May 27, 2013

We prayed for a miracle this week. After 2 weeks of having 000000 investigators at the good ol´ church, God blessed us with 7. A truly holy number. They truly came out of nowhere. 

Today we watched the Mountain of the Lord, ate some tacos with eggs, and Pasta with sausage. The church movies are sweet, filled with doctrine, light, and the spirit. AND somewhat cheesy:) Check em´out. 

This week, lets all try to live in the moment, concentrating on one task at a time. Whether it be 30 minutes of concentrated study, or in sports, to live like a child, quickly and calmy forgetting and forgiving, or to give sporadic and specific heed to the holy ghost. 

Please keep in your prayers Saul y Catalina, Thania, Fabian, Lidia, Elvis, and his dearest mother, Hugo y Gabriela, Pavel, Irma, Blanca, y Bryan, and Hugo y Teresa. And just the whole wide world while your at it. If you´d be so kind to pray, so they can search, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

It´s really fun to contact with Elder Tait. His spanish is progressing really well. He´s still got a little ways to go, but he´s definitely understood. It also helps that he has a lot of confidence, and his body language expresses and speaks louder, and more effectively than his spanish. 

Frequently, I just act like I´m a greeny and don´t speak, and so he does most of the teaching. It´s rad. 

Love you all, this IS Christ´s Church! It´s rad to be glad and exalted. 

Elllddeerr Tasso! 

May 20, 2013 Dearest Americans!

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Santiago Temple this past Wednesday. We went with Natalia and a newish Brother from the ward, Patricio. Twas´ sublime. The temple is 30ish minutes away from us, and we actually had a few difficulites in arriving, with respect to the car we took, capacity IN the car, time, etc. Natalia had a few doubts last minute about being baptized again for dead people, we might have been able to do a better job in explaining the concept beforehand. 

Kyle wasn´t able to come because, again, he didn´t make it to church, therefore he was left without a recomend. He also got in trouble at school that day, therefore, on the way to the temple, we had to take a little detour and pick him up. (Side note- Chilean schools, look a little too much like prisons;) Everyone has these wonderful gray uniforms, and the walls are grey as well. There´s barbed wire on top, ha). But in the end, we made it ok. 

The spirit in the temple itself was amazing. We arrived, and in just the parking lot we could notice a difference. We walked around the grounds a little, and then entered, and had the opportunity to do a few baptisms. We will be able to go back the 30th to do endowments:)))

As read in 2 Nephi 2:11, there is an opposicion in everything. Just before we go to the temple, or just after, Satan WILL send trials, trying to prevent us from having those experiences. 

Are we not so grateful for the blessings of the temple?!

Today our Zone Leader, Elder Glade made some very delicious Chili, and Chili dogs. We´re going to go eat it now. 

THE PACKAGE!!!! 

Yes. It totally came. Funny story. It smelled of Essential Oils, but I couldn´t find them, because until this last week, I hadn´t opened up them good ol´ thermy therms. So I thought that the Chileans had opened up the package, and had STOLEN THEM! The horror! I didn´t want to say anything to you because I thought you´d be sad, ha. But no, I found them, they are wonderful. Super efficient to take. Wah cha! 

So I suppose I learned a good lesson, to not judge, even when the situation suggests something fisshhhyyy. I love them Chileans. 3 Nephi 14:1-4.

Pray about what God wants you to do with your life. It´s actually in reality pretty easy and simple. Keep being awesome, and share the gospel every every every day. It´s definitely something that challenges us. And prepare to serve a spectacular mission! But ask God questions, yes or no, how, why, what, etc. questions. 3 Nephi 27:29. And then do your homework! 

Keep Kyle, Natalia, the Rios family, the Henriquez family, Paula, Karina, and Manuel in your prayers! And the whole wide world;)

I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father. He knows our heart. His son is the Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is his church. The Holy Ghost bears testimony of them. I know that the prophet Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus, and began the Restoration, and translated the BOM. We have a very wonderful prophet, Thomas S. Monson today. 

With love, 

Elder Tasso

May 14, 2013

Well, long time no see. 

This week I went on divsiones in La Davila, 20 minutes walking, 2 by bus, with Elder Lopez from Buenos Aires. I really love his accent, it´s soft, airry, and shhhhh-ishy. We were able to teach 4 lessons, one of which was pretty fun to some Evangelical kids. Well, I use the word kids, but they were 20, 22, 23ish, and really nice, willing to listen and possibly to learn, ha. The lesson started out sharing about some of the pillars or necesities of christ´s church, Profetas, and Apostles, Jesus Crist himself, the authority, etc. The lesson was slow, and wasn´t progressing very well, until we finally just bore our testimonies of the BOM, and challenged them to read it again. We left them with 3 Nephi 11 as reading. It was interesting to note the difference in the spirit that came into the room after testifying of the validity of the BOM. That things the BEST!!

We also shared with a recently baptized family and their 9 year old son. It´s always fun to adapt the lesson to your audience, there was obviously a big difference in teaching between the lesson with the evanglicals and the little boy, but no matter the situation, the spirit will always testify to what THEY need. 

