Really working on activating and getting them to Church!

June 24, 2015

Mom,

Yeah, this was a pretty good week. We went on divisions three days in a row, so I was with three different missionaries this week haha. I was with Elder Marshall, Elder Bushman, and Elder Elder Tafur, all great missionaries. Hah I appreciate all the things you sent, even though my suitcases were about to burst when I just had to shove everything in. My big suitcase weighed like 75 pounds! I haven't made the brownies yet, we still don't have a pan to make them. Once we get one though, I'll make them haha. Right, about the photos, I'm pretty sure that the card got a virus, even though I use an adapter and put it in the little "lock" mode, and the pictures aren't showing up. The data is still filled so I know we can save all of the photos, I'm just going to start using a new card and not touch that one until I come home. I don't want to risk losing the photos, there were like 800 of them. I'll send you new photos though when I take them. It just goes to show that all of the computers here have viruses. Our Pres tells us that we shouldn't carry our camaras with us, but I usually just do anyways. I'm really careful with it.

Elder Facal has been a little bit better, still prideful, but better hah. I taught him how to solve a Rubix Cube so he always is asking me how to do a step that he forgot haha. It makes him talk to me though. I think that he just has an idea about gringos stuck in his mind that won't change. The latinos here are just really annoying sometimes hah. They see a gringo in the street and they yell "Hello how are you!! One, two, three, four." I think how much different it would be if we yelled "Hola cómo estás? Uno, dos, tres, cuatro" to the latinos in America. It's alright though haha. Elder Rupe is from Morgan, Utah. Pretty close. We found another family, but they're evangelicos (I really don't know what that is in English) so they're going to be pretty touch ones. That religion is really strong here. And yes I still play piano for sacrament every week.

Dad told me a little about the funeral, sounds like it went well. I have to admit that from everything that I saw from the Ukranian kids before, they were definitely the biggest trouble makers, more than anyone else. Hopefully they all learned a little bit, they can't keep acting the way that they did before and maybe his death will help them realize what's really important in life.  KSL really is awesome, Riley always bought a lot of stuff on KSL and I went with him all the time to go get it haha. I also sold my Nintendo DS on KSL. I still can't believe I got $200 out of it, that guy was crazy haha. That would be a stressful calling to be over the Women's prison, it almost sounds like the bishop callings here haha. He is a good man though.  Jared will be a good missionary.  Everybody has the potential to be a good missionary, it really just all depends on your own consecration and efforts.  Hopefully grandpa keeps getting better, he was doing not too well when grandma died.

I think that we need to focus mostly on just reactivation here. A lot of the leaders in this ward are inactive, and we have to get them to come to church, they cannot be missing like this. I think that the Sabbath Day is a completely different commandment here in Chile. It was a lot easier to keep it holy in the United States, but here it really is just like any other day. There are a lot of religious people here, they just don't have a clue what the fourth commandment actually means. When Elder Gonzalez (our area 70) came and spoke to all of the missionaries a few weeks ago, he told us that the most recent revelation that the church has received was about the Sabbath Day, and that we need to start focusing on that a little bit more as missionaries. According to him it was a revelation, but who knows, maybe something will happen on a Sunday and we will be protected if we keep the Sabbath Day holy. Garments are a pain in the butt sometimes, but you just have to suffer with it. You should really only take them off to shower, swim, or do heavy exercise. The Mormon channel really is awesome, it has everything imaginable. The most rewarding thing...what do you mean by that? I learned a lot more from Jesus the Christ, I read a lot about his baptism and when Satan tempted him, and also about his childhood, read the book mom haha.

I'm actually really starting to enjoy soccer a lot. It's not an obsession, but I think that I will probably watch all of the Chile games when they play. Here in Santiago there are two main soccer teams, Colo Colo and La Universidad de Chile. There are just a lot of things on the iPhone that I know a backup won't save, like the notes I have. I have a note with all of my passwords for everything, and it's not something that I can't have when I come back lol. I'm pretty sure that Utah sends out more missionaries than all the other states combined.

