December 11, 2017

This week I went on vacation to a place called Salamanca. Just kidding it wasn't really a vacation I left friday morning to do companion exchanges with Elder Ccarita from Peru. It was pretty fun. It's really hot there, I think I got two shades darker.

While we were there we taught a lady named Ruth. She has parkinsons but she sat to listen to us and we shared the message of the Restoration. She loved it, she was actually tearing up by the end. She said she really wanted to know for herself. She had actually been praying that God would help her out so that she could find the truth. She's very humble so it was awesome to be able to teach her. 

Then saturday we had what is called a Capilla Abierta (Open Chapel?) The whole zone was there and pretty much what happened was that we open the chapel put up some stands and give tours and talk about basic stuff like the restoration, baptism, the plan of salvation, etc. I was in the room with the baptismal font and me and Elder Navarro spoke about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was pretty fun, a couple people came in off the street, but it's a pretty small town so we had a good turnout. 

Actually to get ready for the Capilla Abierta we went to a radio station and we announced it. It was pretty cool, the first time I've ever been on the radio haha.  Then we went to church in Salamanca on Sunday because we were there pretty late saturday. We finally got back to Los Vilos at like 7 yesterday and it was like coming home. 

After we got back we were able to teach Tamara. She has a cousing Damari and they are going to get baptized soonish. We just have to confirm the dates, but their Grandma is awesome and brings all of her grandchildren to church. So maybe they'll get baptized the 23rd, right before christmas. But this week we'll make sure of that. 

This week I was reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and there's an interesting phrase "exception of persons." It says that God doesn't make an exception of persons or in other words that everyone is equal to God. But if we are not obedient to God we can lose out on many blessings. In Alma 28:13

 it says "And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression..." So if we don't know the commandments and we don't keep them, unknowingly we will lose many blessings, that's why in verse 14 it says 

"And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life." We have the responsability to share the Gospel with everyone so that they can have the same blessings, and those blessings only come through obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel and the commandments. 

Love you guys a lot!!!!!

Elder Cheney

 

 

November 20, 27 and December 1, 2017

November 20

This week:

Last monday we had a family night and we watched a video from President Hinckley called "Lessons I learned as a boy." Then we passed out a paper to everyone in the room and had everyone put their name on top. Then we explained that to show charity we don't need to give people money but sometimes it's as simple as some kind words. So everyone passed the paper to their left and the idea is that everyone in the room wrote something nice about everyone else. At the end everyone ended up with their paper again and it had a bunch of talent, attributes or other nice things that people had said about them. It was pretty awesome. Everyone felt really good and we invited everyone to lighten someone else's day by complimenting them, thanking them for something, or just being nice because it really can go a lond way. 

Roberto- This guy a couple weeks ago we showed up to his house because he's living with a less active member, and he didn't really want anything to do with us. But a couple of days ago we went and he started talking to us and out of the blue he told us that he stopped smoking and he hadn't smoked for four days and that he wanted to go to church. We talked a bit about the book of mormon and the promises that Prophet Monson left us a while back and he got excited to read. So then he showed up to church on Sunday and yesterdaywe passed by after and they had read the first 6 chapters of the book of mormon and remembered a ton. He was pumped to and wants to get a suit to wear to church. We'll be passing by again this week, but he's a really cool guy and he likes to make jokes. 

Reynaldo- My main man got baptized this week. It was pretty cool his family showed up and it was a nice little service. Then he got confirmed on Sunday. He was smiling the whole time. It was kind of crazy because the morning of the baptism we realized that there was no white pants in the entire city so we took an hour and fifteen minute bus ride to go get some haha. It was a pretty crazy day, but it was awesome to see the baptism. 

Jesús- He's a recent convert of about 6 months but when I got here he wasn't going to church. He's gone two weeks in a row now and he wore a white shirt and tie last sunday. I think he'll start passing the sacrament soon, he's fourteen. he's a really cool kid, we've been helping him a lot with his english and he showed us how to draw a bit to pay us back haha. He has some friends and his mom that he wants to bring to church so he's pumped to help us out. Also he wants to be a missionary so we're helping to keep him motivated. So our boy Jesus is doing great. 

