Hola familia, amigos, niños, y chicillos. I just first want to say something that I never thought I would say. I MISS THE WINTER. It is soooooo incredibly hot here and I am constantly sweating. I get out of the shower, and I´m sweating. I´m sleeping at night, basically naked, and I´m sweating. I´m in a building eating lunch, and I´m sweating. I just want to give a shout out to my Hydro Flask because it´s going to such good use. I´ve had missionaries and members tell me to tell you mom that you need to send me some more because they all want one. Haha it´s so dope and I´m loving it. From the title of this letter I bet you can tell that we had transfers today. I´ve been so nervous all week because I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE YUNGAY. I have grown to love it here and am so close with all the members. I was also worried about our investigators being so close to their baptisms on the 21st. Anyways both me and my hijo are staying here in Yungay so we´re going to continue to work hard and make sure Gabby, Elva, and José all get baptized. Gabby and Elva had their support interview or whatever you wanna call it and they´re doing pretty well. We just need to help Elva have a testimony of going to church every Sunday after her baptism. We are going to have an appointment with them tomorrow and then their actual interview is on Wednesday. But anyways hopefully all goes well and they get baptized on the 21st. Gabby wants me to baptize her and the grandma wants Elder Moore to baptize her. They saw the baptism of a members wife that the hermanas had this Sunday, but they mentioned they would like to be baptized in a river. We´ll see what happens and I´ll update you guys next week how everything went. Anyways I had to conduct like always in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and as the last speaker finishes and I¨m about to announce the closing hymn... the branch president leans over and tells me I have to speak for 10 minutes to take up some more time. I was like woooooooooooow. Haha also earlier on as I was making some announcements at the pulpit, the president´s phone goes off and guess what he does? Yup he goes ahead and answers it and talks SOOOOOOO loud. I turned around like are you serious? Hahaha and some members just hit their heads and tried not to laugh.Afterwards we had the baptism and wow that was an adventure. She can barely walk and she has so many health problems. We had to all lift her in the font and have 2 people basically baptize her. We ended up having to do the baptism 3 times because we couldn´t get her all the way under and her feet won´t bend and kept coming up. I was just a witness but I made sure to tell Gabby and Elva their baptism would be different. It was super awkward and everything was like talking and throwing in their ideas. Such an awkward baptism. Also the font is super ugly and it´s behind the church like in the corner. Anyways about skype on Christmas... I should be able to finalize everything but I made plans to skype in the church with really good internet so that should work out well. Not over wifi this time. I¨m making sure of that. The only thing I have to do is find a camera. One member I think has one I just need to make sure it works well. I´m not sure what the time difference is in Utah right now. It´s either 2 or 3 hours back I believe. But we have an activity in Chillan from 3:30- 7:30. We´ll have to leave early to take the bus to Yungay at 5:30 and we´ll get here around 7. The bus stop is right by the church so we´ll be there around 7 or 7:30 to start skyping. We have an hour and a half to skype.. and then we´ll be heading over to Hermano Poblete´s house to finish the night. So it will be about at 7:30 Chilean time that we will have to skype you guys. Hopefully everything works out well at home so that you guys can skype me at that time. I´m not sure if we´d be able to do it any other time.. I would rather do it after the activity than before for sure. Please try and make arrangements because I want to talk with everyone.. I don´t want to only talk to some of you and Trevor and Heather or Robyn and Brian not being able to be there. That would really be disappointing. That´s pretty set on the timing but I´ll let you guys know next Monday if anything changes. I haven´t heard any different that we don´t have P Day that day but if you don´t get a letter from me something must have changed. I called the mission secretary and asked him if we could change houses. Our house is just awful. It´s so disgustingly hot and it´s miserable in there. We are actually going to buy a fan and get reimbursed for it. Anyways he told me for a long time missionaries have been telling him that need a new house. I told him how we have every time of insect in that house, how the pipes are also broken, and just how awful the house is. He gave us the thumbs up to look for a new house and we found a small house in back of a members house that I think we are going to move into. He told me to find a good price because in his house words, ¨the piece of crap hunk a junk that you guys are living in right now costs 85 mil per month.¨ (super cheap) hahahaha I just started laughing. The hermanas here live in such a nice house it´s ridiculous. He was like so the hermanas living conditions are just a little bit better than yours right? And he just busted out laughing. Then he said that we need to learn humility, but there´s a point when you gotta get the heck out of there. Hahaha he knows how awful the house is and that´s when he finally gave us the go ahead to look for a new house. I probably won´t reap the benefits of it but hopefully the next missionaries that come here will be grateful that they will be getting a new house. This past week we´ve been eaten alive by fleas.. we had to go buy a bunch of spray and spray our beds and everything. We´d wake up with red marks EVERYWHERE on our bodies. I think Sophie brought the fleas to our house. Yes, she is still going strong on following u. Anyways thanks for all you do... I will be opening my package here pretty soon.. and talking to you guys. I´m way excited. I love you all and thanks for everything.. I´ll talk to you guys next week!!!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Could it get ANY hotter? ¡Me quedo en Yungay!
