The end..

  Hey everyone, just wanted to write you and let you know all is well here in Santiago. It was an amazing week and was such a cool way to end the mission. Im here in the office right now, all the other elders from my group just left for the airport right now, and im here with elder sheahan, whos awaiting his twin brother, and elder welling, whos awaiting his 2 triplets. They go home thursday though. But yeah, gonna run a couple more errands tonight, then await Ryans arrival tomorrow morning, then spend the whole day with him and then we'll hop on the plane home!!!! Cant wait to see you all on wednesday! See you soon!


Elder Aaron Mayberry

Last week of the mission!

  Well here we are. Its August.
And this is the last week of the mission, so its basically the last real email youll be getting. Obviously ill write you next week, but itll be something small, cuz ill just be talking to you two days later. How am i feeling you might be wondering. Well it feels weird. Real weird. It still doesnt feel like my time has come, or it feels like its like a joke that im going home. But it is gonna get harder and harder this week i think, knowing that itll be the last time i do some of these things and seeing these people. Like for example, im not gonna go shopping again when everythings in spanish haha. Its little things like tht that make me realize that the mission is indeed coming to an end. Its very bittersweet.

  Not much to report from this week though, all is well here, im safe healthy and good and excited to see you all next week.
  Well, this next week will be pretty interesting. Its gonna be pretty trunky haha. So tomorrow we have my last zone class ever. Im also doing divisions to one of my old sectors to invite some poeple to my despedida(going away). Wednesday and thursday will be normal days in the mission. Friday all of us who are going home get to go on what we call the trunky tour haha. We have to be at the temple at 9 in the morning to do a session with President Laycock, then after that we all pile in cars and President takes us on a tour of Santiago. He takes us to a bunch of tourist locations and stuff. Saturday is gonna be full of packing the bags and maybe the final interview with President and a special blessing. Then Sunday i have that despedida. Basically all the people i wanna invite can come to the temple gardens from 6 to 8 at night and say goodbye. Then Monday we have the last change council, i give my final testimony, say goodbye to all my fellow missionaries and await the flight home. Except the special part is that on tuesday morning ill be awaiting Ryans arrival, we'll go to the temple, then ill show him the ropes here in Santiago, we'll go out to eat, go shopping, spend some time together, then head on a plane ride for the good ole US of A.

  Man, it feels so surreal. Like its not even happeneing. Its an impossible feeling to describe. It feels good, knowing ive served the Lord for two whole years of my life. It is comfortiong to know that ive helped so many people come unto Christ. Its saddening to know that ill be leaving this work in just a few short days. But its also very very exciting to know that i will see you all in a few days, spending time together after a long time apart. Im also way excited to get on with normal life, cuz thats what happens when you finish the mission, life begins. I now have all the tools i need to have success in the real world. Im pretty happy to be able to see friends, do normal things, be normal again. Its a great and sad thing to finish the mission.

Well. Here we go. Last week! Ill write a short email on Monday and then ill see you a week from wednesday!!!!!! SEE YOU ALL SOON!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Falta Poquito

Hey all!

This week was a pretty good one for us here in Tobalaba. We saw some sucess with our investigators finally, and had in general more lessons with thet people we're teaching so that was good.
  So on Tuesday we had zone class and interviews with President. But because we're zone leaders we're the last to get interviewed. President was running behind though and didn't get to interview us cuz he had to leave. But he told us that Wednesday morning he would be coming over and interviewing us in our pension. So Wednesday morning came and President came over and we had our interviews. Mine went really well. He gave me a lot of good advice for going home. He told me to hold off on a lot of the questions though, cuz there's still the final interview when its just all trunky talk haha. But I learned a lot from my interview. Then, the cool thing was that we got to spend even more time with President Laycock, cuz he also had to go over to the sisters' house and do two of their interviews still. So we accompanied him there, and it was cool just chatting with President in his car and stuff.  I look up to this man. He's such an amazing person, and he has some incredible stories (remind me when I'm home to tell you about when President got hit by a train and lived, its a crazy story). So we just sat and chatted with the sister missionaries as president did the interviews and it was good.
  OH. So tuesday for lunch. Remeber how I said we we're gonna go out to eat witht the assistants? Well we did and it was the best lunch I've ever had haha. We went to this restaurant called Mr. Jack. Wow it was good. Its a hamburger place and i ate this HUGE hambrger and it was really really good. I think that the Tuesday Ryans here, that thats where we'll go to lunch. Ive included a picture of the hamburger I ate...
  On Thursday I did divisions in a different sector, called la reina. So that was good. It's always fun going on divisions and seeing new people and new things. The only problem was was that it rained that day and I hadn't taken anything for the rain haha. So I borrowed the other elders umbrella and stuff and I did alright. It has been a bit colder this week, and it rained really hard 2 days of the week.
  The work is going well though. We have one baptismal date for the 31st of july, but we'll see how that goes. But once again, no one came to church. Which was again, disappointing. But we haven't lost the faith or the hope. We're just gonna work hard for these last 3 weeks to see what can happen.
  Today for Pday we went down to Puente Alto to the guy that makes suits, and I got my suit pants adjusted cuz they were too big at the waist. Then we went to the scripture cover lady and got dads order done, and then we went to pizza hut to celebrate elder bundersons birthday. It was good.
  Well it's all coming to an end. How crazy is that. I can't believe it's already been basically two years. Only three short weeks left of being a missionary. Not gonna lie, I'm excited to come home, but I'm also excited for what's to come in these last 3 weeks here. Love you all, and I love this work. Hope you're all doing great, and I'll see you all soon! (21 days but who's counting?)

Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. Me in the feria

2. My companion elder Reynolds(right), elder Bunderson(left)


3. The Mr T burger

4. My knitting projects

5. Me with my beanie and scarf

All is well.

Hey everyone

  Things are good here in Tobalaba. This week was a pretty slow one though. We didn't get very many lessons in at all, and it was really hard to contact our investigators for some reason. But it was still a good week nonetheless.
  Our investigators are doing alright. We've been trying to find some new ones and have had some success. We've actually had some good little miracles come to us recently so it's been pretty cool. We've been doing contacts with some people we run into and it's gone pretty well for us. For example... we were just walking down the street and I decided I wanted to eat a sopaipilla, so we go to the little stand and buy one, and my comp began talking to the guy that was also there buying, and it turns out that the guy has a cousin in the mission and this guy isn't a member and he said we could pass by whenever we wanted to talk to him. So that was cool. And it was even cooler cuz he told us where he lives, and it's in a place that we felt we sould knock the other day. Good stuff. We've also had a bunch of luck with my new hobby haha. The two times we've found places that sell yarn, we've contacted the ladies that worked there and they were way receptive. One of them went on vacation, but was super happy when we gave her a book of mormon and she said she was gonna take it and read it while on vacation. So we're seeing good stuff despite the fact that all the investigators we have are slowly progressing in the wrong direction.
  Yesterday we had whats called a sector slam, when the whole zone goes to one sector to knock doors for a few hours. So we did that in our sector cuz we've been struggling with finding news. So we think it went well, we're getting the reports tomorrow in zone class.
  We also saw some amazing stuff happen with a family we've been teaching. So the hermano is a super active member of the church but his family is all inactive. The family being his wife and son, who is my age. So last week we ate lunch with them, and we told them we were gonna come over and make peanut butter cookies with them. So we did that this Wednesday and it went really well. We invited them to church and everything but they didn't say they were gonna go. So we're at church sunday, disappointed again cuz we didn't have any investigators, we went to the second class and it was good, and we go to the priesthood opening exercises and guess who was there? Ignacio, the hermanos son. So we were like whoa! It was crazy haha. Then we go downstairs after all the meetings ended and the mom was there too! We didn't get any investigators to church, but seeing that family arrive made it a good sunday.
''Today for P-Day we dedcided to do something aside from sit in the house, cuz there's not too many pdays left. So we asked for permission to go eat at this restaurant near the church offices, but we got shot down. Apparently President is getting more strict with giving permission to do stuff on pdays. So we just went to a restaurant in our sector, called Ruby Tuesday haha. It was good. It was like being in the US. So we went there the four of us in the sector, then went shopping, then we went back to the house and I finished my scarf! It turned out pretty nice haha. Also in the week I made myself a beanie which also turned out way good. I'll send you the picture next week. I actually impressed myself.
  This week should be a good one. We have a bunch of new contacts to go by that should be good, and we have interviews with President tomorrow! And the assistants (my friend Elder Saenz is one of them) are taking me and my comp out to lunch to a really good hamburger restaurant I've never been to, tomorrow. So it should be a good week. Hope you're all doing well. Love you tons. Can't believe how fast my mission is coming to a close....those who are counting know that it's already less than 30 days. Wow. Anyway, have a great week everyone! The church is true!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Happy Birthday America!

