October 25, 2010
Sounds like everything is going well at home and the kids are involvedin a bunch of really cool things right now. Its interesting for methat just as it is getting cold for all of you it is actually warmingup a little bit here and we are getting sun most days for part of theday, which is great for me. Im glad that school is going well and Ihope that Megan`s scores come back with those few points she needs.The 4 year scholarship would definitely be better, but knowing Megan,she will put in the work with whatever scholarship she gets... Unlikethe certain lazy person we know from this last year. Sounds likeeverything is getting crazy for Christmas and sending things should beinteresting... I hate sending mail by the way... Im really glad I cane-mail you, because letters are expensive to send here. Its like 3dollars to send a normal letter to the United States. Im not exactlysure, but its 7.40 soles... Ridiculous... So I will probably onlysend pictures through e-mail. However, I did figure out a slightlycheaper way to send mail. Glad to hear that Trent got the bowlingbelt loop in Cub Scouts. In my opinion, its definitely the mostimportant one... :)This week had its ups and downs. It was really slow with ourinvestigators and it made it a little rought. Tuesday we had aintercambiar in my sector. So I got to go to the district leaderssector while the district leader was in my sector with my companion.I worked with Elder Paredes from Arequipa, Perù. It was pretty cool,but I think I would have had a better day had I been in my own sector.It made it rough on Elder Paredes because most of the people wantedto spend 20 minutes marvelling at how tall I am and talking to me...By the way, one of these people wants her son to marry Megan and herdaughter to marry Adam, so I think we may have to re-instigatearranged marraiges in our family. :)...The rest of the week was slow, none of our investigators reallyprogresed and it was really hard to find most of them, so our week waskind of rough, but hopefuly it will get better this week. One brightspot in the week was Jeffrey. I don`t know if I have talked abouthim, so Ill re-introduce him. Jeffrey actually found us he was an oldinvestigator from like 7 years ago, and he wanted to talk with usagain. He started with a testimony about Joseph Smith, which alwayshelps. He isn`t married to his esposa, but there is a multiple personmarraige ceremony at the end of the month, which means lots of couplescan be married all in one day, and he wants to be baptized so we willsee how it goes. He is an interesting case, because at this moment wethink he needs to be interviewed by the Mission President because hewas involved in some armed robberies, but he has repented and isimproving his life and trying to improve the life of his family.Saturday we had the baptism of David Robles, who has been aninvestigator for a really long time. I know it has been for more than10 years, but Im not exactly sure how many. The baptism was great,and he and his family can`t wait until they have the opportunity to goto the temple.Sunday was good and bad. The good things were the confirmation ofDavid and the fact that Carmen came to church so we can keep herbaptism date for November 6 the bad news is that Milagros didn`t cometo church and we haven`t been able to find her all week so we don`tknow what is going on. Needless to say we can`t have the baptism datebe sure until she comes to church. We still want the baptism forNovember 13, but we`ll have to see what she does. Sunday Elder Kasatand I also gave talks in sacrament meeting. His was on obedience. Mytopic was "What do I want from this ward?"ish. I wasn`t exactly sure.I talked about the missionary purpose which includes Faith,Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to theEnd.Today we had a huge sports activity with our whole mission, which wasawesome. Our Zone had matching jerseys that had Zona San Luis on thefront and our last names and our number on the back. Way cool. Turnsout that I have a really athletic Zone. We won the competition inSoccer and lost in the semis in basketball... It was fun.I love you all, the church is true. My scripture of the week isMatthew 26:39. "And he went a little further, and fell on his face,and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup passfrom me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." I actuallyused this in a few lessons. This scripture is one of many that showsthe absolute obedience and humility of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ wasgoing through incredible pain, and asked that if there was any otherway it could be done, to stop the suffering, however with Hisincredible understanding and absolute humility he submitted himself tothe will of the Father. This is an incredible example for us and Iknow it is important. I know that humility is important and I haveseen it in action here and I have come to realize I was no where nearas humble as I thought I was. Again I love you all. Keep Pushing On.Tyler
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
October 18, 2010
Dear family,
Glad to hear that everything is going well in Maryland. The weather is changing a little bit here as well which is awesome! We actuallyhad two days in a row where the sun was out. I think I have only had5 or 6 of these days in my entire mission. Its also warming up just alittle bit. Im glad to hear that Adam and Alex won and that Trent isgetting better and better every game. Sounds like Adam´s team ispretty incredible. Thats pretty awesome.Fishing school sounds pretty interesting, and its cool that mom anddad got to go into some of the rich people sections in the stadium,even if it was for the Nationals. I think I would have had more funup in the announcers booth looking at that stuff. It sounds prettycool. Sounds like Trevor is going to be the man for the piano for awhile in the ward. That`s pretty cool. I am definitely sure that bythe time I get back. Trevor will have surpassed me by a ton in thepiano. And he`ll probably have 5 or 6 songs written. Makes me just alittle bit jealous. :)Well this week was pretty slow for me, at least until Thursday. I wentand met with Elder Slingerland in the mission office. (ElderSlingerland is the area medical advisor) I learned that I had aninfection in my toe, so I have been taking medicine for it all week,and every morning and every night I have to soak my foot in water. Itis kind of annoying because it cuts into my Personal Study a littlebit, but at least it is starting to get better. Tuesday all of ourappointments fell through and we couldnpt find any of our backup plansat home, but we did get to go to the temple in the morning which wasawesome as usual. I love the temple, and it was a great experience.We seem to move our Preparation Days a lot here, but we always haveinternet on Monday which means on Tuesday we get one less hour ofpreparation day, which is fine for me.Wednesday was the slowest day. We had a Emergency Transfer Meeting.(If you remember at every transfer we have a meeting, which is nice,but makes it tough to proselyte that day). This meeting was for 8missionaries coming into our mission from the CCM because of VISAproblems for Mexico. It was cool to have them presented, but Im notsure if I am a fan of the Transfer meeting every 3 weeks. It wasnice, but it was really frustrating afterwards, because ourtransportation back to our area took 2 hours. We were supposed tostart proselyting at 4 and we didn`t even get back to our sector untilfive, and then we had to go and put our suit jackets en ourroom(because our area is dangerous when we walk around in suits), andso we didn`t start proselyting until after 5:30.All in all, we didn`t have a whole lot of teaching on these three days. Thursday was awesome. We finally found Fernando at home. He is oneof our investigators who is really awesome. He is 16 years old, andwould be baptized already, but his parents won`t give him permissionto be baptized, and they won`t talk to us. Its really frustrating forme, because he knows its true and he wants to be baptized, but hisparents are a huge road block. Needless to say he may not be gettingbaptized for a year and a half when he doesn`t need his parentspermission anymore. Thursday we also gave a blessing to Pilar whohas a whole bunch of medical problems that make it dificult to attendchurch and progress, and she has a little problem with faith. We alsoworked with Leidy a little bit. And we talked with a few otherinvestigators briefly. Friday was good we found two older investigators who the missionariesstopped visiting. One is Alfredo who moved to Argentina for a littlebit, and now he is back, and seems interested in the gospel. We alsotalked to Freddy who actually found us and wanted to be taught, Im notexactly sure how his lessons will go. I don`t have the best feelingsabout his situation right now, but hopefully that will change when weteach him later today. We also talked with an inactive member, and wetalked with both Carmen and Milagros some more. William Casanova camewith us and helped us a ton. Im not sure if I have told you muchabout him, but he is awesome. He works for the Peru MTC as a teacherso I actually knew him before I got to the area. He is the EldersQuorum President and is awesome. A little more on him later. Saturday was the day of the baptism for Josè Tenorio. It was roughbecause he works until 8:00 every night Monday to Saturday so we hadto have the baptism at 8:30 and very few members came, but Milagroscame which was great and she accepted a date for baptism. Nov. 13.Funny thing about Milagros, she is a little superstitious. Sherefused a date for Nov. 6th for one reason... 