December 16, 2013
Hola familia, amigos, niños, y chicillos. I just first want to say something that I never thought I would say. I MISS THE WINTER. It is soooooo incredibly hot here and I am constantly sweating. I get out of the shower, and I´m sweating. I´m sleeping at night, basically naked, and I´m sweating. I´m in a building eating lunch, and I´m sweating. I just want to give a shout out to my Hydro Flask because it´s going to such good use. I´ve had missionaries and members tell me to tell you mom that you need to send me some more because they all want one. Haha it´s so dope and I´m loving it. From the title of this letter I bet you can tell that we had transfers today. I´ve been so nervous all week because I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE YUNGAY. I have grown to love it here and am so close with all the members. I was also worried about our investigators being so close to their baptisms on the 21st. Anyways both me and my hijo are staying here in Yungay so we´re going to continue to work hard and make sure Gabby, Elva, and José all get baptized. Gabby and Elva had their support interview or whatever you wanna call it and they´re doing pretty well. We just need to help Elva have a testimony of going to church every Sunday after her baptism. We are going to have an appointment with them tomorrow and then their actual interview is on Wednesday. But anyways hopefully all goes well and they get baptized on the 21st. Gabby wants me to baptize her and the grandma wants Elder Moore to baptize her. They saw the baptism of a members wife that the hermanas had this Sunday, but they mentioned they would like to be baptized in a river. We´ll see what happens and I´ll update you guys next week how everything went. Anyways I had to conduct like always in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and as the last speaker finishes and I¨m about to announce the closing hymn... the branch president leans over and tells me I have to speak for 10 minutes to take up some more time. I was like woooooooooooow. Haha also earlier on as I was making some announcements at the pulpit, the president´s phone goes off and guess what he does? Yup he goes ahead and answers it and talks SOOOOOOO loud. I turned around like are you serious? Hahaha and some members just hit their heads and tried not to laugh.Afterwards we had the baptism and wow that was an adventure. She can barely walk and she has so many health problems. We had to all lift her in the font and have 2 people basically baptize her. We ended up having to do the baptism 3 times because we couldn´t get her all the way under and her feet won´t bend and kept coming up. I was just a witness but I made sure to tell Gabby and Elva their baptism would be different. It was super awkward and everything was like talking and throwing in their ideas. Such an awkward baptism. Also the font is super ugly and it´s behind the church like in the corner. Anyways about skype on Christmas... I should be able to finalize everything but I made plans to skype in the church with really good internet so that should work out well. Not over wifi this time. I¨m making sure of that. The only thing I have to do is find a camera. One member I think has one I just need to make sure it works well. I´m not sure what the time difference is in Utah right now. It´s either 2 or 3 hours back I believe. But we have an activity in Chillan from 3:30- 7:30. We´ll have to leave early to take the bus to Yungay at 5:30 and we´ll get here around 7. The bus stop is right by the church so we´ll be there around 7 or 7:30 to start skyping. We have an hour and a half to skype.. and then we´ll be heading over to Hermano Poblete´s house to finish the night. So it will be about at 7:30 Chilean time that we will have to skype you guys. Hopefully everything works out well at home so that you guys can skype me at that time. I´m not sure if we´d be able to do it any other time.. I would rather do it after the activity than before for sure. Please try and make arrangements because I want to talk with everyone.. I don´t want to only talk to some of you and Trevor and Heather or Robyn and Brian not being able to be there. That would really be disappointing. That´s pretty set on the timing but I´ll let you guys know next Monday if anything changes. I haven´t heard any different that we don´t have P Day that day but if you don´t get a letter from me something must have changed. I called the mission secretary and asked him if we could change houses. Our house is just awful. It´s so disgustingly hot and it´s miserable in there. We are actually going to buy a fan and get reimbursed for it. Anyways he told me for a long time missionaries have been telling him that need a new house. I told him how we have every time of insect in that house, how the pipes are also broken, and just how awful the house is. He gave us the thumbs up to look for a new house and we found a small house in back of a members house that I think we are going to move into. He told me to find a good price because in his house words, ¨the piece of crap hunk a junk that you guys are living in right now costs 85 mil per month.¨ (super cheap) hahahaha I just started laughing. The hermanas here live in such a nice house it´s ridiculous. He was like so the hermanas living conditions are just a little bit better than yours right? And he just busted out laughing. Then he said that we need to learn humility, but there´s a point when you gotta get the heck out of there. Hahaha he knows how awful the house is and that´s when he finally gave us the go ahead to look for a new house. I probably won´t reap the benefits of it but hopefully the next missionaries that come here will be grateful that they will be getting a new house. This past week we´ve been eaten alive by fleas.. we had to go buy a bunch of spray and spray our beds and everything. We´d wake up with red marks EVERYWHERE on our bodies. I think Sophie brought the fleas to our house. Yes, she is still going strong on following u. Anyways thanks for all you do... I will be opening my package here pretty soon.. and talking to you guys. I´m way excited. I love you all and thanks for everything.. I´ll talk to you guys next week!!!