This week I got sick. I had a pretty bad headache and I thought I had a fever. Plus my nose was running a ton. I felt like a sack of garbage so I called the mission nurse. I was coughing up a lung and she had the nerve to tell me that I had the "common cold." So it actually wasn't that big of a deal. Plus the mami gave me some chinese pills that looked like little sombreros and I felt great after sleeping on that. 

Also this week we gave talks in sacrament meeting and I think the big hit was when my companion mentioned honey badger. Chileans had never heard of them so they went crazy. And after that the teacher for the class didn't show up so they put us in. Pretty much it was the elders show in the chapel on sunday. But it was sweet because we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and everyone shared experiences of how they had been guided by the holy ghost at some point in their lives. 

I really liked this scripture Doctrine and Covenants 45:57

 "For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day."

Love you lots!!!!

Elder Cheney

November 27

It was a good week, it went by really fast so I'm having trouble remembering some of the things that happened, but here it goes.

We had change calls on Sunday and it looks like I will be staying with Elder Hucks here in Los Vilos another change. It's going to be pretty cool because we already know each other and we teach well together so it's going to be a good change. 

Thanksgiving was pretty great. Turned out that the papis were trying to give us dinner and not lunch so we made our own lunch. We didn't find any turkey but we fried up a bunch of chicken with some mashed potatoes and gravy. To finish things off we had some brownies and icecream. It was a pretty great meal. After in the night the papis gave us some papas du queso which is like big tater tots with cheese in them and some meat. We finished Thanksgiving nice and plump. 

They're trying to get us to participate in the Christmas choir here, I'm going to do my best to avoid the members haha. Just kidding it looks like we'll be apart of the Christmas Choir this year. 

We had a District Conference and everyone went up to Salamanca. It's like a two hour bus ride each way. It was really cool, the theme was Jesus Christ, the rock of our faith. They spoke a lot of how we should always make sure that God is in first place and we don't let anything else take more importance. It was cool to be with all the missionaries there. 

We taught Delia this week the Restoration! It was a good lesson, she participated more than in other occasions. She had an accident and has been in bed for like a month but she finally is going to get her boot taken off in a couple days and hopefully she starts going to church. We're working with her so she can go. 

We also found some new people to teach this week, but we have to do some follow up to see if they're going to progress. But the work continues!!!

Also the investigator of the sisters asked me to baptize him this saturday. It was a really cool experience. He's a big guy, like 6'1 and maybe 230 pounds. It's a good thing I've been doing my exercises because it was not easy to get him back out of the water. he's been investigating the church for like a year so it was cool, all the members were happy that he got baptized. 

 

A scripture that I really liked from my study this week in Mosiah 15:9 

Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.

 It describes perfectly what Christ has done for us. He makes it possible that we recieve mercy, He makes it possible that we can live again after this life, and He makes it possible that we can be forgiven of our sins. With Christmas coming up we should make an extra effort to remember Him admist all of the shopping, food, and good christmas music. To remember why we celebrate, why we get together as a family. Remember Christ. 

Love you guys a lot!!!!

Elder Cheney

December 4

We are definitely doing #iluminaelmundo or light the worldhere. We're inviting everyone to do it and we also have an open chapel program that we're going to be doing. In the zone we have 3 and we're not really going to have any help from the mission so it's pretty much just me and my companion planning all the activities. We have the first one this saturday. It should be pretty lit. We'll see how it goes, pretty much the goal is to get a ton of people in the chapel so they can learn a bit about the basic beliefs that we have. 

We taught Waldo yesterday, he's the dad of a recent convert. He was going through some pretty tough times there with the family so we started talking about prayer and then baptism. We talked about how baptism changes lives as we keep the commandments and keep our covenants (promises). He asked us "What are the commandments? What do I have to do to get baptized? That's what I need in my life." It was awesome, so we talked about a baptismal date. He has a lot of changes to make in his life but we're excited to work with him so he can become a new person. 

