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!

Back to work!

Hey everyone!

  Well, there's not really much to inform again this week. We stayed in the pension a majority of the time on doctors orders. We did however, go out a little bit, to go to the lunches in the week, and yesterday we even worked the whole day. So the good news is that starting this week we're gonna be working in the sector again. Hooray!
  Of anything interesting to report in the week, there are a few things. On Wednesday, we had a meeting of the leaders of the mission, the zone leaders, the district leaders, and President spoke to us about how to make the mission better. So, obviously, that was really good. There was a focus on this talk that was given to us by Elder Corbridge of the 70, called the fourth missionary. It's an amazing talk that reflects about the different types of missionaries there are, and why we all need to be the fourth missionary. Reading that during my "hiatus" has really given me a lot of animo to go out and work, so I'm excited for this week.
  On Thursday I went back to the doctor, he took out some stitches, and I'm going back tomorrow to get the rest removed. So that was good.
  Church was good on Sunday, we saw a lot of things that could be potential for us to work with. So we've got our work cut out for us this week, being two weeks back and short of investigators. Should be fun!
  And the big news.....18. Thats how many months I have now. I honestly feel old in the mission now-haha. Pretty crazy. Very weird. It seems like that before I know it, the missions gonna be over. And I'm pretty sure that's how it'll be, cuz the time is flying "on the wings of lightning" as our President says. It's the last hurrah, and I'm gonna finish strong. I got all the rest I could ever need these last two weeks haha, so I can just work super hard these last 6 months.
  I'll talk to you next week, and hopefully have a good report of success here in the sector. Love you all, have great weeks! Church is true, that's why I'm here.

Elder Aaron Mayberry