This week! (10.10.11)

(Sorry family! I love you but I just have time to write this one quick one this week!)

It was honestly one of those down weeks of the mission. I have been talking a lot about a young matrimony these past few weeks who are leaders in the Evangelical church. They were progressing soooo much and were excited to be baptized as Jesus Christ was. I went over last Wednesday on a mini cambio and they came out with toooons of doubts. I answered them with both the Bible and Book of Mormon but in the end, they didnt want to interpret the scriptures from the Bible the same way as I did so I stuck with the Book of Mormon. I threw it all on the Book of Mormon of if it was true or not. I told them if they could prove to me that it was false, I would drop everything and go home to the United States that day. They told me that they knew that it was impossible to prove that it was false but that they were happy with the Bible and didnt want anymore scripture. We went over two days later and they told us that they didnt want us to come back. Thats just a little bit of what went on but it was rough.

Every Sunday night we have to report numbers to our leaders and I thought I was in for some hammers from my leader because we had a hard time getting people to church. He could tell in my voice that I was being hard on myself so instead of doing as I thought he would, he said that I was an amazing missionary, doing an amazing job as a leader, and that he loved me a lot. That helped so much more than anything else he could have said. I really am grateful for my leaders here in the mission.

I love yall! I could write more but we have to get in the shower really fast and go meet up the Branch President to do visits in thirty minutes! Again, I love yall and I pray for yall! Thank you for all the prayers!

Elder Gregory

La semana (10.3.11)

We just got finished playing some soccer with the zone so Im pretty worn out. Conference was awesome! We went to the stake center in Chillan to watch it with other missionaries. Conference really is the closest to vacation a missionary gets! They set a room for us aside for english so I was able to watch a few sessions in English. We were expecting five investigators, but only one came in the end. That was a little bit of a bummer but I just have to keep thinking of next Sunday!

This conference I really tried to write down what the Spirit whispered to me instead of just notes of what the speakers said. I really felt like I recieved a lot of personal revelation. In a few talks, it was repeated that when we repent, the Lord remembers our sin no more. That really impacted me, especially when President Packer said it. I started thinking about that and the significance of it and figured that if he remembers it no more, we should try to do the same. It is not necessary to talk about past sins and especially the sins of others or to bring them up. I guess I started thinking about that a little bit because there are tons of people who feel so comfortable around the missionaries that they confess to us all our sins! I now try to catch them before they do and talk about repentence.

Our investigators are doing good, but like I said, they didnt go to church so we are going to have to be firm with them. The young couple that are amazing named Mauricio and Gissel, didnt come and were committed as well as two others. We arent getting down because it was just one Sunday but it was an amazing opportunity to listen to the Prophet.

I love yall! Chao!
Elder Gregory

Happy Birthday Becca! Happy Birthday Emily!

Miracles! (9.26.11)

We had a good week and we are really happy about that. Ill describe the investigators a little bit.

We are teaching a couple named Gissel and Mauricio. We found them doing contacts out in a small town about 20 minutes away from Coihueco. Gissel is 22 and Mauricio is about 25 and they have a 2 year old toddler. They go to a church but they see that their church doesnt have all of the truth so they are really open. The first lesson we shared with them, we were teaching the Restoration and I had not even talked about Joseph Smith or the First Vision but my companion decides to pull out the Book of Mormon and teach about that. I went with it and tied it in as best I could and it ended up being really inspired. The next time we came, Gissel had read the testimonies at the beginning and had a dream about it. She dreamed that she was in the room of Joseph Smith as he was talking with the angel Moroni. We asked her what she thought that meant and she said that she figures that means that everything we are telling her is true! We shared more and she told us and her husband at the end of the lesson that there is no way what we are saying is a lie. They both have baptismal dates for the 16th of October and are really excited to get baptized! Gissel went to church yesterday and stayed all three hours but Mauricio had to go out of town. They are both really smart and are going to help the branch a ton if they get baptized!

