Week 39... Opposition in all things!!!

It was such an amazing week. So as you all know here in Los Sauces we were 4 missionaries and now we are only 2. We practically doubled our work load here and we still are working with the branch. It is a lot of work to do, I am so glad for all the work we have to do. Literally there is not one moment to take a break. Sometimes I get a little stressed with all the things we have to do, but that is when I turn to the Lord for help and He helps me through my times of need. God calls us where we need to be and when we need to be there. There is a reason why I am here and have all this work. I am so grateful for the time I have here. The people here are really progressing. All the leaders are really beginning to have the TRUE CONVERSION. At first they weren’t really converted, they were here, but they were not here to stay. Now we have a bunch of members super strong in the Faith and I know they will stay here forever, bringing home the Lost Sheep of Christ. I have seen so many miracles in this sector. I never thought I could be so blessed. I have definitely seen the Lords hand in this work. Being here in this branch has been the best thing that could have ever happened to me. 

This week we have been really focused on all of our investigators. We have a bunch of investigators that are really progressing. 

We have a 10 year old girl named Isabella, she is the daughter of a really active member, but the problem is that when she was 8 her dad did not give her permission to get baptized. He is super catholic and did not want anything to do with our church. We started to work with this family and we started to teach her. At first she was really shy and didn’t want to talk. Now she is really open to us, she even talked to her dad and convinced him that she is ready for baptism. It has been such a great experience to see the Faith that this little girl has. She has been helping her family so much. She will be baptized on the 4th of JULY!!! ;)

We also have an Hermana named Joana, she was the investigator of the other Elders. She was super sad when both the Elders left. She didn’t want to listen anymore to the missionaries. She was really affected a lot by the change, because it is hard for her to make friends and open up. It was our goal to have her open up to us. My comp and I started to visit her every day and just gain her trust. We started gaining her trust when she saw how much we loved her family. She has 2 kids, 1 of which is a special needs kid. And me, loving the special needs kids, began to play and joke with her kid. His name is Georgie. He is so funny. She really began to open up to us. She even surprised herself at how fast we gained her trust. She has been with the missionaries for almost a year now. She has never received an answer whether or not she should be baptized. We passed by pretty much every day this week talking about the importance of baptism. She really began to open up and make the changes necessary. This week we also had a very spiritual experience because we decided we needed to fast with her. So Saturday we went over to her house and she made us lunch. After lunch we started the fast with her and talked with her about what we were fasting for. We told her that we were fasting so that she could receive an answer. And with the power of the Fast she would be able to receive her answer and she could be able to make the right steps towards baptism. She fasted all Saturday and came to church. She had a really powerful experience in church. And then when we went by on Sunday night to talk to her about how she felt, she told us that she received her answer. She told us that this church is true and that she knows she will be baptized. She only had one problem. She told us that she made it a goal that she wouldn’t be baptized until she has known the missionaries for a year, and we have a couple months left before that. We challenged her to be baptized on the 4th of July also. She has really made the right decisions and is in the right direction. I know she will receive her answer and she will be baptized on the 4th. It is amazing, the power of Fasting.

We are really doing so good here in Los Sauces. We are becoming strengthened through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The members and the investigators are really becoming stronger and we have seen a lot of progress. 

I want to share with all of you a scripture I read this week:

2 Nephi 2:11  There is opposition in all things...

I want to bare my testimony that there is opposition in all things. But with this opposition, we have the opportunity to be strengthened through Jesus Christ. I have seen many times in my mission where I have been struggling, where I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore, but this is when I turned to the Lord for help and he helped me push through these trialing times. I know we have opposition so that we can grow and become stronger in this Church and become closer to Christ. It is the same principle as working out to gain muscle. As we are working out, we are literally destroying our muscles; we are ripping the muscle. That is the opposition. Then when we heal our muscles, our muscles become stronger and they can increase. The same is with our Faith. When our Faith is put to the test; that is when we can gain a stronger testimony of our Loving savior Jesus Christ and his message. I know that with opposition we can grow closer and become stronger. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 38.... I will go, I will do!!!

