Arrived in Chile!

Hey Everyone!

I'm in Chile..  

Before leaving the CCM in Mexico I had a super deep conversation with a teacher and he told me I need to decide what kind of missionary I want to be remembered as before I get to the field and start the work.  I came up with 3 attributes...

1.  Diligent: "Being diligent in missionary work is an expression of our love for God and His Gospel." (PMG 121)  We are on the Lord's time, so we can demonstrate our love for Him by working hard and not wasting time.

2.  Tough:  "The test of someone's will is measured after the frustration and disappointment" -Matt Garff.  It reminds me of Ether 12:6.  There will be a ton of trials in the next two years but I won't have anything to say until after the trial of my faith.  All I know is that I will turn tough times into motivation to work harder.

3.  Loving:  There are a million quotes and scriptures about love but I want to use Matthew 22: 36-39.  The two greatest commandments from God, or in other words, the best thing we can do to follow Jesus Christ is to love.  

I hope I can develop these Christlike attributes and always be remembered by them.

Chile... 

I arrived in Chile and met my first companion, Elder Lautaro Nahuel Cuevas Rodas, from Argentina.  I'll be his last companion because he goes home in 6 weeks.  We had an orientation meeting with President Catala and then went to my new home in Chillan.  It's about a 3 hour bus ride from Concepcion.  It's close to a ski town and we are in the middle of winter here so it's freezing.  

President and Sister Catala

We have 2 areas to cover, one is a neighborhood close to our house and the other is a 2 hour bus ride away. Our neighborhood is known for being pretty ghetto and sketchy.  Wild dogs and a lot of homeless people everywhere.  We don't have gas in our house so no heat, the shower is ice cold, and we can't cook on the stove.   Our other area, Yungay, is super chill and quiet.  On our bus ride back we both fell asleep and the bus driver woke us up and said "welcome to Santiago!"  We freaked out for a sec but then the guy told us he was just screwing with us.  

The members feed us lunch every day.  Most of it has been pretty good.  A common meal is pasta with hotdogs, and one meal was potatoes drenched in mayo.  I hate mayo and ate sooo slow, I was struggling to not gag.  The other 2 elders with me said I had tears in my eyes when I was trying to finish.  And I did!  Some members spend all their money to feed us so we need to eat every bite and be appreciative.  

In the middle of lunch on my first day my companion said I had a message to share so I had to come up with something on the spot.  I shared a couple scriptures about prayer.  

We are knocking on a ton of doors and have been able to talk to a few people.  Getting doors slammed in my face doesn't suck as much as I thought it would.  Honestly, I don't mind it at all.  I wish I could help them but I don't take it personally.  The very first door we knocked on was an older lady named Sergia. We taught her lesson 1.  It was dope.  She really liked it.  

After church on Sunday I was asked to speak at a funeral (right then haha).  I shared a scripture from Alma 40:12 and talked for a few minutes.   

My Spanish is getting really good.  I can speak very comfortably but at times I have trouble understanding people because Chileans talk sooo fast and they don't pronounce their "s" so I need to get used to that.  

I want you guys to know of the love I have for the Savior.  I am so thankful for His gospel and the impact it has had on my life.  It's hard to picture life without it.  I know that we receive no greater blessings in life than from Heavenly Father and keeping his commandments.  I hope you guys can feel His love as strongly as I can.  And I hope you guys can feel my love too.  We may all be apart, but I'm always with you.  

With love,

Elder Vincent

My first companion, Elder Cuevas

One of my instructors

Hey Everyone!

LAST WEEK IN EL CCM! So happy. It has been a tough six weeks but I have learned a lot. I am so excited to get out into the field. I leave Monday afternoon for Concepción, but I won’t get there until Tuesday morning and then I go straight to work. It´s going to be a long couple days.

Saturday was soooo aweseome!  My companion and I were taken out of class to teach the lessons to a local 13 year old girl named Diaretel.  We also taught a lady and her two sons (2 and 4 years old).  It was so fun being around kids again.  First, my companion was suddenly able to speak Spanish better than ever and we were able to help each other throughout the lesson by saying things that helped support the principles the other person was teaching.  I was so proud of him.  Among other things, we taught her about how we can receive inspiration from the Book of Mormon.  At the end of the lesson, she said she wanted to be baptized.  I was definitely not expecting that.  My heart was pounding like crazy.  I turned to Elder Roundy and his jaw was 5 floors underground.  No lie, I could have put a baseball in his mouth.  Ha ha.  It was hilarious.  Diaretel still needs to finish the lessons and get her parents’ permission to be baptized so, unfortunately, I won’t be around to see her get baptized.  However, I was so happy to be able to play a small part in the process.

This week we also had our normal classes and studying times.  We also had a lot of meetings focused on helping to prepare us to go out into the real world. They were all pretty interesting and got me super excited to get to Chile and to work on helping to improve people´s lives in any way that I can.

On Tuesday my companion Elder Roundy ran into the corner of a TV and split his head open. He was totally fine.  He just looked really bad with blood running down his head and face. We went to the medical clinic to get his head stitched up but they were closed for dinner. Our district had to sing in front of the whole CCM in the devotional, and since the clinic didn't open until after the devotional, Elder Roundy had to sing with us with a bloody face and head. It was hilarious because we were getting the weirdest looks. Long story short he got stitches and is fine.

Chop Suey

I was excited to see Chop Suey in the cafeteria today.  I took a picture of their Mexican version of it!



I had to pack up all of my stuff to weigh it so I won´t get charged with overweight fees at the airport on Monday.  It took forever to pack up everything so I’ve decided I’m not going to unpack but just live out of my suitcase until I get to Chile on Tuesday morning.

