Attitude

Hey everyone, been a while right. Well, I am heading out. Going to a little beach town called Penco. Just in time for the rainy season, but I will see if I can´t have a few nice long walks on the beach right. The President called me last night too, getting bumped up to be a District Leader over 3 sectors. Four elders, one of them getting trained, and a trio of sisters. My new companion is called

Elder Stallings, he has been out for about 9 months or so. Should be a blast. 

Today I want to talk a little about Attitude. It is what I am going to be teaching in my first district class, a little nervous. In our lives how many time are we just thinking about all the hard times in our lives, even when we are receiving so many blessings. The difference between a bad day and a good day is our attitude. We cannot change the circumstances in our lives but we can change the attitude. There is a great talk called It Is Better to Look Up. Read it, learn it, apply it. 

Got to go now, but I just want everyone to know how much I miss them all. Today should be another sad day of saying goodbye to everyone here in Chiguyante. Love you and miss you all! 

Love, 

Elder Siaosi

You become what you think about. If you think great things, you become that which is great.

Nuevo Compañero vs Viejo Compañero

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

We have had such a fantastic last few weeks that it makes me sad to think about the cambios in a few days. After working so hard in your sector and then having to leave makes you really miss the area, but who knows if I am leaving yet, I might just be that missionary that has 4 sectors his whole mission, 8 companions, with 6 months in each sector! I always feel like all the great miracles that happen in a transfer, happen at the end right!

SECRET SERVICE

Everyone has always wanted to work for the secret service right, it sounds like a pretty cool job. Well we started doing this thing every week called Service Thursday, or secret service, where every Thursday we are going to do unplanned service with the members, and the investigators, and the neighbors, and who ever needs it! This past Thursday we paid a visit to three members houses. 

Familia Moncada Pino: We passed by their house first, the Mom and her kid were sick, as well as the Dad but he had to go to work anyways. Well we showed up, and cleaned the whole kitchen, mopped the floors, and vaccumed. Latter that night, the Dad called us when he found out thanking us telling us that if there was anything that we needed, he was a phone call away.

Familia Alarcon Cecares: All we did there was cut the lawn and trim the shrubs, not much but at least it allowed the Mom to stop working in the yard and help her little girl get out the door for school!

Familia Caceres Bustamante: We stopped by their house and the Mom was chopping wood haha, and she had a lot more to chop. We relieved her of that job and also helped her to clean up the downstairs to make it look nice for when her relatives come later. We now have a planned Noche de Hogar with the whole family including the dad that is not a member. Let´s see if we cannot get him into the waters!

Overall, a really good result of some secret service. We will see how long it will last, it makes one feel good about the work, when we know that it is coming out of the hearts of oneself and not from having to be asked. We all ought to look for ways to offer secret service to those around us, it just might make someones day a whole lot better!

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2003/02/idea-list-secret-service?lang=eng

With a lot of love,

Elder Siaosi

Trust in your Leaders

I would say, if I could best sum up the last few days efforts, would be following the guidance and instructions of our leaders. It is a subject that sometimes is overlooked, or under spoken of. As missionaries, we have been focusing more on what our mission leaders are teaching, or following the focus of just the mission, and we forget, or choose not to focus on the needs of the ward that you preside in. We have never had more success in getting into houses of members that do not attend church, some for years have not attended. And the manner in which we had success was through the following of our leaders. The bishopric gave us a list of ten names of families that he wanted us to visit. Well, we found a way to pass by them all, and many were houses that I knew, were never going to let us in. We got into every single house, I was amazed. 

Along with that we have found another family that is going to be baptized. Marveloussss. I will send pictures of the baptism that we had this Sunday next week when I get the pics! I found a quote that I found inspiring,

“Trust leads to growth, and growth leads to becoming. May we all allow each other to grow, to become like our Heavenly Father, and to be exalted.”

 

We need to learn how to become obedient through following our leaders!

No more time!!!!

Love you alll

Elder Siaosi

The conversation every Missionary hates, but every Investigator deserves...

Yet another fantastic week with Elder Call. We ought to have a baptism or two at the end of this week! I would write a good ammount today, I really do have a lot to say, however I must wait till next week, there are things that need to be done before 2:00, aka get my new visa before I get caught as an illegal haha. I will send one quote that I loved when I read it, here in Chile sometimes I get a little mad when it comes to the parenting, they often times are more afraid of offending their children than helping them make good choices. It applies to adults as well, sometimes we are too scared or not in the mood to tell others that they are in the wayward and need to come back.

There should [not] be any of us so unwisely indulgent, so thoughtless and so shallow in our affection for our children that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrongdoing and in their foolish love for the things of the world more than the things of righteousnsess, for fear of offending them.