Something spiritual, in the leaders conference that we had this week some elders shared how they had made an effort to keep the sabbath day a little more holy. It's kind of hard as missionaries because we do the same thing everyday so there's not a whole lot to change to make it special. But I used some of their ideas, for example the night before I shined my shoes and in the morning I studied and learned how to play a hymn on the piano. It was awesome, during church I felt a lot more of the spirit and I learned a lot more from the classes. I felt more edified. Maybe that's something to look at, what we can do to keep the sabbath day more holy. It is something sacred for the Lord, just like the scriptures or the temple, we should treat it like that. 

Have a great week and check out Light the World in Mormon.org!!!!!!

Love you guys!!!!

 

 

Elder Cheney

November 13, 2017

Twas a good week here in Los Vilos. There was an incredible amount of wind haha, I don't think I'm going to be able to get over that.

Angelo- He's the guy that had a baptismal date, but started working a ton. We passed by his house and we shared Alma 5:12 right there outside in his car haha. It was a great conversation, we talked about the change he has had in his own life from the Gospel. He recognizes that he's had a 180, he wants to get baptized but he wants to wait a little more to get baptized. 

Esteban- This guy has been playing with my heart this week. We taught him on Wednesday and it went great, he accepted a baptismal date for the 9th of December. He's about 19 and he told us how he really wanted to change his life, so that was awesome. He told us he was going to go to some activities during the week and we passed by his house and called but we couldn't find him. That was pretty heartbreaking, then Sunday morning we pass by his house and he was there and went to church with us and stayed for the 3 hours. That ws awesome. Then we passed by for an appointment in the afternoon and he wasn't there again. Another heartbreaker. It looks like we just have to find him in the house. But he's a great guy, he has a ton of potential. 

Renaldo- My man Renaldo. He's going great, he's going to get baptized Friday. We were talking about obedience the other day and we asked "Why is it important for you to follow God's commandents?" And he said "Because... yes!" Amen, sometimes you gotta do it because it's the right thing to do. He's the chiquillo at the end. 

Also this week we passed by a kid (Tomas) to teach him english and after he brought us some juice. So I starting drinking really slowly because I'm sneaky and we started talking and asked him if he had ever had questions about God and stuff like that. He asked "Yea, what is God like?" And then he started firing off questions and we just answered them. It was awesome, really natural, sincere questions. Great teaching experience. Then we said, yea one more question. And he asked "What happens after we die?" We didn't answer, we just marked a Book of Mormon and then we gave it too him and invited him to study and figure it out for himself. He accepted and were going to have to do some follow up but he seems like a great kid, he's like 17 and his cousin is a recent convert in the branch. 

Also we ran through some long grass and my legs are itchy so pray for me. Yesterday we went to the chapel because there was an activity and all of the sisters from the relief society tried to out do each other by giving us different types of cakes and breads. Then they started watching Baptists at our Barbecue. We had to leave, but I had a lot of ganas to watch the movie haha. 

This week in a family night we watched a bible video about after the resurrection of Jesus and he was talking to his disciples. 

In John 20:21 he says:

Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Those words, peace be unto to, in contrast with the trials and afflictions that were going to come upon the apostoles seem a little hard to believe. But if you think about it, who had the hardest life, who suffered the most? Jesus Christ. Who had the most inner peace, despite what happened around him? Jesus Christ. The Father sent Jesus to do a work and as He completed with the will of the Father Jesus was able to maintain that peace, that peace that came from knowing that God was pleased in Him. Then Jesus tells us "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." He wants us to do what he did, minister to those that need help, share the Gospel, be examples of His love. And he promises that as we do the will of the Father we will have peace in our lives, it doesn't matter what goes on around us or what challenges we face we can have true peace. 

Love you guys a lot!!!!

