thanks for the family pictures.. the first one was the one I was talking about. I haven´t gotten my package yet, it hasn´t been there. We´re going again today, so we´ll if it´s there. Hopefully! As for the zone pictures, I don´t remember what I was laughing at haha. And the other one, I thought we were all doing a funny picture. Apparently I was hearing things because nobody else got that message.. Hahahaha :)
Alright, well that´s about it. Happy Halloween, and good luck to my Utes next week. Hopefully we can keep it rolling and keep winning. I love just my Utes and college football!!!! I love you all!!
I will now finish with one of my dreams: (This dream was from awhile ago.. so Grandma was in it)
¨We were walking along David Street and all of a sudden we feel a weird sensation as the whole ground shifts. All of a sudden a wave comes and gets our feet a little wet. All of a sudden we are on Gobernador (a street in Santa Sabina) and we´re running. I´m with my Mom, Dad, and Jon. We get to a random house and my grandma´s outside and asks my Dad to open to the door. My mom and dad think we´re far enough away and any more tsunami waves won´t reach us so they stay at my Grandma´s house. Jon and I think we should probahbly run further, so we do. We keep running running, and all of a sudden I see Jon look back, and his jaw just drops. I look back too, and there´s a GIGANTIC wave coming. He starts yelling at me that we need to turn left (there´s a small opening that leads to a different street) and we enter into a small bar. Then I woke up.¨
Yes I know Jon, I don´t know why you´re always in my dreams.
P.S. I just got really good news. The elder from Santa Sabina.. just showed me a picture and GUESS WHAT? N´s husband GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! Oh my gosh.. I´m so happy haha. She goes to church every week, and they´re doing really well. The husband looked really happy. Their daughter went to the baptism too and is interested. The elder is going to send me the picture so I´ll see if I can send it to you guys next week.
Zone Conference- October 2014
Trenton being a dork :)
Monday, October 20, 2014
BLACKOUT HELMETS.. SO SICK
10-20-2014
CONGRATZ TO MY UTES FOR THE BIG WIN IN CORVALLIS AGAINST OREGON ST. Double overtime.. sounds like it was an exciting game. Also sounds like the quarterbacks aren´t playing too hot.. but Booker sounds like a stud. Those blackout helmets are soooo legit. Wish I could see the game next week.. ugh. It´s okay. There´s always next season. I keep clicking on the picture to see the helmets cuz they´re that sick. Anyways, yes I am now 21, and it was basically just like any other day in the mission. At night, we just went and bought a bunch of dessert and stuff. I have not gotten my package yet.. maybe it´s in the office right now I don´t know. We´re heading there after so I´ll see. As for our investigators, J and his son B came to church on Sunday. M wasn´t able to because she had to go visit her parents. J and B are progressing well, but still aren´t positive about baptism. This week, we have an interview set up with another missionary to see what´s up. M already had her interview, and wow, it´s a long story. Actually, she went to institute on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and absolutely LOVES it. She´s a really good investigator, but her only 2 doubts are: She doesn´t know if the Book of Mormon is true, and she thinks the Sabbath Day is Saturday. She´s been reading the Book of Mormon and everything she should, but she just doesn´t recognize her answer yet. It´s frustrating actually. We don´t really know what else we can do for her, so we talked a little bit and we´re going to quit teaching her for a week or two, and just invite her to go to institute and church. We figured if we keep teaching her the same thing and keep asking her if she´s gotten her answer, she´s just going to keep saying the same thing and never make a decision. So, we plan on telling her that today or tomorrow... whenever we can meet with her. We´ve found a couple new investigators this week, but we´ve just had 1 visit with them so I´ll keep you updated if they end up progressing a little bit. With that family whose Dad passed away.. we´ve only been able to visit them once since he passed away. I did share with them that recently my Grandma passed away, and I shared my testimony with them. I actually had only told one person my grandma had passed away, and that was Elder A, but I felt like I should tell them and share my testimony. Dad, if you would like to send an email or a letter, feel free. I can translate it if you want, or Jon, it doesn´t matter. I think they would actually enjoy that. One other thing... can someone send me through email the family picture? The one where we´re all wearing blue or gray or whatever? I´d like to print one off to show to investigators and less actives.. that´s one idea I had. Anyways, remember the letter if you do decide to send it, should be sent pretty soon cuz I might only be here for a month more.. I don´t know how long it takes for letters to get here. Less time I´m sure.. but just in case. Meet the Mormons. I knew it was coming out because I read about it on the church website, but nobody here even knows about it. Like 3/4 of the members here don´t even know there´s a church website, so it´s not too surprising. The song Glorious... yeah I have it on my phone. There´s actually a song that sounds just like David Archuleta that I always wondered if it was him.. I can´t remember if it was that one though. Mom, I´m glad you´re starting to feel better. That was a cool story to hear about your prayer that was answered. It´s always cool to see us receive blessings, but they always come after demonstrating our faith. Thanks for keeping the blog updated.. one question is what´s going on with my facebook? You did end up figuring out the password right? That seems to be the case, since you sent me updates on what people had said. About picking me up..yeah if you guys just want to save up for Disneyland, it´s all good. Disneyland is dope. But if you´re like my companion´s grandpa, you guys can do the both. Okay I´ll explain that: Last night, my companion actually told me that his grandpa, 7 years ago, won Kino.. or basically the lottery. He wasn´t exactly sure how much money he won, but it was apparently at least over 5 million dollars. Haha oh my gosh... and his mom is the only child, and the grandpa has bought every single grandson a car, their own house, and just everything. Haha I was like oh my gosh how lucky can you get. Anyways, just a cool story. Tomorrow, we have zone conference which should be fun. Anyways we went to the gym today again.. we try to go Monday-Friday. There´s a personal trainer there.. she´s a chick and she always corrects me on how to do the exercises. Yes, my pride gets shot every time. Anyways I hope Brian had a good birthday and everyone else is doing well. We have a talent show this Friday combined with another ward in the stake, and it should be interesting. Not a whole lot of people from our ward are going to participate, but apparently the other ward a lot of people are going to. We aren´t going to be doing anything.. I don´t have any talents that consist of me standing on a stage and doing something cool, or else I would :) Sorry, this letter sucked. It´s hard every week thinking of new stuff that happened, when basically nothing new really does happen haha. RISE AND GRIND. Good luck to my Utes again this week against USC. One more win and we´re bowl eligible. LET´S GO. How´s the rest of the Pac-12 panning out? Well, if I think of anything else, I´ll hit you up with another email... but know that I love all of you and hope all is well!
Random p.s. I have a dream journal. I thought to make my letters more interesting, I could maybe include a dream I had this past week.
¨I had some type of device that I held onto to make me fly. It was so awesome. I was legit flying and it felt so good. I landed, then I took off again with a different device a little more uncomfortable. I was scared I was going to let go and fall. I saw a tree coming with a small gap with no branches or leaves, but I knicked a branch and it slowed me down a ton. I was miracously okay though. Then, I landed, and retook off, but very gently and softly. I barely got off the ground, but high enough that a dog kept barking and trying to bit my leg. I tried acting like I was bending down to grab a rock to throw at it, but it didn´t work. All I could do was keep kicking it in the face with my shoe. I saw Jon closeby, so I started screaming his name so he could help me. He didn´t. Then I woke up.¨
CONGRATZ TO MY UTES FOR THE BIG WIN IN CORVALLIS AGAINST OREGON ST. Double overtime.. sounds like it was an exciting game. Also sounds like the quarterbacks aren´t playing too hot.. but Booker sounds like a stud. Those blackout helmets are soooo legit. Wish I could see the game next week.. ugh. It´s okay. There´s always next season. I keep clicking on the picture to see the helmets cuz they´re that sick. Anyways, yes I am now 21, and it was basically just like any other day in the mission. At night, we just went and bought a bunch of dessert and stuff. I have not gotten my package yet.. maybe it´s in the office right now I don´t know. We´re heading there after so I´ll see. As for our investigators, J and his son B came to church on Sunday. M wasn´t able to because she had to go visit her parents. J and B are progressing well, but still aren´t positive about baptism. This week, we have an interview set up with another missionary to see what´s up. M already had her interview, and wow, it´s a long story. Actually, she went to institute on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and absolutely LOVES it. She´s a really good investigator, but her only 2 doubts are: She doesn´t know if the Book of Mormon is true, and she thinks the Sabbath Day is Saturday. She´s been reading the Book of Mormon and everything she should, but she just doesn´t recognize her answer yet. It´s frustrating actually. We don´t really know what else we can do for her, so we talked a little bit and we´re going to quit teaching her for a week or two, and just invite her to go to institute and church. We figured if we keep teaching her the same thing and keep asking her if she´s gotten her answer, she´s just going to keep saying the same thing and never make a decision. So, we plan on telling her that today or tomorrow... whenever we can meet with her. We´ve found a couple new investigators this week, but we´ve just had 1 visit with them so I´ll keep you updated if they end up progressing a little bit. With that family whose Dad passed away.. we´ve only been able to visit them once since he passed away. I did share with them that recently my Grandma passed away, and I shared my testimony with them. I actually had only told one person my grandma had passed away, and that was Elder A, but I felt like I should tell them and share my testimony. Dad, if you would like to send an email or a letter, feel free. I can translate it if you want, or Jon, it doesn´t matter. I think they would actually enjoy that. One other thing... can someone send me through email the family picture? The one where we´re all wearing blue or gray or whatever? I´d like to print one off to show to investigators and less actives.. that´s one idea I had. Anyways, remember the letter if you do decide to send it, should be sent pretty soon cuz I might only be here for a month more.. I don´t know how long it takes for letters to get here. Less time I´m sure.. but just in case. Meet the Mormons. I knew it was coming out because I read about it on the church website, but nobody here even knows about it. Like 3/4 of the members here don´t even know there´s a church website, so it´s not too surprising. The song Glorious... yeah I have it on my phone. There´s actually a song that sounds just like David Archuleta that I always wondered if it was him.. I can´t remember if it was that one though. Mom, I´m glad you´re starting to feel better. That was a cool story to hear about your prayer that was answered. It´s always cool to see us receive blessings, but they always come after demonstrating our faith. Thanks for keeping the blog updated.. one question is what´s going on with my facebook? You did end up figuring out the password right? That seems to be the case, since you sent me updates on what people had said. About picking me up..yeah if you guys just want to save up for Disneyland, it´s all good. Disneyland is dope. But if you´re like my companion´s grandpa, you guys can do the both. Okay I´ll explain that: Last night, my companion actually told me that his grandpa, 7 years ago, won Kino.. or basically the lottery. He wasn´t exactly sure how much money he won, but it was apparently at least over 5 million dollars. Haha oh my gosh... and his mom is the only child, and the grandpa has bought every single grandson a car, their own house, and just everything. Haha I was like oh my gosh how lucky can you get. Anyways, just a cool story. Tomorrow, we have zone conference which should be fun. Anyways we went to the gym today again.. we try to go Monday-Friday. There´s a personal trainer there.. she´s a chick and she always corrects me on how to do the exercises. Yes, my pride gets shot every time. Anyways I hope Brian had a good birthday and everyone else is doing well. We have a talent show this Friday combined with another ward in the stake, and it should be interesting. Not a whole lot of people from our ward are going to participate, but apparently the other ward a lot of people are going to. We aren´t going to be doing anything.. I don´t have any talents that consist of me standing on a stage and doing something cool, or else I would :) Sorry, this letter sucked. It´s hard every week thinking of new stuff that happened, when basically nothing new really does happen haha. RISE AND GRIND. Good luck to my Utes again this week against USC. One more win and we´re bowl eligible. LET´S GO. How´s the rest of the Pac-12 panning out? Well, if I think of anything else, I´ll hit you up with another email... but know that I love all of you and hope all is well!
