July 29, 2013 MMMM... BEST WEEK eva!

It´s funny, I can never think of what to write in the beginning, annnddddd HERE WEEE GOO! 

Well, Fransiscita was baptized yesterday. Check the pics for proof! She was so happy to finally be baptized, and her family is progressing, slowyly, but surely. Her mom for a long time has been less active, actually swearing that she wouldn´t come back to church, but yesterday she attented the whole time, and loved her daughters baptism. I know that the atonement will change our world, our nature, as quick as we let it! Valentina, her friend and Veronica´s daughter, shared her testimony. It was interesting how they said they met, Fransisca lent Valentina an eraser when she didn´t have one, and their friendship has been ever progressing since then! It´s wonderful to look for little missionary opportunites like that. Their impact, frequently, is much much bigger than what we immediatly recognize. Isidora, Veronica´s youngest daughter of 5 years, also shared her testimony at the baptismal service, expressing her desire to be baptized for her birhtday, ha! She´s still got a little ways to go. 

Veronica, Valentina, Genesis, Isidora (familiy) and Pato (boyfriend) are all progressing really well. Yesterday Pato thoughouly enjoyed church, looking genuinely comfortable! His first sunday at church, he fell asleep (fell??? how random- english) in Elder´s Quorum from his all night party the night before, ha;) Genesis wants to keep it a surprise until Valentina and Veronica´s (sister and mom´s) baptisms this coming sunday, but gave herself a date for the 1st day of September! Also Isidora´s birthday. In a lesson we had yeesterday with the family, Veronica shared that she has been changed in these past 2ish months, learning how to EXPRESS LOVE. She now tells her daughters, and us, that she loves us. She hugs them. She kisses people now. This has been dificlut for her for a long time, as she has been fulfilling both roles as Mother AND Father. I testify that as we openly express our genuine love, thanks, and gratitude for people, our love for Jesus and our Heavenly Father grow, and we see their perfections, and we trust in them, and they in us ever ever more. We had an amazing FHE with them and Mariza tuesday (her Brazilian cupcakemaking friend) with Presidente Barreiros. The spirit was felt abundently:)

We´re working with Nicolas Llanos, Veronica´s neighbor. He´s 15 years old and super dope/ballin´. He is such a sincere kid. About dating and girls, he said to his mom the other day, I´m only interested in real relationships, in something lasting, that will endure. Ha, so he shouldn´t have too many challenges with the Law of Chastitiy:) His testimony of the Book of Mormon is every progressing. He´s actually listened to a lot of Elderes before, and had a couple of dates before. I know that he is now ready to progress towards the 25 of August because WE believe in him, and he enjoyed church yesterday. Keep praying for him, for diligence in getting out of bed to go to chruch, and faith to give priority to his study of the BoM. 

With a few members from the Retention, Invesigatores, and ward members, we had a dope movie night with lots of popcorn at church (friday). The Testaments was screened, the spirit was felt, tears were shed, fun was had! Veronica cried. And have no fear, the movie was heared over the roar of the corn, sporadically popping in the microwave machine!

I´ve been learning how to paint a positive mental picture, how to chanell my thoughts, how to combat doubts, think BIG!, how to have faith, make things happen, how to not so much trick my mind, but become blind to the imperfections that so constantly souround us. I know that God hears and answers our prayers, gives us the strenght we need to be the leaders he wants us to be, to have a happy family, to see miracles. In divisiones, I felt tired and stressed. I took a moment to thank God for the missionares around me, for my envirnment, for the challenges we have. I then asked him to bless me with even more love and patience. Imediatley after I felt the spirit, and we could find 3 news from a wonderful family we had planned!:) a true miracle, that wouldn´t have otherwise been seen!

I spoke yesterday in church about seminary and the lasting effects it has had on my life, my mision, etc. God blessed me so much. I felt as if the words and stories simply flowed from my mouth. I felt powerful and filled with the spirit. Mom face, pops, thank you so much for helping me have spiritual experiences at EFY, Seminary, etc. I know I wasn´t always a piece of cake there, ha:)

With love, 

Elder Tasso 

July 22, 2013 Dearest one and only family of mine!