6 is the number of thedevil... And she also doesn`t want her baptism to be at night.The baptism went well, we had a few people bear their testimoniesafter the baptism, including Josè and his testimony was brief butstrong. He had been investigating the church for 15 years so we areso happy for him and his family who can now progress with the goal ofthe temple.William Casanova taught me a ton during the baptism. He came to thebaptism even though he was incredibly sick, and he helped a ton whichwas great. He conducted the baptism and gave a message about the holyghost. It showed me an incredible example of faith.Sunday was good because of the confirmation of Josè and the fact thatI gave a 35 minute lesson, in Spanish... It was awesome... But it wasbad as well because David was our only investigator (Josè isn`t aninvestigator anymore) who came to church including Carmen, Milagros,and Leidy. Carmen and Milagros took a step back and Leidy still isn`tprogressing so we can`t teach her as often anymore.Im starting the scripture of the week this week.This weeks is: 2 Nephi 33. The whole chapter. It is the finaltestimony of Nephi and I love it. It talks about the book of mormonand the bible (Testimony of the Jews, and Testimony of Nephi) it talksabout charity and it has other things I really like.A few pictures of my companions camera: I have been kind of lazy onthe picture taking. Ill have photos of baptisms next week. First is of me and my companion at the Zone Lunch after the temple.Me pretending to punch him.Second is of our Zone the first P-DayIf the pictures don`t work sorry. Ill try and send some again next week.Love you all have a great week. The church is true. I know it. Goodluck is sports, school, church, and total.Tyler
Dear family,
Glad to hear that everything is going well in Maryland. The weather is changing a little bit here as well which is awesome! We actuallyhad two days in a row where the sun was out. I think I have only had5 or 6 of these days in my entire mission. Its also warming up just alittle bit. Im glad to hear that Adam and Alex won and that Trent isgetting better and better every game. Sounds like Adam´s team ispretty incredible. Thats pretty awesome.Fishing school sounds pretty interesting, and its cool that mom anddad got to go into some of the rich people sections in the stadium,even if it was for the Nationals. I think I would have had more funup in the announcers booth looking at that stuff. It sounds prettycool. Sounds like Trevor is going to be the man for the piano for awhile in the ward. That`s pretty cool. I am definitely sure that bythe time I get back. Trevor will have surpassed me by a ton in thepiano. And he`ll probably have 5 or 6 songs written. Makes me just alittle bit jealous. :)Well this week was pretty slow for me, at least until Thursday. I wentand met with Elder Slingerland in the mission office. (ElderSlingerland is the area medical advisor) I learned that I had aninfection in my toe, so I have been taking medicine for it all week,and every morning and every night I have to soak my foot in water. Itis kind of annoying because it cuts into my Personal Study a littlebit, but at least it is starting to get better. Tuesday all of ourappointments fell through and we couldnpt find any of our backup plansat home, but we did get to go to the temple in the morning which wasawesome as usual. I love the temple, and it was a great experience.We seem to move our Preparation Days a lot here, but we always haveinternet on Monday which means on Tuesday we get one less hour ofpreparation day, which is fine for me.Wednesday was the slowest day. We had a Emergency Transfer Meeting.(If you remember at every transfer we have a meeting, which is nice,but makes it tough to proselyte that day). This meeting was for 8missionaries coming into our mission from the CCM because of VISAproblems for Mexico. It was cool to have them presented, but Im notsure if I am a fan of the Transfer meeting every 3 weeks. It wasnice, but it was really frustrating afterwards, because ourtransportation back to our area took 2 hours. We were supposed tostart proselyting at 4 and we didn`t even get back to our sector untilfive, and then we had to go and put our suit jackets en ourroom(because our area is dangerous when we walk around in suits), andso we didn`t start proselyting until after 5:30.All in all, we didn`t have a whole lot of teaching on these three days. Thursday was awesome. We finally found Fernando at home. He is oneof our investigators who is really awesome. He is 16 years old, andwould be baptized already, but his parents won`t give him permissionto be baptized, and they won`t talk to us. Its really frustrating forme, because he knows its true and he wants to be baptized, but hisparents are a huge road block. Needless to say he may not be gettingbaptized for a year and a half when he doesn`t need his parentspermission anymore. Thursday we also gave a blessing to Pilar whohas a whole bunch of medical problems that make it dificult to attendchurch and progress, and she has a little problem with faith. We alsoworked with Leidy a little bit. And we talked with a few otherinvestigators briefly. Friday was good we found two older investigators who the missionariesstopped visiting. One is Alfredo who moved to Argentina for a littlebit, and now he is back, and seems interested in the gospel. We alsotalked to Freddy who actually found us and wanted to be taught, Im notexactly sure how his lessons will go. I don`t have the best feelingsabout his situation right now, but hopefully that will change when weteach him later today. We also talked with an inactive member, and wetalked with both Carmen and Milagros some more. William Casanova camewith us and helped us a ton. Im not sure if I have told you muchabout him, but he is awesome. He works for the Peru MTC as a teacherso I actually knew him before I got to the area. He is the EldersQuorum President and is awesome. A little more on him later. Saturday was the day of the baptism for Josè Tenorio. It was roughbecause he works until 8:00 every night Monday to Saturday so we hadto have the baptism at 8:30 and very few members came, but Milagroscame which was great and she accepted a date for baptism. Nov. 13.Funny thing about Milagros, she is a little superstitious. Sherefused a date for Nov. 6th for one reason... 6 is the number of thedevil... And she also doesn`t want her baptism to be at night.The baptism went well, we had a few people bear their testimoniesafter the baptism, including Josè and his testimony was brief butstrong. He had been investigating the church for 15 years so we areso happy for him and his family who can now progress with the goal ofthe temple.William Casanova taught me a ton during the baptism. He came to thebaptism even though he was incredibly sick, and he helped a ton whichwas great. He conducted the baptism and gave a message about the holyghost. It showed me an incredible example of faith.Sunday was good because of the confirmation of Josè and the fact thatI gave a 35 minute lesson, in Spanish... It was awesome... But it wasbad as well because David was our only investigator (Josè isn`t aninvestigator anymore) who came to church including Carmen, Milagros,and Leidy. Carmen and Milagros took a step back and Leidy still isn`tprogressing so we can`t teach her as often anymore.Im starting the scripture of the week this week.This weeks is: 2 Nephi 33. The whole chapter. It is the finaltestimony of Nephi and I love it. It talks about the book of mormonand the bible (Testimony of the Jews, and Testimony of Nephi) it talksabout charity and it has other things I really like.A few pictures of my companions camera: I have been kind of lazy onthe picture taking. Ill have photos of baptisms next week. First is of me and my companion at the Zone Lunch after the temple.Me pretending to punch him.Second is of our Zone the first P-DayIf the pictures don`t work sorry. Ill try and send some again next week.Love you all have a great week. The church is true. I know it. Goodluck is sports, school, church, and total.Tyler
