Monday, October 26, 2015

October 26th, 2015: My Legs are So Tired!

Well changes happened! And yes here I am in Valpo! But this time I’m way on the other side of Valpo! I’m on the western parts of Valpo and I love it, the hills are way steeper then I remember and my legs are pretty shot! But hey I have the best companion in the world! His name is Elder Swindler! We have almost been robbed already and I have been spit on twice, and to be honest I LOVE EVER DAY OF MY MISSION and I know that I say this all the time but I have to admit that the mission is really the best place to be.  Even though we pass through so many trials and hard times we will always have our burdens made light if we use our faith and keep getting up! We fall all the time but I hate it when people say they can’t get up! We always can come back spiritually, we will always get up, we have a Savior, he will lift us up, but we need to put in our effort!

So yes my legs hurt, I feel like I just got done doing exercises on moms stair machine hahaha.  But hey the streets are so incredibly steep that if you slip and fall you will roll and be lost forever! Well maybe not to dramatic but you will fall hahaha.  Of course this week my companion showed me around and I’m stressing to get the sector down.  We have five mountains that have names with little streets running all around them and then we have more hills that don’t have established names on them so it gets kind of hard sometimes! But we are going up and down as fast as we can! As I am walking up this huge hill and I can see my sweat falling, I like to think of the little engine that could! What a great story for missionary’s, As the little train moved farther and farther along the track all he said was I think I can, I think I can! So then we started to say that as we finally reached the top! I honestly felt like Rocky! But we are seriously working hard and we have some great families, we are teaching a family where the mom in a less active but her dad is not a member and her little boy has not been baptized yet! I’m so happy to see smiles and see the understanding about eternal family’s enter the minds of whom we teach, the secret to missionary work is teaching the doctrine, everyone wants to live with their family’s forever but no one has the authority to make it happen but..............the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints! What blessing we have hahahah I love my family and I especially love those whom I teach, it’s hard to find many investigators that progress but when we do the feelings are just.... bliss! How blessed are we!

Yes I got spit on, was it gross.... yes how many times did it happen..... twice hahaha The first time was when we had just finished a activity with the ward and we where returning home, as we were walking through the very crowded streets toward the bus a young man passed by with a green mohawk and spit on me, wow it was gross but I just kept on walking.  I guess its the way the people here in Valpo start a fight, they spit on the legs or the person, after that stuff goes down then its all over! hahaha but I just kept on walking.  As I was laying in my bed last night my eyes filled with tears as I realized how much I loved that young man........ Even though I did not even know him or will never see him again, yet I love him.  My life has changed so much on the mission and I cant even begin to explain how my patience has increased and how my short temper has literally been pulverized, how I love my mission.  The other time was a little bit more scary however, we where looking for less active members and we came and found this older man who was a member and his younger drunk son was not a member.  As we walked up to him the young man was laughing and spit a bunch of lettuce all over us! Not going to lie that was disgusting and a bit horrifying to see this.  But hey we ended up just leaving and as we left we could hear the laughter of the young man, but I cant explain yet again the sadness to see those men and women in the great a spacious building and how they laugh.  It will all fall eventually, and I don’t want to see so many sons and daughters of god fall when that great and spacious building falls! So these are a part of our culture adventure!

The USA visited Valpo the other day, a bunch of subs and an aircraft carriers showed up and a bunch of American soldiers went site seeing. I honesty live in one of the most popular parts of the mission. I also felt really short standing next to all those big guys, but I’m trying my best to be a spiritual giant hahaha, it was also a reality check to see huge white guys again. I have become used to seeing shorter people, I think I have come to the conclusion that I’m tall ahahahahahahahahaha but I’m not.................... Oh well life does not depend if you’re short or not!

Elder Swindler really is the best, we started our missions together in Quilpue, we both went to Valpo as district leaders and then I went to be a district leader in his zone at Coquimbo.  As of right now we are the best companionship ever! and he likes Zelda, and he was in a rock band called mossbank, I have some serious respect for how he leads with such power! I want to be like him! 

I love you all so much! Just keep on going strong!


Elder Passey

Saying Goodbye to Marta:






Monday, October 19, 2015

October 19th, 2015: What a Week!

