My Testimony Has Been Strengthened

Hey Guys!!

      So I know that I've been slacking on the emails and I want to improve. So I'm going to give a day by day synopsis of everything that happened this week.

 



Pics of last week's mishap
Correction: The ditch is 7' x 15'

On Monday we had a FHE (Family Home Evening) with a less active family about the temple and the commandments that we need to keep in order to reach the temple and then the Celestial Kingdom. I had been a little sick so on Tuesday after our District meeting, I had to go grab some meds that the mission nurse told me to take. All is pretty much cleared up now. Tuesday night we had a missionary correlation meeting with our new Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Rocha, where we explained about our ward mission plan and how we can utilize the members in our efforts. After this we had a PEC meeting with leaders of the priesthood in the ward and we discussed our investigators, less actives, recent converts and how we can help them. This meeting is important and helps us plan how to help our investigators.

 

Wednesday we had a meeting with one of our investigators named S. and her little brother B. was there for the first time. He was talking, I turned my head to look at him and I could've sworn he was wearing baptismal clothing for a second. It freaked me out for a second but now I'm even more determined to help them to progress to a baptism. We've also been working with a lot of less actives lately to come back to church as part of a rescate ,so we met with a less active named H. and we're working to help him return back to the church with his family. Thursday we had a joint FHE with a part-member family named Familia E. and another family, so we could build friendships in the ward. The E.  family is awesome. The dad and oldest daughter are members, but the mom and a son aren't and now they want to be baptized. They're taking all the lessons and doing all they can to get married so they can be baptized. Our FHE was about the Proclamation on the Family and how the family can be bettered by love and service to each other. Friday night we had a FHE with the Stake President and one of our investigators named L.  and her daughter J. so they could see the love that we know and can express as a family.

 

Sunday we had church which is as always an awesome experience. Familia E. came, none of our current investigators came which was a little bit of a bummer, but we had 161 people in the chapel which was about 30 more than usual, so our efforts in rescate are hopefully working. We had a lesson with an investigator named V. and G., her daughter. At the end of the lesson I felt a fire in my chest that made me think that my shirt was going to go up in flames with how hot it was. I know it was the Holy Ghost testifying to me that the things we taught were true and that this is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth and we are here preaching so that all can partake of it. It was the strongest I've felt the Spirit yet on the mission and I hope to be able to feel that power again and that same fire which was in my heart. My testimony has been strengthened so much by this experience and I hope our investigtors will be able to gain this same testimony of the restored Gospel. I love you guys, and all the support I`ve recieved helps me to get up and do what is necessary when at times I don't think I can do more. Stay safe and as long as we are strong and keep faith in our Lord, He will be with us wherever we go.

                                                            Your servant in The Lord,

                                                                                   Elder Haynes 
 
 

One Crazy Week

Hey Guys!!,

    So I know I always say this but this last week from my last Pday has been the craziest by far! First off we had our Zone Conference with President Bluth  which was awesome, I took alot of notes on all the talks and training we had. They gave us empanadas for lunch which was very much appreciated. I had one that was made with chicken and corn. Yes I know, I've been eating alot of different vegetables like corn, peas, asparagus, and other thingsbut I still absolutely hate salad and tomatos. At the conference I also prematurely celebrated my birthday and they gave all of us who had birthdays, chocolate bars and took pics. I think they're posted on Sister Bluths blog. I got the package with the pics, my music-which for some reason all the music doesn't show up so I don't know if that was a problem with downloading or not- my nutella and beef jerky, and I especially loved the picture of Teancum that Maddie drew. Like I mean I knew she was good, just not that good. I got alot more Dear Elders as well which were reallly apreciated. I love being able to hear about what's going on at home. I got the letters from Maddie and also the copy of Elder Rust's letter which I have read both many times this last week.

 