Another investigator named Cristina came to church with her two children and her and her son have baptismal dates for the 16th of October too. Cristina is pregnant and she also said that she goes to a church but she wants to get baptized and she cant in her church because she is not married by that church. It all started out with Cristina by knocking on her door a few months ago and she didnt seem too interested at first but we just asked if we could share for 10 minutes, she let us in, and then was really interested the next time we came back!

Another investigator named Gustavo came and has a baptismal date. He wants to get baptized but he needs to move out of his girlfriend´s house before he does. Once we find a room for him to live in, he will be baptized!

We had other investigators go to church including a husband of a recent convert, a friend of a member, and the, ummm, ¨very feminine man¨ of Coihueco. He has gone two times now so we are actually thinking a little bit about teaching him. His parents died and they were members so if he were to change some things, especially with the law of chastity, he would be getting baptized too!

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the importance of a living prophet and about the organization of the church from a Prophet down to the 12 Apostles and the Seventy. It was all about getting everyone excited for General Conference!

We had to focus a few weeks on reactivating and now we are seeing the fruits of it all. That means that we are getting less actives back to church and the Lord is blessing us with amazing investigators. We talked with the Relief Society President of the branch last night and she thanked us for helping the less actives so much. She said that all of the less actives that come, come because we (the missionaries) visit them. She apoligized that she hasnt been doing her visits but she thanked us a lot and we appreciated that.

I love yall! Chao-ito!

Elder Gregory

I'm staying! (9.19.11)

We got cambios this morning and Im staying for atleast another 6 weeks in Coihueco. Im really excited and happy about that. This past Wednesday a seventy came to our mission. His name is Elder Richards and he is now the second councelor of the area here in Chile. We had a leader capacitation early in the morning and then we had a 5 hour conference. He took thirty minutes at the end to do a question and answer and I took advantage and asked him a question. A missionary asked him what it means to be a ¨special witness of Christ.¨ Elder Richards teared up whenever the Elder asked him and said,¨Thank you for asking me that question.¨ He explained what it really means after.

At the end of conference, our Mission President, President Humphrey, said that Elder Richards wanted to talk to some missionaries. He named off 5 missionaries and the first was ¨Elder Gregory!¨ I was pretty nervous but it ended up to be an amazing experience and one that I will never forget in my life! Here is what happend.

After lunch we got back to the chapel and I was the first to be interviewed by Elder Richards. I walked into the room and he was waiting there with two chairs facing each other and a table with his scriptures. We started by saying a prayer on our knees and he asked me to say it. When we sat down after the prayer, he started asking me a few simple questions. He asked me how much time I had in the mission and about my family. I told him about my family and that my parents had gotten a divorce. He asked me if my testimony had grown and I said that it did and he asked me to share my experience with him. I told him the long version but that basically I had prayed the night that I heard that my parents were divorced, and I felt like arms were wrapped around me as I prayed. He asked me to open up Doctrine and Covenants 6:20 and it applied exactly to what I had felt. He said that all I needed to do to feel the love of the Lord´s arms wrapped around me was to be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments.

He said, ¨This really isnt a very fair question and I shouldnt answer it, but do you remember what I talked about last General Conference?¨ I told him that I didnt but I had my notes right there and I opened it up and read my notes. He spoke about learning and growing through pain. It was an amazing talk and I had it starred.

When we finished talking about that, he asked me if I had any questions. I honestly didn´t but I waited a few seconds to think of one because I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of being one on one with a seventy! I thought of a preocupation that Ive had lately. It was that I am a little afraid to go home in seven months. I love my family so much but the things is that they will be different, I will be different and I will have to adjust myself to a different lifestyle all over again. He told me a story about one of his zone leaders when he was a Mission President in San Antonio ten years ago. He had a zone leader who had been less active up until a year before his mission because his parents were less actives. He went on the mission, completely changed, and came to be an amazing missionary. His parents had gotten divorced while he was in the mission field but they wanted to pick him up with his brother who was also less active and was covered in tattoos. Elder Richards watched as they picked him up in the mission office how this missionary´s jaw quivered as he saw them and how stressed he was to go home to a family like that. A few years later, he ended up marrying in the temple and having a few children. Elder Richards said that he had a beautiful little girl but it was hospitolized and there was brain damage to the baby´s brain. This returned missionary called up his old Mission President, Elder Richards, to go to the hospitol. Elder Richards started to tear up as he told me the end of the story where the baby was given a blessing and she was promised that she would be healed. The baby was healed completely. He told me that story to tell me that everything will be fine and to not worry too much about after my mission for now.

