I guess it feels like it's all over, lots of meetings this week and then I come home!

July 27, 2016



Mom and Dad,  
           

 Well today we had an activity as a group, like everyone that goes home with me, and we all were talking about home and stuff like that so I guess now it kind of feels like it's all over. The past week has been pretty normal. Just normal missionary work. This week is the weird week though, with all the final meetings and what not. Friday we go to the temple with the mission president and then it's pretty much over. Yeah that sounds fine, I don't know where to go for lunch though. I'll think about it. Well definitely that first day we are going to have to go buy the Xbox and iPhone. That's a necessity haha. Other than that I don't care what we go do.

From what I've heard I'll still have this email for about two weeks. I'm going to have to go through everything because there are several emails and other stuff that I am going to want to save.  Oh Bryson Walker (Elder Walker) has his homecoming on the 21st of August, so I definitely have to go to it!

 I've been trying to think about some of the foods that I haven't eaten in two years and I really can't think of anything. I think that being home will help me remember a lot of things that I've forgotten haha.

The teaching is going well, we've been having a lot of success lately. We're not going to have a baptism this week but we are going to have one the week after. So I'm not going to be here for it. That's okay though, the important thing is that she is baptized.

Haha yeah the card worked. Yesterday I took out about $60-70. I don't really know how much money it is in dollars so it's approximate.

I think it would be fun to go backpacking. Where would we go?

Well there isn't really much to say this week. I've got a bunch of meetings these next few days, tomorrow I have a self sufficiency thing and Friday we are going to the temple.   Saturday we have several activities as a ward, Sunday is ward conference and Monday is the day I leave. So that's my schedule the next few days. I'll see you guys on Tuesday though! Have a great week!  Love you!

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

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

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

The mission has been pretty awesome!

March 9, 2016


                                     

Mom and Dad,

Your missionary son is doing good. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! Kinda lame that I can only really write you a letter but I hope that you have a great birthday, and that you eat a lot of meat because I'm almost sure that you are going to eat meat today ha ha. It's crazy how old Jackson already is, he's gonna be huge when I meet him hah. Our past week was good, there wasn't that much different. I haven't really heard about any Chilean news, so I think that everything is going well here. As for the mission, it's also good. We are getting ready for a new mission president and we also have a new way to pass dats now, or in other words we are changing the focus in the mission a little bit. He did come to church. The other Haitian's mom unfortunately passed away this week and he has been having a rough time, being that he is so far away from his country and family, but we've been helping him and it has been a great opportunity for him to learn more and pay a little more attention.

So was it summer there in Cancun? Dad said that he got pretty burnt. Did you get burnt? Dad does have that gift, finding things that are lost. He has always been able to find everything even if it's like invisible. We also swam with sting rays right on that cruise? Heather's email made me remember that this week. So the Mayan calendar only started over? I don't know how that works but I'll accept it. Well it almost sounds like a nephite city haha. Like when the nephites and the lamanites were in battle, Mormon had them build fortifications around the city and he armed the people with bows and arrows to protect them from the lamanites. And the Book of Mormon also talks about one of the nephite cities being next to the sea. You never know, and it would probably be almost impossible to know for sure, but that is a possibility.  Haha mom is funny. You know what the word trunkey is right? I think that mom is more trunkey than me that I'm coming home in a few months.

It's kind of crazy how many different country and races of people that I have taught. It's been quite an adventure. Well I can sure try to swim every day, it's going to be really hard for the first bit, but it is definitely something that I want to do.  I think that I'm going to be really white when I come home, my back hasn't seen sun since I've left almost. Aw kind of lame that there is no Worldmark here, Santiago is a pretty large place, they should have one here. Well I guess if only us three come it is better than nothing. It will be fun here for sure, Santiago is a pretty awesome city.

Our house is a little small, but it's fine because we're not home that much. The other missionaries are cool. One was a cheerleader for BYU and the other is from Guatamala, and we all get along pretty well. Wow the Goddards are already coming home? Well that's cool, tell them that I say hi. Oh jeez Elder Nelson really went to the Highland ward?? That's pretty awesome. Too bad you missed it. He came here quite a while ago and I met him in Chile. He is a pretty awesome guy. You have to tell me what he said and how it went.

