Happy Birthday, Mr. Potato Head

Dear Fam! I love you guys! thank you for being awesome, i love to hear from you!

My birthday snuck up on me like crazy! but Elder Knowles ( another elder in our house) was super prepared. he had already told like everyone in the whole ward so we had lots of stuff to do that night! we went to a breakfast, had cake at lunch then went to three houses at night also! they have this beautiful tradition too called tortaso, which means the birthday boy gets to take the first bite of the cake and someone shoves their face in it. its especially popular with missionaries. so i got my face shoved in cake three times hahaha. and we also got sent home with three cakes. so we have a ton of cake that we have to eat or it will go bad. im gonna get fat so fast here. its just a problem. then saturday night we had another appointment and they also threw a party! but the funny part was that everybody makes fun of me for being from idaho. so Elder Córdova went around telling everyone that i love potatoes and i especially love mr potato head. so they went and found a mr potato head and put it on my cake. yes. this is Elder Córdova. he is a lot to handle hahaha. things are good here in Arica! just working like crazy still! its crazy stuff! Always trying to learn, grow, and be better. the ultimate mission. be better so that you can help others better. Spanish is coming right along, its crazy to think that being in Chile 2 months I feel so knew and yet im sooooo much farther along with Spanish. i think it helps to have a Latino companion. 

As a missionary i have to throw in this plug! i know it doesnt seem easy, but Elder Ballard invited us all to bring a friend to church and get them started on the path before Christmas! i KNOW the missionaries would love to recieve a reference from you! we Pray for references, and you can be the answer to someone elses prayers! if there is someone who you feel would be receptive, dont be afraid to share. the spirit does way more work than you do.

thank you for being awesome! i love you!

Elder Gold

a few birthday pics...

 ... and the week before trip to the museum in azapa. 

mate, matero, y mate en piña :D hahaha

Mom's note:  I had to figure out what the heck "mate" was, so I googled it.  "Yerba mate tea is a very popular drink in South America. For many centuries the people of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil have enjoyed the rejuvenating effects of yerba mate. Today it is quickly becoming the beverage of choice worldwide for better health, energy and well being due to an abundance of antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals" (http://www.yerbamate.us). 

"Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a guampa, porongo or mate in Spanish) with a metal straw (a bombilla in Spanish) is a common social practice in Uruguay, Argentina and southern Brazil among people of all ages" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate).

So, the first picture of the yellow bag is the yerba mate - leaves and twigs - and the second picture is the mate prepared with hot water in the "traditional gourd" with the metal straw, the bombilla, and the last picture is the prepared yerba mate in a pineapple, or pina, with the metal straw.  Fascinating!

lots of smiling and happiness! life is good! happy week.

I love you guys! thank you for everything you do! i dont have a ton of time this week but here it goes!

This week we had a sweet lesson with the Vargas family and our mission leader, they were accepting and the spirit was there! I was super grateful for his input and experience! we taught them about the Law of Tithing, i was trying really hard to not worry about it, they dont have much money at all, so we wanted to teach it Really really well so that they would know that they didnt have to worry about it. Especially because right now Dariella is doubting a TON because of tithing. she thinks that the "higher ups" in the Church are loaded because everybody pays 10 percent. but anyways, we wanted to teach it REALLY well. and we did our best, the spirit did the rest. they seemed super accepting. it was a great lesson with a members testimony of tithing.

Dariella... yea... i dont even know what to say about this. she has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but doubts the church, and especially tithing. (yes i know, if she has a testimony of the Book of Mormon then she is set, but for some reason her mind doesnt want to connect like that, she rejects a ton of stuff, but is still reading) She LOVES us, and we love her. we went over to her house the other day and she found out that we didnt have an over, so she just gifted us her old one! straight up! we tried to pay, even just a little, and she wouldnt take it. so yea! super wierd situation, she thinks that the Church leadership is super corrupt, but loves our resources (paintings, books, songs, etc), she loves us, and she loves the Book of Mormon. but she still hates people and hasnt been to church in 3 weeks. so its a wierd situation.

We are also teaching a guy named Juan, his mom died in June, hes alone and it makes him sad a lot of the time, and he doesnt want much to do with the Gospel, but he loves the Church. he loves the poeple and the cpmpanionship. so we visit him every once in a while, kind of and odd duck, but an awesome little guy, also im pretty sure hes got a bit of a crush on me... but we will see what happens with him. interesting situation there. hes just a super unique guy. he couldnt make it to church on Sunday cuz he was sick, and we asked him what he ate and he said tomatoes, and bread with butter and mustard... yep. we love him.

Also on Sunday the Vargas family couldnt come... because they had family over. soooo we have to re teach the Day of Rest and push the Baptisimal date back, so no late birthday present first baptism for me, but thats ok.

This week i learned a lot more to rely on the Spirit, having a prayer in my heart all the time, not thinking about what im going to say, but just listening. its HARD! especially when im not fluent yet! but its good, everytime i do the things that im supposed to i just feel like miracles happen. the lessons that i listen more, i feel like are a lot more spiritual and effective. its beautiful.

