Week 27.... The Power of Fasting!!!

This week was a super good week. We are still just working hard at getting people reactivated. We are still working on getting everyone callings. We are really seeing people start to build their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is so amazing 

to see all the miracles that are happening in this little sector. Everyone is starting to gain the desire they need to progress. The one thing that was so hard for this sector is that no one knows what to do. We have spent all week teaching people how a church is supposed to function. Like for example... For the last 2 months everyone that came to church would leave after sacrament meeting. No one knew that it was important to have 3 hours of church. So we have been teaching people about what church really is supposed to be like. This was the first week in my whole time here where everyone stayed all 3 hours. It was such a miracle!! We are seriously seeing so much progress here in Los Sauces. The members are getting super excited. When I first got here, they were very disinterested about doing work, now all of them want to go on splits with us and help us bring people back to the church. It is so amazing seeing the Lord’s hand in all of this. I know that if we continue to work hard, we will continue to see blessings!!! And that this branch will grow to become stronger and stronger. 

As far as investigators this week, we found so many great families. For the last few weeks Elder Miller and I have been praying and fasting that we would find a family that we could baptize!!!! This week we started doing a new technique of teaching. It started working. We started using photos when we were teaching. This week we were able to find a lot of people. We found a few families that are seriously so good. We are so excited to start teaching them. We are going to have a great week this week. We are seeing the fruits of our hard work. I love seeing the work pay off. 

Well, this week for my spiritual thought, I just wanted to share a little thing about fasting!!! This week we have been fasting for a lot of blessings in this sector,that the members could have excitement and this branch could really begin to progress. I am a firm believer in the Power of Fasting. I know that if we fast and ask the Lord for help he will help us. It has been such a spiritual week for us this week. We have been so blessed to have the Lord on our side and to see this sector really begin to progress, and really gain the desire to help others. I know with the help of the Lord, this sector... small that it may be... will really begin to be strengthened by the Lord, and amazing miracles will begin to happen. I just wanted to bare my testimony that Fasting really works, and that God will bless us if we turn to Him for help!!!

 

Digging Graves at the Cemetery for service!!!

More mirror selfies!!

Some yummy food...for when we arent fasting, of course!

Week 26...Tunnel Vision!!!

Elder Miller and I are working so hard here in Los Sauces. We have been so focused on getting the less- actives coming back to church. When I arrived here in Los Sauces, only about 14 people were coming to church. With the help of my great companions: Elder Wilhelm and Elder Miller, Elder Navarro and Elder Sauñe, we have been able to increase the Faith of this branch. We are now having about 30 people on average attend the church. It is so amazing to see the change in these people’s lives. All they needed was a little push and they have been able to improve so much. 

This week Elder Miller and I focused on giving everyone a calling or an assignment. We think it will help strengthen this branch. I am loving my mission, and I am loving this Sector, Los Sauces. We are still waiting to find some great investigators. We actually did a fast this week. I know if we continue to work hard, the Lord will bless us with investigators that we can baptize. 

 We just have to work hard and continue to have faith.

This was super fun week. I learned a lot. Today was a really fun day. We went with an investigator to a waterfall. It was so beautiful. It was a good 30 minute hike to this waterfall. It was so beautiful. Probably one of the funnest things I have done in the mission. It was such a great day.

One thing I learned this week that I wanted to share with you guys is to not have "tunnel vision" What is tunnel vision?  It is when you focus too much on one thing that you forget about the other things around you. I noticed that this week, as far as missionary work goes, we spent too much time focusing on the less- actives that we forgot about or investigators. Tunnel vision is exactly what Satan wants. He wants you to get so focused on one thing, that you completely miss the others that you could be helping, or the other spiritual experiences you could be having. So, my advice to all of you this week, is to be aware of tunnel vision.  Make sure you are always looking to help others and not to have this tunnel vision. 

Week 25... Let it Go!!!