The night of the conference we had PEC which is where we meet up with all the priesthood leaders in the ward and discuss what we can do for the mission work. President Bluth surprised us by joining us in the middle ofthe meeting. Fortunately we have an awesome ward and we had a great meeting, so great in fact that President Bluth said it was the best PEC he's seen yet as a mission president. After that, President Bluth took us out to dinner and we all have pics. Check Sister Bluth's to get some better pics. Needless to say it was an awesome day. Well the next day wasn't. We were crossing a 15 ft sewage canal to get to an appointment a little bit quicker. What we normally do is cross through some trees but they were cut down so we had to get through by jumping off one of the tree stumps, well I've got to say was bad idea. My bag fell into this nasty sewage canal filled with about 2 ft of water. I had to take off my shoes and roll up my pants and climb down the tree root to get into the canal. I got my bag out but let's just say all my scriptures(Spanish) are destroyed and my camera is over with a member of the Mission Presidency because he's an electronics expert and may be able to fix it for me. I threw all my sd cards and usb stuf into a bag filled with rice and they all work right now so that's something I'm extremely thankful for. But I'll need to buy another set of Spanish Scriptures from LDS store which will cost about 30$. I feel horrible that this happened and that I have to put this strain on along with my contacts that I'll need to buy soon as well. Yes, my week has been crazy with trying to teach and worrying about all my stuff as well. Yes, the other Elders did get pics so I'll be sending those soon so you guys can know how bad it was. So,
I think I'm a little justifed in calling my week a crazy one with a fun but disheartening adventure in the middle of it. I hope everything is going alot better over there in Florida especiallly with winter coming in. Love you guys and I hope everything is good.

                                                                 Love, Elder Haynes

Seeing in Double Vision

Hey Guys!!!!

ZL who reminds me
of Elder Rust

              Hows everything going up there in Florida? I hope conference was great, it was for me as the first time that I watched all the sessions which I will recommend to everyone from now on!!! So many things I realized I've missed because I didn't watch the Saturday (afternoon) Sessions which I felt like had some of the best stuff. Which one was your guys' favorite talk? Everyone in the mission was super glad for Elder Bednar's for those who aren't members, which was awesome for everyone. We had 5 investigators come to church for General Conference so we were extremely glad for that and hopefully they'll keep coming. Everyone's super-pumped for missionary work and I was thankful for the opportunity to watch and understand in English (we usually hear the voice of an interpreter and it was nice to hear everyone's natural voices). I've realized something though and it's that I've started to forget English. One of our recent converts named R. asked if I could say a prayer in English and as I was saying it half the time, I was saying Spanish words for the English ones, so needless to say my language is coming along great. In my weekly letter to the President, I'm sending them in Spanish now which is why it takes me a little longer to get back to you guys, but I still get plenty of time.

Awesome Sandwich

I've sent a pic of my lunch today since it was a great P-Day (preparation day - laundry, shopping, etc.) lunch and also a pic of my ZL (Zone Leader) who looks exactly like one of of my mission buds, Elder Rust, who's serving  in Paraguay right now. When I saw him I was wondering how the heck did he get transferred from Paraguay to Chile, but it turned out he's just a ZL who looks a lot like him. I've got the list of questions you sent and I'm gonna write down the list of answers for next week. Also, I've received a few of the Dear Elder letters, which was really nice. I'm not gonna lie, I received three of them and I'll probably get more next week with this AP training that we'll have. Love you all and hope that you guys will write.

I know I look awesome on this bike!
Belongs to a member who let me pose.

P.S. That's perfect with the package and yes I'll be writing and sending a letter next P-Day for you guys with some cool stuff I got.  Cool to see the gator and yes, I'll probably get the package this week and thanks for the Mormonads.    



                                  -Love Elder Haynes

Dies Y Ocho

Hey Guys,

       
 How are you all and how's everything going?!!  So a lot happened this week. We just had our cambio (change) and one of the elders of the house, Elder Y., is being transferred to a different sector. His Junior Comp (companion) is now going to be a Senior Comp and trainer, so he's going to be very busy. This just means I'll have a new cousin (new roommate) on the mission now, so that'll be great. I got my contacts today so its going to be 120,000 Chilean pesos so I don't know the conversion, but probably 200 dollars I think or somewhere around there.

 

This week was the week of dies y ocho which is Chile's Independence day and it's a huge celebration that we were able to spend with the Bishop's family. We had a lot of assado which is just basically lots of meat on the grill. So, we had a ton of food and yes, I have gained some weight, just don't tell coach on me.

We've got a new family named the B.'s that we are teaching and were super pumped for them. Also, we have gotten a whole lot of new investigators and some of them have baptismal dates. It's hard to get them to come to church right now so its been hard to have a baptism happen. I'm so glad to have the chance to be out here and to preach His gospel to bless families everywhere. I love you guys and hope everything is great there.

