11-30-09

Here are some excerpts from Brian's e-mail this week:

I am doing very, very well. It was great to hear about Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving was great, I actually forgot it was Thanksgiving, but I realized the day after. We just worked hard on Thursday, it was good.

Mom, in the package, can you send me a roll of black thread? I have done lots of sewing and used all of mine. I sewed up some tears near the pockets of my pants, my scripture case, and put on some buttons that fell off! Impressive, I know.

This week went by so fast. One notable event this week was that we had intercambios (in English, we say exchanges) - when we switch companions for a day. I have gone to other sectors before, three times, but this time I was in my sector with an elder (Elder Seager) from another sector. It was a cool experience. Elder Seager and I worked so hard all day and he and I taught some great lessons. I called people on the phone to see how they were doing and set up appointments. And I had never done that before. It went so well, I had to ask them to repeat things of course, but I set up three appointments that night.

And now for the comical moment of the week. Elder Reeder and I knocked on a door two days ago and a well-dressed older hispanic man answered the door. He opened the door and to our surprise said, ¨Hello, I learned English the same way that you are learning Spanish.¨ So Elder Reeder asked him if he had served a mission. He didn’t respond to this question. He proceeded to tell us that he was from Canada. We introduced ourselves in Spanish, and then went on to tell him how we were missionaries. We shared a brief testimony of Jesus Christ with him, and then we asked him if we could share more with him. And he responded something like this, ¨No. I don´t like you and your church. You two work for the CIA. And your church does too!” We thought he was joking, and we laughed. But he got mad. He was serious. He said,¨ Your church gets names and addresses for the CIA. You don´t see young men your age from Chile in the United States going door to door! (We tried to tell him that there were plenty of foreign missionaries in the States but he wouldn´t listen, he just kept going.) He was like, ¨You and your church go door to door and work for the CIA. It is people like you that made me come here and have to leave my country!¨ We told him that we were not from the CIA and really wanted to share a message with him about Jesus Christ, but he swore in English and slammed the door. It was hard not to smile when he was seriously telling us that we were from the CIA. It was so funny. We really did want to help him and share something special with him. But he was convinced we were lying to him. His English was pretty good, you could tell he hadn´t spoken it in a while, but it was still great. He sounded like someone from the US, he used words like ¨yeah man, guys, whatever.¨ I just wonder why he had to leave his country.

Luisa is doing so well. She wants to get baptized, but she has some things she has to resolve first. We are working with her, and asking her to pray about it. Please keep her in your prayers. She is such an amazing person, and she just loves the church. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true because she feels it in her heart when she reads it. She told us she has felt and found so many answers to things in life that she has been searching for, all in the Book of Mormon. She really has a true desire to get baptized, because she knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that God restored the church of Jesus Christ back to the earth through Joseph Smith.

Happy Thanksgiving

11-23-09

My first “cambio” or transfer is over now. It feels so good to have one under my belt. Here in the mission you serve in periods of time called transfers. In Spanish they call it a “cambio.” But you serve with a companion for six weeks in a place, and at the end of six weeks you or your companion might get switched to another city/town. I am staying here in Valdivia for my second cambio with Elder Reeder, which is great- we get along really well.

About being homesick, sure I get a little homesick when I think about all of you, my family, and how much I love you. I usually only feel homesick if I am writing a letter and listening to some soft music. So I stopped listening to music when I write letters home - I mean like pen and paper letters. But overall, when I think about being homesick, I just think about how much I am learning as a missionary and how much missionaries are needed in this world. I think about how happy this church of Jesus Christ has made me, and how others need this in their lives.

This week was the baptism of Arlette Bustos Delgado. She is a 14 year-old girl that we have been teaching. She knew that this church was true right away. She has a really strong testimony that this church is the restored church of Jesus Christ, the very same church He established when He lived on the earth. Her baptism was beautiful. And about thirty seconds before it started, I found out that I was leading the service. The member of the bishopric that was supposed to do it couldn´t make it to the baptism. It went well, and I only said one phrase that made the people laugh. I said thank you for coming, only I didn´t say it correctly. It was such a beautiful baptism. It was beautiful to see Arlette take this step in life that Jesus Christ wants all of us to take. Baptism is so wonderful, because through baptism we receive a remission of our sins. After baptism, we can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us make the best decisions and receive Heavenly Father’s guidance in our lives.

Sorry, I don´t have too much time today. But things are going so wonderful. I really feel so blessed to be a missionary.

Scott, I like your tie too. I wear it a lot and think of you always when I wear it. I won´t ever trade it.

