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

Trust in the Lord and everything is Okay.

February 3, 2016
                                     

Having fun with the O'Higgins Zone

Yup, about six months left now. My week was good. My comp has been a little sick so it was a little slower and easier week. The teaching is going alright, despite it being the hard time of the year. The Haitians are good also. We went and saw them yesterday, and apparently there are a few new Haitians living with them, that just got here to Chile about a week ago. The first thing they asked when we saw them was if we were Christians haha. They also don't speak Spanish though. The ones that we were teaching earlier are cousins and we do teach them together. We will see what happens with the new ones that got here. It's pretty hard to find people at this time, but we are definitely trying. I feel like recently there has just been a lot more people against us. People that say we aren't even Christians and that we're here wasting our time and should go home. It's getting annoying. I'm losing my patience with them. But there's not much we can do. They don't even listen to us, they just say we are wrong and if we try to say something, they cut us off and say we're wrong then tell us to leave. I guess it makes us feel even more like Christ, and more understanding of what he went through. We have an activity tonight, a family home evening with the ward, it should be really good.

Oh that food sounds amazing. I think that one of the first things I want to eat when I'm home is a Papa Murphy's pizza. I don't know if the oil dressing is healthier than ranch, they use a ton of oil haha. Haha Jackson sounds like a funny baby. Maybe he will be a swimmer also, that would be amazing. I'm glad you liked you trip, it sounds really fun.

 From what I have understood, he has problems with his kidneys, and they aren't working correctly. His potassium level is too high and it is making him weak and dizzy all the time and his feel are always really swollen. So it's kind of a lame disease thing but just trust in the Lord and everything is okay. The other Elders are good, they're obedient. I have divisions with them tomorrow, so I will know more tomorrow. 300 people? Wow that's a lot, that's awesome.

Haha he has also been talking to me about it. It doesn't sound like a bad idea, I think it would be a fun project to build a cabin. Good scriptures? Hmm, there's not a specific one that comes to mind, but I recently read the sermon that King Benjamin gave to the people before he died in Mosiah 2-4 that I really liked, you could read that if you want. Thanks for the letter mom, I hope that you and the family have a great week, we will talk more the next one.




Love, Elder Stam

If we work hard now, the blessings will be great

January 27, 2016
                                

                                              

Elder Stam with the Cadiz family.  They served missions in New Zealand and Argentina

You act like it's a curse to have snow but to me it sounds like a blessing. Our week was good, a little stranger. The people are doing good, as well as the sector, despite it being the hardest time of the year. The Haitians are doing well also. They got to speak with an Elder that speaks French so they could understand a lot better. They speak French and Haitian, very little English, and they are learning Spanish. They have been here for 6 months or so. For the time that they have here, they know a lot of Spanish, it's almost like a missionary haha. They are both single, well I think that one of them might have a girlfriend back the Haiti that is trying to save money to come to Chile, but I don't know.  The area is a little stiff right now. It's also the hardest time of the year. Everyone goes on vacation. And I mean everyone. The entire church attendance in our mission has dropped about 30%. It's just a rough time, but if we work hard right now, the blessings will be really great when everyone comes back.

It's hard to stay in shape while you're on the mission. Haha the battle to stay in shape is like the gospel battle. Hard to do but worth it. The clams were wonderful. I love seafood haha. And of course so many trials have to do with the physical body, Satan doesn't have a body and he is jealous that we do have one, so he does everything that he can do destroy our body.  I think that it is going to be interesting coming back home and eating American food again. For example, here for their salads, they use oil, salt, and lemon. There they use ranch dressing. I'm really used to the lemon on the salads and I actually like it a lot. It will be strange trying to make the chilean food again.

I'm doing well with Elder Baker. After him I am only going to have three transfer cycles left, and there are definitely Elders that have been together for three transfers. So it's possible that my next is my last, or not, it could go either way. Being a trainer depends on the mission president, he chooses them. Haha I knew that you were going to bring this up at some point.  I don't think that it would be too much of a problem, and it would definitely relieve me of a little stress of coming home then going straight to school.   I will pray about it and talk to President. 

I haven't really been taking the allergy pills anymore. I probably won't bring home many pants either. I think that my suitcases might actually be kind of empty. Right, the handle on the big suitcase broke, or the pull up thing that you pull the suitcase with, it broke. So that's gonna suck a little bit.  It would be pretty cool to have Oma live close to us. I think that she would like Utah more than she thinks. I'm pretty sure that everyone would like Utah if they really knew how it was.