This week has been really full of blessings, it has made me ponder and wonder about all the Lord has really given me! We have been digging a huge well, that is sweet! We also met the greatest family ever and we had a great week full of rain and sun! The weather is changing like everyday so it’s hard sometimes to stay on top of the healthy side, but that’s life as a missionary.

Okay I love digging holes! I can’t believe how big we got in this well; no joke just Elder Mcelhaney and I have dug down 5 meter or like 25 feet! We are using pulley systems and everything! But it was getting really deep and we have failed to get to water.  I feel really frustrated at how we can dig so deep and have bloody hands but not water! But when I look up out of the hole and see the smiling and concerned looks of this family in a hopeless state without water and buying their own water I feel like I can keep digging, so we keep going.  I love to think of this like our testimony’s, my companion and I chatted while we dig, "we also talk all night" and we found that gaining a testimony is really like building and digging a well! Once you gain a great testimony and you feel good about how you gained one it’s harder sometimes to go deeper, we feel comfortable about where we are and we stop going down! But all we end up with is dirt and sweat; if we want to really progress in this life we need to keep digging! Until we hit the water "our savior Jesus Christ".  As for my testimony I love gaining and deepening my testimony, I am a long ways away but i'm trying! As for the well it has gotten deep and still has no water but we will get there soon!

We are teaching a great family and they are young! Their names are Adan y Gabriela! Adan is like 24 and Gabriela is like 22 and they just barely had a little girl, so they are like this little family fighting the world.  We have been teaching then a lot and they are progressing a bunch, leaps and bounds actually! Adan is a less active but he will and is coming back into the church.  We had a couple family nights with them and I made camel eye, it was so funny to see them pick at it with there forks then they chowed down! ESPECIALLY GABRIELLA BECUASE SHE JUST HAD A BABY AND EATS A TON! HAHAHA but they are really doing great and they came to church as well this Sunday! What blessings! We also made no bake peanut butter cookies and I just got to say that I love the USA its awesome! 

I cannot tell you all how happy I am! This work brings so much happiness! 

We also did some hard core workouts this week.  Today was nuts, we went with Adan and he took us running through the hills and mountains.  But not just running on a path, we climbed mountains, ran through rivers and did push ups on trees and stuff! He is a marine and works out like a stud! hahaha needless to say I about threw up and I can’t move my legs! All I could think about when we were running is "thank goodness the Lord is on my side" hahahaha but I’m doing great!

Thank you all for everything! I love you all so much!


Elder Passey

The District

Thursday, October 15, 2015

October 12th, 2015: The Mission Life

Well we have had a great week, I feel really blessed to be apart of this great work and see the kingdom of god increase as we strive to do what’s right! I’m so thankful to hear about my brother who will join the greatest army in the face of this world on weds. I’m thankful for my loving father and mother who spend many hours late at night pleading for the lord to protect me and my companion and the mission in which I serve. So many things have happened and I feel really blessed to keep going forward and find all the miracles in my life! This week I went to the hospital because of a dog bite on my wrist that was pretty crazy! Also for the past two nights we have returned to our house to find our door open........ So I think someone is coming inside during the day,.... hahahaha that would be awful but there is nothing to rob! But we also gave a bunch of presentations to the zone and here we are! The weather is also changing so that’s nice!

So first off the dog bite, well what happened was that we found this guy named Carlos, he is cool and all but his dog was nuts! Ask my mom how it was! Mom I have to go I’m sorry but I spent all my time writing you in the start of my email... sorry! But I’m okay my health is great and I’m happy, nothing is wrong.

From Logan’s Mom:  This is what he wrote me about the dog bite:


Well I was helping some guy with my companion and the dog was freaking out "its a pit-bull mix" and he kept telling us that he would not bit, only bark.  Well he bit me and I started to bleed a little bit so we went to a members house and they drove us to the hospital where I waited for six hours to be attended to....... We got there at about five thirty and at midnight I got my shots,,,,,,, I might have to go back and get more shots in my stomach, we will see how that goes.