Hola familia, amigos, niños, y chicillos. I just first want to say something that I never thought I would say. I MISS THE WINTER. It is soooooo incredibly hot here and I am constantly sweating. I get out of the shower, and I´m sweating. I´m sleeping at night, basically naked, and I´m sweating. I´m in a building eating lunch, and I´m sweating. I just want to give a shout out to my Hydro Flask because it´s going to such good use. I´ve had missionaries and members tell me to tell you mom that you need to send me some more because they all want one. Haha it´s so dope and I´m loving it. From the title of this letter I bet you can tell that we had transfers today. I´ve been so nervous all week because I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE YUNGAY. I have grown to love it here and am so close with all the members. I was also worried about our investigators being so close to their baptisms on the 21st. Anyways both me and my hijo are staying here in Yungay so we´re going to continue to work hard and make sure Gabby, Elva, and José all get baptized. Gabby and Elva had their support interview or whatever you wanna call it and they´re doing pretty well. We just need to help Elva have a testimony of going to church every Sunday after her baptism. We are going to have an appointment with them tomorrow and then their actual interview is on Wednesday. But anyways hopefully all goes well and they get baptized on the 21st. Gabby wants me to baptize her and the grandma wants Elder Moore to baptize her. They saw the baptism of a members wife that the hermanas had this Sunday, but they mentioned they would like to be baptized in a river. We´ll see what happens and I´ll update you guys next week how everything went. Anyways I had to conduct like always in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and as the last speaker finishes and I¨m about to announce the closing hymn... the branch president leans over and tells me I have to speak for 10 minutes to take up some more time. I was like woooooooooooow. Haha also earlier on as I was making some announcements at the pulpit, the president´s phone goes off and guess what he does? Yup he goes ahead and answers it and talks SOOOOOOO loud. I turned around like are you serious? Hahaha and some members just hit their heads and tried not to laugh.Afterwards we had the baptism and wow that was an adventure. She can barely walk and she has so many health problems. We had to all lift her in the font and have 2 people basically baptize her. We ended up having to do the baptism 3 times because we couldn´t get her all the way under and her feet won´t bend and kept coming up. I was just a witness but I made sure to tell Gabby and Elva their baptism would be different. It was super awkward and everything was like talking and throwing in their ideas. Such an awkward baptism. Also the font is super ugly and it´s behind the church like in the corner. Anyways about skype on Christmas... I should be able to finalize everything but I made plans to skype in the church with really good internet so that should work out well. Not over wifi this time. I¨m making sure of that. The only thing I have to do is find a camera. One member I think has one I just need to make sure it works well. I´m not sure what the time difference is in Utah right now. It´s either 2 or 3 hours back I believe. But we have an activity in Chillan from 3:30- 7:30. We´ll have to leave early to take the bus to Yungay at 5:30 and we´ll get here around 7. The bus stop is right by the church so we´ll be there around 7 or 7:30 to start skyping. We have an hour and a half to skype.. and then we´ll be heading over to Hermano Poblete´s house to finish the night. So it will be about at 7:30 Chilean time that we will have to skype you guys. Hopefully everything works out well at home so that you guys can skype me at that time. I´m not sure if we´d be able to do it any other time.. I would rather do it after the activity than before for sure. Please try and make arrangements because I want to talk with everyone.. I don´t want to only talk to some of you and Trevor and Heather or Robyn and Brian not being able to be there. That would really be disappointing. That´s pretty set on the timing but I´ll let you guys know next Monday if anything changes. I haven´t heard any different that we don´t have P Day that day but if you don´t get a letter from me something must have changed. I called the mission secretary and asked him if we could change houses. Our house is just awful. It´s so disgustingly hot and it´s miserable in there. We are actually going to buy a fan and get reimbursed for it. Anyways he told me for a long time missionaries have been telling him that need a new house. I told him how we have every time of insect in that house, how the pipes are also broken, and just how awful the house is. He gave us the thumbs up to look for a new house and we found a small house in back of a members house that I think we are going to move into. He told me to find a good price because in his house words, ¨the piece of crap hunk a junk that you guys are living in right now costs 85 mil per month.¨ (super cheap) hahahaha I just started laughing. The hermanas here live in such a nice house it´s ridiculous. He was like so the hermanas living conditions are just a little bit better than yours right? And he just busted out laughing. Then he said that we need to learn humility, but there´s a point when you gotta get the heck out of there. Hahaha he knows how awful the house is and that´s when he finally gave us the go ahead to look for a new house. I probably won´t reap the benefits of it but hopefully the next missionaries that come here will be grateful that they will be getting a new house. This past week we´ve been eaten alive by fleas.. we had to go buy a bunch of spray and spray our beds and everything. We´d wake up with red marks EVERYWHERE on our bodies. I think Sophie brought the fleas to our house. Yes, she is still going strong on following u. Anyways thanks for all you do... I will be opening my package here pretty soon.. and talking to you guys. I´m way excited. I love you all and thanks for everything.. I´ll talk to you guys next week!!!
Monday, December 9, 2013
I saw the sign.. I opened up my eyes and I saw the sign!
Barbeque celebrating Hermana T's birthday
Killing bugs in the hut...
Well Elder Neilson sends a big hello back home to good old Utah where it´s not 500 degrees. Haha thanks for all your letters once again.. you guys are awesome. It is super super hot here in Yungay and it´s not even the summer yet. It´s all good because I gotta do what I gotta do! This week was actually a really good week. We killed it this week working with the members and I got a separate exclusive congratulations from the zone leaders because we did work. Haha anyways I have some good news! Remember G and her Grandma? The other day we watched the 20 minute Restoration video of Joseph Smith. You know how the grandma is Catholic and doesn´t want to get baptized.. I told you that guys last week. Well after sharing Acts 19:2-6 and watching the Restoration video, she looked at G and said ¨Should we get baptized?