Our mission is one of the most obedient

April 20, 2016
                         

Elders Keck and Stam with investigators from Haiti

 So like I said to dad, I don't have a lot of time to write today. The cyber that we normally go to was closed and we didn't know of any other cyber that we could write in. Haha yeah, that's been happening a little bit, lots of rain here. There wasn't a whole lot of flooding in our mission, that I have heard of. It rained during the entire weekend, without stopping, but most of the flooding happened in downtown Santiago. It was fun though, there was a huge drop in attendance at church, which is kind of sad, the rain is no excuse to not go to church. I also got a little sick right before it started raining, so it didn't help me get better very fast, and also yesterday we got the flu shot and that made me even worse. But you can never stop working. I really like the rain though, I prefer it way over a hot sunny day. Alright, I would like to hear that story from her.

Yeah I also think that the Book of Mormon is easier. I also really like the New Testament. It has some harder parts, but there are a lot of really clear parts also. Haha yes, I'll send a few photos.  That sounds like it's going to be a pretty fun stake conference, it's nice sometimes to have a change every once in a while. I'm sure that it will all turn out great. He sounds like an awesome person (Elder Becerra), I would say try to get to know him pretty well because the church leaders are all super amazing.  I've done almost the exact same thing. On the little book about the restoration that we give to the people, it has that picture on the front, and I always ask people how they would feel if they were the lamb and what they need to do to become the lamb.

Well I'll start looking at the majors when I get it, but I'm not really going to think about it a whole lot until I'm home. I have other things to be thinking about now haha. It will be summer but I'm only going to have three weeks of summer haha.

Haha I think that it's so funny that he needs to wear a helmet, it cracks me up. We are teaching a family that has a baby that's 9 months old, just barely older than Jackson, so it's kind of like a preview I guess. The baby laughs and smiles an incredible amount also.

Elias was a reference, I don't know who it was from. Yeah it went well with him. He started seeing things on the internet, including anti mormon stuff, but he knows that there are enemies for everything so he didn't believe a lot of the stuff haha. He's like the golden investigator like that say. It will be a giant change if he does accept the gospel, because all of his family are evangelicos, and his brother is even a pastor. Oh wow, so it sounds like they caused some pretty big problems. I think that our mission is one of the most obedient, I really haven't heard of like any missionary who does any super bad thing. Yes, there are missionaries that aren't completely obedient, but I've heard some stories from other missions where the missionaries have done some terrible things. Our mission no though. I'm sure that a lot of it has to do the President Cook, everyone here loves and respects him. He always works with them, he doesn't send a missionary home unless it's absolutely necessary.


When were you normally getting tomatoes before? I'll have to compare the tomatoes from home to the tomatoes here. It's kind of funny, before the mission I would always take the tomatoes off the sandwiches, but now whevener I make a sandwich, I put tomatoes on it, it's weird to see how things change.


That's kind of the same thing that I am saying. This next change that comes around will most likely determine where I finish the mission. If I get changed, I'll finish in the new sector, and if I don't get changed, then I will probably finish where I am right now.

Haha it's true, it is nice to be with an American. There's always that slight difference of culture with a latin, but that also makes things a little more interesting, for better or for worse. Thanks for the email, I hope that you also have an amazing week. Haha you'll meet a few people when we come to Chile, don't worry.

Love,
Elder Stam

Let's have faith that they accept it now

April 13, 2016 
                                             

Mom,           

Right, I forgot last week to tell Heather Happy Birthday, so wish her a happy late birthday from me please :D Haha so people are learning to paint now huh? There are some weird trends in the world. So how do you think they turned out? They look pretty good to me. That's definitely one of the first things that I am going to want when I come home, eat burgers. They have burgers here but it's still different.

This last week was good, there were some hard days. It's always hard when you have appointments with people and then they aren't home and they don't tell you anything. That always happens. It happened a lot this last week, but it's fine because we also found a few new people to teach. Our ward has been very blessed lately with four new families moving into the ward. Haha yeah I can share with you guys my favorite LDS videos. It'll be a little weird watching them in English, I think that they will be better. We've been looking mainly for less active members to teach, but it's been strange and looking for them we've actually found more investigators. Haha, I had no idea what Oma's conversion story is. I actually didn't know who were the first converts in the family. And what about dad's side?

I think that the biggest problem that I have when I read the scriptures is it's hard for me to focus enough to understand them fully. Right now I'm reading in the New Testament and there are parts that have been really hard for me to understand. It might also be that I am reading them in Spanish. Elder Utchdorf uses a lot of like parables or similes when he speaks, it's pretty cool.