Sunday, October 17, 2010
October 11, 2010
Hey family:Well Im glad everthing is going well for you at home. It sounds likeAdam and Alex are dominating at soccer this year, and when I get backand play them it will be pretty interesting. :) Im glad that the newward is going to be pretty good, and Im definitely excited to not bethe tallest person in the ward like I am here, and if it wasn`t for mycompanion and one other person in the ward I would be the tallest byfar... Don`t know if Ive mentioned this, but Elder Kasat is actuallypretty tall. He is 1.86 meters tall and I am 2.07 meters tall. Imnot sure what that converts to in feet and inches for Elder Kasat, butI would guess that he is around 6 feet tall. Needless to say, I amthe only person taller than my companion and Im quite a bit tallerthan he is. Shame on Utah State, for losing again, but its prettycool that BYU finally won again and Im glad Utah is doing well. Atleast they can represent our Utah schools.Well this week in the mission was interesting. We didn`t have asingle day that we proselyted in the morning which was a littlefrustrating for me, but it was still a good experience. Monday wasour Reunion de Zona. Which is pretty cool to have because it gives usan opportunity to learn from other missionaries in the Zone everyweek. Tuesday we had our District meeting because Wednesday we had amultizone conference. President Tyler and Hermana Tyler talked aswell as the assistants to the President. One of the Assistants, ElderWeber, talked about the suffering of Jesus Christ during theatonement, and then he focused on the pain that our Heavenly Fathermust have gone through to watch His Only Begotten Son suffer. It´ssomething I had never really thought about before. But when I thoughtabout it, I realized that it must have been terrible. Elder Weberreferenced it with a video of a man who works for a train company whohas one son. His son is fascinated with trains and loves going towork with him. One day he is working at a spot with a bridge thatraises and lowers for trains and boats and lifts up the tracks when heshouldn`t have. Afterwards his son notices and tries to fix theproblem, but falls into a spot where he will be killed if the tracksare lowered. A train is coming and the man has a terrible choice tomake. Save his son and in turn let the train crash into the water, orsave a train full of total strangers and allow his only son to die...The man makes the sacrifice of his son and saves the lives of thepeople on the train. I cannot imagine having to make a decision likethat. I can`t imagine doing that in a situation with any of ourfamily members. I think I would rather sacrifice myself thansacrifice the important people in my life. Two scriptures that I haveloved my whole life, John 15:13 and John 3:6-17 talk about this. Inthe past I have thought that I understood these scriptures, but Irealized I have absolutely no understanding of these scriptures.These scriptures show the perfect love of our Savior and His Fatherthat I cannot begin to understand. However it is important for me totry to have this love for others in my life and show it in my mission.Friday we had interviews with the mission president. We have theseevery two changes, and while the other missionaries in the Zone are inthe interviews with have a training with the assistants to thePresident. Elder Asqui talked about the importance of our personalstudy and our scripture study. Elder Weber talked about the GreatApostacy. I learned a ton from both. I also learned that I may havean ingrown toenail so I get to go see the doctor later today.This weekend was general conference for us because of the eleccions. Iactually learned a ton from conference even though it was a littlehard for me to understand it. The spirit was so strong. and Ilearned a ton. I took 20 pages of notes from conference 100% inSpanish and gained a bunch I could use with investigadores. I knowthat I probably didn`t understand completely the meaning of all thetalks, especially after reading what Jantzen got out of Dallin H. Oakstalk and seeing what I wrote, and they are completely different, but Idefinitely think that I can learn from these talks. One thing that Ireceived personally for me was the understanding that I can keep thespanish after my mission. D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Andersonboth translated their own talks. It made it a little differentbecause they were past recording so they ended at a different timethan the actual talks, but I learned that if I try after my mission Iwill be able to stay fluent in Spanish.Our investigators this week were a little bitter-sweet. We are oneweek closer to the baptisms of Josè and David, and these are still setin the plans. After conference we also had the opportunity to visit areferral of a member whose name is Milagros. She has an incrediblyopen heart and has so much love for God and for learning about God.Im actually glad that she is open to our message, because Im prettysure if she had wanted to argue with us about topics in the Bible andhad presented us with hard questions from the bible I may not have hadanswers. Her knowledge of the Bible was incredible, and when I usedscriptures by the time I finished she was quoting most of them . Sheis catholic but has some doubts about catholics especially Priests inthe catholic church so it makes her more open,especially when shefound out we agreed with her doubts. We also talked to Carmen who isthe only person in her family that is not a member and she accepted abaptism date for November 6th which is great.The sad things were that Leidy has quit progressing. She has beenavoiding our questions about baptism and won`t let us know what herconcerns are. She also didn`t come to conference this weekend. Wealso only had 1 of our 6 to 8 investigators who said they would attendconference actually attend. This includes both Josè and Carmen, whichis making things a little difficult for us.I hope everything continues to go well for you at home this week, andI hope that the new ward turns out to be great. I love you all.Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father love you. The Book of Mormon isTrue. The church is true.TRUTH WILL PREVAIL! We are all called to serve in this great work.Keep moving forward. Keep pushing on. Life is great, so smile andenjoy it. Tyler
Hey family:Well Im glad everthing is going well for you at home. It sounds likeAdam and Alex are dominating at soccer this year, and when I get backand play them it will be pretty interesting. :) Im glad that the newward is going to be pretty good, and Im definitely excited to not bethe tallest person in the ward like I am here, and if it wasn`t for mycompanion and one other person in the ward I would be the tallest byfar... Don`t know if Ive mentioned this, but Elder Kasat is actuallypretty tall. He is 1.86 meters tall and I am 2.07 meters tall. Imnot sure what that converts to in feet and inches for Elder Kasat, butI would guess that he is around 6 feet tall. Needless to say, I amthe only person taller than my companion and Im quite a bit tallerthan he is. Shame on Utah State, for losing again, but its prettycool that BYU finally won again and Im glad Utah is doing well. Atleast they can represent our Utah schools.Well this week in the mission was interesting. We didn`t have asingle day that we proselyted in the morning which was a littlefrustrating for me, but it was still a good experience. Monday wasour Reunion de Zona. Which is pretty cool to have because it gives usan opportunity to learn from other missionaries in the Zone everyweek. Tuesday we had our District meeting because Wednesday we had amultizone conference. President Tyler and Hermana Tyler talked aswell as the assistants to the President. One of the Assistants, ElderWeber, talked about the suffering of Jesus Christ during theatonement, and then he focused on the pain that our Heavenly Fathermust have gone through to watch His Only Begotten Son suffer. It´ssomething I had never really thought about before. But when I thoughtabout it, I realized that it must have been terrible. Elder Weberreferenced it with a video of a man who works for a train company whohas one son. His son is fascinated with trains and loves going towork with him. One day he is working at a spot with a bridge thatraises and lowers for