¨ Long story short they have a baptism date all set up for the 21st of December! First day of summer... pretty cool huh? They´ve learned all the commandments and we left the Tithing pamphlet for them to read and we have an appointment with them in about 2 hours from now. Hopefully all goes well with the lesson and they are all good and ready to pay their tithing once their baptized. We actually had 3 people in church on Sunday so I need to tell you about this other person that decided to come to church. The other day I was looking for that one kid in our area book and I came across another investigator that had gone to church like 7 times 2 years before but for whatever reason he didn´t end up getting baptized. We had actually looked for him with Elder C, but the elders 2 years ago had written the address down wrong. Long story short, it was on the whole other side of town (not huge but still confused us). I had a thought maybe that´s what had happened so we went and headed to find him one morning. We went up to his gate and he was sitting on the side of his house. He immediately told us to come on in and talk with him. About 3 minutes later, his uncle walks through the door. They were so incredibly excited to see us. He told us the day before he had seen us walking past his house and shouted out to us, but we just kept on walking. Anyways his uncle is a really faithful member up in Santiago. He didn´t want to accept a baptism date for the 28th, but told me he would talk to his uncle to see what day he could come from Santiago to baptize him and that they would let me know on Sunday. Anyways all went well on Sunday and they came to church, and they decided on January 4th for the baptism date. We just need to review all the lessons and commandments with him but he literally knows everything. He is super prepared for baptism. He keeps talking about how he is ready to leave all the wordly things behind and make this sacred covenant with God. Anyways that would be 3 baptisms coming up if everything goes well so that´s pretty exciting. My only worry is that we have cambios next week. I hope I won´t be leaving here from Yungay because I have been working so hard to find people to be baptized. I hope the President recognizes that we have 3 baptisms coming up. Pray that I will be able to stay here at least 1 cambio more and everything goes well and that all 3 of them can be baptized. I´m really excited for them. By the way J is in a wheelchair now (apparently 2 years ago he wasn´t but always has a walker nearby. I´m not sure if he can walk with the walker he has but he is awesome and has a huge heart. On Sunday we had to travel to Chillan for the Stake Leadership meeting with the branch president. There´s a lot of work here to do with the young men and women because they are basically all inactive. They had a lot of good advice there and we´ll see what we can do. Then we had to wait there for a long 3 hours for the Christmas Devotional to start. We watched it in Spanish but it was really good. I really enjoyed Russell M. Nelson´s talk like you said Mom. Then we spent the night there in Chillan at the zone leaders house. There were 4 mattresses on the floor, and guess how many missionaries stayed there last night? 12. Haha I slept horrible but it´s whatever. We then woke up and went and played soccer and had a barbecue after. Latins are amazing at soccer by the way. The whole time I was just thinking can we play some basketball? I guess I just have to wait.... haha.Mom I would definitely love that video of Bella and the newspaper.. haha she´s so funny. Also how she just wonders around in the front yard. Reminds me of Ali. Such awesome dogs. Mom and I just know which dogs are right for us. We´re ballers. That´s too bad about Kelvin. I´ll keep him in my prayers for sure. The Lord will bless him as we show our faith. I definitely laughed when I read the Santa story with Teags. ¨I hate mint!¨ Hahahaha that kid makes me laugh. Also a baller. I would like to try and get some details to you guys about Skype but it´s just that I don´t know if I´ll still be here in Yungay so it´s hard to tell. I´m definitely excited for that and to see my freaking nephews and my new niece. I love them so much. BALLERS. Anyways not a whole lot more happened this week.. just been working with the members and working with our 3 investigators. Please keep them in your prayers so everything goes well! I love you all and I´ll talk to you guys next week! ¨If I had a chance for another try, I wouldn´t change a thing, it´s made me all of who I am inside.¨ Monday, December 2, 2013
Coke, Sprite, Fanta.. anything new?
Thanks everyone again for the letters.. it´s always nice on Mondays coming to read everyone´s letters. Sounds like everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and Black Friday. If anyone was wondering that doesn´t exist here so nothing was different. Pretty boring I know. Anything this week was pretty slow at the beginning but started to pick up towards to weekend. We have been as you all now struggling to find new people to teach that are somewhat decent. We have been trying to do less contacts and just to only work through the members to ask for references and also look for less actives that have family members who aren´t members. I will be sending you a picture of this member after, but we have reactivated Hermano V. He lived in Australia for 30 years and says he knows more than 10 languages. We knows a few words in English but for 30 years there he should be fluent. Anyways I was thinking the other day I guarantee no missionaries have ever asked him for references. We went over there, had a good lesson to help him remember about the blessings he received, and had him write his testimony in the Book of Mormon. (Had me write and he just signed it) We told him to think of someone he could give the book to. He thought of his neighbor a little bit further down and said he would do it. We went back 2 days later to contact and it was a mom with 2 kids and her husband was out working. She told me she had been reading the Book of Mormon but couldn´t understand it. We helped her out and also shared The Restoration with her. She said she was scared of big crowds at church but that she was excited to read and learn more. We have an appointment with her tomorrow and I believe her husband will be there. Hermano V knows every single date for all the prophets, their births, the ages of prophets in the Book of Mormon and what age they died, etc.) We are going to bring a different member with visit with that family instead of him because he will just start talking about the most random things haha. Anyways she smokes so in the future she might have a problem with that. Don´t worry too much because we´ve only had 1 lesson with her so we´ll see where she goes from there. Also yesterday we went and visited a 14 year old boy that got baptized 2 years ago but never went to church after that. This whole week we were trying to find his house but we could never find it and would always run out of time. Finally we found it yesterday and his family was so surprised to see the missionaries. We immediately got in their house. G, the 14 year old member, was super shy and nervous it seemed like. We got in and just started talking to them about everything. It had been 2 years since the missionaries had visited them which really surprised me. His mom isn´t a member, his brother, and his aunt that was there visiting but lives in Yungay. We shared the Restoration with them and they all agreed to read the pamphlet we left them about it. It was really good and they really enjoyed talking to the missionaries again. The mom did say she was Catholic but we´re going to keep sharing with them. Maybe it´s their time. The brother is way cool with us but is like 25 or so. G is super excited to come with us to the English class on Friday and the movie night. I guess he hardly leaves his house and his mom wants us to help him out. That should be good. Also yesterday we found a lady I had been wondering about for a very long time. We contacted her a long time ago with Elder C. She told us she would have been baptized but a missionary left and she didn´t like the new one. Haha but we weren´t able to get her address the first time but finally we met up with her in the street. She gave us her phone number and wants us to pass by soon. We are starting to see some small miracles in Yungay and starting to find a few more people to teach little by little. We also had church in Chillan for the Stake Conference. Our ward mission leader gave us a ride there early in the morning so we were there for the priesthood session too. President Arrington gave a talk there but we were the only missionaries there. After, a bunch more came for the actual stake conference where he and his wife( the president translated for her) gave talks as well. They did a really good job. We had a total of 6 members from Yungay make the trip to Chillan which was super disappointing. The President, secretary, ward mission leader, elder´s quorum president, and 2 sisters. Anyways it was a good conference and it was focused on helping the full-time missionaries out. Today we went to Chillan to do some shopping. I was looking for some more pants to wear so I took like 100 bucks