Yeah I read a little bit more of my setting apart, it really is awesome. I think I might read a paragraph a day, it would give me a lot of motivation la verdad. Sorry there are just a few things in Spanish that make a lot more sense in Spanish than English so there might be a few things in Spanish here and there. It's already over 100 degress? Wow. It's been pretty cold here at nights, but not horrible. I've used that coat a lot, I think it's saved my life a couple of times haha. Those shoes are perfect size.

I hope that you have a great week as well. There's nothing that I can think of right now, but the same goes for you! Thanks for writing me again, have a great time in Wolf Creek this weekend!

Love,

Elder Stam

Family photos taken two days before Caleb left on his mission. 

            

How does it feel to be 19? Awesome and my package was super awesome

June 17, 2015

Mom and Dad,

Haha the birthday package was awesome! I've really missed Skittles, they are really the best candy in the entire world. Also the Rubix Cube is going to keep me really entertained for quite a while. It was one of the biggest packages that I think an Elder has ever gotten ever. It was huge! But super awesome haha. For my birthday we didn't do much, just had a little party at a members house with all the Elders in our ward. There's not a ton of stuff to really give a missionary either. I love everything that you guys have me though, I think that the 4x4 rubix cube is really going to keep me entertained. The food is also awesome. We live next to a store called Lider, which is the Walmart of Chile. It's owned by Walmart so it's pretty much the same. It doesn't have the same things though. And if it does have the same things as in America, it's super expensive. A jar of peanut butter is like $6. My birthday was a pretty normal day, except at night we went to a house with a family and all of the missionaries were there and we had a little party thing, with hot dogs and cake haha. It was small, but it was nice of them. That's pretty much it though, nothing else really big. It was fun, we got to watch like 10 minutes of one of the Copa America games haha. Yeah it was all exactly what I wanted! Tell Cody happy birthday from me if you can, I just emailed Josh and told him happy birthday, also happy fathers day to dad.

The new apartment is pretty nice. It's about twice the size of our old house, which was tiny. It's got a few problems, but overall not bad. I send you most of the pictures that I take, I'm probably not going to send a zip drive home, now that I figured out how to send pictures home through the email. No My companion hasn't really opened up more, he has something against the United States, he argues with Elder Rupe about the United States a lot. He just has a bunch of crazy ideas about us. That's okay though, he's gotta open up at some point. The latinos have just been raised so differently, it's probably really weird to be with a gringo.  I also can definitely tell a difference between gringo companions and latino ones. Elder Facal is a good missionary, he just is so slow to do everything, it kills me.  If our appointments fail we end up finding new people.  I hope that I get a companion with less time than me at some point. We are teaching a very small amount of people in this ward. We definitely need to find new people. Last week we only had 10 lessons, but there was a lot of things going on last week, the Copa America, my birthday, and there was a wedding in the ward. We also did divisions and I stayed in the sector even though I still hardly know it. The most rewarding thing was my birthday haha.

More missionaries going out, good stuff. The world needs more. The Sabbath Day is really just such a big problem. Even the bishops here go out and buy stuff on Sunday. The attendance in our new ward is horrible, this week it was only 35 people. We started the Sacrament with 11 people, six of them being missionaries, the bishop, and his counselor. You can find Elder Perry's funeral on Youtube. I know that the mormon channel has it. The mormon channel is awesome, one of the best tools that we have as missionaries. Most people here have access to the internet, so we show them a video from youtube and it is a really spiritual experience every time.

Elder Stam in the back eating lol

Yeah I heard about Artem from Dad. I guess that it was just his time to go. I don't really know what more to say.  I hope that his family is doing alright, it's a tragic event, but it happens. He's in a better place, that I know for sure.

The world cup no. The world cup only happens every 4 years. This is the American Cup, only the latinoamerican countries are here. It only happens every 4 years also. I have heard that next year is 100 years of FIFA soccer, and there is going to be a giant tournament in the United States. It's in June, so I am just barely missing it.

Hermana Bedard asked me if I knew Chine several months ago and I said yes (Chine is Joshua's friend). It's a small world. There was another Hermana that was from Murray, she went home early though. I've met missionaries from Midvale, Pleseant Grove, Sandy, pretty much everywhere in Utah.