It´s been such a miracle to see the change wrought by the atonement in Veronica, Valentina, Genesis, and Isidora, (the Espinacce family) and their dear neighbors, the Llanos Family. OOooooooooohhhohohhh soosososo Awesome! 

  Today we played soccer as a zone, it was nuts, and we ate a dandy lunch with the Llanos family. They gave us a great reference thursday, Marisel, we were able to teach her a little about our purpose in that first lesson and we have a FHE with them tonight. Roxana sees her biggest changes in her absense of swearing now, which is always funny;) We still haven´t been able to teach her youngest daughter or her husband, Jazmine or Carlos, but I know that we´ll be able to in the very near future;) and boy oh boy are we excited. 

   Veronica and her family are doing fantastic. It´s so great to hear their testimonies of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. Valentina invited one of her friends over, Rodrigo, and we were able to teach him as well. He accepted an invitation to pray to God. He´s a real gentlemen. Veronica puts lots of emphasis now on that her girls only go out with Boys who are members, which is very true, but nonethless pretty funny (they still aren´t members, ha). We are also sharing with her Brazilian friend Maritza, who will recieve a portueguse BOM tomorrow, tuesday. These familys are so awesome, and have been and will continue to be so so changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

   Fransisca is excited to get baptized the coming sunday. She´s ready, keep praying for her family, her support system isn´t the best, but I know that we´ll be able to help them. Her mother (less active) told us friday that she´d never set foot in church again, and saturday showed up IN THE CHURCH for Fransicsca´s baptismal interview. Now I´m not saying that was sacrament meeting, but a miracle nonetheless;) 

  Lately I´ve found a lot of happiness in prayer. By praying and giving thanks for as much as we can, I´ve felt filled with light. Sunday I played the piano in a baptismal program. I could have sworn they told me to play hymn 70, naturally, I start playing ¨be thou humble¨ but after the prelude, NOBODY SINGS! I keep playing, shoot a glance at the director. She has a look on her face that says ¨what the heck is this gringo playing???!!¨ I stop. And ask why aren´t we singing. Well the hymn was 77, I think I just heard wrong, ha. Well, I played the hymn, we sang, and it turned out well. Twas funny;) It helped everyone at the baptism relax, me at least, laugh a little, etc. I grateful for that, ha. 

Love you all, best week ever! We are seeing ever more milagros. ´Tis the truth. I love the Book of Mormon, my father in heaven, Jesus Christ, and his church. Elder Gueto is the best.

Elder Tasso!

July 15, 2013 Hmmm... Best week evvvvaaaa!

Love you lots!

Well this week sure was a doozy, a real dandy, a real twister! Peep the following:

Elder Gueto and I, the dark and white chocolate, are officially a team! That is, to say, Elder Martinez, (yes, our favorite Mexican romantic) set sail as the new asistant with my good father Elder Jones to tear it up, up top! I´m rather excited to have Elder Gueto at my side with Cerrillos, (him and hosts of angles). We´re 22 missionaries now, 8 being sisters. It´s real great;) Elder Gueto is so so funny, from Cartagena Colombia, loves loves loves to talk with everyone, with the members, the missionaries, to make jokes and have a great time! ¨So alegria¨ 

He is a lot like our beloved President Barreiros in that sense. Presidente Barreiros is super open, super loving, is learning spanish and therefore mixes the porteguese a lot, but speaks with so much confidence, he communicates perfectly, even though his gramar is coming:)

Veronica and her family are progressing so so so very well. They all came to church (again, Valentina only for a bit, she felt rather ill). Veronica is officially a NON SMOKER!!! Yeehaw! She went from 20 Cigarettes to 0 in a little more than 2 weeks! The Book of Mormon, the eye of faith, and Jesus Christ work miracles with the people. She invited her Brazilian cupcake-making, entreprenuerer girl friend to listen as well, Mariza. Mariza commented to Elder Martinez last night when he said goodbye, Ï know you have a message for me.¨ Well of course we do, therefore he shared his testimony with her. She´s really excited! I don´t think we´ve ever recieved more gifts from anyone. Veronica works for a company, Entel, and she has given us lots and lots of merchandise. 

