More Photos- Aug 19th

August 19th Letter

19 Agosto 2013
 
Yo estoy bien. Me gustó la reunión de zona que tuvimos. No estoy muy
muy animado, pero por lo menos contento.
Tuvimos una experiencia muy buena el jueves. Estábamos buscando N.
con un miembro para visitarles, pero no estaba. Al lado vive un
futuro, y golpeamos la puerta. No quisieron contestar, y una hija
salió y no respondió y se fue de la casa. Pero vimos una familia
afuera de una casa de un futuro que nunca pudimos visitar. Fuimos a la
casa y preguntamos de la persona. Se mudó, pero ellos viven allí
ahora. Los hijos estaban moviendo cosas de afuera de la casa, y les
ayudamos con eso. Después llegó la pareja, y él nos agradeció. Él era
un poco más tímido y crítico. Entramos y cantamos, y explicamos del
Libro de Mormón. Dejamos libros con la familia, y el padre está
leyendo y entiende muy bien. Son cinco en la familia.
Estamos trabajando mucho con los miembros. Cada lección con miembro si
se puede. El líder misional está trabajando duro/muy bien y con ánimo.
Vamos a ver muchas cosas buenas muy pronto.
 
We had an amazing week. Sadly my Brazilian Companion was called
another direction, but he seems to be doing well.

 
Mom and Dad, I just want to say before I continue that I´m thankful
for you both.  You have taught me a lot and I´m thankful for that as
well. I´m happy that you are serving a mission again, and that you are
doing well. Thank you for having such strong testimonies of the
gospel, at least from the time I started to understand.  Thank you mom
and dad.
 
Hey we have a family here in our ward that are fanatics about
genealogy. It´s amazing. I´m not excited to do the work, but to have
experiences like that would strengthen my testimony incredibly. The
dad says that going to the temple is like a henhouse where they teach
you to fly. You might be a chicken in the metaphor, but at least you
can fly.  Then you leave the temple after the work is done, and you
start to forget to fly, and you´re walking or even not doing anything
at all.  Genealogy will keep you in flight.
 
Sometimes the work is like their fishing but in Chile, something
really cool at least happens every day, and
the people are ready for the gospel here!  Found a family 3 days
ago!!! They´re reading the Book of Mormon! The dad said he had a dream
like Lehi in First Nephi, and he was the skeptical one, but now he´s
rather intrigued. He has many many doubts and questions, but we keep
stressing the importance of asking Heavenly Father to know if it´s all
true or not.  That´s one of the most important things. He also feels
that he isn´t worthy to ask about it because he says he´s a sinful
man.

I want to testify here that Heavenly Father is not a grudge holding
God.  Firstly, He knows that we are going to make mistakes, and that´s
why He sent His son to give us the ability to repent and change, and
be forgiven completely.  He doesn´t take away your agency and make you
repent, but he sure does want you to do it, and willing and ready and
happy to forgive.  My invitation to all is to avoid sinning, for one,
because it only brings embarrassment and feelings that you can´t talk
to Heavenly Father even though that´s not true, and for two, Repenting
is a harder task than holding on and not sinning.
 
I love this area, the members, my companion, and the investigators.
Agency of theirs is tough and frustrating at times, but we learn how
to deal with it. I have learned from my companion that if you´re
persistent and don´t let them sit down on their excuses and give them
little pushes as they try to tell you they can´t, 90 percent of the
time they learn that they really CAN do it, they just doubted too
much. Se ponen límites. -They put limits on themselves-
 
We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates for the 4th, but we
worry... they have to attend church more!  Excited for baptism though.
 
Okay. Now here´s the part that comes directly from my noggin... The
part that doesn´t ever make sense unless I´m in a lesson and the
Spirit´s helping me. haha
 
My new companion started his mission here and spent 6 months. . . 

