August 27, 2012 Talcahuano

Dad! Hey I got your first package last week and thank you!! I gave some rings out already to a family we are teaching. (Paul sent him some Spanish CTR rings.) It is interesting because they all want to get baptized but the mom and dad are not married yet so we are working to do that. Also the mom, Julia, is exactly like Nana!!! No really, Nana it’s you but speaking Spanish. Also she has a smoking problem and I shared about you, Nana and how you overcame it because you knew it was soo important. Well, now I am in Chile thanks to that sacrifice so thanks!!! Her personality is just like yours!!! So we have to wait and work all the things out with the parents but we decided together that the kids are ready! So we are baptizing Josepha and Diego on the 8^th of September! 

Also we are baptizing another little girl named Belen and her dad is going to do it. He just got baptized like five months ago so he is really excited. It’s really fun to teach her. Little children really do know the gospel better than we do. It is incredible!! So two girls that are nine and Diego who is 17 and we should be baptizing another guy named Eduardo. He is an amazing person but Satan is trying really hard to fight him making the decision so pray for him and a miracle!! 

I cannot believe that I almost am half over with the mission. It is no longer two years but one.... weird I have a lot of growing to do in this next year. But that is all the news for this week. Today also we went bowling as a district! It was cool! Elder Moss looked at me and said.. who would have ever thought that we would be bowling together.... IN CHILE!!!!! haha so it was fun!!!  Thanks for all the updates I love you all and Jess don’t get hitched - go on a mission!!!!! haha I love you all!

August 20, 2012 Talcahuano

Allie holy beans!  I was totally feeling worried about you the day you had Lily - but like a lot!! I am so glad you are ok and Lily is soo cute!! I think my favorite picture is with Mom and Lily with all the bugs!! They are sooo cute! I can’t wait to see her!! It feels like a long time away but really it goes by soo fast.

I am learning sooo much about myself and I am making a lot of changes. The mission is the refiner’s fire!! And its soo hard for me but I am trying to do better. This week has been crazy!! We were in a trio here but they needed my buddy Elder Kohler to go somewhere else so it’s back to me and my comp from Colombia. He is great and we have a lot of potential baptisms coming up and we are teaching like four families!!! It’s sweet. 

Wow! So many things going on at home.  It’s going to be weird to be back. Not to mention I am literally forgetting English... It’s bad but oh well.. 

Well I love you guys and miss you sooo much and Lily is soo freaking cute!!! ah!!!!! I will work hard so she stays healthy!!!!!!! Thank you for the pictures and surviving!

(There were some complications with Lily’s birth.  She is a miracle baby!)

From Allie:

(Hi Bruhzer! My labor with Lily was actually way easier than with Savannah besides the scary part at the end. Lily is so cute. She hardly ever cries and I call her piggy baby because she eats a ton and grunts all the time. Glad to hear you're doing so well! Your comp sounds awesome!)

He is soo awesome!! He might come to BYU to learn English well I am actually teaching him but I offered mom and dads house as a living space... hahaha no but he is incredible. And I am soooo glad you and the baby are ok I actually felt sooo scared on the day you had her.. weird beans... but your ok!

August 13, 2012 Talcahuano

Hi family!

I hope all goes well with Lily!!!! This week has been good we have just worked our butts off again and this morning we had a meeting for all the leaders in the mission with the area president, Elder Arnold. It was a very intense training he talked a lot about how we need to sacrifice and was pretty harsh. But very powerful and it was a really great experience and also this week President Martinez wants to go work with me.  I don’t know why but he wants to go and work with me so that’s pretty strange but I am excited!! 

Other than that not much - just trying to really learn how to forget myself. It’s the hardest thing to do - just forget your needs and help others. I am fighting to keep that up. We have great leaders here and I am excited for September - first and foremost cause it’s my best younger sister’s birthday!!! You’re old..... Jessie... you’re moving out.... dang... And here it’s the national holiday and they have a huge party the whole week with really yummy food and everything and we should be baptizing a lot of people. We are going to do all that we can do that’s for sure!! Well I hope all goes well with Lily!!!!!!!

August 6, 2012 Talcahuano

Hey Dad thanks for the update and I will let you know when I get the package. This week not much news just working and my companions are awesome. Elder Koller is from my group so we are buzzing about how we are nearing a year in the mission. I can’t believe it and I have heard the second year is worse – goes even faster... It makes us want to work all the harder because this time is soooo short. But we are good. I made a goal to study the whole Bible by the end of my mission. And to write in my journal more cause I suck at that....
But I am really happy with this sector. I love the people that we are teaching. And the family Medel is soo good. I love seeing them get excited about being together forever.