The Spirit was so strong in that interview and after we finished, we stood up and gave each other a hug for a few seconds. It was an experience that I will never forget.

I love yall!

Elder Gregory

(Sorry, I am only going to write this letter. I dont have time to write others this week!)

Hey! (9.12.11)

This past week we worked a lot with less actives and recent converts to get them to church. I think it helped because the sacrement room was full yesterday! The old branch President that is inactive came with his family, the old second councelor came who is inactive, and other small families we have been trying to help! We didnt have any investigators in church unfortunately but we still felt really good about having a part in bringing some key priesthood holders back to church.

The Stake President talked the Branch President down of making a missionary a councelor because he doesnt like that idea too much. So, I am assigned to the Elder´s qourum as a councelor. So, now Ill be teaching 2nd hour (to the youth) and 3rd hour (to the priesthood) in church as well as giving a talk each month. But, I love teaching and I feel comfortable teaching pretty much any aspect of the Gospel thanks to a year and a half of studying the scriptures each day!

This past week we had branch council. I was looking forward to it a lot beacause we haven´t had one in a long time and the branch is suffering a little bit. I was sort of confused in the branch council because there was no main focus, just a lot of venting and opinions, but no real solutions. I added my input but as missionaries, we sort of comment from the outside because we dont have the responsibility of an organization within the branch. I took a second to look around, and there wasnt a single returned missionary in the room. I realized how much of a difference a mission can make as far as leadership qualities. We learn in the mission that we should 1)State the problem, 2)Think of solutions and pick one, 3)Verification.

So, I was stressing about the state of the branch and up at night for a few hours thinking about it. Last night, we visited Juan Vega (the x branch president that is inactive) and then ran over to a member´s home. In that family, there are three sisters that are in their 20s and are the leaders in the young women and primary and are really strong members. (They are like a chileno form of my three older sisters- Julia, Emily and Becca!) I respect their opinions a lot and they told me to worry about my mayordomia (Ian, Jason or Emily, yall can translate that for me because I forgot!) and that if the missionaries always do all the work for the branch then the leaders arent going to grow by having to sacrifice. They have seen me stressed out lately about the branch so they told me that they appreciated what I was doing and that helped a lot. Its incredible how much of a difference it can make when someone thanks you for the work that you do.

I worry about this branch so much because I love these people so much! But, there are people waiting out there to hear the Gospel and it is our responsibilty to find those people and bring them the Gospel. We are the only people with that authority in all of Coihueco!

This next weekend is 18 de Septiembre, and that is a big holiday in Chile. Its going to be a crazy week! I love it!

Love yall!
Elder Gregory

this past week... (9.5.11)

.. was awesome! As always! I am loving it here in Coihueco. We had stake conference yesterday and we didnt really push any investigators to go because they said they will go the next Sunday here in Coihueco. But, we looked back during the conference, and an investigator was back in the back with his girlfriend, who is a member in our branch! We were pretty happy about that. The conference was really good and President Humphrey and Sister Humphrey came and spoke and everyone loved their talks. President Humphrey shared a bunch of scriptures from Doctine and Covenants, as he always does, and it was really good. He is a master of Doctine and Covenants!

Viviana said that she loved church a week ago. She said that it is a lot different than what she expected because it was reverent and not like the Evangelical church next door where they yell songs all the time. We visited the person that called us over the other week. We shared with him twice last week and he seems like he is really interested. He owns a small restaurant and he wants to clean up his life but he has the temptation of people drinking and smoking there all the time.