trains and boats and lifts up the tracks when heshouldn`t have. Afterwards his son notices and tries to fix theproblem, but falls into a spot where he will be killed if the tracksare lowered. A train is coming and the man has a terrible choice tomake. Save his son and in turn let the train crash into the water, orsave a train full of total strangers and allow his only son to die...The man makes the sacrifice of his son and saves the lives of thepeople on the train. I cannot imagine having to make a decision likethat. I can`t imagine doing that in a situation with any of ourfamily members. I think I would rather sacrifice myself thansacrifice the important people in my life. Two scriptures that I haveloved my whole life, John 15:13 and John 3:6-17 talk about this. Inthe past I have thought that I understood these scriptures, but Irealized I have absolutely no understanding of these scriptures.These scriptures show the perfect love of our Savior and His Fatherthat I cannot begin to understand. However it is important for me totry to have this love for others in my life and show it in my mission.Friday we had interviews with the mission president. We have theseevery two changes, and while the other missionaries in the Zone are inthe interviews with have a training with the assistants to thePresident. Elder Asqui talked about the importance of our personalstudy and our scripture study. Elder Weber talked about the GreatApostacy. I learned a ton from both. I also learned that I may havean ingrown toenail so I get to go see the doctor later today.This weekend was general conference for us because of the eleccions. Iactually learned a ton from conference even though it was a littlehard for me to understand it. The spirit was so strong. and Ilearned a ton. I took 20 pages of notes from conference 100% inSpanish and gained a bunch I could use with investigadores. I knowthat I probably didn`t understand completely the meaning of all thetalks, especially after reading what Jantzen got out of Dallin H. Oakstalk and seeing what I wrote, and they are completely different, but Idefinitely think that I can learn from these talks. One thing that Ireceived personally for me was the understanding that I can keep thespanish after my mission. D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Andersonboth translated their own talks. It made it a little differentbecause they were past recording so they ended at a different timethan the actual talks, but I learned that if I try after my mission Iwill be able to stay fluent in Spanish.Our investigators this week were a little bitter-sweet. We are oneweek closer to the baptisms of Josè and David, and these are still setin the plans. After conference we also had the opportunity to visit areferral of a member whose name is Milagros. She has an incrediblyopen heart and has so much love for God and for learning about God.Im actually glad that she is open to our message, because Im prettysure if she had wanted to argue with us about topics in the Bible andhad presented us with hard questions from the bible I may not have hadanswers. Her knowledge of the Bible was incredible, and when I usedscriptures by the time I finished she was quoting most of them . Sheis catholic but has some doubts about catholics especially Priests inthe catholic church so it makes her more open,especially when shefound out we agreed with her doubts. We also talked to Carmen who isthe only person in her family that is not a member and she accepted abaptism date for November 6th which is great.The sad things were that Leidy has quit progressing. She has beenavoiding our questions about baptism and won`t let us know what herconcerns are. She also didn`t come to conference this weekend. Wealso only had 1 of our 6 to 8 investigators who said they would attendconference actually attend. This includes both Josè and Carmen, whichis making things a little difficult for us.I hope everything continues to go well for you at home this week, andI hope that the new ward turns out to be great. I love you all.Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father love you. The Book of Mormon isTrue. The church is true.TRUTH WILL PREVAIL! We are all called to serve in this great work.Keep moving forward. Keep pushing on. Life is great, so smile andenjoy it. Tyler
Sunday, October 10, 2010
October 4, 2010
Hey Family,
Glad to hear everything is going good and that Utah State finally
decided to win another game. I’m especially happy that it was against
BYU, for obvious reasons, although I wish that BYU and Utah State
could both be decent at the same time for once. I’m glad to hear that
Megan is liking her young women’s group and that Trevor and Alex will
have the opportunity to transition. The new ward sounds great and I
can`t wait to meet some more people. The rain that you are having
sounds wonderful! We never get rain... or snow... or sun. It’s just
foggy, smoggy, cloudy, and overall generally gross, but the people make
up for it. I just can`t wait to get rain when I get back home. I may
just play in the rain and make myself sick the first time it rains.
Thanks for the pictures you sent in the mail. I love getting them,
and every time I do it puts a smile on my face. :)
I have been sick the last week and on Tuesday I was completely out of
commission until after lunch because at 4:40 in the morning I woke up
and threw up all over the place. In the morning we called Hermana
Tyler and she told me I had "Welcome to Peru" disease. It was
wonderful... However, I also gained an extremely spìritual experience
from this. Elder Kasat gave me a blessing and I slept and felt
miserable all morning, however, after lunch I was able to proselyte
with Elder Kasat, and then that night I felt miserable again. It
showed that the priesthood has the power to help for what is needed
and that through Christ I can do all things, including walk a bunch
while my stomach and head were on fire.
On Wednesday our morning was rough, but at the end of the day we were
able to teach Leidy again, who still thinks that she isnt ready for
baptism. We are working hard to convince her otherwise, because she
is definitely ready. We also taught Sandra, who is one of our many
cases of someone who can`t move forward until she and her esposo get
married. They have it planned for October 30th so hopefully after
that we can move forward. She seems excited to learn and wants to be
baptized, we are just waiting for that marriage.
On Friday we had the opportunity to again teach Angel and Juana. They
both are really interested in Jesus Christ, but I can`t quite decide
how they feel about our church and having one church in particular.
This week we are going to invite them to conference and hopefully
after that we will understand a little more about what their desires
are and if they are going to want to move forward in the gospel. We
also taught Lucila and Elizabeth. Both of whom are people who need to
be married before they can be baptized. Lucila isn`t as far into the
lessons and we aren`t sure where she is at completely yet, but
Elizabeth has a huge desire to change and be baptized. She wants to
be married on the 30th too, but her esposo, who happens to be an
inactive member, doesn`t want to get married. It is causing problems
because he is slowing down her progress, but we are going to continue
to work with them and hopefully they will move forward with that step.
Saturday was P-Day except for Internet, (Today Obviously), and we were
able to move things around in our room and put what belonged in our
room... Like a small fridge and a microwave... and take out the things
that didn`t belong. We also got together with our Zone for games and
that night we had a Family Home Evening with our Zone that consisted
basically of a testimony meeting. It was amazing. Its amazing how
much spirit and power can be in a room when a bunch of 19-23 year olds
get together and testify of Christ and of this gospel. It was a
definite testimony to me that we are missionaries called of God, and
that we have even more power than we can even consider, through faith
in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Priesthood. We have an
amazing Zone who has so much spiritual power.
Sunday was a study day for us, because again, we weren`t allowed to
proselyte, which I am kind of glad. When we were going to members
homes for food, the streets were crazy. Lots of people, some yelling
at each other. So much going on. Definitely detracted from the
spirit I was feeling that day. I studied in the New Testament, the
Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and I read in Jesus The
Christ. I learned so much that I didn`t know before and it was a
great testimony for me.