Elder Cheney

 

October 30, 2017

I'm sorry I know it's lame but it's one of those days I don't want to write a lot!!! But here's a ton of pictures!!!!!

We played soccer with the zone today and it was a ton of fun!

We went to Viña for a meeting with President and learned a whole lot of stuff

We drew up the plan of salvation to share with some people

And I found a couple little homies (that guy with a lot of hair was crazy!)

Great Scripture I found this week, Helaman 12:23-24

23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.

24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.

But it was a great week, thanks for the love!!!

Love Elder Cheney

 

October 23, 2017

Dang that's too bad about BYU, at least it's still the Lord's school haha. Looks like all the fans have lost faith so that probably doesn't help. (I told him that we went to the ECU v. BYU game and it was ugly. The whole BYU football season has been ugly. : (

That would be pretty cool if you left the decorations up and we have a ham and cheesy potatoes dinner then we can take them all down the next day. But a little bit of Christmas cheer didn't hurt anyone. Porfi (His opinion on whether or not I should leave the Christmas decorations up until he gets home January 10)

My new area is Los Vilos. If I had to compare it to a place probably Dalheart, Texas. It's small and rural. It's kind of a fishing town so that's interesting. The sector is pretty small size wise but there are a decent amount of people. It is really windy. All the time haha. Even though we're going into summer right now I still wear 2 jackets walking around at night. The people are really cool. We've met a couple homey members and whatnot. My companion is Elder Hucks from American Fork. He likes to play basketball (even though he hasn't touched a ball in like a year) and he's a cool guy. He doesn't speak English, like he doesn't like to, which is good because we speak Spanish in between us. 

We had an investigator that was going to get baptized this Saturday coming up. We passed by on Saturday to make sure he was going to church. We passed by like 3 times but he wasn't there and he didn't answer, then we passed by Sunday morning to go with him but he wasn't there either. So he didn't make it out to church which was a heartbreaker. We passed by after on Sunday and it looks like he took another job on Sunday so he might be able to go every other Sunday and he kind of wants to wait a little bit more on baptism. So that wasn't too cool, but we're going to keep working with him to help him progress. 

We have a little homie named Renaldo that is going to get baptized the 4th of November. He's going really well for his baptism, he's praying and reading so he'll be fine.  And there are a bunch of other people that have a lot of potential here so we're excited to get to it. 

The other day I went up to Illapel for interchanges, it's about an hour to the north on a bus, and I was with my boy Elder Navarro from Mexico. We had a good day and we taught an investigator that is going to get baptized over there. She has a brother in law that was there and he was asking a bunch of questions. So while Elder Navarro was talking to the investigator I was able to talk to Marcos(the brother in law). He asked a bunch of really good questions to get to know our lifestyle as missionaries, what the Church is about, and how it all came to be. I pretty shared the message of the Restoration with him and it was one of the coolest teaching experiences on my mission because he had a desire to know and he asked good questions (yes there are bad questions). It was pretty laid back too, he felt satisfied with the things we were teaching, it was awesome to see someone feel the Spirit and accept the answers that we give. 

We're pretty much in summer but it's still kind of cold. I don't think it's going to get too hot here because of the wind. It's nice to be out here in the field again, there's a couple of things to get used to and I miss the boys in the office, but it's so awesome to teach a lot. It's a lot of fun. We've been able to teach a lot, or maybe I feel like it's a lot compared to the office.

Love you guys a lot!!!

Elder Cheney

Extra note from Sis. Tina Cheney

 We received this note and picture from Sis. Tina Cheney. She and her husband Tom Cheney are serving a mission in the area office for several South American countries. The Cheneys are from our ward in Waxhaw (no relation!)

This is a picture of Tina with Daniel's Mission President.


We are having a wonderful week with the amazing Mission Presidents of the great South America South Area here in Bariloche.  What a great Mission President Elder Cheney is serving with!

I will send a sweet picture from yesterday.

