August 25th, 2014

Well this wed is transfers and I'm pretty nervous!  Never before have I been transfered so we will see how that goes!  This week was really special, earthquakes, families, and training, gotta love it!  But really I learned a ton about the power of prayer and how we can all draw nearer to God through the importance of prayer!  Really my life has been so blessed with tons of miracles and I know for a fact that God lives and he wants everyone of us to find it out in our own time and in our own way.  We all need to remember that God has a plan for us and even though its different for each one of us the points are the same, through the atonement we can return and live with him and through this knowledge we chose to come to earth to receive this body that we now have, what a privilege!!!!!  Man who would of thought that we could receive such blessings! but we need to be careful as well!!!!

Mom, thank you for the vitamins!  That's right I got your packages!!!!  But I got one and then I got another!!!  The first one was with the candy and I have to admit that Elder Osuna ate all my york mints and snickers!  I said he could eat them and went to the bathroom and found only wrappers! haha  But I gave him some of the jerky and watched with zeal as he sniffed it, took a bite and spit it out! haha I knew he would not like it and he wanted to try it because I said it was super good and American and because he wants to be an American someday.  He tried it hahahahahahahahaha  So I got to eat all the jerky in one night and kit kats holla!  What blessings in the moment but we need to be careful and in the night I got really sick to my stomach because jerky is not a normal thing that one would eat in Chile so it was a little different. haha.  But I loved every bit of it!  Just next time I wont eat the whole bag!  My favorite part was the pictures and I opened it up and the first picture is of a dog.......wow what a joke, its not like I see dogs every day in Chile haha  But then I looked and saw these smiling bright faces from my family and never before have I been so relieved, these past five months has been like a dream and those happy brothers and sister of mine as well as my angel of a mom and my stud of a dad!!!! They are awesome! also we have been feeling kind of down physically and we prayed for help and then the unusual happened!  Another package? What! And this one was filled with vitamins and medicine! It was so weird it was like my family heard and answered my prayers!  I know that we have this body for a reason and we need to take care of it. every day I see young kids smoking and doing bad things and I just want to help them so bad! uhh  The blessings of the word of wisdom!!!!

Okay also earthquake!!!!  What holy cow that was pretty freaky. But it was also not a strong one "that I heard haha"  It was a 6.4 or a 6.1 but it does not really matter its called a tremble here until it gets above a seven. we were in a little shop buying these cookies for a family home evening and we were also talking about how God has a plan for us and we need to always look and search for this plan and then the earth started to move, and those of you who have not felt one its so wired- its like being on a trampoline and feeling the ground move up and down and side to side.  But it was not strong so we just sat there and then boom!!!!!!  It just got way stronger and loud, cars going nuts and stuff was falling off the shelves and spilling everywhere but what was most terrifying was I could only hear the loudness of the earth and then shrieks from women in the store and I looked at the door of the store and I just started to make my way for it like a mad rush with others and then it just stopped.  Immediately there was silence and the mothers went nuts and made sure every baby was found and it was all good.  It was quite an experience.  I heard from others that stronger ones knock you over and you cant stand up! Wow, really we were under a lot of stress and I was saying a prayer in my heart and we continued to teach and preach like missionary's do!!!!  But what was hard was light bulbs burst and there was no light in some parts but the others was okay, so ya! I lived

This week I also trained a new elder!  He is so cool and it was only for a day because my companion had this training meeting in Vina for district leaders and so I went and trained this other missionary and he was super strong in the gospel.  It is his second transfer and he really is fluent, he is from California and is from  Latino family so that is why.  But really I was the leader in the lessons and it felt good to be able to help him with his questions and help him with problems with his companion.  I loved training him and being in a different area for the day.  It felt good to break free from my area for the day and to lose myself in the trees of this sector.  It was super green and it was really nice! So I really can train!

This week we had a ton of family home evenings and worked a ton with families and how they can be together forever! One family is only a part family and we are working with this family about baptizing the grandma, she is like four feet tall and is the boss, its so cool to see her and she acts like she owns the place!  But what was sweet was that she taught us how to make bread and these dessert things, it was a great experience!  Also we started teaching a young family, they are 22 and 20 years old, Ruth and Mauricio! They are just trying to survive in the world but they loved the fact about how they can become an eternal family! They have the chance to progress and I hope that they will be baptised and sealed for time and all eternity!  What great joy! the problem is that they are not married yet! awww law of chastity....... so we are trying to get them to be married but they don't have to much money so that is a sacrifice for  them, we will see how it goes.