Also this week i tried even more to SMILE, all the time, i remembered in the MTC about how Elder MAngum and I always tried to be super happy and smiley, because if we arent happy, why would these people want our message! i need to be more happy!!! so that was fun! lots of smiling and happiness! life is good! happy week.

I love you all, I hope you can feel Gods immense love for you, and the beauty that comes from living the Gospel! im so grateful for my FAMILY!

Elder Gold

We have just been going to town here

Alrighty!

This week we set a new date with the Vargas Family! this time they will definitely make it. November 9. that will be my first baptism! I love to be able to see them changing. its so awesome to watch them. 

Other than that we have just been going to town here. working like usual. trying to get this spanish thing down. its coming! i can talk to people! i can understand at least 90 percent! i still just talk super slow! but that comes more with the experience! 

Super satisfying to watch people improve their lives through the church, super crushing to watch them get overwhelmed with doubts and such. its heartbreaking when people dont listen. you really have to learn to accept the agency of all men and learn to love your life for the good ness and not dwell on the badness. 

I feel super blessed that i had the teachers i did in the MTC. they were so good for me. Both of them taught me a ton about how to teach and be a missionary. but more than that, they taught us how to rise above the averageness that is everywhere. or at least to try. lots of people choose not to be obedient because its hard and stuff. but you just have to do the best you can and not worry about what they think. and always remember that even when you fail, you have another chance. you can always try again.

I love this work. i love where im at, i love what im learning, i love this people. Life is so good!

thank you for your prayers! 

Elder Gold

The work is beautiful.

Here we are again! already another monday!

We are still just going to town down here! always working hard! this week i started the week with an intercambio (splits in English)... God puts you with people for a reason. I'm very grateful for my companion! We obviously dont always get along perfectly, but for the most part we love each other and work really well together! 

Then we just continued with the week taught people, shared the love of christ, met some crazy people. you know, just the normal stuff. 

We met this guy named Nelson, he has some sort of neurosis which makes his life really hard but he was a really nice guy, sincerely searching for change. We taught him a bit then came back another day and he was like completely changed! he had cleaned his whole house, he was wearing clean clother, he had done his hair, it was impressive! So we are going to see where that goes!

We also got a reference from some elders in another sector, we went and visited this guy and he just like smiled and acted like we were besties and let us in. we didnt havea lot of time so we didnt teach much but just basically talked to him and set up an appointment to come clean his house and teach him. Hes super funny, he talks like a zillion miles per hour so its kinda hard to understand him but hes super duper nice. he always talks about how young he looks hahaha he is 50, thinks he looks 40, and looks 60. His mom died in June so he is super lonely. but we had to leave before we could do much for him we came back... this guy never throws anything away. He was willing to when it came time to clean but we found so much crap and random rotten food. we only cleaned like one tiny room, and there were massive spiders everywhere! but we survived! and then taught him a lesson and he just like accepted anything... it made me wonder if he was even listening. he really just accepted all of it as fact. we kept trying to ask questions to make sure he was understanding and he was but he didnt even seem like it was new to him. Then we invited him to church. He just showed up no problem! it was sweet! he really loved the meeting, lots of people talked to him and he felt good. Hopefully we keep working with him.

The church here is wierd... i dont know, we just lack good leaders. we had church talks about temple sealings, then the Bishop got up and gave this big shpeel about one time when he helped an elder cast out a devil. it was... lots, it definitely hurt the progress of Dariela. the kids just run around and up on the stairs, they scream and nobody goes and gets them. its just madness, it is really almost painful. We also have this gospel principles class for recent converts and investigators... I dont even know where to start with that, we have this one awesome guy who has some mental problems so he doesnt think about the noise hes making, he just talks to the little kids, gives them his phone to play games on full volume... we struggle. and the teacher is... very opinionated. We had 2 recent convert ladies. one returning less activy lady, and 3 women investigators... i said that wierd but you get the picture... long story short we were talking about the sabath day and she told all of the women, very factually and forcefully, that they had to wear skirts to church otherwise they were being disrespectful and provocative. Me and my comp were just dying. it was so bad. we had to defuse all sorts of bombs. but despite all of this... stuff. They always feel the spirit. We can just have an awful day at the church, i just feel like the world is crumbling, but then we ask the people about it and they always feel something. therefore. the spirit helps us SO MUCH! SOOOO MUCHHHH!

Later that night we found this street that was like crazy accepting... almost everyone we talked to gave us another time to come, and not just like, "ya whenever but not right now" they were like specific! so yeah, lots of them are probably gonna say "ummm actually no" but even if just a few work out... it was a crazy street! then we visited these people, taught them the first lesson and gifted the book of mormon. i dont know how to explain why these people are different... sometimes they just feel better. the prepared of the Lord. 