there just in case. I was also looking for another backpack for mini-cambios and some sunglasses. We also went because we were craving a Big Mac. Anyways we went into a store and I found some good pants that were 30 bucks so I was looking for another pair. Then I spot a certain brand that is on sale for 16 bucks. I had no idea what size I was in in centimeters so I went and tried 5 different sizes on and finally found the right one. I went to the register to buy the pants for 16 bucks but it rang up about 5 bucks. They were like this can´t be right... so they called the manager over and she´s like it´s all good they´re on sale. I was like wow okay that´s cool. So I went over to look for some more pants and found some tan pants (they are allowed in the mission now) and bought those for also 5 bucks. They are nice pants too and I felt like a champion walking out of that store.. just saying :) While eating some scones before that, I heard some yelping from a dog across the street. There was a huge crowd of people and all I could see was this lady swinging her purse. This yelping was unlike anything I´ve heard before just nonstop... it was so sad. I then finally can see.. and there´s 2 dogs fighting. The same size of dogs, but one was biting the others throat. He was whipping him around like a ragdoll.. I´m not exaggerating. Whipping the dog side to side by his throat and banging him on the sidewalk. It was honestly one of the saddest things I´ve ever seen. There was a huge crowd of people watching and people kicking and hitting the other dog and finally it let go. I didn´t see what happened to the other dog but it walked or ran off. I´ve seen some dead dogs here but that honestly made me so sick to my stomach. Freak I love dogs. I miss Bella but I´m so glad she´s at home. Anyways that´s basically all that happened this week... G has a baptism date for the 21st (after transfers) and is aware she needs to go to church 2 more times in order to do it. She has all the commandments taught except for tithing. Pray for her so she can progress. The music from Marshall McDonald didn´t work so if Jon could send it through Gmail that would probably be better. My allergies have been a little bit better.. I had to go buy some nose spray for 20 bucks which I should get reimbursed for. It´s starting to get so hot it´s ridiculous. But I gotta do what I gotta do. I´m glad the Utes were able to win the Toilet Bowl of theirs they had against Colorado. Better luck to them next year. I still love and support my Utes 100%! I shouldn´t need a phone card because we will be able to talk again through Skype for an hour and a half. I will have to make arrangements depending if I get transferred or not. I can´t remember any other questions I was asked or anything that happened this week so I´ll sign off for this week. Thanks for everything and I´ll talk to you all next week!
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Getting a shoeshine!
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Trenton with newly activated member
Enjoying the country...
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Chip Eater
November 25, 2013
Hello family! Once again I would like to thank you all for your letters and pictures that you guys sent me. I can´t believe Utah won´t be going bowling again this year. Anyways that´s frustrating so I´ll just say that and leave it at that. This week has been decent. G and her grandma didn´t end up coming to church. I had mini-cambios here with Elder M in Yungay (he was here for 6 months a year ago) and we had an awesome lesson with them. They both told us that know the message is true. However, the grandma doesn´t want to get baptized because she was already baptized and was catholic. G knows she needs a baptism but also wants to see if she should be baptized with us or the catholics. We explained the authority and everything but she told us she was going to come to church that Sunday for sure. We weren´t able to get a hold of her and she was never home and didn´t end up coming to church. That sucks even more because church was really good. The stake presidency came from Chillan to give talks and we also had sacrament meeting in the new ¨chapel.¨ There´s a lot more space now and it should be good for the activites that we have. On Saturday, the leaders also came from Chillan to do divisions with us to look for the less activies and invite them to the conference. I ended up going with the Stake President. We went and visited some less actives and invited them. We also took some time to talk about Yungay and how it was progressing and the problems we had. There is one other person that would be good to be the branch president. He is always willing to work and he is actually the secretary right now. He has been a member for a little bit more than a year right now. We have changes here on December 17th and I´m not sure if I´ll be going or I´ll be staying. We´ll have to wait and see. We´re trying to find some more less actives that we´ve never visited before to try and get them to come back. There are about 140 members here in Yungay total, but the attendance is about 35 now each week. I´m hoping with the new ¨chapel¨ more people will be more willing to come. In the other area, it was really uncomfortable and a little squished and the members had been complaining of that. Hna. S is active now. She was less active and we have gained her trust and gotten to know her really well. She calls all the time just to see how we´re doing haha. She called me yesterday crying saying she was in the hospital with her mom and that she didn´t feel well. Anyways later that night we went over to her house. It ended up she was diagnosed with depression. We talked a little bit about our purpose here on the Earth and what to do in times of trial. We then gave her a blessing and Hna. S started crying. It´s awesome to see her start coming back to church. She always asks me to bring a new Liahona over to her everytime we go to visit her. About that missionary that was planning to leave.. he ended up getting everything ready and he left on Wednesday. My companion and I gave him some ties because he didn´t have very many and he was definitely grateful. He doesn´t have a ton of support from his family so it was cool to see him have everything ready and take off. We had a party for him a few hours before he had to take the bus up to Santiago. I took a few pictures and I´ll see if I have time to send them to you guys.
My hay fever has been killing me. I have to go buy some nasal spray at the pharmacy and take 2 zyrtecs per day for 2 weeks to see if that helps. I would love that new music by Marshall McDonald. Hopefully Jon or Jeremy can get that to me as soon as possible. By the way I GOT MY PACKAGE! I got it last week and now it´s just chilling in our house waiting until Christmas... or the 18th. If I end up getting transferred I´ll open it then like I have already told you guys. Thanks! There isn´t anything like Thanksgiving here... :( to be honest I thought Thanksgiving was this past week. Tell all the family that I love them and that I miss them. Tell them they´re in my daily prayers as well! Good luck to you on Black Friday. Jon, you better keep up that recently started tradition of Sports Authority every morning :) But seriously I love Black Friday.. wish I could help you guys out! Yes Mom, we pay 12 bucks a month to have people wash our clothes. It´s nice too... they fold it all up and iron our shirts. Now we still don´t have lunches here every day in Yungay which sucks really bad, but it´s all good. I really enjoyed all the pictures of Bella... that one with the ripped up ball hanging way low seriously made me laugh. She is so freaking cute and looks so clean/healthy. A little fat as well but I still love her! Well that´s pretty much it for this week... I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Teagan this past week and that I love and miss him. He is such a baller. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and eat a lot of turkey. Jeremy don´t choke again this year :P Good luck on Black Friday.. shop well and don´t get punched. Things aren´t what they seem that day. I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!!!