Well I think that I am going to have to print off a list of things that I could study and maybe have a few ideas, but for now I really don't know what to study. I was thinking that it might be pretty fun to be a computer programmer, being that I love video games and I'm good at math and technology. You said that Snow College changed their start date so I wasn't stressing too much about it. But I would like to know for sure if it's been changed. So if you could find out that would be great.

Yeah, the mission has been pretty awesome. I got an email today from Brayden Stock, it sounds like he is doing great. He already speaks Spanish like a champ. Well thanks for the email, this one is a little shorter but my companion goes home in just over two weeks so there isn't many people that are writing him and I don't want him waiting too long. Have a great week!

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

Apostles really know what they're doing.

January 20, 2016     

Clams and he liked them?!

Things are good with me, the same I guess haha. The broadcast was good it was a conference for all of the missionaries in the world, different than I thought but awesome. I learned a lot, the apostles really know what they're doing, which is to be expected. Yeah, I'll write a little bit about every picture when I send them. Haha yeah I liked the clams! I think that when we went to Seattle for choir tour is when I decided that I like sea food. Even the clams were really good. I don't know, but we eat less here haha. That's okay, because I don't want to come home with a belly, I'm gonna be skinny and in shape, sort of. I'm definitely swimming a lot when I get back to get back in swimming shape. I don't know what religion they are(Haitians), but they definitely are strong believers. Their names are Odesán and Toussaint. (pronounced Oadley and Tusant) It's been good with them. We went to them with and Elder in the mission that speaks French, and they're doing really well. The communication is a hard thing though.

I totally didn't have an accent and I don't accept that haha. It probaby won't be that much stronger if I'm not with another latino. My next companion might be my last. Well you've heard the exact opposite. Chilean spanish is unlike all other kinds of Spanish.

I also feel like I have more energy when I eat better, so that's why I'm eating better haha. I can pet the cats and all, I just can't touch my eyes after petting them or else they itch really bad. I think my allergy has gotten a little better, because my eyes used to swell up if I did that. And I mean the people, it's not just here in Chile, but the whole world. In just ten years everything has gotten way worse.

I will most definitely need some new clothes. Honestly I'm thinking about only taking two or three white shirts home, the rest are going to be pretty yellow and kinda gross. It will be good to have shoes though. The most interesting thing? I don´t know, I met a Chilean from Easter Island on Tuesday, the first one that I've met from there. We also had that devotional thing which was pretty cool, gotta love devotionals with the apostles. Well I hope that you have a wonderful week as well.

Love,
Elder Stam     

More Clams

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!

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

The big earthquake was fun.

Sept 23, 2015

Dear Mom and Dad,

Haha, you sound pretty excited to meet your grandson. I think that you are going to like this next week a lot. Hopefully their trip goes well, without problems haha. This conference is going to be quite different, they have to call 3 new apostles now. Kind of sad that Elder Richard G Scott died too, but it's life. Jackson is gonna be a little trooper when I come home. Almost a year old, but not quite. Wish Shelly and Josh luck in the move. 

This photo is a kid that we are teaching. His name is Alonso. It's kind of strange, in the schools here the kids are required to dance the national dance, which is called la cueca. So in school they all dress up and dance. We saw him in the street and decided to take photos with him haha. I bought that Chilean shirt at Santa Lucía, that hill that has a big store area at the bottom. I actually arrived in Chile the 23rd of September, just after all of that stuff. It was kind of lame but I still had a 18 party last year. Things are still going well with that family. Their last name is Inastroza Jorquera, there are four of them, but they have a son of like 3 years, so he can't get baptized obviously. The other three though really like the church and they participate in everything. This week the branch had an activity and they went and had an amazing time. They're practically members already.

