February 23, 2015

"Be a missionary of love wherever you go, leaving every place better than it was before."

- Symphony of Love

I forgot to bring my agenda with me last week, so it appeared as if I hadn't done a lot last week, but I wasn't able to look at it to see what we had done out here. I will try to give a short summary of what has passed these past two weeks. I’m sorry, but a lot has happened and I’m not sure if I've said it before or not.

So, I will give a brief summary of everything. We have had this investigator who has not been really progressing for awhile, and we met him because of his parents wanting him to be baptized. We have been teaching him, and he just hasn't seemed to be interested. It’s because whenever he is with his father, they fight, and it is just hard to teach when people aren't really happy one with another. But, we were teaching him with his mom there now. It was a really great lesson! He was definitely into the lesson, so we extended him a baptismal date for the 22nd of March. It will be awesome to keep teaching him.

We moved everything around in our apartment, so we all sleep in the same room. We have our own study rooms (me and my companion in one, and the other elders in the other room). Our fridge broke, but we got a new one. It looks great and works so much better than the old one.

I don’t know if I have mentioned that we had a person come up to us and ask for us to pass by. She has really bad depression, but when she goes to church or talks with us, it goes away! She went to Argentina for a few weeks, but we will be meeting again soon. I’m so excited!

My companion is amazing at cooking, so we have been able to make chicken stir-fry for lunches and other great things that are super cheap to make! We are working really hard in our sector, meeting all kinds of new people, and teaching so many people. I love this work! We had a little boy who saw us walking in the streets here and shouted to us saying how we are walking and we look really cool. (I can’t translate that any better). We have really been having a great time here in the sector, and we have been able to really "slay them with the spirit" (as my sister once said to me).

The computer sent first my email before I finished… how rude! Okay, so continuing... 

It is starting to cool down as we approach fall which makes this missionary super happy! We were able to get some great rain, and it made for a really beautiful day here in Chile!

Well, before the computer sends this again, I guess I better wrap up. I can’t even begin to explain to you all how grateful I am for this opportunity to be here on the mission. I love it here, and I am really enjoying everything that is going on out here. I am learning so much. I can never ever begin to regret it. I am so glad for the decision I made to come out here. I would like to leave you all with a short testimony, that I know that this church is true. There is no other way that I can say it. I have studied, searched, probed, and inspected everything that I can get my hands on, and I can say that there is NO WAY possible that this could not be true. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored by Joseph Smith and that this church is God's church on the earth today.

I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week. I hope that all in your lives goes well and that you all know that you're in my prayers.

Elder Gale

February 16, 2015

"After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel."

- Joseph Smith

Well, I am really not joking about this week. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it... I have sat here for about five minutes in deep thought because I really have no idea. Well, today I hit 7 months in the mission and I can’t believe how fast the time is passing! I still feel like I am a newbie out here.

I went and visited a Baha'i temple today and had a tour of the place. It was pretty sweet, and the people are super nice. Basically they believe in everything. They aren't an actual religion from what I understood from the tour guide. They believe in every person (like God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Buddha, etc.), they read all the scriptures (Book of Mormon, Bible, Torah, Koran, etc.), and all they do inside of their temple is sit there and think. There are apparently only 7 of these temples worldwide, and it is really weird to hear of what they believe in.

Anyway, we played soccer with them, and I realized today that I am getting really good. I’m feeling better day by day because I’m getting to help all sorts of people. I love it. Also, I have established a new workout program with my companion, and we are to be getting weights soon. I feel so happy to be able to be changing so much out here and to learn so much from the scriptures, so much about life... just everything.

I have just one thing to say about this week though: this IS the true church of God. I know it, and I cannot deny it.

Elder Gale

February 9, 2015

"Never forget, even for an instant, Who you serve and Who is in charge."

- Elder Oaks

So, this week, I have eaten more than a normal person EVER should. I have not been able to get into a house and out again without getting at least a big sandwich... and then for every lunch that the families in the ward have given us, it has been a huge amount. I have a picture attached of what chorillana is. It is French fries, meat, more meat, and a bunch of calories... I ate the whole thing with my companion and I have never before felt the need to go into a food coma like I did after eating this mammoth amount of food. But, I can honestly say, it was a great lunch. 

So, this week, we have been working a lot with people who have not been coming to church for years and it was great to watch how many of them knew they needed to come back, but just needed a slight push to come back. It has been great to watch whole families see the change in their lives as they start to go to church again. The blessings of simple church attendance every week can truly change a life. The blessings of going to church are so great, that I love going to church. I honestly cannot imagine not going to church. I love seeing people come back, because we CAN. 

I had quite the surprise today; I was able to see Pres. Neher at where the missionaries who are leaving go to. It is at a metro station called Trinidad. And it sure was weird to see someone who I haven’t seen in 6 almost 7 months! But it was great and that is why I have a picture of him sent a bit before. It was really awesome to take a group picture of all the missionaries from my stake who are all in THIS mission. And now we are down one... well, have a good life Elder Neher. It is super weird to say good bye.

Well, this week has been great in my studies as I have been focusing my studies on the Doctrine of Christ which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I have focused myself in 2 Nephi 31 and in the book “Principles of the Gospel” and I have learned so much just about Faith this week- that is all that I have been studying this week. It has been so great! One can truly study about the doctrine of Christ for a long time. 

It has been a great week full of being fed both physically and spiritually... and to be honest, I don’t want to be fed as much physically as I have been this week...

Elder Gale