Elder P's farewell party
Elder P
My hay fever has been killing me. I have to go buy some nasal spray at the pharmacy and take 2 zyrtecs per day for 2 weeks to see if that helps. I would love that new music by Marshall McDonald. Hopefully Jon or Jeremy can get that to me as soon as possible. By the way I GOT MY PACKAGE! I got it last week and now it´s just chilling in our house waiting until Christmas... or the 18th. If I end up getting transferred I´ll open it then like I have already told you guys. Thanks! There isn´t anything like Thanksgiving here... :( to be honest I thought Thanksgiving was this past week. Tell all the family that I love them and that I miss them. Tell them they´re in my daily prayers as well! Good luck to you on Black Friday. Jon, you better keep up that recently started tradition of Sports Authority every morning :) But seriously I love Black Friday.. wish I could help you guys out! Yes Mom, we pay 12 bucks a month to have people wash our clothes. It´s nice too... they fold it all up and iron our shirts. Now we still don´t have lunches here every day in Yungay which sucks really bad, but it´s all good. I really enjoyed all the pictures of Bella... that one with the ripped up ball hanging way low seriously made me laugh. She is so freaking cute and looks so clean/healthy. A little fat as well but I still love her! Well that´s pretty much it for this week... I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Teagan this past week and that I love and miss him. He is such a baller. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and eat a lot of turkey. Jeremy don´t choke again this year :P Good luck on Black Friday.. shop well and don´t get punched. Things aren´t what they seem that day. I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!!!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Don´t You Know Any Other Gosh Dang Tune?
Another week gone by... still living in Yungay! Thanks for the letters/pictures/videos once again. You guys are awesome. Anyways I wrote an outline of what I wanted to say in my letter but of course I forgot it back at the hut. I´ll see what I can do though. This week was a lot better than last week. Last week was so stressful for reals. But this week.. was decent. We are trying to work more through the members and do less contacts every week. I tried to make a list of all the member´s schedules and when they could go with us to appointments. Basically a couple of them told me at this point they don´t feel well enough spiritually to do it. Anyways that was a good sign (I knew it already) that they still needed a lot of help. Those comments were from some of the highest quality members here. Anyways we had G and her grandma in church on Sunday. We went to go pick them up from their house to walk with them to church but they were taking forever. We ended up getting their like 20 mins. early and I´m sure they felt super awkward walking in especially because the room is so small. The grandma doesn´t want to get baptized but she´s trying to support G, her 16 year old granddaughter. She was the only person in her family not baptized (the rest were baptized catholic, has 1 relative that´s mormon). She knows she needs to get baptized but we´re going to see because she´s a little lazy sometimes. We have an appointment with her tonight and we´re going to talk to her grandma about getting baptized too. We haven´t been able to get a hold of J M but we´re going to keep trying. We also had our English class which ended up going really well. 13 people came. I think I´ve told you about Hermana S and/or P before. They have 10 siblings as well, and about half of them are baptized and live here. The rest are all inactives, but we were working hard especially with these 2. They now have come 3 weeks in a row so that´s awesome. They seriously love us so much. They have a niece that´s not baptized that came to the English class. She loves us too and wants us to go to her house. She is 10 years old and wants a Book of Mormon. Her dad is inactive and her mom is catholic I think. I´m not sure if we´d be able to get permission because of the mom but we´re for sure going to try. Her name is S... and she´s way funny. The mission president called me this week because he wanted to talk about what´s going on here in Yungay. Apparently he´s knows all about the branch's challenges so he wanted to get my view of things. We have the conference here next Sunday and the leaders from the stake will be coming. Also, they have been fixing up this warehouse thing next to the church to use as our meetinghouse. It will finally be finished and there is going to be a lot more space (still not the biggest thing in the world). The branch trip to the temple was cancelled because we only had 7 members from the ward that wanted to go. We had to invite a different branch to try and fill the bus, but they had 15 people that wanted to go and it would have cost each member about 50 bucks to make the trip. It ended up being too expensive so the president cancelled the trip. The few members that were planning on going were disappointed but what can you do.. the members just don´t have the desire to go. The zone leaders called me the other day because they also know how Yungay isn´t doing too well.. he reminded me that that´s why I´m there. The Lord trusts me right now and that´s what I´m in Yungay. I feel bad because the branch really is going downhill.. I´m doing all I can to help the members and support the branch president, but obviously I can´t do it alone. We are trying to be creative to help all the members out. I have not gotten my package yet.. I will be sure to wait until Christmas. We have tranfers the 17th or 18th (your wedding anniversary.. maybe it´s the 19th I can´t remember.. I´m ugly)... so if I end up getting transferred that day I´d probably open it that day. It would be too hard to haul it around just to wait one more week. As for the Christmas CD from Marshall McDonald.. I want that music. I listen to his Christmas Oranges CD all the time even way before Christmas was close... and I would love his new music. Maybe you could have Jon or Jeremy send all the songs through email as .mp3 individually or however many you can fit so I can put them on my flashdrive. That would be awesome.