My setting apart was awesome. I am going to have to read it again more profoundly, I only really skimmed over it, I didn't have time. But I'll let you know more what I think about it next week. Have a wonderful Father's Day, and a wonderful week to follow. I love you!

Love,
Elder Stam       

Dont know why he sent this but he LOVES chips and salsa!

I'm going to be a worn out person by time I come home .....

June 10, 2015

Mom and Dad,  

Man I'm only going to be a teenager for one more year, what the heck?? There are like three people every day that ask how old I am and I always tell them that I am going to turn 19 this Friday, so my companion definitely won't forget haha. We are going to have a "party" with a family that we are teaching. It will be pretty fun I think. They're a crazy family. Things are good back here in La Bandera, it almost feels like home. It's weird to be here though. I'm not in the same ward, but I'm in the ward right next to it. I saw the first counselor of my first ward the other day. We are living in apartments, bigger than my last house haha. I live with Elder Facal, Elder Rupe, and Elder Panduro. My new companion is alright. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't like gringos, he's a little bitter with me. I've also never seen him talk with a gringo before. I'm also his first gringo companion. He just sort of likes to do his own things without asking me anything. He told me today that we were only going to write our familys for half an hour. I was like heck no haha. Hopefully he opens up a little bit more though. He's been out for about 16 months. The new area is nice, it's really small compared to Portezuelo. There are a lot of recent converts here, and we have a few investigators, but not many. We're in a more dead sector. The ward only has an attendance of about 50. We're going to be working a lot of that though.

Hah yeah I've had quite a few empanadas. There was a family in Portezuelo that always made empanadas and they were so incredible. I asked her for the recipe and she didn't have it. She just said that she has it memorized. I'll have to find another good recipe though. Well the people here say that the tomatoes in Chile are different, so I don't know if I'll like them in America.

The investigators that I left are still going really well and hopefully I will get to go back soon for a baptism or two. We should have two on the 20th. My companion has been here in this sector for three months, or two transfers. I am sure that we will be together for two more changes or three months.

That picture of the bathroom looks really nice, a little different than I thought it was going to look. It looks like a rich person bathroom to be honest haha. You're going to have to lend me that bathroom for the three weeks that I have home. And I don't think there is a bathroom in Chile that has been finished ha ha. There have been a ton of strikes here lately, people fighting with their employer about their job. The kids here haven't gone to school for two weeks because all of the teachers are striking. Most members here don't fulfill their calling.  Wow life is crazy. So many things have happened back home haha. Life goes on with or without you.

We had a pretty cool week though. One of the seventy came and spoke to our mission. Elder Gonzalez. He was really cool, spoke with an Argentinian accent. It's cool how I can pick apart the different Spanish accents now. Spanish isn't even a problem now. Apparently the most recent revelation that the church has gotten is about the Sabbath day, and how the missionaries need to start working more with members and less actives to start keeping the Sabbath day holy. It's one of the biggest problems here in Chile. It's rough work, I'm going to be a worn out person when I come home.  Honestly the mission has gone by really fast. And they say that the first year is the slow year. So I think that I am going to be home before I know it, it's really weird. I still remember going to the airport perfectly. The mission almost feels like just a dream sometimes.

After that conference with him, we got to watch the funeral service of L. Tom Perry. It was a pretty spiritual experience. It looks like there are going to be a lot of changes coming up soon, the last change was Thomas S. Monson being called as the prophet.

Also this week starts the Copa America (I think it's called the American Cup in English but I have no idea) and it's in Chile. Every time that Chile plays we have to stay in the house during the game and all day after the game. It goes until July 4th. We are going to have a crazy month here. There are a ton of foreigners and Copa America things all over Chile, it's pretty cool to see it all. It gets really dangerous though. It's good that we have to stay in the house. Well have a wonderful week again, I'll try to send photos next week!

Love,
Elder Stam

Crazy I got transferred back to my first sector, La Bandera.

