EVERYONE'S AT THE BEACH! BUT WE STILL HAD A GREAT ACTIVITY ON THE PLAN OF SALVATION

February 15, 2017
Hi Family,

Carlos (Hermano Ruiz -that's what he really goes by) is pretty awesome, isn't he? He and his family are the greatest help to the mission work in the ward. I don't get his photos, so if you want to keep them I'd do so! ...

My apartment DOES have an oven! It works pretty well, too! And no, it's not too common to be senior companion that early but it seems like there have been a few people from my group that have been given some big assignments already. My comp from the CCM is now a district leader and a couple of elders from my group were thrown in a whitewash together. We don't mess around here!

I understand pretty much everything ( in Spanish). It's really just certain people who have atrocious accents but we haven't really had any problems...

The package was really awesome by the way!!! The candy and all was really good and I liked the notes and stuff :D 

And the scriptures were sooooo coool!!!! I'm so pumped to start using them for proselyting!!! I'm gonna order a leather case today and in the meantime I made a case out of a cereal box! :) 

This week has been pretty good but also, way tough! February is the hardest month here because everyone goes on vacations to the beach for, like, 3 weeks (which is very surprising considering their circumstances). So it's been a bit like a Valley Forge time just doing what we can and getting ready for when things pick up. We had a neat ward activity yesterday with games and tickets to demonstrate the Plan of Salvation. It was cool because we were able to get quite a few investigators and less actives there and it had a strong effect upon them. We basically prepared 3 rooms, one for each of the Kingdoms of Glory (Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial). We put in lamps to brighten the Celestial Kingdom room a lot and put soda, cookies and sandwiches in there. It was set up well and looked swell. We then made the Terrestrial Kingdom room look lame and had bread and some mediocre juice there and took out one of the lightbulbs so it'd be dim. Then for the Telestial kingdom room we just got a mat and some stale bread and took out all the lights so it was dark and lame! Then we had games and some spiritual activities for the people to do. The games had one type of ticket and the spiritual stuff, like watching Bible videos and learning scripture masteries, had a different ticket. You could spend them to buy soda and cookies. However, someone would randomly take you out and Bishop would judge them on their spiritual tickets and, based on those, you went to a kingdom. There were a disappointing amount in the Telestial Kingdom, haha, but it turned out to be a good learning experience for the people who went. 

There's not much else to report about! I love you all!

-Elder Sierra

Makeshift scripture cover

Eating Chinese food for lunch (there are a lot of Chinese here) 

Saw a parrot. Not very common around here.

A picture of the house minus the Argentine because he and his comp had a fight and he ended up tackling him into my dressing which now has only one door :( 

So, they obviously had to do divisions for a little bit. We had the zone leader come and it was awesome! He's a really cool guy and we had a blast! Now the Argentine's back 'cause the two are trying to work it out and be together till transfers come. But, yeah!

LA PACIENCIA ES LA CIENCIA DE PAZ

February 8, 2017

Hi Family,

Wow! Looks like you guys have just been havin' a ball!

In the sector we got a new girl to teach who's about 9. She's the friend of an 11-year-old girl who just got baptized. She was just around one day and we started teaching her and now, we've taught her 3 times and she's pretty focused on progressing. It's pretty cool! Her name's Emily (so many people give American names to their kids here. It's weird) Samirah's (Emily's friend) grandmother raises her because Samirah's mom is a drug addict. She's a very good member who just reactivated and is helping us all the time with Emily and will help us bring her to church! 

Another family we're teaching is the Espinoza family. And well... it's a bit interesting. The mom is a less active member and so is the 12 year old daughter. The dad isn't a member but would be by now if he were married to his.... not wife. Lots of people don't get around to getting married here!!! Marcelo's eventually going to marry Patty (thus are their names) but they've  tried a bunch of times and just don't have tons of success doing it. It's hard! 