I love my companion so much and we are so close that it is really like a brotherhood not like companions.  We are here for four more days together, maybe and we feel that these past three months we have learned so much but grown in the eyes of God and we cant wait to see if we will be together for one more transfer!  He is a super great hombre and we are so close!  We received so many blessings about how to get along and I cant believe the patience I have right now.  It's only through the love and humility that we have for this work, before the mission I was so fast to blow my temper that I feel really bad about it now.  But its all in the past. thank you for everything!!!!!

Actividad de zona!

Mi campanero tiene la cara de james bond jajaja que bendiciones!

Otra vez lo siento por mi español!!!!!!! Oh y Elder Osuna es la mas gran mexicano en Chile! Vida por tacos, sombreos, y pistolas!!!!!! jajajajaja Chistes es mas o menos asi, libro de Mormon y bautismos!

Nuestro districto! Peru, Ecuador, USA, Argentina, Costa Rica.....y MEXICO!
pero que pasa Elder Osuna? El no pude cocinar elotte!

Elder Passey and Elder Osuna

August 18th, 2014

Wow this week has literally flown by!  I now understand what it means to be lost in the work.  I always say this but really I feel so mucho for these people that I cant believe the love and laughter, heartbreak and sadness that I feel.   This week we found a ton of investigators and a lot of them fell through, and they did not want a thing to do with the church so really what has happened is that we are close to starting over from scratch and finding the people who really are ready for the gospel and want to make such sacred covenants with him.  So some crazy stuff went down this week as well, we had a zone activity and we also got in a car accident!!!!!   Also we watched an epic fight and then another fight between these crazy dogs, all in the hot dirt streets of Chile!!!

Okay so lets start with Catalina shall we, she went to church with us last week and she dressed up and they all had sunday clothes on and ready for church, they where laughing and interacting with the members and her dad who is a member but long since inactive had a interview with the bishop yesterday to start back up in the church.  So we where stoked for her baptism and we were shocked to see her with this stone cold face and she said that she wanted nothing to do with our church anymore........ so we talked with her and her family and we all agreed that they had a great time and felt the spirit so we could not find out what was wrong and she just kept her head low and kept saying she did not want to be baptised and go to church.  So she finally broke the news that she went to church with her cousin who is the crazy lady from some no named church and she started saying all this bad stuff about the Mormons, so she did not want anything to do with us anymore and asked us to leave, so in this situation what do you do?  Bear our testimony's. and cry, ugh but all we can do is keep on progressing and finding new people.

Okay so another investigator, she was a champ and we found her so sad and she is the one who does not want to live with her family forever, but she came in and freaked out because our letters were to small in the Book of Mormon and how she does not understand and can't pronounce big words and she said she does not want anything to do with the "Iglesia mormona" and sent us on our way, so three investigators with baptism dates down the drain in three days, wow.... harsh right! But that just means we have more time to find those who are ready, and willing with a full heart to see if these things are true, all I can do is think of Enos and how he prayed all day and would not stop until he received an answer!  I wish we had investigators like that and I wish I was more like that but hey all is well because I am planting the seeds for the harvest of the Lord!!!!!!

ha ha okay some crazy stuff ready! This week was full of epic adventures.  First it was so hot that I thought I was going to die and they said it was not even bad yet.  I used a ton of sunscreen so don't worry mom right now I don't have any sunburns yet!!!!  But one night we were walking and saw another fight in the tomas,  They where seriously going nuts and all I could understand this time was drugs because they spoke super gangster but we just sat there and watched this fight and then I was like, hey Elder Osuna shouldn't we do something?  So we started to walk towards them but they told us to get away so we just left, its so sad how Satan try's to destroy people and I feel so bad for all the fights my brother and I have had.

Also we were in a taxi and these taxis are crazy and they fly and don't obey laws haha.  But we are used to it so I was closing my eyes and then my comp yelled and we  T boned a car in this intersection and none of us had seat belts on!  But with the blessings of the Lord none of us got hurt and we went on our way and felt so blessed.  But they all said that we did not get hurt because we were missionary's haha and mom don't freak it was not some huge wreck and that stuff but it whipped us pretty good.  There was about four of us piled up in the back seat haha  So it was some cushion for us.