Random p.s. I have a dream journal. I thought to make my letters more interesting, I could maybe include a dream I had this past week.
¨I had some type of device that I held onto to make me fly. It was so awesome. I was legit flying and it felt so good. I landed, then I took off again with a different device a little more uncomfortable. I was scared I was going to let go and fall. I saw a tree coming with a small gap with no branches or leaves, but I knicked a branch and it slowed me down a ton. I was miracously okay though. Then, I landed, and retook off, but very gently and softly. I barely got off the ground, but high enough that a dog kept barking and trying to bit my leg. I tried acting like I was bending down to grab a rock to throw at it, but it didn´t work. All I could do was keep kicking it in the face with my shoe. I saw Jon closeby, so I started screaming his name so he could help me. He didn´t. Then I woke up.¨
Sunday, October 19, 2014
AVA
10-13-2014
Well, where do I even start this letter? Wait I know.. how I usually do. Hello everyone! I don´t have a whole lot to update you guys on this week... it´s just been a regular week. First off, I want to thank you all for the letters and the happy birthday wishes. I even.. wait a minute... I just want you guys to hear me out on this one.... I even got a letter from the great JEREMY! I know I know... I´m pretty special :) just kidding Jeremy.. by the way.. that news about Angels and Airwaves coming out with a new CD got me soooooo excited you don´t even know. Soooo sick. I´m glad Grandma´s funeral went well. I wish I would have known my letter would have been read in the funeral.. I would have written more :/ I thought that was cool that all of Grandma and Grandpa´s grandsons served missions.. half of them in Chile. That´s awesome. I really wish I could have been at the funeral.. the memory Trevor shared about Grandma talking about Robyn´s brownies seriously made me laugh out loud. Oh my gosh... I remember that.. so freaking hilarious. Anyways I really enjoyed all the pictures... thanks for everything! Also Mom, I´m glad everything is going well for you now... that´s not good about the infection but I hope you´re starting to feel better now. Just know I´ve been praying for you every day. I can´t believe I turn 21 tomorrow. It hasn´t really hit me.. every day is basically the same here. I don´t think I´ll be doing anything special tomorrow.. just the usual. If I could I would bake a cake.. but I´m in Chile and we don´t have an oven haha. My last birthday in the mission.. time passes by so fast. Anyways for the update for this week. We had M, J, and his son B come to church this week. M is progressing really well. We fasted with her on Sunday so that she can receive an answer to her prayers. She has 2 doubts: She thinks the Sabbath Day is on Saturday and... she doesn´t know if the Book of Mormon is true. In fact, the other day she said after she prayed, she felt really bad, and felt that the Book of Mormon was false. I know it´s normal and part of the mission, but when she said that I almost freaked out because I was so offended hahaha. Freak.. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE. Anyways we´re working with her.. but she´s already been baptized twice by immersion in other churches so it´s been a little difficult. When she reads the Book of Mormon, every single word or the way it was phrased was suspicious to her. We´ve gotten her to try and focus on the MESSAGE and not the physical evidence of everything. Anyways, just pray for her. J and B are doing well too. J just says he wants to be sure sure before he gets baptized. He likes reading the Book of Mormon.. he´s a really smart guy. He said the other he doesn´t think the Book of Mormon could be false because of how well it is written and so sophisticated. Haha our investigators right now like physical evidence of stuff. E wasn´t able to come to church because her dad was a little sick. We´ve gained their trust a lot and we´re working well with them. I´ll keep you guys updated. We went and played soccer again today as a zone... after we went to the gym so I´m so worn out right now. By the way Mom, changes were last week. So Mom, in 5 more weeks we have changes again, and I imagine I´ll probably be leaving Laguna Redonda to finish in my last sector. Anyways I can´t think of much else to report.. we´re just working hard and I´m trying to keep my house under control haha. I also want to wish Brian a happy birthday on the 19th!!!!! Next Monday will be the 20th so I wanted to take advantage this week.. I hope all goes well and you enjoy the day! Freak.. Brian is such a baller. There´s also one more thing I need.... I got a letter from the mission asking for some information. I will forward it home so you guys can see.. although it´s in Spanish. Anyways I need to fill it out and send it back as soon as possible.. but I needed to ask you guys. Anyways...
It asks me for this information:
1. Where the nearest airport to my house is
2. Your email
3. The name of our stake and the name of stake president.
4. If you guys have moved since I´ve been gone. (Did they really ask me this?) Jk.... :)
AND....
5. If I´m going to be travelling with my parents.. or anyone else for that matter.I guess what I´m getting at is.... is anyone planning on coming to pick me up?
And that´s all the information that I need... Obviously I only need the full name of Kelly and whether or not anyone is coming to pick me up.. I know the rest... Duh.. I´m almost 21.
Anyways I love you all and again.. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!
One more thing that I forgot.. lately we have been visiting a family that attends church in a different city but live here. Their dad was the first branch president, and was a faithful member all his life. He had been sick for a long time.. and we always visited them because they have been devastated. About a week and a half ago.. the doctors said they could no longer do anything and that they just needed to wait until he passed away. He was in the house for awhile, and we visited him on Thursday night I believe. He wasn´t doing very well. He was just laying in his bed, hardly able to breath or talk. He manages to whisper... ¨blessing.¨ So... we gave him a blessing. The next morning, the daughter calls me thanking me for everything, and said that her dad had passed away during the night. She was crying.. and I felt so bad and didn´t really know what to tell her. Anyways, they´re a good family, and we´re going to be passing by to see how they´re doing.
Well, where do I even start this letter? Wait I know.. how I usually do. Hello everyone! I don´t have a whole lot to update you guys on this week... it´s just been a regular week. First off, I want to thank you all for the letters and the happy birthday wishes. I even.. wait a minute... I just want you guys to hear me out on this one.... I even got a letter from the great JEREMY! I know I know... I´m pretty special :) just kidding Jeremy.. by the way.. that news about Angels and Airwaves coming out with a new CD got me soooooo excited you don´t even know. Soooo sick. I´m glad Grandma´s funeral went well. I wish I would have known my letter would have been read in the funeral.. I would have written more :/ I thought that was cool that all of Grandma and Grandpa´s grandsons served missions.. half of them in Chile. That´s awesome. I really wish I could have been at the funeral.. the memory Trevor shared about Grandma talking about Robyn´s brownies seriously made me laugh out loud. Oh my gosh... I remember that.. so freaking hilarious. Anyways I really enjoyed all the pictures... thanks for everything! Also Mom, I´m glad everything is going well for you now... that´s not good about the infection but I hope you´re starting to feel better now. Just know I´ve been praying for you every day. I can´t believe I turn 21 tomorrow. It hasn´t really hit me.. every day is basically the same here. I don´t think I´ll be doing anything special tomorrow.. just the usual. If I could I would bake a cake.. but I´m in Chile and we don´t have an oven haha. My last birthday in the mission.. time passes by so fast. Anyways for the update for this week. We had M, J, and his son B come to church this week. M is progressing really well. We fasted with her on Sunday so that she can receive an answer to her prayers. She has 2 doubts: She thinks the Sabbath Day is on Saturday and... she doesn´t know if the Book of Mormon is true. In fact, the other day she said after she prayed, she felt really bad, and felt that the Book of Mormon was false. I know it´s normal and part of the mission, but when she said that I almost freaked out because I was so offended hahaha. Freak.. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE. Anyways we´re working with her.. but she´s already been baptized twice by immersion in other churches so it´s been a little difficult. When she reads the Book of Mormon, every single word or the way it was phrased was suspicious to her. We´ve gotten her to try and focus on the MESSAGE and not the physical evidence of everything. Anyways, just pray for her. J and B are doing well too. J just says he wants to be sure sure before he gets baptized. He likes reading the Book of Mormon.. he´s a really smart guy. He said the other he doesn´t think the Book of Mormon could be false because of how well it is written and so sophisticated. Haha our investigators right now like physical evidence of stuff. E wasn´t able to come to church because her dad was a little sick. We´ve gained their trust a lot and we´re working well with them. I´ll keep you guys updated. We went and played soccer again today as a zone... after we went to the gym so I´m so worn out right now. By the way Mom, changes were last week. So Mom, in 5 more weeks we have changes again, and I imagine I´ll probably be leaving Laguna Redonda to finish in my last sector. Anyways I can´t think of much else to report.. we´re just working hard and I´m trying to keep my house under control haha. I also want to wish Brian a happy birthday on the 19th!!!!! Next Monday will be the 20th so I wanted to take advantage this week.. I hope all goes well and you enjoy the day! Freak.. Brian is such a baller. There´s also one more thing I need.... I got a letter from the mission asking for some information. I will forward it home so you guys can see.. although it´s in Spanish. Anyways I need to fill it out and send it back as soon as possible.. but I needed to ask you guys. Anyways...
It asks me for this information:
1. Where the nearest airport to my house is
2. Your email
3. The name of our stake and the name of stake president.
4. If you guys have moved since I´ve been gone. (Did they really ask me this?) Jk.... :)
AND....
5. If I´m going to be travelling with my parents.. or anyone else for that matter.I guess what I´m getting at is.... is anyone planning on coming to pick me up?
And that´s all the information that I need... Obviously I only need the full name of Kelly and whether or not anyone is coming to pick me up.. I know the rest... Duh.. I´m almost 21.
Anyways I love you all and again.. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!
One more thing that I forgot.. lately we have been visiting a family that attends church in a different city but live here. Their dad was the first branch president, and was a faithful member all his life. He had been sick for a long time.. and we always visited them because they have been devastated. About a week and a half ago.. the doctors said they could no longer do anything and that they just needed to wait until he passed away. He was in the house for awhile, and we visited him on Thursday night I believe. He wasn´t doing very well. He was just laying in his bed, hardly able to breath or talk. He manages to whisper... ¨blessing.¨ So... we gave him a blessing. The next morning, the daughter calls me thanking me for everything, and said that her dad had passed away during the night. She was crying.. and I felt so bad and didn´t really know what to tell her. Anyways, they´re a good family, and we´re going to be passing by to see how they´re doing.
Grandma Neilson's funeral program
10-10-2014
Trenton was an honorary pallbearer
Again, I love you Grandma Neilson!
10-6-2014
Hey everyone. How are you all? I hope all is well. The President let me know Saturday night after priesthood session that Grandma had passed away. I´m sad.. and yes it´s hard. I was thinking as I neared the end of my mission that I would get to see her again, but she was needed somewhere else at this time. I know like you said Mom, she´s happy know because she´s free from that mental bondage she was in. One question I have now is how´s grandpa doing? I was thinking about him the other day. How´s his health? I hope he´s doing okay. I don´t know why, but the other day I got the urge just to sit down with him and take a pen and a notebook, and learn more about his life. I think that would be cool. Anyways tell him that I love him and am praying for him. Thanks for sending the obituary.. I enjoyed reading it. Man, I wish I could be at the funeral. I think that´s the hardest thing.. just knowing I can´t be with everyone right now. How´s Dad doing? Well, this week was a little tough for me, but something that helped me and will continue to help me is thinking about how other people need this knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I know Grandma is watching me and wanting me to continue to work hard, and not feel bad. I just imagine her so happy right now feeling relieved from her pains, and being with her loved ones on the other side.