This week was a really good week for us here in Los Sauces. So, if I wasn’t very clear on my last week’s letter, I will be staying in Los sauces for 6 more weeks. President Bluth called me and asked me if I would stay and help train the new branch President. Since I have been here for a while and I know a lot about the branch and the work that we have been doing, it wouldn’t make sense the have a missionary who has been here 6 weeks that doesn’t really know all the situations, to stay and help the new branch President. It would be starting back from square one. I was super excited to leave this sector but when I got the call from President I felt a relief. I really had a feeling that my work was not done here. It was such a good feeling when I went to Sacrament meeting and everyone welcomed me back to the Branch and showed me their love they have for me. I am super excited to stay here and help these members here in Los Sauces. 

These last few weeks I have been having so many spiritual experiences. I knew that I stayed here for a reason. The Lord definitely has his hands in this work. My New comp is Elder Hurtado. He is from Columbia. He is super awesome. He was actually in my Zone when I was in Yumbel, so we were already best friends. So when I got the news that I was going to stay and be companions with him, I was so stoked to stay. We have been working so hard these last 2 weeks to help out this branch. He has so many great ideas and we are really starting to see great improvement. I really am so happy to be here and continue to help this branch grow and help build the foundation of Los Sauces. This sector is by far the most challenging but the most rewarding I have ever heard of. I have spent many nights in long prayerful tears, asking the Lord what we can do to help. I won’t lie when I say sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with what God has called me to do. Sometimes I don’t feel like I am qualified to be the 1st counselor. There have been some crazy things that I have seen here. I never knew it was so hard to be a leader in the church. I am so grateful for this opportunity because with all the trials and difficulties we have had, I have been able to grow and learn from these people. That is why I have such a great love for these people here in Chile especially Los Sauces. They have been such a blessing in my life... I would not change this experience for anything. I can testify that there is opposition in all things, and that when we have opposition is when we grow in the Faith and we have the opportunity to humble ourselves and seek out what is the Lords will on now always act according to our will. If there is anything that I have learned from this sector, it would be to always trust in the Lord. Even when you think that your decision will lead to great results, or even if the Lord asks you to do things that you don’t feel prepared, or ready to accomplish. I know this scripture is common and everyone has heard of it, but I will share it with you because it has been a constant scripture of comfort. 

 1 Nephi 3:7... I WILL GO AND I WILL DO 

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I have seen the Lord's hand in this work. I am so grateful to be here learning new things each and every day. I know the Lord loves and blesses us as we turn unto Him and GIVE UP OUR WILL FOR HIS. I love each and every one of you. I hope that all of you can see and feel the blessings in your lives. I know God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ live. I know without a doubt in my heart that if we submit to their will, we will receive the blessings in our life and we will see the changes that it brings to our character. 

Week 37..... The Lord's Hand: Staying in Los Sauces!!!

 I got some great news!!!!!! So last week I wrote you guys and told you I would be heading out to a new area in Temuco. Well I have to tell you that I won’t be leaving Los Sauces this cambio. So on Monday I got the call from my Zone Leader that I would be heading out to Temuco and I would have to leave Los Sauces. I was literally so surprised that I was leaving. I had no idea. I thought I was going to stay and help train the new branch President. When I heard that I was leaving, I was pretty sad but also pretty excited. So I was all ready to go. I was then told that I would have to stay in Los Sauces a few days more because when our house burnt down the other Elders in our house, their passports burnt. So on Tuesday they went up to Santiago to get their new passports. Meanwhile, I stayed in Los Sauces with the new Branch President. I trained him on what to do. We passed by all the members and I tried to help him with the little time I had. The whole week I was saying goodbye to everyone. It was really hard to say goodbye. I have made such good relationships with everyone here. It was hard to say my goodbyes. On Friday night I went to the Church to get some things... and little did I know the whole Branch was there waiting for me. They had thrown me a surprise party. I got to say all my final goodbyes to everyone that night because I was going to leave the next morning as soon as Elder Ruano got back from Santiago. When Elder Ruano got back to Los Sauces Saturday morning, there was a little change of plans. President told us that Elder Ruano would be going to Temuco where I was going to go, and I would be staying in Los Sauces for a little more times to help train my new comp, Elder Hurtado. It was the craziest thing… but I know it is what the Lord wants. I am so excited to still be here in Los Sauces. I still don’t feel like my work is done here. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here for more time to finish the work here. In church yesterday I was able to talk with everyone and they were so happy that I am staying. I am so very blessed with the best sector in the mission.

