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 work is progressing!

December 9, 2015

                    

Mom,

Don't open it til Christmas? Mom I don't think you realize how hard that it. You get home and you just have a package of stuff there staring at you, tempting you. But I'll try to not open it. I feel like I just talked to you all, it's strange that it's already time to call again. I am pretty sure that we are going to be with the Inostroza family, so that you guys can meet them. Things have been going good this last week, it's been really hot. I got really burnt today because we went and played soccer outside for a few hours. Yes we have found a few new people. The are mostly less actives, and they're all really nice, they just have a few problems and doubts, the usual. There are always a few that progress. We have an investigator that came to church for the first time this week, and she really liked it.

Wow how incredible, a clean room. My Spanish is pretty good, the only problem is pronunciation. They all say that I talk gringo. I just don't understand how to not speak with an accent. I've tried so hard to fix it but this gringo accent is a curse. Yes he got baptized, it was really awesome! We have our own house, we live with four missionaries. It's two floors but it's still pretty small. We do have members next door, they were recently reactivated by the Elders in the other sector. Yeah, yeah, photos. It's just that I haven't really taken that many photos.

College will be weird, but we will see. I think that the allergies are getting better, but I don't really know. They aren't going to go away permanently, but I think that they are better. My eyes don't really itch that much anymore. I want to go to the South of Chile also, it looks awesome down there. I don't think that Elder is going to have the money, and I don't really care, I've just gotta rub it in his face a little bit ;) haha.

President Cook is really awesome. He is pretty relaxed, he's not super strict, but he does expect us to keep all of the rules. He does it in a good way. Recently for P Day we went to Buin Zoo again. It's cool down there, it's just like any other zoo though, so it's not super special. They do have some awesome animals though. This P Day all we did was play soccer, and now I'm red as a tomato. It's usually just wake up and go do something, the activity or whatever, then go to the feria and buy fruit and food and whatever we need, then relax for a couple hours, and come and write, then go work. That's the typical schedule. Our mission was big before with about 250 missionaries, but it has dropped and we only have about 200 now. The interview went really well. He read that I wanted peanut butter on the blog that you do for me and he went out and bought me peanut butter. It was pretty funny. He's a great man though, I always learn a lot from him. He just asks about everything and I just tell him the truth about it all, I feel comfortable with him.  Haha Pres Hutchison is a pretty inspired man, I think that he is doing a great job as stake president. I don't really know much of what he has done but I could tell that he would be a good one.

Ohhh Cafe Rio, I miss that place. No there is nothing specific that I would like to know.  Also it would be awesome if you only bought me one more videogame. Call of Duty Black Ops 3. After that I would like you to buy other things. I have heard recently of a book series that is called the Joseph Smith Papers. I looked at the books and they are pretty expensive and there are a lot of them, but it would be cool if you could buy me one or two of them, I would really appreciate it. Love you mom!

Love,
Elder Stam             

Trying my best always

December 2, 2015

                                    

Elders Stam and Rivera

Yay for packages haha. Dad told me that you cleaned out my room. How messy was it? It was pretty disastrous when I left. But that's okay, it's your problem, not mine. ;) I'm sure that anything that you guys did it would still feel like home.

Things were good this last week. It was pretty hot this week, and I could swear that there were more drunk people than normal. We have been trying to find new people to teach. We are going through all of the old people in our area book, looking for them to see if they are now interested in listening. We teach quite a few people, it would take quite a while to write about all of them. But it was just a normal dinner appointment with the Inostroza. They didn't even know that it was Thanksgiving. Nobody knew haha. But that's okay. We sacrifice some holidays to have a few new Chilean holidays here. That's good that you went with Mike and his family, they are good friends of us. I'm sure that he will stay in Utah also, it's pretty hard to leave that place.

Yes both of Elder Rivera's parents speak Spanish. He couldn't speak very much when he got here. The advantage that he has is that he could understand it, and he already knew a lot of vocabulary, which is the thing that is hardest for me. I have had 7 companions now, not including Elder Walker and Elder Johnson from the MTC. If we count them, then I have had 9. The number of investigators that go to church changes, they don't really go every week, but if everyone were to go, we would have like 10 or so in church. The baptism should happen this week, he is going to have his interview tomorrow and if it all goes well he will get baptized. I think that is how most kids are. We are all just stubborn, and don't like to be told what to do. But we all just need to humble ourselves a little bit and listen to other people. I really don't like school studies though. I like to learn, but I think that schools just need to teach in a completely different way. It's really boring listening to a lecture. That's a pretty neat story though that you told me about how you were helped in college to have your mind opened.  The Lord blesses.  Visiting teaching is a pretty big problem here too, no one really wants to do it. It's really bad sometimes how lazy the people are, but I know that it's a little bit the same everywhere.

