04-12-10

I am doing fantastic. This week just flew by. At first, it was going really slow. We knocked doors and tried so hard at the beginning of the week with little success. But later in the week, we were able to teach more lessons.

One of our investigators is really progressing, and he is sooo cool. His name is Antonio, and he is 29. He comes from a Catholic family, but the family only goes to church once a year or so. Anyways, the first time we met with him he was just so ready to listen to the gospel. He really has been having a harder time in his life lately he says. This last week we taught him three times and we were able to teach him the restoration, watch the DVD of the restoration, and share with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so amazing, because he is reading in the Book of Mormon and he and his mom came to church yesterday! He said that he really liked church. He says that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We have invited him to be baptized, but he said no. We are pretty sure he would have said yes if his mom hadn´t been there. Her name is Silvia. She is Catholic and doesn´t want to change. She listens every time, but says that she doesn´t want to change and never will. The hard thing is that she just doesn´t have a desire to change right now. Pray for them!

The other Antonio is good, but we haven´t been able to teach them this week, which is sad. He left town on business. We have an appointment with his family tomorrow. We did see his family in the street the other day and they were really happy and excited to see us. :)

So yesterday, we were knocking doors with a brother from the ward, Brother Santana. But anyways we knocked on this door and this little old lady opened up. She was about 4 feet tall, and probably about 80 years old. We asked her if we could share a message with her, and she beckoned us in and said, "Oh, you want to converse.". She led us to this little empty room and then shut the door. She was a little cuckoo, so we explained to her that we wanted to talk with her. And she was pretty crazy, and kinda of out of reality. I asked her how many kids she had, and she said that she couldn´t remember. And then she said, pointing at my companion and then at me, "You must be the son of the English, and (to me) you must be the son of the marine." It was pretty funny, she thought that we were her sons. Sadly she really couldn´t make much conversation, and so we gave her some free laminas of Jesus Christ and left real quick.

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

04-05-10

I hope that you all enjoyed Easter and General Conference. We stayed here to watch conference instead of traveling to Punta Arenas, which is three hours away. We weren´t able to see priesthood session because they don´t broadcast it live on the internet. And Sunday morning we only saw the last talk because of some technical difficulties with the internet. It finally got fixed, but we ended up having to move to another room where the internet was better. So what I saw of conference, I loved. I am really looking forward to the magazine though, so I can read what I didn´t get to hear.

What I loved is how most of conference was focused on how to protect and strengthen our families. It was sooo cool to hear all the prophet's and apostles talks. One talk that I really liked was about how we need to make good judgments and the steps that we need to take to do that.

Things with Elder Sanford and I are going great. We are working hard, and we have found some really cool people. We are hoping to invite them all to baptism this week.

One man that we found this last week is named Antonio. The first time we knocked on his door, he was pretty contentious and didn´t want to listen to us. But then we talked to him a bit about his family and then shared with him the thirty-second version of the restoration. He agreed to let us come by another day for 15 minutes.

So we went by the other day and we taught him and his wife, Elizabeth, about the restoration, and it was amazing. They understood so well and at the end, they said that they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon that night. We are going back to teach them tomorrow, so we will find out how it went. Antonio was really active in the Catholic church for the majority of his life, he even helped out with the youth program there. But then something happened with him not agreeing with a bad choice that a priest made, and they got in an argument and he stopped going to that church.

It was just such a good feeling to see someone excited to hear about the restoration and understand it all. Please keep Antonio and Elizabeth in your prayers.

Well, I hope that everything is amazing for all of you. It isn´t horribly cold here yet, but it is getting colder each week and it gets darker earlier and earlier. I think it will start getting pretty cold in a month or so. I don´t think that it gets that much colder than it does in Montana, the only thing is that I haven´t ever had to walk around all day during the winter before.

Love,
Elder Brian Sheahan (the no-named elder, because no one here wants to risk mispronouncing my name, or they don´t know how. I know how it is Scott.)

03-29-10

Torres de Paines

Sorry that I don´t have a ton of time to write today, but things are going really great. It is getting colder here, and in the winter it will be way cold. I am serving in a city that is three hours from Punta Arenas, it is called Puerto Natales, and because we are three hours away from the zone, we never go to zone or district meetings, so we are a little alone out here. There are about 22-25 thousand people who live here. Our sector is huge! It is surrounded by mountains and also the sea. It is really pretty. You should google the Torres de Paines. We are really close to these amazing mountains that have some great towers jetting out from them. They are really famous, so there are tons of tourists here. We are hoping that one preparation day, we can go see the torres of paines. We'll see.