Well hopefully everything goes well with the move, I know for sure that Oma will like Utah. Ah you guys never played in the water, you just always wanted to sort of float there. Swimming isn't just laps, swimming laps is exercise. You can swim to have fun. That just sounds like a normal papa thing almost haha. He'll be fine though, it's rough for everyone when they're old, but I don't know of anyone that's stopped existing because it was too hard for them and the next life will be wonderful for him.

It's crazy to think that what I decide to major in could really make an influence on my whole life. I guess with a lot of prayer and faith everything will turn out fine.

Oh no, another Josh. Haha not like it's a bad thing but Josh is a character. I think that it will be funny to see a little Josh running around everywhere. I think also that he will be a lot like Josh. The weather here has also been nice. It's been cold, I'm wearing a sweater right now. I love it. Hmm we had a really awesome lesson with this kid names Elias. He's 21 years old, and kind of like a punk kid. He was a really strong and faithful member of the Evangelic church, but he stopped going for a while. We made really good friends with him and then we taught him the Restoration. He accepted it really well and said that it makes more sense than all of the other churches haha. We have another lesson with him today and we are going to teach him about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we also brought a Book of Mormon in French to the Haitians, and finally they understood better. They actually had a few doubts, which is a good thing because if they don't have doubts, they don't learn. But they had doubts about the Book of Mormon being "the most correct of any other book on the earth". So now that they are finally understanding, let's have faith that they accept it now. Anyways, thanks for the email again, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Stam

Being exactly obedient really helps the Spirit stay with us

April 6, 2016


                                 

Mom,

My first week with him was good. We get along pretty well, I think that our personalities are pretty similar. One of the things that I like most about him is he's obedient. I cannot stress to you how important that it. Most missionaries are very obedient, but not exactly obedient. He actually tries to be exactly obedient and it really helps the Spirit stay with us a lot more. I had all the intentions of grabbing my camera before we left, but I forgot again. I'm sorry, I'll definitely try my best to remember next week. The teaching has been going well. We've been focusing mostly on finding new people. Yeah, the Haitians are still progressing, slowly. I think that they are starting to actually understand more. Right now we are reteaching the plan of salvation, but really slowly. They speak French so we read the scriptures with the in French, and it helps them understand a lot more. You have to help the people understand the importance of the change they need to make in their life, and that change can be a good thing, and it can make you happier. I plan on waking up early, reading the scriptures, then going to exercise. That'll be my mornings. Piano playing is going fine, not a lot recently because we have had a lot of meetings recently on Sunday.


Well every week seems to go just a little bit faster. It's true when they say that the last year goes the fastest. I got my trunky papers today from the mission office, you know the papers that I have to fill out so they can buy my plane ticket haha

I did enjoy conference, it's always good. I didn't pay a whole ton of attention because it looses a lot of meaning when you want to watch it in your first language. I have the whole conference downloaded in English though so I am going to listen to it a lot more carefully at our house. President Monson hardly spoke at all. He also gave a talk in Priesthood session and it was only like 4 minutes long. I think that he is getting really tired. I liked Holland's talk, he's always an amazing talker, and I think it was the perfect talk to end conference. I also liked Elder Nelson and Elder Utchdorf from the Priesthood session. I didn't know that Kaitlyn and Savannah sang in the choir,  that's cool. It was a really fun experience when I sang in it.

Haha Oma probably hasn't even touched or looked at some of the stuff she would have to get rid of. She'll get over it. We can't take possessions with us when we die. It would be nice to have a pool, if you guys would even swim though. It's so lame going to a pool with the family because you guys never even swim.

Wow I had to do some math problems a little while ago and it was really hard. I think that I have forgotten a lot of my math skills. It'll be pretty tough for me at first. I guess with just a little bit of studying I will be fine. Yeah that class schedule all sounds fine to me. I just don't want it to take up a whole bunch of time. I'm gonna want some time off. And on top of all of that I know that I am going to have to find a job and work. Maybe the swimming class won't be too much of a necesity, but we will see. Yeah I prefer 830 with a small break. Goodness, college sounds like a riot.

Haha that's funny, Jackson has to wear a helmet. He sounds like a pretty typical baby. Do you think that he is going to be like Joshua when he grows up?