  First off, happy fourth of July!! Being away from my country has really given me a greater appreciation and pride for where I'm from. We did our best to celebrate it all the way down here on the other side of the world, but I'll talk more about that later.

  This week was a pretty decent one for me and elder Reynolds here in Tobalaba. We had some success in finding news, and teaching some of the older people we have. But in some ways it was a slow week too.
  Our investigators are doing alright. At the moment there really aren't many who are progressing a ton and are close to baptism. So that's kinda discouraging, but we're trying to find some new ones and trying some new things to see if our people can progress more. We've been doing some knocking and contacting, but with little results. During the wintertime the work gets slow, because a lot of times no one wants to come outside and talk to us when its cold outside. But oh well. We'll keep trying.
  On Wednesday it poured. Torrential downpour. It rained all day long. My comp didnt have an umbrella and his rain coat didnt have a hood, so I lent him my umbrella and I just used my hood to protect myself from the rain, but man it rained hard. All day. At the end of the night we were soaking wet. And it takes a long time for our stuff to dry during the winter, cuz it air dries. So that wasn't a ton of fun on Wednesday.
  But because of that day, my comp, who was already kinda sick with a cold, got a worse cold. And then spread it to the rest of us in the pension. So we were all sick at the end of the week. On friday night we didn't work, we didn't work cuz my comp was feeling sick, and it hit me on Saturday night that I was sick so we went home and rested, and contined to rest on Sunday so that we could just recover. Its not fun being sick in the pension
  But in my spare time I've had in the pension, I've taken up a new hobby....crocheting. So I'm in the process of making myself a scarf. Its a nice way to pass free time haha. Not the most manly thing to do, but it'll be cool to be able to say I made the scarf I'm wearing haha. I'll show you the picture once I finish.
  Today for Pday we went to one of the chapels in the zone and we had a good ole fashioned american barbeque with an american family in one of the wards. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, played some soccer and some ping pong. It was a lot of fun. Not the same though with out badminton haha.
  That was our week though. Im feeling a lot better right now, but I still kinda got a sore throat. I'm excited to see some miracles happen in this final change of the msision. Tomorrow is the big 23 month mark. I still can't believe how fast time is going by. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next week! Love you all!

Un cambio mas!

  Well here we are at the start of my last change in the mission. It's really a very very strange feeling, knowing that so soon the mission is ending. It's exciting but also saddening at the same time. But really it feels pretty funny.

  This last week was a pretty good one. Our investigators, once again, failed us at church this week. We did all we could, we went by Saturday night, called, etc, but none came. So that really is saddening. But what more can we do? We can't make the people convert to the gospel, they have to make the decisions for themselves. And at the moment, a lot of our investigators aren't making the choice to come to church. So we're gonna have to start looking for some new ones. We had some cool experiecnces though this week.
  The cool experience we had this week was on Saturday, we went to go talk to a contact we had made the previous week. We honestly thought nothing was gonna come of the contact, but we went, and immediately the guy we had talked to said, "come in"! And those are some of the greatest words you can hear as a missionary haha. So we went in and taught a really good lesson 1, the restoration. The guy, Ronald, 21, and his mom listened to us and were really really receptive and understood it well. We left them with a book of mormon to read and we have an appointment to go back and teach them again. It was really cool though, and it's really nice to have things go right for once haha. So we're really excited to see what happens with that family we found.
  All the investigators, as I said earlier, are still here, but they're being lazy and not going to church. So I think me and my comp are gonna have to start doing some more searching to see if we can find any more new people.
  But that was basically the week, nothing terribly exciting, just your good ole average week as a missionary here in Santiago.
  And I'm sure you're all wondering what happened with changes, so here we go. So last night we get the phone call for changes, and I stayed and my companion left....how random! he was only here one change haha. It was a relief to know I was staying though, and a cool feeling to know that I don't have to stress over changes anymore haha, because the next one is certain. So we go to the change concilio in the morning, and everything was said and done and my new companion is Elder Reynolds from Vernal, Utah. Hes got 2 changes less than me on the mission, and the funny thing is that we both were trained by the same Elder. Change council was really interesting today though, because I saw a bunch of people I know and are close to give their final testimonies. For example, Elder White, and my good friend Elder Saenz. They go home in 4 weeks. But like I said in the beginning, its a very odd feeling. Very surreal, to know that the mission is coming to an end. And seeing how time has flown by so far, the end of my mission is gonna be here in the blink of an eye.
  So here we are. The beginning of the end. I'm excited for this upcoming change and for the success we'll have.
Love you all and hope you have a great week! Take care!
Elder Aaron Mayberry

Hey everyone!

  This was a little bit of a slower week for us. The work moved a little slower, and at the end of the week, it appears that winter has arrived.
 Highlights of the week. On thursday we had zone conference and it was amazing! We had the luck of
having another seventy there, Elder Zeballos. It was a super good conference. Elder Zeballos is a super intelligent guy and I learned a lot from him. He simplified some doctrines in a way that was very easy to understand. I was really impressed. I took some good notes though. So that was a really really cool experience.
  This week we saw little progress with our investigators though. A lot of them weren't home and a lot of them weren't able to receive us for one of a few reasons....it was cold, it was raining, and it was Fathers day yesterday. But it was still a good week. We taught all the normal people, Matias and Karina, Ramiro and Romario, and Flavio and Solange. Everyones doing good and progressing, but progressing slowly. We did some knocking this week too and it turned out alright. We decided to knock one day while it was raining and that was a huge waste haha, no one wanted to let us into theur houses. But oh well, that's how the work is. No one came to church again, but I am almost positive that it was cuz it was Fathers day on Sunday and raining at the same time.
  The weather here has definitely changed though. On Saturday it poured all day, and Sunday and today there's been light showers as well. It's pretty gloomy here in Santiago. There's a bunch of snow on the mountains though and it looks really cool. But its cold! Haha, it'll be nice going back home to summer. But according to forecasts, winter has officially started here. And they say its gonna keep on raining. Not too fun, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
  Today in the morning we went down to the south of the mission to Puente Aloto and picked up my scripture covers!! They turned out amazing! After that we went to the mission offices, because me and my comp had to renew our temple recommends. President was running way behind schedule, so we got into the actual interviews like 2 hours late, but President said we could take that time later in the Pday, which is why I'm writing so late. But it was a good day. We ate at McDonalds, did our grocery shopping, and I took a baby nap.
 And that was our week. And just like that, the change has ended. Pretty crazy. I honestly don't know what's gonna happen to me, I could be staying I could be going, but the good news is that this is the last time I have to stress over changes haha, because the next one is the last one. change 16. I can't believe how fast time has flown by.

