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