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!