Glad Tidings of Great Joy

This week we did a pair of intercambios. The first we did with the Zone Leaders of Rahue and we traveled to Rio Negro to start them. It's a little city about 45 minutes outside of Osorno. I was with Elder Zambrano who was in the CCM with me. We worked, doing contacts, in Rio Negro for a while and then took a very, very crowded bus back into town. We arrived to their sector and continued working there for the evening. I had lots of good conversation with Elder Zambrano and we learned lots together (he is from Colombia).  Later, we did intercambios with the Zone Leaders from Osorno and I worked in my sector with Elder Arnett- my companion from the MTC! It was really fun to get to see and work with him after so long! It is amazing to see the progress we have made and the people/missionaries we have become.  I really love to work with other missionaries and see how dedicated they are to the work. It always impresses me all that they do. Being a missionary is great! :) ...

Sorry everyone! I have had some trouble posting the letters but I think it is fixed now.  Hopefully you can read the last three letters in this blog. 5/20/19 What a week it has been!  Last Sunday a man showed up to the chapel on his own. A member here owns a hair cutting place and he went there to get a cut and during the conversation she invited him to come to church- and he came! We didn't recognize him so I introduced myself and sat with him during the meeting. He (Ricardo) stayed for the second hour of classes as well. Afterwards, we talked a little more and set up a time to get together the next evening. He showed up and we began to talk with him. He told us he is searching for where he needs to be. Trying to find God. He has so many good desires, and everything he wants to know are things we teach! We taught him the Restoration that night and he accepted a baptismal date for the 8 of June! We had another lesson with him on Wednesday night in the house of a membe...

Hi everyone, I'm sorry for not writing a letter last week.  This week I wanted to first share a couple of things I have learned in my studies these past couple weeks. The first is from an article I read in an old Liahona about Satan. It explained that the strategies of him are:  Temptation Lies and Deception Contention Discouragement Anytime that we feel, participate or deal with these things, it is coming from him and we need to do our best to fight it and look for the light that comes from God.  Another interesting point is that the devil can not read our thoughts. That is a power that only God has. (DC 6:16) Keep that in mind, something worth pondering. Other thought comes from Elder McKay's talk from General Conference. He taught us that God can give us immediate blessings to sustain us through difficult times. Some of those are: peace hope kindness love calmness courage assurance comfort joy To receive these things we must: h...

Hey everybody! We had a fun week this week, as always :) At the beginning of the week we went to Valdivia for the zone conference. That was my first time being back there since I served there almost a year ago. It was crazy to get to see it again. I didn't get to visit my sector or anything but I did see a couple of the members i knew. We stayed the night with the Zone Leaders after doing intercambios in their sector. We ran into one of my old investigators that had moved to that sector so maybe they will start teaching them again! We also did some service for a member and chopped some wood. Not sure if I should share this, but I broke her axe...... Make that 3 axes I have broken on the mission during intercambios, 4 in total. oops. Elder Rojas cooked us up a delicious Peruvian dish, aji de gallina, or something like that.  We did a couple more intercambios and I learned a lot. One thing was the importance of telling the truth. It is a commandment to tell the truth and ...

Somehow I guess I didn't hit publish on this last week! Sorry.      We had a busy week but it was great. We got to travel to Chiloé for the zone conference there and meet all of the wonderful Elderes y Hermanas that are working there. I got to know more of the country and continue to see how beautiful it is. On Sunday we got to practice with the Stake Choir in preparation for the stake conference in a few weeks. I'd forgotten how much I love to sing and it made me remember the hours of choir and voice lessons from before the mission. I'd like to say it is a talent I get to use. I am so excited for General Conference this week! It is going to be great. Watch it! As a mission we have a goal of 80 baptisms of converts each month. We have not reached that goal yet but we are working hard towards it. I believe it can happen this month of April. And I would like to invite you to pray for us and help us in that way. A great way to contribute is to share t...

Hey everybody! We are so busy here but I am doing really well. This week we had the chance to fly down to Punta Arenas to do intercambios with the Zone Leaders. I felt so happy and comfortable to be there again, despite the cold winter weather that has already set in down there.  We had some really great teaching opportunities, including finding a woman named Ilene. She accepted the message we taught her and committed to reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon right away. I'm grateful we got to find and teach her! This week we are going to have a few more intercambios with Elders from Valdivia, and will also be going to the conference there tomorrow.  Please keep praying for Mirta and Mariela. They are both progressing and we are expecting baptisms very soon! We also taught Byron for the first time this week. He is 10, but has already made it to Alma in the Book of Mormon. The problem was that his parents didn't want us teaching him, but it looks like they...

This week we visited with Oscar, Yanet, and Olga a number of times. They're a family we found a week or two ago that are going through a pretty hard time right now. We have been able to help them a  lot with their move and taught them a lot this week too. They really liked the plan of salvation and said they would be baptized if God told them to do it. Good thing God wants them to be baptized in His church and He answers sincere prayer!! We also had a couple of lessons were we struggled to explain the authority of God in a way that allows people to understand. God gives His power to men by the laying on of hands, as Jesus did with his 12 apostles. This power was lost when the people rejected them and killed the Apostles. But, God wants us to have His truth. So, he called a prophet once again as He always has. This prophet was Joseph Smith, and he was given the Priesthood by Peter, James, and John by the laying on of hands. Thus, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints i...