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

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......

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

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!

Pretty good week!

This week was a pretty good one. Nothing crazy that happened or anything, just a nice ordinary week here in Pirque.

  Me and Elder Deaver are doing good. We get along pretty well, which is always good. It's always a concern when changes come around because you never know what type of person you'll get as a comp. I've had luck so far, I've had all good ones. But yeah, we're doing good.
  Lets see. In terms of investigators. Mauricio and Mariela got confirmed yesterday, so that's really good. I actually got to confirm Mariela which was a cool experience (my first time). So it was good. They're doing really really good in the gospel and are really happy and sure of the decision they've taken in their lives. It's really cool to see the progress they've made. Juan and Yazna took a turn for the better this week, finally haha. They're the couple that just needs to get married to get baptized. We were in a lesson with them the other day and Yazna told us that she and Juan had talked and they decided to put a goal of getting baptized at the end of the year. This is a big move for them so we were really happy when they told us. It might be far away, but they have the end goal in mind, which is always very very important. The other investigators we have are there, progressing but kinda, so we're gonna try to find more here in this change. It's really weird trying to knock doors in the sector though, so it's something we're working on. But those are our investigators.
  Other things in the mission life. Well it's been really interesting, the weather. A couple days the suns been out, others the sun isn't in sight and it's raining a ton and other days it's been ridiculously cold. So it's been good here. We've taken the bikes out a bit when the weather permits and it's been fun. It's tiring though, I'm still not used to them.
  So to answer the questions what does being senior comp and district leader entail. Senior comp basically means that I've made the change from having companions older than me in the mission to having companions that will be younger than me. Meaning that I'll have to lead lessons more, talk more to the people, basically "pull the wagon" as dad would say haha. And district leader means that I'm "in charge" of a few companionships of missionaries. For example, we have a zone, of 12 missionaries, and in the zone are two districts of 6. We have the two zone leaders, who are in charge of the whole zone and the two district leaders, who are in charge of the districts. But it really doesn't mean much. Basically the only the things that's changed are that I have to teach a class every tuesday to my district, take dats (i have no idea what the english word would be, but its like the numbers of lessons and stuff we have), which is just calling the district and asking them their numbers and then I relay that to the zone leaders, and then once a week we have a meeting of the zone leaders and the district leaders and talk about the zone, the progress of the zone and any difficulties or anything. So yeah. That's what it means being district leader. Not much fun haha, who wants more responsibility?
  And that's how it's been this week. Sorry there's not too much to include in this letter. No big changes or anything in investigators and stuff. Next week should be better. Oh, and I turn one year this week......wow. I bought some special things to make for a nice little feast on Thursday night haha. I'm gonna treat myself right haha.
  But yeah. I love you all and am so glad to be here in Chile. Missionary work is really amazing and it's kinda sad that I only have a year left of it. I got emails from Elder Evans and Elder Frost, two of my companions, who went home last week and all they say is that they miss the Mission. But I'm gonna enjoy this last year and work my hardest. The church is true, without a doubt, and missionary work rules! Hope you all have a good week!
Elder Aaron Mayberry
P.S. Couple pictures to enjoy.
1. Me and Elder Deaver

2. Me on the bike :)