These are pictures from the Vina Del Mar Mission blog, http://vamosvina.blogspot.com of the October Leaders meeting:





Monday, October 5, 2015

October 5th, 2015: The Most Spiritual Week Of My Life

This week, this amazing week...... will go down as the most spiritual week that I have ever had in my life and will ever have in my life.  Every day we did something out of the ordinary and I felt so blessed to have the spirit literally hug my in these great missionary efforts. I must admit that being overcome by the spirit is literally strength sucking as I also found myself so tired and with huge black lines under my eyes but the best part was the biggest grin I have ever seen on my face.  When we come unto Christ with all of our hearts we truly are given the power to remain strong and then it all goes away as soon as we get in bed.  I feel so blessed to have been engulfed in the spirit, consumed by ever lasting knowledge and help from on high, this week changed my life and I humbly cant wait to tell you why!

First of all I love my companion, what a trooper he is.  He helps me so much on becoming a better person and how I can overcome my personal trials, he is the energy I need when we are having long days and he is always really quick to tell a joke.  We have often spent hours talking about stuff during the night "by the way this really builds our relationship but the price we pay is that we are exhausted and sleep deprived"  Also he has become my greatest friend and mate companion, we drink so much mate that we start to feel bloated with water, its great to sip mate and talk like old men do, hahahahaha.  Also my night life has gone down as I don’t yell as much thank goodness! But we have done some great things together and we have learned so much together, our burdens have been made light as we work without stopping and we gain so much life experience.  We also heard that my mom and his mom went out to Applebees, hahaha we decided that they should save that money and send us food.  But we look forward to family parties in the future! How blessed I am to be his companion, I have been given that great gift all throughout my mission, its truly help and love sent directly from my Father in Heaven.

We also had interviews with President Diaz this week.  It was a total surprise and we realized that our house is not completely clean, so we started to clean like crazy! We stayed up late and cleaned everything and then went to sleep for like three hours and woke up to clean the floors and to clean some other stuff.  Well we have a backyard that is surrounded by huge fences impossible to climb "to protect us from hoodlums" and the only way you can get from the backyard to the house is through a metal door that is only opened from the other side.  Well we are trying to clean this place up and the door slams shut leaving us trapped in the backyard and freezing because it was windy and cold.  So I started to feel really trapped, I don’t like small places so I felt like going stage hulk and breaking the door down.  But in the end I decided I should lift Elder Mcelhaney up so he could try to climb through the second floor window, it was daring, it was brave, it was reckless, by it worked.  As he freed us I felt an assurance that guardian angels were indeed helping us in that situation and many others during the mission, the spirit is awesome!

P.S when we finally had the interview the Elder who is in charge of the house said we have to clean the house better I felt like someone just slapped me in the face, if only he knew how many hours we had spent cleaning this mansion that we live in............................. but we must learn to love others hahahahahaha

The interview with president was amazing, sitting alone with him for 25 minutes is like speaking directly with the Lord, he kindly helps me become better and helps me become the missionary that I want to become! Who says that dogs cant learn old tricks, I can totally learn how to be better and every day I will become better.  He helped me become better with working with stake leaders, that was awesome and we are working better with them! How I love president!

Then the next day we had a special council with president and all the zone leaders and we learned so much! They had an activity to "see whose companionship was the strongest" They asked us a series of questions and Elder Mcelhaney and I won! Boo-rah hahahahahahaha it was awesome.  They asked some hard questions and we had to answer and say what our companion would say, the first question was easy, what is your companions favorite color, then the last one was really hard, it was WHAT IS YOUR COMPANIONS FAVORITE SCRIPTURE! I had no idea hahahahaha and he had no idea what mine was either, so what I did was I guest guessed 1 Nephi 3/7 for his and I put the same scripture down for mine hahaha. I thought for sure we lost and then they asked us to see what our companions put and he put the same exact thing on his paper hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha We totally won by luck but hey I now my companion so well that I thought he would do the same type of thing, unity, the best talent we got!

Conference was the best! To be honest I was crying at the end because it was such a spiritual week and I realized that never again will I see a conference as a missionary...........no words can explain the complete sorrow of what that thought did to my pour little heart.  As I looked around the room I was in I saw all the faces of the missionary’s and thought I was in the very presence of angels, they looked like angels, they talked like angels and I realized that I have been so blessed to be in their presence.  It was a great conference and the talks touched my heart! Every single new apostle that spoke the spirit testifies that they are in deed seers and revelators. How blessed are we

The night ended with a personal testimony meeting with my companion, and that was why this week will go down as the most spiritual week of my life, I love you all, keep going and OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS. What more do I have to say?


Elder Passey
General Conference.  October 2015




Sometimes we get the munchies!