Ya 6 Meses en la mision!

Que loco el tiempo! No puedo creer que ya tengo 6 meses y que estoy en este punto de la misión. Es super loco cómo rapido ha ido el tiempo. How are you all doing? I certainly hope that everything has been great for all of you and that you've been able to recieve any help that you've needed. This week has been really good in all reality, and I have been able to learn a lot.

One thing that has happened is that it's started to rain here a lot the last couple days, which has made it difficult tocontact people in the street. And unfortunately all of our appointments fell through the last two days as well, so we ended up being in the street for the entire day haha. But really I enjoyed it and we had some really good experiences as we were getting soaked. During some of the difficulties with the physical aspects of the mission I have really come to fortify my relationship with Elder Paiva a lot and we have come to be good friends, something I would consider to be the best experience of this week.

On Saturday, as we were looking for a less active family in the rain, we asked a man in the street for directions but he didn't reply. Rather he started to break down and tell us that he wanted to die and was on his way to commit suicide. We calmed him down by asking for his name and about his family, which helped him to realize that there are peopple that really need him in this world. He had been drinking a lot right before we contacted him which was probably the cause of his breakdown so fast, but we were able to get really bad directions to his house and told him we were going to visit him and help him out. The next day in the afternoon we went to look for his house, in the rain again haha, and found him in the first house that we contacted. He was emotional that we had come to look for him, but couldn't let us in right then because his family from Santiago had come to visit him that day. But he was very grateful that we had looked for him and said that we can come any day this week to visit him and his family. I am positive that hte Lord truly put him in our path so that we can do evertyhing possible to help him turn his life around.

Also, as far as the relationship between my comanion and I goes, I feel that I was a huge part of the problem that was going on because of my pride. I never really have thought of myself as a very prideful person, but I have come to realize after much scripture study and prayer that I have a lot that I can improve on. This week I was striving constantly to be more and more humble, and could easily see the results lookin back on the week. I have learned so much about myself and I how I can be a better servant of the Lord that it has surprised me a lot. The scriptures know what they´re are talking about when they talk about the need for humility, even when it's something difficult to do.

One very powerful experience this last week has to do with fasting and prayer. Last week in church, all of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was asked to fast and pray for rain in the areas of the country that were in droughts, including where I am at now. It has been a very powerful experience to seel the hand of the Lord bless this country with much needed water this week just days after the fasting and prayers of those who asked for it. I truly know that the Lord is listening to us and is ready to give us all that we need is we do what is asked of us and demonstrate faith sufficient enough in Jesus Christ.

I would like to end with a scripture of course haha. This scriture in James 4 verses 10 through twelve helped me a lot this week as I tried to humble myself, it reads: "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy; who art thou thou that judgest another?" Sometimes it's hard not to  jusdge others for their faults. But rather than judge we should humble orselves and look for our own faults and the things that we ourselves have to improve rather than what we think others should do differently.

I hiope that you are all well and that you keep smiles on your faces at all times. Never quit trying to do what's right. I pray for each of your safety and well being. 

Love,

Elder Conger

No Cambios Todavia

Hello my dear friends and family! How are you all doing? How's life been treatin ya? What's the summer like so far? I'm doing pretty good here in Graneros. We had changes this week but it looks like I'm going to be staying her in Graneros for another change with Elder Paiva to finish his mission. He's starting to get a little homesick but I'm trying the best I can to keep him focused. Haha I was almost 100% sure that I would be changing sectors this change but looks like the Lord still needs me here for a little more time. I'm really grateful for another change here really cause I still feel there's a lot of thing that I can do to help the people here.