June 3, 2015

First day in the Chile Santiago South Mission

Mom,

First of all, yes I got transferred. The crazy thing is I got transferred back to La Bandera. My sector is literally right next to the sector that I was in with Elder Leon. I actually live in that sector, Los Pensamientos. I'm in the ward La Bandera now, just right on the other side of the big street Santa Rosa. But I am writing in the exact same internet cyber that I wrote in my first P Day in Chile. I almost can't believe that President sent me back here haha.  President must think he's funny.  I was in Portezuelo for almost 6 months. I should be going back for a few baptisms though for sure. My new companion is Elder Facal, and he's from Uruguay. He's pretty cool, I am sure that he's going to be a professional soccer player. I've told you about Gabriel and Belen. They attended the church for years but were never baptised. Their baptisms are June 20th. They are both young, 13 and 11.   I think that going to church in English now would almost be a little bit weird. How many people are in that ward that will now be in our Stake? I think that missionary work is picking up everywhere! Europe also has been getting a lot more baptisms as well.

That would be incredible to see Alejandro haha. I don't remember what mission. It starts with a C and it's in the south of Argentina, that's all I remember. Ooh that food sounds amazing haha. I didn't like cauliflower a lot before, but they eat it quite often here and I think that it is pretty good now haha as well as tomatoes. Wow that food really does sound really good haha. Most of the food here is pretty much the same now. There are a few members that are starting to learn how to make american food. This morning I had waffles haha that would be the first time in my mission.  They make crepes pretty much the same, they are just a little bit more thick. They put different things on top too, like manjar. They roll them here. My favorite food is probably Chaquicán. I think that's how you spell it haha. Everyday we usually eat chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta.

The strangest thing that happened was being transferred to where I am, I really find it too weird to be back here. I can't think of anything else happening though. I need to start remembering more the things that happen hah. Thanks mom you really are the best :D Just a small flat screen TV would be nice for college. Something that I could hook up to a laptop if I wanted.

My patriarchal blessing says that I have to stay close to you guys, so it's most likely that I am living in Utah for the rest of my life haha. What jobs has Josh applied for? I am sure that Tootsie loves to have the dogs over, it's probably a thrill. That sounds fun though, maybe I will take care of dogs one day too.

The weather here is kind of changing. It's still pretty warm during the day, but pretty cold during the night. It's getting there. It kind of sucks having to carry a jacket around all day, because it gets cold enough that you need a jacket, but during the day it's too hot for a jacket. Read Jesus the Christ, it's an amazing book. I've also had my birthday package for about a week, president didn't hold it haha. I have been healthy though, without any problems. The most rewarding thing, being alive haha. Thanks for writing me and have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Stam

We will always fail alone and that is why we have a Redeemer..

May 27, 2015

Elder Stam and Elder Henderson

Mom and Dad,

Hah they have a plane that reduces jet lag? Man technology is weird. I would love to visit other places at some point. And try the food from other places too. I hope that I get to travel when I'm older, I would love to go see more of the world. It sounds and looks like you guys had an amazing trip, but I think that the trip to Chile is going to be way better, for sure. I love crepes, they eat them pretty often here. Manjar is like the dulce de leche stuff, I don't know how to explain it, but it's pretty good. Just look it up haha.  I wish Chile had more variety, i feel like I eat the same thing almost every day haha. We don't hardly ever get to see Santiago, it's too far away. I realized that we really don't get to experience Chile at all, so we better come back here.

Things are going well with the missionary work. We should have three baptisms in June. It's too bad that I am probably being transferred next week, but I can still return to see them. We have a ridiculous amount of people that we are teaching, almost too many people. It's good to always have something to do though. I don't like doing contacts that much anyways. I would say that the most rewarding thing this week was setting two baptism dates in June with Gabriel and Belen again, and I'm sure that they are going to get baptised this time. We even have approval from the parents to do it.  Alejandro went to the MTC here in Chile, but he leaves next Tuesday for Argentina. He's 25 years old, just barely made the limit for missionaries. If we do come back here in May 2017, we should be here right when we gets home, which would be so awesome haha :D  We just had a new bishopric member put in, and he's going to be amazing for the ward.