We often wonder what the Lord has in store for us.
 He often knows the people we contact in the street and remembers what
the people were like 2 years ago. It´s a huge help. He finishes his
mission halfway through the change, so I´ll end up with a different
companion in a few weeks as well.  He´s from El Salvador. It´s a tiny
island that apparently is a part of North America.  The people keep
thinking we´re making a joke when we tell them where he´s from because
in spanish, El Salvador means ¨The Savior¨...
If you want to know his personality, just find Nate N. He´s
basically his twin.  It´s rad.
 
But hey, There are ups and downs on the mission. Don´t get
discouraged. And yes, I am talking to myself here too.  It´s  amazing.
Love you all. Keep praying and being awesome as people and members.
 
 

This is Humberto. He´s our mascot here in Compañía Baja. He´s a very
faithful and loyal guardian of the house. He took place of TARO, a dog
who used to go everywhere with the missionaries. Humberto has been
getting a little lazy, but he he´s always happy to see us. A timid
pitbull. You don´t see it often, but he´s taken a lot of beatings from
dumb flaíte kids here. I hate it, but it happens. He´s a tough dog.
 
Went with the other elders to the chapel to play ping pong with my
set, then after we played basketball.  Naturally my companion, being
6ft something, even though he had to take about 10 shots every time
even with his hands almost touching the rim, he kept the ball most of
the time. Oh and did i mention he doesn´t know what a foul is? haha So
much fun.

More Spray Paint Art

Falling into Perfect Place 8/12

Letter from Elder Jonathan Cattron 8/12/2013-

Hey. Sorry I don't have much time today. But I might be able to write
by hand letter. Sure love you all. we had an amazing week.

(from Jon's mom) -What did you learn this week?
Tuvimos una semana muy buena, y nos sentimos que fue exitosa. Estamos
muy animados por esta área y el éxito que por fin encontramos. Mi
compañero dijo cuando estaba recuperándose su espalda que le mostró lo
que no estaba haciendo bien, y quiere enfocarse mas y trabajar mejor.
Después de eso y cuando se sintió mejor, trabajábamos mucho mejor.
Por fin pudimos reunirnos con , que esta conviviendo, pero le
enseñamos la ley de castidad y la importancia de esta ley para Dios.
Entendió muy bien, y el espíritu estuvo muy fuerte. Se va a mudar de
la casa, hablar con su pareja, y esforzarse para bautizarse el 25 de
Agosto. También asistió con su familia y quieren hacer
transmites y bautizarse, y nos dio permiso para bautizar a su hijo de
8 años, lo que hacen 3 bautismos en la familia.  con su pololo
menos activo asistieron y ella quiere prepararse para su fecha,
también el 25 de Agosto. el hermano del pololo también esta
preparando por esta fecha. Es posible que sera difícil llevarles a la
iglesia cada domingo, pero se puede. Tenemos que trabajar duro con la
mama.

Short summary of this week - A giant miracle in less than 12 hours.
all things seemed to be falling in to perfect place. I love you all.
--------------------
 
Here is what Google Translate gave from his Spanish message above.

We had a very good week, and felt it was successful. We
very encouraged by this area and finally found success. my
partner said when he was recovering his back that showed him
I was not doing well, and wants to focus more and work better.
After that and when he felt better, worked much better.
At last we meet with with an investigator, who is cohabiting, but it
taught the law of chastity and the importance of this law to God.
He understood very well, and the spirit was very strong. They're moving to
the house, talk to your partner, and strive to be baptized on 25
August. Another investigator also attended with his family and want to do
transmit and be baptized, and gave us permission to baptize his son
8 years, which make three baptisms in the family. Another investigator with her ​​boyfriend
less active attended and she wants to prepare for your date,
Also on August 25. the brother of the boyfriend is also
prepared by this date. It may be difficult to bring to the
church every Sunday, but you can. We must work hard for the mom.

News from the mission 8/5/2013

It´s supposedly winter here. It´s super hot, but when it´s cold it
cuts through your clothes and everyone tells you that your hands are
freezing and it gets hilariously annoying.  My health is fine, and a
friend companion gave me his inside lining to his jacket a few days
ago because he heard i lost mine, then i received a call that MY
jacket is coming to me.  Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor
that tends to teach us and bless us in the right way.  He sent me my
jacket that I´ve been looking for all winter after winter passed and
after I had just received an extra.
 