-Jospeh F Smith

Love you all!

Elder Siaosi

#Embark

Fantastic week. Every single night I laid in bed thinking about the day, what great things happened, what miracles we witnessed. And I could not but smile and say to myself. We did good today. Never have I had so many lessons in a week. We had more or less 7 a day, ending with a 43 lesson week. The attendance in church jumped from 123 to 143. We had a baptism this week, funny story about that. Elder Call is the man. He has 6 months in the mission, comes from a super campo area, he told me that the first day he worked here, he entered more houses that he had in his whole mission! We found 6 new houses of people to teach, three new houses of less actives, and got all of our converts in our sector to come to church. I thought back last night about how incredibly tired I was, and I remember thinking, I guess I just won´t have time to rest for a while...

Well I think I will share the spiritual before the funny right. I wish to talk about something that happened in Sunday. Well this past week, almost all of our youth were at PFJ, or EFY, and in so they all gave their testimony after the bread and water. It was a sight to see, youth that I had visited that showed no desire in the church, ro to serve missions, or to even share with us during lessons, were up front crying to the congregation. As many know, the theme: Embark in the Service of God, helps the youth to understand the importance of serving a mission. Their testomonies reminded me of what great experiences I felt through efy, and ignited the flame to continue my service in the Lord. Sometimes I feel that we forget how blessed we are to serve the Lord.

I was reading some Doctrine and Covenants, and came across a scipture that touched me quite a bit. DyC 15:6, and then again repeated in 16:6. 

 6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.

It is such a blessing that I have in my own live, one that took me a real long time to consider a blessing, and not a commandment. Something that the President told me in interveiws that really is a big concern about our mission. And that is the obedience. Many missionaries are not being as obedient as we should. And so he shared a scripture with me about the Obedience. The jist was that we first of all, must change ourselves before God will empower us with the authority to goven the church. And then shared a quote I really enjoyed: 

Ezra Taft Benson

“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that 
moment God will endow us with power.”
   
So. As I was saying, let us #embark onto the Lord´s work, and do it his way. Become the Preach
my Gospel missionary.  When we love the Lord, obedience ceases to become a burden.

Oh, and the funny thing. We partially flooded the primary because the water started leaving to fast 
and flooded out of the font...But we cleaned it before the second hoour was finished so hardly 
anybody but the primary knew what happened...

Love you all very much,
Elder Siaosi

                                                                        me and Elder Call

Cambios

We do not have much time, we had more transfers. Elder Tafur is leaving and Elder Call is coming. A missionary from Kentucky. I am still in Chiguyante. Loving it. Miss you all so much!

Elder Siaosi

Not what you want, but what you need.

Another wild and crazy 7 days. Learning so much while I am here with Elder Tafur, for there is much to learn. I will keep it short and sweet. This week we worked harder than ever and when, everynight it came time for bed, I just laid out and died of exhaustion. Everyday, running around all day talking to everyone, so many lessons, and meeting so many new people! Actually, when we hit Saturday in the morning we had 6 investigators that were planning to come to church that week! It was amazing. Well we get ready in the morning to visit them all to recommit them to come to church and to have them come with a baptism date in mind. Every single one was not there, or called us and said that they were not coming!!! The worst ever right. After a whole day of nothing right we felt fairly horrible, a little depressed to say. Just wanted to go home. 

And then here comes the best part, we were actually fasting so that we could bring people to church that want to be baptized. Ahh yeah perfectooo. So after visiting some people the day comes to a close and we head home. It is about 10 at night right and before we left we always knock at least one door before we go. So we walk to the end of the apartments, walk up to the third floor, and give it a little knock. Then the whole day changed. We found them. Cristian and his family, his sister, mother, and grandma. Within 15 minutes they were all commited to church with desires to get baptized. They were touched by the Book of Mormon. The next day they all came. They stayed for three hours. And they asked us the pass by at 8:30. The Lord works in small and mysterious ways. And I cannot help but say that God does have a sense of humor. He just sits there watching us be brought down, because he loves to help us back up. I was grateful for the fast. I´ll send a picture of the hosue he lives in, I took a picture just because I knew I wanted to send it to you all!

I want to cite a quote that I heard that I love.

                      A man is never taller, than when we is on his knees
Sometimes we hope for that things that we have planned out in this life. The things that we want, that we desire. Yet the Lord knows what we need. He knows our limits.Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. I am grateful to be here. It is a struggle. But it is worth the price. When you wake up in the morning, get on your knees and ask God for all the things you need. And in the night, get back on your knees and thank the Lord for all he gave.

As always, miss you all. Only 9 more right haha. 

Love,

Elder Siaosi

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