 I would never cook for Thanksgiving. That's one thing that my future wife has to have, cooking skills. If not, we are eating macaroni and cheese and cereal for the rest of our lives. So it's your fault that I have these allergies. Thanks mom. Haha we need to go to a place hidden from everything if you buy property. I wonder what it will be like right before He comes.

I like having emails though, it's a pretty lame p day when you don't have very many emails.   Haha I have a bet with another elder what I won't get married for at least a year after coming home for $1000. So I'm gonna be $1000 richer. It's just what missionaries talk about haha. If we were to go anywhere else in Chile, it would be to the South. The South is much better here, from what I have heard.

Handsome guy, no not the dog!

 Well, just take the little push with him in sharing the gospel. You never know unless you try. I am trying my best to keep all of the mission rules. Everyone in the zone has interviews with President Cook tomorrow. We always have an interview with him every 3 months. We meet with him every once in a while, when he wants to teach us something, for zone conference, for interviews, things like that. My district leader is Elder Kamoe. My zone leaders are Elder Thompson and Elder Alfaro. Our district is 8 missionaries and our zone is like 24 or so missionaries. Nope, they don't really put up lights here, a few people, but not a lot.

We went to a zoo today for P day, so we saw a lot of animals. But it's still different in a zoo. They are always sleeping and not doing anything, and there's glass in the way. I would like to see animals out in the wild. They don't sleep that much when they are in the wild it seems.  Thanks for the email, I hope that you have a wonderful week with the cold weather!

Love,
Elder Stam

Hard work has made the difference

November 25, 2015
                                   

Alonso and Elder Caleb Stam

Things are good! We're (Caleb and his companion) both from Utah, so we get along pretty well haha. Nope, we're not doing anything for Thanksgiving. It's just a normal day here in Chile, but we are going to the Inostroza's house so maybe they will do something for us, who knows? You need to eat pie for me. So what is little Jackson's personality? What can you see in him? Elder Rivera has been out about 6 months. He speaks Spanish incredibly well though. He has listened to Spanish his whole life, so he can understand it perfectly, but he is learning to speak it here. He struggles a little when he reads, but he's learning really quickly. He was only 18 when he was baptized! A girl introduced him to the Church hahah. Haha I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, but I'll take one of us! I don't know, hard work has made the difference in this area? The Lord just leads us to the people that are prepared. We have more investigators attending church than less actives, but I would say that it is pretty equally balanced.  I feel like people here are afraid of giving referrals. We hardly receive any referrals at all. I think that people are afraid of what the person would think of them, it's kind of stupid. I hope that I stay here for six months, and then my last area for six months. That would be the rest of my mission. I'm already in my fifth area, I don't want to have too many. I think six would be okay. I am pretty sure that member references are the most successful. The Inastroza family was a referral. I'm been having fun though, that's the important thing.

We all just need to learn how to listen to the Spirit and discern what it tells us, which is the hard part. The Church has three little videos about it, called Patterns of Light. Check them out, they're pretty good! They are by Elder Bednar. Yeah, we talked with Alonso and with his mom. We have a baptismal date though, December 6th. I am 90% sure that it will happen. His mom just said that he has a bad attitude with her and with his brothers and sisters. She could probably be a little bit more understanding at his age, but it's okay, it's good to teach your kids good values when they're young. I am sure that she will go to his baptism for sure, and most likely his confirmation.

Snow College is where I want to go but I don't want to study mom haha. But I know that I have to. One thing that I like about the mission is that there are no tests. It's all like a big test of your own personal conversion, but there's not like As and Bs and stuff like that. I study a whole lot more here than I did before though. I like the studies here though. I didn't like the studies before haha. Christmas gifts.  There isn't much that a missionary needs, just food haha.

Haha, just tell Oma to live with you guys! You have three empty bedrooms at the moment. And then she wouldn't have to pay for living. I find it really hard to believe that we are in December almost. The last two months have gone by ridiculously fast. I feel like we are still in September sometimes. Cooking is a pain. I don't like it anymore. It takes me ten minutes or more to cook something, and two minutes to eat it. That's why I like cereal so much, it only takes like 30 seconds to make. $400 a month?? Jeez that's a lot you will save for insurance. Keep getting better though with your arthritis. Allergies here have been killing me. We are in Spring now, and my eyes have been so itchy. My nose hurts a little too. I started taking those allergy pills that you gave me though. I don't know if they are doing anything, but it's worth a try.

