eMail of April 27, 2009

I´m glad to here that things are going well. I hope Nathaniel gets better and with all his problems Caleb can still enjoy everything.

My companions Spanish is a little different. He has a little different accent and everything but he has lived in Lima, Peru many years already. We are working hard and well. As for interesting teaching experiences, well there weren´t too many teaching, but otherwise there have been interesting experiences.

A couple of times we were stopped by a man Hector. He is always drunk but keeps trying to follow us. It really is sad his life. We also met the other day a brother in our ward that is full-on communist. It went interesting. He is of the generation of Pinochet and his army. At one point he said that all the gringos here are going to go back to their country in black bags, to joke around. Not too great of a sense of humor.

Anyway, I have lots of experiences but I don´t remember all of them, only the lessons. I will be able to tell everyone more experiences after the mission. The new area is great. Space wise it is a lot bigger, and poorer. There are dangerous areas but we haven´t had any problems there. It is a lot of fun though. I´m way to the south of Santiago, almost the limit of the mission. To the side of the river Maipo, the north side.

As for other things, I am good. It might be a good idea if I could get albuterol. I have had more problems than ever with asthma. I´ve never had an attack but it gets harder to breath a lot. Part of the problem is pollution.

By the way my package arrived Wednesday last week. It only took two weeks to get here. Amazing but true. I´m not sure if I should open it yet or not. I won't open it until next week at least so you can tell me if I should. As for Mother´s day I don´t know the protocol. I will have to find out soon. I don´t have the pictures of my last baptism either, somehow I will have to get those. I´m sending one from last week. It´s just me but with the flag of Chile in my old pension.

I love all of you and hope things are going well. Thank you for your support and all you have given me.

eMail of April 20, 2009

I had a great week the last week. We found 16 new investigators to teach, several of them are already progressing well. I am truly enjoying the work here. It is truly amazing to see the power of the Spirit affect peoples lives. I have seen miracles here. When one teaches by the power of the Holy Ghost the people have no choice but to make a choice. Many times it is sad when they make the wrong choice but many make the right one. Those that do not choose to listen I really feel sorry for.

We are teaching one investigator that is really interesting. He is complying with the commitments and everything but still won't say that he believes in God. He has come to church for three weeks now, twice on his own. He still says he just wants to get to know the church, but he seems to have a strong desire just to get to know it. In truth he really just doesn´t understand his own feelings.

But I´m not going to be able to teach him any more. I had changes today. I´m rather far away from where I was before. I´m in Puente Alto now. So I am starting my second sector when I already have six months in the mission. I am excited for this next change. My companion is from Spain, Elder Zarate. He is a great missionary and I am looking forward to working with him.

Things are going well and I am finding more and more joy in the work. This truly is the work of God on earth and I am grateful to be a part of it. This is the only true and living church on the face of the earth and there is no other way to find true happiness in this life. We may be happy in another road, but would be so much more in the gospel. I am grateful for all the support I have been given and for your prayers. I want you to know they have worked miracles for me here, and helped more people than you know.

I love all of you, I love the people here, and most of all I love my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ. May every one of you find joy in this journey to eternal happiness.

eMail of April 19, 2009

Thank you for your prayers and support. So the Woodbadge is a lot of work, good to know for the future. Anyway things are going well for me. I am learning a lot and have learned so much more about the gospel. I have truly seen the gifts of the Spirit I was promised when I was set apart. I am also having many great opportunities to teach.

I had my first change of sector today. Now I am in Puente Alto, to the South of Santiago. We are four Elders in the same ward. I have yet to meet everyone but I have heard that things are good here. I am looking forward to working here. I just forgot the name of my new companion but he is from Spain but lives in Lima, Peru right now. It is interesting to hear another new accent.

As for teaching opportunities I have had many. The last week we taught 34 lessons, 13 of them with members. That is a lot of work. We need at least 30 lessons with 15 taught with members. We still have to improve that but things are going better.

Well I love you and am grateful for all of your support. The foundation you laid for me is sure and I am grateful for it.

eMail of April 13, 2009

[to mom]
Well things are going well here. We are seeing progress in the ward and Marco and Andrey were confirmed yesterday. The ward has a much greater desire now to perform the work. This isn´t to say things are easy, it shouldn´t ever be easy. But all I can really do is just be obedient, diligent and keep myself pure and clean. The simple things that we should be doing every day in our lives, not just the mission, are what make a great missionary a succesful servant of God.

There are tough days though but always things come out better. I am happy to be here and enjoying the work. I truly don´t want to be anywhere else at this moment, doesn´t matter how hard it is. Truly this life is to prepare to meet God, to become like Christ the Perfect Son and to find true peace and joy. It doesn´t matter where or who you are or what you believe.

Well I am glad that all of you are doing so well and I know that the Lord has all of you in His hands. Thank you for all your prayers and support. I love you all and pray that you find joy and happiness in this short journey of life.

[to dad]
The work is great and the ward is progressing. The members here have seen that we can be trusted and have shown great support because of that. We had two Family Home Evenings last week and another three planned already the next two weeks. It is amazing to see the work go forth independant of anything we really do. All we can do is simply be obedient.

eMail of April 7, 2009

[to mom]
I´m happy to hear there weren´t many problems around General Conference. I watched all the sessions here in Spanish. The conference was truly amazing and I enjoyed every talk.

After conference Sunday night Marco was baptised by his friend. It was amazing to see the joy on his face and feel the strong spirit that accompanied the baptism. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have taught Marco. I don´t have pictures today of his baptism but I should have them next week. I do have the pictures of Andrey´s baptism this week.

Andrey and Marco will be confirmed next week, and we hope to have another baptism the week after.

Truly the Lord blesses us when we are obedient and serve Him faithfully. And truly it is He that performs this work. We are powerless to effect the change in their hearts without the Spirit. I have learned so much here on the mission. I am so thankful for all the blessings that I have recieved. I know that my service is truly a blessing for all of you as well. Truly there is no better place for a young man of 19, 20 and 21 years to be than serving a mission. The progress is swift and eternal if you let it. And the Lord truly blesses you beyond measure when you are obedient. This is His work, and His glory. There is no better nor greater cause in the world.

How grateful I am to be here, and to have had a strong family to support me and raise me. I thank you all for what you have done for me. I pray that everyone may find more joy and happiness in this life, for this is why we are here. And our greatest joy and happiness is our family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all and am grateful for you.

[to dad]

We watched all the sessions of Conference in the Stake Center but in Spanish. I will have to read the talks again to get everything but I learned a lot. President Monson´s talk was good though. It is necessary to focus on those things in this life. They are how we can put in practice the principles of the gospel and find joy and happiness in this life.

It is a blessing to have the Temple in the Mission but I have not been yet. We should be going in soon but that probably depends. I have been there for a Temple tour where we went through with an investigator the Chapel, the Church office, MTC and the grounds of the Temple. There the investigator learned a lot about the Church. It is a bueatiful Temple but very small.

I am glad to be here and enjoying everything. Today was the first day though to start wearing suits. It is still hot so that will be interesting. But anyway, I am grateful to be here and for your support. Thank you for being a good father trying to do your best to raise me and my siblings even through tough times. Thank you for being patient even in the most difficult of circumstances. Most of all thank you for raising me in the gospel and teaching me its principles, that I may take part in the Atonement of Christ and become clean from my mistakes and errors. You have turly been a blessing and example in my life and I thank you for that. I love you and pray that you also can and will find even more joy and happiness.