I love you all, the gospel is true, no matter what language it is in.
The people here in the church are so awesome and I am so happy to be
here serving the people, even if it means I am sick for a long time
here. Have a great week, and good luck in school and in the ward
changes.
Tyler
Hey Family,
Glad to hear everything is going good and that Utah State finally
decided to win another game. I’m especially happy that it was against
BYU, for obvious reasons, although I wish that BYU and Utah State
could both be decent at the same time for once. I’m glad to hear that
Megan is liking her young women’s group and that Trevor and Alex will
have the opportunity to transition. The new ward sounds great and I
can`t wait to meet some more people. The rain that you are having
sounds wonderful! We never get rain... or snow... or sun. It’s just
foggy, smoggy, cloudy, and overall generally gross, but the people make
up for it. I just can`t wait to get rain when I get back home. I may
just play in the rain and make myself sick the first time it rains.
Thanks for the pictures you sent in the mail. I love getting them,
and every time I do it puts a smile on my face. :)
I have been sick the last week and on Tuesday I was completely out of
commission until after lunch because at 4:40 in the morning I woke up
and threw up all over the place. In the morning we called Hermana
Tyler and she told me I had "Welcome to Peru" disease. It was
wonderful... However, I also gained an extremely spìritual experience
from this. Elder Kasat gave me a blessing and I slept and felt
miserable all morning, however, after lunch I was able to proselyte
with Elder Kasat, and then that night I felt miserable again. It
showed that the priesthood has the power to help for what is needed
and that through Christ I can do all things, including walk a bunch
while my stomach and head were on fire.
On Wednesday our morning was rough, but at the end of the day we were
able to teach Leidy again, who still thinks that she isnt ready for
baptism. We are working hard to convince her otherwise, because she
is definitely ready. We also taught Sandra, who is one of our many
cases of someone who can`t move forward until she and her esposo get
married. They have it planned for October 30th so hopefully after
that we can move forward. She seems excited to learn and wants to be
baptized, we are just waiting for that marriage.
On Friday we had the opportunity to again teach Angel and Juana. They
both are really interested in Jesus Christ, but I can`t quite decide
how they feel about our church and having one church in particular.
This week we are going to invite them to conference and hopefully
after that we will understand a little more about what their desires
are and if they are going to want to move forward in the gospel. We
also taught Lucila and Elizabeth. Both of whom are people who need to
be married before they can be baptized. Lucila isn`t as far into the
lessons and we aren`t sure where she is at completely yet, but
Elizabeth has a huge desire to change and be baptized. She wants to
be married on the 30th too, but her esposo, who happens to be an
inactive member, doesn`t want to get married. It is causing problems
because he is slowing down her progress, but we are going to continue
to work with them and hopefully they will move forward with that step.
Saturday was P-Day except for Internet, (Today Obviously), and we were
able to move things around in our room and put what belonged in our
room... Like a small fridge and a microwave... and take out the things
that didn`t belong. We also got together with our Zone for games and
that night we had a Family Home Evening with our Zone that consisted
basically of a testimony meeting. It was amazing. Its amazing how
much spirit and power can be in a room when a bunch of 19-23 year olds
get together and testify of Christ and of this gospel. It was a
definite testimony to me that we are missionaries called of God, and
that we have even more power than we can even consider, through faith
in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Priesthood. We have an
amazing Zone who has so much spiritual power.
Sunday was a study day for us, because again, we weren`t allowed to
proselyte, which I am kind of glad. When we were going to members
homes for food, the streets were crazy. Lots of people, some yelling
at each other. So much going on. Definitely detracted from the
spirit I was feeling that day. I studied in the New Testament, the
Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and I read in Jesus The
Christ. I learned so much that I didn`t know before and it was a
great testimony for me.
I love you all, the gospel is true, no matter what language it is in.
The people here in the church are so awesome and I am so happy to be
here serving the people, even if it means I am sick for a long time
here. Have a great week, and good luck in school and in the ward
changes.
Tyler
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sept. 27, 2010
Hey family,
Sounds like everything is going well at home. It sounds like Megan and Trevor are in for a lot of changes and all of the kids are going to have to find some new friends in the ward. I'm excited for Megan's opportunity to go to Utah State next year, altough its kind of frustrating that my little sister will be as far as me in school when I get back. The yard sounds pretty crazy right now. With all the hornets it seems like the kids will be diving down into the water to avoid the bees alot more now. One note for mom. Hermana Whetton from the CCM (wife of the mission president), said that I should thank you for making me practice piano all those years, and she is thankful for you making me practice.
Here in Peru, there is some pretty crazy stuff happening right now. First, is awesome: I have had the wonderful opportunity of walking head on into a few baptisms. Yesterday we had a baptism for a man named Anibal. I have only briefly met him, but he seems really great, and his family is awesome. Yesterday we also got 2 commitments for baptisms on October 23rd. David and Jose are these two baptisms. Both are the only non-members in their family cureently so its great because their entire families will be members now, and they will be that much closer to being an eternal family. David is incredible. He has actually been an investigator for 7 years now, so its great that he is finally getting to the waters of baptism. David's family fed us last night, and so I got to know them a little bit more. They were incredible and they had an amazing spirit in their home.
Our second is rather interesting: This Sunday is the day of the elections here in Peru which means a few things are going to be happening. First our P-Day is Saturday and Monday. My email will be on Monday, but the rest will be Saturday. This is because in Peru it its illegal to have any gatherings of any kind on Saturday for the elections Sunday, so we are not allowed to meet with any families. This also means that none of the members can go watch conference this Saturday, and on Sunday we don't have church. The General Conference broadcast will be shown on the 9th and 10th, the following Saturday and Sunday. And then we have stake conference on the 30th and 31st. So this month we only have church on two of the five Sundays. It also throws off our schedules just a little bit.
The third is kind of frightening: In my area there are multiple places we can't go at night without a member, and certain places we can't go at all because they are dangerous. We also have had the awesome opportunity to have rocks thrown at us. My first day some teenager threw a rock at me. He missed, but it was an interesting thing to be welcomed with. We also had a rock thrown at our window a few nights ago, so now we have a window to fix. We also see lots of drunk people a lot here. It's pretty crazy.
Back to our investigators...
We have a few other noteworthy investigators right now. One is Fernando. He is 17 and has a desire to be baptized, but we don't have permission from his parents, so right now we are kind of at a stand still with him. We keep meeting with him, and we have talked to him about prayer and fasting for permission from his family, and hopefully that will lead somewhere for him. Our other major investigators are the Fernandez family, especially 2 of their daughters, Leidy (pronounced Lady) and Tania. Leidy is 15 and is really close to baptism. We hope to have a date set for her by the endo of this week. She has a great spirit. She just isn't sure if she is ready yet. Tania is 21 and she seems ready for baptism as well and she wants to be baptized, but firest she has to get married to her "husband". They are planning on getting married in the end of October, so we will have to wait until then to se a baptism date, but the desire is definitely there.