I love you all and will write you next week with the big news about changes. Have a great week!!!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. Me and Elder Sheahan

2. Me and my second home(Santiago, Chile)

3. Me and some fat dogs haha

4. Scripture covers

5. Scripture covers

6. Scripture covers

Faulta Poquito

Hey everyone,

This week was a pretty interesting week for us here. We had a lot of stuff to do as zone leaaders this week, which usually isn't that normal. But it was a good week all in all.
  Lets see. First off with the zone leader stuff we did and other random stuff that was done this week that wasn't related with the mission work...
  So Tuesday we went to the office, because on Monday Elder Sheahan got an email from his family saying that his grandpa was probably gonna pass away this week. So Tuesday we go to the office so he could call him and say bye and stuff. We got there, it took a while to get a hold of his family, but he finally did and sadly his g-pa had already passed away. So he talked to his family a little bit. But that took up pretty much our whole day, when you consider travelling and waiting and all that. Wednesday we got a call from the church offices saying that a representative from the church was gonna come pick us up and do inspections of all the pensions in our zone. So we did that Wednesday after lunch, the hermano drove us around to all the different pensions in the zone, he checked the gas and stuff, and we eventually finished that. One thing I learned though is that cars are so much more efficient than walking! It's crazy haha. You get around sooooo fast. Thursday we had a meeting with the Stake President to talk about the missioanry work in the stake, and to finish planning a stake mission actiavity we had on Sunday. And that was all the business we had to do this week.
  The sector is doing good, as is the work here. We are seeing some success and we finally got some people to church thius week! Hallelujah. We are teaching this family now, the moms name is Carolina, and she has two sons named Ramiro and Romario, who are baptized. the mom is inactive. but this Sunday both the kids went to church! the mom stayed with the sick daughter, but both Ramiro (16) and Romario (12) went to church for the first time. so that was really cool.
  Some more cool news. On Thursday we had a capacitation with president and he talked all about the book of mormon, it was really good. At the capacitation, I ran into the Elders that are in my old sector Los Platanos, and guess who got baptized yesterday? Carmen did, our investigator. How cool is that! So that made me really happy to hear that she got baptized.
  Yesterday we had the stake mission work activity and it went really well. There were about 80 people there. There was a cool activity about the book of mormon and the importance of the scriptures in our daily lives. Good stuff.
  And today we played soccer as a zone and it was a ton of fun.
And that was my week. Things are starting to get real though, and it feels really weird, that there's only 7 more times I'll be writing you on the missoin. 8 weeks left. I'm not trunky though, just slowly becoming aware of what is coming very very fast haha.
Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week! Talk to you soon!
Elder Mayberry

P.S.  I promise I'll send pictures next week, I had them all on the computer here, but there was a power outtage and its too late now to send them. Anyway. next week I promise.

Hey everyone!

  Twas a good week this week. We were pretty busy, but as a whole, the work was slower this week for some reason. People just weren't home and stuff. But we saw some good things happen this week.
  This week on Wednesday we had the special meeting with president and the zone leaders. Its always a really cool meeting cuz president talks to us in a different way. He talks to us in a different way than he does to the whole mission, more personal and stuff. He just basically told us what makes a leader and what makes a follower. He told us a bunch of cool quotes about the subject. Like "A loser and a follower brings a list of problems and dwells on them, a winner and a leader brings a list of solutions and implements them". That one was President himself. He talked about leaders in the scriptures, how when problems came up, they acted as opposed to whining or complaining. I forgot my notebook at home where I wrote them down, so I don't remember any more haha. Next week. But it was a really good conference.
  On Sunday we had stake conference and that was cool. The special speakers were the Stake President, who talked about the youth of the church, President Laycock, who talked about the need for members to open their mouths, and Elder Zeballos from the Seventy spoke and talked about how we just need to do the things right. It was a really good talk. He said something cool about the commandments, he said, "the most important commandment is the one that is hardest for you to keep". And there's a lot of truth in that. So conference was good this week.
  Investigators. There they are. We had some problems teaching some of them this week, not a lot were home and stuff. But oh well. We found this new family last week on Monday and they're really cool. They're a young couple, named Solange and Flavio. Flavio is a cop here, and they'''re have two little girls. They're evangelical, but very receptive. The cool thing when we taught them last week was when we invited them to read the book of mormon and pray about it, Solange, the more evangelical one (she goes to church each Sunday and teaches a class to kids), said, well if God tells me that I need to change what I'll be doing obviously I'll do it. So we know that she has the real intent and will get an answer. It was a great lesson and a cool experience, hopefully we see some success with them. Last night we also had a cool experience, and are gonna start teaching these two kids named Romario and Ramiro, who are the sons of a inactive hermana. We have an appointment with them tonight and hopefully it goes really well. Tonight we also have a family home evening with an active family in the ward and the hermano Ricardo Garcia and his family (Karina, his wife, and Matias, his son...who aren't members). So that should be good.
  At the moment, we have a lot of people to teach, but they progress slowly. But we've seen some good blessings lately and have more people to teach, who hopefully start progressing.
  Today for P-Day, we went to Santa Lucia, a hill in the middle of the city, and there's the swap meet outside with tons of cool artisan stuff. Luckily last night it rained, well, all day yesterday actually, so today the skies were super clear cuz there was no more smog. So the view was pretty amazing. I got a bunch of good pictures, but this internet place is stupid and isn't reading my camera. But one of my comps sent me a picture he took of a landscape of the city and I'll attatch that at the end.
  Speaking of the rain, last night we didn't know it was gonna rain and we went and did a sector slam, without umbrellas and stuff, so we just got soaked while we knocked doors for a bit. Twas fun. It was funny to knock and see what the people said though, we got some funny responses. As we're just getting drenched in the rain, we ask if we can go inside and offer a prayer in the house, and the person responded, no, I'm getting wet! haha. One lady did let us in though and listened, so that was good. and one lady told us that we were gonna get sick, and told us not to get too wet. good stuff.
  And that was our week. It was a good one. This one should also be good, hopefully we see progress in our investigators and get people to come to church. Love you all! Can't believe I hit 22 months in the mission. Crazy stuff. I'm not trunky though. Not yet anyway (just kidding). Talk to you next week! Nos vemos.

Elder Mayberry

se nos fue mayo!

Hey everyone!

  This week was a pretty good one for us here in Tobalaba. The investigators are doing good, but we're still having trouble with them going to church, ugh. But we've found some new ones and that is always good. We're hoping that some of these new people we've found will start progressing well. But we'll just have to wait and see.
  This week we had a few zone leader things to do. On Thursday we went to all the pensions in the zone and did pension inspections, to make sure that they were clean, that their fire alarm worked, that they had their emergency backpacks ready, and stuff like that. So that was pretty fun, especially seeing the looks on some of their faces haha, cuz we didn't tell them we were coming. So at like 9 in the morning the zone leaders show up at your house, and you don't really know what to think. Pretty funny. It all went well though. On Saturday we also had to do a baptismal interview for one of the zone leaders, and it was good. I actually did the interview, which was good like always.
  We did a bit of teaching this week, teaching the investigators, who are all doing good. But like I said already, no one came to church again, and that really is frustrating. We can do all we can to teach them and tell them to pray, read the book of mormon, all that good stuff, but in the end they are the ones who decide if they'll do it or not. And lately all our investigators have been deciding not to go to church haha, what can we do?
  Today for Pday, we played baby soccer as a zone at the stake center and it was a ton of fun, but I'm super tired now. We played for quite a while and it was an intense game. But sadly the game ended when someone kicked the ball over the fence...So then we came home, ordered pizza, and I took a well deserved nap. Good Pday.
  Then today at like 4:30, my mtc comp Elder Erickson calls me, and he said bye cuz his flight was in half an hour. How crazy. My mtc comp is going home. That just means that the end is near for me.
  And that was our week, nothing too fancy, just the same old same old. The work is good, I love the mission, it's crazy how fast it's coming to a close, but I still got time to get stuff done. Love you all and talk to you next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Como estan las cosas?

