Ok wow this week was crazy again here en la boca choica.
Ok so Tuesday was just pretty normal after I wrote. We keep doing a ton of divisions which is awesome but I think this week we are going to have to take it easy because I only know half of the investigators we have found because I wasn't with my comp a lot of the time hahahaha. Boca is huge and kind of maze like so I'm going to have to learn how to get around really quickly this week because elder gomey is almost for sure out of here and I'll be in charge. It's always lame when a missionary leaves a sector because the members generally have a better relationship with the missionaries who stay longer but in this circumstance it will be even worse because gomey has been here 6 months and is really loved by the people here. I'm just hoping that my next comp will be really friendly and that people will love him even though elder g probably won't be around. We are having a ton of crazy spring weather with warm sunny days and then suddenly rainy stormy days which is crazy. It makes for hard planning more than anything. Wednesday we had our zone meeting which turned out really cool. We had a few different trainings assigned to people but the hook was that all of it was focused on the life of Christ. For example we had one missionary teach about how Christ used certain teaching strategies that are found in PMG etc. The coolest part was that we did it outside next to a lagoon that is really pretty. The point was so that it could be like when Christ would teach outside and next to the sea of galilee etc. It was really cool! Only problem is that it started to rain a little bit but we were under a big tree and had umbrellas so it didn't turn out too bad hahaha. We mostly wanted to do something different. It was really cool and i think it helped a couple missionaries in particular so that was cool to see. That day we also had a gran intercambio and we all switched comps for the day and some cool miracles happened in the zone. I went with an old friend elder k who is currently in the mission office so I worked there for the day. It was kind of weird and honestly I don't envy that assignment at all. The only cool part is that they have a car hahaha. I did get to see a lot more of conce and even more to the north to tacahuano etc. Pretty fun. We ate lunch at the house of the senior couple which was weird and surreal. It was so weird to eat familiar food and speak English over lunch etc. Bizarre. We had a good day though and thought of a few ways they can maximize their time in their sector working etc etc. Elder K is a great missionary from Holladay and knows the Sheets. The next day we did another intercambio with one of the companionships in boca which wwas fun. It made me realize that the previous ZLs here probably divided all of boca in a kind of unfair way so we might be fixing that hahaha. Our part of the sector is kind of stacked and the others not so much. It was fun though and I got to know elder m well which was cool. We had an open chapel tour in one of the sectors here which was really cool. It turns the normal chapel into a kind of temple visiting center thing and the ward got really involved too. It actually achieved a bunch in a sector that otherwise sees few results so that was cool. I would love to do that in other sectors including boca etc. We will see what we can do. I'm really bummed that elder g is going to be leaving probably. We really worked well together. Our whole zone got like deathly ill this last week except for me which was a personal relief. The hard thing about this zone too is that generally missionaries with health problems who are in risk of going home serve here while they are deliberating etc. It's really sad to see it. This week I tried really hard to apart some time to give support to some of those companionships and I really enjoyed helping them. A lot of times as missionaries we are the only people that investigators, converts, some members, and other missionraies have to talk to. I felt like this week especially me and elder g were called to bear others burdens and suffer with them. I feel like as a missionary my ability to empathize has grown a lot for better and for worse. It made my problems seem a lot smaller, but at the end of the week we felt kind of weary from it all. It was really nice to be able to take the sacrament and feel kind of renewed spiritually. I think also that through all of that stuff and through the course of this cambia I've been learning a ton about agency. It's a really complex principle and has a lot to do with human suffering. It's a big theme in the scriptures too. Noe (Noah), upon seeing the iniquity of the earth even says that he laments the creation of man because of their misuse of agency. I've mentioned before that Enoch sees god weeping over poorly used agency. I think it must have been so hard to send us to the earth knowing that we would surely suffer greatly from the misuse of our agency. At the end of the day that is why Christ is so central to the plan of salvacion. His redemption is the only thing that really justifies our existence here and that gives meaning to our lives here. That's why our jobs as missionaries is so important. It also makes it a tragic work when we see people continue to misuse this agency and deny the redemption that Christ offers them. The triumphs are more than the dissapointments however. Ok well I'm loving it here. It was a hard week but a good one too. We are working really hard here but still need to learn patience to see our work turn into baptisms here. Next cambia I'm sure we will have one. I had a lot of fun this week too and laughed a lot. I got the packages with the flashdrives and love the music thanks! I love you all a ton and miss you! Elder trevor smith
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Elder Trevor SmithElder Trevor Smith is a Mormon missionary in the Chile Concepcion Sur mission, the same mission where his dad served. Although this is Trevor's own mission, he grew up hearing about the beautiful land of Chile and the loving people that inhabit it. These are the letters from his experience there. Archives
July 2017
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