We leave the house at 11ish, depending on the day. Days that we have district meeting, weekly planning, Sundays, we don't leave at that time. Well being a missionary you meet a lot of people. Here in this ward I am really good friends with the Poblette family. They are going through a little bit of health problems at the moment, but they get along with me really well. The dad served a mission, and he's the one that wanted to see pictures of the guns haha. Yeah, I didn't want to leave my last area, but what can you do? Move on, that's it. You should try to make friends everywhere you go, like the apostles. Read the scriptures mom haha. Well, thanks for the weekly email. I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you guys enjoy your little vacation.

Love,
Elder Stam

World is separating itself more from the things of God

Jan 6, 2016

                                 

Mom and Dad,


So things here are great, it's definitely a lot different than my last sector. I think that I am going to get a little skinnier in this sector, which is good because I have a little of a belly at the moment ha ha. I get along great with my companion, he's a really funny guy.  I definitely don't have any complaints at all. It's funny, the house almost looks like a shack, it's a good house, perfect size for two people that are never really home. I am sure that the Elders that are in my old area are going a great job with the sector. Elder Rivera is a great missionary, and his companion, Elder Guzmán, is also a wonderful missionary, so they will take care of all mis amigos there in los cristales. We have a few awesome people, everyone here has a story. I feel like this sector is a little harder, but I'm up for a challenge. The hard thing is always finding new people. Most people this time of year go on vacations, so a lot of the houses are vacant right now. There are 8 missionaries in the district, including us. Haha, there is a piano, and yes, I have been playing it a little bit. The members here are good as well, they are really willing to go with us to teach people, which is perfect.

I'll send a description of the photos next week, but remind me so that I don't forget.

The time goes fast when you are working hard and you aren't thinking about the time at all. I miss the condos. We should go there haha. I would prefer to go during the winter though, have a fun time in the snow. I am going to start eating a little healthier, I eat pretty bad. I want to eat more vegetables and fruits. I've actually come to really like vegetables here in the mission, even cauliflower haha. I've been healthy, without any problems. I haven't had any problems with allergies either. The cats have been rough though, there are a lot of cats here and they are totally irresistible haha so I always pet them.

Well dang, that seems like a pretty amazing fireside. So that South African Elder is really that good huh? That's really cool, I hope that he has had a lot of success on his mission. Lexi Walker was from our stake? Jeez I feel like all the people from Utah are all really talented. I don't know if that has something to do with the church but to me is seems like almost everyone in Utah has a talent in something. That would be really awesome if David Archuleta decided to be part of it also. I think that it would be pretty interesting talking with him about our missions. He served in one of the wards in our mission, before our mission was created. I almost met the Elder that he trained. His name is Elder Intriago, he was a really cool guy.

I honestly think that it would just be easiest to study nursing or something like that. I'm thinking that I will go to snow college for the two years, and then transfer to the U of U. The U of U has a really good medical program, right? I just want a job with which I won't have to worry about money. The future, it can go in so many directions.

If a person is perfect, they wouldn't have to go to church. I've just came to the conclusion that the world is separating itself more from the things of God, and it is ripening for destruction, as says the Book of Mormon. So that's that.

The best thing? I don't know haha. We are teaching some more Haitians, it's hard because they don't speak Spanish super well, but they understand, and they are probably the most interested people in the church that we teach. They have some great questions. I'll have to think about funny moments and I will tell you one next week. Well thanks for the email, I hope that you have a wonderful week without any problems, and if you need anything, just let me know.

Love,
Elder Stam      

Arms length, that's right!

Surprised I was transferred, but life is good.

December 30, 2015


Mom,          

Transfer day, Elder Stam was sad to leave this area. 

So President Cook told us yesterday that we would be writing today. So the letter is going to be a little shorter because I don't have anything to respond to. But it was nice talking to you guys and seeing you all last week! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, and that you have an amazing new year. It's crazy that we are already starting 2016. I come home this year!!!

