Monday, December 20, 2010

La Navidad Ha Llegado!

Christmas time is here!
I can't believe that, it's crazy. It seems like yesterday when I was about to celebrate my first Christmas in Chile, and the second one is already here. This week was a better one for us, hallelujah, but it was still a tough one. I'll explain.

  So. We are still dealing with a drought of investigators here in the sector. We really only have three investigators at the moment, which isn't very much at all. We have Jennifer, who is gonna be baptized the 9th of January, and Victor and Gema. Jennifer is going to the beach next week with her family and there they're gonna practice with her so she can get over her fear of water, then she'll be ready to get baptized on the 9th.
  Victor and Gema. Man, we had some cool experiences with them this past week. Something not so good happened though. Oscar, they're 2 1/2 year old son, was on the second floor of a set of stairs near where they live, and fell off onto his face. Gema was there though and was able to take him to the hospital and let Victor know it happened. This event started some really crazy blessings though. So, Oscar was hurt pretty bad, and is still hospitalized. He messed up his face, he was bleeding and stuff after the accident, and he got pretty bruised up, Victor said he looked like a boxer after a fight. But miraculously nothing else happened, he didn't go unconcious, all the brain scans and everything showed no problems, but he has a very tiny fracture under his eye socket, but the doctors say its not a problem and they're holding him there til it heals. So. Victor and Gema were both pretty shaken up by the accident, Gema especially. We've been passing by almost every night since then (Thursday) to make sure things are going good and stuff. Victor is usually there by himself in the night, cuz Gema is with Oscar in the hospital. But it's been amazing to see a change in Victor since the accident. He told us that when Gema first called him and told him what had happened, that he prayed. He prayed and told God that if he protected Oscar and made sure that everything turned out good, that he would follow him in everything He needs. He then told us how outstanding Oscar is doing, considering the gravity of what happened. He said that the doctors are saying it should've been much much worse than it is, that it's miraculous that he was and is in such good shape already. Victor then went on to tell us what he learned from the experience. First he said, he knows for a fact, 100% surety that God exists. Second, that he believes and knows, that everything we've taught them is the truth, and third, that he is gonna do everything that the Lord requires him to do (aka stopping smoking, getting married, and finally baptized), from here on out. What a blessing. He went on to say something very very interesting and very true. Victors a super smart guy and he understands things very well. In this case, he understood why this accident happened. He told us "this wasnt an accident, it wasn't Gemas fault, it wasn't Gods fault, it was something that just HAD to happen. It had to happen so that I could realize the things that I now realize. It had to happen for me to know that I need to follow God. And now I know, and nothing is gonna stop me from not following Him." The Spirit was so strong in the lesson it was crazy. Victor and Gema were and are truly being prepared by God to receive this gospel in their lives. So soon we should start seeing more and more progress in them, and I'm so excited to see it as it happens.
  So yeah, we're excited for the things we have here in Los Platanos, but that's all we have. We have no other investigators. So, this whole week, we knocked. A lot. And we still didn't find anyone! It's pretty frustrating, but we're just gonna keep on going, we'll find something soon, I know it.
  Sunday we had the church activity for Christmas in the ward and it was good. It was the choir singing a bunch of Christmas songs, in the order from the announcement of the birth of Jesus, til his birth. As they were singing, the primary kids were going up to a little stage and forming a live nativity scene. It turned out pretty cool. And there were also a bunch of people there that weren't members, so we're gonna hopefully have more people to teach! Tonight we have a family home evening with a family and their neighbors(nonmembers) who went last night. More blessings!
  And that was our week. Keep praying for us and for success in finding people! We need it haha.
  And this next week is gonna be amazing. One word.....CHRISTMAS. On Thursday we got permission to eat dinner in a members house, and on Saturday afternoon, I'll be calling home to you guys. But not only calling home, we all got permission to video chat!!! So we'll all be able to talk and see each other on Christmas day. What a wonderful blessing. So I'm very excited for that. And of course opening presents haha.
  Hope you all have an AMAZING christmas. We'll be over here, sweating like pigs, because its blazing hot already! But it's alright. Love you all and have a gret week. ¡¡¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!
Talk to you Saturday! :D

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, December 13, 2010

Good Stuff

  It was a good week. Not really a good week in terms of the mission work, but in terms of other things it was good.

  Our investigators are still the same. Jennifer is still afraid of water, but we sat down with her this week and we were like, when are you gonna practice and when are you gonna get baptized and made her make some plans so that she'll get baptized soon. She said that sheud get baptized this coming Sunday, the 19th, so hopefully she does. Her dad is gonna fix their little pool and they're gonna practice this week. So hopefully all goes well there and she can get baptized this Sunday. Gema and Victor are doing good too. This week we had "the talk", we talked about marriage, baptism, and the word of wisdom, all the things they need to change if they want to keep progressing in the gospel. And it went well. They are gonna start thinking about marriage, but they said they do wanna get baptized. So that's good. We've got lots of obstacles with them, but little by little we're making progress.
  We still haven't found anyone new here in the sector. Which is CHANTA. We're trying, knocking and all that good stuff, but we haven't found anyone. So it's making the work a little hard for us. But it's all right, hopefully soon we'll find a bajillion people haha.
  But the week wasn't completely bad. It was actually really good for a few reasons.
  On Thursday we had our mission Christmas activity! We started and went to a big plaza where a big bus was gonna pick up like, four of our zones. We got there at 8:15, right on time, but the dumb bus driver didn't get there til 9:30. So we finally got to the activity, where we had inter-zone competitions. There was an olympics, and then a soccer tournament. So it was fun. After that, we all got in the busses again and headed to a big chapel. There we ate lunch, took a picture as a mission, watched a video of the misson, then we listened to President talk about the birth and life of Christ. It was really cool. Halfway through Presidents talking though, Elder Erickson, my comp from the MTC says, Mayberry, come with me. So I do, and we go to the missions truck (which he has prmission to drive cuz he's one of the pensionists, the missionaries that fix problems in the pensions) and we drove off to the local grocery store. It was cool to catch up with him and reflect how long it had been since the MTC. Crazy. So we get back, President had already finished, but we got there just when everyone was going into the cultural hall because we were gonna watch a movie. We watched "It's A Wonderful Life". I had never seen it before but I really liked it. It's old but its still really good. After that, we all went home and that was our day. Me and Elder Russell made a new tradition called Churrasco Thursdays, where we make sandwiches called churrascos in our house every thursday. So that how we ended that day.
  The other days were good too. Saturday I did a baptismal interview and the guy passed this time ( I did one last week for the same guy but he failed cuz he had smoked).
  And yesterday we went to the temple grounds becauuse there is a display of nativity scenes from all over the world open to the public. So we went with a menos activo family and their son who isn't a member and it was cool. There was a bajillion people there and I saw lots of missionaries I knew and also lots of people from past wards that I knew. Good stuff!
  And that was our week. It was a fun one with the mission activity and all, but not too much progress in the work. We have ton of work to do this week, so hopefully it goes well and we have some success here in the BANANAS.
  Love you all, hope you all have a great week. Christmas is almost here!!
Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, December 6, 2010

Tis the Season!

Hello everyone...