General Conference was awesome. I received an answer to all 3 of my questions I had which was cool. I was able to watch it in English with the other people in my zone, and also with the President for the priesthood session. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you guys all did too. I´m glad Mom, that you were able to write down some questions, and that you received your answers. "I" did end up getting baptized, so that was cool. I´m glad he was able to receive his answer and decided to make the decision. For the general conference, we had a special goal for the zone. We taught zone class last week, and we put the goal to have 20 investigators attend general conference with a baptismal date. For the past 3-4 weeks, we´ve had about 3 or 4 investigators in total in church with a date. This goal was really high, but we were determined to elevate the faith of the missionaries here. Being in this zone (known as the toughest zone in the mission) sometimes gets to missionaries and they think it´s impossible. The President and his wife actually came to the class, and they loved the goal we put. We said if we got the goal, we would make a really nice breakfast for the whole zone. The President loved it so much, that he said if we got the goal, we could do the breakfast in his house. Everyone worked their butts off this week, but we weren´t quite able to reach the goal. We had the people to do it, but at the end some people just weren´t able to come. We did however, improve a ton. We had 11 people in General Conference with a baptismal date. We, in our sector, had 4. M, J and his son B, and E. B is now 8 (birthday was on October 1st) and E is now 9 (daughter of a less active). M went to the Saturday afternoon session, and the other 3 the Sunday afternoon session. It seemed like for exactly what each person needed, they just so happened to go to the right session. It´s awesome how that all ¨just worked out¨ Anyways we gotta keep working hard to make sure we as a zone can keep bringing these people to church. This morning, the President came to our house to bring us muffins as a thanks for all our efforts this week. He actually went to every house in the zone to give muffins to the missionaries, which was awesome. I love the President and his wife... they´re such good people. As for changes this week, I will be staying here in Laguna Redonda. My companion as well, will be staying. Elder A will be leaving, and a Chilean will be replacing him. With my journal, I have been horrible. I sometimes write for days in the past to try and catch up, but after a long day I just do not feel like writing in it. It sucks.. because I know I will want to look back on it like you said. For now, I will put the goal to be good at writing in my journal. Also, I´ll have all the letters I´ve written home, so that should be good. Well Mom, good luck in your surgery. I´ve been praying for you so that all goes well, and will continue to pray for you. Thanks for everything, and let me know if there´s anything I can do for you guys. I thought it was cool about Robyn´s baby girl... Grandma really did love babies. She always said,¨Well isn´t he just the cutest little thing?¨ Like you said, she probably went right there when she got there. Well family, I love you all and hope all is well. I can´t be at the funeral, but just know that I wish I could and I´ll be thinking of you guys and Grandma. Once again, tell Grandpa that I love him and miss him. I love you all!!
Hey everyone. How are you all? I hope all is well. The President let me know Saturday night after priesthood session that Grandma had passed away. I´m sad.. and yes it´s hard. I was thinking as I neared the end of my mission that I would get to see her again, but she was needed somewhere else at this time. I know like you said Mom, she´s happy know because she´s free from that mental bondage she was in. One question I have now is how´s grandpa doing? I was thinking about him the other day. How´s his health? I hope he´s doing okay. I don´t know why, but the other day I got the urge just to sit down with him and take a pen and a notebook, and learn more about his life. I think that would be cool. Anyways tell him that I love him and am praying for him. Thanks for sending the obituary.. I enjoyed reading it. Man, I wish I could be at the funeral. I think that´s the hardest thing.. just knowing I can´t be with everyone right now. How´s Dad doing? Well, this week was a little tough for me, but something that helped me and will continue to help me is thinking about how other people need this knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I know Grandma is watching me and wanting me to continue to work hard, and not feel bad. I just imagine her so happy right now feeling relieved from her pains, and being with her loved ones on the other side.
General Conference was awesome. I received an answer to all 3 of my questions I had which was cool. I was able to watch it in English with the other people in my zone, and also with the President for the priesthood session. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you guys all did too. I´m glad Mom, that you were able to write down some questions, and that you received your answers. "I" did end up getting baptized, so that was cool. I´m glad he was able to receive his answer and decided to make the decision. For the general conference, we had a special goal for the zone. We taught zone class last week, and we put the goal to have 20 investigators attend general conference with a baptismal date. For the past 3-4 weeks, we´ve had about 3 or 4 investigators in total in church with a date. This goal was really high, but we were determined to elevate the faith of the missionaries here. Being in this zone (known as the toughest zone in the mission) sometimes gets to missionaries and they think it´s impossible. The President and his wife actually came to the class, and they loved the goal we put. We said if we got the goal, we would make a really nice breakfast for the whole zone. The President loved it so much, that he said if we got the goal, we could do the breakfast in his house. Everyone worked their butts off this week, but we weren´t quite able to reach the goal. We had the people to do it, but at the end some people just weren´t able to come. We did however, improve a ton. We had 11 people in General Conference with a baptismal date. We, in our sector, had 4. M, J and his son B, and E. B is now 8 (birthday was on October 1st) and E is now 9 (daughter of a less active). M went to the Saturday afternoon session, and the other 3 the Sunday afternoon session. It seemed like for exactly what each person needed, they just so happened to go to the right session. It´s awesome how that all ¨just worked out¨ Anyways we gotta keep working hard to make sure we as a zone can keep bringing these people to church. This morning, the President came to our house to bring us muffins as a thanks for all our efforts this week. He actually went to every house in the zone to give muffins to the missionaries, which was awesome. I love the President and his wife... they´re such good people. As for changes this week, I will be staying here in Laguna Redonda. My companion as well, will be staying. Elder A will be leaving, and a Chilean will be replacing him. With my journal, I have been horrible. I sometimes write for days in the past to try and catch up, but after a long day I just do not feel like writing in it. It sucks.. because I know I will want to look back on it like you said. For now, I will put the goal to be good at writing in my journal. Also, I´ll have all the letters I´ve written home, so that should be good. Well Mom, good luck in your surgery. I´ve been praying for you so that all goes well, and will continue to pray for you. Thanks for everything, and let me know if there´s anything I can do for you guys. I thought it was cool about Robyn´s baby girl... Grandma really did love babies. She always said,¨Well isn´t he just the cutest little thing?¨ Like you said, she probably went right there when she got there. Well family, I love you all and hope all is well. I can´t be at the funeral, but just know that I wish I could and I´ll be thinking of you guys and Grandma. Once again, tell Grandpa that I love him and miss him. I love you all!!
Message from President Arrington
10-4-2014
We let Trenton know via email to his Mission President, about his Grandma Neilson's passing. We were so appreciative of President Arrington's kind words of sympathy, as well as the great words he had to say about Trenton.
Dear Brother and Sister Neilson,
Thank you so much for letting us know. We extend our sincere sympathy and love to you and your family at this difficult time.
We mentioned to Elder Neilson on Thursday the update you had given us last week. As you mentioned, it was not a surprise to him. He said he knew she would be in a much better place and much better off if she were to pass on to the other side of the veil.
We will let him know in person this afternoon or evening and then will let you know how he is doing, if that would be OK. If he feels he would like to talk with you we can let him call you as well.
Thank you so much for sharing Elder Neilson with us. He is such a wonderful missionary and a great leader. He is assigned to a zone where we need leaders with faith, determination and excitement for the work. He possesses all of those qualities.
Once again, we are sorry for your loss and our prayers are with you.
Love,
President and Sister Arrington
Later on that night:
Brother and Sister Neilson
I spoke with Elder Neilson earlier this evening and let him know. He wanted you to know that he is doing OK. He was prepared for the news. He said he will write you on Monday.
Please let us know if there is anything more we can do.
Presidente Kent J. Arrington
We let Trenton know via email to his Mission President, about his Grandma Neilson's passing. We were so appreciative of President Arrington's kind words of sympathy, as well as the great words he had to say about Trenton.
Dear Brother and Sister Neilson,
Thank you so much for letting us know. We extend our sincere sympathy and love to you and your family at this difficult time.
We mentioned to Elder Neilson on Thursday the update you had given us last week. As you mentioned, it was not a surprise to him. He said he knew she would be in a much better place and much better off if she were to pass on to the other side of the veil.
We will let him know in person this afternoon or evening and then will let you know how he is doing, if that would be OK. If he feels he would like to talk with you we can let him call you as well.
Thank you so much for sharing Elder Neilson with us. He is such a wonderful missionary and a great leader. He is assigned to a zone where we need leaders with faith, determination and excitement for the work. He possesses all of those qualities.
Once again, we are sorry for your loss and our prayers are with you.
Love,
President and Sister Arrington
Later on that night:
Brother and Sister Neilson
I spoke with Elder Neilson earlier this evening and let him know. He wanted you to know that he is doing OK. He was prepared for the news. He said he will write you on Monday.
Please let us know if there is anything more we can do.
Presidente Kent J. Arrington
Love you Grandma
9-29-2014
Today, more than anything, after hearing about the bad news, I would like to send a different type of letter home. I know everything happens in God´s time. It´s not what we want, or what someone else wants, it´s what God needs. We can´t be selfish, and we need to learn to trust in God. On my mission up until now, I have grown to love this Gospel and the knowledge it brings. The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is one of the things I treasure the most. I´m big on the family, as I love all of you guys so much, and I´m forever grateful to have the opportunity to live with each and every one of you forever. Before coming to this earth, we know we all lived with our Father in Heaven. We did not have bodies, but we all knew each other. We were not able to progress there, and that´s why we are here on the earth. God sent us to here to receive a body, and to pass through many trials and afflictions. As I´m sure all of you know, this life is not easy. In the eternal scheme of things, we are here for about 4 minutes.. such a short amount of time. However, these 4 minutes we have here are so very important. We must learn to submit to God´s will, and to keep his commandments. We must have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and ENDURE to the end. The end of what? Not only this life, but to the END. God knew we would make mistakes, so he provided the perfect plan for us. His Son. Jesus Christ was sent to the earth to establish the church, leave us his teachings, and atone for our sins. We will never ever fully understand what he did for us. What we do know however, is that he suffered every single pain, affliction, and temptation that we have felt, so that we can repent and be clean from our sins. We know very well, that these 4 minutes at some point, must come to an end. It is sad, yes, but if we can understand the whole plan that our Father in Heaven has provided for us, we will be able to keep moving forward with that end goal in mind: Eternal life with our families in the presence of God. Something incredible is that we will all be resurrected. It does not matter what decisions we make in this life, it is a free gift from God. Every single person will have a perfect body. Nobody will have any scars, pains, cancer, alzheimers, or anything like that. What we will have though, is a knowledge of everything we did on the earth. If we have kept the commandments and have done what God asks of us, we will be judged according to that and live forever in the Celestial Kingdom. We don´t need to worry about the other kingdoms. All we have to do is worry about what we need to do here or what we need to change, so we can live eternally with our families and God. As we learn from one of my favorite scriptures that I have grown to love out here in D&C 14:7, we will have eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. I know the Plan of Salvation is true, and I know the happiness it brings to each and every one of us. I have seen it change lives, and it gives us a greater purpose on this earth. I know for a fact there is more after this life, and I´m so grateful for that.
I just want Grandma to know that I love her and she raised one heck of a son. I know when God calls her to go, she will be going to a better place, and a greater joy than she can imagine is awaiting her. I know it.