I guess that I will have to try the tomatoes from the garden when I'm home. I've eaten so many tomatoes here and I honestly think that the tomatoes in the United States would be better. I was just stubborn before haha. Now I'll eat just about anything.  Yes, it's finally starting to get cold. It actually rained yesterday, it was fantastic. Yeah, of course I love the people here, I wouldn't have any success if I didn't love them. Well I hope that you have a great week, talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Stam

Busy missionary

March 30, 2016

 Mom,                             

                                       Things went well with transfers. We actually had them on Monday because yesterday was one of the crazy days in Chile where we have to stay home all day. It was really nice having a day off, definitely needed. It was probably my last one, unless my comp or I are really sick and can't work. My new companion is Elder Keck, from California. I knew him a little bit before, so it'll be fun being with him. My companion has 14 months in the mission, he's a great guy, always trying to be a better person. He is really tall, like 6'7". I am still district leader.  We've been working with a few new people, the problem is we usually teach them like once, and then they either disappear or don't answer the door, they're stubborn. I guess that it's supposed to be a fight though right, looking for new people that will progress? The best thing was definitely the day off, got a lot of studying done. I've really been enjoying my studies recently. I've been reading in Romans in the new testament. Last Wednesday was a pretty cool day. We had a family home evening as a ward, and Elder Baker and I gave the class and we talked about Christ and his Atonement, then we talked about what the members need to do to invite people to come to church. We had a pretty good turnout at church, lots of people came for Easter. I love when members do some work, it makes everything go so much smoother.  I feel like the time that I was with Elder Baker just absolutely flew by. It's also a little strange to think that he's home now, I know he's happy.  He did talk a lot about home, what he was going to do when he was home. I don't think that it helped that every house we went to they asked him if he was trunkey and when he was going to do. I think that he just rode the wave. I know that the first week of the last transfer the president has a meeting the all the missionaries going home and he gives them motivation to keep working to the end.

It wasn't like a special sacrament meeting, but it was still good. Elder Baker gave his going away talk, and also a sister missionary. And finally a kid here that is preparing to go on a mission. They all gave great talks. Yeah I read it, I try to read President's messages every week. He sent out part 2 to that today. President definitely gives out those messages by inspiration.You should try to read them every week, they're pretty much like scripture I swear haha. Aw that's sad, I didn't know Lucky died. Well we all know that he's still happy. I'm sure Oma was sad, he was the perfect dog for her. She'll love Tootsie too. Haha Tootsie was insane when I left. I'm sure that she still loves chasing the light. Is her hair still getting lighter?

I wouldn't mind starting classes at like 8ish. I'm going to wake up early to study the scriptures and exercise, so I think that would be like the perfect time. I just don't want to be studying any later than like four. That's the limit for me. I'm going to be going to bed early, and I'll get mad if they make a lot of noise. One thing that I've learned on my mission is how to put fire behind my words haha, by not yelling. How much money do you think that I am going to need to help pay a year for schooling?

Haha I honestly don't know anything with babies. Has he mumbled his first word yet? And I'm assuming that he has a few teeth now. I think that I will learn a lot about babies with him. 

Ben is already going on a mission? Jeez everyone is so old. Vegas huh? A little close, he'll like it though, he's going there for a reason. I'll send photos for sure next week, I forgot my camera again. Sorry. Well thanks for always writing me, I hope that you and the family have a spectacular week!

Love,
Elder Stam

No time this week!

March 23, 2016


Alright so I only have like 10 minutes to write, I'm a little frustrated, so I'll just skim through your email and answer the more important questions and things, sorry.

It's most likely that I will stay here in this sector, or president would have to do a white wash here. President and Sister Cook are from New York, so you probably won't be able to go, they said that they were going to go to Utah at the end of August and have a mini mission reunion, so that will be fun.

 Oh that's awesome there is a pool at Snow College, I'm looking forward to being able to swim. I think that I will swim like three days a week in the morning, and the other days go running or something like that. I want to stay in shape.

That's good that Oma is moving to Utah, she'll love it for sure. Well fine I'll buy my own TV haha, I don't think they're that expensive. Speaking of Oma, how's Lucky doing?

Haha it will be fun to talk to Connor in Chilean Spanish, because believe me, it's not like other Spanish. Even some latinos have a hard time understanding Chileans.  This week we also had stake conference and the elder Teixeira came and he gave a great talk. We are really going to focus a lot this week on getting people to come to church, and he talked a lot about that.

Thanks mom, I hope that you have a great week, if you need anything, tell me and I'll respond next week!  Elder Baker will be gone next week, so I'll have more time haha.

From,
Elder Stam 😁