  Well, I can't believe Christmas time is already right around the corner again. We're already in December and we're getting excited here for Christmas. I turned a whopping 16 months in the mission yesterday (crazy, two-thirds) which is unbelievable. But things are going great. Kinda...
  The work is going here. We still are having a lack of investigators, but we're looking. We just haven't found them yet. Those that still have are doing good. Jennifer, the girl afraid of water, is still afraid of water, so there's not much we can do there. We have to just look for a pool or something so she and her dad can practice some. And the couple of Gema and Victor are still really really good. This week we're gonna try to put a baptismal date on them, and also put a marriage goal. So hopefully that goes well. And other than that, we don't really have much, so a majority of this week will be dedicating to good ole knocking doors haha.
  I'm used to my sector now, and I like it. The name of the sector has nothing to do with the fruit bananas, there aren't any banana trees in my sector, nor anything remotely close haha. There's just a street called Los Platanos, and that's the street the church happens to be on, hence, the ward called the bananas. Na que ver.
  Nothing terribly exciting happened in the week to report though. Actually, i lied. On Wednesday we had pension inspections from President, so that was cool. He came to our pension, made sure everything was functioning and stuff, and that we were good. So that was a cool little visit.
  Church was good on Sunday. We had two investigators there. Jennifer and Gema. Victor couldn't come to church cuz he had to work. But we were happy to see some investigators there. And also some of the less actives we've been working with showed up, which is also really good. I also got some good news on Sunday, that Veronica and Vicente, two people I found in Pirque, got baptized yesterday. So that's cool news.
  And today me and Elder Russell went to a tourist attraction in the center of Santiago, in the heart of the city. Its a hill, called Cerro Santa Lucía. I'll attatch some pictures. It was cool, we rode a lot on the metro to get there. It's basically an old castle up on a hill in the heart of the city, so you can see some good sights. And there's a cool feria (swap meet like plafce) and I bought some good stuff. :)
  And this next week we have our mission activity! So that should be fun.
  Well thats all I got for now. Hope you're all doing well. Summer here is about to kick into gear, so we're getting ready to sweat like crazy, haha. It's already super hot here and we're not even into the worst part. But it'll be good. Love you all and hope you have great weeks!
Elder Aaron Mayberry


Monday, November 29, 2010

My first week with the bananas

Hello everyone,
It was a really good week here in Los Platanos. I'm getting used to my new sector, new comp, and things are going great. I've met a good number of the members and they seem really great from what I've seen so far, so that is always good. And they're willing to help with the work, which is even better.

  So. In terms of investigators here in the sector, it's going alright. It seemed like we had a ton of people to teach and stuff when I first got here, but upon further investigation, a majority of the people are going to be dropped. They don't really progress at all in the gospel. They just like our company and like to listen to us. But among those people we do have a couple really good investigators. We are teaching a girl named Jennifer, who is 9. Her family is recently reactivated in the gospel and she wants to get baptized. But the thing is, is that she was gonna be baptized a little bit ago, she passed her interview and everything, had the baptismal service, and when she was stepping into the water to actually get baptized, she freaked out. She had a panic attack and couldnt do it....shes scared of water. The good news though, is that the family is going to the beach this saturday and they're gonna practice with her so that she can get baptized as soon as possible. So we're hoping that goes well with them there. The other good investigators we're teaching and Victor and Gema. They're a young couple and the neighbors of a strong family in the church. They have a ton of desires to learn more about the church and they love our visits and learning more about the gospel. This week we are gonna try to put a baptismal date with them, and we're pretty sure they'll accept. But there's one problem............they aren't married. Oof. So somehow we're gonna have to overcome that obstacle so they can get baptized, but anythings possible right? I feel like they'll do it though. We shall just have to wait and see.
  So when I got here to the sector, after the first day my legs were dead haha. My legs weren't used to walking anymore! I had to get re adjusted to walking everyday, not riding a bike, so that was pretty fun. I'm excited to be here though in this new sector.
  My comp, Elder Russell is great. He's got all the energy and optimism of a new missionary, and that's exactly what I needed. So it's a lot of fun with him. We get along great and we're both super excited to just get to work here in this sector. His spanish needs some help though, but that is perfectly understandable cuz he's very new in the mission. But he doesnt even care if what he says comes out wrong or right, he just speaks and even through grammatically incorrect spanish, you can feel the Spirit as he talks. It's cool. Testimony builder of the Holy Ghosts role in this work and how he helps us so much as missionaries.
  Thanksgiving was also this week and it was really good actually! We ate a late lunch and it was essentially a thanksgiving dinner like home. It was at a super cool family's house, the family Saldaña. The Hermana loves helping the missionaries, and she also likes giving us things, aka a thanksgiving dinner haha. With the help of her daughter, who recently returned from a foreign exchanged student program in Canada, they made a typical thanksgiving dinner, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and even gravy. And we spent the majority of the time speaking in English, cuz the Hermana knows it as does the daughter. So I lucked out again this thanksgiving and had a nice little meal.
  Church on Sunday was good. We had only one investigator in church, Gema, because at the last minute Victor was called to work. But it was good. I had to speak for like 5 minutes and introduce myself to the ward. This ward works really well. It's a big difference than in Pirque, because theres a lot more people and it just functions better.
  Speaking of Pirque, I was talking to Elder Deaver and heard some of the coolest news. So Mauricio, Mariela, and that family, and us the missionaries, on the fast Sunday before I left, all fasted with the purpose being that of Mauricio the dad being able to stop working on Sundays. He still hasn't been baptized basically for that reason, becuase he always has to work Sunday. And that was the thing they wanted most, for him to be able to accept the gospel. So we fasted. Fast forward to yesterday, and I'm talking to Elder Deaver. He tells me that in Gospel Principles class, that Mariela bore her testimony about fasting because next Sunday is the last Sunday that Mauricio (dad) is gonna have to work. How cool is that? The church is true, fasting works. That brought a great joy into my heart knowing that now Mauricio will be able to be baptized soon.
  And that's basically how the week went. We got lots of work ahead of us here in the sector, lots of finding to do, and people to teach. Like I said, we're excited. I love the mish and am so glad to be here. Hope youre all doing great over there. Take care and talk to you next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, November 22, 2010

Cambios, pero ni tanto

Hello everyone.
  Well, changes happened, and as suspected, I left. BUT, It's to familiar territory kinda. So, like a year back I went to my second sector, El Valle. That's the sector where I passed Christmas and the earthquake and everything. And in that time, El Valle I was living in the pension of the sector, Los Platanos. Why is this all relevant? Because now I'm in Los Platanos, living once again in that pension haha. So it's pretty cool, it was like taking a trip down memory lane when I walked into the pension today. And I'm gonna spend this Christmas in the same pension...what are the odds of spending my two Christmases in the same house? Sectors different, but the house isn't. And the funniest part is that the Christmas tree me and my comp bought last christmas is still here, so I'll get to use it again...

  But yeah. Here I am in my new sector, the Bananas. (that's what los platanos means). I'm excited. It was sad to leave Pirque, but hey, that's just how the mission is. Time to meet new people, a new sector, and change new peoples lives. My new comp is Elder Russell, from Colorado, and I'm officially his mom. A dad is the person who trains a missionary and a mom is the missionaries next comp after his first change. So yeah, this should be fun. Elder Russell only is on his second change, and I'm his second companion (hence, mom). But it should be good. I've never been with a comp with this little time before, so it should be a good challenge for me. I'm actually really excited to be working here though, in a new ward and stuff. And from what my comp tells me, we've got all kinda of potential here right now. So that makes me even more excited. I'm also district leader again, so we'll see how that goes haha.
  But anyway. My last week in Pirque was a decent one. The most notable thing was that Marianela received the Holy Ghost on Sunday, which is always a good thing to see. Also on Sunday, I went and said goodbye to some of the people in Pirque cuz I figured I was gone. So, obviously I went to my familys house, the family Cortes Perez, of Mariela, Mauricio and Cata, the family I got to baptize while in Pirque. It was cool to see how thankful they were that we got to meet so that they could have the gospel in their lives. The mission really is an inspired calling, like I feel that that family was waiting specifically for me. It's just another testimony builder that the church is true.
  And today was changes. So we left, got our changes and came back here. I'm ready to work here in this new sector.
  And that was basically the week. Nothing terribly exciting, and I can't really inform you about my new sector, cuz I haven't even stepped foot into it yet haha. Next week I'll have more info on that.
  Oh yeah, cool little side note. Remember a while back how I met an Elder from Whittier? If I didn't tell you, there's an Elder from Whittier in the mission. Elder Salinas. He was actually in Los Platanos while I was in El Valle a year ago. Well he heads home today, and he said he'd make a little stop at the house to meet you guys cuz he's so close haha. So keep an eye out for him. I'm attatching a picture too.
  And thanksgiving isn't celebrated here haha, so it shouldn't be too exciting. But word on the street is that a family in this ward might do something for us. We'll just have to see.
  Yup. Church is true, love you all, have a great Turkey Day! And enjoy some photos :D
Elder Aaron Mayberry
1. Chao Pirque


2. Once again, Pirque

3. Me in a chupalla(typical chilean cowboy hat) building a house

4. The new pets at the San Martin household in Piurque

5. Familia Cortés Pérez (some of my favorite people)


6. Me and Elder Ryan Salinas (the Elder from Whittier)

7. Me and my new comp, Elder Russell

Monday, November 15, 2010

Bautisimo!