Hey everyone,

  This week was a good first week to start off the change. We had a decent amount of success and are seeing some new fruits so thats good.
  The week itself went by a little slow, but that's normal for the first week of the change. The weather was also a little crazy, being pretty cold all the way up til yesterday, and it's been hot these days.
  The investigators are doing alright. We only had one person in church again. Our investigators are struggling to get to church, and it's wierd, because they used to go before. This week a guy named Carlos went to church. He's the partner of an hermana that recently got reactivated. He's been a few times to church already and he likes to learn and likes the church a lot. But the problem is is that they aren't married. So we just gotta see what can happen with that. We've been teaching all the others and they're still good, some had legit excuses to not come to church, some didn't. We also found a bunch of new people this week which was good. We just have to see if these new ones progress.
  Tuesday we had an English class that the Bishop signed us up for, and that went well. We went the four of us misionaries and we ended up splitting the class in two parts, beginners and advanced. Me and my comp taught the advanced group, but it wasnt really teaching, it was just practicing with those that already speak english. So that was cool.
  Today for Pday, we travelled to the south of the mission and I bought myself a pair of leather scripture covers. They're amazing. I'll have to show you pictures when I get the final product. Hopefully they turn out well! We're also down here and gonna go buy something else that my comp wants to get from some hermano that is in this ward.
  And that was the week. Nothing crazy, nothing too important. Life goes on here in Santiago. The mission work is amazing, our zone is doing good, and it's fun being with someone from my group and has the same time. It seems that we spend a lot of time talking about trunky subjects though ahha, since there's only 11 weeks left. Thats so crazy. I'm not trunky though, I'm excited for this last bit of time I have in the mission.

Love you all and hope you have a great week! Talk to you next week!

El empezar el cambio 15

Hey everyone!

  It was a great week this week, it was a pretty different one, so this letter should be a little more exciting. And I got some good pictures to put at the end, and also changes happened. So first with the changes. I stayed (obviously), and Elder White left (again, it was obvious). My new comp is named Elder Sheahan, he's from Montana, came at the same time as me, and guess what....he has a twin serving in the Chile Osorno mission haha. What're the odds? And then something even more interesting happened with the changes. So there was 4 of us here in the sector right? Me, White, and the other companionship, elders Vargas and Burton. So elders White and Burton left, and are now comps, in my old sector of Pirque. They're so lucky! Anyway...
  So this week was a good one. So last Monday, like I said in the phone call, we had an activity as a mission. We all got together, watched the movie The Other Side of Heaven, drank dr. pepper, and ate popcorn. So that was a lot of fun. The movie made evryone trunky though haha. Oh well, we got over it. Then on Thursday we did divs and an elder came to my sector to be with me, and the next day we did divs again and I went over to one of my old sectors El Valle. It was really cool to be in one of my old sectors, seeing familiar faces, and even seeing some of the stuff that I did. Before I left we had found this person, and it turns out that a little ago she was baptized and is the second counselor of the relief society. And then we actually taught one of the people I was teaching. So that was a really cool experience.
  Then on Saturday we had a service project as a zone. There was a stake relief society activity, and we thought it'd be cool if we served all the hermanas their lunch, like a way to give back the service they always do for us in giving us lunches. Not too big of a service right? Wrong. It turns out the people that were there to do all the work, prepare the food, pass it out, clean, and all the other chores necessary to make an activity work, was the stake president, an hermano that was the chef, and us 12 missionaries. It turned out to be a loooooot of work. A few hours later we were finally able to eat a ton of barbequed chicken, and everyone was happy. The stake president was so happy in fact, that he invited the whole zone over on Sunday for once.
  So Sunday in the afternoon, we went over to the stake presidents house, chatted a bit and ate some nice gringo food like chocolate chip cookies and brownies haha (the stake pres. lived in the US for like 12 years). So it was good. Church was alright, we didn't get anyone in church, but at the start of the second hour, an investigator showed up so it all worked out in the end. But we need to find some new people now, and see whats wrong with the rest of our people and why they arent coming to church. After church, we took pictures of the sector, cuz elder white figured it was gonna be his last time here.
  And that was basically our week. Today we had the change meeting, and went back to our sector, ordered pizza, I took an hour nap, and here we are. Today at the change meeting it was kinda a wake up call because it's coming to be a reality that the mission is pretty much over. Theres only 2 more changes including this one, people tell me I'm going home next change, and at the next change meeting I'll only have 6 weeks left. Thats just crazy. Just gotta keep pushing along for these last 12 weeks. It's not a lot of time, and it's the only time in my life ill be able to do what I'm doing, so you just gotta do it the best you can. And thats what I plan on doing. I love the work, the mission rules, and the church is true! Love you all a ton and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry
1. Me and Elder Erickson(my MTC comp who goes home in 2 weeks to go back to school at Westpoint



 Me again

 
 
 Me and Colo Colo



 
 Trunkyness in my sector



Me and Elder White.

  Me

Feliz dia de la madre!

Hey everyone!

  First off it was great to see you all and talk to you yesterday!!! It really gave me a lot of animo to keep going for the rest of the 3 months. And since we talked a lot yesterday, this email won't have too much haha. Anyway, heres what happened in the week.
  We had one investigator at church, named Matias. Hes the son of an hermano who got active in the church a little ago. The hermano is the only one in his family baptized, and we've been working with matias for a month or so. Basically since I got here. And he came to church for the first time yesterday. So we were happy with that. But other than him, the rest of our investigators let us down because none went to church and all said they would. We honestly are really confused with some, especially Jenny, the investigator that read the BoM already. She hasnt been to church for like 3 or 4 weeks now. So we're jsut gonna take a secret weapon to our next lesson with her. and the secret weapon is......President Laycock :) So hopefully Pres gets the job done and makes sure that she gets baptized here soon.
  And thats all the progress with our investigators. Nothing really exciting happened this week apart from the phone call, which was great. Today we have a mission activity and from what we hear its supposed to be really good.

And thats all i got. Hope you all have a great week and ill talk to you on monday!
Elder Aaron Mayberry

El tiempo está volando sobre las alas de relámpago. Time is flying by on the wings of lightening.

Hello all!

  This week was another mediocre week. It was nothing special, just the same old stuff ive been doing for the past 21 months haha. But it was still a good week nonetheless.
  It all started out on Tuesday, we had a successful zone class. As the zone leaders, its basically our job to keep the zone excited and enthusiastic about the work. The district leaders give a focussed class on doctrine or how to be a missionary and stuff, and we just do fun stuff haha. This week we played a game to see how the zones knowledge is about the scriptures that one can use as we teach. It went well. After class we went on divs and i once again went with the elder thats having a rough time on the mission. It went better tyhis time, we didnt talk about home, we just talked about random stuff and it was good. We had some exito again and it was good.
  The rest of the week was just normal, working in the sector, teaching lessons, and walking like crazy in this huge sector. The only thign out of the ordinary that we did was do inspections of the pensions in the zone. We just had to go make sure they were all clean and stuff.
  Our investigators are doing alright. Once again, Sunday was rough for uys. But we did have one get to church, should've been a lot more, but oh well. Jenny is still with the same proiblem, she said that she'd already be baptized if she had the support of her husband. But now she hasn't gone to church in three weeks so we dunno what to do. We're just gonna take President Laycock to a lesson with her and she get baptized for sure haha. The investigator that came to church is named Angelica, she's the wife of a member. They just got married recently and she likes the idea of being sealed. So we think she's gonna get baptized soon, but we just gotta teach all the lessons. Our other investigators are doing alright, we just need to see more progress.
  We decided to do a bit of finding at the end of the week and it was good. We chose a street, and out of the first 4 houses we knocked, we got into one house and had two other really good contacts. So that was cool.
  And thats about all the stuff that happened during the week. Today was a great P-Day, we went as a zone and my last zone, nunoa, to San Jose de Maipo a place in the mountains. We played soccer and ultimate frisbee on a big field, then ate some delicious completos. It was a ton of fun, but I'm pretty tired.
  I can't believe how fast this change is going by, seriously, its crazy. We're already gonna be starting week 5, im turning 21 months in the mission this week, and on Sunday it's already my last phone call (skype call) in the mission. Can't lose focus haha.