So the big news of this week is that I was transferred again. :( sad, I really liked that sector. I think that it was the hardest area for me to say goodbye to. I had a lot of friends there. I didn't think that I was going to leave either, Presidente told me in our interview that I would most likely be there another change. But it looks like God wanted something else. Now I'm in the area El Parrón. It's in the zone la cisterna sur. My companions name is Elder Baker, he's from New Mexico, and we are serving as district leaders. So that's that. He has been out on his mission about 21 months, so it looks like I am going to be his last companion. I'm thinking that this might be my last area, but I really have no idea. When he goes home, I'll have about 4 months left. I hope that this is my last area, because it's my sixth and I think that if I get changed it would be like a month before I came home, and I wouldn't be too happy about having to learn a new area right before going home. But we will just see what God's will is.

Well there isn't much more to tell you, life's good, it's still really hot outside, probably will be for a few more months. I just hope that you guys have a fun new years, and that you send me pictures!!

Love,
Elder Stam

Jan 1, 2016

Dear Mom,

Alright, so I don't have a lot of time, but I'll answer your questions. I thought Jackson was a little cutie pie, it's gonna be crazy to meet him in person when he almost has a year, but that's okay, I should have more nephews and nieces to come. I am pretty sure the members were sad. They were a little shocked because it was really unexpected. Another Elder and I were both transferred and we both thought that we were going to stay one more change there. I don't know a ton about the new area, but so far it seems pretty awesome. It's a ton different than my last sector or than any other sector I've really had. It's limits are Gran Avenida, Vispucio, El Parrón, and la Granja. I live with just my companion, and we live in a little shack I'm going to say behind the house of a member. It's not a bad house though, it's pretty big for just two people. My new companion is pretty cool, he's really funny, I am sure that we will get along really well. From what they have told me, there are about 50 people at church every week, but to me it seems that there are a lot of members, so we will see on Sunday. I wouldn't say that it is upper class, but the people here are more economically stable here. It's normal for a missionary to be in an area for 6 months. And if you really want me to come home like two weeks early, I'm sure I could talk to president and he would let me stay here until I go home. We don't do much, we need to be an example for the other missionaries, we pass numbers to the zone leaders, and we give the district meeting classes. The teaching here is good, but you always need to be finding new people. Well that's all that I have time for, have a wonderful day and happy new year also!

Love,
Elder Stam

Forget yourself, do what He wants and success comes.

December 16, 2015

                                  

The week was good. Quite interesting. We did a lot of contacts this week and we found a large number of less actives. It was really strange how many we found. I have no idea how to take care of a baby. You are going to have to show me one day.  Jackson does look like a really big baby! From the pictures that I've seen he looks big. There is a family in this sector that has a baby that is like 5 months old and he is a tiny little thing. He's gonna be a little chunky kid haha.  I like those shoes as well, the brown ones I got here. They were really cheap haha. I got the Christmas package yesterday! I won't open it though haha. I also got a little package from Jay and Lynette, so tell them thanks for me, and that I really appreciate it! Yeah, I can call at 5. Elder Rivera is going to call at 3 so it would be perfect. Speaking of next week, we had to change P day to Friday, and that is the day that we are calling you, so I don't think that I will get to write you guys next week. Also the week after, for New Years, we are going to have P Day Friday as well. So the next two weeks I have P day on Friday, just so you know. But I will call at 5, so don't worry. It should be a lot better if we don't have three connected. Haha I don't plan on getting married soon, so I will still have a few years to just be with you guys.

Her name is Maria, what an unusual name huh? Haha there are so many Marias here it's kind of funny. She is still progressing. We haven't had an opportunity to see her this week. She is doing great though. She has had problems with her kids. All the kids here are really rebellious. So she has been struggling with that a little. The best thing this week was probably finding all of the new people to teach. Yesterday we had two lessons with new people, this week we have probably found 6 or 7 new people to teach. The people in this sector are incredibly humble. I am pretty sure that I will speak like a gringo my whole life. There are very few, and I mean very few elders who go home speaking like a latino. I'll try to work on it though. Yeah, photos, will do.

Happy anniversary! 32 years is a long time, but the eternity is a lot longer, you're just getting started haha. Oh man that is going to be a good game. I'm sure that Utah will win, I have faith in them. They haven't lost a bowl game in several years, I doubt that they will lose one against BYU. Tell me how it goes.