  So yeah, this week, like planned, we had a baptism! Marianela got baptized, but I'll talk about that more later in the letter. That was easily the highlight of the week, but, unfortunately, the rest of the week was pretty uneventful.
  So lets see. The week was spent trying to ride to our invesdtigators and teach them, but a lot of times that didn't happen. We did some knocking, but also to no avail. So we kinda struggled to get lessons in this week. Our investigators, the few we have, are doing alright. Veronica and Vicente and Javiera are doing good. They accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of DECEMBER LAST WEEK. oops, caps lock. Anyway. Veronica and Vicente made it to church again this sunday, so that is always good. They liked it again, Veronica even asked us if her parents could come to her baptism, so that's cool cuz she's actually serious about getting baptized. And really, they're the only good investigators we have at the moment, everyone else we haven't been able to contact or they aren't really progressing. So, once again, we need to do a lot of finding this week.
  Our other good investigator, Marianela, got baptized this week! It was a really cool baptism, because she is really converted to the gospel. She wanted the remission of sins that comes with getting baptized, you could tell. On Friday we had her interview and she passed with flying colors, and on Sunday she was baptized. Our ward mission leader, Hermano Lopez (one of the best members I've met here in Chile) got to baptize her at her request. It was a super spiritual baptismal service too. Me and Elder Costner gave a talk together and Marianela even started crying. The Spirit was super strong. Then she was baptized and everything went perfectly. I'm gonna include some pictures for you guys.
   I did remember one interesting thing that happened this week. On Friday, our lunch fell through and one of the hermanas gave us money to go buy lunch. So we go to the supermarket, buy a barbequed chicken and french fries, and we eat. The other Elders had an investigator to teach that was gonna come to the supermarket cuz it was easier for him. But this investigator of theirs isn't your typical investigator. He's from the United States haha. He's an exchange student and he's living here in Pirque now. The funniest, coincidential part, is that he was investigating the church back in the states for like 4 months came here and wanted to keep investigating so he can get baptized. He even has plans to go to BYU after his exchange. So yeah, it was a pretty cool sight, 4 missionaries and another gringo in the supermarket eating and conversing haha. That was a nice little gift that the Lord gave to the other Elders here in Pirque. It's pretty funny just speaking English with someone cuz it's so weird. Cuz we never do it outside of other missionaries, so when we get to, everything comes out funny, haha.
  And yeah, that was essentially our week. Hopefully this one is a better one. And who knows what'll happen here this next week. Cuz the changes are next week already, it'll be wierd. I'm pretty sure I'm leaving though, I've already had 4 changes here. I don't wanna go, but that's the mission. I'll go where the Lord needs me to go no mas.
  Hope you all have a great week! Love you all and I miss you, and I'll talk to you soon!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, November 8, 2010

Good week and I turned 15 months in the Mission!

  Hello everyone! It was a good week here in Pirque. We've seen some good progress in our investigators so that is always good.

  I'll start off with some random stuff first. So yeah, this past week I hit 15 months in the mission. How crazy is that? The real countdown has begun and that's scary haha. Time is flying by at incredible speeds.
  Also this week I've seen the craziest weather of my life. On Saturday, it was the hottest day since last Summer and Sunday, the day after, it poured the entire day. The ENTIRE day. It was nuts! Burning hot to cold with tons of rain. Seems like the weather is confused here in Santiago. More about that later though.
  So yeah. Investigators. Marianela is gonna get baptizaed this next week! So we're super excited about that. I feel that she is anopther reason why I came here to Pirque. I've really felt that here more than in any other sector. Like the reasons exactly why the Lord wanted me here in Pirque. So it's super cool to see the blessings of the Lord and to see His hand in the work here. She's got a strong testimony and is ready to be baptized this coming Sunday. We also have seen good progress with our investigators that came to church last Sunday, Veronica, Javiera, and Vicente. First off they really liked church. Second, we were teaching them on Saturday, and they accepted baptismal dates for the 5th of December! So we are super excited about that. We're seeing all kinds of good things here in Pirque, but the big question is.....will I be here to see them??? We shall see...
  Anyway. So yesterday, Sunday, it rained the entire day like I said. And we went in the nighttime to a different sector to work there for a few hours. And lemme tell you, we got absolutely soaked. We were just walking straight through puddles because we were so wet already that it didn't even matter. But it was fun nonetheless haha.
  Also this week we had several capacitations with President and those went well. We reviewed the same material we went over like 3 months ago so it was a good refresher. I wanted to share some cool stuff I learned from President about the Book of Mormon. Some cool facts. In the BoM there's 337 different names. None of these names include the letters, Q, W, or X, and none start with F. Why is this relevant? Because in ancient hebrew, no names contained those letters. Also, in the BoM there aren't last names, just how it was back in old testament times. Joseph Smith could not have known these two things, and yet, he got it right. Another fact. Joseph Smith took 85 days to transloate the BoM, at 10 pages a day, by himself. The 47 translators that translated the King James version into English could only translate 1 page a day. Also, in the BoM, there are roughly 700 geographical references, none of which ever contradict the other. Just some cool stuff adds onto the testimony I have of the restoration of the gospel. Church is true.
  Anyway, it's time for me to go. Hope you're all having a good time over there. I sure am. I love the mission and and I can't express in email how much its truly helped me in my life and how much I've grown as a person, but especially spiritually. love you all! Til next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, November 1, 2010

Dulce or Travesura!

Hello eveyerone!
  This week was a pretty good week. On Tuesday we got to go to the temple so that was really cool, like always. I also got my halloween package on Tuesday which was a nice treat. On Wednesday we got to listen to a general authority, Elder Corbridge, from the Seventy. He's also in the Area Presidency here in Chile. But that was a really cool experience. He talked to us a lot about having to understand the gospel. That our investigators need to understand it, like really understand it, and they'll never refuse being baptized. So it was cool and we'll probably work on what he told us. He talked to us for a long time though, like a total of at least 4 hours. So it was good.
  Interesting news though, so all the elders that would be leaving at the end of the change are leaving a week early, so they can be home for Thanksgiving. As a result, President has made this change a week shorter, so now the change ends the 21st of November. Only a five week change, so the next one will be 7 weeks I think. Pretty weird. But we'll see what happens.
  This last week was very very strange in terms of weather. The beginning of the week was blazing hot, the middle was as cold as the winter with rain all day, and this weekend was once again blazing hot. Funny story though. So the day it rained, it was not cloudy in the morning when we left. So we took our bikes out thinking no big deal. We were on the way to an appointment and it started to rain, but luckily we were close, and we got into the house without getting very wet. We were in there a bit, and the rain had stopped. So we left, and of course, it began to rain like crazy again. And we were far from home. So we just decided to ride as fast as we could, to get home (it was nighttime too). So there we are, riding in the pouring rain for 30 minutes straight (normally like a 45 min ride). So we got home exhausted and soaking wet, and with mud all over our shirts and faces from the rain flying off the front tire as we rode. Those are the fun times in the mission :)
  Our investigators are doing good. Our baptism for the 14th, Marianela, is still doing really good. We had a family home evening with her last Monday and we're having another tonight. She's still doing amazing in the gospel and has accepted everything and is ready to get baptized in two weeks. She didn't come to church though, cuz she went to the South to visit her family for the weekend.(todays a holiday. Theres like one a month here). And we also had some nice progress with someone else finally! We've been teaching a family, of Veronica(mom), Javiera(daughter), and Vicente(son). And on Sunday they came to church! It was so cool to see them walk in because we had thought that they had let us down, but a few minutes after the meeting started they walked in and stayed almost the whole time. So that was really cool. It seems like they liked it a lot. We have a meeting with them on Wednesday and we're gonna see how they felt and stuff. But Sunday was really good cuz we got them to come to church for the first time.
  And yesterday was Halloween, but it wasn't really that exciting. It's still growing here into an acceptable holiday. There's kids that go out and trick or treat and stuff (the subject of the email is what they say instead of trick or treat), but it's just on a lot smaller scale. Also, the hoodlums like to go out and throw eggs at things, for example the buses as they go by. So that was last night.
  And that was basically our week. We saw some good things happen with investigators and are hoping to find some more this week, we're in need of it. Everythings going great here in Chile, I love it here and I love the mission. Hope you're all doing well! Til next week,

Elder Aaron Mayberry
P.S. I attatched some bike riding pictures for your enjoyment. The third ones my favorite :D




Monday, October 25, 2010

Good week!

