My new assignment is the Mission Historian. yay an office assignment, Im pretty excited though this was completely unexpected. President told me that he was reviewing my file and saw that I had some experience with Windows and Microsoft word. I thought in my head "what experience... Im no expert" and worried for a moment if I had exagerrated on the mission appication. After my first day of work though I felt like I was in my element as I remembered working on papers for school and making spreadsheets for some ward list for the richmond 3rd branch before the mission. I feel pretty confident. My trainer said that when he first started he didnt know anything, so Im confident I will be able to pick it up. President told me that this assignment ussually lasts about three changes, or four and a half months.

Im not sure yet what exactly are my duties as the historian. Basically I record all the stuff that happens in the mission, like baptisms and church attendance, in the mission computer and I send important stuff, like baptismal records, to Salt Lake City. Theres more but I dont exactly know what yet. On top of sitting in front of the computer, we have to do special assignments that the president needs and that could be anything from buying peanut butter to send to Easter Island to picking up and dropping off missionaries at the airport. Its pretty interesting. The bad thing is I dont get a whole of time to get out and do actual proselyting. That means my emails will be pretty boring for a little while without investigator stories. However I was thinking, this is actually a very interesting time to be in the office because were the first to hear mission news and I will be here when the army of missionaries come these next two changes (The first big wave to arriive in the mission after President Monson annouced the change in the age requirement). We´re expecting about 70 missionaries to arrive in our mission in the coming months. I think this will be fun and Ill try to keep the emails interesting by sharing what I can.

My new companions are Elder King from Utah and Elder Weigel from Arizona. Elder King was the historian and was training me to be the new one. Elder Weigel is the misson Secretary but is leaving to a sector at the end of this change. He is training Elder King to be the new Secratary. Were basically in a training chain right now as Elder King switches back and forth from training to being trained. Its a little complicated. Elder King has a laid back personality and tells a lot of jokes. He reminds me a little bit of cousin Ross. Elder wiegel is quite alert which I can tell has been a good quality for a secratary becuase they have a lot of responsablity including keeping all the missionaries in the mission legal citizens of Chile. He kind of reminds me of Lance Meibos. Theyre pretty cool, its like being with brothers. I can tell were pretty similar in interests. We talked for about an hour about old video games for the nintendo last night.

Im still not sure what to expect but I can already tell the office lifestyle is completely different from the regular proselyting schedule. Yesterday we were up at 6 in the morning to recieve a missionary in the office at 7 to recieve her chilean ID. We than didnt get back to the apartment until 11 at night after taking a missionary to the airport. Im used to living to a fixed schedule and getting as much done as I could during the time we had. Here we adjust the schedule to meet the needs of the things we have to do (kind of like the way I lived just before the mission, working at night and studying in the day). Its pretty crazy but I think it can be fun. We´ll see what happens.

With this change, I had to say goodbye to my sector. After being there for five and a half months it kind of became my life. Sadly I didnt have a lot of time to say goodbye. President called me at 830 in the morning, I packed my bags and I was out of the sector a little before 2. We went around trying to visit as many families as we could but in the early hours of the day everyone was working. We only got to find one family, so I left it to Elder Lizama to break the news. He will continue in the sector until the end of the change when he goes home for his operation.

The good news is that becuase we have four baptisms this week President gave me permission to return to go to them. That means I will have another chance to say goodbye to everyone and take pictures and everything. That makes me happy.

The baptismal interviews went well I heard so theyre ready to go. Im pretty excited about it. I will share pictures and stories next week.

Lots of love,

Jeremy.

PS My P day is Saturday now.