President is an awesome guy, for real. He is obviously called of God. It was so awesome that he bought me peanut butter, I freaking love the stuff. Hah, I think that I have learned a lot about trials on my mission. The mission is just a trial in itself. It's really hard to wake up every day knowing that you have to walk all day, trying to talk to people, being rejected all the time, every single day for TWO YEARS. But, if you just forget yourself and just do what He wants you to do, it's not even a problem. For example, yesterday I really didn't want to go out and do contacts again, because we have done them a lot this week. I didn't have the best attitude about it. But I just went out and worked my best anyways. And what did God do? He about smacked me in the face. Yesterday was probably one of the most successful days of my mission. We found like 5 future investigators, and we have two lessons with new people that we found that day. It's funny how God works, but if we just give up our will and do the Lord's will, he will totally bless us. Yesterday also helped me be more humble, and made me realize that I just need to trust that God will lead us to the people that are prepared. Long story short, we have trials to knock the rough edges off of us, and the trials that we have can help perfect us.

 We went near the temple today and we went in an LDS store and I saw one of the Joseph Smith Papers books. It was gigantic haha, a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. It looks like an amazing series though, with a ton a revelations and doctrine. I would love to know more about Joseph Smith, the guys is really mysterious.  I won't think about it too much about decisions when I come home yet, it's still pretty far away. If I think about it a lot, it's going to take longer to get here haha.

Funny how you ask that,  I do remember at my setting apart I was told that things would not be just mere coincidences but acts of God.  I think that little story I just wrote answers that question.  It changed from week to week but I would say that we are teaching an average of 18 lessons a week. We are improving though, little by little. A typical day is waking up, exercising, showering, studying, doing the work, eating lunch, working again, coming home, planning for the next day, sleeping, and repeating. That's a typical day haha, I can explain it more in detail when we talk. I feel like we just talked on Skype, it definitely wasn't 7 months ago. Time goes way too fast, that's all I can say.

I hope that you have a great week as all. Maybe we will have a little time to write before I call you on Christmas, but we will see. Have a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy the snow for me!!

Love,
Elder Stam

I left almost a year ago, crazy!

August 5, 2015

BBQ time for the missionaries!

Mom,      
I do find it pretty crazy that it's already August. I left almost a year ago. Crazy. My actual hump day should be the 13th of August, that's when I finish a year, even though it's a little bit more than half my mission. I'm pretty sure I was in Arizona with Riley a year ago haha. Yup, tradition is to burn a shirt for a year. I wouldn't mind another package, but it's your choice haha. I might need some new socks soon, all the ones from Missionary Mall are starting to get holes. The baptism went well, the awesome thing is that el pino actually had 7 baptisms this last Sunday. It was crazy. Josselyn's parents are supportive. Her mom at least, her dad is in jail. She had challenges that everyone has, just commandments and going to church. She met the church 3 years ago, in another place, but started attending here not too long ago. Things with other investigators are good, we don't have one too close to baptism, but they are getting there.  When I was in La bandera, we did a lot of service to this place for people with disabilities. We cleaned the area and did a few other things. I was in the pictures like three weeks in a row haha.
    
You seem pretty excited that Joshua is moving back home. Where do you think that he will be working?  Elders quorum president! That's awesome for Cody! I think he will do good! In Portezuelo, there was a kid that came home from his mission and the very next week they called him as elders quorum president, that would be a pretty fun calling in my opinion.

He doesn't send you the Mensajero in English?? He always sends it to us in Spanish and English. If you want I could send you the English one every week. Remember when you said you would learn Spanish? I think you're failing that goal. Elder Calvillo says that my Spanish is actually really good, I don't really have to think about it much, it just sort of comes out in Spanish now. There are a few things that I still don't know how to say, but it's just vocabulary now. I don't think that I will ever be able to say absolutely everything, but I can express everything I want to say.

You're going to see Pentatonix?? Oh you're killing me. They are so awesome. I remember when I went to their concert, it was amazing. I'm jealous. If Christian wants to learn Spanish, he needs to speak it, that's the best way to learn. You have to study a little bit too, but you learn more speaking.

Well have a great week mom, I am going to have to retake pictures of the shoes. I don't know why but every time I send you photos, all of my other photos disappear. I am going to have to figure out what is going on with this stupid technology. Oh hey, you're still playing Clash of Clans for me right? Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Stam

As soon as we ended our fast, it started to rain. Pretty Miraculous.