Haha yes I felt the earthquake. I actually thought it was pretty cool. The big earthquake was fun, we were on the second floor of an apartment building when it started to shake. We went outside and there were a few people that went absolutely nuts, it was like they thought the world was coming to an end. It's understandable though. We recorded a little bit of it. You can't see anything though. It lasted like two minutes. Nothing happened, there was no damage or anything here, but there was quite of bit of damage up north. I don't even know how many little quakes there have been though, I've seriously felt like 20. It's kind of cool, makes things different. Yes we had a conference with President yesterday. It was about a few different things. The first part we learned about self defense. They got some Chinese guy to come and teach us how to fight haha, we talked about some other things as well. President game us some instruction on the First Vision and how to teach better about Joseph Smith. It was good, I learned a lot. Haha you have been talking with Elder Melander's mom?

 Kayaks, that would be fun haha. So we could take them out on the river as well? I would actually really enjoy that, I liked the other river trips that we have done before. What river could we take them out on that is by our house?

Christmas gifts? Goodness mom, we're only in September. Nooo I don't want more hot weather for reals it's killer here. It's okay, suffer with joy, a saying that the missionaries have here. At least the summers in Utah aren't going to be so bad after.  The part that I'm in right now is called Los Cristales. It's the streets Condell, Balmaceda, Sta. Mercedes, and Los Morros or Ave. Padre Hurtado. Inbetween those streets in my sector, it's really small. Keep doing exercises as well, I need to start doing them better as well, even though I haven't put on any weight hah.

Yeah, we lost another apostle, but we all saw this one coming. He was sick for quite a while. At least now he's not sick anymore. No the world is definitely getting worse. In my opinion the people are just getting stupider and more ignorant, we just have to be different than everyone else. Lucifer is dumb. President Cook once said that everyone will have a chance to accept or reject the gospel, and that they can't really reject it if they don't know what it is. So everyone will have an equal chance to get to know it.

Thanks for the email, hope that you have a great week this week with your new grandson and Shelly, love you.

Love,
Elder Stam

Keep the Lord as your number one.

September 16, 2015 



Dear Mom and Dad,

Haha you sent me a million pictures of Jackson. He's a stud, gonna be just like me one day ;) Have they been doing alright always having another person with them now? Jeez he is going to be almost a year old when I get home. Lame. That's okay though, this work is important. Sounds like a better plan for Shelly to fly home. Shelly is going to fly with the baby then? I sometimes wonder if babies actually know a lot more than we do, they've just forgotten how to communicate. Strange thought.  How does it feel to be grandparents?   Yeah that sounds like a pretty fun tour to see the Church History sites, I would like to do that. I would learn a lot, so let's do it!

The week has been good, a little bit crazy. The 11th of September here is pretty much a day of just straight craziness. The people protest against the government and do all sort of crazy things. We had to stay inside all day. It's just a day of sin. I don't know how many gunshots I've heard this week, it's a little scary, but nothing has happened really that we know of. We found a family of gold a couple of weeks ago. They came to church for the first time this week, and we have baptismal dates for them already. I couldn't believe how prepared they were, it was unreal. They're awesome though, they participate in everything. Our branch has had two activities since we met them and they have gone to both of them. Tomorrow there is another activity for the independence day of Chile and they are going to go to that too. That building in the photo was a building on the hill Santa Lucía. We have to go there for sure when we come to Chile. There is a huge area when they sell stuff that have to do with Chile, so we could buy cool things there. The rain in the Dominican Republic is insane. It's not that bad here, it just floods here, they have pretty bad drainage. It's fun though, I like water. I assume we are at the end of winter. The last few days have been pretty cold, the wind has been freezing. I would like more of winter though. The duties are the same being Senior, you just have to lead a little bit more that's it. Yeah an Elder gave me that tie. I've got a ton of ties. We buy fardos, 45 kilos of ties. It comes with about 2000 or so ties, and we take out the ones we like. That's how I have so many ties. It's okay if you don't send me ties, I have plenty.

Yes,  I think I've lost weight, but I don't remember how much I weighted before. I think I am a little bit lighter, but not a ton. I was buff? Haha I was slim but didn't have very much muscle!! Everyone here talks about the Minions movie, for reals I want to see that movie so bad. It looks so hilarious. I love those little guys haha. Elder Henderson and I just saw some people with a bunch of wood tablets outside and we asked to help them move them, and we ended up building a house. It was a really small house, maybe just the size of our living room, but still. It only took about 10 hours to do in total. Yeah there were a ton of Dutch names, go back only a few generations and they are all Dutch names! It's full and queens and kings of weird places too, but it's still pretty cool. I didn't know that Heather had asthma. Hopefully she is alright. I think she would really struggle here in Santiago, the air quality is horrible. The rain is really a blessing here because it cleans the air.

