It was a week of miracles!

I am doing pretty well with the cold. This week was actually a little warmer and we weren't really on bikes much because a part broke on our bike and we also spent a day in Maipu at a conference with Elder Packer (the son of Boyd K Packer). That was awesome! He and his wife speak Spanish so they gave their talks in Spanish and they were super good. They really inspired me to do better. I have already been trying to work on obedience with exactness and they really talked about the importance in that so that was cool. They also talked about a few ways we can carry the things we learn on our mission to the world after we get home. Elder Packer is in the area presidency of South America, he is an awesome dude!

This week has been amazing! I'm not sure what really was different yet but we saw a lot of miracles! The first happened last Tuesday night. We got out of a lesson at 9:45 PM and had to be in the house at 10. We were about 25 minutes away walking. We waited five minutes for a bus and then decided we needed to just start running. Then mid run, I prayed saying "Father I'm sorry that the time passed faster then we noticed but I really want to be 100% obedient so please put someone in our path to help." Then I threw up my thumb and a dude stopped and took us home! We got there at exactly 10 PM! But also this guy was interested in the church so we set up a time to visit him! It was a miracle! Then this Sunday we had five investigators at church and we were able to set baptism dates with three of them! This whole change we have only had one investigator and he got baptized on Saturday. Now we have three more! It was all out of nowhere but I know we are being blessed for the work we are putting in and for our obedience. We are teaching a super cute little girl that is 11 named Vanessa, a man named Christian, and a little dude named Freddie. Vanessa is from an inactive family so we are working to reactivate them. I'm helping them to understand that Vanessa's baptism needs to be a team effort. Because if the whole family isn't all in, it is much harder to endure to the end. Then Christian is the father of a member family. We are helping him understand the plan of salvation and the importance to act now. He has been listening to missionaries for years but has had problems with smoking until now. We are helping him realize that he needs to make this decision now before he is tempted to start smoking again. The Holy Ghost really does help us fight temptation when he is with us. Then Freddy is the only member in his family. He is 14 and was kind of a bad kid up until I got here. He has slowly been changing at ton! It is awesome to see and on Sunday he told us he is ready to be baptized! All these people have just decided to make the decision to be baptized in the same week! It was so cool to see! It is awesome to see how much the gospel changes lives.

I have learned so much about myself and the gospel here on my mission, and more than anything, the importance of the gospel within the family. I want to be married in the temple and to raise my family in the Gospel. This is like the most important thing to me now. I know that the church really does bless our lives. I have seen people’s lives change from the light of Christ in their lives. It is amazing. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be raised in the church. That is also what I want for my family. I have been able to do a lot of family nights here on my mission. I'm sure sad I didn't think those were too important while I was in high school because now I do. The family night really does make a big impact. I know the church is true with all my heart.

Have a great week! 

I can change a tire!

Hello! 

Hey sorry I sent the pix and letter so late! I didn’t have much time until this morning when we played soccer at the church! We had a ton of investigators yesterday at church (6) and so I was thinking about them the whole time! We are teaching a new Haitian man that is awesome and speaks really cool haha! I will try and take a pic with him next week. Then this Sunday Pedro received the priesthood! It was so awesome. He asked me to join in on the circle and afterwards in tears he thanked me for everything. It was a super special moment and made me so happy. Update on the older gentleman and the young girl. The little girl will now be baptized the first Saturday of May. Her parents have to work this weekend. Then the other one we are still waiting to see if he will chose to get baptized this week or next week. He is awesome and has totally quit smoking! He was smoking a pack every two days when we first met him. We don’t have a ton of investigators but the ones we have are super great. Next Monday we will have area changes and I am curious to know what happens. I love the ward and people here but I am doing my best to put my confidence in my president to make changes based on the will of the Lord. Oh, this last week we had two little earthquakes. It was super cool to feel them. My comp wanted to keep working because it happened in the middle of studies but I told him that I wanted to just chill and feel the earthquake because I haven’t felt many. Then this week we had another capilla abierta (church openhouse). It was the ward Los Cerrillos of the stake Los Cerrillos. The guy told me he puts all the photos on FB so you could try looking for them! It was a fun time. 

Well I am just about to finish the New Testament! I am in Revelations and its a pretty crazy book! There is a lot I don’t understand but luckily I have a guide. It is super cool and talks about a lot of prophecies. I have loved reading the NT to learn and understand a lot about the temple and just where a lot of our doctrine comes from. 

Today we had the census for all of Chile I believe. So we have to stay here in the pension until a certain time. Everyone has the day off so that everyone will be home in the houses. So we were told to do our weekly planning today. As you know, I haven't really clicked very well with my companion. I have decided to put a solid effort into being more outgoing and excited with his ideas. It has had a good effect. He is also a little more chill too. So at least we should be able to end this change on a good note. :-) I am happy about that. Next change I am hoping to be made senior companion. I will have nearly 10 months on the mission and that is the time it usually happens. There are many from my group that are senior comp already, but I'm doing my best to not let that discourage me. We will see!