I just got through looking at all the pictures, they were awesome. I think they show Melissa in a light that I have never seen. She looks so happy. I can sense that there is a lot of excitement for the wedding. I glad that I can at least see the photos and I look forward to hearing about the the plans and seeing the invitations :)
It was also very cool to see the pictures that jacob sent. I feel cooler just seeing the snow. He looks pretty funny in the snow coat. Im pretty sure I would melt if I dressed liked that. I think I would be happy if we recieved a change in our sector, Ive been with Elder Lizama for five and a half months. We get along but after being together for so long Im looking forward to a change of scenery. And there are certain things about Elder Lizama that I get frustrated about. Changes happen for us on the 25 of february. After that Elder Lizama has to return to Mexico for a surgery (Something small but salt lake says he has to return home for it) so we will be seeing a change for sure. I wonder if jacob has had more companions than me too, I havent had too many, two for my time in Los Andes and Elder Lizama here in Quilicura. We were also with Elder Glazner for two weeks and with Elder Jenson for a week and a half. Five in total.
I finally got the package yall sent. That was completely unexpected. Im sure I will never get bored again for lack of music. It was cool to see some cds that I havent seen in ages like the cumorahs hill cd, the lord of the dance and the disney music that chris wright made for me. The tie and the flashlight are great too. I am currently pondering what creations I will be able to make with the chocolate. Thank you so much.
This week was a pretty exciting week. We are preparing four investigators for baptism this week. It will be a big week. Two of them are Karen and her Husband Alberto who I talked a little about last week. We are also preparing a young girl named Romina and a hatian woman named Fabienne. We met Romina a couple months ago when we were teaching her brother Rafael. Rafael also had a goal to be baptized but when he started working at his parents shop he stopped meeting with us, because of time issues I imagine. Romina is his twelve year old sister and she participated in with the lessons with Rafael. She came to church and she really liked it, she developed some strong relationships and began to come every sunday. One of the friends she made helped us arrange the lessons so that we could teach in her house. Rominas parents are in the same boat as Rafael in that they work all the time and cant spare even five minutes to talk with us about her baptism, but they are supportive about it and are glad she is following a good path. Its unnfortunate that they arent participating in her progression but we are sure that with time they will come to see the importance. The only problem with Romina is that we arent exactly sure how seriously she takes what she is learning. As we teach we have to review the same princples over and over again to make sure she understands and Im pretty sure she doesnt read unless we assign specific paragraphs. The good thing is that she is here and she is making these relationships that will be a blessing for her whole life.
We met Fabienne a couple weeks ago. There used to be a french speaking program for missionaries to teach the hatians but the area presidency recently closed that program to encourage the hatians to learn spanish. So we recieved a reference from her neighbor who are members (unfortunately were not so organized to hear it from the Elders who were teaching her before). Fabienne has been studying with the missionaries for several months and has already received a testimony from the holy ghost that this message is true. When she shared her testimony with us I felt grateful that we were able to be a part of her progress as well. We than talked about baptism. She said that she has "hate in her heart" and isnt ready to be baptized. We assured her that taking these steps will allow her to feel alleviated from whatever feelings she has and she accepted a conditional date. If she feels ready, she will be baptized on the seventeenth. We later found that she was harboring some feelings against somebody who treated her badly in the past though she didnt share the details. We shared a little about forgiveness and how that can help us feel less weighed down by such feelings. The next time we met with her she said that she was ready to be baptized and will do it on the seventeenth.
The experience in the mission is never what you expect and its certainly interesting. I will send pictures from the baptism soon.
I love you all very much.
Until next week
Jeremy

This week the heat and sun continued to beat down on us, but we continue to work hard. We actually met the standard of excellence this week which is something that doesnt happen every week. The standard of excellence has to do how many baptisms a companionship has had in the last couple weeks, how many they have progressing toward baptism and how hard they have been working to teach and to find people to teach. This success I dont actually count from our own efforts, its true that we have been working hard but many of these numbers have come from the fact that the people we are teaching have a whole lot of faith and are showing it by showing a desire to be baptized and by coming to church. It also has a lot to do with the help of the members here in Lo Campino to help us teach and bring them to church.

Much more important to me than the numbers are the relationships that I have made here teaching. I have been finding that the mission experience is something I can never predict. I have been in this sector for almost six months and there are days when I just wish it was over, wondering if I could tolerate another day of knocking on doors and there are days when I understand the joy of spending moments with the people I have met here and understand that this is true joy helping people come to christ. There are people that have been baptized, there are people who will be and there are people that wont be (for various reasons including lack of interest) but I feel that I am coming to love all of them.