Haha those seeds sound exactly like the faith, you have to keep taking care of it so it grows. I have really found that to be one of the best ways to teach the faith. It's a great example. Last week President Cook talked about the faith and he compared it to the mustard seed, he showed us a picture of a mustard seed and it's a lot smaller than I thought. I know that you really like your garden, so you will really like the greenhouse I think.  That is how most of the missionary work is I think. Without seeing the results. Elder Holland has a pretty awesome prophesy about Chile that I'm sure will happen here. If you don't know it, look it up, it's really powerful. If you really want to serve a mission one day, just keep choosing the right. The Lord is good.  It would be pretty cool if you guys learned Spanish. It would be fun having a lot of Spanish speakers in the family. Just a suggestion. You'll retire one day, just keep the Lord as your number one and he will help you with everything.

The most memorable thing was September 11th. We just stayed in the house but we had a ping pong table in the house so we played a lot of ping pong. It was still crazy that day though. Yeah I already have a bunch of friends here, this sector is awesome, I like it a lot. I don't get to play piano that often now, only sometimes. I would like to sing in college, it would be a lot of fun. I kind of miss choir.

Well I hope that you have a great week, thanks for the weekly letters, they are awesome for real and I appreciate it. Thanks for all the updates as well!

Love,
Elder Stam       

Santiago, Chile

I know that I have to give the better example.

Sept 9, 2015

Mom and Dad,       

Elder Stam busy teaching and making friends.

Haha I was going to say that you could probably just have formatted your computer and it would have been fine. But it's okay, now I have another option ;)

Still no baby. Lame. It's coming though. I expect photos next week. If you don't send me photos, I will never send you a photo here in the mission again haha, yes, that is a threat.

Things have continued to be great in this new area, I really like it a lot. It's been fun here, the people here really are super awesome. I hope that I stay here longer as well. I'm going to be a little frustrated if I have changes again, I don't like changes very much. It'll be okay though, the Lord knows better than me, right?  Technically I was senior companion with Elder Calvillo, but he was older than me and was leading the sector, I'm also senior companion with Elder Sosa. I find it really weird to be the oldest here. In el pino, I was the youngest. I've been one of the youngest almost my whole mission, and now I'm the oldest, it was a pretty strange change. I like it though, I know that I have to give the better example.

 Where do you guys want to serve your mission? And what places would you go visit? That sounds like a pretty good retirement. Traveling would be really fun to do someday. It costs a lot though. Haha I would love if you gave us (me and my future wife, kids) the house for a few years, that would be pretty awesome. and truthfully it would probably help us a ton. Haha I'm not going to stay out here a couple more years. Two years is enough, I will have paid my 10% tithing of life by the end. Maybe one day I will serve another mission when I'm older as well, I would enjoy it.

Finally putting up the greenhouse up huh? How big is it? How many plants would be able to fit inside? I think that you will like it, you can have your tomatoes the entire year! You should make homemade salsa again. What else are you going to put in it? I don't know if I told you this or no, but when I was in Portezuelo with Elder Henderson, we pretty much build an entire house. Not a house like in the United States, just a really small one, but still. We had to level the floor, put the floor in, put up the walls, frames, the roof, everything. It was actually pretty fun.

 That's a pretty awesome story dad, for real. I've never met another Stam before. I remember looking at my family tree a few months ago and it was actually really filled. I found my way all the way to Adam and Eve twice. It was pretty cool. I don't know if half the people were legit people, they were some crazy names and the dates were way off, but maybe.

You think Heather will be next to have a baby? Maybe, it's possible. I've also never really been a big fan of running. In our house we are doing T25 and P90X Insanity every morning. It's time to lose that little stomach that I got before I came out here. I think that when I get back into swimming, I just might die. I'm so out of shape here. I'm working on that though. The weather here has been so bipolar lately. Last week it was super hot, pretty much summer, and this week, rain and cold. I don't understand the weather here. I like the rain more. It's so much easier than heat. Everything floods though. The streets turn into lakes and rivers.