Well everyone, hope that you have a great and happy Thanksgiving.

11-16-09

We’ve had an awesome week. Arlete’s baptism is this Saturday. She is a 14-year old girl that we have been teaching. She is sooo great, and has a strong testimony that this is Christ’s true church. She shares her testimony with her friends and tells them how she knows this church is true.

I have some sad news about Bastian. He was the kid that we taught last week who wanted to get baptized. We went to teach him this last Monday, and I guess he moved. He is living somewhere else- we saw him later this week. The sad thing is that his mom, who he's living with now, won´t let him get baptized. He just told us when he saw us that maybe later, but not now. We kinda got the feeling that he just doesn´t want to go through all the trouble with his family, because they don´t approve. Now that he is living somewhere else we won´t be able to talk with him much. He won´t come back here to see his grandpa very often. It’s sad- he really felt something special when we first taught him. But hopefully he will run into some missionaries where he’s living now. Plus his best friend is a member of the church.

Oh so guess what, last Monday night we did splits with two members in the ward. (Elder Reeder went with someone to one appointment, and I went with someone else to another appointment.) I went with a man by the name of Victor Pena. My companion and I went with literally the two fastest-speaking guys in the ward (congregation). But the cool thing was that at the lesson, when the people couldn´t understand something I said, Victor did, and then he would teach them about it, or ask the question I had been trying to ask. It was sooo cool, because I could understand him pretty well that night, and he understood me when the other people couldn´t. He received help from Heavenly Father to understand my Spanish. In reality, he shouldn´t have been able to understand some of the things I was trying to say, and then he would ask me if this was what I was trying to say, and it was, every time. It was too cool. Things are getting better and better with Spanish. I am liking it- now I can understand and speak well enough for me and another person to be able to talk normally.

Sorry I don´t have time to write much more, but I want to tell you this now because I can. Earlier, it would have made you worry, Mom. When I got here, my very first week, I started getting these little red bumps all over my body. They itched. And I was finding fleas on me, so I was a little scared. I didn´t know if they were all flea bites. But as time went on, most of the red bumps got bigger and didn´t look like flea bites anymore. I just had a rash. We talked to a doctor. I don´t know why I got it, or what it came from. It was kinda like the chicken pox. But it’s going away and it’s almost gone now. It just itched a bit, not too bad. But I decided to tell you now because I am fine and it wasn´t bad at all. I didn´t want to worry you before. But I am still getting flea bites, which I guess I’m getting used to. They aren´t bad. But for a time there when I first was getting the rash I would imagine fleas on me, and start to freak myself out! Haha. It wan´t bad though, the rash was really just like having red bumps that itched a bit. I am in really good health and feeling really great.

Luisa came to church this week! And also a church activity! Things are going well with her and Arlete, but they are about the only two that will keep their commitments. Scott, we have the same problem here- a lot of people won´t read the Book of Mormon or pray and ask God if it’s true. It’s sad, because I know what I have received in my life, and they can receive it too, if they will just put forth some effort to ask God if it’s really true. But we are trying our hardest and working hard.

11-09-09

I am doing really well- it has been a great week! Lots happened this week but here are the highlights. Oh and I better correct myself, because I said before that Chileans only worked 6 hours a day, but that is wrong, actually only a few do that I think. The rest work more like 8 or 10.

So guess what. I gave a priesthood blessing in Spanish last Sunday. It went well, I felt really good afterwards, even though the Spanish wasn´t 100 percent correct. It was cool, just to a lady in our ward (church congregation) who is having health problems.

This week one time my companion, Elder Reeder, and I were talking to this guy in the street and then all of a sudden bird poop landed on us, and there wasn´t a bird in sight. The birds fly so high here, it was a lucky shot. It only got a little on me, but more on my companion, not any on the man we were talking to. Ha ha. But my rain gear has come to be so useful the past few weeks. It has rained a lot. And it is not supposed to be raining now, because it is almost summer, but it’s still raining a lot and thankfully my rain gear is the best stuff. I need it! I don’t get wet when I wear it.

Spanish is going well. I am understanding more. Actually on Saturday I talked to this guy about the Book of Mormon for a long time and answered all his questions about it. It was cool because I didn´t have to look to my companion because I didn’t understand something. Also last night we had had a hard day, it was raining all day, and cold, and we hadn´t gotten in to teach many people. All of our lessons had fallen through and so we said a prayer to find someone to teach, because we had been walking for hours and not taught anyone. And not 5 minutes later we taught this lady a great lesson. It was so cool, and it just goes to show that Heavenly Father really helps us when we pray and that this really is His work.