July 8, 2015


Mom, 

Haha that night of the America Cup games was seriously insane. President Cook let us watch the game, and we watched it as a zone. It was super crazy. The people were super insane, they were partying all night. I have a really funny video in the church where we watched it. It couldn't have been a better game, double overtime and then penalty shots. It was awesome. Haha there's a girls team?? Strange.

The week was pretty good. I went and saw the Donoso family, they're doing alright. They committed to start things over and go back to church. They hadn't gone in a couple months, and Franco stopped believing in God, but I was just straight forward with them and told them what they needed to do and they agreed. We were going to go with the stake leaders, but they bailed on us the last minute, so we didn't go with them. It's things like that because our ward is suffering. The best part of my week was seeing the Donoso family, they're awesome people.

In the Doctrine and Covenants it talks a little about that Christ prepared the hearts of our leaders to establish a Constitution that would prepare a way for the Restoration, pretty cool stuff. But now we are just destroying the Constitution, and destroying what God established.

 Haha president Hutchison is going to be an apostle, I'm sure of it. Also president Cook. In a couple of years we are going to have a whole bunch of new, young apostles. I am pretty sure that Elder Nelson will be the next prophet, he seems like he would be a great prophet. Things are changing for sure though.

Hah things are alright with Elder Facal, he's pretty angry that Chile won. He just needs to get over it though, it's just a game. Other than that it's been pretty much the same, he's still quiet and doesn't want to talk to me much. I think that it's getting a little bit better though. He's completely against Chile though, I honestly don't know why he stays here if he hates it as much as he says he does.

Okay well the computer that I am at is incredible slow and the photos won't load, so you are going to have to wait more, I'm sorry, the computers here really suck a lot. It's not my fault. These computers really frustrate me a lot.

About the rain, the first Presidency asked us to do a fast right? Well Sunday we fasted, and when we broke our fast at lunch, it started to rain. It was pretty miraculous. It wasn't a heavy rain, but it was sufficient. They say that it is going to rain this entire weekend too, so that'll be cool, I haven't really seen rain since the CCM in Mexico. I didn't have allergies with the bad air, but I did get a lot of headaches. I think that if it wouldn't have rained, I would have gotten sick.

Haha that's it?? That's such little money that I will earn. What do you think that my monthly expenses would be (in college)?? IHOP haha the restaurants in America are so amazing. I am sure that Josh will get the job, without a doubt. Another cool thing, yesterday there was a pretty big temblor. We were studying and the earth started shaking... it was a 5.2 on the scale thing. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was still pretty awesome. Hey it would also be awesome if you would send me a recipe for pancakes :D that'd be awesome, thanks mom. Have a wonderful week, enjoy life.

Love,
Elder Stam

Chile needs rain and playing in the American cup finals!

July 1, 2015

This week has been a little different than the others. A lot of things have been going on, I'll talk about them in a sec. Tomorrow I am going on divisions in my old sector to go teach one of my old investigators, the Donoso family. They have been doing alright, but have stopped going to church, so I'm going to go talk to them a little bit. The Protestants here are crazy, they like to attack us with the Bible. They don't know anything about the Bible. I made the brownies on Monday, we had to go to the house early for the Chile game. By the way, Chile is playing in the final against Argentina this Saturday! You should watch the game, it's should be good. Hopefully they win, they've never won an American Cup before. They beat Uruguay and my companion is pretty ticked about it. He pretty much hates Chile and says that they don't deserve to win. He just needs to be more humble. I'll send photos next week, I don't have my converter with me right now, but I will next week.

Yes I've pretty much learned how to do the Rubix cube, there's one part that's really hard for me still. They're just really complicated haha. Not to be racist or anything. Latinos think the most ridiculous things about America. They all think that America is the most corrupted country that there is. They don't understand anything about America, but oh well, they can think what they want. That's pretty much what the Chileans do too- just sit around, and when you visit them they say that they didn't have any time to read in the Book of Mormon, it's pretty hypocritical.  I've had a little bit of time to use the new piano music you got me, but not a lot. They're fun.

