Til We Meet

Dearest friends and family,

Gratitude. This week has been full of gratitude. Events to be thankful for, people to be thankful for, and times to be thankful for. This week was filled to the brim with just small miracles. When I think of miracles and being grateful, we can always remember Jesus Christ and what he did for us. I love the story of the 10 lepers.

In the book of Luke, chapter 17, we read of them:

“And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

“And as he entered into a certain village, there ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

“And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

“And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

“And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

“And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

“There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

“And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Through divine intervention those who were lepers were spared from a cruel life. The expressed gratitude by one merited the Master’s blessing; the ingratitude shown by the nine, His disappointment. I love what President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.” 

In our lives we have so much to be grateful for. We met a family of 6, whom only a few were members, and the family was in a little of a wreck. We met them in the country, taught them of Jesus and how we can be closer to him. All 6 came to church this week, and two of them want to be baptized. They are grateful for our surprising visit and we were grateful for the opportunity.

This week my companion returns home to his family. I am so grateful for the time we had together, and he has taught me so much. I hope he learned at least one thing from me. I am grateful for my family and all of my friends, for the church and the people, my leaders and my companions. I hope the best for all and am grateful for your prayers and love.

Your missionary in Chile,

Elder Jacob Siaosi

 We are still finding ways to have fun on the mission. A picture with Elder Copling from Utah, a picture playing Tennis like the good old days, a picture in the lifeguard tower like good old times, and a picture with the members we like to brin gto lessons with us.

La Humilidad

Hello dear friends and family,

First and for most I would like to thank all of you who are thinking of me and hoping for me. It is amazing how far away I am, but still that I have the ability to feel your love from afar. This has been one of the most diverse weeks of my life. 

One thing I have been trying to work on is one trait that we can find is almost everyone. Ezra Taft Benson speaks of this trait in a talk called Cuidaos de Orgullo.

 "Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted inourselves. Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, suchas the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. (See 2 Ne.9:42.) There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and thatis pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, suchas faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond ourmeans, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might liftanother, and being unforgiving and jealous."

Everyone could use a little more humility in our lives, often times due to a lack of humility we find ourselves searching for the wrong things in this life. We lie, cheat, steal, fight, and overall forget what we have and how we recieved it. This past Sunday I was asked to give a talk on the theme humility, and as I was asked I was given an invitiation to try and live my theme so that I would be able to better speak. 

One scripture that hits to heart, is found in Ether 12:27.

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

If we are always remembering our constant need for the Savior and for others around us the World will be a lighter place, we will see more success in our lives, better relationships, we will have much more gratitude in our lives. The scriptures say that pride is the universal sin, and if so, then through humility we have the antidote for all of our problems. I know if we all try to be a little more humble we will see a grnad change in the world and in ourselves!

This week, like I said, was one of the best weeks ever. We had many activies for the branch, great lessons. met gran people, and after much help we were able to get one of the investagators of our Hermanas baptized. Sadly our invest, Jose was not able to be baptized, he was not willing to change his life, and it is his choice, thus we were sad to let him go. But Rodrigo (26 years old) had one of the funnies baptizes I will ever see. First of all the Hermanas did not have pants that fit him well, and he did not know how to tie a tie but tried anyways and he looked like such a champ, after while he was in the water, the water was freezing by the way, we did not have electricity for the heater to work. Then the Hemano who was to baptize Rodrigo could not remember Rodrigos name, he could not get the words right, and finally when we helped him to get it all down, he bent foward instead of going back and after the Brother tried to flip Rodrigo backwards, but Rodrigo fell down and could not get back up, it was like a slow motion fall! And so we rebaptized him, but two more times because he did not go all the was under, it was just the best ever! After the baptize we had a very interesting experience with the brother of Rodrigo and his family!

This Monday we had the opportunity to go to the Nevadas de Chillan, a mountain slope that in meant for skiing when it s primetime winter, for an activity for the zones of Chillan. We, meaning Elder Bertolio and I, hiked up the mountain for about 2 hours alone and had, the time of our lives! I am waiting for sweet fotos to send when I get them from!

Again, thank you for all of your love! Hope all is well with y´all!

Con Amor,

Elder Siaosi

Halfway from being halfway!

Dearest family and friends!

This week flew by as every week. It is hard to say that the time goes by fast when everyday it is filled to the max with work but I guess that what being busy does, never have time to stop and think! It has already been 6 months since I have been out! Whoo!

I do not have anything interesting to write about, thus I shall share what my companion and I have been trying to work on this past week.

We decided that our investigators we met needed to know more about prayer because that is central to gaining a testimony of  the gospel. So we talked in depth about how to pray, who we pray to, and the difference of public and private prayer. One thing that every member of the church needs is their own proper conversion. And we can receive this through prayer.

Also for the members, we have to be weary to not forget the gospel we are living. There is a verse we love in Mosiah chapter 4 and it reads

 30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch‍ yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue‍ in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

Many times we need to remember what it means to be a member of the Church of Christ. We must live the attributes that Christ has. Many of the members find themselves gossiping, judging, and worrying about things, unimportant in this life and usually wastes relations and time. If we always remember what we teach and know we will be representatives of Christ!

I am thankful for everyone, thanks so much Megan Bertha for your letter and love from England! Thank you family for all you do for me! Thanks to everyone in my life, I miss you all! Hope to have something grand in the next email!