 Yesterday at church was such a spiritual experience for me and I thought I would share it with you guys. So yesterday I was teaching the Gospel Principles class. I thought that I should teach something about missionary work. I started teaching this class and it was going really well. Then this lady Hermana Inzunza, who usually is super quiet sits in back, she just recently came back to church, she started to bare her testimony. She told us why she had come back to church. She began to tell us about a few months ago; when her brother passed away she was feeling super sad and super lonely. No one from her church (Other church) showed up the support her. But we missionaries showed up at her Funeral. Elder Wilhelm, Elder Sauñe,  Elder Navarro and I all showed up at the funeral of her brother. At the time I didn’t really know why we were there and what we were going to do. We kind of just sat in the corner at this reception while everyone else was talking and crying. We kind of felt out of place and didn’t want to interrupt the whole thing. We stayed in the corner for a while when all of a sudden we all got this feeling that we should sing a hymn. So we went to this Hermana and asked if we could sing a hymn. She said yes so we sang a few hymns at this reception. While we were singing I felt a super strong love of the spirit. I knew the spirit was there. I really didn’t think much about it other than that it was there because we were singing super spiritual hymns. Anyways this Hermana told us that because we were there and we sang those hymns is why she came back to church. She had been feeling so lonely and lost. She had nowhere to go for comfort. She had been looking for the light and the truth. And when we came in and sang that song, this brought back the light and the truth. She has not missed one Sunday since. When she was telling me this I could not help it but to break out in tears. I know the Lord has his hand in this work. It is through experiences like that where we see the Lords hand in things.

 It is through small and simple things that we help others come unto Christ. Even though we didn’t think we were doing anything special… all we did was sing a hymn... through this small act of kindness, we brought back one of the Lords lost sheep. I testify to you all that this church is true and God loves us. The Lord has his hand in the work. He will bless us and we look for opportunities to share the Gospel to others. He will send us His spirit so we can be directed to his lost children.

Week 36...Goodbye to Elder Miller and Los Sauces!!

This week has been a really awesome, but sad week. It was the final week of my companion, Elder Miller. We had a really crazy week. We were trying to do everything we could before he left. We did the best we could. It was such a fun week. We were able to visit everyone and say his final goodbyes. On Saturday we got the whole branch and threw him a surprise party. He

 had no clue that we were going to do that. It was a really fun party where everyone got to say goodbye. It brought the branch a lot closer. It was so awesome. The bad part is after church yesterday, I had to say goodbye to my companion. 

Elder Miller was seriously such a great comp. I learned so much from him. I was really sad to say goodbye to him. It was a tough goodbye but I know we will be friends after the mission too. I look up to Elder Miller so much. He was a great example to me. We had some great times. I sure am going to miss that dude. And I will never forget the things we did in Los Sauces. It will be some of the cambios that I will always remember. If anything it was the most challenging, but yet most rewarding cambios of my mission. I learned so much through all the challenges we faced together. There was not one day where there was not a trial. But through Faith in the Lord and constant prayer, we were able to receive the strength to keep going. We saw many miracles in this sector. I know we, as missionaries, literally became tools in the Lord’s hands. I have seen such a big change since I have been here in Los Sauces. 

I got the news today that I will be heading out this transfer and going to a new area. I will be going further south  to Temuco. It's in Sector Neilol. I won't be leaving until Friday, because of some passport issues with some of the other missionaries here. I will be getting another Peruvian companion, Elder Chumbe. I haven't heard much about him yet, so we'll have to see how it goes.  I am super sad to leave behind all the friends I have made, and all the good times that I have experienced in this sector. It is going to be a hard goodbye... but I know it is what the Lord wants. I am super excited to get out and see new things and meet new people. The mission is so awesome because you are always meeting new people that help change your life. I know a lot of people think the missionaries go out and help the people.... but more than that,L the people help the missionaries. I now know why we serve missions; it is also to help us grow spiritually as missionaries. I am so grateful for all the challenging times I have had, because that is when we have the opportunity to grow even more. I am so happy to be here serving a mission. I hope the best for all of you out there and thanks for all your love and support.