This week we are going on divisions with the stake leaders to go teach the ward leaders about fulfilling their calling and repentance. It should be good, hopefully they will understand that they need to fulfill their calling. Take the missionaries out of our ward and it will fall in less than a month, I'm sure of it. We were in a members house and we saw that news about Gay Marriage on their TV, it started one of the fights about America being corrupted. You should see the news they have here in Chile, it's all horrible stuff. The scriptures say that the mightiest nations will fall, and we're definitely seeing that. Just remember that every time something horrible happens, we are one step closer to the second coming, when all the people will be proven wrong and they will suffer.  Hopefully it happens soon, I don't really want to live in a world with such wickedness haha. I feel like I talk like a prophet sometimes. It's weird. Not keeping the Sabbath Day holy was punishable by death in Christ's time. In the Old Testament, being gay was punishable by death. Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so why would his gospel change making these things acceptable in God's eyes today? It doesn't change, and it's not acceptable in God's eyes. And all who commit these sins will suffer if they don't repent. End of story, it doesn't need more explanation than that.

Soccer is fun, but honestly being with Elder Facal makes it not fun. He's so prideful of his own country and just gives excuses about everything, it's just ridiculous. I would also like playing soccer more with just gringos, because we can all suck together. The last two games that Chile has won he's been all pissy. But Chile has gone absolutely nuts, it's pretty cool. I can't even imagine what it will be like if they win the American Cup, it will be insane.

Chile has been having quite a few problems lately. They are suffering with a drought right now. It hasn't rained in several months. There are people living in the fields of Chile that are suffering a little bit because they don't have water. The First Presidency announced that all the members in Chile are going to do a special fast this Sunday asking the Lord for rain. Another downside to not having rain is the air. Santiago has one of the worst air qualities, worse than Salt Lake. It's so bad that we aren't allowed to do exercises outside for right now. Many people aren't allowed to even drive their cars. The rain clears the air out, and well it hasn't rained for a long time, so the air is super bad. Hopefully it rains soon, they need it here really bad.

July 4th, we are going to be inside all day because it's the day Chile plays. I hope that you have a great time though! Eat a nutella crepe for me. Oh by the way, Gabriel and Belen got baptized on Saturday, I will send you a picture of it next week. I'm proud of them haha :) Have a great week mom!

Love,
Elder Stam

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

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

Two baptismal dates set!

April 1, 2015 

Before and after picture of my haircut.  This haircut is called a sopaipilla here in Chile, apparently it's popular or something like that ha ha. 

Mom,

My week was good. Sadly, the heat came back. I am starting to wonder if it will ever start to get cold or if I just have to suffer through this heat until I come home. It's ridiculous. Felipe lives in a little house on the land of the rich guy. He lives on his property. So no we can't teach him in his house sadly, only time will tell what happens with him. It was a pretty good week with teaching, we are finding more people with Elder Henderson. Right now we have two baptism dates for the 18th of April, hopefully they come through. The food is still great, I haven't really eaten anything super strange lately, and it's all the same, but it is still great!

Music is super awesome, one of the best ways to invite the spirit into a place. I would love to do a concert or something like that here, but the people don't appreciate music as much here. When we teach, we teach with phamplets and pictures. Not iPads. I think ours is harder ;) Teaching in English..I don't know if I could actually do that. All of the gospel knowledge I have, is in Spanish.

I really like the new lights in the kitchen, they look good.  I think that I will come home a lot during college too, Snow College is only like two hours away right?

 Heather is a natural with the Young Women haha. It's sad to see here that nobody cares about doing the right thing at all, it is going to be weird when I get back in Utah. I feel like Conference this time is going to be a big one. Down here in Chile they had a letter for each ward signed by the Prophet, inviting everyone to come and see conference. Unfortunately we have to watch it in Spanish this time.

This last week there was a special day in Chile. It's called Dia de Joven Combatiente. Basically it's a day of protests and violence. So the missionaries aren't allowed to leave their house on this day. We just sat around in the house and played ping pong all day, it was pretty boring. Every once in a while we would hear a gunshot though, so that's pretty fun.

Well have a wonderful week, thanks for writing me once again and choose the right haha. Love you and miss you! Talk to you again next week!

Love,
Elder Stam

Super awesome news...

March 4, 2015

Mom,

This past week has been great. A lot of awesome things have happened. But still the usual heat. Still isn't really getting any colder, only a little bit in the nights. Wow I would to anything to see snow haha. It is starting to get a little colder now, but only at night.  I would love the cold weather. My Partriarchal Blessing says that I need to stay close to you guys, so if you move, I'm going with you haha. I've been getting the photos, I love the one of Mike and his kids haha. I'm sleeping pretty well, I'm still tired all the time though. For transfers, it is most likely that I will stay in the same sector, but I will have a new companion. But we don't know for sure. Well we received some super awesome news this week! The missionaries of the Church have now entered every country in the world. So that's another sign of the Second Coming. It's a lot closer than people think. Today we went to the temple again, and it's always an awesome experience. After we went,  we saw the biggest building in South America, and then another gigantic mall. The malls here are incredible. It was a fun P Day, but I'm just exhausted from it again.

