November 28, 2016

This year I bet you've already heard but the Church is doing the Light the World campaign and it is awesome! Everyday starting the 1st of December until Christmas there is going to be a different video talking about Jesus Christ and how we can follow his example to Light the World. I'm so pumped for Christmas even though it is getting hotter every day and the Chileans don't believe in putting up Christmas lights, I've got the Christmas spirit.

I haven't really been doing a good job of keeping you guys updated on the people we are teaching so I'm going to repent and tell you about them:

Maria Josè: She is 15 years old and has a cousin that is a recent convert. We've been working with her for about a month and a half and there has been a lot of changes in her. It's been awesome to see how reading the Book of Mormon daily and praying can change someone. At first we were a bit skeptical if she was going to progress, but she is ready to get baptized. Her only challenge right now is getting permission from her parents. We met her dad and it went really well, he's really nice. But the mom is a little bit tougher. Maria Josè told us that when she asked her mom about it that her mom pretty said no that she has to learn more. We're pushing with her for December that she can talk to her parents and tell them why she wants to get baptized. But she's really awesome and is growing her testimony a ton. She hasn't missed a Sunday in like 5 weeks (Since we started bringing her to the chapel). 

Gabriel: He is the one in the picture with us below. We've been "teaching" him for about 3 weeks but we couldn't teach him for about a week. Finally Friday my companion found him in an interchange and was able to teach him. Then sunday in the morning the Bishop passed by him to bring him to church and he went! It was really cool and after we all went to the house of the Bishop for lunch. He's a little more complicated to teach because he has a lot of curiosity and likes to ask a lot of questions, but they don't always have to do with what we are teaching. We are trying to get him to focus on the basics to progress to his baptism. He has a date for the 11th of December and we are working to help him keep all of the commandments for his baptism. We just need to be able to have more contact with him. So we're praying for his date the 11th. 

Samuel: He's the guy I talked about this last week. He wasn't able to go to church and we works in Santiago so we can't teach him during the week. It's a little hard to teach but we can keep up with calling him and he said he is reading the Book of Mormon and he said he is learning a ton and really likes it. He had a date for the 11th but didn't go to church so he won't be able to get baptized then. We're going to try to teach him as much as possible but there is very little time on the weekends. 

And those are the people that we are teaching that have the most potential. The main problem we have is finding the people. Especially with the end of the school year right now Maria Josè is really busy but we can usually teach her and Gabriel like 2 or 3 times during the week. Also I need a favor from everyone. I need you guys to send me some traditions that you do on Christmas that I can do here in Chile!! Low Cost!!! 

Love you guys!!!

Elder Cheney

November 20, 2016

This week someone asked me when Thanksgiving was and I wasn't really sure. I knew it was a Thursday so I guess that counts. Canadians have their Thanksgiving in October (There is a Canadian in my district).

When do you guys go out there? Who else is going to be out there?

The Christmas spirit is a little more distant when I sweating and there are forest fires, but it's a good thing Christmas depends on the date and not the weather. But I'm pumped, we're sharing a bunch of Christmas videos already with people, they are so great. 

I'm going to be honest I don't think I'm going to eat Thanksgiving dinner this year. But based on my track record with Thanksgiving dinners I think that'll be a good thing for me. But that'll be fun, send me some pictures. Whose coming over?

I can print here, if you ever want to suggest a talk I can print things here so I can just print it out here. 

This week we taught a guy named Samuel. We taught him in the chapel and it went really well he wants to read the Book of Mormon and everything. he accepted a baptismal date for the 11th of December. Then he told us he plays piano so we let him play on the piano in the chapel and holy cow I almost cried. He is a master. It was crazy he's like Mozart reincarnated. We're going to teach him again today so we'll see how it went with the Book of Mormon.

But that was pretty much the week, it's crazy how December is already coming up. 

Love you guys!!!

Elder Cheney

(And thanks to Brenna for the following email from Daniel!)

> What are 8 things you are grateful for?
>
> 1. The opportunity to be here and share the Gospel 2. My family and friends at home that are supporting me(like you) 3. The people that open doors to us here and let us teach them 4. The members here that make us their family 5. Completos (google it) 6. The Scriptures 7. My companion Elder Almeida 8. And obviously the Atonement and Jesus Christ
>
> What was the high and low of this past week?
>
> The high: We had a meeting with our President and it was really spiritual and we got a lot of training and learned a whole ton of stuff so I'm pumped to share it with our zone this next week.
>
> The Low: This week I've been really, really tired. But it's a tired in mind and spirit. I guess I've been a little frustrated with how the work has been (Not so much success) but I always have to keep in mind whose work it is.
>
>
> What have you done that is fun lately?
>
> Fun... Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents always talked forever (like at the end of church) and you would get annoyed and ask them why they just talked and they said "This is what adults do for fun." The fun on the mission is usually "Missionary fun" But we play soccer on p-days and eat and that's about it haha.
>
>
> How do you start conversations with people usually? Like random people?
>
> Like contacts? We just walk up to someone that is passing us on the street and I say "Hola, ¿cómo está?" And we try to get to know them in 30 seconds and then teach them something small to hook them on the Gospel and see if we can share more. But it still feels awkward to just talk to random people on the street. It doesn't scare me as much anymore haha.
>
>
> Weirdest thing someone has asked you?
>
> That comes to my mind right now someone asked me what I thought about how the American and Russian governments keeping all the secrets of aliens, time travel, and teleportation. We were in that house with that guy sharing like 30 minutes of his conspiracy theories. And I was tired so it wasn't a good combination.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sushi Chilean style