This past week was just a regular week. Nothing too exciting. M wasn´t able to come to church because she left town to go celebrate her Dad´s birthday. She is doing really well though. She says if she finds that the Book of Mormon agrees with the Bible, she´ll get baptized. I´m not too sure what her doubts are because our last 2 visits with her I had to go to some interviews. I went to go do an interview with a 20 year old kid from Ecuador on Friday. He had a baptismal date but the missionary told me he didn´t think he was ready. As I started the interview, he told me he no longer had the desires to get baptized. I talked with him for awhile, and he said he just didn´t feel like he needed to do it. We read some scriptures, and at the end, I left him a chapter to read from the Book of Mormon. I told him to read it, and pray about it after. I also helped him to recognize an answer to his prayers. I found out on Sunday from the other missionary, that he showed up to church. His name is "I" by the way. He went up to the missionary, told him he had read the chapter I left him, prayed, and that he wanted to get baptized. That made me happy and I´m glad he is going to make the decision.Anyways, we have changes next week, and we´re not sure what´s going to happen. I figured I would be with the argentines another change, but again the President told us today that he´s going to lower some zone leaders to train the new missionaries. With my comp only have 2 changes left, we think he might leave to go train. It would be weird because he´s only been here 1 change.. but it could happen. Or I could leave... it´s all up in the air. Elder A will probably be leaving too.. I´ve become really good friends with him. Anyways, I´ll let you guys know next week. The council thing was good today.. we talked about how to better work with the members. Then after, we went to go play some volleyball with all the leaders. Me and Hermana R were on the same team, and we killed it. Haha we just set it to each other all the time and just wrecked the other teams :) I don´t know what else happened this week. As for this coming week, I´m really excited for General Conference. Once again, I would like to invite you all to write down a list of questions to want answered while you watch the conference. Don´t forget the Saturday sessions.. they´re usually the best ;P Sounds like Utah Football hasn´t changed much.. choking in Pac-12 play. Freaking offense. Playing not to lose has killed them for the past freaking 5 years. I think maybe hiring a coach that plays to win and plays aggresive wouldn´t hurt. Oh well... maybe they can turn it around and make a bowl game. As for the packages Mom, whatever you decide to do I´m fine with. I definitely won´t complain about a package tho.. :) Anyways I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!
Today, more than anything, after hearing about the bad news, I would like to send a different type of letter home. I know everything happens in God´s time. It´s not what we want, or what someone else wants, it´s what God needs. We can´t be selfish, and we need to learn to trust in God. On my mission up until now, I have grown to love this Gospel and the knowledge it brings. The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is one of the things I treasure the most. I´m big on the family, as I love all of you guys so much, and I´m forever grateful to have the opportunity to live with each and every one of you forever. Before coming to this earth, we know we all lived with our Father in Heaven. We did not have bodies, but we all knew each other. We were not able to progress there, and that´s why we are here on the earth. God sent us to here to receive a body, and to pass through many trials and afflictions. As I´m sure all of you know, this life is not easy. In the eternal scheme of things, we are here for about 4 minutes.. such a short amount of time. However, these 4 minutes we have here are so very important. We must learn to submit to God´s will, and to keep his commandments. We must have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and ENDURE to the end. The end of what? Not only this life, but to the END. God knew we would make mistakes, so he provided the perfect plan for us. His Son. Jesus Christ was sent to the earth to establish the church, leave us his teachings, and atone for our sins. We will never ever fully understand what he did for us. What we do know however, is that he suffered every single pain, affliction, and temptation that we have felt, so that we can repent and be clean from our sins. We know very well, that these 4 minutes at some point, must come to an end. It is sad, yes, but if we can understand the whole plan that our Father in Heaven has provided for us, we will be able to keep moving forward with that end goal in mind: Eternal life with our families in the presence of God. Something incredible is that we will all be resurrected. It does not matter what decisions we make in this life, it is a free gift from God. Every single person will have a perfect body. Nobody will have any scars, pains, cancer, alzheimers, or anything like that. What we will have though, is a knowledge of everything we did on the earth. If we have kept the commandments and have done what God asks of us, we will be judged according to that and live forever in the Celestial Kingdom. We don´t need to worry about the other kingdoms. All we have to do is worry about what we need to do here or what we need to change, so we can live eternally with our families and God. As we learn from one of my favorite scriptures that I have grown to love out here in D&C 14:7, we will have eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. I know the Plan of Salvation is true, and I know the happiness it brings to each and every one of us. I have seen it change lives, and it gives us a greater purpose on this earth. I know for a fact there is more after this life, and I´m so grateful for that.
I just want Grandma to know that I love her and she raised one heck of a son. I know when God calls her to go, she will be going to a better place, and a greater joy than she can imagine is awaiting her. I know it.
This past week was just a regular week. Nothing too exciting. M wasn´t able to come to church because she left town to go celebrate her Dad´s birthday. She is doing really well though. She says if she finds that the Book of Mormon agrees with the Bible, she´ll get baptized. I´m not too sure what her doubts are because our last 2 visits with her I had to go to some interviews. I went to go do an interview with a 20 year old kid from Ecuador on Friday. He had a baptismal date but the missionary told me he didn´t think he was ready. As I started the interview, he told me he no longer had the desires to get baptized. I talked with him for awhile, and he said he just didn´t feel like he needed to do it. We read some scriptures, and at the end, I left him a chapter to read from the Book of Mormon. I told him to read it, and pray about it after. I also helped him to recognize an answer to his prayers. I found out on Sunday from the other missionary, that he showed up to church. His name is "I" by the way. He went up to the missionary, told him he had read the chapter I left him, prayed, and that he wanted to get baptized. That made me happy and I´m glad he is going to make the decision.Anyways, we have changes next week, and we´re not sure what´s going to happen. I figured I would be with the argentines another change, but again the President told us today that he´s going to lower some zone leaders to train the new missionaries. With my comp only have 2 changes left, we think he might leave to go train. It would be weird because he´s only been here 1 change.. but it could happen. Or I could leave... it´s all up in the air. Elder A will probably be leaving too.. I´ve become really good friends with him. Anyways, I´ll let you guys know next week. The council thing was good today.. we talked about how to better work with the members. Then after, we went to go play some volleyball with all the leaders. Me and Hermana R were on the same team, and we killed it. Haha we just set it to each other all the time and just wrecked the other teams :) I don´t know what else happened this week. As for this coming week, I´m really excited for General Conference. Once again, I would like to invite you all to write down a list of questions to want answered while you watch the conference. Don´t forget the Saturday sessions.. they´re usually the best ;P Sounds like Utah Football hasn´t changed much.. choking in Pac-12 play. Freaking offense. Playing not to lose has killed them for the past freaking 5 years. I think maybe hiring a coach that plays to win and plays aggresive wouldn´t hurt. Oh well... maybe they can turn it around and make a bowl game. As for the packages Mom, whatever you decide to do I´m fine with. I definitely won´t complain about a package tho.. :) Anyways I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!
GO UTES! 3-0
9-22-2014
Hello everyone! How´s it all going? I´m here once again just to let you all know. By the way, CONGRATZ to my Utes! Getting a W at the Big House. Sick. Okay so funny story here... Friday I was laying in my bed just relaxing when all of a sudden Elder A says, hey this kid looks like a nice returned missionary that just got married to a really good looking wife. I´m like let me see... then I get the Liahona.. and I start looking at the picture and I´m like..... WAIT A MINUTE.... THAT´S MY COUSIN!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha freaking Jordy Marshall and Melissa are in the Liahona. Elder A felt like the biggest idea and I was laughing soooooooooooo hard I can´t even explain it. I´m sure they knew they were going to be in there... anyways I don´t know if it´s in the Ensign or what not too but it was so random. Haha it´s a decent sized picture too. If it´s not in the Ensign or you can´t find it, I´ll take a picture next week. Okay now that I finally got to tell you guys that story, I´ll give you an update on the investigators. This week was a little difficult with all the 18th of September. A lot of people weren´t home and what not, but we were able to bring 2 investigators to church. One was M, and the other is named M. M is Evangelico.. Evangelist? I don´t know. Anyways we´ll keep working with her but mostly M is progressing the most. She has already been baptized twice, but she is in the process of praying to see if she needs to get baptized again. She´s awesome, and is loving coming to church. Her idea was to make fliers for P and post them everyone, so we just need to find out the prices of the haircuts and she´s going to do it. A couple of members came up to us and mentioned that from the 1st time she came to church, they felt like she would get baptized and be a really good member. Let´s hope they´re right.. we just gotta keep working with her. J has been out of town for like a week, but gets back today. We´re going to go visit him tomorrow and see what´s up. We´ve had contact with him on the phone, and he seems to be doing fine. Other than that, we are still working hard to find more investigators.
Anyways, the 18th of September was pretty fun. We went to the activity for 2 hours, and watched some dances. I feel like last year in Yungay was better, just because it was a little town and everything was going on in the plaza. But it was good, and we ate a barbecue for lunch. We´ve eaten a ton of empanadas.. and mote con huesillo. It´s like stewed corn with a peach in a peach juice kinda. It´s pretty good actually.. but I miss the desserts from home.. much better :) Haha actually the other day, a guy opened his door after we knocked, and started yelling at me telling me that he doesn´t associate with people from the United States, because they´re of the devil. I was like oh that´s cool, but I´m from Canada. He was like.. oh okay you´re okay then. Hahahaha my comp was laughing so hard.
What else.... I don´t know. Mom, about the package for Christmas.. I was thinking the same thing. Just save the money for some clothes or a phone or something.. I don´t know. For my birthday, I don´t really NEED anything. It´s always nice getting a package, but if you also wanna save the money it´s all good.. I won´t mind. I loved the pictures of the Chilean celebration.. another day you´ll have to make some empanadas.. they´re so good. I´m sick of them now because we´ve eaten about 30 the past few days, but still. I also LOVED the videos Trevor sent me of the dance party... I freaking loved the Die Young video of them playing the drums. I love all them so much. CAN´T WAIT to hang out with them again. That´s too bad Tanner´s grandpa passed away... Tanner said he went downhill pretty fast.. :/ Thanks for the update on the extended family... that sucks we don´t really get together much anymore.. but I´m glad Grandpa has those people living with him and helping him out. I´m jealous you guys got to see Elder Holland speak at the rededication.. I´m excited for General Conference and know we will hear a lot of great talks. Anyways that´s all I can think of for now... if I think of anything else I´ll hit you guys up with another email. Oh by the way, we started hitting up the gym. I´m gonna be buying some protein today Mom since I wasn´t able to get the other stuff.. and it´s expired. We went today and I´m already sore haha. It´s like 30 bucks a month... is that cool? Figured I could afford to gain some weight ya know? :) Anyways I love you all so much.. and thanks for all the letters and updates. I´ll talk to you guys all next week!!
p.s. I´m glad the boys got their letters, and Dad for his birthday.
p.s.s. Hayden´s dance moves are so legit
p.s.s.s. Utah´s jerseys/helmets are SICK
Hello everyone! How´s it all going? I´m here once again just to let you all know. By the way, CONGRATZ to my Utes! Getting a W at the Big House. Sick. Okay so funny story here... Friday I was laying in my bed just relaxing when all of a sudden Elder A says, hey this kid looks like a nice returned missionary that just got married to a really good looking wife. I´m like let me see... then I get the Liahona.. and I start looking at the picture and I´m like..... WAIT A MINUTE.... THAT´S MY COUSIN!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha freaking Jordy Marshall and Melissa are in the Liahona. Elder A felt like the biggest idea and I was laughing soooooooooooo hard I can´t even explain it. I´m sure they knew they were going to be in there... anyways I don´t know if it´s in the Ensign or what not too but it was so random. Haha it´s a decent sized picture too. If it´s not in the Ensign or you can´t find it, I´ll take a picture next week. Okay now that I finally got to tell you guys that story, I´ll give you an update on the investigators. This week was a little difficult with all the 18th of September. A lot of people weren´t home and what not, but we were able to bring 2 investigators to church. One was M, and the other is named M. M is Evangelico.. Evangelist? I don´t know. Anyways we´ll keep working with her but mostly M is progressing the most. She has already been baptized twice, but she is in the process of praying to see if she needs to get baptized again. She´s awesome, and is loving coming to church. Her idea was to make fliers for P and post them everyone, so we just need to find out the prices of the haircuts and she´s going to do it. A couple of members came up to us and mentioned that from the 1st time she came to church, they felt like she would get baptized and be a really good member. Let´s hope they´re right.. we just gotta keep working with her. J has been out of town for like a week, but gets back today. We´re going to go visit him tomorrow and see what´s up. We´ve had contact with him on the phone, and he seems to be doing fine. Other than that, we are still working hard to find more investigators.