My experiences here this week have been fortifying and I'm glad that I have more time here to take advantage of all that happened. Tuesday night we we had a feeling we needed to see how a family of investigators was doing and when we showed up it was kind of a mess. We didn't enter in their house but talked to the mother and daughter in the street and found out about a lot of problems that we didn't even know that they had. Turns out that the 17 year old soon went and got completely drunk and also hyas been smoking a lot of marijuana, and for this reason the boyfriend of the mom has been trying to get him to stop but in a really conflictive manner. Also the daughter told us that she has deppression and has been on medication for it since she was 9 and because of the problems in her family she never has believed in God, but that she has noticed a difference a difference in her life since we started visiting them. The last time there was a fight in the house it got so pad apparently that someone called the police and now the son and mom have to see a psycologist and there are going to be a lot of changes in the future for them. We went home and I actually said a prayer asking that I could stay for one more change so that I could specifically help this family, and later the mother and daughter actually told me they did the same. Looks like somebody's listening. We had a lesson on Friday and shared a message with them promising that what we share really can help them with all of their problem if they will listen to our advice and accept the commitments we extend. I have great faith that really we are going to help them in these next few weeks.

There were a few other cool experiences that we had of following the Spirit in situations where we needed help in a lessson or finding people to teach, but I'm just going to state simply that I know the Lord in lolistening to us and is well aware of our needs. All that we need to do is have the faith to oput our trust in Him and ask for the help that we need. 

As in times past, I am going to end with a scripture (big surprise there haha). I know that not everyone is of the same religion as I am, but I would like to share a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants which is another book of holy scriture that we have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In Section 122 verses 7-9 it read: "And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thee, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way, and the Priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy days shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever." I know that sometimes it's hard to se the blessings in our lives, but sometimes it's the lessons we learn from our difficulties that are the greatest blessings of all. I testify that the Lord will not give us more tribulations than we can handle, and that all the problems we face today are for our "experience, and shall be for [our] good." Keep striving to fight the good fight. I love you all and pray that you are well!

Love, Elder Conger

Mother's Day Skype!!

Had some tech issues at first... NO SOUND!!  :(

 

Got some text chatting in at least, and Kix showed us his mad juggling skills  :)

 

FINALLY - Skype works! Got to add Larissa in to the conversation even!!  Ace kept yelling at the 2 of them for their side conversations in SPANISH!  haha

 

A glimpse of the whole crew listening to one of Kix's stories  :)

 

 

Siempre tenemos alguien con nosotros

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos! Ojala que están bien y que sientan amor y paz en sus vidas. Este semana fue super bueno y estoy muy agradecido por todo que yo aprendí. I have had some really good stories that I want to share with you guys this week!  

This morning was a really good one haha. I started the day out with good intentions, and decided that I was going to make pancakes for my companion and I to have for breakfast. Everything went along smoothly and the pancakes looked very delicious. Unfotunatley as I took the first bite of my pancake, it bacame clear I had done something very wrong. It turns out that the jar of what I had thought to be sugar, actually turned out to be salt and the pancakes were not near as delicious as they could have been. Always know the ingredients for whatever thing you a cooking, building, or doing in your life, that`s the lesson I learned from this experience. But my companion and I got a really good laugh out of it!!  

For anyone who is concerned about the volcano, it`s not anywhere near where I am at so don`t worry. But keep the people that have been severely effected by it in your prayers becaue there are many. Chile has become a crazy country recently haha they have tons of earthquakes, there was a flood in the north part of Chile a few weeks ago, and they have thousands of volcanoes all along the mountain range in the country. And before the last seven years or so it`s was fairly peaceful here. But now I guess that seven more of these volcanoes are active and causing some people to worry throughout the country. Really the most likely thing to happen to me here is to expereince a bad earthquake, and some of the older people here are predicting there to be one within the next year, but time will tell and the Lord will decide.  

 We have had some super awesome lessons this week. We are now teaching a family of two adaults who are not married, and the mother has two childen in their teenage years. The daughter, who is fifteen, does not believe that God exists because of all the terrible things that happen in the world today. I wish I could remember exactly what I and my companion said to her because it was definitley guidance of the Spirit, but basically we taught her: God is not the cause of evil in the world today, Satan is. There are many people who misuse their personally agency to make terrible decisions that can destroy other people`s lives, but God does not cause this. Each of us has our own agency, or ability to choose bad or good, and there are people who make horrible and terrifying decisions. Does God cause this? No. Does he allow it? Yes he does. But we also choose how we are going to respond to evil that passes. Will we just give up and say that life is nothing other than time spent on the earth to suffer terrible difficulties with no purpose? Or will we put our faith in Christ, and trust that after this life we are going to rest from the troubles of the world and have the true happily ever after that we all desire? I personally ike the second choice much more, and I know that it`s something that all of us can have.  

