Sunday, May 22, 2016

Life is really simple, just go and do!

May 18, 2016
                                     


Haha mom you're so trunky. Haha a party?? Alright. Just don't buy the Xbox One until I come home. We can go buy it together, I want to make sure it's the right one haha. Kind of weird to think that I am almost 20, it seems unreal.

Things are good in the new area, I like it here. My companions name is Elder Asplund, he's from Canada. He's pretty funny, we've been getting along pretty well. We both have 21 months in the mission, and we're going home together, so we are pretty used to the mission and there haven't really been any difficulties.  There are about 700 members on the list here, so it's a large ward, and about 70 that go to church, so a tenth. That's better than other wards haha. Our teaching pool is really big, with lots of investigators and lots of less actives, so the teaching is going great here. This last week has been a little tough though, it seems like they just aren't home. This area is a lot different. You can really tell the difference between the north and the south of the mission. Here, at night, the streets are full of people. It's easier to teach people here, but the people are a little slower to understand. Up north it's harder to teach but the people understand better. The sector is pretty nice though.  I'm living with Elder Brown, and he is training Elder Smith, so I live in another gringo house, I am not going to have an accent when I come home haha.

35 minutes seems like such a long talk haha. You should ask him if he wants me to talk about a certain subject or if I can just talk about whatever. I guess that I could just start preparing my talk now and not have to worry about it much when I'm home. It seems like a long time but I could probably speak for that long.

America has pretty good Mexican food though, it's just better in Mexico. With reason. Yeah, that's one of the biggest problems here. The people put their work before everything, before God, and even before their own families. They just work work work and never spend any time with their families, don't go to church, and don't even pray. We are have been trying to focus on that more. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, might, mind and strength, not to love your work before all things.

The Lord will never command something that we can't do. Just remember the famous saying of Nephi (1 Nephi 3:7). So if we are humble and we just do what God asks, everything will work out without problem, and we will end up with even more blessings. Life is literally so simple, I'm amazed at how simple it is. Just go and do. I'm glad that you learned from that experience.

There are several foods here that I want to learn how to make, so maybe she can help me learn most of them. That's the majority of the reasons that people stop going to church here, being offended by something or someone. Does she speak Spanish? I also just heard about these three girls from Sandy that are Chilean and that sing and have videos on Youtube. I think that if you look on If You Could Hie to Kolob on Youtube it's like the third or fourth video, I don't know.

Well I'm sure that they will find a house when the Lord wants them to have a house haha. They should't stress about it too much, it'll all work out. Well I guess that I will talk to you next week, I hope that you have a great one!

Love,
Elder Stam

God, family, then work, those are the prioritites.

May 11, 2016
                                        

Mom,

Haha it was nice talking to everyone!  Maybe I won't shave from the time I come home until the time that I go to college to see how much my beard actually grows. I think that it will be an easy transition, I've never really had much of a problem with change in my life. Yeah, is he a pretty good guy, Elder Keck.

Haha what Mexican restaurant did you go to? What book are you reading now? I don't think plant is that much work, just a lot of work once. After you plant them and everything, you really only have to water them, which isn't that hard haha. Maybe Joshua will find a house that's a little bit closer.  You'll have plenty more grandkids to play with one day.  Don't overwork yourself. I remember learning a lot about stress in that health class that I took, it was such a fun class haha. I feel like there are three main focus points in people's lives. God, family, and work, in that respective order. God should always come first in everything, then family should be the #2 thing in our lives, then work. So we should always please God first, then the family, then work. Don't let work impede your relationship with your family or with God.

So with transfers, I actually did leave, even though I was sure that I wasn't going to. I'm pretty close to one of my old sectors. I'm in San Bernardo, and my sector is called Lo Blanco. I'm also with an Elder that got to Chile with me, and we are going to go home together and then President is going to close the sector. Our group is a big group, more than 20+, so President is going to have to close a few sectors. It'll be fun here.  I think we will both kill each other, as we say.  I'll do what I can while I'm still here in the mission. It doesn't make sense to give up now, right now is the time that I am most prepared to be a missionary. I have experience now so I am definitely better at teaching now than I was when I first got here. I forgot to think about a miracle, so I'll think of one for next week, sorry.

The three things that we should make should be empanadas, sopaipillas, and pebre, which is like a salsa.  There was this kid in my last ward, Andrés, who was also looking at buying an Xbox One, and I told him that I was also going to get one, and he told me of the Xbox One Elite, which definitely sounds like I need. I think that it's pretty expensive though, if I need to pay for a little bit of it, I will. I think I'm going to try and work a little bit more than you said, I'm thinking about 15 hours a week. I really don't need anything for my birthday, just a new debit card haha. I was thinking about that a little also, I kind of want to go to Lagoon, but that would be more of a thing to do with my friends. We could also go and do something in Salt Lake, I kind of want to get to know better the city. We could probably go to the This is the Place memorial, that would be kind of fun.

So yeah, thanks for the email, I hope that you have a very wonderful week and if you need anything, just let me know.

Love,
Elder Stam

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Last call to home!