    Genesis, (19) has been participating much more now. She read Enos and really liked it, and will start very soon reading from the beginning with Mariza. 

We had a great lesson with Cora this week, one of our dates for the 28th, and she was very excited to come to church again this past week but for some reason, didn`t make it when we went to go pick her up in the morning. What a shame, but I know she´ll progress. She needs to actually get married as well (shocker, we didn´t know!), and so won´t make her date for the 28th. Our ward is now 4 sisters, and us 2. Sister Carter (Orem) and Sister Rojas (Uruaguy) are going to be teaching her now, they should be able to form a lovely connection with her. 

One of our other dates, Fransisca, didn´t make it either. She is experiencing some challenges from her family, but I know that as we put more focus on her family, on her mom (she has been less active), it will be much much easier for her to progress, as she won´t be supporting her family in the gospel alone! 

We had a leadership meeting in the Barreiros´s home. It´s super nice and gorgeous, they live in the wealthier part of Santiago (wealthiest part, that is). It was really fun to congregate there with all the missionarys, to take a tour, eat pizza outside, give account, play their piano, eat their food, and feel the spirit there. Their son James (15) is super super skinny, and fits in really really well with all of us missionarys there. Nifftttyyy!!!;))

Carmen, (88) passed away this week. She was a temple worker who had been bedridden for a while. As missionaries we could attend/watch over a lot of the viewing services, and there were lots of opportunities to speak with her neighbors, friends, and relatives there who were not members. There were a lot of neighbros who did not know they could come to church! Who didn´t know it´s open to the public, one doesn´t need to pay, how it looks, etc. We were able to give a brief tour to them, and recieve a few references with a LOT of potencial. I know that God gives us opportunties to share the gospel, always, so many of those people don´t have the same orientacion we now have. It was so easy to ask them, ¨How do you feel?¨and share with them a little more, help them feel better, and invite them to hear more, to come back. 

I was able to play the piano for her viewing for more than an hour and a half! It was so good to be able to help people feel the spirit through music. People are so receptive to music. Thanks mom and pops for the lessons! I played lots of hymns with variations. Several people later came up to me and said ¨Thank you for the beautiful music, we felt so good.¨

It´s fun to speak with Elder Gueto and Elder Martinez in English. I tryed doing an English accent for a while, but gosh! It was really hard! They understood it pretty well, and they both speak really well too! PME chapter 7.  

I love your stories of Ralphie, and of Powell! I´ve been praying for you all, that you´ll be kept safe, but not that you´ll be too safe or cautious;) That will be loads of fun, say hi to erbody for me! Where are Marcus and Waverly going on their missions?! 

I love the temple as well, 

I remember when we went as a mission, I had not been in the celestial room for a year to that date. I walk in, and I feel the spirit so so strong. The light is super bright, their is a wonderful heaviness,a weight of the spirit. 

It was amazing! Keep going as much as you can for me! 

I´ve felt extremely happy this past week in the mission. Due to I think 3 main things,

I´m trying to pray at regular intervals, giving thanks for specific things often, for example, thank you we could contact the taxi driver, or that we had a good lunch, or that we can do internet, etc. 

 When a situacion, action, or person isn´t doing something I feel is necesarily relevant, or I feel impatient, I think of 3 good things about that person, and 3 good things about why they would do what they are doing- that is, why it´s necesary, or good, or useful, or ok. I find I have a lot more love for them, and comprehension at the same time. 

 Ocupy my mind not only with prayer, but with scripture. Memorize a scripture, or a Preach My Gospel phrase, or hymn verse daily! (Sometimes It´s hard alone, but with that goal as a companionship it´s much easier!)

 Smile more! Smile Smile Smile! A big cheesy smile! 

Question: What was my baptism like? What did we do? How did you feel? Who came? What did we eat? What was I like? How did I feel?