The work is beautiful. i am so happy to be here! cambios are coming on saturday... i doubt any of the four of us are gonna leave but we will see. 

I love you all! keep the faith!

Elder Gold

Just some pictures! A few from the beach... sorta

a random light up train

Hermana Estrella

the Vargas family

fun with food for those of us who dont have an oven or a stove! 

These pictures are from a festival we had. all the countrys here have a specific dance and all the youth from each ward danced the dance of one country. kinda cool

I really am learning a ton more about agency and all it contains

Alright! so Last week was super crazy! sorry about that! But! we are still working with the Vargas Family! hopefully i will have better pictures coming soon with more people dressed in white clothing! they have a date set for the 19th of October so thats what were working for! i think theyre gonna make it! they came to conference for two sessions! that was awesome! We also had another one of our investigators come... she didnt quite get what she was expecting... so we are gonna have to work a lot more with her. that was a huge dissappointment... but thats ok. i really am learning a ton more about agency and all it contains.

We knock a Ton of doors. I dont know if i have mentioned these before or not but they have these terrible inventions where the doorbell calls the house so all the have to say is "no, no, gracias" and hang up the phone. you dont even have a chance with those suckers. But we have a lot of interesting experiences! you really cant discount anyone, because sometimes it seems like the people who wouldnt want the gospel, are the ones prepared to accept it. and some people who seem really accepting but really arent. We went to one house of an inactive teenager and talked to his dad. he told us his son wasnt in and we asked him where he was at then started talking more about him and what he does and eventually he let us in. we had a lesson and we have gone back another time. He is accepting of the Gospel and we have a good friendship. i wasnt expecting that. Then we have these people who tell us they are busy so we set up another time to visit them and we come by and they are gone. so we come back and they tell us they actually really dont want us to come. some people dont want to tell us that straight up so they just make up ridiculous excuses. one lady told us she was gonna be sick for the next month. other people tell us to come back in like february. a little crazy but thats ok.

Im also learning a lot more about attitude. i thought that was a lesson i had in the CCM, but apparantly its a lot deeper than i thought! you really do choose to be happy. its part of your agency. Wednesday was a sweet day, i chose to be happy and i just felt it, all day, i loved people, the language was better, everything was beautiful. I went to the pension that night feeling full! The next day i did it again. BUT, almost every one of our appointments fell through. it was a little bit impressive! but every single time something fell through, it opened up the opportunity to go do something else that we learned was definitely more necessary. we were truly guided by the Lord and told where we should go and what we should say. it was truly impressive. we had an incredible day. At one house i knocked on the door ( we had already made an appointment) and she moved the blinds in the window, looked at us, we waved, and she walked away. so we waited... two minutes later we knocked again. then we heard the tv go on. so we knocked a gain and said "hello" to make sure they knew we were there and nobody came... so we were at the point of leaving when a family we had contacted a while a go but could never seem to catch up to walked by. We started Talking to them and asked them when we could come by. they gave the usual evasive answers... we are busy... my schedule isnt set... yada yada. but then my companion just bore testimony of families with power and the spirit and before he could even finish completely they told us when to come back. they said they might not be there but if they arent just keep trying. that was a sweet experience.

Also, we had an experience walking down the street when a lady called out after us and asked us when we could teach her! What?!?! we try and get people to "just listen and see" and we get shut down all day long! she ran out of her shop and yelled out to us! Super surprising! super cool! We werent actually in our sector though... so we had to hand it off to the other two elders but still! way cool! and hopefully it will get them a little amped up about the work!

We also had a really cool correlation meeting with the ward mission leader, where we really discussed realistic ways we could be better and not just, "we need to work together" "yea". we discussed and tried to help eachother out. hopefully that will help. my dream is to be able to get the ward as excited about missionary work as the missionaries (hopefully) are. i would love to be able to do that.

We have started running in the mornings and we played soccer today, which was super fun for me since i sat there the whole time. Yay for cripples! but all is well! i dont tell you this story to complain, just to assure you that im being nice to my knee. :)

I hope you all enjoyed conference! and realized the huge blessing we have to listen to it! now we just have to remember to apply it! one of the guys in my house noticed that when they made the challenge to invite someone to come to church before  christmas that nobody wrote it down! they were all taking notes but then strangely ommited that one... so this is my hope! that you can try to apply conference! and find someone that you can invite to church! 

I love you all a ton! miss you like crazy! remember to enjoy what you have!

Elder Gold

p.s.  My address now is, 

Elder Gold

Casilla 70

Antofagasta

Chile

Letter for this week (9/30) is crazy short

letter for this week is crazy short... we had a new family come to church! and the othe investigator came again! so stoked for conference! we are still working hard! wasted our day doing visa stuff so we have almost no time now! i have pictures and such but its gonna have to wait until next week! were still just working like crazy! trying to get more people reactivated! and hopefully have a few baptisms here and there! love you guys!

Also! we had this big conference with the mission president and everyone in Arica... a ton about obedience! it has helped the other members in the house a ton!