La Zona Anglo

This week I got to meet my new comp. His name is Elder Miller.
He is so awesome. I have already learned so much from him. He works really hard, so I am excited to work with him this cambio... and hopefully the next. I really want to be his companion when he finishes the mission. I think it would be so awesome. We are having so much fun here in Los Sauces. Elder Miller is one of the best missionaries I have seen. He loves to work… which is so good. I know we are going to do great things here. This week we worked harder than I ever have...and it paid off. Here in Los Sauces we have a usual attendance of like 16. This last week, from all our hard work, we got 33 to come to church. It was such an amazing experience for us. It was such a testimony builder for me to see the hard work that we do, pay off. 

This week we took the branch directory and just started going over everyone’s names. We want to visit everyone on our list. We have so many members on that list, but only like 16 usually show up. So we spent all week looking for these people and trying to reactivate them. This was so amazing because we found so many good people. We started talking to people, and they really had a desire to come back. We got like 10 who were inactive to come to church this week. We also found a lot of incomplete families… so we are going to work on getting these families and get a baptism. I am so excited for this cambio. I know we are going to do great things. It was such a great week. I am so excited.

              

We also had a week full of activities. Today we got to go to this lake with the whole zone and just mess around. We played some football... AMERICAN…with all the gringos. It was super fun. I really miss football. We got to go hike these big mountains and take a lot of pictures. It was a really fun day to relax and have a great time with the zone.

Elder Boyer and Elder Parkin

                                               

This week I have really been learning a lot. Elder Miller is a really smart kid, and has been here for almost 2 years. So he has been helping me to gain more knowledge. I really am loving the work here in Los Sauces. I really am beginning to learn how to teach and plan for the people’s needs. The work is so much better when you focus on the needs of the people. 

I found a really great scripture this week when I was studying for an investigator that is having trouble with repentance. This scripture is D&C 58:42: This scripture talks about how God will not remember your sins any more. When you receive forgiveness of your sins, God forgets the sins. He remembers them no more. This was so good for her to hear, because she has a problem letting go. She can't forgive herself. So it was so good to show her that even God... The One who knows all... He Forgets your sins, so you should too. We had a really spiritual lesson with her this week. I just wanted to share that message with you guys.  Once we receive forgiveness of our sins, we need to forgive ourselves. So many times in my life, I have seen and experienced people who receive forgiveness of their sins... but the only thing they lack is forgiving themselves. It is super sad, because it eats them up inside. I promise you that God is here to help us. He is not going to remember our sins after we have truly repented of them. We just need to forget what we have done, and truly forgive ourselves... and after this we can continue to grow in this Gospel and become closer to Christ.

(Tyler has only been out for 7 months, and has already gone through 2 pair of good shoes) 

I guess it shows how hard he is working!

Week 24..... Like an assassin!!!

Well, I killed another one! I had to say goodbye to Elder Wilhelm this week... He really is a great friend. His mother came to pick him up, and they will be traveling to all of his sectors, so I will be able to see him when he comes to visit Los Sauces next week.  So, we didn't really say our final goodbyes yet. But he really is a good friend. I think we will be good friends after the mission too. I really learned a lot from him. I am so grateful for the time I had with him. He is such a great guy. We had a really great cambio. 

I can't believe I have killed 2 missionaries already. I actually just found out who my new comp is. His name is Elder Miller. He has 2 cambios left. So I actually might kill him too.  I am like an assassin! Haha. Elder Miller is from Missouri. I have heard a lot of great things about him. Everyone says his family is FLDS and they hate that he is on a mission. He has a great conversion story... so I can’t wait to meet him. He has been zone leader and a district leader. It has been really awesome!! All my comps have been Zone leaders: Elder Cardoso, Elder Wilhelm, and now Elder Miller. They are all such great missionaries and they really teach me a lot. I have been so blessed with such amazing companions. I am really excited for the new cambio.

My mom sent me a talk last week called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister (of the seventy). I really loved getting that talk. I needed that exact talk in this exact moment. Right now I have 2 options in my mission. I feel like this time is crucial. I have the opportunity to make or break my mission, with all my decisions that I make right now. Reading that talk helped me so much. I want to become that consecrated missionary like it talked about. That is exactly what I needed. 