I want to share some of the things I have learned so far on the mission. I think one of the biggest things I have learned is patience. I have had to learn how to adjust my needs and desires with six different companions already. So not only have I learned what my needs and desires really are, I have learned how to accept others. I have learned that the Lord knows what's best and as long as I am living worthy, he will bless me. Yes sometimes it takes a while but the joy always follows hard times. I have learned how to get along with companions that I didn't get along with in the beginning. I have learned how to talk about things that bug me. I have learned how to set goals and plan my days in order to achieve them. I have learned the power of prayer. I have been given answers to prayers through the scriptures, feelings, lessons, companions, and other members. It is amazing how it works. Other things I still haven't been given an answer but I feel at peace that it will come. I have learned how to speak another language. It was one of the hardest things I have done. Because of that, I learned how to trust in the Lord. I have always been someone a little short on personal confidence. I always did my best to not show it but it was always there. There were a lot of things I wanted to do but I didn't believe I could do it. The mission has had a tremendous impact on that. I have had to do several things I never thought I would be able to do. With all those experiences, I have learned that my confidence needs to be in the Lord and in the Holy Ghost. By changing my point of view to that, I have seen many great changes. I have more confidence talking and teaching because I know the holy ghost will put words in my mouth. I have more confidence when having different tasks or sad moments because I know the Lord knows me and is aware of those things. I have also learned how to enjoy reading. I did not like to read at all before the mission. Now I love it and read anytime I have the chance. I have learned that this decision to be out here is one of the best ever. I know that through the mission I will learn how to be a better father and a husband. I will be able to work hard enough to achieve the career I want to do. But yes, in other words, I have learned a ton in the last nine months. I am super grateful to be out here. Don't ever quit putting your confidence in the Lord. I know everything is much better on his side. I know how vital this life is for our salvation which makes me want to do all that I can to help others see the light of Christ in their lives.

One more cool story, this week we were walking along a road right as someone pulled off the freeway because she got a flat tire. She told us she needed help and that she was pregnant and couldn't do much. I immediately told her we could change it for her right there. She opened her trunk and I saw the stuff to change the tire and pulled it out and changed her tire in less than 10 minutes. I have only changed one tire in my life but in that moment I knew exactly how to do it. It made me realize that we really are representatives of Christ. Part of our calling is to serve so he is going to put people in our path who we can serve. He will also help us know what and how to help even if we haven't had much practice ha ha!! Anyways that was a cool story from this week, I hope you are doing great!

 Love Elder Walz 

No problem!

Twins :)

My brother from another mother!

 

Transfers

2/6/17 I was able to send a package to Utah with Gian who is a returned missionary from Santiago. He is going to Provo for school, it will be his first time in the US! He is excited to see all of the Mormon history in Utah. I am super happy to hear that he was able to meet up with Brennan to give him the package that I sent. That was nice of him. Speaking of packages I am still waiting :/ (for packages mailed before Christmas). But it’s all good. I haven’t had pouch in forever! 

I have been moved to Maipu!! This is my first transfer where I am leaving an area with so many people that I love and care about. During sacrament, there was a Hermano that shared some really nice words about me that made me tear up. Then I said goodbye to him and his wife last night and that was sad too, I will really miss them! I am now with Elder Rios and Elder Marsh. Rios is from Osorno, Chile and Marsh is from Payson, Utah. Rios has a year on the mission and Marsh has 5 months so I am in the middle. It is super weird to be in another trio but I think they are going to reorganize us again soon.

This last week we had 2 baptisms! I baptized one and Elder Matamoros baptized the other. I am really glad I was able to baptize them before I was changed! They are both great but they are young teenage girls so they were a little flirty which scared me but in the end it was all good, LOL. Then this week I also tried sushi! What??!! Haha and I liked it! What??!! Haha it was crazy but yeah I actually enjoyed it. Oh and then another food that is really popular during this time of year is humitas. They are like tamales without meat. It is kind of plain but everyone loves them here so I have had a lot in the last 2 weeks! Oh and then Elder Roberts was changed to Maipu also. Not the same the district but the same Zone so that is really cool. I will miss him a ton but at least I will see him a lot. I also hear in this zone we play soccer every P-day so that is really cool to hear!

2/13/17 So I have new news now! Haha I was with E Marsh from Payson, Utah and E Rios from Osorno Chile. But now I am with Elder Schneider from Portland., Oregon. I was changed on Tuesday from Maipu to Cerrillos which is in Santiago. We live in a pretty big apartment complex in a nice place. It’s just us 2 and 4 could easily fit so it is nice. It is also really nice to have a gringo! :) I already like this ward and sector a ton! I had to introduce myself to the ward on Sunday and then right before Sacrament meeting the guy asked me to also give a short talk! That was surprising but it went well! Here, Priesthood and Relief Society are first then Sunday school and then Sacrament meeting. So that is different but it should be cool.

