Reflections of a True Millennial

Well, it's that time of year again! I love the Christmas season. Everything just feels merry and bright in my eyes. However, for the next few weeks at least I am here in Utah, where everything seems to also be cold. I guess for most people winter and snow are the best part of Christmas, but I greatly prefer 85 degrees and 100% humidity. Luckily, I'll be able to escape to the tropical weather for a few weeks during winter break. Anyway, it may sound cliché, but I really do love the feeling of this time of year. It's a time where we can do our best to take down the barriers we have and show love to one another. During the last week or so, I have been remembering how things were this time last year on my mission in Chile (as for the weather, it thankfully was at about 85 degrees). It was a very busy time for my companion and I in the mission office as we tried to organize Christmas zone conferences, prepare the mission Christmas video, maintain all our other office responsib...

Yet again, it has been way too long since I have last written. (I'm sure that no one else has noticed, but for me it has been too long). For the past few months I have been back at BYU, and things have been going pretty well here. It certainly has been an adjustment, since I had previously been living a completely different lifestyle for the past two years as a missionary. Additionally, I am not from this part of the country and I have lots of questions regarding life and the future. I think that new situations like this can be overwhelming for most of us. Life does not seem so hard when we have everything figured out, but change and uncertainty often invoke strong emotions. Depending on how we choose to react, we may end up feeling overwhelming eagerness and optimism, or crippling negativity and doubt, or something in between. This spectrum not only applies to monumental occasions of our lives, but also to the many personal anxieties that we might face each day. How can we avo...

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...