Reflections of a True Millennial

It has been a little while since I last wrote, and a lot has happened actually. Currently I am in a transition phase of life between two big milestones. Recently I returned from Chile, where I lived for two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For the last two years I worked day in and day out to invite others to come unto Christ. Now that is done, and of course I still plan to invite others to come unto Christ in my daily living, but I also have other important responsibilities that will shape the rest of my life. In just a few weeks I will be returning to my second year at BYU to study and progress in the goals that I have. Of course, as I begin this new journey, I have to change the title of my blog, right? When I first started this blog as a pretentious 14-year old, I titled it "Reflections of a Smart Kid." To be a bit more professional and indicate my assignment as a missionary, I titled it "Reflections of an Elder" for ...

Queridos amigos y familiares, Well, this is it. This will be my last letter from Chile. I can not really believe that the time is already coming to an end. It has been another good week here. Mirovan wont quite make it to be baptised this saturday, but he is still very excited and will definitely be baptised soon. We also have a few other investigators that are progressing very well and some future investigators that we are excited about. It is kind of sad that I wont be here to see what happens with all of these great people, but I am happy that I have been able to do my part to help them. Wow, but what can I say in my last letter? I am so thankful for the experience that I have lived for the last two years. Each and every day I have been able to wear the name of Jesus Christ on my chest and serve Him as one of His representatives. My purpose has been to invite all people to come unto Jesus Christ through His restored Gospel. Many people have accepted us and listened to our me...

Hola hola, Well, we had a great week here! Wednesday wsa a particularly awesome day, despite the fact that it was raining. First off we met up with a young man named Miroban that has been attending church for the last month with his girlfriend. Originally, his girlfriend invited him to go to seminary and then he decided to start going to church also. We had our first lession with him on wednesday and he really enjoys being at the Church and wants to learn more. And he accepted the goal to be baptised on June 10th! That is next Saturday! So we really have a lot of work to do with him if he will be baptised on that day, but I did the baptismal invitation and that date was clear in my mind. I really hope that we can teach him all the lessons and that he can recognize his testimony and make the necessary changes. He is a great kid and really loves going to church. We originally planned to visit him at 6 pm and I called to confirm, but he said "Oh, well I dont know if I can because I h...

Hello, Another week gone by, and this one felt like it passed by very quickly! On Tuesday I was with Elder Olson and Elder Villegas in a trio in my sector and their sector (Alto Jahuel) and we had a great day together. On Friday we had interviews with President Harris, which meant a looooong day in the chapel for my companion and I doing a training. But the meetings went really well. We are trying to focus on having more investigators in Church and something that we dont always do well is teach the doctrine of the sabbath day. God hopes that we keep one day of the week holy, and He gives us that day as a blessing for us. As keep the Sabbath day, we will be more prepared for the week ahead of us. The interview with President Harris went well also. I am really thankful for him and for all the help and guidance he has given to me in the last year. The rest of the work we were just trying to work hard in the sector. I only have two and a half more weeks in Buin, and I am just ...

Buenas tardes, I hope you are all doing well! This week has been a great one! Of course, one of the highlights was skyping with the family yesterday! It was great to see everyone, and it is a bit strange to think that I will be back with them in less than a month. But thankfully my family wasnt too trunky, so I am still motivated to just keep working hard. This week we were able to be in our sector more which was great. The only special event was on Thursday when we went to Rancagua to do exchanges with the assistants. It was nice to be close to my previous sector, previous companion, and the office for the day. I was with Elder Vasquez for the day. He is a great fun and we have somehow been close by to each other for almost the entire mission. We had a good day in Rancagua. In our own sector, things are going well too. This week we somehow found lots of part-member families, with investigators and less active members. They have great potential to accept the Gospel and follow Jesus Chr...

Estimados, Hello hello. Wow, it is hard to believe that week 1 of my last transfer has passed by. This was a pretty administrative week with transfers and several meetings. On Tuesday we had a slight problem that three missionaries passed Buin and accidentally traveled north to Santiago, out of the mission. Oops... But after we realized that they had surely gotten lost (none of them had phones), I sent a member to the south-bound side of the highway, assuming that they probably went to Santiago and back. Sure enough they were there. Phew.  On Thursday we traveled to Rancagua for Consejo, a council (counsel?) meeting with al the zone leaders and sister leaders of the mission. President Harris focused a lot on working with the members, which is pretty much the key for us to have more success here. That is something I have always kind of struggled with, but we are working on it and starting to see some results. Hopefully we can improve with that.  On Saturday we had ...

Hello hello, So this week turned out pretty much nothing like it was planned to, but it was a good week! First off, my companion, Elder Llavilla, was called as the new Assistant to President, so Presidente Harris came here on Wednesday night to pick him up. That left me without a companion, so I went over to be with some missionaries from Buin, Elder Belayro and Elder Strong. On Friday, Elder Strong and four other missionaries from the zone headed off to Rancagua for their last weekend in Chile before they head home. So the zone was without six missionaries, including one zone leader and a district leader, which left me with a lot of things to do! Especially because this weekend is transfers, so that means a lot of phone calls and planning.  As for the transfers, I will be staying in Los Jardines for my last six weeks and my final companion will be Elder Gutierrez, from Uruguay. I dont know him, but I think we will be able to have a good change together. It is my last, so I want to mak...