My companion, Elder Sanford, is from Paul, Idaho, I think. Mom, the one from Uncle Neal's ward came with me in my group to Chile. Elder Sanford is great and we get along well. He is really funny, and is a great guy.

The only thing that is hard here is the amount of work to be done. We don't have any investigators right now and the branch here has over 500 less actives. The attendance at church yesterday was about 35.

One cool thing that happened this week is that we met a tourist here named James. He is 18 and from England. Right now he is traveling alone through South America, for about 4 months. So anyways we talked to him in the street on Saturday and invited him to church on Sunday, and he eagerly came. It turns out that he has a really good friend who's Mormon. He was actually meeting with the missionaries in England about 2 months ago before he left, and said that he went to church a few times there. And so he came to church with us before he had to leave to go to another city, but he was a really nice guy and he really enjoyed coming to church with us. He left after sacrament meeting to get ready to continue on in his trip. The cool thing is how we ran into him and got to talk to him, answer his questions, and invite him to church. It is interesting how the Lord puts people in our path.

03-22-10

1st of all, guess where I'm going?

To the bottom of the world, to a city called Punta Reinas. It is the city that is the furthest south in all of the world and in my mission. And I get to go there for winter! I heard it is cold! There are penguins there! I also heard that it is really pretty. I take a plane from a city called Puerto Montt on Wednesday. My sector is called Puerto Natales, and it is far away from the city to the east, so I will only be going to district/zone meetings on the days that I have intercambios. My new companion´s name is Elder Sanford. He has a cambio or two more than me in the mission and he is from Idaho. I am excited to meet him.

This week went by very quickly. Brenda is doing well. She came with us to the district conference that the branch went to by bus. That was cool, but she finally told us that she doesn't believe much in Jesus Christ. She is beginning to understand more about the church, but now she needs to understand why she needs Jesus Christ and gain faith in him. She is doing great other than that, but she waited a while to tell us that. We always go and teach her with members, so sometimes we think that maybe she likes the church just because of the social aspect, but we´ll find out more. We are going to teach her tomorrow.

Paola is doing not as well. She still doesn't want to come to church, but we are still meeting with her. She is putting the visits farther and farther apart. She understands sooo well, but the Lord will keep working with her heart. Hopefully she can come to church this week and then to general conference the next week. She is such a great person too, so keep her in your prayers.

I am excited for general conference. I think I will have to travel by bus or something to see it from my new sector.

03-15-10

This week went by really quickly. Sadly, Paola told us this week that she doesn't want to get baptized. She doesn't want to get baptized now for a few reasons. Mainly it is because that she doesn't want to go to church every week. She doesn't want to make that commitment. Paola loves to play soccer on Sunday and visit her family that lives out in the country. She also talked to her parents about the church, who really confused her with a lot of things they've heard about the church that aren't true.

Our other investigator, Brenda, is doing really well. She came to church again for all 3 hours this Sunday. She is still working on her testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ, but she is doing well. The great thing is that she has lots of questions and listens when we teach.

We had a cool district activity this week about the pioneers. It was so cool to see the Chilean members all dressed up like pioneers. The did a really good job with their costumes. We did a little mini pioneer trek up in the mountains here. And they had a program to remember the pioneers. I played the flute for two songs.

I personally can´t believe how fast the time is passing. I can´t believe that I already have 7 months in my mission. I feel so lucky to be a missionary. I was thinking about my life this week, and all that the Lord has given me. One thing that I really am grateful for is the testimony that He has given me of the truth of these things. About the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and everything. I know that the church is true with all my heart. I can´t even begin to tell you how much I value the feelings and answers that the Lord has given me about this church, His church. It means everything to me. It means that our family can be together forever through sealings in the temple. It means that I can be free of sin and have the influence of the Holy Ghost in my life and be soo happy in every moment. I just know with all my heart that our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, appeared to a young man named Joseph Smith to restore Their church.

Más fotos

¡Felices Pascuas!

03-08-10

I am doing very, very well. Here in San Pablo we're working really hard. We had five people come to church this Sunday.