The second experience once again has to do with fear.It turns out all my studying about fear the last week came in handy, I know that I was truly guided to studying this so that I can conquer my own fear and help other conquer theirs as well. We were teaching an older woman who is scared for everything that she doesn`t know about, because her son is in the military. And she also doesn`t have much happiness lately because she feels lonely. I felt inspired to talk about how Jesus Christ felt when He was standing in front of an angry crowd that was yelling "Crucify Him" without a single friend by His side to help Him with all that He was suffering. I had never thought about this beforehand much myself, but now I do a lot. For Christ to have the courage to suffer all that He did in the Garden of Gethsemane until He died upon the cross and not have any fear seems unreal to me. Nobody has felt the suffrering that He felt, and nobody ever will. But depite all of His trials He did not lose courage, but rather he said to His Father "Not my will, but thine be done." Let us all learn from this, and try to have more courage in the face of our trials no matter how large or small they seem.  

I pray for each of you, and I sincerely hope that you can feel the love of the Savior and our Heavenly Father in your lives.  

With much love,

 

Elder Conger

Carta Semanal de Elder Conger

Hola todos mis amigos y familia, ojala que están la más feliz que es posible ahora en sus vidas. This week has been a week of learning and spiritual growth for me. I didn´t have many experiences that hit me like brick walls like I did last week, but I have learned a lot about myself and what I need to improve and do better in my personal life.

 

The week went by super fast despite the lack of tons of lessons or projects throughout. We have been focusing a lot more of our efforts on finding the people that live in our new sector and seeing if there is anything that we can help them with, and really we have had a lot of success in finding people that are less active members of the church or investigators that need help but don`t want it haha. This always seems to be the case in the mission, there are tons of people who need help with either the spiritual, emotional, or physical apects of their lives but don`t want it; or at least not from a couple of young men in the street. I have found the only time that we have been able to help people is when we involve prayer and the Spirit in this process. As my Mission President told us in a correlation meeting a couple weeks ago, "without the Spirit, missionaries are just a couple a young men wandering through the streets." Nevertheless, we have found many people as well who do want our help and have invited us to visit them during this week.

 

In my studies this week I have focused a lot on learning about patience (not sure if that is spelled right or not haha Spanish is destroying my English) and how I need to apply it more in my life. I have come to find that I need a lot more patience than I`ve had in the past. But as a missionary patience is invaluable, and you need it in every situation whether it`s with your companion, the people in your mission, or yourself. The fact is that none of us are perfect and we`re all doing to best we can to find some peace and happiness in this life, and during this process there are going to be a few points that are diffivult or that we don`t fully understand. As we develope patience, we come to trust that no matter how dark and dreary our circumstances are the Lord is going to make everything fine eventually, even if it`s not going to be in this life. However, we must not confuse patience with idleness, whish would mean we sit and do nothing waiting for the Lord to fix our problems and do nothing for ourselves. Rather we must anxiously engage in finding answers to our problems and doing everything that is possible to improve our circumstances. And when we show this effort this is when the Lord will show us the way, as we continuously and patiently search for the answers to our difficulties. The blessings of patience are many, and I can promise that this attribute will bless your lives and those of many around you as we all try to develope it more.

 

Another aspect I would like to talk about is Hope. During my time in the mission I have found several people without hope, who don`t believe that there is ever going to be a day when things are going to get better and there is only misery in life. I love the quote, "whether you think you can or can`t you`re right." If we don`t believe things will ever get better and our countanence is always pesamistic, things will not get better. But as we exercise hope in our trials, faithfully expecting deliverance from that which drags us down and doing all we can to fight agaist it, this is when we find joy and happiness. Let us all try to hope for joy in our lives, and patiently and diligently strive each day to do a little better and work a little harder toward that which we desire.

