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