Hello everyone!
  So the first week of this change is already over. That was a fast, and pretty good week. We had a few cool experiences that I'll share.

  Oh yeah, I  don't know if I told you last week, but I'm no longer district leader, so now I don't have to worry about preparing a class. It was nice just sitting and listening in class on Tuesday and not worry about talking for the whole time haha. Anyway.
 Our investigators are doing alright. We had a sad turnout on Sunday, when we thought we were gonna have a couple. So that is honestly a bit disappointing. All the work you do in the week leads up to Sunday and seeing if your investigators get to church. And this week we just had one. We worked quite a bit, so like I said, it was disappointing. But yeah. The one that went to church was Marianela, who is still going strong as a golden investigator toward her baptismal date on the 14th. We found a new couple this week, but we just gotta see how good they are and if they actually progress. But that's basically our investigators and how they're doing.
 We rode our butts off this week on the bikes and I was pretty exhasuted after this week. We've been going place to place trying to get inactives to come to church, to find new people, to teach the peopel we have, and we ride pretty fast at the same time. So it gets tiring, but I'm adjusting. Actually I'm pretty well adjusted.
  We did have a few cool spiritual experiences this week though. There were 3 that come to mind.
1. So we were teaching Marianela on Tuesday night, and we had taught what we were gonna teach, and we were getting ready to go, but then she began telling us that she had received her for sure answer that the church is true! That's like what all missionaryies are waiting to hear out of their investigators. She said she already knew that it was true, but now she's gotten the spiritual response, and knows for sure for sure. So how cool is that?
2. Also happened with Marianela. We were teaching her on Saturday. Actually, quick note, on Friday we went by to see how she was doing and she was crying and not having a good day, so we tried to give her some words of animo (motivating?) and we left. So Saturday we went by and she told us that she had gotten into a fight with her Aunt (who shes living with) and was about to pack her bags and head back home to the south. She continued telling us that on Friday her aunt came home, and told Marianela, "See? were you not paying attention to what the Elders told you?" Because when we taught her tuesday, we warned her about how Satan would be trying hard so that she didn't get baptized. She then realized that this was the case. That if she would've gone home she would've never got baptizsed. But all is well. She is here and she's going strong. It was a cool feeling to know that I was used as an instrument in the Lords hand to warn her about things.
3. So we were riding home, not knowing what to do on Saturday. I was thinking in my mind what we should do and I was drawing blanks. I remembered a contact that we did though, that told us to go back on the weekend. But I thought in my head, nah, nothing will come of it. But immediately after that, I remembered a lesson I learned earlier in the mission, to always pass by all contacts a second time, no matteer how bad they seem. But I kinda brushed away the thought and we kept riding. But as we got close to where this contact was, I got a strong impression to go there. So we went. We called at the door, the lady said hold on a minute, came back, then said, come on in! Haha. So yeah. Good stuff.
  Today for P-Day we did absolutely nothing and it was good. :)
  Uh-huh. Things are going good here in Pirque. I'm loving it still. I can't wait for the rest of this change, Marianelas baptism, and all the other cool stuff that is bound to happen haha. This week is gonna be a cool one, tomorrow we're going to the Temple, and on Wednesday we get to listen to Elder Corbridge of the Seventy. So it should be cool. Love you all and hope you have great weeks!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Seis semanas mas en Pirque!

Hello everyone!
I hope everything went well for you guys this past week. It was a good week for Chile as a country and a pretty decent week for us here in Pirque.

  So yeah, the big news in the world apparently was that the Chilean miners were all rescued and are safe and sound. The whole country was going crazy pretty much, and it was all that was on the TV for like a week straight haha. Everyone said that they showed it so much that people here got tired of hearing about the miners. But it's still a really cool story and they're all safe and sound. So good stuff for Chile. Pretty cool place to be serving a mission though, interesting stuff happens here, gigantic earthquake, miner rescue, bicentennial, all for my mission haha. Pretty lucky I suppose. Haha side note, it was pretty funny, the President of Chile, after the last miner was rescued, said a curse word on national tv. Good stuff...
  The work is going good here in Pirque though. We're still seeing some good things happen, but we need to work harder to see even better things. Our best investigator is still Marianela, who is still going really strong and getting baptized the 14th of November. So that is good. She's been to church a bajillion times already, and she's already read the whole Gospel Principles book, so she basically knows what the church is about and stuff, and she has felt that it's the step she needs to take in her life. So yeah. The other investigators we have are beginning to progress, or have stopped progressing for a moment. So we need to find some new ones. We've been knocking a decent amount this week, but we haven't had too much success. As the four of us here in Pirque, we're working on trying to knock the entire sector, and we're getting close haha. There's just a few more parts that we need to get. Sometimes I really hate knocking, sometimes I just deal with it, and rarely do I like doing it haha. But it's something you just gotta learn to love. One elder once told me something cool that really helps your mentality while knocking, every next house that you knock could be that person or family that has just been waiting for the gospel. So you just gotta keep going along, hoping for those people.
  Some interesting events here in Pirque for the week...
  Yesterday we were riding our bikes and and this lady stopped us. She asked us a weird question, she asked us who we are. It's a weird question because everyone and their brother knows who those weird gringos in white shirts are, that they're mormons. But this lady didnt know, hence, the question took us by surprise. Then we found out why....she's from New York, haha. She moved from Chile to New York at age 6, and was there her whole life, and came back here 2 years ago. And in the states you rarely see missionaries in the street, so that's why she didn't know who we are. But anyway, i did a VERY rusty English contact, and it came out super funny, but she said we could pass by some day haha. We'll give teaching in English a shot and see how it goes.
  Also, the familia San Martin, who we live with, bought ten baby ducks! We now have a bajilion pets in the backyard, like 20 chickens, 10 baby chicks, and now ten baby ducks. So it's cool.
  Church was good this week. We only had one investigator in the church(Marianela), but we had some less actives go that we've been working with, and yeah.
  Haha I almost forgot to tell you guys that I'm staying here in Pirque again! We got the call last night and all four of us are staying here in Pirque for this change. So that is exciting. I'm really happy cuz now I'll be here for Marianelas baptism and hopefully a lot more good stuff that will happen in the coming weeks. Even though we were staying, we went to the change meeting today and I got to catch up with old comps, old friends, and all that good stuff. Then we came back to the pension, ate lunch, and I took a little nap, and here we are now.
  Well, I love you all and hope you're having a great time in the States. It's going really well here, and I'm super pleased that I stayed again here in Pirque. That means that I will have spent a good chunk of my mission, 6 months, here in this amazing sector at the end of this change. The church is true without a doubt, and it blesses lives. I love this work. Talk to you next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, October 11, 2010

Mao meno no ma'

   It was a pretty average week this week here in Pirque. Nothing interesting happened at all haha. It definitely went by way too fast though. It's just like everyone says, every change and every week goes by faster as you get more time in the mission, and especially after you hit one year. Ever since the year mark time has been going faster than normal, I'm not kidding. I turned 14 months in the mission this last week, so my time is dwindling down. There's still a lot to do here in Santiago though, haha.

  Anyway. The week started off pretty good. We had our zone class on Tuesday and I gave the district class like normal. I always feel that my classes aren't any good haha, but maybe that's just me. Or maybe they really are bad. Hopefully not the latter.
  I'll just start talking about our investigators. They're doing good. Marianela, the girl we found last week, is still doing really really well. She gets the gospel. Like she understands it really well, and it still doing good to be baptized in November. We've almost taught her all the lessons already, and she understands everything perfectly. She came to church on Sunday and was our only investigator there. The other investigators we have are doing alright. No one is progressing a ton, but they're progressing little by little.
  We did service work two times this week and that was good. The first time we went to help a family move out of Pirque, and the second service we went and helped a family build their new house a little bit.
  We also had to change the time on Saturday. So we sprang forward and lost an hour of sleep, so that wasn't the funnest thing.
  And this Sunday, already, are changes again. I can't believe how fast these changes are coming. It felt like seriously last week that I was just getting my new comp. As for these changes I honestly have no idea what's gonna happen. I've been here for three so far, so I'd say its about a 50 percent chance of me going and a 50 percent chance of me staying. I really hope I stay though, I don't wanna leave this sector yet.
  And there you have it. Sorry this email is not very interesting at all haha, but that's just how the week was. Nothing too exciting happened, was just a normal week of being a missionary. And if you're wondering what I did today for pday, I did nothing. And it was good. I'm gonna try to get a lot of pictures and stuff this week, just in case it's my last one here in Pirque. Hopefully not. But we shall see no mas. I'm very happy here in the mission and am loving it. I hope you're all doing well wherever you may be. Summer is starting to kick in here in Santiago, and it's gonna be a hot one. We're just starting spring and it's been up to 26 degrees already. Haha, I'm still not too used to the metric system, I like our system in the States that makes no sense better. Anyway. Love you all and hope you all have a great week. I shall let you know my fate in the mission in my next email. Take care!
Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, October 4, 2010

Una Semana buena!