Haha the stories of a mission. I have heard some absolutely crazy stories before, but nothing crazy like happened to dad has happened to me yet. I'm sure I already have some great stories, I just don't know how to tell them through email, so sorry. This week with one of our investigators, his wife came out and started screaming at us because shes a super crazy catholic and feels like shes losing her husband. So we can't go visit him anymore. If I think of a great story I will try to tell it to you.

Downtown Santiago is just a lot nicer, richer, and I kid you not the people look more gringo. It's kind of funny. And there are a ton of people that speak English. Our sectors are the "armpit of Chile" according to a missionary a while ago. The funniest thing? Well the elder that we live with, Elder Gularte, went to kick an orange on the ground and his shoe flew off and went on the roof of a house, and it was a struggle getting it back. It was super funny, we all about died of laughter. Things with Elder Henderson are great as well, he's still awesome haha.

Only Best Buy has the $5 down, so you will have to do it at Best Buy. Thanks though mom, you're the best.

Yes we did baptisms with Giselle. It is a small world. When we went to the temple with Giselle, one of my friends that I met at EFY several years ago was at the MTC there. His name was Kyle Quinn. I barely recognized him, and it really surprised me. He is going to the Concepcion mission. If I remember right, he lived in Orem.

Time flies, three months and I'll be an uncle :D They plan on moving back right after the baby is born? The "new age" thing is ridiculous. People don't know anything. I started reading Jesus the Christ this week, and I think that it might be one of the most incredible books I've ever read. It has really made me think really in depth about the gospel. I definitely recommend reading that book, with all of the scripture references that it gives. But there is a part where it talks about the agency of man, and how humanity alone will always fall. We will always fail alone. That is why we have a redeemer and savior, to save us from this fall. It's super in depth, just read that book haha.

Well thanks for all your love and support, and for you emails, they're the best. Have a wonderful week full of spiritual experiences and we will talk more next week.

Love,
Elder Stam

Catching the Sun

This past week was rough, it definitely tested our patience and diligence.

May 20, 2015

Alejandro and Elder Stam

Mom,

I hope the trip is going good, I would love to see some rain too. It seems that you are having fun. :) It would be pretty awesome to see those things, make sure you take photos! I'll send you more photos haha I send you almost all the photos I take.

The week was rough, it definitely tested our patience and diligence. There was a lot of time that we didn't have anything to do and we were sick of doing contacts, but we just had to keep doing them. It just about killed me and Elder Henderson. Our legs were killing us. I don't think I've ever walked that much in my entire life. We got the 100 hours, it was rough, but we did it. The morning were the hard part, we had nothing to do. The people in the street are in such a rush in the morning and don't want to talk to us, and we couldn't do house contacts yet either. It was tiring. We met a ton of people though and have quite of bit of new investigators. We survived though, and found some awesome people last week too. It was pretty fun haha. It was really nice sleeping the next day though. Definitely worth it, even though it just about killed us.

Alejandro (Caleb's friend who just left for his mission to Argentina) and Elder Caleb Stam

My package is already here in Chile?? That was fast. I think that the setting apart is going to be awesome. I don't remember much of it at all. Haha food, I guess that it's your turn to go on about food from Paris and London haha. Crepes, they are delicious. They actually make crepes quite often here. They fill them with manjar and it is just incredibly delicious.

I think you guys would really like Chile. Not where we are, but like downtown Santiago. I really want to go to the beach here, so we have to do that. Every time that we go down to Santiago it is really just a new country it feels like. The downtown area is so much different than where we serve.

Just making sure that you're keeping up on the video games. Have you preordered Halo 5: Guardians yet? If not, you need to do it. Please haha. Also, this week in the ward, one of the youth left for his mission. This morning actually. His name is Alejandro and he is one of my best friends that I have met here so far. He's an amazing person and I'm going to send a photo of me and him. He's going to Argentina on his mission. He's gonna be amazing haha.

This week we also got to go to the temple with a recently reactivated member. Her name is Giselle, and she's only 15 years old, but it was a really good experience. I think that she learned a lot from it.