I think a little explanation is important now. Here in Peru there is a major problem for missionaries. In Peru it costs 150 soles to become married legally and many people don't have that money or don't want to pay that money so it provides an interesting situation. Many people here become married in all be legality. They love each other, they live together, they take care of kids together, and they even use the term "esposo" for their relationship. (Esposo is husband, esposa is wife) The problem is they are not legally married so they are breaking the law of chastity and they can't be baptized. Many of these people are very good people, but the culture here is just different. It is not looked on as harshly by members if people aren't married because outside of the church, very few people are married. David is one of these examples. He just barely got married Saturday, but he and his wife had been living together for years, and they have a teenage daughter. They were not living together before their official marriage for a while because his wife had been baptized, but now they call all be baptized. This is a common situation that we will have to deal with a lot here.
Quick list of other investigators I may talk about later.
Angelica (45ish) - has a son on a mission, has been an investigator for a long time. Doesn't want to get baptized yet.
Carmen (50ish) - Husband is Anibal. Just getting started with her.
Grecia (9) - was baptized but not confirmed and now too much time has passed and she needs to be baptized again. Her mom is inactive and her grandma is active, but we have a hard time meeting with her because her mom is seldom home, and her grandma lives in another area.
Arturo and Florencia (Not sure on ages) - Parents of David's wife Dora. I haven't met them yet. Don't really know the situation.
Juan and Rebecca (40's) - Another case of not being married officially. Only met once, and didn't keep the commitment to come to church.
Angel y Juana (76 and 73) - New investigators who we have an appointment with in a few days, they were excited about learning.
Jose (50) - New investigator.
Well, I'm glad everything is going well, minus the bees, and hope everything continues to go well. I love you all. Good luck with the changes.
Tyler
Hey family,
Sounds like everything is going well at home. It sounds like Megan and Trevor are in for a lot of changes and all of the kids are going to have to find some new friends in the ward. I'm excited for Megan's opportunity to go to Utah State next year, altough its kind of frustrating that my little sister will be as far as me in school when I get back. The yard sounds pretty crazy right now. With all the hornets it seems like the kids will be diving down into the water to avoid the bees alot more now. One note for mom. Hermana Whetton from the CCM (wife of the mission president), said that I should thank you for making me practice piano all those years, and she is thankful for you making me practice.
Here in Peru, there is some pretty crazy stuff happening right now. First, is awesome: I have had the wonderful opportunity of walking head on into a few baptisms. Yesterday we had a baptism for a man named Anibal. I have only briefly met him, but he seems really great, and his family is awesome. Yesterday we also got 2 commitments for baptisms on October 23rd. David and Jose are these two baptisms. Both are the only non-members in their family cureently so its great because their entire families will be members now, and they will be that much closer to being an eternal family. David is incredible. He has actually been an investigator for 7 years now, so its great that he is finally getting to the waters of baptism. David's family fed us last night, and so I got to know them a little bit more. They were incredible and they had an amazing spirit in their home.
Our second is rather interesting: This Sunday is the day of the elections here in Peru which means a few things are going to be happening. First our P-Day is Saturday and Monday. My email will be on Monday, but the rest will be Saturday. This is because in Peru it its illegal to have any gatherings of any kind on Saturday for the elections Sunday, so we are not allowed to meet with any families. This also means that none of the members can go watch conference this Saturday, and on Sunday we don't have church. The General Conference broadcast will be shown on the 9th and 10th, the following Saturday and Sunday. And then we have stake conference on the 30th and 31st. So this month we only have church on two of the five Sundays. It also throws off our schedules just a little bit.
The third is kind of frightening: In my area there are multiple places we can't go at night without a member, and certain places we can't go at all because they are dangerous. We also have had the awesome opportunity to have rocks thrown at us. My first day some teenager threw a rock at me. He missed, but it was an interesting thing to be welcomed with. We also had a rock thrown at our window a few nights ago, so now we have a window to fix. We also see lots of drunk people a lot here. It's pretty crazy.
Back to our investigators...
We have a few other noteworthy investigators right now. One is Fernando. He is 17 and has a desire to be baptized, but we don't have permission from his parents, so right now we are kind of at a stand still with him. We keep meeting with him, and we have talked to him about prayer and fasting for permission from his family, and hopefully that will lead somewhere for him. Our other major investigators are the Fernandez family, especially 2 of their daughters, Leidy (pronounced Lady) and Tania. Leidy is 15 and is really close to baptism. We hope to have a date set for her by the endo of this week. She has a great spirit. She just isn't sure if she is ready yet. Tania is 21 and she seems ready for baptism as well and she wants to be baptized, but firest she has to get married to her "husband". They are planning on getting married in the end of October, so we will have to wait until then to se a baptism date, but the desire is definitely there.
I think a little explanation is important now. Here in Peru there is a major problem for missionaries. In Peru it costs 150 soles to become married legally and many people don't have that money or don't want to pay that money so it provides an interesting situation. Many people here become married in all be legality. They love each other, they live together, they take care of kids together, and they even use the term "esposo" for their relationship. (Esposo is husband, esposa is wife) The problem is they are not legally married so they are breaking the law of chastity and they can't be baptized. Many of these people are very good people, but the culture here is just different. It is not looked on as harshly by members if people aren't married because outside of the church, very few people are married. David is one of these examples. He just barely got married Saturday, but he and his wife had been living together for years, and they have a teenage daughter. They were not living together before their official marriage for a while because his wife had been baptized, but now they call all be baptized. This is a common situation that we will have to deal with a lot here.
Quick list of other investigators I may talk about later.
Angelica (45ish) - has a son on a mission, has been an investigator for a long time. Doesn't want to get baptized yet.
Carmen (50ish) - Husband is Anibal. Just getting started with her.
Grecia (9) - was baptized but not confirmed and now too much time has passed and she needs to be baptized again. Her mom is inactive and her grandma is active, but we have a hard time meeting with her because her mom is seldom home, and her grandma lives in another area.
Arturo and Florencia (Not sure on ages) - Parents of David's wife Dora. I haven't met them yet. Don't really know the situation.
Juan and Rebecca (40's) - Another case of not being married officially. Only met once, and didn't keep the commitment to come to church.
Angel y Juana (76 and 73) - New investigators who we have an appointment with in a few days, they were excited about learning.
Jose (50) - New investigator.
Well, I'm glad everything is going well, minus the bees, and hope everything continues to go well. I love you all. Good luck with the changes.
Tyler
Friday, September 24, 2010
September 23, 2010
Hola familia,
I am finally in the field and it is a whole lot of crazy and I'm not sure what else. Over last week a few things happened. On Saturday was the day that we had the opportunity to go proselyting again. Elder Purvis and I were actually paired up with our teacher named Hermano Huerta. He made it a lot easier for us. We contacted 8 people and were able to teach one family a lesson. We got 3 references for the missionaries in the area and the one family we taught, who is inactive, said that they would go to church. Not being the missionaries, we couldn't follow up, but it was still a great thing.
