Ok it was a quick week I'm having a hard time remembering but I'll try my best!
We started out the week with a good set of district meetings. We have a new goal as a companionship to train the district leaders more and in a better way. Really the leadership section of the missionary manual is super good so we have been trying to teach them principles from that to apply to their own ministering and service rather than just telling them what to do. Our zone is awesome though. It looks like we will meet our goal for the month which will be awesome. We had a gran intercambio that day and I went back to Boca Sur with Elder Huerta which is always really fun. I got to see some old faces as always and we taught some good lessons. Elder Huerta is kind of like the Chilean comp I never had. hahaah We are great friends now after so long in the same zone. I got to go visit that family me and Elder Gomez reactivated and they are doing great and we got it all figured out so that the daughter can get a new baptismal record so that she is a member. It was kind of sad but really funny too with a lot of jokes about lost records and not being a member technically etc. She had even gone to the temple to do baptisms and she never was technically a member! Boca Sur is so fun and I'm still kind of envious of it. Wednesday was Elder Oxberries birthday which was pretty much just a normal day but really good. We ordered sushi to the house and ate that which was fun (yes sushi exists here but its different than in the states. Not quite as good). The coolest thing ever is that about two weeks ago we realized as a companionship that we had enver prayed to recieve any references from the ward so we started to pray just asking God to help us receive a reference from the members and in a week we got a really good one from the Elders quorum president. We taught him Wednesday and he is so prepared to hear the gospel! His name is N. and he is 27 years old and about to graduate from college and had tons of interest in the restoration and plan of salvation and everything. We pretty much just read the lesson pamphlets with him and I had never seen the heavens open up so much onto an investigator like that. It was like as if everything we said was something he had wanted to hear for so long. The spirit was very strong in both lessons we had with him, but in a different way than normal. I feel like often the spirit kind of has to work really hard to get into people's hearts to change them etc. but with N. he has been so open to the Spirit that the lessons have a more sacred feeling than just spiritual. Really cool. He has a baptismal date for March 5th and came to church and loved it so I think he is in the water. Only bummer is that transfers are in two weeks and it's pretty likely that I'll go but you never know. Thursday was interviews w/ President May which was good! We went to lunch with him, his wife, and the hermanas caps which was fun but kind of weird hahah. When we got back to our sector we had a lesson at 7 and he wanted to come so we taught C. and D. together. It was pretty cool. We showed the old Book of Mormon video of Elder Packer's talk "the Mediator" and it was good. President honestly let us to pretty much all the teaching. I think earlier in my mission I would have been pretty nervous but now I wasn't really at all. It turned out great and we figured out how we can help them better than we have been doing and they even came to church on Sunday so that was really cool. We were considering closing out the lessons with them, but now it looks like they are getting a second wind so that's good. Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days but we had a great time. It's kind of hot again right when we thought summer was ending but whatever. Sunday was cool because we had a "zone attack" in La Marina and Los Huertos in San Pedro and we helped those Elders out a lot. It's always really cool to see the zone all working together. We got a lot done together and it was a great way to finish out the week. I worked with Elder Sheidel again who I think I mentioned is from Vancouver Washington andi told him Christian served there. I think this week we have really centered our studies and teaching on the need for a Redeemer in our lives. I think most investigators (and members and missionaries) need to in some way see shackles and chains on their wrists and ankles first to really appreciate and understand what Christ did and can do for us (break those shackles and chains obviously). From what I understand that is what the Light of Christ does too. Its like the spiritual nervous system, and through spiritual pain (guilt or sadness) we realize that we need to change. I think true repentance really needs to be preceeded by us choosing to allow ourselves to feel guilt, and that we realize how bad off we are without Christ as our Mediator. Then its way easier to choose to follow and accept Him. Bondage and freedom are symbols all over the scriptures too. It makes investigators realize that the conditions that Christ gives us (faith, repentance, and baptism) for our own salvation are so much better than how we would end up with just cold hard justice for our faults and sins etc. One really cool story me and my comp were talking about is about Elisha from the old testament. It's when he is with his friend and they are standing in front of the entire Assyrian army and his friend kind of panics and says in effect "what in the world are us two going to do against the biggest army of the world" and then Elisha responds to him by saying "dont worry we are more than them". He prays for his friends eyes to be opened and then he sees hosts of fiery chariots and angels. Pretty cool. I cant remember the exact reference but I'm sure you'll be able to find it. Ok love you all thanks for your letters etc. Hope you're all doing great! 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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