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

Success is based on dedication and consecration

Sept 2, 2015

Mom and Dad,        

Elders Stam and Henderson

Things are great here in Los Cristales. There were quite a few people that went to church here, more than I expected because it's a branch. This week there was an attendance of 53. Changes keep things interesting, but it's hard learning a new sector and then having to leave it right away. It's also kinda sucky having to leave the people that you just met. It's alright though, the Lord knows best. Elder Sosa and I get along really well, he's been out for about 8 months now. I'm actually the Elder with the most time in Los Cristales, it's all young missionaries here haha. It wasn't much of a piano, but a keyboard. It was fun though, he's just starting to learn, so he struggles, but he's getting there.  This last week we have been busy with mostly finding a few new people. We are teaching a lot of people, but you can always find more. I like living with two other Chileans because I am learning a lot of the Chilean sayings. There are a lot. Seriously. A member from Portezuelo gave me a list of like 400 of them.

 Preach My Gospel says that your success isn't based on numbers. You could have a thousand baptisms but if your heart isn't in the right place, you weren't a very successful missionary. Preach My Gospel says that your success is based on your dedication and consecration. If you come back a person converted to the gospel, than you were a successful missionary. President here says that most missionaries won't gone home with leadership positions, but there's still a few that do. The leadership positions don't mean that you are a better missionary. It just means that you need to give an example to the others. If you are a missionary, you are equally important as every other missionary in the mission.   

Weeks do go by fast, I'm writing on the exact same computer as last week and it feels like no time has passed at all since that time hah. We didn't even have a winter here, it's been kind of lame. The last few days have been really hot. I guess you'll have to hear my complaints about it being hot again haha.  The temperatures here only change if it rains. It was pretty chilly in the morning a month ago, but other than that, it's been pretty warm, and I am not excited to have another summer here, I about died last summer. It's already starting to feel like summer here again and we're technically still in winter.


Retirement will be fun, doing nothing every day, right? Zach leaves today?? Wow that was quick. His adventure has started haha.  Usually what you said is true about former or inactive members being prejudiced. It's different here, but I think that in Utah, if a member stops going to church, it's for a reason. Something happened to them that got them mad so they just decide to go against the church. It's kind of sad. It's pretty much just a lack of testimony. Hamburgers. That's what I'm missing. A good American hamburger. I was trying to remember some of the other food that we always ate, but I really couldn't remember many at all. New foods, not many. I pretty much ate an entire fish whole the other day. It was interesting, but really good.
Wow my nephew is going to be born so soon! That's awesome, I'm excited. So they are going to buy a house when they move home? A house house? That's good, houses are better than apartments, that's for sure. They are just really expensive. I remember that Real Estate class I had, it was a pretty interesting class.

Heather and Joshua don't write me every week but every once in a while they do. Tell them that no one else can get pregnant for at least three more months so I can be there when the baby is born. I'm not going to miss another one haha. When should Cody finish all of his schooling? I feel like he's been going to school for a while too now.

Nothing super cool for the last few P Days. We have pretty much just played soccer the last few. I like soccer, I don't play too bad. I'm obviously a gringo, but not a horrible gringo haha. Look at that mom, you're more trunky than I am but it will be nice to have us all together again when that time comes.

 Dad, that is a really good story, it's true that the last door that you always knock on is the one. The mission of the assistants is pretty much the same here from what I know. They are in the office a lot doing work for the mission, and they don't do much tracting. My companion from the CCM, Elder Walker, is in the office right now, he's in charge of all of the missionaries houses, and the only missionary in the mission with a car. He doesn't get to do a lot of work though. Thanks for the story though, I liked it.

I would actually love to read that book (Putting on the Armor of God). Who wrote it? I've found an interest in reading things by the church now. Before the mission, honestly I didn't care much about reading stuff like that, but here in the mission I've found a love for things like that, so I would love to read it.

I got the pictures, I liked them, they were awesome! Well I hope that you guys have a great week, thanks for the emails every week!

Love,
Elder Stam                    

I assume one of those poor dogs Caleb is always telling us about?  I thought it was a monkey at first-yikes!

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. 

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