Love,

Hermana Cheney

October 10 and 18, 2017

October 10, 2017

So my last week here in the office is going to be pretty crazy. Hermana Diaz (our mission presidents wife) isn't here for change week and she's the one that is in charge of food. President took Chef Cheney too literally and now I'm in charge of food for the week. So I have to make a dinner (like a fancy, real dinner) and a couple of lunches. I'll get help from the other guys but I'm like the food coordinator I guess haha. But it'll be fun. 

One of the guys we're teaching right now is Tomas, he's Haitian. There are a bunch of Haitians

that are getting here to Chile so we've been talking to a ton of them. They don't speak a whole lot of Spanish. Some speak a bit of English. In the office we've kind of been trying to learn French, but it's pretty hard haha. Tomas is a good guy, he left his family in Haiti to come here and work. We talked about prophets last time and he understood pretty well, he was interested in the idea of prophets to guide us.

This week I reread one of my favorite scriptures in 1 Nephi 10. This is right after his father, Lehi prophesies and teaches a bunch of stuff that was kind of hard to understand and believe. Nephi tells of how he was desirous to see and know like his father had seen and known. Then he shared in verse 19 " For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." The secret to great knowledge, a grand testimony, is that there is no secret! We have to diligently seek and be patient in that search. And when we have an open heart and real intent then we can learn of the truthfulness by the power of the Holy Ghost. It's important to be consistent and deliberate in our studies of the scriptures and our prayers. 

Love you a lot Mom!! Thanks!

Elder Cheney

October 18, 2017

I don't think I ever went to Charleston with you guys... but sounds like a lot of fun! We went to the Biltmore house one time for a field trip and it is massive. It's a pretty cool place. (I was telling him about some things we did with his Grandma and Grandpa Cheney when they visited)

It was the first time Elder Merkely had gotten flights and he accidentally asked for the wrong day haha. But we got it all figured out. He learned how to do it haha. (I kind of panicked when we received an itinerary from Church Travel confirming that Daniel Cheney would arrive in Charlotte on October 18.  Yikes!!! I sent the office an email and they said that was wrong, and a new itinerary was coming. We did get the new itinerary--Daniel will be coming home January 10 at 8 in the morning!!!!)

The dinner went pretty well. We made way too much food. Like wayyyyyy too much. But it went well, we made chicken, some sort of beef thing, cheesy potatoes, a couple salads, garlic bread, cream corn, and we had a couple of cakes. And salmon. So it was a pretty great dinner. I was in the office up until yesterday, then I got on a bus (alone for the first time in a year and a half!) It was pretty dang scary, even though it was about 2 and a half hours away. Now I'm here in Los Vilos! It's the Illapel Zone. It's a bit further north of Viña, but not too much. My companion is Elder Hucks, he's from American Fork, Utah. He was in my zone back in Huanhualí so I kind of already know him. He's a really cool guy. 

I don't know the sector all that well, I got here at like 5 yesterday, but we're going to have a pretty busy week with a good amount of people to teach. It's pretty hard to meet a ton of people and remember where they live, names, faces, who they are, after leaving a different sector with a bunch of people. But in a week or two I'll be fine. 

I'm pretty excited to be out in the field, even though it'll be a lot different from the office, it'll be nice to focus in on the sector. Actually yesterday when I was coming up on the bus I was reading in the Book of Mormon, and right in the part where it talks a bit about the stripling warriors. It's such a great part, in Alma 56 it talks about how the Nephites were trying to defeat a Lamanite army and Helaman leaves with his boys to draw them out. The lamanite army follows them and they begin a race of sorts. Behind the lamanite army comes the army of Antipus to fight the Lamanites from both sides. So all three of them are running after each other and trying to escape. The army of Helaman wakes up one day and realizes that the Lamanites aren't following them anymore. It could have been that Antipus had caught up and needed help in the battle, or the Lamanites had laid a trap for them. Helaman says to them "Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?" Then in his letter to Moroni he says "45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites  46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus....Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." They rose to the occasion and chose to be valiant and strong. In our lives God gives us "Moments of Greatness," where we can choose to rise to the occasion and be valiant. The stripling warriors had never foughten but they trusted in the promises of the Lord. We have moments like this every day, some big, some small, but we have to choose to be great, or to deny ourselves the chance to grow and progress. Even though these decisions can seem small, they will have all the difference at the end of our lives. 