Transfers are in two weeks, and thinking of the possibility of me leaving almost brings me to tears. It is the first time in my mission that I have those sort of feelings. I love these people here and I feel like they are my family. I really feel needed to bring energy to this branch and we are having success in reactivating people. The Branch President is thinking of putting one missionary as a councelor and the other to help in the young men´s because there are a lot of recent convert young men. If I do have the amazing opporunity to be put as a councelor, that would probably mean that I wouldnt be district leader anymore and maybe make it to where I would be here for awhile and never be a zone leader. But I would much rather be here in Coihueco to help the branch. So, I told that to President Humphrey in my email to him but in the end, I am just an instrument in the Lord´s hands so I will have to go wherever he needs me.

I love yall!
Elder Gregory

Another awesome week (8.29.11)

Some really awesome miracles happend this past week. The first was that we had a baptism! It was really just a technical baptism because it was for a 9 year old kid that got baptized when he was 7 by accident. So, he got baptized on Saturday morning by my companion (his first time to baptize in the mission!) and he got confirmed yesterday, Sunday! He is a really good kid named Axel that has been at church almost every Sunday since I have been here in Coihueco. Him and his family were really happy.

The second miracle is that we had an investigator come to church, named Viviana, that lives 20 minutes away from the chapel by bus. We went to pick her up in the morning and she was all ready to go so we walked out to the highway to get a bus but there were no buses passing by! (The locomotion is bad Sunday mornings.) We waited for a few minutes and a white car flew by then slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road way in front of us. The car came back in reverse and a 25+/- woman rolled down the window and asked if we were going to the chapel in Coihueco. We said we were and she told us to get on in! We jumped in and as we drove I talked to her and she lives in Santiago but she comes to Chillan sometimes to visit family. She was invited by a friend to come to church here in Coihueco. She is a convert of a year and got baptized when her boyfriend, who was a member, died. So, during sacrament meeting, Viviana had a friend to sit by to answer her questions while Elder Haacke and I gave talks. It all worked out so well and Im sure if she hadn´t come, we would have gotten to church atleast 15 minutes late. Valentina, the lady that picked us up, told us that she felt something special when she was with Viviana and she told us to call her up for her to come down when Viviana gets baptized!

Another miracle is that we were walking yesterday and a couple called us over that were in the street. We went up to them and they told us that they wanted to hear a message from us and gave us a time and day to come over! That is the first time that has happend in my mission! So, we will see what happens tomorrow!

I was on a mini cambio the other day and I went back to that sector from where that drunk guy kicked me. Appearently I am famous around there because everyone heard about it and its a small town so news spreads quickly. The man went to the hospitol a few days ago for a heart problem and almost died! A lot of people in that small town said he got what he deserved! That was pretty shocking to me but I really do feel for the people that harm a servent of God.

It was an awesome week. Im loving the mission, my companion is awesome and learning quickly, and thanks to the Lord we are having some success!

Love yall
Elder Gregory

Como anda (8.22.11)

This past week we were planning on two really good investigators to be at church, but they didnt come! Its a bummer when you are waiting at the door and they dont end up coming but we have this next week to animate them to go to church next Sunday. But, we did have a few other investigators in church and they also went to a family home evening we did in the church on Sunday. We shared a message about the importance of being a child of God and the significance of that and then we played some games. The Young Women from the branch were in charge of the games and we played hot potato with one of my baseballs and everyone loved that. We also played bingo and everyone had a good time. There might not be many people in the branch, but those that are there every Sunday have really strong testimonies and make it known through their example.

Like I have said the past few weeks, we have been working in a small town about 15 minutes away. Everytime we finish a day there we feel like it was such a productive day. We get in doors because they are so nice, or they havent had missionaries pass by over there for a long time. They accept baptismal dates, but its a little harder to get them to church. We are going to try to go pick them up now and have breakfast with them before church this next Sunday.

My companion is learning really quickly. We have been practicing how to teach the message of the Restoration of the Gospel a lot during our studies and we have been going back and forth when we teach it a lot more. He invited someone to baptism for the first time and they accepted! It was awesome.