  This week was actually a really good one. Hooray! Quite a few good things happened and the week ended in the best possible way it could have, with General Conference.
  A little about the week though. So we finally got rid of our old garbage bikes and got new ones! They work really well and we're now flying around our sector on our new bikes. It's petty fun. I had to get used to riding them again though, becuse I wasn't in shape, but now I'm back in bike riding shape and we're going good. It really does save us a ton of money to be using the bikes, and it's more fun than just sitting in a stupid bus. Sometimes we do races with the other two elders to lunch and stuff and it makes it fun. I think I'm gonna start losing some much needed weight now that we have the bikes and summer is starting to kick in.
  This week I also did a companion exchange, which we just call divs (short for divisions) in one of the more flaite sectors in the mission, Chiloé. So that was super weird actually being in a normal sector again haha. It's not as good as Pirque. Because in your normal sectors you get people that bug you, yelling things at us, and they're always blasting their music super loud at whatever time they please. Pirque is just super calm and relaxed and I love it. I really hope I stay here another change. We'll see though. Changes are already only two weeks away, which is crazy.
  In terms of more spiritual things, things are doing really well. We have had some good things come to pass in terms of our investigators. When I was with elder Deaver we decided to go try and visit an old investigator, somone that listened to the missionaries before. Her name is Paulina and we taught her twice I think and then she just disappeared. A week or so later we come to find out that she had been in the hospital and she had gotten a tumor removed. We never got in to teach her again, because shortly thereafter, she disappeared again. But like two weeks ago she came back and it turns out she has cancer, and she's going through chemotherapy now. She said that it was detected super early and that she should be fine, and while she was in the hospital, she took her Book of Mormon and read it often and she said that it helped her a lot in her stay there. This last week we got to teach her again (well I didn't, my comp and another did while I was on divs) and she came to conference this Sunday! So we're hoping to see a lot of progress in her these upcoming weeks.
  Also, you remember how last week I said that that kids mom told us not to come by anymore? Well, nothing changed in that situation, but we received an even better gift from the Lord. We are teaching the niece of a member here now. This niece, whose name is Marianela, is like 20 and came up here to Santiago from the south to study. Because of recent events that have happened in her life (she got pregnant in the south), she decided that she needed to turn her life in a new direction. So she comes here, lives with her aunt(a faithful member) and realizes that God has put everything in her path so that she can turn her life around and be happy. So yeah, she already wants to get baptized. She's already reading the Book of Mormon and the book Gospel Principles, and also came to church these past couple sundays. She's what you call a golden investigator. So me and elder Costner are very happy for this blessing. She wants to get baptized in November, because her birthday is then and she wants it to be like a symbol of her rebirth. She feels the guilt for the things she's done wrong in her life and told us that she wants to repent and be baptized so that she can be forgiven of her wrongdoings. So yeah. Things are basically going good here in Pirque!
  And then to top it off we had conference this weekend and it was so good! I love it. I can't believe how little I appreciated conference when I was at home. Conference is a great time and we can hear what God wants us to hear and how blessed are we to have a prophet like in the olden days? It's so good to be a member of the church. Some highlights for me, President Uchtdorfs talks (all of them), Elder Costa (who had just visited us here in the mission) and I can't remember the others. I can't wait to read them again in the Liahona to get a better hold on everyting.
  Today we went to a place called San José de Maipo, the only other non-city sector in the mission besides Pirque, we ate a bunch of shish-kebobs, completos, and played some stick baseball. Twas fun.
  And like Ryan already mentioned, we turn 14 months in the mission tomorrow, and a year in Chile. So only 10 months left on my mission, which is actually quite depressing. I love the mission and seeing the blessings of the gospel in peoples' lives. The church is true, hope you all have a great week!
Elder Aaron Mayberry
1. Pirque


2. Me and elder Costner at a waterfall we found

3. The four missionaries at the waterfall

4. Missionary work at its best

5. From the activity today, no one is looking at he camera because just at that moment a huge gust of wind blew smoke and ashes from the campfire in our faces

Monday, September 27, 2010

1 Week after the big party!

Hi everyone!

  So it's back to normal missionary work here in Chile after the big party. It was a pretty normal week in terms of stuff we did, things that got accomplished.
  This week did have some up and downs though with the investigators and stuff. Lets see. Catalina got confirmed on Sunday, so that was pretty cool. Sunday was a good day for us in the chapel though, we had 76 people, which is good just for a branch. We had a few investigators, the other elders did, and some inactives we've been working with recently also ended up going so that's really good. So it was nice to see some fruits to our labors this Sunday.
  Sorry, I'm having some writers block today, I can't think of anything that happened last week.
  Other investigators. We found a kid named Sebastian the other week, and he was super interested in the gospel, and we went by one day and his mom was outside and she asked us if we were waiting for Sebastian, we said yeah, and she said, don't wait anymore, you can't come to this house, his dad found out you were meeting with him and he isn't too happy..... So we were super disappointed about that. But oh well, the work goes on. We did receive some blessings in turn though, which was good. We found some people that were nicely placed into our hands, and those are always welcome. We did a lot of knocking this week, but we didn't have too much luck finding.
  We do have some good news though, tonight we get out new bikes! The mission bought four new bikes for us cuz the other ones were so broken, so we're getting them tonight finally. And this week that's coming should be a good one. I can't believe we're already gonna start week 4 of this change, it's going by so fast.
  But things are going great here in Chile. I love the mission and this work and seeing the gospel bless peoples' lives. Sorry for the short email, it'll be better next time. But yeah, love you all and hope you're all doing good back at home! I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, September 20, 2010

Asado, Gallenas, Volantines, y mas asado!!