Anyways, the 18th of September was pretty fun. We went to the activity for 2 hours, and watched some dances. I feel like last year in Yungay was better, just because it was a little town and everything was going on in the plaza. But it was good, and we ate a barbecue for lunch. We´ve eaten a ton of empanadas.. and mote con huesillo. It´s like stewed corn with a peach in a peach juice kinda. It´s pretty good actually.. but I miss the desserts from home.. much better :) Haha actually the other day, a guy opened his door after we knocked, and started yelling at me telling me that he doesn´t associate with people from the United States, because they´re of the devil. I was like oh that´s cool, but I´m from Canada. He was like.. oh okay you´re okay then. Hahahaha my comp was laughing so hard.
What else.... I don´t know. Mom, about the package for Christmas.. I was thinking the same thing. Just save the money for some clothes or a phone or something.. I don´t know. For my birthday, I don´t really NEED anything. It´s always nice getting a package, but if you also wanna save the money it´s all good.. I won´t mind. I loved the pictures of the Chilean celebration.. another day you´ll have to make some empanadas.. they´re so good. I´m sick of them now because we´ve eaten about 30 the past few days, but still. I also LOVED the videos Trevor sent me of the dance party... I freaking loved the Die Young video of them playing the drums. I love all them so much. CAN´T WAIT to hang out with them again. That´s too bad Tanner´s grandpa passed away... Tanner said he went downhill pretty fast.. :/ Thanks for the update on the extended family... that sucks we don´t really get together much anymore.. but I´m glad Grandpa has those people living with him and helping him out. I´m jealous you guys got to see Elder Holland speak at the rededication.. I´m excited for General Conference and know we will hear a lot of great talks. Anyways that´s all I can think of for now... if I think of anything else I´ll hit you guys up with another email. Oh by the way, we started hitting up the gym. I´m gonna be buying some protein today Mom since I wasn´t able to get the other stuff.. and it´s expired. We went today and I´m already sore haha. It´s like 30 bucks a month... is that cool? Figured I could afford to gain some weight ya know? :) Anyways I love you all so much.. and thanks for all the letters and updates. I´ll talk to you guys all next week!!
p.s. I´m glad the boys got their letters, and Dad for his birthday.
p.s.s. Hayden´s dance moves are so legit
p.s.s.s. Utah´s jerseys/helmets are SICK
Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court
9-15-2014
Well, here I am.. dead tired. Haha we had a zone activity which was really fun today. We went to one of the only few churches in Chile that have a ¨gym¨ inside the church to play some sports. We played a little basketball, volleyball, and soccer. We just shot around before everyone got there, because nobody else really wanted to play basketball. Anyways it was soooo nice shooting inside. It was a carpet floor and I wouldn´t really say the hoops are actual hoops, but it´s all good. Then we played volleyball. My team KILLED it. I get really competitive and it was a nice change.. because I miss that :( It went well though but wow I´m out of shape. Okay so a little update for this week. On Saturday we had a mission wide service day. Our zone went to the cemetary here in Concepcion and cleaned up a little bit. There was a lot of evidence of the earthquake in 2010.. it was crazy. There were also like a bunch of locked up doors that lead to stairs that go beneath graves. I was in legit Call of Duty zombies, so I felt right at home. Just couldn´t find the mystery box or the Ray Gun.. but it´s all good. (Only Germs would understand that) Anyways I have a cool story from this week. Friday was a really long day... we had a lot of appointments that fell through and it just wasn´t a good day. At 9:20, 10 minutes before going into our house, we go to our last appointment in our apartment buildings.. Of course, it fell. My comp just sat down on the ground, and said let´s just go back a little early to start planning for the next day. I said no, we have 10 minutes left let´s go. So I start looking in my planner for any addresses we have of people we had talked to, and I find one. I had to convince my companion, but we went and knocked on a door. A lady opens up, and she´s crying. She said it was a shame we had to see her like that, but that she sometimes felt really alone. Anyways, we talked to her for a little bit outside, and wow, she´s awesome. She proceeds to tell us that she doesn´t drink, smoke, party, or live with someone in her apartment because she knows that´s not the right thing to do. Anyways, we set an appointment for Saturday. So Saturday, we go with a member, and she´s not there. We call her, and she tells us she was still working and to come back in 2 more hours. So, we pass by 2 hours later with a member, and she calls us and tells us she wasn´t going to make it. We invite her to church, and she says yes. So Sunday morning comes, and we go pick her up. She came to church, and she really liked it. In the Gospel Principes class, she wanted to give the prayer and was making a ton of dope comments. A recent convert named P that we´ve been visiting makes a comment about how she´s been having a tough time with her hair cutting business. I hear her say this every time we go over because she always complains about it. The church helped her out awhile, but then the bishop told her they couldn´t do it anymore. Anyways, Sunday afternoon, the investigator calls us and tells us that she has an idea to help P out. Anyways, we have an appointment tonight and we´ll see what happens. She´s really solid and we´re excited to keep working with her. We also found another good investigator, but some weekends she travels to Curanilahue, the same place J always travels to. Anyways, that´s pretty much been what´s up with this week.
I miss Elder S like none other. By the way, he wrote me and told me he never got a message from you on Facebook, and that he had already had his farewell... oh well. And yes, the C family came to give me my package yesterday! I was so excited to see that family. I miss them so much. M told me ¨Elder Neilson.. how in the world is your brother Jon still single?!¨ hahaha so there ya go Jon, if you want ya know ;) But I got my shoes, shocks and peach rings. The rest, I´m sure she wasn´t able to bring. I´m gonna go as long as I can before I wear my new shoes, but I have a feeling that will be pretty soon haha. Anyways Mom, yes I will probably clean the house a lot when I get home. I´ve just learned how awesome our house really is. You really should have Jeremy make you some completos. Mom, you should also try and make some chilean empanadas... they´re so good! Also, the interview went well. It was like a whole 10 seconds! He didn´t even ask about me, just other missonaries in the zone haha. That´s crazy Kayla is already going home. Went by fast. That´s exciting that Brian and Robyn are on a cruise.. I´m so jealous. how are the kids doing? Quick question... is Teagan just messing around when he says he didn´t remember Tanner from before or is that legit? If so.. that means he won´t remember me either haha. Booooooooo. (Teaskie throws chip at TV.. Gran Turismo) Remember that Teaskie? Hopefully everything goes well with Robyn.. Seems like everything will be fine if she just gets checks up every so often. I´ll keep praying for her. How´s Grandma and Grandpa doing? How´s all the relatives doing? Steve? Dave? Julie? What has everyone been up to? Brielle is getting kinda red hair like me? Haha that´s cool.. and that´s cool Carter is loving preschool. He has Mrs. King? Wow.. is she really still teaching? To answer Heather´s questions about less than 6 months.. there´s some times where I´m ready to be home (for example when I get frustrated with the people I live with), but other times where I love being a missionary and am not ready to come home (like finding M). That´s how the mission is. Anyways thanks for all your letters and everything... hope all goes well and you guys continue to do work!!! Love you!!!!!
Well, here I am.. dead tired. Haha we had a zone activity which was really fun today. We went to one of the only few churches in Chile that have a ¨gym¨ inside the church to play some sports. We played a little basketball, volleyball, and soccer. We just shot around before everyone got there, because nobody else really wanted to play basketball. Anyways it was soooo nice shooting inside. It was a carpet floor and I wouldn´t really say the hoops are actual hoops, but it´s all good. Then we played volleyball. My team KILLED it. I get really competitive and it was a nice change.. because I miss that :( It went well though but wow I´m out of shape. Okay so a little update for this week. On Saturday we had a mission wide service day. Our zone went to the cemetary here in Concepcion and cleaned up a little bit. There was a lot of evidence of the earthquake in 2010.. it was crazy. There were also like a bunch of locked up doors that lead to stairs that go beneath graves. I was in legit Call of Duty zombies, so I felt right at home. Just couldn´t find the mystery box or the Ray Gun.. but it´s all good. (Only Germs would understand that) Anyways I have a cool story from this week. Friday was a really long day... we had a lot of appointments that fell through and it just wasn´t a good day. At 9:20, 10 minutes before going into our house, we go to our last appointment in our apartment buildings.. Of course, it fell. My comp just sat down on the ground, and said let´s just go back a little early to start planning for the next day. I said no, we have 10 minutes left let´s go. So I start looking in my planner for any addresses we have of people we had talked to, and I find one. I had to convince my companion, but we went and knocked on a door. A lady opens up, and she´s crying. She said it was a shame we had to see her like that, but that she sometimes felt really alone. Anyways, we talked to her for a little bit outside, and wow, she´s awesome. She proceeds to tell us that she doesn´t drink, smoke, party, or live with someone in her apartment because she knows that´s not the right thing to do. Anyways, we set an appointment for Saturday. So Saturday, we go with a member, and she´s not there. We call her, and she tells us she was still working and to come back in 2 more hours. So, we pass by 2 hours later with a member, and she calls us and tells us she wasn´t going to make it. We invite her to church, and she says yes. So Sunday morning comes, and we go pick her up. She came to church, and she really liked it. In the Gospel Principes class, she wanted to give the prayer and was making a ton of dope comments. A recent convert named P that we´ve been visiting makes a comment about how she´s been having a tough time with her hair cutting business. I hear her say this every time we go over because she always complains about it. The church helped her out awhile, but then the bishop told her they couldn´t do it anymore. Anyways, Sunday afternoon, the investigator calls us and tells us that she has an idea to help P out. Anyways, we have an appointment tonight and we´ll see what happens. She´s really solid and we´re excited to keep working with her. We also found another good investigator, but some weekends she travels to Curanilahue, the same place J always travels to. Anyways, that´s pretty much been what´s up with this week.
I miss Elder S like none other. By the way, he wrote me and told me he never got a message from you on Facebook, and that he had already had his farewell... oh well. And yes, the C family came to give me my package yesterday! I was so excited to see that family. I miss them so much. M told me ¨Elder Neilson.. how in the world is your brother Jon still single?!¨ hahaha so there ya go Jon, if you want ya know ;) But I got my shoes, shocks and peach rings. The rest, I´m sure she wasn´t able to bring. I´m gonna go as long as I can before I wear my new shoes, but I have a feeling that will be pretty soon haha. Anyways Mom, yes I will probably clean the house a lot when I get home. I´ve just learned how awesome our house really is. You really should have Jeremy make you some completos. Mom, you should also try and make some chilean empanadas... they´re so good! Also, the interview went well. It was like a whole 10 seconds! He didn´t even ask about me, just other missonaries in the zone haha. That´s crazy Kayla is already going home. Went by fast. That´s exciting that Brian and Robyn are on a cruise.. I´m so jealous. how are the kids doing? Quick question... is Teagan just messing around when he says he didn´t remember Tanner from before or is that legit? If so.. that means he won´t remember me either haha. Booooooooo. (Teaskie throws chip at TV.. Gran Turismo) Remember that Teaskie? Hopefully everything goes well with Robyn.. Seems like everything will be fine if she just gets checks up every so often. I´ll keep praying for her. How´s Grandma and Grandpa doing? How´s all the relatives doing? Steve? Dave? Julie? What has everyone been up to? Brielle is getting kinda red hair like me? Haha that´s cool.. and that´s cool Carter is loving preschool. He has Mrs. King? Wow.. is she really still teaching? To answer Heather´s questions about less than 6 months.. there´s some times where I´m ready to be home (for example when I get frustrated with the people I live with), but other times where I love being a missionary and am not ready to come home (like finding M). That´s how the mission is. Anyways thanks for all your letters and everything... hope all goes well and you guys continue to do work!!! Love you!!!!!