Matt Garff said something to me this week that I really liked. He said, ¨The test of someone´s will is measured after the frustration and disappointment." I think that´s a really good point for me to remember because there are always going to be trials in life and I know, especially in these next two years, that I likely will be tested and face a lot of frustration and disappointment along the way with people I teach.  It has made me think a lot about how I want to be able to respond when I face challenges or adversity in my life. Do I want to pout about it and be upset? Or do I want to turn it into motivation to work even harder? I think this is something that each of us can apply in our own lives and with the different challenges we face and to respond in a positive and productive way.

Well, this is it for my time at the CCM. I´m excited for all of the people that I am going to meet in the next two years. I can´t wait for all the people I will be able to help and the time I have to try to make the world a better place. But missionary work doesn´t end with the 2 year countdown. We are all missionaries whether we are on missions or not. We all have the ability to invite other to come unto Christ and help make the world a better place.

Proverbs 4:5-6: “Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.  Forsake it not, and it shall preserve thee: love it, and it shall keep thee.”

I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Vincent

all the BYU athletes in el CCM. Ben Rigby (baseball), Jackson McChesney (football), Lauren Cranor (rugby), Trevin Knell (basketball), and me

After Elder Roundy got his stitches out

Lift up the hands which hang down

Hey everyone!

This week seriously flew by so fast. I made a ton of progress in Spanish, teaching, and reading the Book of Mormon. Every day is a grind but I'm really, really happy here. Less  than two weeks until I get to go down to Chile! I can't wait.

I thought my Spanish was great until I was asked to join the fluent speakers for some discussions.  It was clear that I was the weak link, lol!  I loved it though.  It gives me motivation to be at that level before I leave el CCM.  

I heard this awesome story this week that I want to share:

A senior missionary told me a super cool story about Zeus and the other Greek Gods. They were all talking about where they should hide their divine godly power, or light, so man doesn't find it and become like the rest of the gods, because then the gods wouldn't be gods anymore because everyone else would be like them. One god suggested, "we should hide it at the top of the highest mountain." Zeus responded by saying man would eventually climb to the top of all the mountains in the world and find it. Another god then asked "should we bury it in deep inside the earth?" Zeus said no because man would eventually dig down to the center and obtain their divine power. A third god suggested they drop it at the bottom of the depths of the ocean where no man can go. But Zeus again said that man would find a way to get to the floor of the ocean. Zeus, being annoyed with the helplessness of the other gods, finally concluded, "we will hide it in man himself."  All of the other gods were puzzled and questioned Zeus´ sanity.  Zeus replied by saying that we will hide it there because man will never think to look there.

I really love this story. Sometimes we forget where to look when we are struggling and need help. We tend to blame things on other people or believe that things are out of our control. We all have this divine potential, this great capacity, this light of Christ inside of us. We can all do amazing things, we just need to remember that we are capable of doing them!

This week President Bennett gave a devotional about goals and visions and I loved it.  Here are some of my notes:

1.  Those who accomplish most in life are those that have a vision.  They set goals to keep them focused on their vision and have a plan to achieve them.

2.  Knowing where you are going and how you expect to get there can bring meaning, purpose and accomplishment in life.

3.  Goal setting begins with the end in mind.

4.  A key to happiness lies in what we want most and pursuing it.  

On Monday I memorized a great quote from Gordon B. Hinckley "Quiere ser feliz? Olvidese a si mismo a pierdase en esta gran causa.  Dedique sus esfuerzos a ayudar a la gente... viva en un plano mas alto; fortalezca a los de rodillas debilitadas y levante a los de brazos caidos.  Viva el Evangelio de jesucristo."  In English, "Do you want to be happy?  Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause.  Lend your efforts to helping people... Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down.  Live the Gospel of Jesus Christ."  

At the end of the day I was reading the letters I received and in my moms letter she told me to look up D & C 81:5 which reads "Succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees."   That's an insane coincidence.  Mama, we may be far apart but we are still on the same page!  

I love you all so much and hope you guys have a great week!

D&C 128:22-23

All my best,

Elder Vincent

I LOVE America!

Hey everyone!

This week flew by. Nothing really crazy happened, just a ton of progress in class for 13 hours everyday.  My teaching skills are really improving but my Spanish progression has slowed down.  

The biggest highlight of the week was on 4th of July... even though it was in Mexico. At lunch they served bacon cheeseburgers, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, potato chips, A&W root beer, and tacos for those not celebrating, haha.  They have to serve tacos for every meal here!  During lunch, one sister missionary went over to the piano in the comedor and started playing the Star Spangled Banner.  All of the Americans stood up and started singing.  It was awesome. Every American was wearing red, white and blue.  I LOVE AMERICA!  During gym time we had a great game of AMERICAN football!  We had a couple more hours of class in the afternoon, then had Hawaiian pizza for dinner.  After dinner we had a devotional given by the Mexico City temple presidents. It was really interesting.  He spoke about keeping our covenants.  Overall a great day!

It was super sad seeing elder Maldonado leave. He is the guy from San Pedro Sula that I got super close with.  He's in one of the pictures below. It's crazy how fast time is flying here.  It feels like it was just two days ago that I moved in and met him. 

The group going to Chile

We have a great group of missionaries going down to Chile in a few weeks. We have all become super close friends which is awesome. Even though I only knew 2 before coming down here to Mexico, its nice to have these missionaries with me. 

My dad sent me a quote this week from Ezra Taft Benson that really stuck with me... "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.  He can deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, and pour out peace."

I am grateful for our loving Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.  Thank you guys for all the emails and letters!  You are the best! I love hearing from you all. 

D&C 24:8

Elder Vincent

Me and Elder Lewis