Hi everyone!
  So yeah, the huge party here has ended finally after four days haha. It was good, but mission work, like Ryan said, came to a complete halt. So that made this week relatively FOME, in terms of the work. Fome is lame, but I use it like an english word now. It just kinda comes out cuz it works nicely. I actually have a lot of silly habits I've picked up from the Chilean culture, which I'll probably still do in the states and people will think I'm crazy haha. I'll make a little list of those later. But yeah. I'll start with the work and then talk more about the party.
  So. First off, our investigators are doing ok. We've found a few that are progressing well, but the assistance at church was really bad. We only had one in church because of the festivities. Oh. I say assistance at church when it should be attendance, the word in spanish is assistencia, so all missionaries fall into the habit of saying the assistance at church. Anyway. We're teaching a few young guys and they are really interested in the gospel and I think they could see some good progress here in these next coming weeks. But other than that the week was rather fome, like I said. BUT....we had a baptism!!! Catalina, the brother of Mauricio and daughter of Mariela, the family me and Elder Sáenz baptized like 7 weeks ago, was baptized this Sunday. Woohoo! It was really cool. And guess who baptized her? Her own brother :D  Mauricio was able to baptize her because he's got the Aaronic priesthood, so that was basically one of the coolest things of my mission. Watching the convert I baptized, baptize his own sister. That's what the gospel is all about. Helping people change their lives, and I can honestly say I've seen a change in the lives of that family. What a blessing to be able to know them. I love the mission.
  Also, we went to the temple on Tuesday and it was super cool and amazing like always.
  And that's about all we could do this week haha. Because starting Friday, Chile as a country shut down, no one answered doors, everyone was drinking, and it was a gigantic party. Not much work was done becaused of it, but hey, we were all expecting it.
¡¡¡FIESTAS PATRIAS!!!
  So the party was pretty cool here in chile. It was the Bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of Chilean independence. And they threw a pretty big party. Like it says in the title, there was lots of barbeques, some fun with chickens, and flying kites, along with all the other great Chilean pasttimes during this time of year. So on Friday, we really didn't do too much in terms of celebrating. We did however help the familia San Martin in preparing for their big party, which lasted the entire 4 days haha. Our help was pretty interesting....we not really we, just Elder Mathews, Elder Deavers comp. He killed one of the 4 chickens that the San Martin's had to cook for the 18th. We were out back and they bring them out, and they just start breaking the chickens necks, it was actually quite interesting and I got it on video haha, and Elder Mathews wanted to try one, so they let him and he killed the chicken, no big deal. It was interesting. Then, our true selves showed out, as young 20 year old boys, and we took like a thousaand pictures of us with the dead chicken in different poses haha. Some people think we're super mature men but we really aren't haha. We're still young and like to do stupid things for no reason. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. And a note to Grandpa, I'm still going to eat chiken after seeing them killed hahaha. Anyway....Saturday, the big day. We were invited to eat lunch at a super rich members house and they had a huuuuge barbeque going, with all the types of meat you could ever desire. So that was delicious. After we got stuck in a HUGE traffic jam because apparently all of Santiago came to Pirque for the celebration, so we sat in traffic forever. And that was our 18th haha. Just a ton of eating and playing some Chilean games (I'll explain more later). On Sunday, we had the baptism, and after we went and ate with that family at the castle, and guess what we ate? Yup, more barbeque. And today, we had a zone activity here in Pirque where we played soccer, flew kites, and ate more barbeque haha. And I got to play some badminton on a makeshift court in the house :D So we ate really well these past few days. And that was how we spent the18th as missionaries.
  Now,  I'll explain some basic Chilean customs, foods, etc that they do here for the 18th. Food. They love their asado, and empanadas. They make empanadas de pino, which consist of ground beef, onions, half a hard boiled egg, and an olive. I'm not a big fan. But they also make empanadas de queso (cheese) which I love haha. They also drink lots of mote con huesillos, which Ryan already described. It's the juice, with oats at the bottom, and a dried peach. I also don't like it. But those are the only things really, I'm not as picky anymore trust me. :) Customs. They play lots of games and have their national dance, the cueca. It's an interesting dance that's impossible to describe to you over the internet, so I took a video and you can see it when I get home. Some games they play are, flying kites, playing with tops, a horseshoe like game, and like a relay race. On Saturday at lunch we did a relay race, and the first leg was a sack race, then get out of the sack and put a spoon in your mouth and balance a lemon on it, then go to a bowl full of flour and take out a candy at the bottom, and then go to a bowl full of water and take a candy out from the bottom (the last two without hands obviously) and then run to the start. Pretty fun stuff. They also have the tradition of climbing a huge pole to get to the top. It's fun stuff. We enjoyed ourselves.
   And that was basically how we spent our week. It was a lot of fun, and we also got some good spiritualness in with the baptism. All in all a great week. I love chile. Even though it's a lot different I've come to lov it and definitely plan on bringing lots of Chilean things and traditions home. Which reminds me. I said in the beginning I do some Chilean things now, I'll say a few. One is the handshake hug handshake, whenever you greet someone. I don't even remember how to greet someone in the States now and I find it really weird that they don't shake hands, give a hug, then shake hands again. So that's funny. I've also gotten into the habit of pointing at things with my lips. Instead of using their hands and fingers to point, a lot of Chileans when they wanna point something out or say where something is, just extend their lips out and point them at the object. I do that one a lot now. Also. There is a noise the Chileans make, when you're talking to someone in a conversation and you disagree or think they said something stupid or think their lying. Really this noise applies in a ton of situations. but its basically, daaaaaaaaah. I find myself doing that one too, mostly just cuz it's really funny. You might not understand but I know Ryan will haha. But yeah. Those are some Chilean traditions/customs I plan on taking back to the states. You'll all probably think I'm weird though but it's ok.
  As you'll see in the fotos, we have a great time living with a family. It's a really neat opportunity we have here in Pirque. They're great people and Luis, the dad of the family is a really funny guy. He isn't a member but he loves us like we are his own kids. He calls us all gringos, or gringitos and we have fun with him a lot. We're working on getting him baptized, all missionaries in the past here have tried, but without success. We'll see how it goes with us.
Yup. Así es. Esto es mi carta que les escribo para esta semana. Espero que todos tengan una semana bien buena llena de cosas bakanes y pulentos. Yo estoy tan feliz aqui en Chile serviendo al Señor por estos dos años. ¡Me encanta la misión muchisimo! Es la mejor cosa que he hecho. Les amo mucho. Espero que les haya gustado esta parte en español. Y ahora un poco Chileno. Wena cabro! Al tiro! El carrete fue rewena ¿cachai? y no solo pintamos monos, le dimos duro a la pega igual. La disfrutamos harto. Sipo. :D Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry
PICTURES, lots.

1. The good stuff


2. Ward 18th party

3. What I ate for 4 days straight

4. Mauricio and Mariela at the ward party



5. The party of the San Martíns


6. Elder Deaver having fun with Luis


7. Us with the conquered chicken

8. Luis being Luis with the freshly plucked chicken

Good Stuff!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Como Estamos?

Hello everyone!

  Things are going great in Pirque. We're already seeing tons of good things coming from the 4 missionaries here. It's super excciting.
  Let's see, I suppose I'll start with the week and go in a nice little order. Cuz it seems like a lot has happened this week, but I cant tell if it has haha. So lets see. Monday, as you know was changes and I already told you all about that. My comp is Elder Costner and he's a cool guy. I promise you a foto next week, because I didn't bring my camera. We're doing good though. Tuesday was the fist district class of the change, and I had to give my silly class, which I'm not the biggest fan of doing-haha. But it went well. The rest of the week went kinda normal, except for a few interesting days. On Tuesday night we had our mission activity for the 18th of September and it was ok. The only good thing that came out of it was seeing all the missionaries and we watched an inspiring movie, "Hoosiers". It's an old basketball movie. It was good. And inspiring haha. But yeah. On Saturday we had our branch activity for the 18th and it was really good. We played soccer, ate tons of meat and did Chilean things haha. I took lots of pictures. And also, Saturday night, being Septermber 11th, we had to go in the pension early, because a while back there was a government overthrow on the 11th of september, and now its evolved into like national anarchy day, so all the missionaries went in early. I'm in the most tranquilo sector in the mission though, so nothing even happened. But still exciting I suppose haha. And that was basically our week.
  Investigators. I'll talk fast about them. So really this week we saw lots of progress with Mauricios sister, Catalina, and she's getting baptized on Sunday! So that's really cool. And guess whos gonna baptize her? Mauricio, my convert!!! That's like a missionary dream come true haha. So it's a really great time here in Pirque. Also, we had a really cool family home evening in the house where we live and we had a super spiritual lesson with the four of us missionaries teaching the husband (who isn't a member) of the hermana. And the day after, in the morning, he said to us, "gringos, give me a month and a half and I'll be baptized". So that was really cool. We'll just have to see though and make sure he stops smoking. So we'll see. But we're super excited. The four of us have some big hopes for the branch of Pirque now and we're really excited to get working and find more people and get this branch moving.
  But yeah. That was basically the week. Today, it was Elder Saenz's birthday, so we came up to the big mall and ate at a buffet haha. So I'm happy. Things are going great though, I love the mission and I can't wait for what's to come. The HUGE celebration is this week so it should be a fun one. I'll make sure to send a ton of pictures home next week showing the festivities of the 200th anniversary of Chilean independence. I'll be eating lots of barbeques and stuff and doing Chilean things. Should be good! I love you all and hope you're all getting back into the swing of things after summer vacation haha. My vacation still isn't for another 11 months but that's ok. Missionary work rules. I love it. Alright, gotta go, cuídense harto ya?

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Monday, September 6, 2010

Cambios, not so major!