We're teaching a lady named Paola. She's about 38 years old, and is a single mother. She has a son named Fabian who is 7 and will turn 8 in a month. She is doing so well and doesn't have anything that is keeping her from getting baptized, only nerves. She understands really well and is so smart, and she always reads more than we give her in the Book of Mormon. She has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. Her baptism date is the 3rd of April, the Saturday of General Conference. It might move up a bit, because she might wait to get baptized when her son turns 8 later in April. She is sooo cool. Keep her in your prayers. The biggest thing keeping her from getting baptized is keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She loves playing soccer and plays in a league on Sundays. We are talking to her about it, but it is something that will be hard for her to give up. But the blessings that come from joining the church are immeasurably greater than the enjoyment she gets from playing soccer. She really understands the apostasy, and the need for a restoration of the true church of Jesus Christ. She has a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. And the thing is is that she really wants the gift of the Holy Ghost in her life and a remission of her sins. She is amazing. We have been teaching her for about 2 weeks.

We are teaching a lady named Brenda, 33, who is also a single mother with a son. Her son is 4 years old. She came to church this Sunday, and she stayed for all 3 hours, which was a surprise. Brenda is still working on her testimony. She has a baptism date for the 10th of April, so let's pray for her and her testimony!

Elder Salguera and I are getting along very well. He teaches so well, and I'm learning a ton from him. I can't believe that we only have 2.5 weeks left together. It is sad. These six weeks are just flying by.

One thing that is funny is that some people here keep saying that they feel little aftershocks. They have happened, but nothing very noticeable here. And one sister at church got people thinking that they felt one during the last hour of church, but there was nothing. The people are a little crazy about the earthquakes. This one sister keeps telling me that she has felt aftershocks like every day, sometimes more than once a day. They're funny.

One thing that I am really learning about the the Holy Ghost is that it works a lot though our thoughts and actions. If we pray for the Holy Ghost and live worthy of its guidance, God will send us thoughts to answer our prayers. Then we have to act on the thoughts He gives us. At the same time we have our agency, and so sometimes it is only when we act on the inspiration the Holy Ghost gives us that He answers our prayers. Like when I'm not doing all I can do, like when I am praying for miracles for our investigators, if I am not studying for them, being 100 percent obedient, preparing a lesson for them, etc. etc., my prayers won't be answered. But after I have done all that I can, then God can let miracles happen. It's something I have seen with learning Spanish, I asked for the gift of tongues, and then I had to study and pray and try with all of my heart. Then after time and study and lots of effort, God has helped me learn this language at an unbelievable pace. He will always magnify us and help us, and a lot of times He just wants us to use our agency and act. And then in the end after our efforts He will bless us or inspire us to know how to change and improve. Then it is our turn to act again. And again. The power lies in our agency, our obedience, and our action. That is what allows God to bless us.

03-01-10

Hope that all of you are doing well. I am doing great.

So about the earthquake, haha. I guess it was like a 5 or 6 here where I am. The epicenter was in Conception, which is north of us. It was a 9 there, which is big. The day before we had intercambios with the zone leaders, and I stayed here in San Pablo with one of them. It was sooo hot and sunny this day, and we walked and taught all the day long. When we got back to the house we were dead tired. When I got to bed I was exhausted beyond belief.

At about 4 AM, I remember waking up, in a half awake state. My bed was rocking back and forth a lot, and the thought that went through my mind was, oh, must be an earthquake, but it will just be a little one and it will stop soon. And with my bed rocking back and forth, I fell back asleep for 1 or two minutes, I guess. The earthquake here lasted like 2 minutes, and I woke up again for the last 5 seconds of it. Which when I was conscious felt like I was riding my bed through the ocean. And then it stopped, and I woke up my zone leader, and he had slept though all of it. And then we went back to bed.

The only thing that I have to say is that I sleep like a rock in the mission. I sleep very deeply. Where I am at, only a few of the highways got damaged. And none of the buildings. We didn´t have electricity for half of the day, but it returned at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. The only thing that happened here is that things fell of the walls or off the shelves, that's all. Today there was another problem with the electricity, but it was fixed.

I was a little worried about Scott, when I saw all of the damage in Santiago and heard that people had died. But I knew that he would be okay. Like Whitney said in her email to me, the Lord protects His missionaries.

There was a young couple, my mission leader and his wife that went to get sealed in the temple this week in Santiago. They called me yesterday to tell me that they were fine and that they had seen Scott at the Temple. They said he and I are just alike.

Well, the members of the church here better realized the need to be prepared for disasters like this. Some were prepared and others not. It just goes to show that we really do need food storage and supplies in times like these.

Hope that you all are having fun and doing well. Get prepared with food storage and such!