There are some really weird aspects to spanish that tend to drive me
nuts, and none of it feels expressive enough. You can´t emphasize
words in spanish and be understood, nor can you say quickly which
people did what... posessives drive me nuts.
But I love the language anyway, and it´s coming to be easier and
easier every day. I´m already progressing way past what I thought I
would be and I wonder how it´s done. I´m learning quickly and being
helped tons as I continue to be an eager learner and servant, or learn
how to be more wanting to serve.
 
the mission is really something hard and difficult. More stressful,
annoying, and patience testing than anything I have ever been a part
of, but It´s also one of the most important pieces of my life so far,
and wouldn´t trade this time or what I have learned for anything in
the world.   It´s all part of the plan, and I´m learning to just deal
with it if I don´t like it, because as long as I´m doing what I
should, I´ll always be happy enough and provided for.
 
The Heart Attack incident, completely honestly, did bother me for a
short while. It hung in the back of my mind, but I mentioned it to my
mission president during our interviews and also to my companion.  It
all just gave me a reason to work even harder so that we can be more
blessed as a family.
 
Eat all the foods that cause noise. It makes life in the MTC fun. . .
 
If you´re late to an appointment, there´s no reason to point fingers.
Nor anything that you can change after the fact. But you can at least
communicate with the person and leave notes. It makes us happy to know
that we were remembered.
 
I got all the letters. I was just super lazy last week, and ordering
garments to survive wherever I might get sent this next change. . .
 
Just so you know, yes I did spend money and purposely. I bought a hard
drive so that I could put my pictures on them. I can´t send sd cards
in the mail becuase supposedly the Chile mail here is weird and they
run it through scanners that have been known to wipe memory in the
past.
 
I´ve been reading Jesus the Christ, and I´m almost done. I´m on the
last 100 pages of the 800 page book... wow.  I´ve come to learn that
the Jewish people were exactly what Christ warned them they would be
and were - - Ignorant of their wicked deeds and hypocrisy.  They broke
almost all of their Jewish laws and commandments, even some of the
ones they themselves made, so that they could convict Him and put him
through a fake trial where Christ was completely innocent in every
way, following their laws of which they professed to be masters and
followers....
Herod and Pilate were victim to their own rule for fear of their
leadership. Especially Pilate for KNOWING what was happening, finding
him guiltless, having power to change it, and not speaking up.  It was
a part of His plan, but the people blindly made their decisions and
killed their King that they had been waiting for since the beginning
of time.  Sometimes we can do everything perfectly, and we will
receive our blessings, and others will completely deny what they could
have just because they don´t want to make the right decision.  And I,
many times making the same mistake as a missionary, understand it, and
yet still do it a lot...  We REALLY need the help of our Heavenly
Father in His work. He proves evermore patient with us, and that in
itself seems a miracle.
 
Anyway.
I just want to express how much they both love us. They suffered a lot
and are still helping as we think that our life is hard.
Remember always that we´re not fighting to be better than eachother.
We are fighting and improving to overcome the natural man, who loves
to find the easy ways out and listen to the promptings opposite of
Heavenly Father's promptings.
¨For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of
Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings
of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a
saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a
child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to
submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him,
even as a child doth submit to his father.¨ - Mosiah 3:19
I am learning A LOT about that topic.  Personal desire is a very core
subject to that as well, so one more scripture :
 
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for
he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a
wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do
many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much
righteousness".
 
Fight the natural man this week, and think about which is closer to
what God would have you do.
 
Love you all.
Ciao.
 
 

Origami Dino-la Serena

Spray paint Origami dino 5 seconds from our house.

Joker Graffiti

The Giant Joker Graffiti that we pass by every day. There are also a few here of Bruno Mars and other Actors. Chile is so Americanized. They often ask us if we have certain TV shows in the US, when they don´t realize that´s where the show is filmed... haha. 