I found out about a website called www.missionarydelivery.com and you can send stuff to missionaries through there. I guess there is a family that runs it in our mission. They take your order and then go out and buy it and then deliver it to us! It’s a pretty cool service that could save a lot of money if they are things you just buy here.

There is a famous soccer player Leo Messi right now that looks like Tyson! He has the same hair and beard. I see different soccer games here and there because everyone watches it! I also found a guy to teach that is into tennis! He told me he is going to try and setup a Monday to play! That would be fun! :)

I just finished reading Matthew in the New Testament. It was sooo good! It strengthens my testimony of the savior a lot! I recommend it at some point :)

2/20/17 My new companion is Elder Schneider! He is great and I love having another gringo companion! He has been in the field for 13 months! Another guy that we work with a lot is Martin. He is a returned missionary that helps us out a lot and he is also the Elder’s Chorum president.

We have an investigator here who has been meeting with the missionaries for years and during my first lesson with him he decided he was ready to be baptized! It was so exciting! But also something crazy happened to him this week, he had a gun held to his head and his car taken from him! He still hasn’t heard if his car is okay yet or not. It is super sad because he just bought the car too, but he is just thankful to be safe! It happened at our Walmart! lol It was nuts! Oh and I don’t know if I told you but our mall is legit! It is nice for an American mall haha! It has Nike in it :) But I don’t have anything I need to buy there lol. 

I was wondering if you could throw in a French basis book from Deseret book next time you send something. That would be cool because I am getting close to knowing a ton of Spanish and we teach a lot of Haitians that speak French so the basics of that would be sweet too! Elder Schneider has laminated cut outs of the plan of salvation. We use them a lot to teach with and they are very helpful.

Oh and my case got finished! It cost a solid amount but it looks so cool! I will send pix later! 

I definitely feel the help of the Lord and I feel myself growing closer to him! The mission is great! I did get flees again! But only for 3 days! I bought spray and washed my sheets real quick and haven’t had anymore bites! So that is good! But yeah you can take comfort in knowing that I really am happy here. It’s hard here and there but in the end, it’s great! I love my president out here. He helps a ton!

Well, that is all for now! I hope you all have a GREAT week!!

Love, Elder Walz

Zone Conference

Baptism

 Christ's visit to America

Tree of Life

January 2017

1/9/17 This week I went into the city to get my Visa which was a crazy experience! On Friday, I was able to do the first 2 steps out of 3. The first took about an hour which was just standing in line for a stamp in my passport LOL. For the second, I stood in line for like for 5 hours and 15 minutes!! It was crazy but at least I was with my friends from the CCM, we all went on the same day. Since that took so long I had to wait and finish the 3^rd step this morning which took about 3 hours. It’s a long process because of lines but the time you are actually with a person is super simple and short. It’s weird.

This week really was awesome. I have been teaching the same 2 investigators for 4 or 5 weeks and this week we found like 4 or 5 more! Its great having so many people to teach and we are anticipating a few baptisms.

1/16/17 I had a dream the other day that on Mother’s day and Christmas we could fly home for that day and then leave again the next day. Super weird but pretty funny! 

I am going to order a scripture case from a member who lives in the Santiago South Mission. He has a pamphlet that a lot of the missionaries have ordered from. It is a case that is woven into the cover of my scriptures. Supposedly you can even order one from the states from this guy. I attached a picture for you to see the different ones. I will choose two of my favorite scripture stories for him to do a picture of, one on the front and one on the back.

So not a ton is new. We are still living in a little house with Elder Roberts and his companion from Mexico. He is actually from our group from the CCM and is super fun. We are still waiting for another house that is big enough for all of us! So that is exciting that if I stay another change here I will be with them. We have changes again the first week of February. I think Elder Matamoros will leave and I’ll stay but no one knows for sure! ha-ha! One thing I had to do this week is eat two slices of bread with nothing but avocado in the middle! It was the first time I was able to do it. It actually wasn’t too bad. That is like a meal that people have here. A roll with avocado and a slice of tomato. So I am getting more and more used to it.

This week we had a family night with a family that has been inactive for like 15 years. We are teaching one of the granddaughters that is 16 and we have a baptism date for the 28th! So that is exciting! But yeah the family night was really good. We shared the Mormon Message of The Hope in God’s Light or something like that. Its one that is pretty popular. I first saw it when Chan posted it on facebook last year. It was super spiritual and hopefully we can get them to come back to church! One cool thing about that too is I understood pretty much everything in the video in Spanish. Videos have been the hardest to understand but that night I understood everything. I definitely felt that part of it was that I was feeling the spirit very strong, it was really cool!