I'll send some pictures next week! I don't have any haha

I love you guys a lot!!!

Elder Cheney

October 5, 2017

This week was pretty crazy, there's just always something to do. For example we're writing early because we have to take a missionary to the airport in like an hour or  two.  But it's nice to be busy and not bored haha. We had the baptism of Fabian this week and it was really cool. A ton of people got to the service to support him. The family was really excited after to work now to get sealed together. I put some pictures of them down here. Fabian was smiling the entire time, he was so happy. I also think he just liked the attention haha. But it was a really special service. 

The Goulds are going home, they are the senior couple here. I've been in the office with them for 7 months so I'm going to be pretty sad when they get out of here. Yesterday we had a good-bye dinner with President and Hermana Diaz (very tasty by the way) and they're heading off tomorrow. 

I think my favorite talk might have been from President Nelson or President Eyring. I liked how they reiterated the invitation of President Monson and the importance of reading the Book of Mormon every day. The promise from President Nelson was pretty powerful: "My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day" I've really been trying to make sure I dedicate a portion of my study to the Book of Mormon and focus on what it means for me and how I can apply those teachings in my life. It's been amazing to see the day to day applications that I can take out from that Book. 

I was reading a BYU devotional this week on "The thoughts of our Hearts: Why we do the things that we do" and it was very interesting. He talked about how there are basically two ends of the spectrum of why we do things. On one end is the Love of the World. On the other Love of God. He then asked that we think about why we went to Church last Sunday. Sincerely think about it and the reason that you went to Church last Sunday. He offered some possible answers, my parents made me, to be sociable, habit, take the sacrament, learn in the classes. There are a lot of different answers and they can be scattered on that spectrum. Knowing the reason of why we do what we do we can see if we our satisfied by our motives or if we would like to change for better, purer motives. Just as important as what we do is why we do it (I'm pretty sure that is from a Church Leader). So thinking a little bit more about "Why am I going to say this prayer?" "Why am I going to study the Book of Mormon everyday?" "Why am I trying to be nicer to other people?" will help us get much more out of the small and simple things of the Gospel. 

Love you a lot!!!

Elder Cheney

 

 

September 28, 2017

This week was sweet and there was a bunch of stuff that happened, so I'll try to sum it up the best I can:

They're starting to call me Chef Cheney now. Since I don't have a specific assignment in the office I'm on lunch duty. I made chicken enchiladas and they turned out pretty well. Also Elder Gould had his birthday so I made some Chicken Cordon Bleu, and it was pretty rico also, I made it for like 13 people, so I'm also catering events now. If you have any other recipes that I can try send them to me!!!

Also a recent convert in our ward, Teresa, got married. It was pretty cool I was able to be a witness. It was a civil wedding, so not as cool as a temple one, but they were really happy about it. They have plans to get married in the temple when they can. 

We found some haitians this week that we are teaching. They speak a little bit of spanish and a whole lot of french and criole. So me and the office guys are trying to learn more french to be able to teach them. It's kind of like being a new missionary that doesn't understand the language.  They are really humble and they like to talk to us, but it's hard to get them to commit to anything. They want to go to a baptism we're going to have this week so that is going to be good for them. 

Speaking of that, Fabian is a chico that we're teaching, his family was a little bit inactive but they've been going to church really strongly for a couple of months and they have some goals to go to the temple and get sealed. He's a cool little guy, he's like 10 or 11. So he'll get baptized on Friday. 

I have an invitation for you guys, share the Gospel this week! On twitter, facebook with someone at the store, just find an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone that needs it!

Love you guys!