November 14, 2016

Wow, that's pretty wild. (In response to the election) I always get questions down here about what I think about the election. And I have no idea so I just say that haha. But it looks like it's going pretty nuts up there.

For the Christmas box some BYU t shirts that I have in my room that I can give to my companions. NOT MY FRISBEE ONE. But I have some other ones I think that some are white and if you can send like 4 that would be great. Next week I'll know for sure who is my companion during Christmas so I can let you know next week. But I don't really know what I want. A tie? (Oh, how the Christmas list has changed!)

Speaking of that, we have changes this week. The week before changes is always stressful because they call us in the morning Wednesday and we have to be in Viña at like 4. So we chuck everything in the suitcase see if we can say bye to anyone and leave. But it is also exciting the surprise. It's a stressful week haha.
I think this week I have been the most tired that I have ever been. I still haven't completely fallen asleep in a lesson, but there have been some close calls. But we're going strong. 

This week I had a cool experience with the Book of Mormon. A couple days ago I wanted to ask if the Book of Mormon was true (cause it's always good to strengthen your testimony). So I read a little bit in the night and then I asked. And I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel like I got an answer so I was pretty disappointed and I went to bed and kind of forgot about it. Then Thursday (I think) We were teaching the Pavez Family and we were talking about the Restoration. I talked about the Book of Mormon and I was able to bear my testimony of it. While I was testifying I felt the Holy Ghost really strongly and I felt that what I was saying was true. It was awesome cause I learned that the answers don't always come right when we want them and that the best way to strengthen your testimony is to use it! We found out too that this family read the Book of Mormon together for the first time that they have been married. It was kind of sad because they hadn't read it but it was awesome because they started reading it. 

Pretty much I'm just stressing out about changes, but hope you guys have a great week!

Love

Elder Cheney

November 7, 2016

Hola,

That's cool that Dustin ran the 5k, (The Disney 5k and 10k at Disney World) I kind of miss running a little bit. I want to run a marathon when I get back, at least one. There's not a whole lot of time to run here, just when we're late to a lesson. 

Nice! Dustin's getting in on the missionary work! They seem like a great couple, have they gone to church? I don't have a ton of experience with people like that (A Muslim couple that we have had discussions with)   because everyone and their dog is Catholic here. Or Jehovah's Witness. Or Evangelico. He's gotta read the Book of Mormon, he's not going to be able to know anything if he doesn't. Try looking up some of the videos from the Testaments, I bet that he really doesn't have a whole lot of information on Jesus Christ. And then at the end he has to ask God if Jesus Christ is his son. He can only get the answer from a spiritual confirmation. If he doesn't pray and ask he can't get the answer. But sounds like you guys are doing a good job up there. 

So this week we had a miracle, we found Constanza. She's 14 or 15 and the cousin of a recent convert. We taught her twice before Sunday and she accepted to get baptized the 20th of November. We were super excited because her cousins are great and they are going to help her a ton. But then Saturday we found out the she got bit by some crazy bug and had to go to the hospital and didn't go to church. So that was pretty disappointing, but we're going to find her this week so we can get everything good again. 

I finally getting to know Huanhualí and the members. They're super awesome. It's cool to get to know the members and talk to them. And it usually takes them 4 or 5 weeks to learn your name so they finally know me now haha. 

I got my ballot (We sent him an absentee ballot) and I know it's a civil duty to vote but I'm pretty sure it's a civil duty to be informed and I'm the least informed person on the planet right now so I'm not sure if I want to vote. 

But that's about it from this week,

Love you guys!

Elder Cheney

 

 

October 31, 2016

No Halloween isn't so big here, there's some chileans that are anti Halloween, buts there are people from the states like that too. So I don't think we're going to stay in. 

Our zone is Villa Alemana Oeste, there are 12 missionaries including me and my companion. We have 2 Brazilians, 2 Chileans, 2 Peruvians(People from peru, I'm not sure that's right), 1 Colombian, 1 Canadian, and 4 from the US. The average time in our zone is like 6 months, so we are a really young zone. 

I got the box! I had to wait because they send it to the mission office and I get it when I see someone from the office which isn't too often. But it was awesome, I'm really enjoying it. Elder Almeida likes the protein bars.
You're going to get mad, but I don't want to write a long email today(I'm lazy, lo siento) so here's a scripture I really liked from personal study:

And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. 4 Nephi 1:15

Con much love,

Elder Cheney