May 4, 2016

Mom,   
                                                    

                       
Well the P Day activity went long again so I'm going to make it short, we're going to talk this Sunday anyways.

Yup it's the last call, a little strange to think about, I also feel like I just barely called you. I don't complain though. Yes mom, I'll keep working until I'm released haha.

They're doing well, Elias has been really hard to teach lately, he's been really busy. Yeah, I'm pretty much all better. I don't know if it was from being sick or from the change or weather but my lips have been super chapped and terrible, I hate that. Haha yeah we have a gringo house. Cameron comes home before me?? That's weird, I left before him. It'll be strange to see how much he has changed. Me too, and Nate and everyone else that went on a mission.

 Sorry you're going to have to spend so much on me haha. I thought you could vote for neither, right? Or no? Like you could put the name of someone else. The good thing about Trump is he says the things how they really are, Clinton is just sorta the same as Obama, but in girl form haha. And white. But I don't know, they would both be pretty bad presidents, personally. No I don't remember if we went to Draper Temple or not.

I don't want a big package. Save money because you're going to have to spend a lot on me. Just send little things that I can give to the people with I leave Chile. And maybe a few candies haha. I've been thinking about souvenirs but I really have no idea what to bring home haha. I don't think that I will need a whole bunch, it will just be little things that I buy.

The church works really well in Utah, there's very few problems. It struggles out of the United States though, there are too many different influences here that make things a lot more difficult, but one day everything will be tranquil everywhere. Have a great week and I will talk to you on Sunday.

Love,
Elder Stam

The harder you work, the more converted to the gospel you become

April 27, 2016
                               
Elders Stam, Keck, Hellbusch, and Maser having pizza in their apartment.


Yeah we had a pretty good week, it was fun. Yes, we have a few investigators that are progressing. And yes, Elder Keck and I are working well together haha. Yeah that was our apartment and my roommates, they're a bunch of goofs. We have a pretty nice apartment, it's definitely the cleanest one that I have been in my whole mission. No, the pizza in the United States is way better, that's one of the reasons that I want to go to Papa Murphy's when I come home haha. I live with Elder Keck, Elder Maser (the blonde), and Elder Hellbusch. It is a pretty silly excuse to not go to church because it rains but whatever, they have their agency. Yeah, I'm feeling better, I still have a stuffy nose every morning though, I'm getting pretty sick of it.

Are you talking about that Chinese kid, wow that's awesome to hear that he is out on a mission, I know that he's out there kicking some butt. Satan's butt at least haha. Have you heard anything about Nate? I've actually been thinking about him a little bit lately. That kid's a stud haha. I haven't really had a lot of opportunity to sing here in the mission. I would like to sing more but it's kind of hard when I haven't had a companion since the MTC that knew how to sing.

Elias is doing fine, we have an appointment with him tonight. Yeah, he pretty much just ignored all the anti mormon stuff, which is good. He lives with his mom and his brother. At this moment he is working two jobs and studying, so he's pretty busy. He's been working really hard. It's been nice with President Cook. It's kind of weird to think that when the new president arrives, my group and I are going to be the oldest missionaries in the mission. I'm sure that I will have the chance to participate in stake conference when I am home.  Haha so you can imagine how much work the apostles and prophet have to do, it must be really hard on them. The harder any leader in the church works though, the more converted to the gospel they are. It sounds like Pres. Hutchison is doing a really good job as stake president, I remember that everyone was excited that he was going to be the stake president.

It seems like all the general authorities have been saying that, take notes on things that are not said. When we had that little special conference a couple months ago with Elder Bednard, he told us the same thing. It's true what he said though, we shouldn't really consider them as meetings. It must be a lot different being a leader over the church in Utah than in any other place haha.

Right, I like the way you think. If someone really truly understands the gospel, then death isn't that bad of a thing. It can be sad to see someone suffering, but it's not forever and when it ends, they rest. And we definitely will see them again, so it's not a bad thing at all, it happens to everyone.

A babies life must be pretty funny haha they just get amazed by almost anything. His helmet looks funny, I didn't expect it to be clear. How long did he have to have that? Jackson could play both sports, why not? Then let him when he's older decide which one he wants to follow. Baseball's not a very vigorous sport, it's fun but it's not as exhausting as water polo. I guess I've always just had a really high stamina. There were a few days after swim or water polo that I would come home and just crash though.  I'm sure that Oma's house will sell fast also. So yeah, I think you might need to take me on a little shopping trip when I get home, I think that mostly I am going to need pants and shoes.

My sector is called El Parrón. It's in the community La Cisterna. Haha if your friend at work has a lot of questions about Chile you can just give her my email, I'd be happy to answer her questions. My advice would be to have her son take like three pairs of shoes, boots, and a big winter sweater, because it gets pretty cold during winter, and it's really hard to get away from the cold. Haha, just keep taking advantage of these missionary opportunities you are getting mom.

Well thanks for the emails every week, hope that your week is fantastic. Also don't forget that I'm going to call you guys on the 8th of May, so next week you need to tell me when you want me to call. Chao!

Love,
Elder Stam