I can´t believe the news about Kelvin. I read Heather´s letter first and she was like I´m sure you´ve heard about Kelvin.. I was like no? Haha I read my friend´s email first, then my bro´s/sisters email, then Dad´s, then Mom´s. Just for the future :) but wow that´s unbelievable. Stacy has been through more than enough trials already in her life.. and now this. It´s going to be tough for Kelvin because like you guys said, he won´t really know what´s going on or why he´s so sick. That makes me sick to my stomach. They will definitely be in my prayers. There´s this lady in our ward (she´s basically like my 3rd mom.. after Mother Teresa and Big Lor) that always asks us to pray for her because the Lord always listens to missionaries prayers :) But for reals I will be praying for their family. Mom, Ron lived in Idaho right? I didn´t know he was that old... freak time flew. I honestly can´t even remember him... I´m a horrible relative. Someone told me that was this huge hurricane in some country and that a bunch of people died but I had no idea where.. but I guess it was in the Phillipines? That´s crazy. Freak I never have any idea what´s going on in the world.. I guess that´s sometimes good but freak I feel left out :( haha. By the way I freaking miss my puppy. Tell Bella I love her, give her a big kiss, and send me some more pics if possible :) Brielle is so cute.. Heather I loved that video of her.. I can´t wait to talk to her on Skype! Big Lor.... I definitely did get your letter. It was definitely a surprise so thank you very much. I love hearing about my 2nd mom and how my 2nd house is doing. I honestly think of you like my Mom.. (probably why it was so hard for me to say goodbye to you) but thanks for everything!
Thanks for the updates with Utah Football. Sounds like they played Oregon pretty tough there for a good part of the game but the offense couldn´t keep up with Oregon´s. That doesn´t sound like good news about Travis Wilson.. we have the worst luck with our quarterbacks. Keep me updated.
Anyways I love you all and thanks for everything. Thanks for all your prayers and your letters. Mondays are the best because I love reading everyone´s letters and seeing pictures of my nephews/niece. I´ll talk to you guys all next week!
I can´t believe the news about Kelvin. I read Heather´s letter first and she was like I´m sure you´ve heard about Kelvin.. I was like no? Haha I read my friend´s email first, then my bro´s/sisters email, then Dad´s, then Mom´s. Just for the future :) but wow that´s unbelievable. Stacy has been through more than enough trials already in her life.. and now this. It´s going to be tough for Kelvin because like you guys said, he won´t really know what´s going on or why he´s so sick. That makes me sick to my stomach. They will definitely be in my prayers. There´s this lady in our ward (she´s basically like my 3rd mom.. after Mother Teresa and Big Lor) that always asks us to pray for her because the Lord always listens to missionaries prayers :) But for reals I will be praying for their family. Mom, Ron lived in Idaho right? I didn´t know he was that old... freak time flew. I honestly can´t even remember him... I´m a horrible relative. Someone told me that was this huge hurricane in some country and that a bunch of people died but I had no idea where.. but I guess it was in the Phillipines? That´s crazy. Freak I never have any idea what´s going on in the world.. I guess that´s sometimes good but freak I feel left out :( haha. By the way I freaking miss my puppy. Tell Bella I love her, give her a big kiss, and send me some more pics if possible :) Brielle is so cute.. Heather I loved that video of her.. I can´t wait to talk to her on Skype! Big Lor.... I definitely did get your letter. It was definitely a surprise so thank you very much. I love hearing about my 2nd mom and how my 2nd house is doing. I honestly think of you like my Mom.. (probably why it was so hard for me to say goodbye to you) but thanks for everything!
Thanks for the updates with Utah Football. Sounds like they played Oregon pretty tough there for a good part of the game but the offense couldn´t keep up with Oregon´s. That doesn´t sound like good news about Travis Wilson.. we have the worst luck with our quarterbacks. Keep me updated.
Anyways I love you all and thanks for everything. Thanks for all your prayers and your letters. Mondays are the best because I love reading everyone´s letters and seeing pictures of my nephews/niece. I´ll talk to you guys all next week!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Lettuce Napkins
Training a new companion!
Two redheads in a little hut...
Anyways thanks for all the pictures, videos, and updates. Today we went to a zone activity in Chillan with 3 other zones. I saw R. S., another kid that went to Jordan and recently got here. I also got to see Elder H. Freak I love that kid... we had some good times there in the MTC hahaha. I did get to play basketball with some good players (one that will be playing at SUU. The hoops are like 9 feet tall with really skinny rims and no nets. And the backboards and disgustingly hideous. Anyways we are trying hard to find more people to teach. G wasn´t able to come to church because she had family over at her house. Most of the work here honestly is helping the members. I feel like they need a lot of help. Only about 8 of them will be going to the temple on the 15th. There should definitely be a lot more but I mean what can you do. We are also working hard with the less actives and one has basically been reactivated. Hermana S she is awesome. She used to be president of the primary but she went inactive. She calls us almost every day just to see how we´re doing and when the next time is that we´re going to visit her. She always asks me what kind of dessert I want to eat when we go to her house. She really is so nice and she is starting to get back to going to church. She has been 2 weeks in a row now and stays the full 3 hours.
I can´t think of a whole lot more to say... just pray for me please as I´ve been super stressed and (not that this is new) but haven´t felt that great. Eating for 3 days can´t be good but I honestly try as hard as I can but I just can´t. Thanks for all your letters and all the support at home. Tell my nephews/niece that I love them. Tell Teags good job for practicing reading.. and tell Carter boy that I can´t wait to go on some more bear hunts with him. ¨We´re going on a bear hunt, gonna catch a big one, we´re not scared! Uh oh, a deep dark cave! Can´t go over it can´t go under it, we gotta go through it!¨ Haha he´s so freaking funny oh my gosh. Sorry this letter is all over the place again I really need to start writing stuff down that I want to tell you guys. I always forget the stuff that happens to me during the week and everytime after I write I remember something I wanted to tell you guys. But thanks for everything and I love you all!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Me quedo en Yungay!