My birthday was amazing!

June 25th, 2013

Today we have PDAY because yesterday we had an area conference. It was amazing. I wrote about as much as I do in General Conference. And it was all important information answering some of the questions I had.

Dad n mom, I´m jealous of your companions. They´re soo cool!

Everything not Eternal is Eternally out of date.

C.S. Lewis  

Yes, I got the package with the card. Thank you so much. Sadly president says it´s a perfect book for Pday, but I´m still happy for that. 

 

My birthday was amazing! Some members invited us over to a Family Home Evening, and brought one of their moms, which they did because of the awesome birthday conference on sunday. I didn´t know the General Authorities made movies and gave talks specifically for birthdays... 

So the mom counted as a new investigator, and we´ll be trying to meet with her in the next couple weeks. 

What I thought about where you are going was, ¨YES.¨  Even though the out of the US calls are always exciting, it still gave me a little more peace of mind because of the blessings of the states. The only better place would have been here in Chile. 

 

The mission president is an inspired man. I was extremely excited for your call and the rest of the day my companion wondered why I was walking so fast. I guess I´m just easy to be excited about things. 

 

Remember to invite a bunch of non member friends!  I say that because yes, I did see it. 

haha. Thanks for the story. It seems that I´m the only one in my mission who cracks up every time someone makes a noise.

A few other elders have blogs but if you don´t feel like updating them don´t worry about it.  It´s a lot of work it seems like.   If people want to talk to me, they can do it personally now since the missionary rules have changed.

I still haven´t written president. If I have time I´ll come back to this. 

Birthday Cake- Mini Tortas

The Elders we live with and my companion made me a birthday cake made of ¨Mini Tortas¨. It was delicious.

July 1st

Originally sent 7/1/2013

News for the moment - 

We´ll hopefully be having the baptism for a young 10 year old. His parents are finally thinking about letting him. The mom already said yes, but the dad is still a bit worried. They´re good people.

We finally got a hold of an investigator that disappeared. She moved back in with her pareja, so... we don´t know what she´s going to do. She was ready to be baptized, but since she moved back in with the guy she can´t get baptized unless she moves out until she´s married. Convive-ing here is a pain. Everyone does it because the marriage laws are so difficult and slow. There´s a law that you have to wait 9 months before you can get married again after a divorce just in case there was a pregnancy. It´s rough because a lot of your golden investigators who are ready to be baptized have to wait a long time. . . 

My companion is no longer with me. He should be on a plane by now going home. I´m working with the other elder from the ward in both sectors. It´s a huge area and a wonder how they did it like this before.  It was just 5 months ago that they received the second pair of missionaries here.

Anyway, I gotta get out of here. I took too long with letters to the mission president and everything. Love you all. 

Here´s part of it. Can´t put the rest because there are too many names of the people and we´re not advised to put them in emails.

Estoy bien. Ésta semana era muy rara, porque habían muchas cosas nuevas como mi compañero saliendo y todo de eso. Fue una experiencia buena, pero siempre es algo triste cuando cambie. Estoy muy agradecido por poder trabajar con Élder V. Me enseñó mucho. Con el trabajo, yo estoy progresando en mi confianza y no preocuparme de cosas que no sean importantes. Estoy aprendiendo más de ser un líder en algunas formas y que yo tengo que hablar más con mi compañero en cada momento. Me cuesta hacer ´small talk´ y cosas así, pero estoy aprendiendo. También este tiempo ahora que Elder O y yo estamos trabajando en las dos áreas, estoy aprendiendo cosas que no probablemente podría en alguna otra manera a este punto de la misión.

Back online!

Sorry, you've had to wait in anticipation of Jon's mission communication, we've been traveling and tackling this had to wait.  But here it is!  I'll post quite a few back letters and then start posting as they arrive.  One of my favorite came recently about a moving experience during a hospital blessing!  Hope his experience with the Spirit touches your lives as much as it continues to touch mine.  Thanks for checking in and supporting him as he strives to do God's will thousands of miles from home.
his sis, Lynnette