Hello everyone!
It was a pretty good week here in Pirque, so that is good. There were also some big changes here with the cambios, but not quite as big as Ryans'. But it's still big haha. I'll start off with how our week went and stuff just to leave you all in suspense about what happened :)

  So all this week we continued with the capacitations with president and those went really well. But to be honest I was really tired of having to go all the way to where we went every day in the morning. But it's ok now because we're done. But I learned a TON and a lot of stuff that will help our investigators we have now, and the ones we're gonna find, progress in the gospel. So that's good.
  I forgot to mention a couple things last week though in the last email. First off. So there's a guy in the ward named Pablo, who just left for his mission a week or two ago. So the day before he left we were with him and it brought back tons of memories from about a year back, of when I was about to enter the MTC. It was pretty cool. But poor Pablo, he still has a whole two years left of his mission haha. It seems like it's such a long time! But yet here I am, with a year and a month already, which is crazy. I can't believe how fast time flies in the mission. It goes faster than normal, trust me.
  Another thing that happened last week was actualy a pretty traumatic experience. So lemme start off by remembering you of the pets we have in our house. Not our pets, but the pets of the San Martin family we live with. They have lots of chickens and two dogs. One of the dogs is a killer-haha. Not of people of course, but of some dogs. His name is Gary. So one day I was outside looking at the new baby chicks the family brought home and Gary comes out back. He's just walking around no big deal, until one of the chicks gets startled and made some quick movements and Garys instinct kicked in and he started chasing it! He eventually cornered it and got it and started eating it, meanwhile I'm yelling at it and trying to get it off the chick, but it was too late. Like I said, traumatic. Trying to heave the dog off. The poor little chick. Pretty interesting experience though, not something that happens everyday.
  Anyway, now to talk about better things haha. Our investigators are doing good. Yesterday was Stake Conference and it was good. Cata, the sister of Mauricio, the recent convert, is still going to church every week but still doesn't wanna get baptized. Alexander finally agreed to go to church this Sunday and he was all ready to go, but when the morning came his mom didnt let him...ugh! Those are frustrating experiences. But other than that we're looking and have some other people that we will see if they progress.
  Ahh. If you didnt know, Chile's independence day is the 18th of September. And its the bicentenial, I think that's how its called in english. 200 year birthday. So everyone is getting ready for the huge party. Everyones got their flags out, blasting typical Chilean music, and buying all the meat for the big barbeques. And the San Martins bought a few chickens to cook to eat in a soup and are gonna buy a pig to cook also haha. So it's pretty cool to see all the excitement. And we're gonna have a mission activity to celebrate this Thursday! So that will be fun. Still no word on what we're gonna do but it will be good for sure.

  And now the moment youve all been waiting for........the changes.
  Well I'm still here! But I have a new companion. His names Elder Costner and he's from New Mexico. He has like 10 months in the mission. But where's the big news, is probably what you're asking. Well, Elder Deaver is also still here in Pirque. There's 4 missionaries now! Which is pretty big news. So we got split up to bring in two new people. So it's interesting. It should be really good. The branch has been wanting 4 again so it can keep growing. I'm still district leader though, which is not that much fun, but what can you do? And also, two brand new bikes are coming to Pirque, hallelujah! We're gonna get the other two fixed this week and with the two new ones we'll all be ready to ride around the sector. So it should be good. This week should be a fun one.
  Well that's about it for now. I love you all and hope you enjoyed the letter. I'm attatching a couple fotos too for you to enjoy. I hope you're all doing great in the states. I'm loving it here in Chile, ready to enjoy another six weeks in wonderful Pirque. Cuídense mucho! Chau!

Elder Aaron Mayberry
1. Me playing with the chickens (I never knew they could jump)

2. The cool secret castle in the sector that barely anyone sees(but we're that cool that we can)


3. Me in front of the castle

4. Inside the castle that was destroyed by the earthqueake. A whole tower fell down. Look in the first picture you can tell. But thats why we have the hardhats haha, in case it were to fall down again :)

Monday, August 30, 2010

Asi no mas.

Alright, hows everyone doing?
  I'm doing fantastic here in Pirque. We had another so so week this week so that's ok, but it doesn't matter, I'm loving it here and loving the work.

  So let's see. Well three days this week we had little trainings in the morning with President, regarding the changes to the missionary work in the world. There's like 8 key points we're focusing on in these meetings and they're really really good. I'm learning a ton about how to become a better teacher and better help our investigators progress in the gospel. So far we've talked about, extending baptismal invitations, importance of prayer in conversion, and the role of the holy ghost in our teaching. So it's been cool. This coming week we're gonna have the remaining 5 so it should be good.
  Some good things have happened though this week. On tuesday after the first training with
President about baptismal invitations he invited us to all make one with our investigators that very day. So we decided to do it with our investigator named Alexander. Alex we've been teaching for a while, but he's not very good at completing his commitments. But he's really good and interested. So we figured we'd just go for it and invite him to be baptized. We invited him, and as we thought, he was doubtful. So we told him that he could pray to find out if he should be baptized, and I got the impression that we should do it right then and there. So that's what we did. We knelt down and he offered a prayer asking if he should get baptized, and the spirit was SO strong in the moment and he said he felt good about it, so he accepted the date. It was a really really cool experience and a testimony builder. So that was what's going on with Alex. We also found a new person that was listening to the missionaries before but had too much work and had to stop, so we're now working with her again. So we'll see how that goes. More good news with Mauricio and Mariela, Mauricio blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday! It was so cool. He was looking pretty spiffy cuz he came to church for the first time in a suit and he blessed the sacrament like a champ. So that was really cool to see because it's someone I baptized, seeing his progression. And Mariela was also called as the second counselor of the Young Womens, so that's also really neat. And that's about it. Me and Elder Deaver are figuring out better, more efficient ways to work in this sector so we should be finding more success here soon.
  We had an interesting expereience yesterday, we went all the way to like the farthest part of the sector that's up a gigantic hill, all on the bikes. And it all turned out to be a waste of time cuz we didn't teach any of the contacts we made. On the way back, my stupid bike broke again! The back wheel is extremely wobbly when I ride and now it just hits the side and I can't peddle. So. We were stranded haha. So we had to call the family that lives in the house in front of us and they had to come rescue us haha. Not too much fun.

  Today for Pday we did a cool thing. We played soccer zone vs zone. So it was our zone against another zone and that was lots of fun. Our zone won :)
  And that was essentially our week. Nothing terribly exciting but that's ok. We're kinda in a slump at the moment, but we're working on getting out of it. This week should be a nice one, with our mini conferences, finding new people, and hopefully some good progression in our investigators. And it's the end of the change already! I can't believe it. So next time I write you'll know about my changes. And rumor has it that there's gonna be big changes here in Pirque (4 missionaries??) So we'll just have to wait and see.
I love you all and hope you're all doing great! Enjoy the end of summer!

Elder Mayberry

More pictures, cuz I know you love them

1. Pirque

2. Me and Elder Deaver riding

3. Our new pets in our backyard

Monday, August 23, 2010

Una Semana Interesante!

  So this week was a lot more interesting than the other ones. It was still ahí no mas in terms of the work but that's ok. We got some stuff done, found a couple people, had some lessons. Just an overall pretty average week here in beautiful Pirque.

So lets see. We'll start with Tuesday. Tuesday we woke up bright and early cuz we got to go to the temple, so that was cool....except we were late....so we had to wait an hour and a half in order to get into the next session haha, so we used a big part of our day in that. But it was really cool. It's a great blessing to have a temple in my mission and be able to go frequently. On Friday something interesting happened, I did my first baptismal interview. It was a really cool expereince. I don't remember if I mentioned, but District Leaders are in charge of doing the baptismal interviews for the investigators of the District. So the hermanas (sister missionaries) had me go over to their sector and I gave the interview to their investigator. It was a spiritual experience. I felt really in-tune with the spirit as I was giving the interview and it was really cool to see how the guys life has been blessed for knowing the gospel. So all in all a good experience. I was a little nervous at first, but it all went well. Aside from the fact that we got horribly lost on the way-haha.
  Anyway, more interesting things from the week. So on Tuesday after the temple we got mail telling us that on Saturday we were gonna have a surprise conference with Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Amado from the Seventy (Area President of Chile). So that was pretty much amazing news. So on Friday, the assistants called us, and told us that we had the option of going to the north and staying in the pension of Elders that lived closer to where the conferece would be held. Because we here in Pirque live in the farthest south part of the mission. It's a long trip north, well, considering our mission. In any other mission going from the south tip to the north would take a long long time but us it's only like an hour and a half haha. But we were supposed to be there way early in the morning, so we would've had a tough time getting there. So on Friday night we went and slept in the pension of Elders in the Northern part of the mission which was cool. Then saturday morning we headed to the conference. Basically it was amazing!! It's so cool to listen to General Authorities speak. You can just feel the power of their words and that they are truly men of God. So it was a great experience on Saturday. Also, the whole mission got together for it so I got to see everyone in the mish that I know, which was cool.
  And that was basically the interesting things of the week. Our investigators are doing good. Well, they're just kinda there. Nothing special is happening with them, and their progress isn't a ton. But that's why we've been trying to find a lot more, and we've found a few but we'll see how they go. A cool thing yesterday though was that Mauricio, that 16 year old, that me and Elder Saenz baptized, got the Aaronic priesthood! How cool is that? What a cool thing we got to experience.
  But yeah, that was basically our week. Hope you enjoyed it. This next week should be interesting, we're starting capacitations (trainings in english?) every day with President for two weeks. So that will be really cool.
  Love you all and hope you're having a great summer while we're over here freezing! Just kidding. Winter is actually starting to fade away, finally. So it's good. I love the work here, its amazing, the mission rules.
The church is true!
Elder Aaron Mayberry
Pictures...
1. Pirque