We've (mainly the elders before me) been teaching the 8 year old son and he's about ready for baptism. When I arrived they went on vacation and so we waited for them to get back. My comp (who only just recently finished his training) told me that bishop said it was a ward baptism because the mom's a member... I thought that was fishy, but I just went with the flow. So that meant we needed the bishop to set a baptismal date for us. (even though the ward has done little to nothing for the spiritual development of this boy). Fast forward to yesterday: I was on divisions with my District leader (he's a straight savage & excellent missionary) and I told him the situation and he was like "naw uh!" (but in Spanish). He said that the parents gotta be active for it to be from the ward. Fast forward to last night. One of the elders that I live with mentioned that the bishop tried to do that before with him but he straight shut him down and threatened to call President because bishops don't have the keys for that. So now I'm going to have to call President to ask him if it is a ward baptism or not and then shut down the bishop (hopefully without damaging our relationship) if he tries to baptize the boy, Kenai. 

Okay, I won't "shut him down", but it will make me happy deep down inside to politely let him know what he can't do, with love and kindness. There are some other things a little messed up in the bishopric... and in the stake.... (except for Carlos! he's super awesome!!!)) 

So, that's where we're at mostly! A bit crazy, but yeah. This transfers been going by FAST! More than halfway through already!!! I don't know [about my package], but I'll just wait and chill. As they say in Spanish, "Paciencia es la ciencia de paz." ('ciencia' meaning science and 'paz' meaning peace)

Happy Valentines day!

-Elder Sierra

I'm in this! Wo hoo!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1eq24hN-YYLamVKRXFNVGpWNTA/view?ts=589b61d5

SENIOR COMP, OUT-OF-CONTROL FIRES AND CHILENO FLAITE

February 1, 2017

Dear Family,

This has been my second week in my sector with my junior companion. Things are neat. We're trying to do what we can to help the members in this ward and bring more people in but it's quite the 'toughy'. We had a interview with President and he was pretty dang cool! We're gonna be having them now every 6 weeks rather than 3 months! It's gonna be so cool! We also get zone conferences every 6 weeks which also used to be every 3 months. We have one tomorrow, actually, and over there I should be able to pick up my package because it wasn't there on Monday. 

One of the funny things President pointed out in the interview was his indifference to whether or not the chapel closes. He pointed out that, for the majority of the ward, the new chapel would be the same distance or closer and it's a much nicer chapel. (Our current one's pretty lame.) He even mentioned the chapel might not even be able to hold 80 people which was funny because it was totally true! It could barely squeeze in 80! We'll keep working though! (If we keep the chapel we could probably write that movie!)

Being the senior comp is neat but sometimes frustrating due to the youngness of my companion. I gotta work pretty hard to memorize all the streets and such and also lead the majority of the lessons. But it's swell. We're doing weekly activities in the chapel now and the next one is a Taekwondo night! I'm getting so hyped! It's been a long while! The two other elders in my ward have 2 investigators that are taking tae kwan do. They're (and probably I, as well) are going to teach it. 

In reference to the out of control fires and bad air: That's happened once where president sent a text saying "yo, don't go work during these hours" and we were like "ok" and that was it. He does also say that we should try to go work in the non-afternoon hours... The air isn't that bad but it's also hot so I guess the two or something. I'm just doing my thing and staying out of the heat during those hours anyway cause it's wicked hot out!

Lots of love!

-Elder Sierra

Here's a recording of a returned missionary reading verses from the Book of Mormon using Chileno flaite. For those of you who already speak Spanish it's the slang dialect that urban youth use to distinguish themselves allí.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1P3D7OIckQ

JUST NEED A FEW (OR A TON) OF MIRACLES AND WE CAN GET THINGS GOING HERE!

January 25, 2017

Dear Family,

WOW! A LOT has been happening over there, hasn't it?