This week, things went well with our investigators. We taught this 19 year-old kid named Bastian and then we challenged him to baptism and he said yes. He is a great kid and really understood, and the best part is that his best friend is a member of the church. So hopefully all goes well there.

We had 8 people coming to church this week, and on Friday or Saturday, they all said that they were coming, but then no one came. We went around to get them and they either weren´t home, were sick, or had gone out of town. So next week hopefully they’ll come.

Leo and Susan were going to come, but then Susan left town and Leo said he would come and meet us at church, but didn´t. They are doing well though. We are going to have a great lesson with them tonight or tomorrow.

Arlete is a 14 year-old girl that the missionaries found a little before I got here, and she is getting baptized in a few weeks. She just needs one or two more lessons. She is amazing, we just need to help her family, who are members but don’t come to church.

We are teaching this guy named Luiz, who is around 40, and has a son and a wife, but he’s the only one in his family who listens to the lessons. We had an amazing lesson with him this week. He is reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2 Nephi right now. We just had the coolest lesson with him. We prepared the best outline for it, but at the lesson, we had a strong feeling that God wanted us to teach it differently- it went so well. He needs to come to church.

We are teaching another lady named Luisa and she is doing really well, she is really prepared to hear this message. She feels the Book of Mormon is true and that our message is true too, and so she just needs to come to church and gain a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the restoration of Christ’s true church.

We are working hard- it isn´t always easy with the rain and the cold, but things are going really well.

I am getting up early and studying Spanish a little each day, because we never have time to study the language. We only get a half hour for language study, but our momita is usually a little late with lunch. Our language study is right after lunch, so I have to study in the morning and then learn throughout the day. I am working hard on Spanish. I even study vocabulary in the shower.

Next week remind me to tell you about the lesson we teach to people when we start teaching them. It is great, our Area Presidency came up with it- it’s a great lesson that helps people understand why the restoration of Christ’s church is important for them.

11-02-09

So last Monday, I conquered the bathroom and now it is so clean and nice. It is enjoyable!!! Ha.

We taught some really cool people this week. We taught a lady named Luisa and it went so well. We will meet with her again tomorrow I think. It was just a really cool lesson, because at the end she just told us about how she was Catholic and then Evangelical and how they just weren´t right. She is reading the Book of Mormon now. We are also teaching a couple with a young baby, Leo and Susan. We met them two weeks ago. This week we had a really cool lesson with them. We watched The Restoration DVD, about 20 minutes, and then read in the Book of Mormon. At the end, Susan said that they would read it and pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. When she said the prayer at the end, she included that question. They were going to come to church, but they slept in and so they will come next week. They are awesome people. We have been teaching some other really cool people this week.

I am learning more and more each day. I still have so much to learn, but I am working hard each day.

A little bit more about my area. We live north of Osorno in a city called Valdivia. About 130,000 people live here. It is a decent-sized city. Our area is not in the central part of the city, but is more on the outside. We are along a river, and I guess that this used to be a town that the Spanish had control of. There is part of an old Spanish fort here that they would use to defend the city from pirates, I guess. The people here are pretty relaxed. They don´t work a ton ton. But they work I think like 6 hours a day. Most people are pretty accustomed to the life they have and aren´t looking to change, it is hard for them. Some people are soo nice and others aren´t. It is sad, you see all sorts of people. The drunks make me sad, it is so sad to see them- what a miserable life. My area is just streets of small houses. There are small little stores everywhere, a lot just in the side of a house, small little food stores. There are dogs everywhere here. I haven´t had a problem with them yet. But they bark too much. The people here are religious. Mostly Evangelical or Catholic, all of them. Some go to church and some don´t, just like in the States. But most people aren´t too eager to talk to missionaries. They are funny, but I am doing my best to learn to love them. We are trying to work more with the members here. We have 4 people or so that go out with us every week, but we want to work more with the other members. There are about 40 people that come to my ward (congregation) on a good full day, but I guess there are 5 stakes here in Valdivia, which is a lot. My ward is just smaller, I think. There are some incredible members here.

For Halloween here, some kids dress up. Most kids will go out and go door to door for candy. At night when were came back in, there were kids knocking on our gate, but we couldn´t give them anything because if we did, more and more would come. They saw our lights on! I guess the kids just go out and play and go door to door for candy, but we didn´t see too many people outside. Hope you all had a fun Halloween and that everything went well.