We are teaching a young marriage and they are close to being baptized. We met Karen about five months ago and she showed an interest right away. She wants a good path to follow for her family, she wants to do whats right. Her husband Alberto is also a very good person, though he hasnt been to any church for a long time. I remember when we met him, He told us to come in and he treated us like we were family coming to visit. Although he showed little interest in acting, he was really interested in the origins of the book of mormon and the idea of a living prophet. It has been hard to work with them together because Alberto works in the mines and has to work, fifteen days on and seven days off. When he has been home, they couldnt come to church because basically he liked to do other things, but Karen took advantage of the days when he was working to come to church. Than one day a miracle happened. We came to teach Alberto one day and we found him very tired, he had been taking care of their three year old son all day (who is basically a monster, but the lovable kind). He wasnt really participating in the lesson but was listening, and we decided that we should leave to come at a better time but we were sure not to leave without yet another invitation to church. He sat in silence for a moment and then Karen (who was apparently in the other room) came out of nowhere and said yea, I want to go with you. After another moment of silence alberto said "yea ok..." (ALLELUIA). It is now three weeks later and they have a baptismal date for this weekend. Alberto has said that he would like to push the date back a week to spend more time going to church before being baptized. I dont see a problem with it. Elder Lizama is worried there could be a doubt that they are no telling us, which could be true. Well just have to find out. Either way, I know the lord is happy with their progress and they will happy as well. I found out the other day that Alberto is twenty five years old, Even though he has a family and everything he is my age. I found that a little weird.

Well anyway, that all for now.

I love you all very much and will write more next week.

chau

Jeremy

Its weird to hear that Jacob is seeing snow. Im dying from heat down here in the south end of the world. It really makes it hard sometimes as for me the heat makes me sleepy. I have to fight myself to stay awake to work. It should just be another month and things should start to cool down.

53 hours of work is too much. I recently read a scripture in the book of mormon that says basically dont gather treasures in the earth but gather treasures in heaven. You got to slow down and enjoy the world. Im really one to talk Im basically supposed to be working 57 hours more or less every week. I guess its good to be grateful for the work.

Well this week was something unespected. We were a trio for a while. Elder Jenson was with us for a whole week and a half. President Essig called us on thursday to tell us that hes being changed to another sector. I guess something happened and there was a missionary left without a companion and so he had to send someone there. That trio didnt last very long. Ill miss elder Jenson, he is a great missionary and he had cool music.

Elder Lizama it turns out will be sticking around until the end of the change. The bad news is that he will have to return to Mexico for his surgery (although from the sound of his familys voice when he called to tell them its probably not really that bad of news for them). He will fly back home at the end of the change which is in about a month and he will be in recuperation for about a month and then he will return to finish his mission. President Essig gave him the option to be released from his calling as a missionary during his recuperation so that he doesnt have to live under the missionary norms while he is at home. He turned down the offer, he says he doesnt want to lose his focus, but from the way he talks about swimming pools and the girl he left, I can tell hes very tempted.
This change is looking like its going to be an awesome change. Four people are preparing to be baptized in February. These are people that are making their own efforts to prepare as well, Its awesome to be a part of this step in their lives. I will be writing some details about these people in the coming weeks.

I love you all very much and I hope yall have a great week.

Jeremy

This week was a good week. We have been taking advantage of being in a trio to go on splits a lot. Its a different experience being with a member without your companion, I was scared at first but everything went well. After seeing things go well, it kind of built my confidence up a little.

Elder Jenson is a great missionary, he really knows how to work and hes a great contribution to the companionship. He has spent a lot of time with some the leaders in the mission and is well experienced. Theres a missionary in the mission who is baptizing several people every week, while most missionaries ussualy have a baptism about once a month. He works in a different way and has caught the attention of the area seventy. The area president has asked that as many new missionaries as possible be paired with him after their first twelve weeks of training for an additional three week trainging with him to learn the way this missionary works. Elder Jenson was with him for three weeks and is sharing with us some of those ideas.

I tend to feel that he has a personality to similar to mine. He a great guy. Hes a little quiet, like me, but when he opens up you can feel that he has is kind and humble. I feel that were going to have a great change together.

I feel that the highlight of my week has been my studies. My studies of christlike attributes have always be rich and inspiring and I can feel that the lord is guiding me in my development of these attributes. This week I have been studying charity and humility. I feel that my relationships with investigators and members of the church are deeper and richer as I can feel the love the love that the lord has for these people. My prayers have also been enriched. As I fall on my knees after a lond day of work, I have found that my prayers are more conversations with the lord when before it was more robotic. They are truly spiritual experiences now than ever before.