This week I want to tell you guys how grateful I am for you, my family. There is a guy named Niko Torrez and he returned from his mission recently. When he left all his family were members and his dad was the bishop even. Well his parents stopped writing him and when he got back he found out that they all went inactive and had their names removed from the church - his whole family and they didn’t even tell him. Well he is as strong as ever in his testimony and is a true example of someone who has a testimony. He works with us a lot and is incredible and I learn from his strong example. I can’t imagine that so thank you that you all have strong testimonies cause without your support I couldn’t do this!! I am soo excited to come home to a family in the gospel. I love you family and friends who have helped me out. I love you all!!!

July 30, 2012 Talcahuano

Hey mom I got the box today finally and so I am pretty happy. And a lot less candy hearts.. haha.
But this last week has been really great!! We have taught a whole lot and we could end up baptizing my first family this month!! They are the Medel family; a family of four with a little girl of nine years old. Her name is Josepha. She is soo cute and loves the gospel and always asks her mom when she will get married so they can get baptized together. Its soo cute!!! and they all have desires to be baptized but we have to take care of some things before but we are working hard with them. So that’s awesome and we are teaching so many people!!!

My new comp is incredible and I just love working with him. Also cambios just happened and now we are in a trio!! Our new comp is Elder Koller actually!! He came with me to Chile so we have the same time. And his last name is the same as my best buddy!! So that’s cool too! We are excited to have three missionaries because now we can do divisions with youth in the ward and get a lot more done. And it gets better!! They changed the elders in my district and now I am the district leader over Elder Moss!!! MY comp from the mtc!! We are soo excited because as a district leader you have to go work in the other sectors so I will get to work hard with him in the field!! We are just bursting with excitement for this next cambio.

I am soo happy here and it looks like I will be in this sector for a long time. So for the national holiday here I will be in this sector. Also its interesting my sector is where the tsunami hit really hard and killed people and it’s really interesting to walk and teach people who lived through it. I literally work where the tsunami hit. It’s very interesting. There are still some broken buildings and everything.

 

I am really happy and hopefully we can baptize six people this month! Pray for that!! Thank you all and Allie pop out Lily. I want to see her!!!!

July 23, 2012 Talcahuano

Hello family,

Well I arrived here happy and well with the determination to work with all of my might, mind, and strength, not worrying about anything but the work. And my companion Elder Castro is an amazing missionary and together we are unstoppable. We both want to be 100% with all the rules and work really hard. So we went out and we worked and it was the fastest, most hard working week that I have had in my mission. We worked all day sometimes literally running to next appointments to try and share the gospel with people. 

We made numbers that are crazy and we even put a baptism date in our first week and she accepted for the fourth of august and her name is Lorena. We are very excited for her. We have over thirty people that we found that are receptive and progressing. This last week we had nine people committed to go to church. We taught over forty lessons in a week. That’s amazing. 

The reason I share all that is because president Hinckley said that there are no limits in this work and I can now bear testimony of that. And even though I am too pooped to poop I am the happiest I have ever been. My companion is soo amazing; his love and humility and excitement; and I got here with the attitude to put it all out there and we did it. We are going to keep on getting better and bring thousands to His church. Thanks for all the prayers during my hard time. Now I am getting the blessings. The scripture that says those who lose your life for my sake shall find it is true. This last week I may have been physically tired but I truly felt eternal joy. Never have I felt so much joy. This work is true and I can’t even make myself doubt that like I used to. Thanks to everyone (family and friends) I can share this wonderful news.

July 3 - July 17, 2012

7/3/12

We had a 4 of July party for p-day. We made hamburgers and onion rings and fries!! It was so great. We also played soccer. I am kind of addicted to soccer now. I love it and one of the Elders in my zone played professional so he has taught me a lot. It’s fun; another sport on my list. haha

7/9/12

We put baptism dates with like six people. Hopefully they keep accepting. I am going to a city called Talcahuano on Monday with an elder from Colombia.  I am excited to change areas and start something new. I am glad you guys had fun in New York. I really loved it there. I want to go back to Palmyra again.

Today we played paint ball as a zone. It was really fun!!!

7/17/12

So my new companion is great. He is from Colombia. I have gotten to know a lot of people from that country. He is hard working and great. There is not much to report. I will have a better email when I get to know the sector a little bit more.

Oh and now I will be getting letters every week because I am close to the office. So you can tell people.