Week 35.... The Man and the Rock!!!

 I don’t have much time this week, but I did want to share this with all of you…

                                                           

                                                        The Man and the Rock

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room

filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had a

work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The

Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun

down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the

unmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his

cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to

enter the picture placing thoughts into the man's mind such as; "You have been

pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't budged. Why kill

yourself over this? You are never going to move it? etc."

Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he

was a failure. 

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. "Why kill

myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the

minimum of effort and that will be good enough." And that he planned to do

until one day he decided to make it a matter of Prayer and take his troubled

thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my

strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have

not even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when long ago I asked

you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push

against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did

I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And

now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But,

is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your

back brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have

become massive and hard. 

Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that

which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock.

BUT YOUR CALLING WAS TO BE OBEDIENT, TO PUSH AND TO

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN MY WISDOM,

this you have done. I, my friend, I will now move the rock.

Author Unknown

I just wanted to send this to you and bare my testimony. I know that the Lord has called us to push on the Rock. He has not called us to move it by ourselves. There are times in our life, (or in our missions) where we are going to feel discouraged, where we might get knocked down, or maybe spit upon, we might have doubts enter our mind... Why am I not succeeding, why is this so hard? But in that very moment, in that moment when we are on the edge of breaking... The Lord will lift us up. In the moment we are closer to Christ than we have ever been before. I know the Lord helps us through our trials and afflictions. I know because I have seen it in my life.  God knows we are strong enough to battle through. I am still a guy of analogies of football. I love to think of the football field again. I think back and remember there were times when we were late in games, where we couldn’t give anymore, let alone breathe. All of us gasping for air. But we were still called upon to give it our all... give all our heart might mind and strength to the team… to pull out the victory. I know as children of God we are here fighting against the adversary. We are in the 4th quarter. We can’t breathe, we can’t move, but God has asked us to give it our all. I know one day, after we have given it our all.... our every last ounce on energy... we will be successful. WE WILL HAVE WON THE WAR!!!! We will have won the game, with as many as our brothers (investigators, members, friends, family, etc) on our side. I am so grateful for this fight that we are in. I am so grateful for all the trials we have in our life... because it is just another opportunity to show our Character, another opportunity to strengthen our testimony. I testify that God will not let us fail; we will not be tempted more than we can handle. If Christ is our focus and our foundation we will not fall. We will receive power through the Atonement of Christ to overcome all of Satan’s temptations. I know these things to be true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 34..... Opposition before Baptism!!

Since we lost our home in Los Sauces, we have been staying with the Elders in Puren.  It has been really fun, but it really does suck having to travel every morning and every night. It was a really weird week for us, we weren’t able to get much done because we were so occupied with cleaning all our clothes, finding houses, and getting everything back to normal. But the end of the week was by far the best.... FRANCISCA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It was so spiritual. I was so happy. Elder Miller and I were so happy to help Francisca in this decision to get baptized. We know she is going to be a great member and really help bring people into this church, because we have never seen so much opposition in someone’s life/ experience before baptism. There was seriously so many things that went wrong leading up to her baptism, it was hard for us to keep strong and continue to help her. I don’t know if I told you, but about a week or 2 ago her mom told her she couldn’t get baptized, but she finally convinced her mom to let her be baptized. Also she started to have a lot of problems in her life. Then our house burned down so we weren’t able to visit her as much. Then about 2 days before the baptism, our zone Leaders told us it would not be a good idea to baptize her, because she is still pretty young and doesn’t have really good support. Her only support is her sister who is 17 and she was recently baptized about 2 months ago. Through much fasting and prayer we were able to help her overcome all these challenges, and she became stronger through all these trials. The last and final trial came on the day of her baptism. We had spent all day with her, setting up the church and filling up the font for her baptism. When it was time to start her baptism, her Dad, who doesn’t live with her because her parents are separated, showed up. I said hi to him and try to be all nice. But he totally gave me the cold shoulder. He was furious. I knew he was here to try and convince Francisca not to be baptized, and that is exactly what he did. He marched into the church with fumes steaming from his head. He comes in the church and takes Francisca outside. I don’t know what he said, but they were out there for a while. She finally came in and was so happy. She had overcome the last and final trial. She stood up to her dad and said... "DAD, I AM GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!" And that is what we did. The spirit was so strong in this baptism, a lot of less active members and investigators showed up and everyone came up to us after talking about how good they felt; especially the mom of Francisca. She now wants us to teach her because of what she felt at her Baptism. It was by far one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. I know Francisca is going to change the lives of so many because Satan would not have tried so hard to destroy her. 