If you really want to study the Old Testament, I would suggest buying the study guides on the lds store. They really help, and I think that I might buy them. The Bible has a lot of good stuff, but the Book of Mormon is just a lot easier to understand.


Josh is going to be a dad haha. That is a little weird. That's good though. We really aren't going to have any missionaries in our area? That's really weird. That almost doesn't seem right. Every part should have at least two missionaries, there is always someone that you can find to teach.

Spanish is going pretty good. My grammar is at about 95%, so it really is just vocabulary. My understanding is still a little rough at times, but I really only have almost 7 months out, I still have a long time to perfect it.  It will be weird to have different accents than Cody and Josh. Please buy that house in Mexico, that would seriously be so awesome. Spanish is going to be hard to learn, especially outside of a Spanish speaking country, but I can try to help you. If you have a question about Real Estate, ask me, I will try to remember everything haha. That would be super awesome though, I would definitely go down there a lot to spend time.

I'm sorry about the photos, the things we have been doing for P Day have been taking all day, so I never have the stuff to upload pictures. And we don't have the best computers neither, because the only good computers are at the mall, and they're always full.

Caleb's mission scripture on new cover.

Well this week Elder León has a baptism, with one of the investigators that we contacted. It's on Friday, so we are going to go to it. His name is Santiago haha. I wasn't sure if he would get baptized or not, but I'm glad that he did.

Also if you do get me a Rubix Cube, you should send a 4x4, because I already know how to do a 3x3. It might be a little more expensive, but I would really appreciate it :D

Thanks for all your love and support, if there is anything that you want to know, just ask me and I will tell you haha. I love you and thanks for paying for my mission haha and my iPhone 8 and Xbox One when I get back ;)

Love,
Elder Stam

I have learned a lot about life, why we're here and I relate everything to gospel things now.

Feb 25, 2015

I had a pretty good week, pretty normal. Sorry we are writing so late this week, we have a pretty late day today.  I know the feeling of always being tired. Missionaries are always worn out. Things are going great, as well as the lessons. We are at the time of the year where almost everyone in Chile goes on vacations, so almost all of our investigators are on vacation, so we aren't having a lot of lessons. It's okay though, they will come back haha. The next transfer is March 8th, and I should be getting a new companion, but I'm not completely sure.

Tootsie is a good dog haha. Especially compared to the dogs here. But even the dogs here are pretty loving, even though they are all abused by the people. It's crazy to think that she's turning two this week though!

Our mission is a really low baptizing mission. I think that last year, there were only 50 or so baptisms the entire year. Our mission focuses mostly on reactivation. The truth, is that the less actives hardly know anything about the gospel. They were baptized without knowing hardly anything, and that is the problem here in Chile. They don't even understand the basic principles. Some haven't even heard of the plan of salvation. The members help a little bit, but not much. We are supposed to have six divisions every week with members, so we get to know a lot of different members.

I got the books yesterday!  I want to start reading Jesus the Christ soon. I think that I want to read the New Testament before I read that though, it will help me understand a little better.

Josh and Shelly already know if it's a boy or girl?? This early?? Heather and I also think that it is going to be a boy. We will see though. I think that being an uncle is going to be awesome :D  I'm super excited for them, hopefully everything goes well. Haha it would be funny if the baby recognized me from photos.  Are they capable of an actual thought process at 11 months? I don't know anything about babies haha. Why are you so sure that they are going to have a boy? I have the same feeling that they are going to have a boy too.


That really sucks that Cody has had kidney stones, I couldn't even imagine pain like that. It's funny how I start relating everything to gospel things now. Just remember that Jesus has felt the same pain and suffered it for every person, and when we are resurrected we aren't going to have pain any more :) I think I'm gonna be super weird when I come home.