Well, here stuff is going down as well. We've had little miracles here and there in the ward that are making things look bright for our monsterous challenge ahead of us. We knocked a single door Sunday and it happened to be a man who had been baptized a long time ago, started to go inactive, and started to drink. When we came by, we hardly explained who we were or really anything and he invited us in! He then said his wife had taken the kids out of the house for the while cause she was mad he was drinking. He said he had felt that someone was going to come by that day to change his way of thinking. We planned to see him and his family and asked if he could come to church!

We're also doing a lot of planning for activities, 6 months of activities! But it's so we can get a little budget from President Gwilliam to help us. Apparently, the new initiative with missionary work in the area is going to be ward activities and we came to him, like, 3 days ago to talk to him about doing regular ones (#revelación) 

That's really awesome to hear you're so involved in humanitarian work! That must be a blast! What a difference you'll be making!

I don't know what else to mention. This new sector is pretty hard but there are some helpful members here and there. I'll just need a few (or a ton of) miracles and we can get things going. 

Hugs to all!

-Elder Sierra

YOU JUST GOTTA GIVE IT ALL TO THE MISSION....WHEN YOU DO THAT,YOUR PROBLEMS KINDA GO AWAY

January 18, 2017

Dear Family,

That's pretty neat all that snow! You may not think so, but I'm suffering my second summer in a row and it's the worst!!! Today it was 92 degrees and Friday it's gonna be 97! 

So yes, I DID get transferred!!! I (nor anyone else,really) was expecting it to happen; the norm is for a greenie to stay in their first ward two changes more if they don't get changed out right after their training. Elder Scott (the one you met at Christmas) is still there and everyone thought he'd be leaving. So I left to a ward called Capitàn Avales. It's a ward of 40-50 members (like my last) and if they don't reach 80 by June they're closing down the ward's chapel and the ward will have to go to one 30 minutes away! So, the pressure IS ON!!!

My new companion also just finished his training so I'm what they call his "Greenie Breaker".  It's the elder right after the trainer that smooths out any rough edges and breaks the "Greenie" title. It's kinda of intense, 'cause... I just finished my single transfer with my own Greenie Breaker. Things are getting real here fo' sho'. His name's Elder Gates and he's a real swell guy. He's from Spanish Fork, Utah, and he's definitely one of the better-trained missionaries I've seen and I think we'll work really well together. 

As I left the ward Valentina was suppose to receive a calling but she didn't because the bishop never got around to it (we were a bit salty but I'm over it) so next week, she should and she'll be considered reactivated.

Also, Jimmy IS getting baptized still on the 22nd and I think I'll be the one to do it!!! I asked the elder of the ward he's in to mention me and ask him if he would like me to do it because he knows me the best and I found him, taught him, and invited him to be baptized. So I'm really hoping I get to. 

And yeah, that's basically the ticket; you just gotta give it all to the mish... when you do that your problems kinda go away!

I love you all and hope you're doing well!

Elder Sierra

Here are some pictures of goodbyes to members and a ward activity:

OUR SPECIALLY-ASSIGNED BISHOPRIC MEMBER IS A STRAIGHT-UP MACHINE!

January 11, 2017

Dear Family,

Imma get right into things. This week was pretty cool! 

Our specially-assigned bishopric member from another ward is a straight-up machine!!! He knows what he's doing and is SUPER helpful here! We've been teaching Jimmy and he offered his home for us to do a lesson. He invited other Haitians from his ward to help translate for him and made pizza! It was a super good lesson and Jimmy committed to be baptized! That was Sunday, and he went to church the same day. He also ended up moving to a different ward right next to us but now he lives a stone's throw away from his new chapel. We introduced him to his new missionaries and we've done a couple of divisions because one of them doesn't speak English and I wanted to make sure there would be a smooth transition. Monday, he accepted the date of January 22 to be baptized!!! We had a lesson yesterday and he told us he knows the Book of Mormon is true! Things are looking up with Jimmy; the only thing is, the American elder in his ward might be leaving next week so we'll have to see where that leaves him. He's super dope, though, so I'm not too worried. 

