Elder Zach Seager

  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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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, ...

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...

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 ...

Sup guys, I was thinking a lot this week about the joy we feel in the gospel of Jesus Christ and how much happier we are than people without it! It's crazy to think about and I love feeling the Holy Ghost. It gives me such a drive and desire every day to go hit the streets to help other people feel it.  It's something different and something more powerful than most people have ever felt! I like to explain it like this to people, the Holy Ghost is the most powerful drug you can find here on earth! You won't find this feeling anywhere else than in the Gospel. It's crazy to think about! I have done some crazy things in life and look forward to doing many more crazy things! When I think about the feeling of the adrenaline stoke out of my mind skiing on a powder day, or catching 30-inch fish with my best friends, or even cliff jumping, the adrenaline rush is still a super small feeling compared to the feeling in the gospel! It's hard to explain because it's di...

So, we got tear-gassed this past week.  It was crazy!!!! We were at the bank to pull some money out and then this huge mob of teenagers came running around the corner. One of them screamed look the Mormons.  I was about to run and then the cops threw a tear gas bomb and it hurt so bad.  My buddies from the mission were so scared. I went beast mode and threw off my tie and tied it around my face so I could breathe a little better.  I used my tie to cover my eyes a little and hurried and pulled off my missionary tag and put it in my pocket. I was trying not to die and thought it was best to take my tag off so they didn't know I was a missionary.  Guess that didn't help much. It was so crazy. We ran down the street and hopped on a bus and dipped out of there. It was scary and 4 of the missionaries got locked in the bank, but everyone eventually got out safe. I hope you guys are doing good! We are grinding out here and have been full this whole week! I had a ...

Chile was on fire!  We are alive and doing good.  It was so crazy though!!!!  We were in the house for a whole week and everyone thought we were going to die! I didn't mind it because I was finally able to work out for long periods of time.  It was great, but after a week in the house you just want to leave and walk around and see the sun! I felt somewhat like Anne Frank stuck up in the attic, it wasn't fun but now we are working hard again!  Before all the riots started, I was transferred to a new area.  I love it!  It is so great and the people are so humble. It's a really poor area and if I am being honest, it's kinda gross.  There is a lot of trash in the streets and a lot of people telling us to fight Donald Trump.  There is one kid here that I love.  He only knows like five words in English and they are not appropriate words. Every time I walk down the street he says these words to me and my comp just gets mad.  The ...

This past week was weird. I was super sad and hated my life on Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, I prayed and asked to help me change my attitude. Then I was able to do two full days of service and man I loved that! We built walls in this girls house we are teaching and put up the drywall. Then the second day, we moved a family. We didn't have a car or a truck so we had to walk about 10 minutes down the crazy Santiago street with their stuff.  Hahaha! It was way fun and helped me a lot! I taught this kid about the atonement and he loved it! He started crying once he realized he was a child of God and God loves him! We have been trying to have to members help us with the work and lessons and they are loving it! We taught a really big lesson and the brother that helped us killed it! He helped one of our investigators get ready for his baptism coming up on Saturday.  The ward is pumped.  I had a really spiritual high and felt the holy drug aka the Holy Ghost....

The power of a testimony is something crazy! This week was way good! On Sunday we had one of our investigators at church and she loved it and loved the new Come Follow Me program. Earlier we had given her a baptism date of September 7, but she decided to wait until December.  The coolest thing happened after church, she told us she wanted to be more obedient and follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. We had a lesson with her after church and a recent convert joined us. The crazy thing about the convert was that it wasn't even his ward or stake and he felt lost in Santiago so he went to the church that was closest to his house.  The convert's testimony on baptism was so powerful.  It made our investigator want to get baptized really badly so she has a new date of September 21.  She's pumped and now is studying the Come Follow Me book the church has for us!  It is crazy that God knows each of us and knew that she needed to hear the testimony of...

This was a really good week.  I have been working with several people and it is great to see their progression.  It is also amazing to see tiny miracles that occur every day.  I met a girl and her two sons who has been struggling with addiction.  She is a member, but has not been to church in over five years.  We talked her into coming to church and she was feeling uncomfortable about coming and felt like the ward had judged her for some of her addictions.  She was afraid to go back to church alone.  We walked her to church and sat with her.  Another investigator we have been working with promised to come to church too.  She sat right behind the girl we brought back to church.  After Sacrament meeting, the investigator saw the girl we brought back to church and was so happy.  They had been life long friends and hadn't seen each other in ten years.  It was exactly what they both needed to feel connected and comfortable at churc...

