Week 30... Satisfaction Vs. Happiness!!!I

Football (American) with our Zone

(Tyler was having problems with his email account this week, so this is dictated from his voice recording.)

 This has been a great week…The last week of the cambio. We were super nervous that Elder Miller and I weren’t going to be comps, but we actually just got the news that we are staying together in Los Sauces for this next cambio. We are super excited about that. This will be Elder Miller’s last cambio…. I will be killing him (this will be the 3^rd comp that I’ve killed)! I think that we will do really well in this last cambio together. 

This has been a really good week for us. We had a lot of the Stake members come up to Los Sauces to train all of the leaders that we have been calling.  We finally got a Relief Society President, Primary President, Deacon Quorum President, Young Women’s President, and a Laurel President. We have been calling a lot of people to help lead this church that is now starting to grow. This week we got to hear from Elder Oaks. He came out to Chile and did a video conference for several of the missions here. He gave an awesome talk to the missionaries, via skype. So, our whole mission met in Los Angeles, to listen to Elder Oaks speak. It was a very spiritual experience for us. Elder Miller and I have really been focusing on getting the members here to be committed to the church, and to help strengthen their testimonies, so that even after the missionaries leave this area they will stay strong and will continue to come to church. That has been a big problem down here, that as soon as the missionaries leave, despite the member’s commitments, they tend to fall away. We want them to stay strong and continue to grow. This sector has so much potential, they just need to continue to strengthen their faith and stay truly converted.  So, Elder Oaks talked a lot about the Sabbath Day. We received a lot of revelation during his talk. The church here has really been focusing on the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament. Elder Oaks said something like “We don't want people to only be converted to just coming to church, we want them to be converted to Christ.” That really stood out to me. Ya, it’s good to get people converted to coming to church every Sunday, but it’s much better if we can get them converted to Christ. 

In Moroni 10:32-33, it says (in my terrible way to translate it from Spanish to English),

 If you come to Christ you will be perfected in Him. You will be absent of all of your imperfectness. If you love God with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength; you will be able to receive His grace, and you will be perfected in Christ. The grace of God is being perfected in Christ, and you will not reject the power. So be perfected in Christ for the grace of God.

I really love that scripture. There is no other way to be perfected, only through Christ. So, my challenge this week is to focus on being truly converted to Christ, to grow your faith in our Savior, and to love God with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength. I know this to be true. I've had many struggles throughout my mission and my life, and it’s just so awesome to see how my mission has changed me. And how being perfected in Christ brings so much happiness that really nothing else could bring. I know that Satan likes to imitate what God has, Satan imitates happiness by creating satisfaction. One thing I've really learned on my mission is the difference between happiness and satisfaction. With satisfaction, Satan makes us think that we are truly happy. But that happiness is only temporary. Like when I eat a hamburger, I am totally satisfied for like an hour or two, but then I will need more soon. But, happiness can last forever. I’m here to testify that true happiness can only come through Christ.  I testify that we can be perfected in Christ and that we can receive remission for our sins. My challenge to you this week is to always remember Christ and remember all that He has done for us, to continue to go to church and to grow in your faith, and to know that through Christ is the only way to be saved. I know, without a doubt, that Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer, and the only way we can be cleansed of our sins is through Him. That’s what Elder Miller and I have been teaching the people of Los Sauces, that the only way to become clean and perfected is not only to come to church, but more importantly, to Come Unto Christ, and to do the things that Christ wants us to do and to walk in His path. These things I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Some Elders in my District

I bumped into Elder Sotomayor

Reunited with my CCM buddies