This new bishopric member also has a plan to make our ward have over 100 assisting members (currently at 40-50) by the end of the year. And, he's been pulling dope ideas out of nowhere so we're all pretty pumped! 

We're also going to get a reactivation this coming Sunday. Her name is Valentina and she's basically a Christmas Miracle. We never knew her, but all of the sudden, she showed up on Christmas Sunday. We started talking to her and she said she'd been baptized a couple years ago and stopped going because she was busy studying and didn't want to risk her scholarship and also, because she was a little lazy. We started passing by and teaching her and getting her ready for a calling in the ward and she hasn't missed a Sunday yet!!! She even went to our ward activity where we go and do splits with all the missionaries in the Zone to find old in-actives. She's super awesome and even made my comp and me each an amazing wool doll of ourselves!!! 

Some cool investigators have been coming out of the woodwork but it's too soon to say how cool they are. It's been a nice week all around and next week is transfers. It's all up in the air so everyone's just kinda holding their breath. I kinda really hope I'm not leaving now!!!

Oh yeah, and I love you all!!! See you next week!

 

-Elder Sierra

THIS WEEK WAS PRETTY MUCH WONDERFUL!!

January 4, 2017

Hey! 

This week was pretty much wonderful!

 

For New Year's an inactive family invited us over and it was cool cause we did't really know them, but it was a great chance to gain some trust! It was kinda nuts because he used to be a bishop but later, just stopped going! And the chapel is on the block across the street from him! However, we had a blast with him and his family.

After that, we got back to work trying to repair the damage done by the holidays. A lot of investigators are now difficult to find. However, we fasted on Sunday for our sector and the same night, we found two really cool Haitians!!! The first one's name is Jimmy and we found him looking for another Haitian who lives in the same house. One of the Haitians outside said, "Hey, are you an American? and I was like,"Yup," and he said, "I know a guy who speaks English!" So, he goes inside and out comes Jimmy. And he looks strangely happy to see me so I start talking to him and find that his English is pretty solid. 

After talking to him for about 5-10 minutes, he said that he was going to tell me the reason he came to Chile. He said that it was because he wanted to find a church to join! That's a very uncommon reason for a Haitian to come to Chile because, 99.999% of the time, it's to find a job. Basically, Jimmy's the first person to ever say otherwise (Hence the .001% missing). He proceeded to say how in Haiti, all the pastors were very aggressive and he was very confused about doctrine and was just wanting to follow Jesus so he left. Before I could really even explain who I was he asked if he could come to church and after I introduced myself, he asked me how I became a missionary and what were my duties and what I did. After explaining to that him we're just normal people that take two years out of our lives to dedicate ourselves to Christ and serving the Gospel he immediately said "Wow, can I do that too?!?"... WHAT?! Never have I contacted a person and been asked if they could serve a mission. XD So I said, "Of course, but after taking a few steps and joining the church." I taught him the Restoration in English (which felt soooo weird!!) and set up a date to come by the next day! The next day, we reviewed the Restoration and introduced them to the Book of Mormon! They were very excited and we're going to see them again today.

Actually, Jimmy doesn't speak Spanish and neither does his friend, Diesmy, really. And my comp doesn't speak English... So when we taught, I taught the majority in English and Jimmy translated to French. And if my comp wanted to say something, or I'd have him answer some questions, I would translate to him what the question was in Spanish, he'd respond, I'd translate to English and then Jimmy would translate to French.... And it WORKED!!! Like really well!!! I´'m really excited for them!

I also contacted another guy on the streets yesterday by the metro station. He was really, really interested and ALSO asked if he could go on a mission. I talked about the Plan of Salvation with him for about 5 minutes, after getting his address and number, and then, all of a sudden, he was, "OH NO THAT'S MAH BUS!!!" (well the Spanish equivalent) and then ran off chasen' his bus, barely making it. 

But, yeah, everything's pretty awesome right now and I'm just havin' a blast spreadin' that Good Word!

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Sierra