Flooding in the streets from normal rain fall. 

Yeah, I got a list of Chilean sayings. They speak in pretty much only sayings here, and if you don't understand the sayings, you won't understand what they are saying. I think that when we come back, if Josh and Cody come with us, they might have a pretty hard time understanding the people. They speak really fast and don't pronounce well at all. It's Chilean culture. I'm used to it now though. Thanks for the emails and the stories, they are pretty entertaining!

The black guys in the photo are Willy and his friend. Willy is on the right. I don't know how things have been for him lately, hopefully good. There are actually quite a few dogs here like that. We call them zombie dogs. They're really gross. It's pretty unfortunate, I want to start a list of books that I want to read. Today for P Day we went to downtown Santiago and there was a poster for the second Maze Runner movie. The Scorch Trails I think it is in English. I'm going to miss two freaking movies from that trilogy. Frustrations. At least I'll have two movies to watch when I come back haha. Thanks for all your love and support like always, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Stam

A mission is a life changing experience.

August 26,  2015

Mom,                           

                    
Man those kids are getting old, they're not even going to be the same people next time I see them! It sounds like it was a good family reunion though, I'm glad that the family is doing well, especially that papa could enjoy himself playing golf. You went to an organ concert?? Who played the organ? Dad told me that he went today fishing with Jim, he seemed pretty excited to go, especially since he hasn't been able to do that for years.  It's nice to have a day off every once in a while.  If we didn't have p days I would probably go crazy, they are definitely something that we need.

Things have been pretty good the last week. The big news of this week, I got changed once again. I don't know why I was changed again, that's three transfers in the last three changes, but it's okay. I'm right next to where I was before, so it's pretty similar. The only difference is that where I am now, it's a branch, not a ward, so it's a lot smaller. I've already met a lot of new people that are super awesome. I gave a sort of have piano lesson to a kid yesterday haha. The branch that I am in though is called los cristales, it's in the stake O'Higgens.  It has been pretty hot though, during the day. The temperature has been changing a lot from the day and the night. Everyone says that the second year goes by faster, we'll see what happens in the next year haha. Dad asked me a bunch of questions that I answered already. From what I know, things have been going pretty well with Willy. The last Sunday I was there, he showed up with another Haitian friend that knew Spanish, because he lived in the Dominican Republic for 7 years, so we could finally communicate with him. He's good though, still looking for a job. My new companion is Elder Sosa, he's from Peru. I actually live in a house with only latinos now, two from Chile and my companion. I think that it will be a good experience living with just latinos, it will improve my Spanish a lot, and I already get along with the others really well. I haven't been able to play piano though, el pino and los cristales don't have pianos in the church.

 So Josh got the job huh? That's good, I know that he'll be happy and that you guys will be happier with him living closer. So what is his job going to be then? So is that going to be Josh's permanent job in his life? Hopefully he doesn't move too far away,  I would like to live close to the entire family as well.

Uganda, that would be the most insane mission. I got an email from Connor Holt this week that had a picture of him, Jayden, and Chris Ruben. It was crazy, I can't believe that they are all home already. The time flies. Josh is coming home as well, man there is no way that was two years ago that they left. I'm sure that they were all great missionaries, they were all amazing people before the mission, and the mission is a life changing experience.

 I don't get the opportunity to play except in church because no one here has a piano, only the churches. And of all the churches, I have only seen one real piano, the rest have been keyboards. If I were to say anything to the youth, I would tell them to just keep choosing the right, they might not know why we have certain commandments, but God does, and he knows how to protect us better than we do. To the adults, you can never have a testimony too big, keep growing it every day. Things that they should know, Chile just won the American Football cup and the entire country went nuts and partied for a week straight haha. Well there's not a lot more to write, I feel like this was a short letter this week but I don't know what more to say. I hope that you have a great week and that you keep growing your testimony!

Love,
Elder Stam

What the world needs to more "mean" moms.