Tuesday, I went into the field. We did a lot of things on Tuesday including having our entrance interviews with President Tyler. President Tyler is so cool, and was really kind and helpful to the missionaries. After that we went to the change meeting. It is interesting that because of the size of our mission, the entire mission meets every six weeks for the changes. We had 120 missionaries there waiting to welcome the 11 of us that were new to the mission.
My companion is Elder Kasat. He is from Santiago, Chile. He is extremely helpful and very patient with my poor Spanish. The opportunity to be serving with his is incredible. My sector is called the Porvenir sector, and it is the area for one of the wards here in Lima. My zone is the San Luis stake. My sector is actually new as of 3 months ago to the Central mission. The new mission boundries in Peru officially took affect in the beginning of July, and my area was in the Lima south mission before the change. The last two days have been crazy overalll and they have been very stressful for me. we are teaching a bunch of people, and i am never sure who is progressing and who isn't because of the language barrier. It's okay though, because it is slowly coming over time.
Here we have what are called Pensions. Which means that we never make our own food. We just walk over to someone's house and they feed us. I will try and send pictures to you as soon as possible, but I'm not sure how well tht will work. we also don't do our own laundry. This makes it interesting because I have to make a list of all the clothes I have that need to be washed so that I can get it all back. My room has a cement floor and the building looks pretty cool.
Things sound pretty interesting at home. I'm glad Megan and Trevor are having some fun with their band. I know that everything will work out with the new ward. The Bishop sounds cool, and it sounds like the area will be pretty good. And even though they aren't in the same ward, I bet the kids can stay in touch with their friends pretty well.
I love you all. And hope everything goes well with the new ward. I actually have P-day on Mondays now, I just had some time I was allowed to email today since I missed P-day this week. So expect another email in 5 days. The work is moving forward and I know that it is important.
Tyler
Hola familia,
I am finally in the field and it is a whole lot of crazy and I'm not sure what else. Over last week a few things happened. On Saturday was the day that we had the opportunity to go proselyting again. Elder Purvis and I were actually paired up with our teacher named Hermano Huerta. He made it a lot easier for us. We contacted 8 people and were able to teach one family a lesson. We got 3 references for the missionaries in the area and the one family we taught, who is inactive, said that they would go to church. Not being the missionaries, we couldn't follow up, but it was still a great thing.
Tuesday, I went into the field. We did a lot of things on Tuesday including having our entrance interviews with President Tyler. President Tyler is so cool, and was really kind and helpful to the missionaries. After that we went to the change meeting. It is interesting that because of the size of our mission, the entire mission meets every six weeks for the changes. We had 120 missionaries there waiting to welcome the 11 of us that were new to the mission.
My companion is Elder Kasat. He is from Santiago, Chile. He is extremely helpful and very patient with my poor Spanish. The opportunity to be serving with his is incredible. My sector is called the Porvenir sector, and it is the area for one of the wards here in Lima. My zone is the San Luis stake. My sector is actually new as of 3 months ago to the Central mission. The new mission boundries in Peru officially took affect in the beginning of July, and my area was in the Lima south mission before the change. The last two days have been crazy overalll and they have been very stressful for me. we are teaching a bunch of people, and i am never sure who is progressing and who isn't because of the language barrier. It's okay though, because it is slowly coming over time.
Here we have what are called Pensions. Which means that we never make our own food. We just walk over to someone's house and they feed us. I will try and send pictures to you as soon as possible, but I'm not sure how well tht will work. we also don't do our own laundry. This makes it interesting because I have to make a list of all the clothes I have that need to be washed so that I can get it all back. My room has a cement floor and the building looks pretty cool.
Things sound pretty interesting at home. I'm glad Megan and Trevor are having some fun with their band. I know that everything will work out with the new ward. The Bishop sounds cool, and it sounds like the area will be pretty good. And even though they aren't in the same ward, I bet the kids can stay in touch with their friends pretty well.
I love you all. And hope everything goes well with the new ward. I actually have P-day on Mondays now, I just had some time I was allowed to email today since I missed P-day this week. So expect another email in 5 days. The work is moving forward and I know that it is important.
Tyler
Thursday, September 16, 2010
September 15, 2010
Dear family,
It's amazing how time flies by when you are busy with a good cause. The mission is blowing by and I'm again at that point of being super nervous about the future part of my mission, but I know that everything is going to turn out great. It has so far. I'm glad to hear that Utah State won, even if it was against a pretty week school like Idaho State. This year should be pretty interesting for them. Its great the soccer is going well for Alex, Adam and Trent. Im going to have to say though, that when I get back and Alex is a superstar on the High School soccer team that I'll have to give him a run for his money. We play a lot of soccer here in the CCM in Peru. It's actually making it pretty hard on my shoes. After only 8 weeks they are already falling apart, but I will make them last my whole mission, even if I am holding them together with scotch tape by the end. (I would say duct tape, but they may not have that here. They don't have super glue, which is really disappointing.) Sounds like Clarksburg is doing pretty well this year so far in sports as well. Im glad the ward is doing well right now too.
This last week was actually pretty uneventful overall in the CCM. A lot of classes. A lot of practicing. My journal entries are all like 3 lines long. Its been one of those weeks for the most part. There were a few interesting things though. On Thursday I read in Alma about the 2000 sons of Helaman. I was amazed by their incredible obedience to the Lord and their incredible trust in the Lord. In Alma 57:25-27 it talks about their faith, and in 27 it sums it up. I really like this verse. It says:
"Now this was the faith of those of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in god continually."
This is a ton of power and I really felt the spirit reading it. I also like Alma 48:17 when it talks about the amazing power of Captain Moroni.
Friday I had a pretty humbling experience... Elder Purvis and I had a TRC lesson and it went horribly. Elder Purvis was feeling really sick, and I was having a really hard time understanding the Spanish. The teacher pretending to be an investigator was bored, and frustrated because we weren't answering her questions. It was really difficult. I learned a lot from the experience though and it changed how I am going to study now.
Saturday was the day that we got to go proselyting again. Elder Purvis and I went out to an area in the Peru Lima North mission which was pretty cool because it was Elder Purvis' mission. The area was called Las Flores and it was ok housing, but not great. Definitely better than the people living Callao though. This one was tough because we were two North Americans without a Latin companion to help us with the lessons. We were paired up with the Elder's Quorum president of the ward and sent to some inactive members homes. I think we frustrated him a little because at the beginning he kept knocking on the door and stepping back to make us do all the talking, and I think it was kind of rough at the beginning. elder Purvis was trying to talk, and I was going through shock. I think I spent the entire first 4 houses with my jaw on the ground because I was so intimidated. We wound up only getting to teach one person on the entire trip because the others either were at work, weren't at home, or gave their children excuses for why they wouldn't come to the door. The one inactive member we taught had a little shop he was running out of his house, and his house was pretty nice considering the surroundings. We talked to him about the Priesthood and the power of the Priesthood. I learned something from this lesson as well. I learned that I need to follow the Spirit more.
