Ok it was a good week I'll try and fit it all in in the time I have!
First up is the transfer news! I'm going back to Los Angeles but this time the Southern Stake and I'll be in barrio San Martin. I've heard a lot of good things about it so I think I'll like it. My comp is Elder Aravena and he will be my first Chilean comp actually! I know him enough and he is really cool and a great missionary. It's going to be really really hot there though. Can't believe it's been 6 months since I left Lebu now. This could be my last sector too! It's been great here in Saint Peter but a change will be good. 3 cambios w Elder Oxborrow too wow it's gone fast. This week was really cool. Tuesday was pretty normal but then we had a multizone conference with Elder Packer from the area presidency. Yes, he is the son of Elder Packer from the 12. It was really really cool. He talked about a lot of different things but I'll write some stuff that stuck out to me First thing was that he talked a lot about the different between "fruits" and the "means" by which we obtain them. He explained that fruits are souls, or the conversion of souls, and how that always need to be our first objective and is what the Lord commands us to do. He talked about how fruits are hard to measure and that why in the church we often need to measure our means, and how sometimes we get to busy focusing on means and not enough on the ends, or fruits so to speak. I think that was especially meant for our zone and for our companionship as well. Even a baptism technically is not even a fruit but a means to obtain a fruit. Pretty cool way to change how we think about helping people and being a successfull missionary. Me and Elder O kind of analyzed our 3 tranfers together in that light and we could feel really successful about the fruits we got together even though they were few baptisms. I hope I can help other missionaries to see the work in that way too. He also talked a lot about what he called understanding the language of the spirit. Really cool stuff. He talked about how it's pretty easy to detect what things we do and say that drive the spirit away if we are trying really hard to maintain the spirit with us, and in that way make the necessary changes to be able to have the spirit more. Pretty cool stuff and I think it inspired everyone to be better. At the end he told us that he felt inspired to tell us that our mission can have baptisms in every week in every sector which was pretty crazy! He invited us to find a way to do it too. I think it will obviously be a really long term goal and I probably won't be here to see it achieved but it was really inspiring. He mentioned and I also felt impressed that the changes we have to make wont be weird or surprising but will be the simple things like obedience and getting our teaching better and having a closer union with ward leaders etc, opr pretty much just everything said in PMG. Pretty cool. We will have a lot of work to do here though! It will be really fun. Honestly the week was kind of uneventful but we taught a good amount of lessons which was fun. I'm excited for new terrain I feel like ive been here a long time and I think new challenges will help me grow and have the spirit more. We had found this older gentleman who is religious but pretty new to religion and he has a ton of real intent and that makes him really fun to teach. He's reading the BoM and even surprised us and came to church this week so I hope to hear about him getting baptized from Elder Oxborrow in the coming weeks. The majority of our time and concern was dedicated to N! His baptism was origionally planned for the 4th of March so we had to teach him like 5 times this week to get him ready but then we had to change his date to later anyway so his family can be there. He is so receptive and so converted that teaching him is like a more sacred experience. His faith is so amazing. He's pretty much accepted all the commandments now and the changes he will have to make to live them etc. He has learned so much and so fast that we know that most of it hasnt even been from us but from the spirit and prayer. It's been such a cool experience and honestly I don't feel too bad about not being there for his baptism. He can go so far in this gospel and it will be so cool to see in the years that come. I know that finding and teaching him has all been a result of me and Elder O's obedience and hard work, especially when we saw people working and obeying less than us and having more success. God keeps his promises! Other than that we had a cool soccer tournament as a ward and we put together some missionary and investigator teams. Pretty fun stuff. Ok sorry I'm low on time but I love you all! I'm trying really hard to keep growing and keep feeling the spirit every day! I really want to give it all these last transfers so any advice is welcome on how to do that. Also dad send me any converts or people I should look out for in LA. I really want to work well with the ward there! I love you all so much! 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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