August 19, 2015
                            

       
I'm glad that you are enjoying your time at the family reunion!  That really does just sound like the typical family reunion, especially with the squirrels. I remember that there were always a bunch of squirrels. But for real though, our family is really loud, almost too much haha. So don't forget to send me pictures, it's my turn to ask for pictures haha. I think papa will be fine. It's a part of life, it's going to happen to all of us. It's only a short time that we are saying goodbye anyways.

Things in Chile. Um, hot, once again. Today has been really hot. I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt, and it's the middle of winter. I miss Utah winters, and cold weather. The shirt burning went well, I have a video of it, hopefully it won't get deleted. According to everyone, now is when the time starts really flying, but I feel like it's already been flying. No, we didn't have any idea what we were doing with the drainage system, but what matters is that we tried haha. The teaching has been going good this week though. We found a guy from Haiti. The only problem with him, is he doesn't speak Spanish. Or English. But French and Haitian yes. So it's been really complicated trying to communicate with him, but it's been quite an experience as well. We are trying to help him find a job so that he can get enough money to stay in Chile. His name is Willy. I have been feeling better though, I stopped eating that darn yogurt haha.

The baby is due soon, that's crazy. I'm excited to see him! Yup, Josh has got a lot of changes coming up, now life is going to start getting crazy for him, but I think he's ready.

Haha that's a good quote ("What the world needs is more "mean" Moms).  Moms are the best right? It's pretty true. Although I still don't really see what the sugary cereal has to do with anything in the future. I don't think that I would be that much fatter... But who knows!

I hope that you guys also have a great week, all together. Thanks for all of your love and support!

Love,
Elder Stam

Probably one of the fastest years of my life, one left- I have to make the most out of it!

August 12, 2015

Mom,                  

Elder Calvillo and Caleb (Elder Stam) and beautiful mountains!  Looks a little like Utah mountains.  

Okay, so, yup. A year ago I was set apart and tomorrow is my one year mark. I don't know how that happened, but here I am, a year later. That was probably one of the fastest years of my life, even though it's been so eventful. I only have one left though, so I have to make the most out of it. Get to burn a shirt tomorrow. The teaching was alright this last week, the rain made things a little harder, but we still worked hard. The rain has been awesome though, I have been waiting a year for rain. I love the rain. There have been a lot of floods lately though, up north has been affected quite bad. We also had a member's house flood last week, and we went there to help try and fix everything. We ended up being there for several hours, trying to fix the problem. We made our own little drainage system out of these metal plates. We were in mud up to our knees. It was quite the experience. It hasn't been too cold with the rain though, only at night. It's actually colder when it's not raining. I definitely like winter more than summer. I was dying in the summer. I'm not looking forward to this next one, but I don't have a choice haha, just have to keep working through it. Hopefully you start feeling better mom!  Don't forget that you have a Priesthood holder in the house.

Those are some pretty interesting sounding jobs for Joshua.  It will be nice they will live closer. My patriarchal blessing counsels me to stay close to you guys, so you probably won't have that problem with me in the future. The medical world is nuts, maybe that's something I will do in the future, it's something that every human needs, health. Well at least for now, in this life. Isn't is going to be awesome having a perfect body that never gets sick? I think it's going to be amazing. Twice this week I ate something that my body didn't agree with. I didn't get sick, just had pretty bad stomach pain for a couple hours. It was strange. Three weeks until he is due to be born, how crazy. I feel like you guys just barely told me that she was pregnant. I'm glad I'm going to be home for his first birthday, I don't want to miss too much of my first nephew's baby years. I'm jealous that you went to that concert, I remember going to the Pentatonix concert like two years ago, and it was so amazing.

It would be cool if you learned Spanish, but I think I would rather just talk about you with Josh and Cody in Spanish, so that you can't understand us ;) My Spanish is fine though, I'm still trying to learn a few words every day, it's getting hard learning new vocabulary now, because it's just words that aren't very common now, so I forget the words. I still have a year to improve though. My goal is to not have a gringo accent when I come home.  Haha you have to give a little report on me? I don't know, you can say what you want. I'm doing fine, working hard in the incredible rainy weather we've had.Well I hope that you start feeling better, being sick isn't any fun.