Dogs are not the same here in Chile as they are in the United States, I don't like them very much. They seriously are known to attack these little kids, wow, but we saw these dogs going crazy and my comp has this huge fear of dogs so now whenever we see dogs he gets ready to throw his libro de mormon and run haha

But through all this crazy stuff that I have been through this week I want you guys to know that my testimony of the Lord has grown so much.  We have new families who are ready for the gospel and I cant wait to teach and preach, they are so great and I love them.  But its hard, don't  get me wrong but I love this language and these people and I feel like I can say anything that I want and I am still nervous but I love this language.  Who would of thought I could speak Spanish close to fluent haha Man what a blessing!

August 11, 2014: Buenas Días de Chile!

Guess what guys!!!!???? I got my visa and I am so close to being a Chilean I even dream about completos......ya I'm living the life and its been a blast, this week was insanely fast and with so much work to be done in my sector and being blessed with Spanish I am able to do more and more everyday and seriously work my whole heart out!  Well this week was my first class in English and it was.....interesting. But we had some great days and some concerns for some of our investigators and I just hope and pray that they do well!

Okay so this day was great, we had this huge desire to have the best week that we have ever had in our lives, so we started our week off with tons of prayer that we can end up having new investigators and during the day it was a serious miracle, we seriously could of walked into any house and have a great lesson with close to perfect Spanish and with success!  We taught six lessons and visited two menos active families and have them committed to re start coming to church! I feel so blessed from the fact that we can really work our guts out and pray and the lord will have a hand in our work. Right now we are seriously so close to more baptisms that I feel so blessed to be a part of this work and this mission in general.  We had a hard day on Friday and with only two lessons in our day we stopped and prayed and literally the next door we stopped to teach and contact became a new investigator! whoooooooooooooah! boo yah.  The power of the lord and his worthy servants. I know that I am receiving blessings from you guys and especially the Lord!

    

Hey so okay here is my English class story, ready okay so lets begin.  I was prepping and fasting that I could be able to teach this class and I had this awesome class ready!  So we got to the church and I wrote some stuff on the board and waited, and waited, and waited and man I felt like I was slapped in the face when not one person showed up to my class!  I  was super discouraged and so we said a prayer and as we ended we looked up and there was a less active member who is missionary age and wants to get reactivated!  So we sat down and had a great discussion about how we can become closer to God and then he wanted English so we taught him how to pray in English and it was so spiritual and he was all choked up and at first I thought it was because of the English but after I looked into some tear filled eyes and knew that this gospel is true and that this really is the Lords work.  I know that for a fact.  That was me a year ago and I cant wait to see him as a missionary.

So hardships, this could very well be my biggest part of the letter but to sum it up, this work is hard. We have this young kid who is so special to our hearts and we are teaching his family but we cant get him to stop smoking.  He was at church today and we asked to have a meeting with him and he promised again and again to stop smoking and we showed up at his house to meet with his family and saw him starting to light up a smoke! awwwwwwwwwgh.  I cry and my heart mourns for the lost sheep that we as Shepard's need to bring back into the fold. But in truth the path back to god from a sin filled past is so hard and rocky, not green pastures and I know its hard but he needs the will power! ugh, all is well I guess we just need to continue to help him.  Other challenges have been with health and I hurt my leg a little bit by trying to jump this river from a rock and not well haha this plat form moves and ya.... but it was all good.  We also had this lesson with a dude that has serious attitude changes and it went from good to bad to ugly to horrible.  So that was a life changer...

This week has been great and to cap it off we had six investigators, two familias show up to church and oh how blessed are we to be in my sector right now!  I love you all so much and I pray for you tons, thanks for all that you do and remember to always walk the straight and narrow paths.

My Sector

August 4th, 2014: Lost in Time, Chile and Wonder!