Haha that picture of snow would be awesome to have. It's been pretty hot here lately, almost too hot again. but that's okay. Like I said, most people here don't even know how the snow is. They are missing out on a lot of fun. I think that snow is awesome, I miss it. Hopefully it snows though. They need it there. It hardly snowed at all last year right?

We expanded the house while Josh was on his mission right? Or was that before? I just remember that we bought the big screen TV and Josh about had a heart attack when he saw it. No big surprises please. How is my room coming along though? Knowing mom, you will probably be working on it until I come home.

Haha Connor and I have totally experienced completely different things here in Chile. He was in the beautiful south of Chile and I'm in the city of Santiago. I would love to come back here and get to know better the south of Chile, it looks spectacular. 

I hope that you also have a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving! The best thing was probably setting a baptism date for Alonso, it's awesome to see the fruits of your labors. Love you mom!

Love,
Elder Stam

If you have a doubt, the best place to go to ask is God, in prayer.

November 18, 2015

                      

Dear Mom,             

 Haha yeah I had a pretty good week. I have a new companion, but I'm in the same sector, thankfully. I like this sector a lot. My new companion is Elder Rivera. Like Elder Calvillo, his parents are both Mexican, but he was born and raised in the United States. He was actually born and raised in Orem, Utah. So I am with another gringo (sort of) from Utah. We get along super well already. The best thing of all, he's a swimmer. So we have had some pretty good talks about the swimming days. He's a convert, because of a girl haha, and actually the only member in his family. He's 20 years old. So that's that. I think that one of the hardest things about the summer here is that there is no air conditioning. If it's a hot day, it's hot everywhere. It's pretty hard to find a place that isn't hot. But it's okay, it doesn't last forever. This last week we had an attendance of 58, which is the highest I have seen in the branch. It's growing a ton. It'll be a ward in no time.

Jeez, that's really sad that people are removing their records from the church. They'll have regrets one day.  If the Church is true and you know it, then there is no reason to doubt the things and policies of the Church. For any reason if you do have a doubt, the best place to go to ask is God, in prayer. No one was born with knowledge of the true Church, they had to gain that knowledge, generally through prayer. So any doubts that we have can be answered the same way, and also through study. Good gosh, the world is a joke. I heard that the terrorists threatened the United States also? I don't know. I don't know how much more wickedness the world can take. Hopefully He comes soon.

 No, he didn't get baptized. We are going to talk to his mom and try to set up a baptism date, she says that he needs to start acting better or she won't let him get baptized. So we need to talk to him about that. His name is Alonso. I know that his mom is a member, but she doesn't want anything to do with the Church. She supports her son though. I don't know about the dad, I don't think that he is a member. Yeah, I just teach the basic stuff with the piano lessons. 

I think that Snow College would be the best, considering I have a scholarship there, and I don't want to have to worry too much about money while I am studying. No, I don't want to go to BYU haha.

I don't want a big Christmas package, save money haha. Peanut butter would be awesome though, I really miss that stuff. Just some normal American candy would be nice too, like Reeses and Twix, things like that. I don't have that big of a need for anything. A calendar would be cool too.

 It would be cool if Oma moved to Utah, honestly I think that she would like it more. Haha Dubai seemed really cool to me. It would be really awesome to go someday, everything there is ridiculously expensive though.  It has the tallest building in the world. 

Well I hope that you have a great week, if there is anything that I can do for you or the family, just let me know, and I'll get it done. Love you mom.

Love,
Elder Stam               

Teaching is going well here.

November 11, 2015

Mom and Dad,               

The past week has been good, it's starting to get hot again. Luckily today is overcast so it isn't too hot today. The teaching is going well here. We've been working more with less actives lately, but the branch has really grown. Apparently about a year ago there was only 15 or so people attending, and we are at about 50 or so every week now, so it has grown a ton here. If it snows send me a picture. Most people here have never touched snow, so it would be cool to have a picture of the house and something like that with snow to show them. Yeah, we heard about that new policy yesterday. It's really strict, it surprised me a little bit, but it's for the better. The world is just getting stupider, so the church has to get stricter. The people that are freaking out about it obviously don't have a very strong testimony. The only thing that the church does is protect the righteous things, and it's really sad when members of the church don't protect those things. One of the apostles, I don't remember which one, said that persecution against the church would increase, and obviously we are seeing that. You would never think that it would come from members though. It's sad. The end is close though. Let's hope that He comes soon.