Day of Service-cleaning up the cemetery in Concepcion
10-13-2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
2-0 UTAH
9-8-2014
Once again, Here I am at Ciber writing you guys another good old letter letting you know how I am. The individual days are long, but the weeks seem to go by really fast. Thanks Dad for the update on the Utah game.. if someone could also send me the final scores of the games, that would be cool too. Seems like they´ll have a good test in 2 weeks at the Big House. I remember last time we played there.. 2008. Brian Johnson did work that game.. so sick. I LOVE MY UTES! This week has been a little slow. My companion has been kinda sick.. and I have too. My cold is kind of lingering, but I´m still good to go. Yesterday my companion had to stay in the house, and so I left with Elder A, because his companion stayed in the house as well. The 2 of them are from Argentina. Neither of them will clean the house, so me and Elder A always do it. Mom, I think you´ll be excited to hear I´ve kind of turned into a clean freak.. haha. I´m used to living in a crappy house, but living in a crappy house when it´s dirty sucks. Anyways we´re still working with our investigators.. nobody was able to come to church. J sometimes travels out of town, and the rest just couldn´t. It´s been really tough to find new investigators. We talk to at least 200 NEW people every week just in the street, and of the 200 we maybe get about 15 addresses, 5 being fake, and maybe 0-3 that let us in their house the next time we pass, depending on the week. The people in the streets give us 1 of 4 excuses:
1. I´m in a hurry
2. I work all day every day (¨It´s a miracle that you found me today¨)
3. I´m never in my house (Then why do you even have a house?)
4. I´m not from around here
Then, we also knock on doors, but the majority of the time they give us 1 of 4 excuses:
1. I´m busy
2. I don´t live here
3.I´m taking care of the baby
4. We´re eating
One person I talked to the other day told me he was busy because he was WAITING for the bus. I was like ummmm what? Haha I thought you guys might enjoy seeing some of the excuses I hear all day, every day. But you just gotta keep working, because there´s always that one person that God is preparing that will be willing to do everything they need to. Anyways, last week we taught zone class after having our mission council for leaders. It went well and I think the missionaries all enjoyed the class. Also, the family that we always had nerf gun wars with came to visit me here. The dad´s parents are in my ward so they came to visit me in their house. (His dad is a former bishop and now less active). They decided to come see how I was doing so that was cool to see all their kids again. I also just heard from a missionary in Santa Sabina.. that N is doing really well. She goes to church every Sunday, and now her daughter and her husband are receiving the lessons. The husband has also been going to church. That was awesome news and I´m really happy for them. I think the daughter actually added me on Facebook. Anyways, we have interviews with the president tomorrow in his house so that should be good. We´ve also got the 18 of September coming up, which should also be fun. I don´t know if you remember, but that´s the 4th of July here. You guys should have Jeremy make you guys some completos... they´re really good :) I know Cole hated them, but I love them. I can´t think of much else that has happened this week. In about a month or so, we have General Conference, so I¨m getting excited for that. Haha that´s weird to say.. but like Brian says.. it´s like Christmas in the mission field. Quick question.. how are Jeremy and Staci doing? Haven´t heard too much lately but how are they enjoying married life? Mom, Melissa is back now, but I haven´t heard anything about my package. I just asked the missionaries in Santa Sabina to find out for me, so hopefully I can get it pretty soon. I´m in need of those new shoes.. haha :) Thanks for sending the article on the fleas... basically what they tell us to do here is spray our beds with Raid.. so that´s what I´ve been doing. It seems to have been helping a little bit. Oh, on Saturday, the assistants invited us to their apartment to have a barbecue. So my comp and I went over there and had a barbecue which was pretty good. They want us to start coming to the gym early in the mornings to lift, so we´re thinking about that. We were actually going to go today, but my comp is sick, so we´re going to wait. We need to find out prices and everything. There´s this guy in our ward that´s 25 and he´s been wanting to go on a mission, but he´s too overweight. We´ve put goals with him.. and he asked if we would be willing to go jogging with him. So, we and the other missionaries are planning on taking turns to go jogging with him to help him lose some weight. He´s a really cool guy and he doesn´t have too much time left, because of the age cut off. Anyways that´s about it for this week. I love you all and I hope you all enjoy your week!
Once again, Here I am at Ciber writing you guys another good old letter letting you know how I am. The individual days are long, but the weeks seem to go by really fast. Thanks Dad for the update on the Utah game.. if someone could also send me the final scores of the games, that would be cool too. Seems like they´ll have a good test in 2 weeks at the Big House. I remember last time we played there.. 2008. Brian Johnson did work that game.. so sick. I LOVE MY UTES! This week has been a little slow. My companion has been kinda sick.. and I have too. My cold is kind of lingering, but I´m still good to go. Yesterday my companion had to stay in the house, and so I left with Elder A, because his companion stayed in the house as well. The 2 of them are from Argentina. Neither of them will clean the house, so me and Elder A always do it. Mom, I think you´ll be excited to hear I´ve kind of turned into a clean freak.. haha. I´m used to living in a crappy house, but living in a crappy house when it´s dirty sucks. Anyways we´re still working with our investigators.. nobody was able to come to church. J sometimes travels out of town, and the rest just couldn´t. It´s been really tough to find new investigators. We talk to at least 200 NEW people every week just in the street, and of the 200 we maybe get about 15 addresses, 5 being fake, and maybe 0-3 that let us in their house the next time we pass, depending on the week. The people in the streets give us 1 of 4 excuses:
1. I´m in a hurry
2. I work all day every day (¨It´s a miracle that you found me today¨)
3. I´m never in my house (Then why do you even have a house?)
4. I´m not from around here
Then, we also knock on doors, but the majority of the time they give us 1 of 4 excuses:
1. I´m busy
2. I don´t live here
3.I´m taking care of the baby
4. We´re eating
One person I talked to the other day told me he was busy because he was WAITING for the bus. I was like ummmm what? Haha I thought you guys might enjoy seeing some of the excuses I hear all day, every day. But you just gotta keep working, because there´s always that one person that God is preparing that will be willing to do everything they need to. Anyways, last week we taught zone class after having our mission council for leaders. It went well and I think the missionaries all enjoyed the class. Also, the family that we always had nerf gun wars with came to visit me here. The dad´s parents are in my ward so they came to visit me in their house. (His dad is a former bishop and now less active). They decided to come see how I was doing so that was cool to see all their kids again. I also just heard from a missionary in Santa Sabina.. that N is doing really well. She goes to church every Sunday, and now her daughter and her husband are receiving the lessons. The husband has also been going to church. That was awesome news and I´m really happy for them. I think the daughter actually added me on Facebook. Anyways, we have interviews with the president tomorrow in his house so that should be good. We´ve also got the 18 of September coming up, which should also be fun. I don´t know if you remember, but that´s the 4th of July here. You guys should have Jeremy make you guys some completos... they´re really good :) I know Cole hated them, but I love them. I can´t think of much else that has happened this week. In about a month or so, we have General Conference, so I¨m getting excited for that. Haha that´s weird to say.. but like Brian says.. it´s like Christmas in the mission field. Quick question.. how are Jeremy and Staci doing? Haven´t heard too much lately but how are they enjoying married life? Mom, Melissa is back now, but I haven´t heard anything about my package. I just asked the missionaries in Santa Sabina to find out for me, so hopefully I can get it pretty soon. I´m in need of those new shoes.. haha :) Thanks for sending the article on the fleas... basically what they tell us to do here is spray our beds with Raid.. so that´s what I´ve been doing. It seems to have been helping a little bit. Oh, on Saturday, the assistants invited us to their apartment to have a barbecue. So my comp and I went over there and had a barbecue which was pretty good. They want us to start coming to the gym early in the mornings to lift, so we´re thinking about that. We were actually going to go today, but my comp is sick, so we´re going to wait. We need to find out prices and everything. There´s this guy in our ward that´s 25 and he´s been wanting to go on a mission, but he´s too overweight. We´ve put goals with him.. and he asked if we would be willing to go jogging with him. So, we and the other missionaries are planning on taking turns to go jogging with him to help him lose some weight. He´s a really cool guy and he doesn´t have too much time left, because of the age cut off. Anyways that´s about it for this week. I love you all and I hope you all enjoy your week!
Interviews with President Arrington
Companion- Elder D
Concepcion Zone Conference
Monday, September 1, 2014
GO UTES! 1-0
Why hello everyone... how´s it going? From the pictures and letters, sounds like everyone is doing well. It´s football season again. I love football season! Good luck to my Utes this year. Remember.. I like DETAILS :) Also, that´s cool we got a new car! Just to let you know Dad.. the corolla is older than the explorer.. so you might wanna think about updating that corolla too ;) What do you think about that Father Jeffrey? I think it sounds like a sick idea... no? Whenever you can.. just hit me up with a few pictures of the new car we buy to replace the corolla. Yes Mom, I´m still a zone leader, and my companion is too. We´re doing well.... we get along. I got along so well with Elder S so I miss him a little bit but that´s the mission. By the way, I don´t know when his homecoming is.. but probably this coming Sunday I imagine. Anyways, we had mission counsel today for all the zone leaders. There were a few announcements. The president announced that he has been putting a big emphasis on the best missionaries as the zone leaders, but that he was counseled by a general authority to maybe take some zone leaders and make them as trainers instead. He said this next change and in the ones to come, some zone leaders will be dropped so they can train and help new missionaries. He said both things are so important.. having good missionaries as zone leaders and also as trainers. We were all kind of surprised but we´ll see what happens in the future. Anyways counsel means we get P-Day all today today.. which should be nice. I can´t believe you got a smart phone Mom!!!! Congratulations.. an iphone. How did you feel? Have you learned how to use it quite yet? I didn´t know Jeremy and Jon had Galaxy´s... I´m lost on the technology now. What phones are better? I have no seen my package yet.. Elder B said she was planning on coming back the first week of this month.. so we´ll see what happens. I´ll think about my birthday package this week and let you know next week.
Anyways, we are working with a number of investigators but our best one as of right now is J. He traveled out of town.. but wanted to go to church where he was going to. We´re not sure if he went because we weren´t able to get a hold of him. Anyways he is reading all the chapters we leave him, and is progressing pretty well. We have been passing by with a lot of members so he can have some friends in the church. As for our other investigators.. we have found a couple, but none really progressing that well. We found an older couple that have a bunch of family members that are members of the church.. and actually live in the states. I actually contacted them multiple times in Santa Sabina. They were old investigators, and they told us to come by another day but they weren´t home. Then... we contacted them in the street and they were really nice. We found them by accident the other day and he let us in. They are really nice people and we have a service planned to paint their walls tomorrow. We´ll see how that goes. Just mostly be praying for J because he´s really good. We´re working hard to continue to find new investigators.. it´s been raining a little bit which complicates a few things, but thank goodness the winter is almost over. And hopefully those shoes get here soon.. because my eccos I got know are on the last leg hahaha. Been having a problem with fleas lately... but Elder S left me some Off spray that I´ve been using. I also use some stuff I brought from home.. but just like a tiny tube that repels them. This week I´ve been sick.. just had a little cold. But I¨m all good.. getting better. Anyways I can´t think of anything else.. so I´ll finish this letter so you guys can stop reading and do what you guys need to do. I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!!!!!