I don´t remember as much as I´d like. I know the family came, I felt like I was under for an etnernity, and when I came up, I felt as if I had been born again!   

After, Tyler and I think Stratton teased me and made me sin and unclean, ha! Lasted a while, eh?

I uploaded lots of photos! 

I KNOW that Jesus Christ is our savior, that we can always improve our future and that of others through our testimony or smile! I know that God is our heavenly father, and as such, we have divine inheritances awaiting. I know that this IS THE  church of Christ, his organization on the earth, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that Thomas Monson is such today. The Book of Mormon makes me Happy! It makes us like God!

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

With love!

Elder Tasso

July 1, 2013 To All the Friendly People!

Hmmmmmmm we had a really fantastic week!

Veronica is quiting smoking, we presented her with a really sweet calender made by my dear friend Elder Martinez, in which she will quit smoking a cigarette a day for 10 days, until she isn´t smoking a single one! We have a real dandy dinner/FHE planned in which we will cook for her when she quits. 

Her daughters are also progressing remarkably well, especially Valentina. She was very excited to show us her anotations, her revelation from Ether 12. The family is now reading a chapter a day, specially selected by God through our prayers just for them. It´s been a huge blessing to have Elder Güeto and Elder Martinez teaching her and her family, and we realized that this trio opens many doors to the amount of times we can teach her. She commented last night that she really feels the truth of the Book of Mormon, by the peace that is in her home only when we are there. 5 minutes after we leave, it seems that they have some sort of argument and it leaves, but while we are there, the peace of the spirit is undeniable, which is very comforting;) The Holy Ghost really is the true teacher. 

I played paty cake with her 5 year old daughter, Isidora last night. After she sung a song in English;) Valentina and Veronica will be baptized the 4th of August, Genesis and the rest have yet to accept. Please keep praying for all of them, that they can make an effort to study the BoM every every every day! And for Veronica during those hard times when she wants to smoke! 

In church we talked a lot about fasting, and they are actually going to fast with us this coming Sunday! 

Dad, Family, have any advice for them?! 

Fransisca is always progressing very well. She is 15 years old and super bold. She volunteered to clean the church with the young women this past saturday morning at 10:00, we were pretty impressed with her! Yesterday she actually didn´t make it to church for a personal commitment or something, but is reading, praying, and studying the scriptures daily. She´ll be baptized the 28th of July!

Our new mission President and his wifte, the Barreiros, are amazing! We got to meet them this past Saturday in the morning in a leadership meeting. They Brazilian, but have been living in Miami for a while. They have 3ish kids studying at BYU, he´s 48, as is she (I think...haha). President Barreiros talks with a thick brazilian accent, which is awesome, speaking spanish incredibly well for something like 4 weeks in total! We shared our testimonies with them, the spirit was incredibly strong throughout the room, they really are exactly what our mission needs right now:)! There is so so much power in a testimony! They passed around the iPad that we´ll use as missionares in give or take 6 months. 

Yesterday we did a special fast. I didn´t have very much cash in my wallet, but donated what there was the my fast offering. Later that day, I knew we had to give a bautismal interview to someone, and we´d probably need to take a taxi or something. Well, God blessed us so much. Brother Montesino from the ward drove us to the interview, and after the interview a Brother not only drove us home, but gave a lunch as well, (we ate a lasagna caserole dish, but with spaghetti, and soup and salad to start) which was a blessing given that our lunch appointment had fallen through for that day due to complications with the voting here! God is blessing us so much, in material (lunch, car ride, etc.) but more than anything in meeting our goals, in unity, in the spirit. I know that as we fast and give generously in fast offerings, God will open doors, make conections, lend a hand in so so many ways, seen and unseen! 

Today we played soccer on a turf field in the morning! (Indoor size). It was blast, I´m pretty sure team hogwarts triumfed!

I don´t know why I´ve adopted the habit of doing these smilelies, but hey, it´s all good. 

Love you all! Thanks for your letters, stories etc. Last night I dreamt we went to alaska on a hiking adventure as a family, with Elder Tait! 

Elder Tasso!!!