Well thanks for writing me like always, you're a great mom, and I'll talk to you again next week :D

Love,
Elder Stam          

Giselle, Elder Stam, Alejandro and Elder Henderson

Consecrated Week Challenge

May 13, 2015

Mom,

The week has been rough with our Consecrated week challenge from our Mission President.  It's to do 100 hours of work.   We don't have anything to do in the morning so we just do like 7 hours of straight contacts. It's hard and my legs hurt a lot. It's been good though. We have found some awesome people. That's all that really matters haha.

I want to go to London one day, so we need to go back. It sounds really cool. The ward also sounds like the first ward I had here. Super small with about 50 people. It wasn't bad though, they had some pretty good people.

Don't worry about the Skype, it really isn't that big of a deal. At least we all still got to talk and see each other a little bit, that's all that really matters. Next time hopefully you will all be in the same place so it will be easier.

There's always some amazing conversion stories. This week one of the elders in the mission found the guy that baptized him. Apparently he lives in our mission. I don't know the details but that would be really cool.

Well I don't have any more time. Thanks for writing me and I'll talk to you again next week.

Love,
Elder Stam

We should pray to see miracles

May 6, 2015

Mom,

The weather has been a bit cooler, not a ton. Mostly just at night. During the day it is still pretty hot though. Today is May 6th, which is the equivalent of November 6th. I can never remember a November that was this hot. Things have been good still, we are still getting quite a bit of lessons. We have a few that are progressing, but not quite to the point of baptism yet. I would say that we teach a pretty equal balance of investigators and less actives. They all receive it pretty well, there are a few people that try to fight, but it really isn't hard at all to show and testify why we are right.

I don't know who in Pres Cook's family were apostles, he just said that he has had grandparents and great grandparents or something like that that were apostles. President Cook is a goofball. We had interviews with him this week. From all of the things that he said to me, it sounds like this next transfer I will be put in a new sector and with a companion that has less time than me. I'm looking forward to it though, it will be a great learning experience for me. Haha if I get the package before my birthday it is going to be torture not being able to open it, but I will try my best haha.

Haha I was planning on calling you about that time, so that's perfect. I will try to call no later than 3. Another list of questions haha. I'm not a huge talkative person, but I wouldn't say that I'm a really quiet person either.

Speaking of shoes, the other shoe in that pair also has a hole now. I think I am just going to wear these shoes until they are completely destroyed. It will be a good reminder of my mission haha. I haven't really seen many missionaries here that have been picky, but it seems that there are a lot of missionaries that are allergic to a lot of things. I had divisions again yesterday and I went with a Peruvian named Elder Estevez. He an awesome guy, but he's allergic to tomatoes. Every meal here and in almost all foods here, they put tomatoes in it. I don't know how he has survived until now.

 That photo is really funny, everyone laughs pretty hard when they see it. I just tell everyone that I am the third wheel of the family. Mexican food, I miss the stuff. It's different here, there aren't any refried beans or spicy salsas. What other movies are on the list?

I didn't have a ton of jet lag, it was still pretty hard though. The night that we were on the plane we all only got maybe two hours of sleep tops. Then the first day in Chile we had meetings with the president all day, and then we went straight to work in our sectors. And we never had any time to catch up on the sleep. I couldn't stay awake for the first week of studies, but now it's fine. I want to start waking up an hour early to get more study time. Have a wonderful time in London though, I'm definitely jealous that you are going without me haha.

Little prayers like that definitely work and are answered. I remember when I went on divisions with Elder Hermosilla, he said that when we say a prayer to leave and work, because we always pray before leaving the house, he said that we should pray to see miracles. Well the next day I tried it and it was the most successful day in my mission so far, with 6 lessons in one day. That was also the day that the one girl came up to us and told us to go to her house. So that day was definitely a miracle for us.

Are you still reading the bible?? I am supposed to finish the triple in a couple of days, and then I am going to read Jesus the Christ. I'm pretty excited to read the book and learn more about him. There seems to be quite a few books lately that I have been wanting to read. I want to read the book by Jeffrey R. Holland, but president said that we can read that book after the mission.

Well thanks for writing me once again, have a wonderful trip to London and stay safe, also have a wonderful mother's day and I will see you on Sunday :)

Love,
Elder Stam