Saying goodbye to Elder Wilhelm really made me appreciate my mission and the time I have here. I want to make the best out of the time I have here!!! Elder Wilhelm really taught me so much and I can't wait to continue to work in this work. This Church is True! There is no doubt in my mind. This work is the most amazing thing I have ever done. I love my mission so much!!! Sorry I don't have much time this week. I am actually on  intercambio because my companion left, so I will write more next week. Love you all...have a great week!!!

Elder Wilhelm

Week 23.... Stomach Flu, Heavenly Burgers, and a Change of Heart!!!

This was a crazy week for me... I actually got really sick. I got some stomach infection. I ate some bad pork, I guess. I was the only one that got this sickness though. All the other missionaries ate the same food, and they were fine. But I woke up Tuesday night and was throwing my guts up. It is the first time in the mission that I have been sick. It wasn't very fun for me. I was  sick for the next few days. I had to go to the doctor here in Los Sauces and they gave me a shot to lower the infection. I have been on a strict diet for the last week. I can only eat stuff like bread, rice and stuff like that. No meat, dairy, fruits or vegetables. So that was pretty lame. I spent most this week in the house. It was super lame that I couldn't get up and work, but I was too sick to do anything.

 So this week I got a lot of rest. Good thing too because this next week is the last week of the cambio and the last week of my companion, Elder Wilhelm’s mission. We are going to work super hard this week and give everything we got. He is going to return with Honor whether he likes it or not!   He is a great companion, but we are really going to step it up his last week. 

Today we went down south and visited some of the sectors my comp had been in. It is super green down south and we got to go to a big city, Temuco. I really want to go there my next transfer... It looks super beautiful. I am here in Los Sauces... the desert of the mission, so to go to an area that is green was amazing :) It was really fun to go and meet the people he used to teach. It was awesome being able to see more of the mission.

 Then on the way home... I don’t know if I am going to regret this or not, but we stopped at a burger joint. There aren’t any burger places down here in Chile... so my comp told me of this burger joint called "Jack's"....

I had been craving it all week. When I got sick... I was so sad that I was not going to be able to eat at Jack´s. I have been craving a big ol' juicy burger for the longest time now. So, today on our way home we stopped at this joint. I got a big ol' juicy burger, with everything on it: bacon, cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce, BBQ sauce... oh it was so big... and so delicious. The first burger that I have had (That isn't McDonalds... cause that isn’t a real burger :)) in the mission. I was in HEAVEN!!!

So it was a really good day. I ate that about an hour ago... so, I don’t know if I will be regretting that in a while or not. I hope I can get over this sickness. I probably shouldn't have eaten that burger, but I had to :)That was definitely the highlight of my week.

Now I want to share with you all a spiritual experiences I had this week. So while I had a lot of time to sit back and rest in the house, I was also able to do a lot of studying. On Wednesday, I got intrigued in the topic BORN AGAIN!!! I really began to study this topic, looking up a bunch of scriptures that talked about this. I always knew that being born again referred to baptism. But one thing that I found super interesting that hit me super strong this week is the being born again is not only about baptism. It is also having a change of heart…Changing your heart to be more in line with Christ. This really hit me strong this week, because that is what I have really focused on in my mission; to have a change of heart. I want the mission to change me. I have focused so much on having this change of heart. I can testify to all of you that I have had this change of heart. I will continue to have this change of heart my whole mission. I really wanted to challenge all of you this week to try and experience this being born again. Let God change you for who he wants you to be. I testify that if you look for these changes, and always follow the promptings from our Father.. He will mold you into who he wants you to be. You will make the changes necessary to be the child of God that He wants you to be. I testify to all of you that all of us can change. All it takes is a little bit of effort and prayer, and we can change anything.  

Gigantic Completos in Los Angelos

celebrating Elder Saune's birthday

making cookies with investigators

Bon Fire Bonding!