Elder Cheney

September 19, 2017

This week I was able to go to Huanhualí my last sector and spend the day working there. It was a ton of fun, it was like I never left haha. One of my converts there is going super strong and going to seminary every day and going to the temple with the ward. She also wants to go on a mission so it was awesome to see how much she has progressed. Also there is another kid that got baptized a week or two after I left that is getting his papers ready. It was a really fun day and great to see the people I worked with before.

Yesterday was the 18th of September and it's pretty much the 4th of July here. So everyone has a barbecue and we eat a ton of food. We were able to do a zone activity and we went to some sand dunes in Concon. We played soccer, threw a frisbee around, and tried to fly kites but it didn't work out so well. They all got shredded haha. But it was a ton of fun just to run around on the sand. 

In the pictures I had with President in one of them and that was the ward activity we had for the 18th. He dressed up a bit with the hat and the poncho. He danced cueca, a traditional dance here so it was super funny to see him dancing.

I'm reading the old testament and today I was reading about the temple of Salomon and it was pretty cool because it talks about a font that was put upon 12 oxen. 

In Alma 35 it talks about how the Zoramite converts were cast out of their homes and they had to flee and be refuges in another land. They had to give all of their worldly possessions up to be able to believe as they felt was right. Maybe we won't have to give it all up but we will have to make some sacrifices to be able to believe and worship. That might mean a couple friends, old habits, or a couple of hours on Sunday but we should be willing and ready to make those sacrifices when the Lord asks us. 

September 12, 2017

We wrote early today because we are going to go do a p-day with the Goulds and the assistants. You'll be getting some pictures of that. Not much has happened in these past couple of days. You never responded to my other email!!! Do you and dad have any advice on what I should do? (He's trying to figure out work/school after mission, and he will get back the day AFTER classes start back up at BYU :) Can you try to find me a sweet job? Just so I can have somewhat of a plan when I get back.

Hey this is something I just shared with a friend:

This week especially I've felt so grateful for the chance to be a missionary. It's like Ammon was saying that when they started they couldn't have imagined the blessings that God was going to give them on the mission. I've seen a lot of changes in myself, stuff I never thought about before the mission. It's has definitely been the best almost two years of my life up until this point.

I'm very grateful for this chance I'm having to serve a mission and to be able to meet so many people. I've learned a lot from the Chileans and from my companions. I've grown a lot closer to my Heavenly Father and I've learned about how I fit into his plan. And how others fit into that plan. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through him we can repent and be happy. 

Thanks for everything mom, I love you guys a lot and I hope the family is doing ok!

Love 

Elder Cheney

August 31, 2017

As you can probably tell by the time I am writing this it was a long trip.It was really fun and we got a lot of stuff done, but I'll tell you about it after answering your email. 

I asked him about anything he wanted to share from the Book of Mormon for my seminary class.

One of my favorite quotes about the Book of Mormon is from President Joseph Fielding Smith: "No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon" It just goes to show the importance of reading and truly studying the Book of Mormon. 

One of the most powerful experiences or testimonies I've had with the Book of Mormon is with our last convert, Victor. He started reading the Book of Mormon at the beginning when we invited him. His learning curve was so much faster than other people I taught. He would leave lessons with a couple questions or doubts and he would come back with his own answers that he had found after searching and prayers. Some answers he read and some were given to him through the Spirit. When we read the Book of Mormon with prayer and real intent it will answer our questions, we will feel the love of God, and we will be on the path to exaltation. In my own life it has given me a foundation in the Gospel and I have set a goal to read it every day and I think that is what has helped me most to get through tough times. Ponder and sincerely read the Book of Mormon. There are days when I am tired and it's hard to get through a chapter (I still have to read my chapter today) but I know God will bless me as I ponder in the stories and words that are in there. It has expanded my mind and given me a vision of what God has planned for me. I am grateful for the sacrifices of many people to make the Book of Mormon possible and I know that it is the word of God that is meant to guide us through these days. 

Tell your seminary students to share their testimonies with me too! I like to read them. Also I forgot but can you thank the primary kids for me? It was really cool to read their letters and they gave me a lot of ánimo! I love me some handwritten letters. 