Anyway, i love you all and hope you all have a great week. See you on Sunday!!!!
Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. The "shower" i told you about the other week.

2. Our chapel here in Tobalaba

3. The four of us missionaries in the pension with silly hats on (my comp Elder White is the second on the left)

4. San Jose de Maipo

5. The zone at the activity today

Fome!

  Well this week was a little harder, with not as much success as the past few weeks. But hey, it happens.

The week started off good and everything. We had interviews with President (mine was really short though cuz of some problems with missionaries before me), but nonetheless it is always good to talk to President. Even a short interview of a few minutes gave me animo to keep going.
  Elder Sáenz, my ex comp from Mexico, also came to our pension for a two night divisions so that was really cool to chat with him and see how things are going. He's the assistant to Pres, so his mission is a lot different from ours at the moment, so he had like a bajillion stories to tell about things that are happening in the mission, crazy experiences, etc. Twas good.
  We also went to the temple on Thursday, and obviously that was good. Except for the fact that two sister missionaries from another mission went into the session, and there was only 14 spots for missionaries (our zone), but 14 had already entered and me and my comp were still supposed to go in. But the session was full and we didn't get to go in. It was still good though, we did some other things in the temple that I hadn't done in a long time, so it was still a great experience.
  The weather here still can't make up its mind, Friday it rained all day and the past few days have been cloudy, but today the suns out in full force. I'm happy though, as long as winter is postponed (hopefully till August haha). It's gotten pretty cold in the nights though.
  Why was the week fome then, is what you might be asking. Well, its because of our investigators. For the second week straight we didnt have any at church! Ugh! We don't know whats going on, but in that sense it's been a rough week. Our investigators are doing good though. Jenny and her daughter Valentina, are supposed to get baptized this Saturday, but we have to see cuz they didn't go to church. Jenny is completely ready to get baptized, she's already read the whole book of mormon for goodness sakes! But her husband isn't much of a support and she feels like she can be even more ready. But she wants to get baptized and everything. Pray for her! We're gonna see though if she should get baptized on Saturday or if we should postpone the date. The other investigators are good though. Well, good meaning that they're stil interested and progressing, but for some reason no ones coming to church. So I think this week we're just gonna make sure everyones at church on Sunday.
  This week I also gave a talk in church, and it went well. At least I got the assignment a while ago and not at the last minute. It was cool though, all 4 of us missionaries gave talks in sacrament meeting. So we put a gigantic focus on member missionary work, and I think it went well. Hopefully we start to see the references roll in! Doubt it though, haha.
  The week was really slow though cuz of the holy week here in Chile. Everyone was on vacation or just didn't wanna answer their doors or something because it was days off of work Friday and Saturday, so that also made the week a little fome.
  Today for Pday, we went to a chapel and played basketball, soccer, and ping pong as a zone. It was a lot of fun. I also bought a new thing for our stupid shower, because the hose thing that leads ot the shower head had broken at the end, so the past three weeks we've essentially just been using a hose in the tub as a shower. so I bought the thing and took a real shower today and it was wonderful. now we just need to get a new curtain cuz ours has a 3 foot wide hole in the middle of it haha. Then I took a good nap, and now here I am. And that was my week, here in Santiago Chile.

Love you all, hope you have a great week! You're always in my prayers. I love the mission. The church is true.
Elder Aaron Mayberry

Asi no mas.

Hey everyone!
   It was another good week here in Tobalaba. And so far so good. We are having a great amount of success and I'm loving it here.
  So the people we're teaching are doing good. We have two baptismal dates for the 30th of April, with Jenny and her 9 year old daughter Valentina. They're still going really strong, and Jenny is one of the most prepared investigators I've ever taught. She's in Helaman in the book of Mormon already! It's crazy. So we should be having those baptisms at the end of the month. We also had another baptismal date for the 30th with Matias, the son of an hermano, but he didn't go to church so the date fell. We're also teaching a bunch of other people, and should have various baptisms in May. Cualquier exito!(How Exciting) And it's cool cuz we're seeing tons of miracles. Normally La Reina isn't a very high baptizing zone, because it's in the northern part of the mission and the people are richer and don't want much to do with the gospel. As a mission, we have the goal of getting one baptism per companionship in the month of april, o sea, 72 baptisms. Our goal as a zone would be 7, because that's how many companionships there are. But there's miracles going on all over the place here in La Reina. As a zone we've already had 9 baptisms, and still have 10 more scheduled for this month! We're being really blessed at the moment as a zone.
  Here in the sector too, we're seing all the blessings of the Lord. But we dunno what happened yesterday, me and Elder White had about 7 investigators that said they were gonna go to church, and guess how many showed up? Not one........wow. So that was disappointing, obviously. So this week we're gonna have to see what was goin on with everyone and we're gonna have to get these people to church.
  Yesterday we also had what's called in this mission a sector slam (in Ryans last email he called it an invasion). Where all the missionaries in the zone go to one sector to work for a time. In this mission it's really easy to do cuz everyones so close together, so we just do it for a few hours. Anyway, we did it in one of my old sectors, El Valle! So that was really cool to walk around in that sector again, where I haven't been in over a year....my how time flies. I also got to go visit my convert from that ward, Juanjo, who unfortunately hasn't been going to church, but we had a good lesson with him and I gave him a palo (stick) or two and told him to get back to church haha. It's a phrase here, if you give someone sticks it'd be like scolding I suppose in english. I don't even remember. Coming home will be a disaster in that sense hahaha. anyway....
  Today for pday we just sat around and rested, just like how it should be. We played some cards, ate some lunch, and did nothing. And it was good.
  I'm loving the sector though, I like having success in the mission, you are just happier in general. I'm still meeting the whole ward, but as a whole they seem alright. The sector is still gigantic and my poor legs are tired. It's a good place to be though.
  A funny thing from this week was our lunch on Friday. It was at this guy named Hermano Rhombergs house. He's from South Africa. So lunch was entirely in English. I'm not gonna lie, my brain was kinda stressed and felt wierd after solely speaking in english to people that aren't missionaries. It's weird to explain. But it was pretty neat. He kinda just updated us on politics and on technology and I was utterly lost. It was fun though.
  I also did divisions this week with an elder who is struggling here in the mission. struggling meaning that he doesn't wanna be here. So that was an interesting divisions. Everyones tried to help him since he got here like 9 months ago, but no one has. It was sad though, seeing and talking to him and hearing how he doesn't wanna be here and stuff. I personally love the mission and it's changed me a lot. It's changed my outlook on a lot of things, and I'm so happy that I came and that I'm here. There's nothing better I could be doing.
  This next week should be great too. We have interviews with president on Wednesday, and the temple on Thursday! Good stuff!
  Well I love you all and hope you're having a great time. Things are going great here. The weather is making no sense though, one day it was hot, then the temperature dropped sharply for about four days straight, and it's been bright and sunny outside for the past two days. Its good though, I'll be glad if Winter takes it's time to get here. Love you all, talk to you soon!


Elder Aaron Mayberry

Here's some pictures of the sector.
1. The nicer part of the sector

2. The not as nice part of the sector

3. The small airport here in the sector

Estamos Trabajando en full

Greetings from Tobalaba!