 

 - Love Elder Haynes

 

 

 

 

 

Exchange to Santa Barbera

Rio Bio Bio

September 15, 2014

Hey Guys, 

 Just want to give you guys an update on whats going on in the last week. On Tuesday, I had a companionship exchange with my DL's (District Leader) companion, Elder T. I went to another sector called Santa Barbera for the night, which is amazing. It's about an hour in the mountains from LA (Los Angeles). You can see an inactive volcano and the Rio Bio Bio (River) which is huge and so beautiful. Don't worry I'm sending pics, so you guys will be able to  get the chance to see what I'm seeing. We're actually going to have another companion exchange this week so I'll be here with my DL, Elder H., who's a really cool guy. It's going to be awesome! I had to go to Concepcion for my eye appt so we took a charter bus to get there. I received my prescription so the appt will be around 50$ and the contacts probably 150-200. I'll let you guys know. 

Chile's Inactive Chaiten Volcano

We've had a hard time getting people to come to church but we've had a part member family attending where the Dad's a member but everyone else isn't. He has a son who's of baptismal age and he wants to be able to baptise him and his wife as well. We also have another family we are teaching and two of them have baptismal dates. They (the other members) are really searching for an answer and we are excited for them. Also, I finished Jesus the Christ which was an amazing book!!! Everyone is super pumped for 18 ordies y ocho which is the biggest holiday of the year with alot of grilling and empenadas, so well see how many pounds I can gain this week. You can tell its the 18th when you can't count how many drunk people you jump over. Everything's going great down here and I hope everything is great there with the new car and such. I call the 44, no questions about it and I'll wrestle anyone for it! I love you guys and hope that you guys stay safe and sound till the mission's over and then, well, safe and sound from a distance will no longer be used then. 

Love you all.

Elder Haynes

Note from Mom:  He has inspired me to read Jesus the Christ! I found it for free, including audio files on this lds media library website. 

Return and Report

September 8, 2014

This picture was taken inside
 the house we share with Elder Y. and Elder S.

We traveled to Concepcion for Return and Report today, that’s why I’m emailing late. It’s just to make sure we know all the rules and that our trainers are doing everything they can. I got to see all my MTC buddies which was awesome and I got to see my old comp Elder Clay. We were able to share some stories about our last four weeks. We've decided to have a reunion back in Utah a year after we get back, so we’ll see how that works out.

I talked to Hermana P today and they're going to let me know when I can get scheduled for an eye exam. It will probably be in Concepcion since that’s where they have a lot of medical contacts. I will let you know how much it is as well, so that way we’re all squared away.

It's all right about mailing the package later. Hopefully Maddie will see what I asked her to include in it and have it ready by then. I'd love to get my patriarchal blessing and if you guys could get that it would be amazing. I haven't gotten any dear elders yet but we’ll see how long it takes. My week has been packed.

Hey guys I also got some new pajamas that you guys might like so......what do you think? Everyone’s got a set of pajamas we’ve got Wolverine, Iron Man, and the Joker so were going to have some epic battle scenes with them. Lol.       

I had a great lesson with an inactive member this week whose wife was really strong in the church, but after she died they stopped coming. I shared with him D&C122:7-8 which is just awesome to read when we have hard challenges in our life. I think he really felt the spirit and he’s trying to get through this difficult time as well.  I want you guys to know that I love you and hope that the family is safe and staying strong.

                             Love Elder Haynes 

Everything is Awesome!

Hey Guys!

The Spanish is coming along but I need to still continually work on it. Zone Conferences are great except for the fact that they're always in Spanish and I miss some stuff, but I'm learning. My comp, Elder M., has been out a whole year so he's got the missionary thing down. We went to a waterfall last week and I'm trying to send pics again, so hopefully it works this week.

To answer your questions.........the food here is generally good and I only have to make breakfast and dinner because the members make us Almuerzo (lunch) everyday except for P-day, where we are on our own. Our laundry gets done by Hermana F., who is our Mamacita in the ward. I've been semi-working out but not a fan of getting out of my warm bed into a 60 degree house at 7 in the morning, but I'm working on it.The Jesus the Christ reading is great. I've gotten to page 400 in the last two weeks. It rains a lot down here so we need to generally always have a jacket. Everybody's pumped for September 18th which is the biggest holiday of the year because it's Chile's Independence Day-everyone down here goes crazy for it! Yes, we have enough money for our needs. So, no worries.

We've got 150 people in the ward generally and I've heard this is the best area in the mission. We teach anyone and everyone who's willing to listen to our message. It's been great! We'll sometimes come across a whole family of investigators, and I love it when they're ready and willing to participate in the lesson. Just the other night we taught an investigator named F. and he's really prepared to listen to our message. He wants to know more about why there are so many churches in our day and not just one church.  

Love you guys and can’t wait for Christmas!

                                                             Elder Haynes