Wow, in a couple days five months will have gone by since I first stepped on Chilean soil and five months since one of my last warm hugs from my beloved mother, how fast has time gone!  I really can't believe that I live in South America and its one of my favorite parts of my day to step out side and say "Good morning Chile, who is ready for the gospel today?"  My comp says everyone is ready for the gospel we just need to work harder to find them.  How true that is and how dedicated this workforce, soldiers of God, can teach everyone in almost every part of the world!  What blessings!  So this week has flown by and some crazy stuff has happened, first i got lost in Chile, seriously lost, also it was my first time confirming a person into our church and also we had a super good week! And we have another drunk friend

   

Okay so this story about getting lost, man, so because my companion is a district leader we have inter cambios(changes) a lot and I learn from the zone leaders tons of stuff.  This time I was with Elder Miles, he is a champ and we had a crazy great day and a crazy great bunch of lessons, his Spanish is good seeing that he has served in the mission for two years and is about to go home, he is one friend that I will have after my mission.  Anyway we went and followed the plan to meet our companions at the stake center but they did not show up, later we got a call and they said we had to meet them in another church building so we decided to take the bus.  Before I tell this I want to describe to you that we are broke, we had only enough money to pay for one bus ride, and we did not have any minutes so we could not call our companions.  But no need to fear I'm with a zone leader, they don't make mistakes right? Wrong!  We were looking for a bus and I asked, "Hey Elder Miles what bus do we need to take?" and he had this weird look on his face and said I think this one.  So we just hopped on and rode this bus for awhile and he helped me with part of my Spanish and it seemed like forever since we were on this bus and I asked what was up and he said not to worry that the bus takes a long detour.  We crossed a river then a freeway, again, I asked what was up and I got pretty nervous because he had no idea but said that the bus would return to the right course.  We drove passed some curious houses that where super sketchy and then all the people all of the sudden got off the bus and we were solo.  W drove for about ten minutes more then pulled onto this pot holed dirt road for awhile and then we ended up outside this house,  The driver looked back at us as he was getting out of the bus and said "finished" in English and then left the bus!  What!  We had no idea where we were and we rode this bus for about an hour and so we got out and having no money and no minutes started walking, hopelessly lost.  It was nuts!  We ended up in some city way up north then our city of Quilpue.  We ended up just laughing out of pity because it seriously is a huge mistake and it was the worst thing that could of happened to us!  We walked like pioneer children, walked and walked and walked haha because every taxi had weird names of cities that we have never heard before.  Finally we saw one that said Quilpue and entered and asked how to get to the church he said it was about an hour from here walking,,,,,, but he had a picture of Christ and said we could get in and get a ride so we cruised down this highway and ended up at the church in about fifteen minutes! WOW!  I was so nervous and I could not believe how far away we were.  And so that is how I got lost in Quilpue.  We were so lucky that there are good souls in Chile that lend a helping hand and it gave me a testimony that we always need to help others even as Christ has done, charity is the pure love of Christ.

So another story.  We helped another drunk find his house, but this time he was worse then the others, he was blind, walking in the middle of the road using this stick as a cane.  It was so sad to see him so we helped him but he was yelling his name and laughing and calling us angels and being a punk wad.  Because I knew where he lived we started walking in the right direction and he would yell and say we where going the wrong way.  We asked how he knew these things and he would say because we were young, so he told us to go to the water tower, the opposite way from his house.  Finally we walked a different way that he approved to his house. Wow, drunks are a blast right!  But he was a person in need and its our job as followers of Christ to be an example.  

We had some great lessons with Catalina.  She has a ton of energy for the church but did not show up today so we ended up having her baptism date to be pushed back.  If she gets baptised in this transfer it will be our last day in the transfer, so I hope she accepts this calling from God.  We having been teaching this young lady about the gospel and she loves it but she hates her family, really hates them and said that she does not want to go live with them for eternity.........we were walking back to the house and hugged each other and just cried.  How can someone hate their family that much, I felt so sad for all the times that I was a huge jerk to my family and all the harm that I have caused them. I hope they have forgiven me and I feel so blessed to been in the gospel and to be able to live with this family of mine forever. 

  

Its been super hot this week and I really do feel like I am officially in South America.  It's hot one day and then freezing the other and I think its really bad for our health and the health of others, what a blessing this life is!  Oh hey I'm starting an English class this week on Friday at 7 so about five your time.  I hope i can improve my grammar by then!  I remember when Elder Levitt and I taught a class and Elder Levitt taught some rule in English that does not exist and we spelled stuff wrong, uhhhhhh.  Now I need to learn English and Spanish.

I love you all so much and I hope that you will have tons of success in your school, work and all parts of you lives, God bless you all!