Oh, we are probably going to have a baptism this Saturday that came from nowhere. Appearently a boy that is 9 now got baptized when he was 7 because they messed up and didnt have his birthdate correct. So, he is going to be baptized again! My companion is going to baptize him and it will be his first time to do it in the misssion!

I love yall!
Elder Gregory

Hey! (8.15.11)

Well, my companion´s names is Elder Haacke. He is from Bountiful, Utah and he is ready to go! Missionaries come out from the MTC with so much energy and I love it! He really wants to learn the language and has been stressing about it a little bit but we are studying hard. He also just wants to be a good missionary and companion so I respect him a lot.

We have been working in a small town named Talquipen about 20 minutes from here. We have been getting in a lot of doors. For example, last Wednesday we were there contacting. We contacted a lady, named Cristina, and she said no at first because she already had her religion. I said that was fine and I asked if we could share something about Christ real quickly (anything to get in the door!) We shared something real quick of about 15 minutes and left. We kept knocking and we got to an end of a street and the door of the last house was open with a lot of people going in and out. I thought that they had visitors so we would just contact it the next time we came to that town. But, I dont like leaving houses unknocked on a street so we knocked anyway. An older lady let us in and we taught a family of four in there. Appearently they are grandparents and have 3 daughters that live all close to them with all their families. We shared of the Restoration and Book of Mormon, and left them one. We went back on Saturday, and we went to the same house. The lady that we had taught for 15 minutes, named Cristina, came out and said that her parents were busy but she brought us over real quickly to her house. I really am never nervous when I teach lessons but when she brought us to her house, I got pretty nervous! She was a totally different person and was completely interested and askes us tons of questions about what we do and what we believe. We shared of the restoration with her and she was completeley receptive. She said that something that she loves about us that no other religion has, even hers, is that we are humble. I just told her that we are instruments in the Lord hands so that is why we have to be humble. So, pure miracles are happening over there in that small town! We also got in 3 other doors.

We had an investigator come to church that lives right down the street. We were not even able to teach her all week because she goes to the hospitol a lot but she called me up Sunday morning and told us that she was going! It was a miracle because it is really rare that investigators go on their own for the first time! We went and picked her up and walked with her to church and her little daughter loved Primary and said she wants to go back next week!

I found my camera! It was at another missionary´s house and I had left it there when I went to do a mini cambio or something.

I love yall!

Elder Gregory

The pictures of me and my companion when I picked him up in Concepcion and where we went with th young men and young women this morning to hike around.

Vamos, vamos, vamos! (8.8.11)

Well, we got cambios, transfers, this morning! My companion, Elder Rasmussen, is headed out to the zone thats furthest north than any other named Curico. I dont know who my companion is because I will be training! That means my companion will be fresh out of the MTC. Im really excited. Im not sure if it will be a latino or from the United States or what but we will see tomorrow!

Some bad news is that I lost my camera. Im pretty sure It fell out of my backpack somewhere here in centro last Monday. My memory card was in there too with 600+ pictures so all we have now are the pictures that I have sent home. Oh well, they were the most important!

This past week we found tons of people! We really havent changed how we work too much but one thing that we did a lot better is inviting people to baptism in the first lesson. We have put a lot of baptismal dates and I´m pretty sure the Lord blesses us with people because he sees our desire. When I got here to the mission, there was a huge focus on teaching the Atonement (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his ressurection) and baptism the first lesson. Now, we do whatever we need to do for the needs of the people obviously so I personally love teaching of the Restoration of the Gospel. It really is our unique message so the Spirit is so strong when we teach it.

The branch here is struggling a little bit because the Elders qourum president, a returned missionary named Arturo, is going to go live where he studies. He has to come back every weekend travling anyway so it makes sense but there is barely any priesthood! The President is really good but he has two councelors that have problems of their own in the home and are a little older so the President has to do a lot himself. So, we have to reactivate, baptize, and do our part as priesthood holders.

I love yall! I hope yall are doing good!

Elder Gregory