We're always finding new people to teach, it's a part of being a missionary. The hard part is finding the people that are really prepared. The piano lessons are going well, he is actually learning pretty quick. The best thing that happened this last week is probably that we have a baptismal date for that kid that I took a picture with and sent it to you! That kid. He's awesome haha. He goes to church alone and he's only 9 years old! That's definitely something that's hard to do, to hear exactly what you need to hear from the Spirit and then actually do it. I think that is one of the hardest challenges that missionaries have. If we all understood exactly what the Spirit was saying to us, I think that we would all have a lot more success than what we actually have. It's a challenge, but we all need to try to discern what the Spirit is telling us. I think that it is a lot easier to feel the temptations of the devil than the whisperings of the Spirit, which is why we need to try our best to listen to the Spirit and not the devil.  I'm feeling well though. A little bit of allergies, it is spring here.

Oma's moving to England?? I think that she will also really like that and be a help to David and Emma.  I think that's a good thing. 

Well there isn't a lot to write this week.  I'll send photos of the shoes next week, I keep forgetting about it. But I'll do it. I've been pretty good with keeping a journal. I wrote every day for the first few months, but I ran out of things to say so now I only write about one a week, but it's still better than nothing. Thanks again for the email. I hope that you have a great week! Chao!

Love,
Elder Stam

Family is one of the most important things in this life

November 4, 2015


Mom and Dad,            

Families are Forever!

I had a pretty good week, it was a pretty normal week. There was Halloween of course. I think that Halloween here is better than in the United States. It's been pretty bummer lately in the United States, there are hardly any kids that go out asking for candy. It's completely different here. Every single street is full of kids. It's crazy. We had to go to the house early though because that day Colo Colo and la U, the two soccer teams that are rivals, played and it gets a little dangerous after their games. Family is one of the most important things in this life, and it's sad to see the world attacking families. It's really stupid some of the things that the world says, like it's not important to get married or that being gay is still following God's plan, but they will understand one day.

Haha I know what workouts that Heather is making you do, I have actually been doing them a little bit here in the mission, they're kind of fun, they kick my butt too though. I'm pretty out of shape here. Keep it up though, it will do good for you. Meetings, they're not always fun. I find meetings here to be really off task, and we don't talk about anything we should. I mean the meetings in the wards, not the mission.

Haha, that's an old blessing outfit then! That's good that it went well, there are some babies that cry their little hearts out. Haha Mike's little boys are really cute, they're going to be a lot bigger when I get back. How old is his oldest son now? Haha that is going to be the bad thing about a baby, when they scream and cry during the night. But it's a part of life. I think that it's God's little test to our patience. I won't have to worry about that though for at least a few more years. Grandpa seems to have been doing really well. Surprises me that he is going to turn 90, that's a pretty great age. I am sure that he will still be here, I do have less that a year left. Haha grandpa is a funny little fella. I can picture him in that little cart, he looks like a natural haha.

Elder Sosa and I are both really good friends with that family. I would say that it is pretty even, I wouldn't say that either one of us has a better connection with them haha. It was almost too easy with them. They just accepted everything like it was nothing. I'm not complaining though. They have been having a hard time lately though because on Sunday, the mom's grandma died. We are going to visit them today though. Today is the dad's birthday and their anniversary as well. The mom of the other family said that she would start going to church to support her kids, but there are a few worldly things that she doesn't want to give up. I think that with time she will though. Zone conference this time was about working more with members, especially in ward counsel. It's obviously really important to work with members, but we have been lacking on that a little bit in the mission, so President wants us to focus a little bit more on that now.

That is really how most of the commandments are, follow with faith. We just do it, without knowing why. Adam was commanded to give sacrifices to the Lord and when an angel asked him what he was doing, he said he didn't know, but that he was just obeying his father. That's how it should be with all of us, we just need to obey.

I was thinking about it a little bit, and I think that I might cost a lot of money when I come home. I need to find a car haha, that's going to be the most expensive thing. Good, keep that game safe. If you want to buy me more games, which would be awesome, just let me know, there are a few more games that I would love. I don't care that much if you are helping me that much with that game, I just don't want my account to be deleted for inactivity. I've put a lot of time into that game. But thank you mom for playing it for me haha.

You guys want to go on a service trip? What country/ies would you go to? That would be a lot of fun. It's always good to give a little bit of service. I think that you guys would receive a lot of blessings if you did that.

I hope that you guys have a great week as well. Thanks for the weekly letters, I appreciate them. I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Stam                

Caleb must have enjoyed this breakfast!