Irma's Baptism

July 28th, 2014

The baptism of Irma has finally arrived!  Through seriously tons of fasting, I probably lost five more pounds......haha just kidding but seriously it was so much fasting and I was so anxious the night before and I did not sleep to much so I just laid in bed and prayed and thought what would dad do to fall asleep?   So I could not watch the golf channel or search for dogs on a computer but the thoughts where good enough to put me to sleep. It made me remember of all the times and conversations my dad and I had at three in the morning!  But this was a crazy week with tons of lessons and tons of success and I learned so much.

Okay so the baptism of Irma.  She was a champ and was so psyched that she did not sleep either!  She was so pumped that she went out and bought all these things for her baptism because she did not trust us to much.....in a sweet loving way.  She bought a towel and two pair of socks because she did not want to be to cold. haha it was a blast.   So I also know that right before the biggest decisions in our lives Satan will do everything he can to stop us from doing them and completing our goal.  This sadly is so true.  And poor Irma fought through everything to become a clean child of God.  I cant remember if I told you or not but she got robbed and mugged right before her baptism interview!  We were walking up and over this hill and I started to feel really nervous and I felt the impressions that we needed to hurry and go to the church as fast as we could.  But I thought it was just thoughts in my head and I said I was nervous and my comp looked nervous and I asked "whats up" and he quickly responded he had the same thoughts as me so we ran the rest of the way in a mad rush for the church and when we came over the hill we saw Irma by the church trying to wave people down.  We blitzed over there to see her with tears streaming down her face and I was so scared and she told us how she was mugged and that she just started screaming and swinging this huge purse of hers..... I felt bad for the guy because she is like a Little Mike Tyson.  And that bag must of hurt.  She then another day slipped and hurt her back and hip.......what more can happen to this sweet old lady no?  But she also pushed on and she said that this was one of the biggest moments in her life and she would not give up, ever,  What an example of faith right?  This lady did everything in her power to be baptized and when the time came there was one final task, the Font.  The Font in my Ward is seriously a piece of work.  She said the one rule was that she wanted warm water.  We turned the hot water on and the bishop said in about a hour and a half that everything would be fine and ready.  So in about an hour we went and checked the Font and saw that it was only about six inches, and the bishop asked in a joking manner if we could baptise her in that......not funny.  We rushed and had to turn on the cold water with the hope that it would disperse and mix with the hot water and be fine.  In another hour we checked the Font again and to our surprise, it was Green and a muddy looking color like snot and we could not see the bottom of the Font .....uhhhh We had no other option.  We tried our best to clear up the water and was about to start filling it up with water from the near by bathroom but it was game time so we went out and told Irma that she had one more trial to overcome and she pulled her hair in a pony tail and said lets go haha  What a chaaaaaaaaammmmmmp!  Heart of a lion haha.  My comp was the one who baptised her and they looked like angels and I felt like a proud parent.  She was also supported by seriously every relief society member in the Ward and they had postum ready for her after...no mom its not called postum but ecco and its just like postum, coffee for mormons haha.  She was brought down into the water and I could not really see her until she came back up and she was shaking and smiling! ugh, pictures on the way!

  

Okay so Catalina is doing really well and we have great lessons with her and I hope and I know she will be baptized.  Because of where we live her mother is a little bit nervous about her going to church alone and so we went out and introduced her to the Young women presidente who is the mom or the boss of these Young women and they all just clicked.   She showed her mom and Catalina the whole Young women gig and the bees and stuff and they were so stoked and by the other lesson Giovanna the mom of Catalina had read most of the handbook and was sold on it.  Same with Catalina.  They are so cool!  This Friday they are going to go to a Young women activity and then she can go to church with the president.  Hermana Giovanna wants to get baptised to but she needs to get married to Alejandro.  So after that because you know.....law of chastity is kinda a problema...... haha.  But  she will get baptized and I just hope that she will in this transfer! 

We also had a lot of weird experiences like drunks trying to preach and one said he was a follower of Christ and for that reason he was a drunk for life.......what?  I wish god would of said more about the wine in the bible...... but no need to fear everything will be alright.  So ya, just a bunch of random stuff,

I did not sleep much this week and I hope these black marks under my eyes are not permanent.

I love my mom

I love my Little sister

Tons of love for my two awesome brothers

and who can ever forget their hero, my father.....I love you dad.