Anyways, we are working with a number of investigators but our best one as of right now is J. He traveled out of town.. but wanted to go to church where he was going to. We´re not sure if he went because we weren´t able to get a hold of him. Anyways he is reading all the chapters we leave him, and is progressing pretty well. We have been passing by with a lot of members so he can have some friends in the church. As for our other investigators.. we have found a couple, but none really progressing that well. We found an older couple that have a bunch of family members that are members of the church.. and actually live in the states. I actually contacted them multiple times in Santa Sabina. They were old investigators, and they told us to come by another day but they weren´t home. Then... we contacted them in the street and they were really nice. We found them by accident the other day and he let us in. They are really nice people and we have a service planned to paint their walls tomorrow. We´ll see how that goes. Just mostly be praying for J because he´s really good. We´re working hard to continue to find new investigators.. it´s been raining a little bit which complicates a few things, but thank goodness the winter is almost over. And hopefully those shoes get here soon.. because my eccos I got know are on the last leg hahaha. Been having a problem with fleas lately... but Elder S left me some Off spray that I´ve been using. I also use some stuff I brought from home.. but just like a tiny tube that repels them. This week I´ve been sick.. just had a little cold. But I¨m all good.. getting better. Anyways I can´t think of anything else.. so I´ll finish this letter so you guys can stop reading and do what you guys need to do. I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!!!!!
CONGRATZ TO DJ TEASKIE
Monday, August 25, 2014
Hello friends and family! Congratulations to DJ Teaskie for his mish.. I loved the video. It was cool to see all you guys too! Made me kinda homesick when I saw him hug my Mother Teresa.. haha :) That´s sick tho.. he looks happy. He´s my best friend did anyone know that? Love you Teaskie! I just got done saying goodbye to Elder S.. which was honestly hard. He´s such a cool kid and we got along so well. We worked our butts off, but at the same time I felt like I was just hanging out with a bro from home. He will definitely be missed, but that´s the mission. My new companion will be Elder D, from Argentina. I know him.. not too well... but seems like a pretty cool kid. The other 2 elders in my house are staying which is good. I get along well with the Canadien and I didn´t want him to leave yet. The mission kinda blows sometimes just because you make good friends then you gotta say goodbye to them. It´s whatever. Also, P. M. left too... his brothers came to pick him up so he´ll be chilling with them for a week here. By the way.. my wrist is a little better.. the nurse just has me on a ton of ibuprofen. That´s always what she says.. whatever you have.. just take ibuprofen and call me in 3 weeks if you´re not better. Hahaha. We had stake conference this weekend. Me and Elder S had to do a presentation.. I made a powerpoint and we did practices with all the members that we´re there so they can invite their friends to church and listen to us. It went well... and I think the members really enjoyed it. As with our investigators, we have one that is progressing pretty well. His name is J. He´s married and has a 7 year old kid. His wife works every Sunday, but they´re really receptive. He came to Stake Conferene with his son and I think they liked it. The 7 year old sat by me and was trying to play with me the whole time.. haha he´s so funny. He was bored... every 5 minutes he asked me how much time was left the 2nd hour. At the end... he gets up and shouts.. FINALLY!!! Hahaha but the dad heard someone mention scouts and he was really interested for his kid. HE turns 8 October 1st, so he could start scouts pretty soon if that´s what they want. We will continue to work with them... he even gave Elder S a gift apparently before he left.. or he´s still planning on meeting up I´m not sure. Shumnizzle leaves tomorrow because he´s gotta go to some adjusting to home class or something. Anyways pray for him.. he´s really intelligent. he´s a tutor and with math problems.. he solves really complicated ones in his sleep and stuff. It´s weird. He had a dream the other day all his teeth fell out.. which his grandpa always told him meant he was losing blessings. He then related that to the Gospel.. and is wondering if everything we teach is true. That´s why he came to church.. and he told me he is going to continue coming. As for that family.. they aren´t fulfilling with their commitments (is that how you say it?) and they weren´t able to come to church. We will pass by a few more times, but we don´t know if they´re going to progress. That´s about it for the updates... thanks Brian for sending me that video.. you´re awesome. As for not winning anything at bingo.. that blows! That´s weird.. was Trevor there? He IS the luckiest man alive.. something seriously must be wrong.. :) Well, that´s about all I can think of..I´ll talk to you guys all later and I love you!
Hello friends and family! Congratulations to DJ Teaskie for his mish.. I loved the video. It was cool to see all you guys too! Made me kinda homesick when I saw him hug my Mother Teresa.. haha :) That´s sick tho.. he looks happy. He´s my best friend did anyone know that? Love you Teaskie! I just got done saying goodbye to Elder S.. which was honestly hard. He´s such a cool kid and we got along so well. We worked our butts off, but at the same time I felt like I was just hanging out with a bro from home. He will definitely be missed, but that´s the mission. My new companion will be Elder D, from Argentina. I know him.. not too well... but seems like a pretty cool kid. The other 2 elders in my house are staying which is good. I get along well with the Canadien and I didn´t want him to leave yet. The mission kinda blows sometimes just because you make good friends then you gotta say goodbye to them. It´s whatever. Also, P. M. left too... his brothers came to pick him up so he´ll be chilling with them for a week here. By the way.. my wrist is a little better.. the nurse just has me on a ton of ibuprofen. That´s always what she says.. whatever you have.. just take ibuprofen and call me in 3 weeks if you´re not better. Hahaha. We had stake conference this weekend. Me and Elder S had to do a presentation.. I made a powerpoint and we did practices with all the members that we´re there so they can invite their friends to church and listen to us. It went well... and I think the members really enjoyed it. As with our investigators, we have one that is progressing pretty well. His name is J. He´s married and has a 7 year old kid. His wife works every Sunday, but they´re really receptive. He came to Stake Conferene with his son and I think they liked it. The 7 year old sat by me and was trying to play with me the whole time.. haha he´s so funny. He was bored... every 5 minutes he asked me how much time was left the 2nd hour. At the end... he gets up and shouts.. FINALLY!!! Hahaha but the dad heard someone mention scouts and he was really interested for his kid. HE turns 8 October 1st, so he could start scouts pretty soon if that´s what they want. We will continue to work with them... he even gave Elder S a gift apparently before he left.. or he´s still planning on meeting up I´m not sure. Shumnizzle leaves tomorrow because he´s gotta go to some adjusting to home class or something. Anyways pray for him.. he´s really intelligent. he´s a tutor and with math problems.. he solves really complicated ones in his sleep and stuff. It´s weird. He had a dream the other day all his teeth fell out.. which his grandpa always told him meant he was losing blessings. He then related that to the Gospel.. and is wondering if everything we teach is true. That´s why he came to church.. and he told me he is going to continue coming. As for that family.. they aren´t fulfilling with their commitments (is that how you say it?) and they weren´t able to come to church. We will pass by a few more times, but we don´t know if they´re going to progress. That´s about it for the updates... thanks Brian for sending me that video.. you´re awesome. As for not winning anything at bingo.. that blows! That´s weird.. was Trevor there? He IS the luckiest man alive.. something seriously must be wrong.. :) Well, that´s about all I can think of..I´ll talk to you guys all later and I love you!
Departure dinner for Elder S.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
¡Golazo!
8-18-2014
Hey everyone! Congratulations to Robyn for finding out it´s gonna be a girl! When is the due date? That´d be cool if it was after I got home but I feel like it was before. That´s cool tho. Just a heads up.. this won´t be a long letter. I can´t type very well for some reason.. very uncomfortable. I´ve had some like tinging feeling in my fingers and wrist lately and it´s been really weird. I´m going to ask the nurse about it today probably if I get a chance. It´s been bugging me for a little bit now. Just know that all is well. The other day, we got special permission to go to a football game from the President. Haha apparently some missionaries helped out coaching and they had a game the other day so we went. It was weird.. felt just like a high school football game kinda. There were only like 8 missionaries there tho... the people that helped and the comps of them. The president and his wife made like cookies to snack on during the game so it was pretty fun. Yeah we had the conference the other day... that´s cool the pictures were up on the blog. Anyways we´ve found a family that we´re working with and we have a family night with them tomorrow.. I´ll let you know how it goes. Dinner for the elders.. that´s cool. Just have pop there.. that´s always the best. That´s crazy Tanner gets home tomorrow.. just take some pictures and video.. that´ll be cool. Anyways we´re still working hard trying to find more people to teach. Thanks for everything and I´ll be praying for you guys. Congratz again to Brian and Robyn.. love you guys! I love you guys and I´ll talk to you later!
Hey everyone! Congratulations to Robyn for finding out it´s gonna be a girl! When is the due date? That´d be cool if it was after I got home but I feel like it was before. That´s cool tho. Just a heads up.. this won´t be a long letter. I can´t type very well for some reason.. very uncomfortable. I´ve had some like tinging feeling in my fingers and wrist lately and it´s been really weird. I´m going to ask the nurse about it today probably if I get a chance. It´s been bugging me for a little bit now. Just know that all is well. The other day, we got special permission to go to a football game from the President. Haha apparently some missionaries helped out coaching and they had a game the other day so we went. It was weird.. felt just like a high school football game kinda. There were only like 8 missionaries there tho... the people that helped and the comps of them. The president and his wife made like cookies to snack on during the game so it was pretty fun. Yeah we had the conference the other day... that´s cool the pictures were up on the blog. Anyways we´ve found a family that we´re working with and we have a family night with them tomorrow.. I´ll let you know how it goes. Dinner for the elders.. that´s cool. Just have pop there.. that´s always the best. That´s crazy Tanner gets home tomorrow.. just take some pictures and video.. that´ll be cool. Anyways we´re still working hard trying to find more people to teach. Thanks for everything and I´ll be praying for you guys. Congratz again to Brian and Robyn.. love you guys! I love you guys and I´ll talk to you later!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Quotes from the nephews... Gotta love em!
First off, thanks for the quotes from the kids! Every single one of them made me laugh.. haha my comp. was confused why I was laughing... so thanks! Keep them coming. Sounds like this week was an exciting week for everyone. I loved all the pictures too.. haha Hayden looks giant. I loved the picture too where they had the sleepover for me.. hahaha I got a good laugh out of that. That´s cool everything worked out with Melissa. I wonder when she´ll be coming back to Chile.. anyways thanks for getting that package sent! Also, Jon thanks for the Utah football pictures. The jerseys and helmets are sick! Anyways, V got baptized! Everything went well and his parents and him were really happy. I took a couple pictures so I´ll see if I can get them sent off. A member actually baptized him because his dad is less active.. it was his hometeacher. We are still teaching C, but we´re still working on getting the divorce for him. I´ll let you know how that goes. Apart from that, we aren´t really teaching anybody else that is progressing. That has been out biggest problem so far.. finding new peeps. We´re trying to be creative though. As of right now, we have to go to a different church like I told you downtown, which is a lot better. Our church was falling apart. The ceiling parts were getting soaked and falling, and water was seeping in through the walls and everything. It´s not too much further away, and the members actually liked it. Oh guess what? Right as the counselor got up to start giving announcements in Sacrament Meeting, the bishop hurries down and tells me they need me to give a 15 minute talk. I was like wow.... okay. Haha so I basically just went up there and went with the flow. I talked about the Plan of Salvation and why we´re here. It turned out well.. but ugh... with wards that don´t function too well.. anything goes on Sunday. Haha it´s all good though. Today we went to Chillán. Mom that´s Cheeyawn, not chillin.. (like with my homies) ;) Elder S had to buy some souveneirs and now we have permission to go to Chillán to buy souveneirs in our last transfer (see blog). It was nice and we met up with P.M. my friend from school that also goes home in 2 weeks. Anyways that´s about it for this week. We´ve just been trying to avoid the rain as much as possible. I´m excited for the winter to be over. The winter always sucks kinda haha... but it´s a lot better than the winter last year. Last year was miserablely cold. That´s about it for the update this week. I can´t believe Tanner comes home in a week. That´s so crazy.. and that Cole is already home.. with a broken foot. That´s bad luck haha. Teaskie seems like he´s doing well... I honestly can´t believe next week he´ll be home. What the freak. Hey... if possible, maybe I´ll assign Brian to the task if he´s cool with it... to take a video of Teaskie coming home. It would be cool to see a video and maybe some pictures with my nephews/niece :) Anyways I can´t think of much else.. just thanks for all the pictures and for everything. You guys are all ballers and I love you guys so much. Keep it up.. keep pushing, and everything will be okay. I love you all and I´ll talk to you guys next week!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIELLE! 1 years old.. WOW.
