Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Temple allows us to be together forever

October 14, 2015

Mom and Dad,  
  


Things have been great with the family! We took them to the temple on Friday. The stake organized a trip to the temple and the missionaries really took advantage of it. A lot of the missionaries from the stake took people to the temple. So we took them there and taught them about temples, and they said that they want to go in someday to get sealed. It was quite the experience. They actually are going to get baptized this Saturday! And then on Sunday we have two more baptisms with two other kids that we have been teaching. So this week we should have 5 baptisms. The Lord blesses us haha. I've given quite a few blessings for health, other blessings no. The highlight was going to the temple for sure. Other than that, maybe when there were like 10 gunshots right next to us. That was pretty thrilling. Yes, I still like the food. I'm getting kind of sick of chicken though, I have to admit. There's a soup here called Cazuela that's pretty good. You need to learn how to make Chilean empanadas also. Also see if she knows what mote con huesillo is.

Yeah, I think that everyone noticed that Pres Monson had to rest on the podium.  I think that he still has a little while though. Who knows, maybe some kids actually saw two angels holding him. He been a great prophet though, one with lots of love. Which talk from conference was your favorite and why? I liked Monson's talk in the Priesthood Session, he was really direct with us and I think that it is what we needed.


That's a pretty cool story with Grandpa going to the Temple for a sealing. I was looking at my family tree a little while back and I was pretty surprised how filled it was. That's good that Grandpa could go to the temple and have a good experience there. So did you guys end up giving a name to the baby? I've realized that our church is really the only church that really has the correct perspective of forever. The other churches don't really think about the future at all, only the present. That would be super awesome if the family we are teaching got sealed. The temple is awesome, brings people closer to God and allows them to be together forever.

I think that I will have like four kids, but we will see. So did you actually go out on the lakes with the kayaks? How did you like it? I would actually really like to go to a lake with the kayaks. I think that a little bit before I left I started to really like lakes. We should take the kayaks to a river with rapids and do some white water kayaking, that would be a lot of fun.  If we go to a lake, I'm definitely putting sun screen on, it was absolutely horrible when we went to St George. Definitely the worst sun burn that I've ever had. The weather has been really bipolar here though. One day hot, the next day cold and rainy. Right now it's raining. Yesterday it was really hot.  Jackson is already smiling huh? Try to take a picture of his smiling!

Go Utes :D it would be amazing if they could have another undefeated year. Remember when you guys were BYU fans? Yeah, you're welcome for me converting you.  Time does fly, I have 14 months now. The weather has been a little nuts and it's been affecting my health a little bit. Not a ton but I have headaches every once in a while. So yeah, we should have 5 baptisms this week. It should be a great week. I'll send you pictures of the baptism next week! Thanks for writing me and I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Stam    



We were created to have joy


October 7, 2015



Dear Mom and Dad,       




 My week was good, one of the slower weeks, but still good. The family is doing great. We taught the the Word of Wisdom yesterday and they accepted it so easily. They said that they were going to get rid of all the tea that they had, it was pretty cool. Haha it drives me nuts a little bit every time that we have to give a blessing because the names are really long and I can never remember them hahah. Nothing happened with transfers, I'm still with Elder Sosa in the same area. I was getting tired of being changed, I'm glad I didn't leave again. We are teaching about 15 or 16 every week and there are many hours that we don't have anything to do, so only 3-4 lessons a week would suck. We have about 10 investigators in church every week. The sunburn is fine, I peeled a little on my neck but that's it. I don't like sunscreen mom, you know that. Being a lifeguard made me learn to hate sunscreen haha. Oh trust me, I tell them to try water polo and they just refuse.

I liked conference a lot too. I didn't know who any of the new apostles were, but they all seem to be really good and strong. Yeah, Pres Monson is wearing out slowly, I think that he still has some time though. I think that the next to go will be Elder Hales. I think that Elder Nelson would be an amazing prophet. Ever since he came here to talk to us, I've loved him a million times more. His talk this conference was really awesome, sad, but spiritual. We watched that talk with that family, they liked it a lot as well. Haha I miss the conference breakfasts that we had.