Have fun at the family reunion! It should be fun, like always. Transfers are coming up soon. We had interviews with the President today, and he made it sound like he might change me again, but I doubt it, that would mean I have five different sectors in about a year. He did say that he would try his best to put me with a companion with less time than me, so that I'm looking forward to. We'll see though. Have a great week though!

Love,
Elder Stam              

They walk and walk and walk. 

We are going to have a baptism this Sunday!

Mom,   

The new sector is awesome, I like it a lot. It has a little bit of everything, rich area, poor area, but children of God for sure in all parts. Elder Calvillo is awesome, he's a good hardworking missionary. We are going to have a baptism this Sunday with a 17 year old girl named Joscelyn. I haven't taught her much, but she's awesome and definitely has changed a lot. She has a pretty strong testimony, and she's definitely making the right decision getting baptised. He's been out about 20 months, another older companion haha. That's okay though. No you don't know the people I taught via email, it was someone I taught here in the mission. We are teaching a few other people, they aren't progressing a lot, but they are progressing. Our church starts at 11 so they have no excuse for not going to church. We live in a house. I don't know the address, it's some street that's like four words long.. but it's close to the hospital El Pino, if you want to look that up.

Haha that would be crazy if you moved, so don't do that. My expected return date is July 26th, so if that's true, I have less than a year left. It might be extended though, when we get a new mission president. I don't know though, the older missionaries said that the change when President Cook got here was 8 weeks instead of 6. Dad told me a lot of people that got their mission calls and where they're going.  Wow all those friends are really already coming home?? That definitely was not two years.  I was going to say the same thing before I read what you wrote . It's better to serve God than man.

They're paying for Joshua's flight to come interview? That's awesome, flying is too expensive. I think that the family just needs to stop and really think about things for a minute. I don't want to be rude but some of it is really stupid. I'm old enough now to realize that. Hopefully they fix things though, I would hate to see any of my family in the big and spacious building.

Zone conferences are awesome, I love hearing from president. He's a genius. In the weekly letter that he sends to all of us every week, he's been answering questions about the sacrament and going pretty in depth, I've learned a lot. There's a lot to study about the gospel, I wish I had more time haha. Yes I bought a few things, so don't worry. Stories? I don't know, I'm so bad at remembering stories. But that's why I have a journal. Sorry.

Well thanks for writing me mom, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Stam

Santiago, Chile Temple

Dad,

Wow that's a lot more missionaries than I thought! That's awesome though, hopefully they all have an amazing mission.  President told us a few months ago that they were going to put fewer missionaries in our ward. We were at about 250 missionaries, and he said that we will have about 180-200 at the end of the summer. At the end of this change there are like 29 missionaries going home, and again only like 10 or 11 arriving.

Well my expected return date was July 26th, so if that's true, I have less than a year left.  I already have a little less than three weeks before I would start school, so hopefully it won't be extended. I would like a little bit of time before I have to start studying again. When Alma finished his mission, he had time to rest too.

Mom is always crazy about those pictures, she needs to learn more patience haha. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Stam

I am now in El Bosque and have another new companion...

July 15, 2015

 Mom and Dad,


This last week has been quite interesting. First of all, there were transfers. Haha you´re a prophet dad. I did get transferred. Both me and my companion. And there were 22 missionaries that went home and only 9 that came. So president had to close some sectors. Our sector was one of the sectors that he closed. So me and my companion got transferred. Now I'm in a stake called El Bosque and the ward is called El Pino. I got a new companion too. His name is Elder Calvillo. He's full Mexican, but he speaks perfect English. He actually was raised in California. His parents moved to California before he was born. So he speaks English and Spanish perfectly. He pulled a prank on me, making me think he only spoke Spanish. It went on for about two hours, then he said something to me in English and completely blew my mind. It was pretty funny haha. Yes it has also rained more, quite abundantly. I just don't like how people were fasting for rain, and then they complain when the rain comes. But on Sunday it rained all day, and we got soaked. It was pretty fun though, and wasn't that cold.

President Cook trusts us a lot, he lets us do what we want for the most part. Well the time ran out really fast this week, I don't know what happened. This is going to be a short letter. I will definitely send pictures next week, without fail. I will reply to the rest of this letter next week! I love you mom and Dad, have a wonderful week. Sorry I couldn't finish this letter, :P

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