Well thats all for now, I hope everyone is doing very well.

I love you all very much.

Jeremy.

Its good to hear about the things that are happening, Even if it was a quiet week. Thats the thing I miss is having a quiet week, spending it without having too many cares. Things are always marching in Gods army, but thats the way it should be, His children need us working for them now in these times more than ever.

It was awesome to see the pictures jacob sent. It seems like he has developed a good relationship with some of the investigators. I have found that this is what takes away the fear of talking to people, the homesickness and all the other things missionaries face: the relationships we make. I am grateful for the people here in chile that have helped me feel at home.

I have been put to think a lot recently about how to talk with people about the many different churches. Many of the people here in chile tell us that all the churches have different ways of teaching but all follow the same god so all are ok. They dont believe that there would only be one true church, even though the different churches teach different things about saving principles and ordinances. Others recognize that the churches clash and feel that it is impossiple to come to a true conclusion and opt to follow god in their own way. In my experience using direct and possibly harsh words to explain the restoration has only damaged their progress and possbly left them more disillusioned than ever. I have come to understand that when sharing with people with these ways of thinking it is best to focus on the holy spirit. It is the only teacher, we can only invite it and allow it to bring light and understanding to their hearts and minds. The only thing we can do is help them understand that this spirit leads us to truth. Just like what dad said its true.
But I digress,

This week has been marching but uneventful, many of our investigators have been away on vacation. We were excited to meet a guy a couple weeks ago who was excited about meeting with us. It was a little dissapointing when he didnt wake up to go to church on Sunday but it is a minor setback. We have also been blessed to see several investigators who have stopped investigating for various reasons renew their interest in church and in the lessons. Im sure we will see progress with them soon.

We had changes. Im in a trio again. Elder Lizama and I are staying in Lo Camino and Elder Jenson is joining us. Hes from Colorado. I met him no more than two hours ago. He seems nice, lol I havent been with him long enough to know.

Elder Lizama has some problems with his back. He has to go through an operation. The doctor said it is just a small operation. We feel that that is why were in a trio. It is likely that he will operate in the middle of this transfer and will be in rest for awhile after. It is likely that it will be me and Elder Jenson left to work in this sector.

I hope everyone is doing well and happy. I love you all very much and pray for yall often.

Love, Jeremy

Hello family!!

This was the first week of 2013, wierd. Everything goes back to normal now. Sam goes back to school... work goes back to normal... The decorations come down... No more drunk people frantic about the end of the world for the missionaries to talk to in the street... kind of sad but thats the way it is.

It sounds like everyone spent the new years well. Theres nothing wrong with spending it quiet, I think thats the one thing I miss most is just spending a quiet night a home with movies or games. Im glad Josh and everyone found 2012 to be easy, I dont think I could say the same thing. I think 2012 was one of the harder years for me. Im excited to see what 2013 has in store. Im sure it will bring a lot of successes as well as failures. A lot of happy moments and several discouraging moments. All I know is that it will bring progress. Whatver happens this year it is for the better.

I recieved the package from christmas, and it was really well recieved. I finally have a hackeysack again, which is good because it will allow me to practice my footwork for when the other elders want to play soccer:) I was also very happy to see the music. My life has been a little dull without music, so this will help me feel more alive. I was expecially exited to see the soundtrack to Anastasia. It was weird to see because I have been humming the songs from this CD for the last couple weeks. I dont know how you guys knew. This music has something special to it and I dont really know how to describe it. Thank you. The truth is that there is a chance that I dont have permission to listen to it. Im not sure why I wouldnt but I have to ask president Essig. Either way im happy I have it. It is always awesome to recieve gifts from home. I hear theres more coming?! cant wait :)

This week was a good week for us. The Santibanez family got confirmed on Sunday. Theyre members of the church now. :) It was neat to see their smiles between the ordinances. Theyre really excited I can tell. Theyre going to go far.

We are working with several very good investigators. Nobody came to church but they are progressing in my book. Im excited to see what will come this week. I have come to recognize th experience of sitting with investigators that are progressing to be very rewarding. simply sitting with these friends and with the spirit in the room, there is a feeling of peace and joy. I coming to really enjoy being a missionary. There are times when we dont have lessons like this and we are simply working but all the same, the lord works with us.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

I love you all very much

Jeremy