There is a scripture I want to relate to this, it is in Joseph Smith History 1:20:

Joseph Smith says this after he had just been attacked by Satan himself and then saw God

the Father and His son Jesus Christ.

He says: It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?

I know that Satan knows all of our potential, and he wants to attack us just like he attacked Joseph Smith and Francisca in these experiences. He wants to stop us from progressing. That is why when we are about to do something good, we face hard times, or difficult paths. I testify that if we continue to press forward with firmness in Christ, if we pray to God with a real intent; We can overcome all temptation and one day we can look back at all our challenges and see all the progress we have made. It is my testimony that as we face and overcome challenges, we will gain extra strength and a testimony through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We will be able to overcome all of lives challenges, and live in a state of happiness. This I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Week 33....The mission's ON FIRE (Literally)!!!

Burning down the house...

WOW!!!!! What a week this has been!

Our house caught on fire this week. What a crazy experience indeed.  Saturday night was a pretty cold night, so we loaded the stove here with a few big pieces of wood, just like we have been doing for the last couple weeks. Usually the wood just sits there and simmers and makes the house warmer. Well this night was weird; the whole house was so hot. All of us were sweating all night, but still we didn’t think anything of it.  

For those of you who know me... I am a really deep sleeper, so I just slept through everything. At around 5 o‘clock in the morning, our smoke detector went off. I stayed asleep... I didn’t ever hear the alarm. I woke up to one of my housemates, Elder Sauñe screaming FIRE, FIRE GRINGOS, WAKE UP THERE IS A FIRE. I still didn’t want to wake up. I thought he was just pulling a joke on us. He then opened the door and the whole room filled up with black smoke immediately. That is when I jumped up. I knew then that it was not a joke. We ran out of the room to the front part of the house. We looked and there was a huge fire in the front part of our house. More smoke than fire though. The smoke was really toxic and we couldn’t see or breathe. Elder Sauñe and I stayed in the house and tried to throw water on it. That didn’t work… It was too big. We were in there until we couldn’t breathe anymore. We both ran out of the house. At this point my companion and my other house mate had been trying to wake up the neighbors. Elder Sauñe grabbed the hose and handed it to me. I started to spray the fire from outside the house through the window. This is when the fire exploded. The whole front room was ablaze with fire. Our 1 hose was not doing anything. I couldn’t really get close either because it was too hot. Finally after about a few minutes, our neighbors woke up and brought over hoses and helped us with the fire. We had 3 hoses going to try and put out the fire. We sat there and fought this fire for a good 10 minutes. Luckily, one of our neighbors had been trained to be a fire fighter. This kid was amazing. When we got the fire down to where we could enter the house, this kid took my hose and went in like a super hero with two hoses and kicks in the door and starts spraying the fire. This kid is my hero. It was such a crazy experience. After about 20 minutes the fire fighters got there, and they helped put out the fire in the roof. We finally got the fire out after about a good 20 to 25 minutes. It was such a crazy experience, but we are so grateful to be alive. We know God was watching over us in our time of need. 

The rest of this week we have spent tearing the whole house apart getting it gutted of all the burnt stuff and getting it to the point where they can come in and rebuild the house. It has been a real fun, but stressful week. I thank you all for all your love and support and all of your prayers. We are really feeling all of your prayers here in this sector. Thank you all so much!

Elder Miller on demolition

So thankful for the service of other missionaries....Elder Clarke to the rescue!

I was able to salvage my most prized possession...My scriptures!!
The pages are soot-stained, but whenever I read them I will never forget the miracle that we experienced!!