2. Me and a chilean kite

3. A video of kite flying (lemme know if you get it)---It wasnt a very good run, didnt stay in the air, but hopefully you get the gist of how they fly kites here. Sorry, it won't post......

Monday, August 16, 2010

Fome!

Hello everyone! This week was an ok one really, nothing terribly interesting or exciting. Just a nice normal week of missionary work.

 Well actualy, thinking back this week was not very good at all haha. We had lots of good plans to contact new people and teach them and just find a lot of new people. But it didn't really happen. We did lots of searching this week. Because as a zone we have been struggling big time with finding new investigators. So it was our goal to improve that number. Here in Pirque it only went ok for us. We found a couple new people but like I said, a lot of times when you knock doors you just make a contact to go back another day. So this week we went by lots of those people and they were never home. And it's frustrating here because we'd take a bus down to the part and no one would be there and we'd have to go to another area by bus. So it wasted lots of time. And that was basically the story of our week. But that's just how the mission is sometimes. You have your ups and you have your downs. We were at a definite down this week haha. But this next week is looking promising.
  In terms of the people were teaching they're doing good. Our investigators are kinda low though. Like we don't have too many at the moment. Mauricio and Mariela are still doing really good in the gospel so it's really really cool to see that. See them going every week, learning more, Mauricio going to seminary. It's a really cool feeling to know that you've helped someone arrive to the truth and have more happiness in their lives. We're still teaching the daughter, Catalina. But she's doing ok. She has already heard all the stuff that we teach, because she was present while we were teaching. But she doesn't wanna get baptized yet. We gave her a baptismal invitation the other day, but she said that she just doesn't want to get baptized at the moment. So we're not gonna try to pressure her. But it's funny because when we gave her the invitation and she rejected, Mauricio like started asking her why and what the problem was haha, he's already doing missionary work in his own house with his sister. But we're not worried, she's going to church with her mom and brother each week and that is very important. So we're just gonna take it slower with her. Our other investigators didn't go to church but we're seeing a little bit of progress with them. Alexander came to mutual with us after a lesson, and he liked it I'm pretty sure. But he always ends up leaving for the weekends, so he hasn't been able to go to church. Juan and Yazna are still going with their goal to get baptized at the end of the year, and I quoted dad in a lesson with them. I invited them to make like mini-goals in order to reach the major goal. Like set dates and stuff. I told them that a goal is only a dream unless it's written down (thanks dad for that tidbit of advice). So it's going good with them. But this week we should be finding some more people to teach so it should be good. We started teaching a couple people but we have to wait and see if they progress any.
  So that's our investigators for the moment. Let's see, some other things that may be of interest to you back there in the states...
  The weather here is being really stupid. We're nearing the end of winter (finally) and the weather can't make up its mind. On Saturday it was the nicest day I've seen here for a couple months, sun shining all day long and a good amount of heat, and on Sunday it was one of the coldest gloomiest days of the winter. So that keeps things interesting here. Another intersting fact that I didn't mention last week was that they celebrated día del niño on the 8th of August. Kids day. I dont know why it doesn't exist in the US. Yup.
  Today for pday we learned how to fly kites Chilean style as a zone and it was fun. But there was like no wind so we couldn't do anything haha, but we at least know the technique, which is a lot more fun than the American way haha. You actually have to do stuff with the string and can do stuff with the kite. It's weird to describe, but its fun.
  Me and Elder Deaver are getting along great, he's a really funny guy and we have fun in the sector on the bikes and going from here to there. So that's always a good thing in the mish, having a good comp.
  But that was basically the week here in Pirque. I'm still loving the sector, it's amazing. And the work is amazing too, even when some weeks are pretty fome. But that's just how it goes sometimes. Time is flying though, we're already halfway done with this change. Next thing I know we'll be at Christmas already..... I love you all and hope you're all having a great summer vacation and stuff and that you have a great week. We'll be talking next Monday!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Un ano ya...

  Well here we are, halfway done with the mission already! It's a strange feeling really, hard to describe. But I'll tell you more about the day and how I feel and stuff later.

  First off this week was pretty crazy. Me and Elder Deaver had lots of plans to get some good stuff done this week, but it kinda didn't happen for various reasons which I'll explain. But I'll start off the email with an update on the investigators.
  Mariela and Mauricio are doing really good. Technically they aren't even investigators any more since they're members of the church already. But they are doing really really good. They're being really faithful and are anxious to learn more about the gospel and keep progressing. So that's really cool. Juan and Yazna are also doing good. They're doing a lot better. They went to church on Sunday so that's a good thing. They still have the goal of getting baptized at the end of the year so that's really good. Our others aren't really progressing at the moment so we haven't had too much success in that aspect.- We've been needing to find some news but this week every time we were gonna knock something came up. It was really frustrating. Here's what happened.
  -Wednesday: We were riding to go visit a reference and right when we passed by in front of our house....I got a flat tire. So we had to go home and fix it.
  -Friday: We are just about to knock and the assistants called us and told Elder Deaver that his bank account was having problems and that he had to call the bank asap and get it fixed. So we had to go buy a calling card so he could call the States and get it sorted out. So we had to go do that and it took a while to do everything. So that killed a lot of our time.
  -Saturday: We had to finish up the problem with the bank account so we had to call and go to internet to make sure his account was squared away and eveything. Once again our night was gone.
  -Sunday: Yesterday we were riding and I was gonna put air in my tire at a shell station after having patched the tire the other day. We get to the shell, I put the air in (I put the right amount in) and we started riding off and I went off a bump and BOOM my tire exploded.....So we had to walk all the way (like 40mins) home and change the tire get a new tube, it was a mess. But it got fixed finally and we finished the night with a good lesson.
  But as you see the week was a little crazy. Mix in divisions one day and this week went by really really fast. And I turned a year old.
  So yeah, my mission is half over haha. It's insane; to say the least. I can't believe how fast the time has passed. I woke up on Thursday and it really felt like just a normal day. My one year mark felt no different than any other day, but it just had some significance haha. But it feels good. It feels like I've been through a lot already, learned a ton, had a bunch of great experiences, and it's only been a year. So I still have a lot in store this last year that's coming. But it's also a very bittersweet feeling. Because I only have one more year to do this, something that is really amazing. So when that day comes in a year I know it will be hard to leave. But at least I still have one more year left right? It seems like a lot of time but I know it will go by ridiculously fast. Oh, I did celebrate very little haha. I treated myself to a nice snack when we got home at night of skittles, ice cream and a bacon chesseburger. Twas tasty. But that was it. I am now old in the mission haha.
  So the week was crazy, I turned a year in the mission, and that was about it for this week. This next one will be good for sure, because we have lots of things to do. But that's how its going for us in Pirque at the moment. Sorry it's not the greatest letter ever but thats how it goes sometimes I guess. But know, that I am so happy to be here in the mission. Yesterday Mauricios dad asked us what made us come here on the mission instead of doing stuff the rest of the people our age are doing and it gave me good time to reflect and really, theres no place I'd rather be at the moment. The mission is amazing. I love this work and sharing the restored gospel. It's an amazing privilege I have to spend two years doing this work. I can't wait for the next year that awaits me and all the experiences that I'll have. The gospel is true. This is the true church, without doubt. I love you all and I'll talk to you next week!