I thought he was an active member and we were talking to him because we had extra time and he was preparing for a trip to the temple, but it turns out he was inactive. I had a feeling to bring up that he needed to go to church to allow his Priesthood to help those in his home, but I just pushed it aside because I thought he was a member. Even though this happened, the spirit was incredibly strong and I we left him with the Spirit in his home. I felt it and I know that he felt it. He gave the closing prayer and I think he understood the importance of the church.
It's really tough to gain a real understanding of Spanish here in the MTC even though I'm in Peru. The teachers and the Latin missionaries all talk slower to us to help us understand and because of the amount of North Americans in the CCM, I have a class and a companion of all North Americans which means I can speak English a lot and get away with it. I think that's why the opportunity to proselyte is so good here. It allows us to go into the real world and experience the people with really quiet voices, the people who slur because they are missing most of their teeth and the people who just talk really fast. This allows me to train my brain a little more in Spanish. We get tons of encouragement about the language though. Elder Slingerland is the Area medical advisor and he also acts as a member of the Branch Presidency at the CCM. He has used a few times the idea that in 6 months we will be fluent, 8-10 we will be super fluent and by a year or a little more we will be thinking in Spanish. Its tough to believe that now, but I know it will happen with the Lord's help. I love how the prophets talk about this in the scriptures. Nephi says it in 2 Nephi 4:20 when he says: "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness: and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep."
I also like when Ammon says this as well in Alma 26:12.
"Yea, I know that i am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
This has been so helpful to me over these past 9 weeks. When I have felt an sort of inadequacy, I have been able to lean on Christ as my strength. My Savior has guided me so much. I think this is why I have been so engrossed in the scriptures. I told you last week that I have been reading a lot in the scriptures lately. Well now I am in Ether and I plan on finishing tomorrow or Friday. The power of the scriptures, even when I have been reading them in English, have helped me in my lessons as I use them more and more.
I am glad that everything is going well at home, and I hope that you are all doing well. For the boys, continue to prepare for your missions. It can be the greatest experience of your life if you put the effort in to it. Mine has already been incredible and I am still in the MTC. For Megan, keep being awesome and studying in the gospel. It will bless you life so much, even if you don't serve a mission when you are 21. I love you all.
Tyler
Dear family,
It's amazing how time flies by when you are busy with a good cause. The mission is blowing by and I'm again at that point of being super nervous about the future part of my mission, but I know that everything is going to turn out great. It has so far. I'm glad to hear that Utah State won, even if it was against a pretty week school like Idaho State. This year should be pretty interesting for them. Its great the soccer is going well for Alex, Adam and Trent. Im going to have to say though, that when I get back and Alex is a superstar on the High School soccer team that I'll have to give him a run for his money. We play a lot of soccer here in the CCM in Peru. It's actually making it pretty hard on my shoes. After only 8 weeks they are already falling apart, but I will make them last my whole mission, even if I am holding them together with scotch tape by the end. (I would say duct tape, but they may not have that here. They don't have super glue, which is really disappointing.) Sounds like Clarksburg is doing pretty well this year so far in sports as well. Im glad the ward is doing well right now too.
This last week was actually pretty uneventful overall in the CCM. A lot of classes. A lot of practicing. My journal entries are all like 3 lines long. Its been one of those weeks for the most part. There were a few interesting things though. On Thursday I read in Alma about the 2000 sons of Helaman. I was amazed by their incredible obedience to the Lord and their incredible trust in the Lord. In Alma 57:25-27 it talks about their faith, and in 27 it sums it up. I really like this verse. It says:
"Now this was the faith of those of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in god continually."
This is a ton of power and I really felt the spirit reading it. I also like Alma 48:17 when it talks about the amazing power of Captain Moroni.
Friday I had a pretty humbling experience... Elder Purvis and I had a TRC lesson and it went horribly. Elder Purvis was feeling really sick, and I was having a really hard time understanding the Spanish. The teacher pretending to be an investigator was bored, and frustrated because we weren't answering her questions. It was really difficult. I learned a lot from the experience though and it changed how I am going to study now.
Saturday was the day that we got to go proselyting again. Elder Purvis and I went out to an area in the Peru Lima North mission which was pretty cool because it was Elder Purvis' mission. The area was called Las Flores and it was ok housing, but not great. Definitely better than the people living Callao though. This one was tough because we were two North Americans without a Latin companion to help us with the lessons. We were paired up with the Elder's Quorum president of the ward and sent to some inactive members homes. I think we frustrated him a little because at the beginning he kept knocking on the door and stepping back to make us do all the talking, and I think it was kind of rough at the beginning. elder Purvis was trying to talk, and I was going through shock. I think I spent the entire first 4 houses with my jaw on the ground because I was so intimidated. We wound up only getting to teach one person on the entire trip because the others either were at work, weren't at home, or gave their children excuses for why they wouldn't come to the door. The one inactive member we taught had a little shop he was running out of his house, and his house was pretty nice considering the surroundings. We talked to him about the Priesthood and the power of the Priesthood. I learned something from this lesson as well. I learned that I need to follow the Spirit more.
I thought he was an active member and we were talking to him because we had extra time and he was preparing for a trip to the temple, but it turns out he was inactive. I had a feeling to bring up that he needed to go to church to allow his Priesthood to help those in his home, but I just pushed it aside because I thought he was a member. Even though this happened, the spirit was incredibly strong and I we left him with the Spirit in his home. I felt it and I know that he felt it. He gave the closing prayer and I think he understood the importance of the church.
It's really tough to gain a real understanding of Spanish here in the MTC even though I'm in Peru. The teachers and the Latin missionaries all talk slower to us to help us understand and because of the amount of North Americans in the CCM, I have a class and a companion of all North Americans which means I can speak English a lot and get away with it. I think that's why the opportunity to proselyte is so good here. It allows us to go into the real world and experience the people with really quiet voices, the people who slur because they are missing most of their teeth and the people who just talk really fast. This allows me to train my brain a little more in Spanish. We get tons of encouragement about the language though. Elder Slingerland is the Area medical advisor and he also acts as a member of the Branch Presidency at the CCM. He has used a few times the idea that in 6 months we will be fluent, 8-10 we will be super fluent and by a year or a little more we will be thinking in Spanish. Its tough to believe that now, but I know it will happen with the Lord's help. I love how the prophets talk about this in the scriptures. Nephi says it in 2 Nephi 4:20 when he says: "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness: and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep."
I also like when Ammon says this as well in Alma 26:12.
"Yea, I know that i am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
This has been so helpful to me over these past 9 weeks. When I have felt an sort of inadequacy, I have been able to lean on Christ as my strength. My Savior has guided me so much. I think this is why I have been so engrossed in the scriptures. I told you last week that I have been reading a lot in the scriptures lately. Well now I am in Ether and I plan on finishing tomorrow or Friday. The power of the scriptures, even when I have been reading them in English, have helped me in my lessons as I use them more and more.
I am glad that everything is going well at home, and I hope that you are all doing well. For the boys, continue to prepare for your missions. It can be the greatest experience of your life if you put the effort in to it. Mine has already been incredible and I am still in the MTC. For Megan, keep being awesome and studying in the gospel. It will bless you life so much, even if you don't serve a mission when you are 21. I love you all.
Tyler
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