How is everything going back in Utah? I love Utah. It´s so sick. Especially my Utes. I don´t think the season is too far away.. how are they looking for this year? Anyways, I´ve been really good.. trying to stay focused ya know? DJ Teaskie and Cole are getting ready to go home, my companion, and my friend Emily Lloyd from the Concepción South mission. They´ll all be home in less than 3 weeks. Crazy stuff. Haha everyone I swear is going home, but I´ve still got work to do. Why is Cole going home early? I imagine it´s for school or something so he can get started. Anyways, we have a baptism coming up this Saturday. He´s 9 and he´s definitely ready for his baptism. We´re excited for it and he is too. Just keep him in your prayers! One difficulty we are going to have now is that we have to change churches. They are going to remodel our church, and now we have to change to go to a different church downtown. It will be probably be a little tougher bringing investigators, and the bishop thinks the attendance will go down too because some of the members might not want to make the trip. It´s not too incredibly far, but a lot of people don´t have a car so that´s the problem. Oh well, we´ll see what happens. I think everything will end up working out. Our bishopric got changed too. The 2 counselors were released and we got some new ones, so the ward is having a lot of changes right now. Last week, we taught our zone class, and focused on the less actives and new converts. It went well, and we´ve seen a lot of progress in the zone with bringing more less actives to church. It´s been raining a TON here. I found some slip on rubber things that you put on over your shoes to protect them from the rain. Before, my socks and shoes would just be soaked, but now I´m good to go. I bought an umbrella too for 4 bucks which works well, but I´m pretty sure I left it in someone´s house. (I´m so freaking stupid like for reals someone should just hit me 3 times in the forehead) Today we went and played soccer at regular sized soccer field. It was fun... I´ve gotten a lot better. I´ll be beating DJ Teaskie for sure here pretty soon. Just kidding, but it just felt so freaking good to run and exercise. Walking all day in the rain just isn´t the same hahaha. I don´t know what else to update you guys on... it´s kinda like the same old same old every week ya know? Just trying to find more people to teach and teaching them. We had my first leader meeting where all the zone leaders meet in Concepción and put goals and stuff like that which was pretty fun. We all ate Papa John´s after which wasn´t too exciting because I ate it a lot in Santa Sabina. Anyways I´m proud of Carter for scoring his first goal... that´s sick! :) and Brielle for turning 1. It´s weird I still haven´t met her. Boooooo. One thing I was thinking of that I miss... do the kids still say funny things? Or are they all too big now? I loved reading the funny quotes they would say. Just saying :) Don´t worry!! Sounds like you guys had a good time in Yellowstone. I bet Jon was disappointed he wasn´t able to go. I´m also jealous of the fishing trip.. from the pictures sounds like the boys all had a good time. Thanks Bri for the pictures of Hayds... he looks gigantic in the picture where he´s holding the 8. Crazy stuff. How you guys doing with feeding Bella less? She still look like Jabba the Hut? Anyways that´s about it for this week... I hope all goes well this week for you guys and that everyone is happy and healthy. I love you all and I´ll talk to you guys later!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Finger Twist & Split
7-28-2014
Here we go again. Another letter I´m about to write to my family and friends. Thanks for the updates and for the letters letting me know you guys are all still enjoying the Utah summer :) I´m emailing a little late today because we had a meeting for all the zone leaders. I get P-Day all day which is nice tho... so I´ll take advantage and hopefully take a nap. A nap. Yes. That would be awesome. Anyways the meeting went well and we were able to eat Papa John´s. I talked awhile with Elder Ainge, which is Danny Ainge´s son. (Manager of the Celtics I believe) He´s a pretty cool kid and we talked about some basketball. I wanna play a quality game on a wooden court if you guys didn´t already know haha. Anyways this week was pretty good. Elder S is awesome.. we´re a lot alike and get along really well. The thing is.. I don´t know if I told you guys this, but this is his last transfer. He goes home in a month and we´re trying to work really hard. None of our investigators were able to come to church. We had committed all of them to come, but it looks like the downpouring rain stopped them from coming. It´s been raining for like 3 days straight now. It´s pretty ridiculous. I bought an impermeable (rainsuit) or pants or whatever which don´t work at all. They like broke and lets water in. Instead of buying an expensive pant I´ll just be buying an umbrella today to get me through the rest of winter.. shouldn´t be too much longer. Last week I bought some more pants... 2 pairs for 16 bucks a piece to see if they can get me through the rest of my mission. One pair I crouched down and my crotch area just ripped.. but I´ll see if I can sew them up. My boots I bought worked well for awhile, but now they let water in too. Like in Utah, it´ll rain but then it´ll like stop ya know? Here, when it rains, it rains for at LEAST 2 days straight. You might think like it stops every now and then, but no. It´s constantly RAINING. It´s so annoying haha but that´s the way it is. We´ve been lucky the past couple of weeks with no rain. Anyways V is progressing well. He´s the 9 year old that will be getting baptized on August 9th. He didn´t come to church because his mom was sick. He wanted his dad to baptize him for awhile, and we´re still not 100% what he thinks about somebody else doing it, but he´s excited to get baptized.
The area I´m in isn´t too dangerous... well there´s one place that is at night. We try not to go there at night.. it´s super sketchy apparently. We work there very little even during the day, not because it´s dangerous, but because we have more success in other places. I´m back into a ward where I need to help with a lot of stuff.. cleaning the church, and passing the sacrament. We showed up to clean the church, and we were the only ones for like an hour. Haha then more people showed up. It´s all good tho.. it´s a good chance to serve and help out the ward. Like 70 or so people attended on Sunday, more than normal because it was ward conference. The stake president gave a sick class in priesthood about missionary work. I´m enjoying helping people in this zone as a zone leader. We get asked a lot of questions from a lot of other missionaries, so it´s fun to help out where we can. I´m still getting to know all the people in the ward and we´re trying to gain all the members confidence.
I´m glad you guys enjoyed St. George. I´m jealous. I love watching the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds. Wouldn´t that be sick to be a pilot like that? I can´t believe how different the good old Mount Jordan 4th ward is going to be when I get home, and even when DJ Teaskie gets home. (sidenote: Could you forward me Tanner´s last few emails before he gets home? Thanks.) New bishop, and a lot of new people. Bishop Stoddard is a stud bishop, but Matt Raty will be sick too. Yeah like you said... Sam and Teaskie will be in the ward still so that´s cool. About the shoes... I don´t know what to do either. I would probably like a new pair when I get home. Maybe just not a WAY nice pair or something like that to get me to the end. I don´t know.. what do you think Mother Teresa? Hopefully everything works out with meeting up with Melissa. A couple more requests in a package I was able to think of. I don´t know if I have more protein that I used before.. but maybe you could send that in a ziplock bag or something? And also.. maybe a couple more pairs of socks? Church socks and long black nikes? I´m running out due to laundry misplacements and old age haha. Homemade cookies from Robyn? :)
Anyways I gotta go now but I love you all and thanks for everything!
Here we go again. Another letter I´m about to write to my family and friends. Thanks for the updates and for the letters letting me know you guys are all still enjoying the Utah summer :) I´m emailing a little late today because we had a meeting for all the zone leaders. I get P-Day all day which is nice tho... so I´ll take advantage and hopefully take a nap. A nap. Yes. That would be awesome. Anyways the meeting went well and we were able to eat Papa John´s. I talked awhile with Elder Ainge, which is Danny Ainge´s son. (Manager of the Celtics I believe) He´s a pretty cool kid and we talked about some basketball. I wanna play a quality game on a wooden court if you guys didn´t already know haha. Anyways this week was pretty good. Elder S is awesome.. we´re a lot alike and get along really well. The thing is.. I don´t know if I told you guys this, but this is his last transfer. He goes home in a month and we´re trying to work really hard. None of our investigators were able to come to church. We had committed all of them to come, but it looks like the downpouring rain stopped them from coming. It´s been raining for like 3 days straight now. It´s pretty ridiculous. I bought an impermeable (rainsuit) or pants or whatever which don´t work at all. They like broke and lets water in. Instead of buying an expensive pant I´ll just be buying an umbrella today to get me through the rest of winter.. shouldn´t be too much longer. Last week I bought some more pants... 2 pairs for 16 bucks a piece to see if they can get me through the rest of my mission. One pair I crouched down and my crotch area just ripped.. but I´ll see if I can sew them up. My boots I bought worked well for awhile, but now they let water in too. Like in Utah, it´ll rain but then it´ll like stop ya know? Here, when it rains, it rains for at LEAST 2 days straight. You might think like it stops every now and then, but no. It´s constantly RAINING. It´s so annoying haha but that´s the way it is. We´ve been lucky the past couple of weeks with no rain. Anyways V is progressing well. He´s the 9 year old that will be getting baptized on August 9th. He didn´t come to church because his mom was sick. He wanted his dad to baptize him for awhile, and we´re still not 100% what he thinks about somebody else doing it, but he´s excited to get baptized.
The area I´m in isn´t too dangerous... well there´s one place that is at night. We try not to go there at night.. it´s super sketchy apparently. We work there very little even during the day, not because it´s dangerous, but because we have more success in other places. I´m back into a ward where I need to help with a lot of stuff.. cleaning the church, and passing the sacrament. We showed up to clean the church, and we were the only ones for like an hour. Haha then more people showed up. It´s all good tho.. it´s a good chance to serve and help out the ward. Like 70 or so people attended on Sunday, more than normal because it was ward conference. The stake president gave a sick class in priesthood about missionary work. I´m enjoying helping people in this zone as a zone leader. We get asked a lot of questions from a lot of other missionaries, so it´s fun to help out where we can. I´m still getting to know all the people in the ward and we´re trying to gain all the members confidence.
I´m glad you guys enjoyed St. George. I´m jealous. I love watching the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds. Wouldn´t that be sick to be a pilot like that? I can´t believe how different the good old Mount Jordan 4th ward is going to be when I get home, and even when DJ Teaskie gets home. (sidenote: Could you forward me Tanner´s last few emails before he gets home? Thanks.) New bishop, and a lot of new people. Bishop Stoddard is a stud bishop, but Matt Raty will be sick too. Yeah like you said... Sam and Teaskie will be in the ward still so that´s cool. About the shoes... I don´t know what to do either. I would probably like a new pair when I get home. Maybe just not a WAY nice pair or something like that to get me to the end. I don´t know.. what do you think Mother Teresa? Hopefully everything works out with meeting up with Melissa. A couple more requests in a package I was able to think of. I don´t know if I have more protein that I used before.. but maybe you could send that in a ziplock bag or something? And also.. maybe a couple more pairs of socks? Church socks and long black nikes? I´m running out due to laundry misplacements and old age haha. Homemade cookies from Robyn? :)
Anyways I gotta go now but I love you all and thanks for everything!
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