It´s seriously the best to watch Elder Tait progress. He speaks a lot better now, and is much more relaxed, comfortable and confident. My favorite is when he calls appointments, members, etc. His accent is still a little thick, and at times its hard to understand through the phone static, but he always has a smile and is willing to try new things. 10 points for him! 

Hmmm... One thing I love here is the amount, the way in which we greet everyone and everyone in turn greets us. Generally we will just say, Hey, goodafternoon, or howdy there partner, or howdy do mam´. I love to see how  it brightens their day. Also lots of people say hi to us which is nifty. 

Some funny stuff they say to us (in english) 

   1. One dollar!!

   2. HELLO MAN!

   3. RUCCIO! (russian). 

It´s pretty great. 

Taña didn´t make it to church this past week. We don´t know why. Keep her and all those other unknown to you and US investigatores in your prayers please. We really need to replinish our teaching pool!!! 

I testify that God is our loving heavenly father, Jesus is his son and our savior, the HG testifies of them. The Book of Mormon is true, Josesph Smith was and is the prophet that began the restuartion, and Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today! Let´s share it, eh?

May 6, 2013 Hellllloooo Friends!

Love you all. 

We´re preparing Kyle and Natalia to go to the temple right now. As a mission, we have the opportunity to do baptisms for the dead the 15th. I¨m really not sure how well Natalia is grasping the concept, as she feels that her catholic anscenstors will reject their baptism. Kyle is just excited to get into the water again. With all sincerety, they are progressing well, but it is a lot of change, so if they can make it to the temple, just to observe the 15th, and later with time understand more doctrine behind it, I´m happy;)) 

We´re teaching the lessons and doctrines again, so some of their doubts should get cleared up. Keep them in your prayers! 

We´ve had somewhat consistent contact with Taña this week, our baptismal date (and only...) for the month of May, the 25th. She´s the best friend of the bishop´s daughters, therefore she regulary attends seminary and the activites, but it has been hard to have regular lessons with her. Keep praying for her as well! 

Today for P-Day we played a little Baby Futbol with Bastien and Franco, 2 young men from the ward, and also a few rounds of world cup. Bastien leaves for Ecuador this wednesday, given that his visa arrives. If not, next wednesday. Why not pray for him as well! 

Sunday I got to bear my testimony with Dimitri, a 7 year old from the ward. I was like, ¨Want to??! and he said, ¨Ya!¨  It reminded me of Brother Smith with his little boys from the ward. Fatherhood, ya!

WE testify that God IS our loving, all knowing, all powerful Heavenly Father, and we have an eternal destiny to become as he is. We testify that Jesus IS  the christ, IS  the son of God, IS our savior and our redeemer, and through the atonemente we can become as God is. We testify that the H.G.  confirms these things. Joseph smith was and is a prophet, and the restuaration of the gospel of Jesus christ continues today through God´s prophet, Thomas S. Monson. The Book of Mormon, the bible, etc... These are testaments of the above things. I know that Christ´s church is on the church today, the only that has the power to carry out the sacred saving ordinances, to bless us to the degree our heavenly father desires. 

Thanks for everything that you do!

Elder Tasso

April 29, 2013 Love you all!

Dearest Family, whom I love. 

This week was great! 

Love,

Elder Tasso

Just kidding. 

We split Clara Estrella, and now the ward has 4 wonderful missionaries! It´s Elder Tait and I, and as a new addition, Elder Spinder (new new) from Orem, and Elder Hudkins (21 months) from Canada, Alberta. Next to Banff! They are both a lot of fun, it´s more fun to live 4 than 2. The ward is really excited for this new addition, and is getting into the missionary work every week more! This past week, we even got a couple of references independent of asking! Which is always nifty, right? Good Times. Our district changed as well, it will be fun to get to know the other sectors, districts, etc. 

This week I´ve been focusing on hope, which is timely becuase we´ve really been looking for new investigatores, as we really need some news, people who really crave the gospel, who are prepared, who are ready. We´ve had a few days now, in which our hope and our patience have been tried, but trusting in God, and his promises is obviously, rather essential. 

We got a great reference from the bishops family/daughter, Taña, and we actually still have yet to teach her, but she already comes to church, seminary, etc. without OUR help. We´re excited to work with her, and help her come unto Christ! Should be real great. 

Kyle and Natalia are both doing very well, and are actually preparing to go with us to the Temple the 15th. It was a bummer, but Kyle didn´t make it to church yesterday, he had a somewhat legitimate commitment/excuse with his brother. Natalia was there, and is ever progressing. 

   

   It tries my patience at times, but the way that I feel we really need to work with the Lord is directly through the members. We can´t do this work alone, and the references from the members, are so so key. Also, ha, the evangelical/christian church is pretty strong here,   they´ve got seemingly killer activities almost every day of the week. Therefore, socially, it´s not easy for these people to make the necessary change. But helping ALL of the members realize their potencial, and then helping them step up to be instruments ever stronger in the process is key. Therefore, we´re trying to teach less actives, reactivate, train, and as always, ask for references every day! And it´s working! 

Love you all! 

Elder Tasso