 

In closing I would like to share one of my favorite quotes from the infamous Yoda of the Star Wars universe, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." No matter how dark or depressing your circumstances get do not be afriad, there is always a way out. I know at times this life is difficult and it can be hard to believe that things will get better, but I promise that they can. As we conquer our fears and allow the Lord`s will to become our own we will find that we are stronger than we thought, and there is no reason to fear. The light will always penetrate the dark, the good will always prevail against the evil, and God will always be own our side. It`s my hope and prayer that you are all well and find joy in each of your lives. Until next week!

 

With love, Elder Conger

Terminado con 8 Semanas (wowowowowowoooahwooooooooooah) ¡Que Loco!

¡Hola a todos! Ojala que reciben este mensaje en los mejores condiciones y que todos están feliz y no hay muchas dificultades para ustedes. This week has been super good, and I am so grateful for the oportunidad that I have to share my experiences with you. A lot of this email isn`t going to focus on much of myself directly but rather on experiences and things that have impacted me throught this past week.

 

First however, I will share a few neat things that did happen. I got my second haircut in Chile and I can oficially say that Mom or Dad either one of you have cut my hair ten times better than anyone barber in Chile so far. Granted the first time was prolly my fault as I had no idea how to say I wanted my haircut, but this time I definitely understood the lady and she understood me it just wan`t too important to her how my hair looks hha. However it`s grown back fast the last week and it looks better, I`m super glad to have short hair again haha. Also I made panakes yesterday with some left over Just Add Water pancake mix that Elder Loveridge left in our house. With some chocolate chips thrown in and some Manjar on top it was pretty darn good haha.

 

On Thursday I finished the Book of Mormon (in English) for the first time in the Mission as a challenge from President Warne, my Mission President, to finish it before April 30. I can say that it was the most contructive reading of the Book of Mormon I have ever done in my life and I learned more from this experience than I could have ever imagined. I urge anyone who has not read this book to do so, and to ponder the message that it contains. I am now reading the Bible in English as well and hope to finish the Old Testament by the end of this change with Elder Silvestre. Also in my reading of the Book of Mormon in Spanish I started over (for the third time haha) and am currently in 1 Nephi close to starting 2 Nephi. But I really have come to love studying the sciptures, there is so much knowledge and teachings that we can learn from in them in the historical parts alone.

 

As I said in the beginning of this email there were several experiences that I had this week which have greatly impacted me and I do whish to share them with you. The first was on Friday night. We went to visit the Family Milanco, who are in the new part of our sector that we gained in the last change, we didn`t know the family at all but we shared a scripture with the mother of the family about how "we cannot control the actions of others, all we can do is control our reactions and our own actions" that is found in 2 Nephi but I can`t rementer the exact scripture. After we shared the scripture she just started crying. I din`t really know how to react but then she said (in Spanish), "Everytime that there is something I´m struglling with or that is hard in my life, the missionaries show up and give me the exact message that I need to hear. I know you don`t know anything about us or our personal problems but this scripture is exactly what I needed to hear right now." This experience really fortified my testimony of my work here. I don`t know why this scripture impacted this woman so profoundly because she didn`t expound on it, but I know that my companion and I were guided by the Spirit of the Lord to this message and that our testimonies reguarding the message helped her to feel the Spirit and truthfulness of our words. I am so grateful that the Lord in His mercy touched this woman with our message.

 

The second experience I would like to share happened yesterday in the Primary. My companion and I teach a Primary class every week cause a lot of the teachers don`t come to church haha. However, we a an investigator (who has practically been one of the strongests sisiters in this area for the last six years) in the meetings with her two daughters, one 11 and the other 5. The family is super awesome and the kids are baptized besides the youngest because she is only 5, but the parents aren`t married and cannot be baptized until they do so. Anyways, we were finishing up the meetings and all the kids were leaving and the last one in the room was Michu, who is the 5 year old daughter. She is probably the cutest little kid I have ever seen, and she walked up to us and said, "I want my parents to be baptized." I don`t know why it impacted me so profoundly, but for this sweet and innocent little girl to say this in such a simple sentence when we had not talked about this with her or the family at any point in the three times that we`ve taught them or in the Primary classes was truly powerful to me. I am so grateful for this family and the words that this little girl spoke, because I truly felt the Spirit very powerfully after hearing these words.