  So this was a great first week here, I'm very excited to be in this sector. So here's a description of the sector. First off, its HUGE. We do a TON of walking. I mean a lot. I haven't even been to half the sector yet. It's crazy. We work a lot in this one part called Villa la Reina, the poorer part of the sector, and to get there it's a 30 min walk. We make that walk every single day. And that's relatively close in the sector. Oof. My legs aren't adjusted to this kind of walking yet. But it's a good sector. Apart from that poorer part, the sector would be considered cuico"rich". They're nice houses and the families are well off. In my sector there is a military hospital, a few huge parks, and even an airport haha. It's not a big one, but it's an airport nonetheless. So you can imagine how big the sector is. It's good though, I like it a lot. And this part has something pretty mind blowing, houses without fences. There's a little part of the sector like that, with houses without fences, called villa los carabineros. In that part only lives cops haha, so that's why they don't need fences, who would break into those houses? And that's like the physical layout of the sector for the moment, as I go learning and exploring more, I'll let you know.
  Now for the work. Lemme say that there's a pretty big difference between this sector and Los Platanos. Baptisms are kinda just given to us here haha. Like this week alone, we had like 4 people tell us they want to be baptized. Elder White says that's always how it is here, there's always a lot of success. We are teaching a lot of good people at the moment, and have a lot of potential for success in this change and the changes to come. Here's some people were teaching.
  Jenny is a mom, who was supposed to get baptized with her 8 year old daughter this Sunday, but couldn't. She's soooo good. She isn't even baptized yet (and she didn't start listening until a few months back) and she's in Helaman in the book of mormon. She's all ready to get baptized and there isn't really any probelms......except for one. Last week she was looking for General Conference online, and accidentally stumbled upon an antimormon page and read some things and kinda got desanimada (i dunno what the correct translation is, but she kinda slowed down and didn't know what to think). So we got there, she hadn't been reading in the BoM cuz of it, but we answered all her doubts and cleared up all her questions and told her that all the stuff she read was obviously false. There she got excited again and said she was gonna keep going in the book of mormon. She came to church on Sunday with her two kids. So she will most likely be baptized this week or the next.
  Like I said, a lot of miracles have already happened in the sector. We taught the son of a super active hermano, and he wants to get baptized. An 18 year old son of an active hermana finally, out of nowhere, decided that he wanted to go to church again, and he has to get baptized because his baptism papers were never done by the missionaries. And yesterday we taught this inactive lady, who has two sons, twins, that already said that their aunt (active member) was gonna take them to church so they can get baptized. I'm really excited for what's to come. We also have more people to teach that should progress and get baptized. Exito!
  And that's my new sector. It's a really good one. And most likely it will be my last, cuz after this change there's only two more.......wow. Time's flyin by. I turned 20 months in the mission. But I'm not trunky haha. Hopefully you all know what trunky means.
  Alright, so being a zone leader. So in the mission, its all organized right? Theres like 140 missionaries, all divided into 10 zones. Within each zone are sectors, where they work. Each zone has two districts, of like 6 missionaries, and the district leaders are in charge of them. Each zone has two zone leaders, who are in charge of the district leaders, and the whole zone. So basically if there's any problems or anything, we're the ones that fix them, and we report all the info to the assisstants to President. And each week we have zone class and me and my comp have to give a little lesson. And that's about it. We also have special meetings once a month, where all the zone leaders meet and talk with president. That happened this week and it was pretty cool. But yeah, that's being a zone leader.
  PDay today was pretty rico. We met up with the zone, and my old zone, played a few games of basketball, soccer, a lot of ping pong, and ate churrascos. It was a ton of fun. I've gotten pretty decent at ping pong, and my soccer skills are still with me haha.
  I'll end the letter with a few funny coincidences. So the first counselor of the ward here is the son of Ryans old mission president haha. And in church some guy walking in the hall was just like, "hey" Elder Mayberry, I was in the same zone as our brother in the mission. turns out he just got back 6 weeks ago and was in the same zone as Ryan. My tally now for people that have seen/met both of us is now up to three. That's pretty crazy huh.
  Well family I love you all. Hope you're all having a great time at home and that things are going well. I'm loving the mission and am soooooo excited for all thats to come here in Tobalaba. Til next week!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. Cumpleaños feliz

2. Casas sin reja

Cambios - Zone Leader!

Holas.

  Well, as the title says, the changes have come, and me and elder Russell are what you called whitewashed. O sea, that both of us left the sector. But I'll hit the theme of cambios a little later. First, our week.
  Like all the other weeks, this was a pretty normal/decent week here in Los Platanos. Not a ton of success, but here and there we had little good things happen to us. We had a few good lessons this week, one with a menos activo that is reactivtating himself and wants his sons to be baptized, and one with an hermana less active that wants her granddaughters to get baptized. So there could be some potential with those two families in having some baptisms. Carmen is still doing good, she was able to make it to conference for one of the sessions, and said she really liked it. She's all set to get baptized, but we just have to find a place to live for her. And that was essentially what happened with our investigators this week.
  Any other novedades in the week. Well, I did turn 21. I'm now an anciano/viejito/abuelito. But I had a good birthday, some members of the ward had a noche de hogar and we were there, and an hermana made a cake and it nice. I felt like at home.
  The weather is being super stubborn, it's still hot when it definitely shouldn't be. So the Chilean government pushed changing daylight savings time (we fall back an hour), all the way til may 7th.
  And this weekend was amazing. General conference, baby. What a blessing to listen to the prophets of God. Elder Holland put it all in perspective. Before the mish I took conference for granted, but now I understand the importance and significance of it, and I never wanna miss it. The mission helps you figure out what the important things in life are, haha. Its good though. Conference ruled, lots of good advice was given. I hope you all watched it.
  It's always funny, conference in the mission. Because all the missionaries come prepared to listen and sit in the same room for all day Saturday and half of Sunday. So everyone goes to the store, stacks up on the coke and junk food supply, and eats it during conference while we watch in a little room by ourselves in english.
  And last night. So after conference, we decided to say goodbye to some ward members and investigators, just in case we got changed. I kinda felt like we were both gonna get changed, but then again, I thought maybe I'd stay one more change. So we did that, then came home and waited for the phone call. It came, at 11:30 at night (technically we should be going to bed at that hour, and the office elders decide to call us and make us stay up ALL night if we get changed). And, guess what, the call said we were both changed. Oof. Elder Russell already assumed he was gone, so he had all his bags packed, but I had nothing done. So I packed all my junk (everytime I pack there's more and more stuff and I'm more and more amazed that somehow I fit it all). Then after that, we had to leave the sector for the new elders that were gonna get there. Imagine that, having to write down everything about the sector, the people, the investigators, the ward, everything, all onto paper no mas....and in spanish haha. Needless to say, at about 3:30, I was hitting the hay. I slept terribly cuz I didn't know what the future was gonna hold, and woke up at 7:30 to do some last minute packing, then an hermano from the ward came and got us and took us and our 50000 bags to the chapel where we met with all the missionaries.
  There they did the cambios, and I'm now in the sector called Tobalaba, in the zone La Reina. I was in this zone back in the day, and actually did divisions in this sector once. Next week I'll have a full report about the sector. Also, I've been called to be a zone leader. Essentially, me and my comp are in charge of the zone here, all 16 of us. So that's cool to know that president trusts me. Well see how it goes. It should be good, being zone leader is more responsibilty than a district leader, but it's easier I think. But now I'll find out.
  My comp is Elder White, from Simi Valley California. He got here at the same time I did, so that's cool. He's already been in this ward for four changes, and this is the fifth. So it's pretty sure that this is his last one here. Hes cool though, I've heard lots of good things about him. Haha, and he's going to BYU after the mission and living in Liberty Square (what a coincidence)!
  And here I am. I'm excited though, for a new change, for a new place to get to know, and for the work. Elder white says we have a lot of success lined up, even baptisms coming this week I think. So it should be really good. Los Platanos treated me real well, I love the members there, they're amazing. The work was just hard. But now there's new places to be and new people to meet, and this is where the Lord wants me to be.
  Love you all, thanks for all the birthday wishes, and hope you have a great week! Til we meet again. Pictures next week.

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Elder Mayberry in his New Suit!

Buenos días a todos!