We study the plan of salvation a lot because we teach it a lot. I have learned a lot about life and why we're here and all that stuff. When we teach the plan of salvation, we teach a lot. We teach about Adam and Eve, Pre-earth life, earth life, and all the stuff that happens after death. I feel like I understand the gospel way more now, and I'm super grateful to know more.

Being a mission president would be super fun, it would probably be pretty hard too. Are you guys going to have missionaries in the house at some point? It would be super awesome. I love the members that we live with, they are super awesome.

I want to cook more too. I have just had a feeling to cook more haha. We haven't had a lot of new food. Our ward mission leader is from Colombia, and his wife always cooks this stuff called arepa. I don't know if it's from Chile or Colombia, but it's really good.

Also, this week I was reading in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 28-33. I was really touched by it. It's all prophecies and it is all coming true. I challenge you to read those six chapters and really think about life and the importance you can make in the world.

Well the mission has been awesome so far, super hard as well, especially with all this heat. It's alright though, summer's almost over.  Thanks for writing me and for all of your love and support! I will talk to you again next week. Love you!

Love,
Elder Stam         

We have to learn to not react...

Feb 11, 2015

Elders Tecun and Stam washing the dog of the people they live with. 

Mom and Dad,

The beach. I'm so jealous. There are a lot of people here that are on "vacations". That is where the work gives them like a month off so they can go on vacations. There are a lot of people that go to the beach. I'm so sick of hot weather. It's weird that it has not been cold there.

These six months have gone super fast, and super slow. I feel like I just got here and at the same time, I think that everything I have done I have to do three times again, and that just feels like forever. Time is just a funny game. I am going to try to take of video of the burning of the tie. The other elders in my house are completing 18 months and a year, so we are burning pants, a shirt, and a tie. We want to burn them all together, so I want to take a video of it. Our investigator didn't come to church, but neither did his daughter, so I think that they had to do something. We will find out though. He's not home very much because of his work. Tithing can be hard, and it is a weird idea, but the people just don't realize why it's necessary. It's okay though, he'll understand someday.

Wow you already sent those books? Awesome haha. I love the Book of Mormon and the Bible but they are all that I've read for the last six months, I want to read something new now haha.

I really want to be a trainer, I think that it would be really fun. I think that I am only going to have a new president for the last 3 weeks of my mission. They are probably going to be the strangest three weeks of my mission haha. There aren't really a lot of stories with our investigators. Our mission is a really low baptizing mission. It's almost all reactivations.  I don't really have any stories with really cool stuff to be honest haha.

 The members that we live with have a pretty funny conversion story. They were Catholics and they just walked past a Mormon church one day and the dad said, "Let's go there" so they went to that church and they just stayed. Then they got baptized and here we are about 35 years later. I think that it's a pretty funny story.

The Spanish is going good. It's just the vocabulary. There are just way too many words to learn and I feel like there's no way I'm going to learn them all. But I'm trying haha. Chilean Spanish is just all idioms, so it's pretty hard to understand because they don't make any sense normally. Our house is good.  I live with Elder Purnell and Elder Melander. We had more divisions yesterday and I went with Elder Melander in our sector. We had 5 lessons and 2 divisions with members. I just realized that Elder Tecun doesn't really know how to lead a sector. We usually only have 10 lessons a week, and yesterday, when I was leading, we had 5. He just needs to recognize the opportunities that there are to teach.

We are teaching quite a few people, but we only have like 3 investigators. The rest are less actives. Our ward list is like 1,200 people. Almost everyone here already knows the missionaries, it's a little bit like Utah. I really like the photos by the way. It looks like Papa is doing really well. Oma too.

Well this week I want to talk a little bit more about the other religions. Here in Chile there are Evangelicos (Protestants), Catholics, and Jehovah's Witnesses. They are all very different religions. They all like to preach in the street. We had a few encounters with Evangelicos this week. One of them came up to us and asked a little about our religion, then he just started talking all this crap about modern day prophets, the Book of Mormon, and even America. It's sad how little they actually know. Then the same day we were walking past a few evangelicos preaching in the street and they just started yelling about false prophets and telling us to repent. It's so tempting to read Mathew 6:5 to them. But we have to learn to not react. I'll explain a little more about them later. We might be going to a Evangelico church tomorrow, because we were invited to go, and President Cook said that we could go to other churches if we were invited. It is going to be interesting.

Have a good week and I will talk to you again next week! :) Thanks for all your love and support, and for your emails.

Love,
Elder Stam