Posts

Coronavirus!

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  My mission ended the first week of April due to the Coronavirus.  It was super sad as we didn't have time to say goodbye to our friends or the families we were teaching. The very last night, Elder Montoya and I were able to go see one family we had been teaching, Cati and Armado. We ate dinner with them and were able to spend time talking with them. When we finally were ready to leave, they started crying and hugged me. It was so emotional for me to see how much of an impact one person could have on their lives. Fortunately, with technology I have been able to stay in touch with them.  I love the people in Chile. I met so many incredible families. I love my mission president and his wife and am grateful for the love and service they gave to me and all the missionaries. I loved the mission and learned so much! I grew spiritually and gained wisdom. I also grew my mental toughness! I helped a lot of people, but in the end there was more benefits for me than ...

The way she goes ---life has ups and downs

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This week sucked and was really cool and frustrating,  First off my grandpa died. He was super cool guy and taught me some of the things I value most today.  He taught me to: fly fish, that God lives, to be a good person, to not judge and to be honest. I was able to call him Wednesday and when I said I'll be rippin lips fishing with you in 80 years, he lifted up his hand and my mom started crying. He was super cute.  That night I prayed with all my heart that my grandpa would just let go and stop fighting. At 7 am the next morning I got a call from my mission president that my grandpa had died. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy, but I know that he is happier now and in a better place probably helping people learn more about the gospel and chilling.  So that sucked, but we saw some fat miracles this week. For example, as you guys know they closed the church this last Friday and we couldn't hold any meetings. The problem was that we had planned a bapti...

Elder Uchtdorf visits Chile - Why Church?

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A lot has happened since my last email. my bad lol First of all, I got a new comp from Spain.  He is super dope and has a really weird accent!  He's a bro and loves working hard with me!  We are killing the game here. I'm in the same Ward I have been in now for four months! We taught a rlly cute family about the Plan of Salvation and they loved it! We watched the Plan of Salvation video and then gave the three kids pictures of the different places and had them put them in order from pre-mortal life to the kingdoms of glory! The kids loved it and it made it really easy for the parents to understand. It was fun as well because the parents went to see Elder Uchtdorf with us and didn't understand some of the words he said and had a lot of questions about his talk.  We spent time talking about it and they they understood the words better.  It is so much better to keep the vocabulary simple while teaching so everyone understands it!   E...

Hump Day and Liv's Birthday!

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This last year has been crazy with some of the best moments of my life and some of the hardest / worst moments of my life!  Here's what I have learned this past year: God answers prayers! If we read, pray, listen to the holy ghost, and write down our feelings, God will answer our prayers! The gospel brings joy and happiness in our lives. The Book of Mormon is true and blesses our lives! I've read the Book of Mormon twice since I've been out here on my mission. It's so much more fun and easier to read than the New Testament and the Old Testament. The Book of Mormon keeps the doctrine so simple and makes it so everyone can understand it!  Joseph Smith was a true prophet! I have had the chance over the past year to teach a lot of Lesson 1 which is the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It's been crazy because there's one point in there that talks about how Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and God. Every time we share it, the Spirit fills the roo...

Let prayer lift us high like a butterfly in the sky

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I love being district leader and helping out the guys out here! I am feeling really good and had some really powerful studies this week about prayer. Alma 37 37! "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yeah, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." It was cool to see how the Lord wants to hear us pray and we need to work hard on it every day - so cool. I was also able to baptize a girl named Flor. When I got in the water with her I could feel God's love for her and how happy God was that she took that first step in her life! When she came out of the water she started crying. So cool seeing people change their lives out here and back home! Flor’s story is crazy cool she stopped working on Sundays. She then started going to church, ...

Yew - Having a good time helping others come to Christ

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This week was super cool boys! We have a girl that's going to be baptized this Saturday! Her progress toward baptism has been crazy.  She started off selling in the farria (or mini-market) every Sunday. It was super cool because she told us 3 weeks ago that she's going to stop selling in the farria so she could go to church and receive a blessing from God! So she quit her job on Sunday and started coming to church! She loved it! She's super nice and I kinda feel bad for her because she's had a hard life. She's worked super hard and her kids have stolen all her money and used it for drugs.  She is very scared of water but is stoked because she knows that baptism will help her receive the holy ghost and that the holy ghost will help her make better decisions in her life.    I'm feeling super good out here and getting back into shape! I'm in a really poor area so it's kinda been a world shocker down here but I'm loving it! We are working really hard...

Happy New Year's

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This week was super dope! We have a baptism this Saturday.  I'm pumped and the word is super pumped! We are working super hard here and finding a lot of new people to teach! It's super cool to be in a little bit more poor zone.  A lot of times I ask them are you guys happy? I wonder because I see members with like two pairs of clothes or people that are super sick. Almost all the members say yes elder we are happy and we are happy because we have this blessing of knowing the gospel and having a chapel by our house! They love the gospel and I think it's so cute because they have taught me that our spirits need food just as much as our bodies need food. For example, I love eating a good old peanut butter sandwich that has jam, peanut butter, and bread - 3 simple things right! Our spirits need 3 simple things to progress and be happy here on this earth. praying reading the scriptures - BOM (Book of Mormon)  :) going to church  With these 3 things, our bodies ...