Hope everyone is doing really well. This week was a pretty average week here in Los Platanos.
  We're still seeing some progress with our investigators, so that is good. Carmen is doing good. Her and Axel have decided after all not to get married, but that Carmen is gonna move out to another house once we can find one. In the end its a better decision for the both of them, she'll be able to get baptized, and they'll be able to work out any relationship problems they're having. But Carmen is really excited to get baptized and is progressing very well. We just gotta find a place for her to live and she can get baptized no problem.
  We also had a good thing happen on Sunday, when an hermano menos activo who is getting reacrivated, brought his two kids to church, who aren't baptized. So we have an appointment with them this week.
  We had a good lesson with our ex-priest family again, and we took the bishop this time. It was another good lesson. We left them with a book of Mormon to read and to have them pray about it. We still have to see how much progress they'll make though. But for now they're doing alright.
  And that's how the work is going here. It's the last week of the change, and to be honest, I want out haha. It's been hard here in Los Platanos, but it's been good. We'll see what the Lord wants though. I wouldn't mind stayting another change, but I'd prefer leaving I think.
  This week is a pretty important week for various reasons.
1. My birthday is on Thursday. Can't believe I'm turning 21, that's old.
2. ¡¡¡¡GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!
3. Changes. So its gonna be a good week I think.
4. Dad has to sign me up for classes already.

  Today for P-Day, me and elder Russell went back to Cataldo, the suitmaker, and picked up my suit. It turned out really nice, I'll attach a picture or two, don't worry.
And that's my life. Hope you all have a great week! Talk to you in April. Wish me luck on changes
Elder Aaron Mayberry

1.Suit & vest


2.Suit & vest, unbuttoned

3.Suit

 

4.Suit, unbuttoned

 

5.Vest
 

6.Normal. Pants have cool pockets in the front
 

Exito!

Hallelujah!

  This week was one of our best weeks here in Los Platanos. It was quite a relief to know that success is actually achievable in this sector.
  On Tuesday we did div's (divisions, or a mini cambio) and I went to another sector. It was good to go to another sector and everything and be with another comp, but for some strange reason I missed Los Platanos.
  On Wednesday, I got back to the sector, and found out that Elder Russell and the other elder, had some good success. They found a few new investigators, and things went really well for them. So Wednesday we had another really good day. We found a couple more new investigators, and had a cool lesson with a new family we found. The guy is an ex catholic priest, who studied for 10 years, and a good amount of that time was at the Vatican. After a while though, he decided that being a priest wasn't for him, and he wanted a family. So he got married and now has two kids. He's still a practicing Catholic and everything, but he's really receptive. He's definitely the smartest guy I've ever taught, he knows a ton about religion and theology in general. He's fun to teach though. We have another appointment with him and his family tomorrow night, so hopefully it goes really well.
  Thursday we had another capacitation (I dont think thats an English word, but it's like a training), and it was really good.
  Friday I had to go get my chilean ID card again, so I got to go around and see downtown Santiago and it was good. Can't believe it was my last time though, it felt like yesterday that I got it the first time a year ago.
  Then Saturday we had a great cita with Carmen and Axel. We put a fecha on Carmen for the 17th of April! And she accepted no problem, she wants to get baptized. And right after we put the baptismal date, we taught al tiro the law of chastity, cuz that's they're problem. She accepted it no problem, and on Sunday they even talked to the bishop to get advice on what they should do. So we're hoping for a baptism here in April!
  So we still just gotta see if the people we've found progress, but no we actually have a decent teaching pool. The mission is a lot more enjoyable when you're having success. We're pretty happy now, and hopefully the success just keeps going and doesnt just fade away.
  Oh yeah, so here all the kids went back to school recently after their summer break. All the college kids went back this week, and there's a pretty interesting tradition. All the sophmores, juniors, and seniors in the colleges haze the incoming freshmans. They take their backpacks and their shoes, tear up their clothes, throw nasty things on them like ketchup, mustard, or whatever, and then make the kids go into the street begging for money, and when they get a certain amount (10 thousand pesos.....20 bucks), they go back and can get their shoes and backpack back. So all this week you could see poor kids walking around beggin for money. I felt bad for them. I'm glad that doesnt happen in the states though haha. But I got a picture with some of the kids that were mechoneado (hazed) so you could see.
  Well family, I love you all. I love the mission, even if, at times, its hard and fome. It's by passing through trials that we learn and grow! Wish you all a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. Plaza de Armas(cool site in santiago centro)

2. Me with the poor college kids

Buenas!

Hey everyone,

  This week was a pretty alright one.
  In terms of the work, there weren't too many changes. We still have a few investigators, but this week was really hard to meet up with them. We did however, have a family home evening with a family in the ward and our investigator Carmen and her boyfirend Axel and that went really well. The hermana shared good testimony and talked about all the things we needed her to talk about. We were planning on putting a fecha on Carmen (sorry, fecha is date, meaning a baptismal date) this past week, but we didn't get to teach her. So this week we're gonna do so.
  This week we were dedicating a lot of time to knocking doors. And unfortunately, it didn't go to well for us. But it's alright. Just gotta keep doing it no mas.
  We did have a cool ward activity this Saturday though. It was put on by the young mens program, and it was focussed on the mission work, and getting the youth excited about going on a mission. So they had a bunch of RMs set up little stands with a lot of pictures and little things from their missions, which was really cool to see. Kinda weird though, cuz I'd think to myself, like, wow, those guys were missionaries. And I'm actually a missionary haha. Cuz it's something that's like the focus of life for ages 0 to 19, and to actually be here is strange to think, that I'm actually on the mission. I dunno if I made any sense, but oh well.
  Today for P-Day, we went up to las Condes, the rich part of Santiago, and went to a mall up there and went to TGI Fridays for lunch. it was pretty good. It's always fun to explore the city.
  And that's my life. Not many changes. The work is still hard here, but we're doing our best and just going forward the best we can. The summer is starting to finally fade away (finally!), like today has been cloudy and gloomy all day, and it's been wonderful haha.
  Anyway, love you all and hope you all have a great week! Talk to you soon!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

1. Big ole military school

2. The mall we went to today

No se lo que debo poner aqui (I don't know what to put here)

Hello everyone!

Things went well this week. Not as good as last week, but definitely better than weeks in the past here in Los Platanos.
  Our investigators, the few we have, are doing well. Carmen came to church on Sunday, and she was our only investigator in church. She is feeling really good in church, she says that it's brought a ton of peace to her life and she feels really good in church. So we're gonna keep teaching her and making sure she keeps progressing, and that eventually her and her boyfriend get married.
  Our other investigators are alright. We're still looking everyday and we're finding people, so that's good.
  This week we had a couple cool things out of the ordinary though. On Tuesday I did divisions with Elder Walters, who was on my floor at BYU. So that was really cool. We also did divisions on Thursday, but with members of the ward, and it went really well. I gotta go out with the stake president, and it was a great experience. He's an amazing guy. I learned a lot. And then on Friday we had zone conference. And the topic of the entire conference was the Book of Mormon. President talked about how important it is to have a testimony of the book of mormon, and why we need to use it and study it every day. A big focus we have as a mission right now, is read the book of mormon before Easter, and as we do it, highlight a few different things. When it mentions Christ or one of his titles, His attributes, His words, and doctrines we learn from the book of mormon. It's been really cool, you'd be surprised at how much of that stuff there is in the BoM. I still got a lot to go though. This idea was something that Elder Holland and Elder Anderson (two apostoles) did when they were companions in the mission. How cool is that? President, as a lawyer, also is really good at getting evidences. And he has over a thousand evidences that the book of mormon is true. So he shared some of those with us and they're really neat. So yeah all in all a good conference, except for the fact that I got surprised called to give a talk I didn't have prepared haha. Oh well.
  And today in the morning we went and played football and soccer with our zone and another zone and it was cool. After that we went down to Puente Alto and went to go pick up my suit, but I'm having him make one more adjustment, so it'll be ready here soon. And then on the way back we were informed that there were some crazy divisions that were gonna happen for today because an elder in our zone got special changed to another sector, and in order to cover for him and an appointment they had, the zone leaders were gonna go, but they also had an appointment, so now we have to do like 3 way divs so everyone can be happy haha. But we already have to meet up in half an hour and miss out on part of PDay, but oh well. That's life sometimes. So we did the fastest weekly shopping ever, came home and made macarnoi and cheese real fast and showered and now were here and soon we gotta go back to the metro. So it's kinda been a crazy Pday, with pretty much no rest haha.
  And that was the week. We're keeping the faith here, and we're seeing results! So we're happy. I love you all and hope you also have great weeks! The church is true.