Hola familia how´s everything going? Sorry I´m writing a little late today. We had a zone activity in Chillan and also I had a bunch of letters to read through so thanks! From my title, I´m sure you can tell that I will be staying here in Yungay! My companion, Elder C, will be leaving to Concepción to most likely finish his mission there. Okay so I thought this was a little weird after reading Jon and Mom´s email about leadership and stuff like that but I have some news for all you all. I will be training this transfer! I will meet my companion tomorrow in Concepción. I´m excited but also a little nervous. We´ll see how everything goes. By the way I had to give the District Class 2 weeks ago and I had 2 sister missionaries come up to me after and they told me I´d definitely be training this next transfer. It was a little weird but anyways I´m excited. I might have to sleep in Chillán tonight in order to be in Concepción tomorrow around lunchtime, but we´re not sure yet. By the way, guess who our next assistant to the president is? My good friend PM! Remember him? I was in the talent show in 9th with him and he always led the student section during the basketball games. How dope is that? He went from district leader, to zone leader, to assistant all in 3 or 4 changes. Crazy. Anyways he called me today and we talked for a little. I´ll be seeing him in Conce to pick up my new companion tomorrow. Our investigator G is 14 years old, and her grandma is still working with her little by little to help her. Maybe this transfer we will be able to get her baptized. We also found a girl named G, who had 17 years old. She started crying because all of her family had been baptized (Catholic) but her no. She was really emotional and she really wants to be baptized. She was with her boyfriend Sunday morning so she didn´t come to church which was pretty disappointing. We will continue to work with her and I´ll keep you guys updated.
I enjoyed all the pictures that I received of Halloween. The kids looked awesome and especially the picture of Dallin walking on the sidewalk surprised me. So different. Freak. That story about Hayden was awesome. I know I might sound like less of a man but as I read that story and looked at the picture Bri sent me I definitely teared up haha. I love you Hayden.. you´re such a baller! Congratulations to Jon on his new calling! Haha let me know how that goes.
Mom, I was actually wondering the other day what day I received my mission call. I think it was around a year ago or so.. I can´t remember for sure.
Dad, yes Yungay is really small. I feel like I have basically knocked on every door in our sector. We actually found G in the sector of the hermanas (shhhhhhhh) :) Sounds like the Jazz are going to have a rough season this year. Did they sign any good players from other teams or what? I heard they lost our big players but nobody told me if they signed anybody else. Good luck to Utah next week against the Sun Devils. The past 2 years against Arizona St. were horrendous haha let me know what happens.
As for the package Mom, I can´t think of anything I really need. Maybe some tubes of chapstick with SPF? We played soccer today in the activity and yeah I definitely got burnt haha. Also, I opened up my garments today from the MTC that I bought and wow they are totally different than my others. I know I ordered the exact same ones but the ones they gave me are definitely different and I don´t like them. By the way it´s soooooooooo hot during the day now like wow. I got out of the shower today and immediately started sweating. That water bottle you sent me will be of good use now.. thanks!
Anyways I can´t think of anything more to tell you guys. Should be interesting training here in Yungay.. hopefully we can find that one person that God has been preparing for us. I´ll let you guys know about my new companion next week and how the work continues to go here in Yungay. Pretty soon we´ll be talking on Skype on Christmas... that´s crazy! Definitely excited to see all your guys faces.. especially my nephews and my awesome niece que no conozco todavía :( But I love you all and I hope you guys all enjoy this letter and I answered all your questions! Mom, I don´t know, but if you could maybe order me a couple more garments of the same type we bought back at home through store.lds.org and have them sent to the mission office I wouldn´t be too incredibly upset with you. Also I hope you remembered those socks because wow I definitely need some more. Thanks for all your letters and the support back at home and I´ll talk to you guys next week!
I enjoyed all the pictures that I received of Halloween. The kids looked awesome and especially the picture of Dallin walking on the sidewalk surprised me. So different. Freak. That story about Hayden was awesome. I know I might sound like less of a man but as I read that story and looked at the picture Bri sent me I definitely teared up haha. I love you Hayden.. you´re such a baller! Congratulations to Jon on his new calling! Haha let me know how that goes.
Mom, I was actually wondering the other day what day I received my mission call. I think it was around a year ago or so.. I can´t remember for sure.
Dad, yes Yungay is really small. I feel like I have basically knocked on every door in our sector. We actually found G in the sector of the hermanas (shhhhhhhh) :) Sounds like the Jazz are going to have a rough season this year. Did they sign any good players from other teams or what? I heard they lost our big players but nobody told me if they signed anybody else. Good luck to Utah next week against the Sun Devils. The past 2 years against Arizona St. were horrendous haha let me know what happens.
As for the package Mom, I can´t think of anything I really need. Maybe some tubes of chapstick with SPF? We played soccer today in the activity and yeah I definitely got burnt haha. Also, I opened up my garments today from the MTC that I bought and wow they are totally different than my others. I know I ordered the exact same ones but the ones they gave me are definitely different and I don´t like them. By the way it´s soooooooooo hot during the day now like wow. I got out of the shower today and immediately started sweating. That water bottle you sent me will be of good use now.. thanks!
Anyways I can´t think of anything more to tell you guys. Should be interesting training here in Yungay.. hopefully we can find that one person that God has been preparing for us. I´ll let you guys know about my new companion next week and how the work continues to go here in Yungay. Pretty soon we´ll be talking on Skype on Christmas... that´s crazy! Definitely excited to see all your guys faces.. especially my nephews and my awesome niece que no conozco todavía :( But I love you all and I hope you guys all enjoy this letter and I answered all your questions! Mom, I don´t know, but if you could maybe order me a couple more garments of the same type we bought back at home through store.lds.org and have them sent to the mission office I wouldn´t be too incredibly upset with you. Also I hope you remembered those socks because wow I definitely need some more. Thanks for all your letters and the support back at home and I´ll talk to you guys next week!
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