 

I don`t have a lot more time but I would like to end as always by sharing a scripture. I wich to speak a little a bout charity this week. As I finished the Book of Mormon I was strongly impacted by the words of Moroni near the end of the Book of Moromon found in Moroni 7. In verses 46 and 47 it reads: "Wherefore, my beloved bretheren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherfore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail, but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." As a missionary, charity is so important. I am trying harder each day to focus more and more on what other people need of me and less of my personal desires for the day or week. As this scripture says, "charity is the pure love of Christ... and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day it shall be well with him." I encourage each of you to develope more charity, and promise as you do so you will find happiness that cannot be described. Until next week!

 

Elder Conger

¡¿Ya Tres Meses?! (Three months aready?!)

Woow, que loco el tiempo en el campo misional. No creo que tengo tres meses en el misión ahora pero por lo visto es la verdad. Necesito trabajar más duro y con más energía pienso. Pero ¡¿COMO ESTÁN?! This week flew by and I can´t belive that people say it´s just going to get faster and faster. I´ve already got three months in the mission and in a lot of ways it feels like I just started. Nevertheless, it was a really good week; possibly one of the best that I´ve had in the mission. 

 

This week started out really dificult, mostly because there are only two people in our house now and we don´t really talk a ton because we´re together all day and know exactly how the other person´s day was. We have some good laughs throughout the day, but in the house usually it´s just really quiet. But with our ENORMOUS sector that we have now there are way more people that we now have the oportunity to teach and help. So every day we´ve been super busy and have found a lot of people, which is super cool to me.

 

Probably the best part of the week was the oportunity for Capacitación with all of the misionaries that I arrived to the Rancagua Mission with. It was the first time I had seen a few of these people in nearly two months, and it was great to talk with them and see how they have progressed. It´s really crazy how much the mission helps people learn and grow at an incredibly fast rate. I´ve experienced this in my personal missionary service and seen it in the others here with me, and I know that anyone else who chooses to serve a mission or do anything similar learns a lot in a little ammount of time. One for me obviously is Spanish, but also how to motivate yourself each day, basic daily responsibilities, how to provide for yourself, and joy in learning and serving others.

 

Not really a whole lot more to share. I´m gonna go back to the buzz cut with my hair today thank goodness, I think I know sufficient Spanish to ask for that now haha. But I´m felling superb, and am filled with much joy today.... I´m starting to realize also that  sometimes I combine the gramar of Spanish and English when I try to write or talk English, and it sounds really weird to me haha. OH! yeah and I had my first dream in Spanish haha it´s was really weird and I don´t really remember what happened but it was definitely in Spanish!

 

To end, as always, I´d like to share a spiritual thought. I have come to love studying the epistle of Paul (if anyone hasn´t noticed from previous emails) and I always find instruccion, encouragement, and super cool messages in his teachings. I have previously shared Romas chapter 8 (my favorite chapter from the Bible probably) but I want to focus on it again this week. In verse 18 it reads: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be  revealed in us." okay wow. There is some pretty tough stuff that goes on in the world today and sometimes I cannot comprehend how some people could do some of the things they do to others around them. But her paul says that the sufferings we have in this world are NOT WORTHY to be compared to the glory we will have after this life. Never forget that as hard as this life can be, the blessings to come are far greatter than that which we will suffer here.

 

It is my firm testimony that as we focus more on the will of the Lord, and the blessings he will grant us in eternity, and we focus less on the trials and extreme dificulties we have in this life that we will come to find joy in our darkest hours. God will always be there for us, waiting with open arms to recieve us. All we have to do is decide, right now, that we accept Him and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and Redeemer, and there is no thing in Heaven nor earth that shall keep us from the blessings He will pour down upon us in His great mercy. We can do all things through Christ, for He is strong even though we are weak (kinda from Alma 26:12). I promise each of you that God loves you, and that no matter what your struggles are right now He wants to and will bless you if only we all demonstrate a little bit of faith in Him. This is my firm and unshaked testimony, in the name of our beloved brother Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

I Pray you are all well and happy, and will continue to do so now and forever.  

With much love,  

Elder Conger