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Looking up!

  Hey everyone, the good news this week was that it went better for us, finally. After a good weeks worth of hard work, we finally have some people we're teaching. Hallelujah.

  Here's a few of the people we're now teaching. We began teaching the girlfriend of a member (28 year old RM). She's Peruvian and she came to church the last 2 times. So we told the RM, whos name is Axel, that we wanted to teach her, he agreed, and we taught her twice this week. The first we got to know her and stuff, and the second time, we taught lesson one, the restoration and it went really well. She said she was very curious and excited to ask if these things were true. The problem, however, is that this RM didn't make the best choices after his mission, and they're living together. They both know that they have to get married though, so we'll see how that goes. Carmen couldn't come to church this week, because she had to go work, but we're hoping that she's already prayed and asked to know if these things are true.
  We also began to teach the family of an inactive hermano, who has attended church a few times wanting to get reactivated. Yesterday we went by and began teaching the whole family, him, and his wife and two sons, who aren't members. Once again, the problem there is that they aren't married, and it seems like the hermano needs to get divorced first........oof. But we're gonna still work with them as a family and start with the two sons.
  And yesterday we went by a reference from the elders from the sector next to ours, a guy they contacted in the street and gave a BoM to. We go by, talked to him for a bit in front of his house, and got an appointment for tonight. The good news though....he's already married to his wife! What a miracle! It really is rare to find that sometimes. But we're hoping and praying for some success with this family too.
  And those are basically who we're teaching at the moment. Things are moving along nicely in this ward. Finally.
  Other news from the week. We had the newest RM from the ward go out with us twice this week. He got home less than a month ago, and he's a machine. He's super good at missionary work, it's crazy. The thing I like best about him is that he's really really bold. With the reference guy, when we were talking to him and his wife, out of nowhere, the RM goes, so how long have you been married? It was pretty funny, and with the inactive hermano, he just laid it out for them how they were committing a serious sin and they need to get married. And the cool thing was was that no one got offended haha. Gabo (the RM), said that being bold isn't a problem here in this culture, and that no one gets offended at all. So I think that's something I wanna work on.
Thursday we got to go to the temple, it was really cool. Like always.
  And guess what happened exactly a year ago yesterday? The gigantic earthquake. So that was like a big day for the Chileans.
  And that was the week. Things are looking up, and we're happy. A lot happier now and less frustrated because we're having a slight degree of success. I'm excited for whats to come. I no longer dread getting out of bed every morning knowing that we had no one to teach and had nothing to do but knock, which wasn't working. It's been a rough part of my mission but it's been good. A character builder haha.
  Not much else to report. I can't believe we're already in March, basically. Hope everythings going well back at home. I'm doing just fine, doing my best to keep going strong til the finish line. Love you all!

Elder Aaron Mayberry

Cambios..

  Hey everyone, we're here again at the end of cambio number 12, starting cambio 13. Its crazy to think there's only 16 haha. Times flying, and things are going alright. The first news is that me and Elder Russell have stayed here in Los Platanos again. So that's good. We've just gotta keep going, but, in spite of all the hardships, we're excited.

  This week that passed was a pretty alright one. Not too much in terms of the mission work, the work is still slow and hard. But we did see some good things happen.
  Some good news in the sector is that we got a new ward mission leader, and he's ready to serve. We had a meeting with him, and it seems like hes gonna do a great job. Our last one needed a little help, but now with this one we should be doing good. Also, his assistant is the RM that got back a few weeks ago, so he's got all the animo in the world to keep working in the obra. We already have divisions planned with them this week, so that should be great. We're excited for this change.
  Other things that happened this week. Elder Russell had to go get his carnet'(Chilean ID), so I went with him to do that. Afterwards we went to this famous restaurant in Santiago called Donde el Guatón, where they sell crazily huge sandwiches. I'll show you a picture. Good news though, I ate the whole thing :)
  But like I said, in terms of the mission work, finding, teaching, all the above, it was really hard. We seemed to get rejected harder than normal knocking, no contacts we previously had done actually wanna listen to us. It's rough. But today in the change meeting President was talking, and basically said everything that I needed to hear. He cited this scripture: Alma 26:27, which says...."Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites(he said Chileans haha), and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success" The scripture nailed me, as if he was speaking directly to me. We just need to go. Just get out there and work and be patient, and the Lord will give us success. He also talked about how, because of the opposition in all things, if we are in a tough period of the mission, if its hard, it means that the light is coming soon. So really that gave me a ton of hope, being able to hear those comforting words from President.
  Yeah. So here we go. We just gotta get out there and work. Even though its hard, something will come out of it. We just gotta have the faith that it'll happen, and keep going. Hopefully this change is a lot better than the last 2 here, and if it isn't, we're just gonna make it better haha.

Love you all, hope all is well. Cuidense harto!
Elder Aaron Mayberry
1. Me with silly dog in the little hole in the bricks

 2. Me and the Barros Luco Guatón

Another week down.

  Well it's another Monday here in Los Platanos. It was my first week of being back to work, and boy was it nice haha. Being in the pension was great and all, but I really started to miss working. But this week we had to face the harsh reality, that we were starting from scratch.

  So that made the week a pretty difficult one. We knocked a bit this week, tried going by a bunch of contacts and references, and things like that. We only found two new investigators, and we've yet to see if they'll progress. We still have hope, but honestly it's hard. This has really been a hard few changes because this is a hard sector. But we did see some great things and some little miracles from the Lord along the way to help us get this sector, and us, back on our feet.
  On Friday we had lunch with this one family, and the hermana told us that the other day she had been talking with a friend, who has a 3 month old baby that has been sick. The hermana then suggested that the missionaries could give a blessing to the baby and she accepted. So at lunch she gave us her address, and later that day we went. The lady received us al tiro, and we explained the blessing, and gave it. We then left her with a restauration pamphlet and she accpted an appointment for another time. We also got a few other references from members (finally), so we're working on contacting those.
  Saturday was a really bad day for me. The day was terrible, no one wanted to talk to us, contacts we had done earlier lied to us, people were home and said they weren't, it was just a day full of failures. Saturday night I sat on out the patio, frustrated with this sector and all the lack of success we've been having. In my nightly prayer I begged Heavenly Father to give us something to work with, to give us some hope. I decided to go to bed early, because I was just done haha. So I'm laying there, and at around 11, we get a call from an elder in our zone, who had a reference for us..........I said a quick thanks to the big guy and went to bed. Haha. I think that refernce was Gods way of telling me, "Elder Mayberry, just quit complaining and do your job" haha. It was a cool little experience though.
  So this next week should be a good one. We have a bit of potential that we're hoping works and we get to teach and find some new people.
  So. The weirdest thing happened this week. We're in February, the middle of the hottest part of summer. This past week, it rained.....something unheard of at this time of year. And it was still hot out when it rained. It was so weird!
  Today for PDay, me and my comp headed down to the south of the mission, cuz there's this member that hand tailors suits. So I went to go get one to celebrate having a year and a half in the mission. So we went down there and he took all my measurments and stuff, so it should be really good. I'm excited, I'm going to pick it up the 7th of March. Then we came back, went shopping, and I made myself tacos for lunch. And here we are.
  The work goes on. Despite the trials we've had here in the sector, life goes on, as does the work. God will help us, I have the faith. I'm looking forward to having a great week this week. It's also the last week of the change, so we'll see what happens with that. We think that my comp is gone, but we'll see. You'll find out Monday.
Love you all, hope you have a great week!