This week I got a little lost in the work and forgot about everything at my house in Utah. hahahah I went hard this week boys! I have really been trying to teach with the Book of Mormon and it is paying off.  These people love it and they love the stories in it!  It is such a powerful book and there is no way Joseph Smith could have translated it.  Something dope I figured out this week in my personal study was that when Nephi broke his bow and then he made a new one -the weird thing is he also made arrows.  Why did he make more arrows if he already had the old ones?  It is because when you hunt with a bow and arrow you need the arrows to be the exact same size!!  How would Joseph Smith know that?  It is crazy little things you can see in the Book of Mormon that testifies of its truthfulness.  This week we worked really hard and found a lot of new people to teach.  One of the girls we have been teaching just committed to a baptism dat...

This week was crazy good!  We received the best reference of my life!  This boy is grinding reading the Book of Mormon everyday and he is bringing his girlfriend to church next week! We were teaching him on Thursday and then there was this 6.8 earthquake here in Santiago. It was crazy! I felt like Moses because I was teaching him and I promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon everyday he would feel the Spirit and know that the Book of Mormon is true. Then if he knows the Book of Mormon is true ...then he knows the church is true! So then I made a joke that the earthquake was the Holy Ghost telling him our message was true. hahaha  I love it! The mission still is the hardest thing i have done, but it's times like this when a person says he wants to bring his girlfriend to church and has a goal to go to the temple for all time and eternity that makes it worth it!  It was my first week with my new comp from Argentina and he's cool.  He likes to work...

What's up homies! Sorry I haven't written for a fat minute. I have been really busy! I sprained my ankle playing soccer about 3 weeks ago and that sucked, but I'm grinding out here! This last week was rough. I had a baptism that fell through and my comp from Columbia went home.  My comp was a beast work horse and I learned so much from him. I got my new comp today and he is from Argentina! Go Ronaldo!! CR7 baby!  We are doing really good though and finding more people to teach and helping more people! I had an exchange with the leader of my district from Bolivia. It was fun and his area is really poor so that was kind of a world shocker.  I haven't run in 3 weeks and I'm kind of going insane. Hopefully my ankle will heal fast so I can play more soccer with the kids in the streets.   Love Isaiah 40:31 "but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk an...

This week was way good! I found a lot of new people to teach, but the best day was yesterday.  We found a family cutting down a tree.  We helped them and after they invited us in. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and set up another lesson with them for Saturday.  They are such a great family! I'm so sad my comp is leaving in a few weeks. He loves working hard and has taught me so much! We work so well together, but I'm excited for changes!  I hope I can have the opportunity to have another latino comp because it has helped my Spanish so much!!  We have a baptism interview this week. I'm so excited that all of our investigators are progressing really good and fast. I love the people here and they love me because I love soccer! hahahah!!!! Here's a picture of one of my favorite ward members. Have a great week! Elder Seager https://elderzachseager. blogspot.com/ #godsarmyletsgo 

The 18th of June was the one year mark for my boy XXX! I loved that man and he helped and changed my life so much! If you guys knew me before the mission I would listen to this man 24 9. He was a great artist and died at such an early age! His songs helped me become a better person! RIP buddy. I hope you're kicking it with JC right now. This week was a good first full week with my new comp Elder Paderes. We are just grinding! We are finding more people now than with my other comp and using our time better! I am learning how to contact and speak better Spanish because I have to speak Spanish with this man! He's is from Colombia and loves soccer! So we get along great! It just sucks though because his mission ends in 4 weeks. I think we will get a lot done in this change!  He was zone leader for 8 changes before me so he is teaching me a lot and making me a better missionary!  I thought going halfway across the world would get me away from judgmental people but n...

YEW I finished my training and got a new comp! So this week was dope!!!! I had a really good lesson with Nico and I think we will give him a new baptism date this week! I'm pumped for this change and have high goals! My new comp is from Colombia and knows barely any English, so I am ready for this adventure! I can't wait to see all the good work we can do together.  It's crazy speaking Spanish  24_9!  I like it a lot and this kid is a workhorse which I love!!!!  I have aways loved working hard from the time I turned 13.  Those days of carrying my lawn mower on the back of my bike helped me appreciate hard work.  So, even if I have a lazy comp I will carry them by working hard and going hard 100 percent of the time.  My new comp's name is Elder Pareder which means wall in Spanish. hahaha Nah but he's cool and loves soccer!  This is his last change in the mission so I'm going to work hard to make sure he doesn't think a lot about going h...