 Jackson is the first, haha he carries a legacy with him. Right now at this moment the family reunions would be kind of lame, there is only one kid! Who of all your kids do you think will have the most kids? I really want to see the Minions movie, it looks so funny. Did you know that they were created by Mormons? Fun fact of the day.

Haha you should try P90X Insanity, I've done that a few times in the mission. That really about kills us, but it's a lot of fun. They really got married four years ago? Man I feel like it was just last year. How long have Heather and Cody been married? I remember playing at the reception of Josh and for real there is no way that was four years ago.

Yup, two of my companions have gone home already! I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Elder Henderson, he's doing great, enjoying his life in the middle of nowhere haha. Well thanks for the email again, have a great week! Keep in mind what Nefi said, we were created to have joy, so enjoy life!

Love,
Elder Stam    




True happiness comes from obedience to the commandments

Sept 30, 2015



Mom and Dad, 
     


I'm glad that you had a good week with Shelly and baby Jackson. So what do you think about him now that you know him? Haha I think that he's gonna be a pretty big kid. Wow there really isn't any more that have the last name Stam?? We have to make this name famous. From what it sounds like they didn't have very many problems with the trip.  I've helped people move here twice, we helped them pack the truck and it takes absolutely forever. It was tiring as well because one of them lived on the third floor of an apartment building so we had to continually climbing stairs for several hours packing the truck. It was fun though, a little bit of a break from preaching. Nauvoo would be a pretty fun place to go see one day. Hopefully you didn't have too many problems with the trip, at least you're done with it already haha. During the special training that we had from President Cook he told us of a building that was in New York where one of the first sacrament meetings was help. President and Sister Cook owned the building. It was cool learning a little bit more about New York and everything that happened there.  It will be pretty fun to have Josh close again, we gotta have more family reunions or something like that haha. So you watched a lot of movies huh? Hopefully you are still keeping up on the list of movies that I have to see when I come home. We see a lot of those panels or whatever they're called that have the new movies, there are a few pretty cool looking ones. I'm excited to have two of the Maze Runner movies, I really liked those books.

This week has been good, it's been pretty hot. I got burned last P Day, and I think I got a little bit more burnt today. We've played soccer the last two days, Mom I'm really bad at soccer. It's pretty fun to watch the latinos truthfully, there are a few that play really well. That family we are teaching is doing good. The mom has her birthday tomorrow. They learn really fast and always have a ton of questions. They are really like the perfect family. They accept everything that we teach without any doubts or anything. Remember that latinos have two last names and two first names, so one name could fill a book. The other families in our ward have been good with them, they feel really welcome and already have friends. Time has been flying lately, I don't know how we are pretty much already in October. October means conference though and I'm pretty excited to get to see it again.  It is going to be really good though. Even though we have to watch it in Spanish it will still be good. I can just download it in English after anyways. It's going to be a good conference because they are going to call three new apostles!

I think that the best gift would be to buy me those games that I want and send me a small package, I really don't need anything here. I would like American peanut butter though, I miss that. Yes mom, I understand, you'll always be my mom, and that is what you are supposed to do with your mom- be close and talk.

That's a big Chilean Hot dog. 



A lot of people here are saying that there is going to be another earthquake, but that isn't something that you can predict, unless you are a prophet haha. I don't think there will be another one. At least I have the experience to say that I was here when there was an earthquake. There really wasn't any damage at all, at least where we are.  Dad told me that he bought kayaks, that is going to be a lot of fun, we need to go to lakes a lot more often, that is one thing that I learned to love right before I came out here, lakes. It was really fun going to the lake with Nanette's choir group, even though I got severely burned and my feet swelled and I couldn't even walk for like two days after. We should definitely go more.

Haha you're right Dad, I've always been a really fast typer, it's not too big of a problem if they're long, I can type fast. There are a few elders that type really slow and can barely write anything in the time we have haha. It's fine though, I like the emails, thanks for always sending me one. I hope that you guys have a great week as well, that you guys learn a lot in conference as well! It should be a good one, they are going to call three new apostles! It will be interesting to see who it will be. Thanks once again for the email, they are always one of the best parts of my week. Just like you said, the true happiness comes from obedience to the commandments.

Love,
Elder Stam