This coming week we have a meeting in San Antonio! (the beach) It is with my zone of Peñaflor, Talagante and San Antonio. So I will be able to see my friends from Talagante! I am excited for that and to see the beach finally!

1/23/17 So this week was pretty sweet. We had a meeting with president and 2 other zones. He gave us the new announcement of the schedule for missionaries all around the world I think. We now wake up 30 mins later and still have time to exercise. We eat and get ready but now we only have personal study and planning, then we leave at 10am to proselyte. We are to schedule 2 hours later in the day to do our choice of language study or companion study. We decided to do those two hours after lunch from 3 to 5 because it is the hottest time of the day and we are always super tired. We have till 9:30pm to get home and before it was 9. The new schedule is not very strict at all so it is up to the missionaries to use their time wisely.

Another new experience is that I had to eat blood sausage this week! You might not have heard of it but its literally blood inside of the outer coating of a sausage. You grill it just like sausage. It wasn’t too bad but because I knew what it was it was terrible. LOL The weather here has been super hot! It is like 35 degrees Celsius normally and then a few days have been like 38. I think that is only like 100 degrees but because the sun is stronger here it is rough!

Well I miss you and love you all!

Feliz ano nuevo!!

Happy new year! 

The new year was pretty cool! So now me and Elder Matamoros are living with Elder Roberts and his companion! It is a small house but super fun to be with Elder Roberts again! One cool thing about that is that Elder Roberts has some workout vids! So we have done that the last two mornings and it’s been fun!

On NYE, we had a regular day up until 9pm. Then we bought a bunch of junk food, went to the house, and played Phase 10 haha! It was a lot of fun. Elder Matamoros told us about a tradition they have in Ecuador where they build these little fake people out of stuffed paper and weeds and then burn them at midnight, haha!  We still had to be up at 6:30am for study and church.

Here's something random, I had to eat tuna this week! Super gross but I ate it all! It was like a nicer tuna helper so I guess it wasn’t terrible but I definitely didn’t enjoy it. I was starving though and knew I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else and I didn’t want to be rude! So finally, I had fish here! But only tuna. lol 

As far as new contacts, we haven’t had too many. I went on exchanges twice this week though and did actually have some cool lessons. I went once with an Elder from Brazil that is our zone leader. He is super energetic and fun and we found a ton of people to teach! Then another day, I had exchanges with my trainer Elder Agostinelli and his new kid that he is training now! His name is Elder Zimmerman from Gilbert! Haha He actually has a Mormon message about him. It’s called like Deyton’s legs or something like that, check it out! Its a cool story! But anyways, he is a greenie and only has like 5 days in the field. His Spanish is struggling a ton and I think that is why I needed to go on divisions with him. I needed to help him realize that it really does get better and gave him a few tricks on what he can do to study better. So, for that it was super cool because I feel like I was able to help him out a lot. I was also able to communicate with Elder Agostinelli much better than last time. He was super excited with my Spanish! For once I was the one translating for someone! That was sweet! 

I had a cool conversation with a member this week! I have been thinking about what my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon are because I am going to order a personalized case for my scriptures. There is a place that does them on leather and are super nice so I want one. In the beginning, I knew I wanted Christ on one side and I decided to do the part where he visits the Americas after his resurrection. I really like that part of 3 Nephi. But for the other side I had no idea! I thought about it a lot and three different times I randomly talked about Lehi’s dream with random people. Once a missionary shared it during a lunch. Two days ago, I was talking with a member and he brought up something that I hadn’t thought of. First of all, I like the story because it applies to my personal life. Right now I am living the gospel the best I can and I seriously love it. I want more than anything to be able to come home and live it with all of you like Lehi wanted for his family! But like him, my whole family isn’t active and so that makes me sad. Before, I had thought, yeah I really want my family to be here with me but don’t know exactly what to do. Then he shared with me that Lehi never left the tree. He stood at the tree and called his family to the tree. He told me you need to do the best you can to never leave the tree or the gospel. You can bring them to the gospel by being an example and inviting them to things and sharing experiences with them. You can’t leave the gospel to go find them however. That had a huge impact on me. If I ever leave the church even for a little while, it could be easy to fall away. So I need to do whatever I can to live it throughout my life. I am so grateful for all of my friends and family, I love them so much! I believe in our Father's plan for us and hope to share that with as many people as I can here in Chile and at home. I love all of the great blessings that I have in my life through living the gospel. :)

I am super excited for this new year!! I have set some solid goals that I think will help me a ton! I love you tons as well! Have a great week!

Hermana Tellez, Hermana Cronin, Elder Walz, and Elder Matamoros

Random guy on a horse..we see this a lot:)