So we left on Tuesday, me, Élder Smith (my companion), and Élder Gould (the housing guy). We went up to Coquimbo which is about 4 or 5 hours to the north. The goal was to buy 4 matresses with the frames, fix 3 windows, patch up about 4 walls, and drop off various things like rugs, blankets, and heaters. It was pretty intense and we were out until about 10:30 tuesday and wednesday night. It was fun too because it was the first time that I was in the North of the mission, so I've only heard stories of it for a year and a half. It was different from what I thought, I was thinking that it was going to be a barren wasteland but it was more like a resort. It is really nice up there. We got to go to a place called Vicuña that is about and hours drive from Coquimbo so we got to see all parts of the mission. I can't find my camera right now, but I'll send some pictures next week. We took our p-day today to move some more matresses and patch up a wall and then we drove back down too. We got back pretty late, but it was a good trip. It was nice to work on the houses and get out of the office a bit too. 

This week will be change week (Woooohhhhhoooooo!!!!), so I won't be writing until next Saturday, the 9th. Wow, August passed by quick. 

We're still not sure about the changes, we should find out tomorrow (companions and whatnot) but the assisstants said that there might be a couple of surprises so I'll keep you updated next week. 

I think might spiritual though will be the above mentioned about the Book of Mormon. Thanks for the email mom, it's nice to hear from you guys. I love you a lot!!

Elder Cheney

August 23, 2017

Hey it was a pretty long week, we had a bunch of stuff to do in the office. But I learned a lot this week so it's all good. Last week for pday we went walking around Viña becuase it's a very pretty city. We took some pictures with the water and I found an anchor. Today for pday we made some pancakes and watched a movie that President recommended for us. It's been a pretty calm day so it was nice to rest up a little bit.

Changes are coming up, this change I'm going to start training the next secretary. I don't know who it is but we've got a great group of guys out here. In like a week and a half I'll know who the new guy is.

This week we started teaching a less active lady, Yael, with her two kids. The oldest Francisco is 10 and he accepted to be baptized. They are a really cool family. They live in a tiny house that is pretty unfinished. We go there with a member and they only have two chairs and they sit on an old matress. It's really humbling to be able to teach them and see how happy they are with so little. We've only taught them a couple times so we're still getting to know them, but they're awesome.

This week I found a scripture I really liked. It's in Psalms 37:4-5:

4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

If we trust God and ask in faith, according to His will God will bring it to pass. We just have to learn to trust God and leave the things we can't do up to Him. That being said, we have to take care of our part and do everything we can, remembering that without God it'll be impossible.

Love you a lot!

Elder Cheney

August 15, 2017

Yea thanks for keeping the blog up, that's been really cool. The pcitures I attached today are from a car ride that we just started taking a million pictures, so that's kind of what Viña looks like. You guys haven't sent me any pictures! I don't even know what you look like anymore! Just send me some stuff of Cosmo, the house, or whatever you're doing.

You can choose to share what happened yesterday with everyone:

There was a missionary that was going home and he needed to be at the airport at 6am. So me with the other office guys we left to go take him a 4:30 and to leave at 4:30 we had to wake up at 3:30. The night before we got to bed at like 12ish because we did a dinner and stuff with the misionary that was leaving(he was the assistant). So we didn't get a lot of sleep haha. We went and dropped him off and there were some complications with that, but we raced back to get to the zone conference at 9. We got there literally at 8:59 and walked in when they started the first hymn. Then we had that all day and right after instead of getting some stuff done in the office we had some appointments so we headed over there and taught. We went to bed like normal at 11 so we were all pretty wrecked. President gave us permission to sleep in to 9 this morning so I feel like a million bucks. I should sleep in every day, haha just kidding. But it was a pretty hectic day yesterday. It's going to be a busy week too. 

Yesterday we had a family home evening with the Cortes Family and apparently they know David too from a ward they were in in Santiago. They said I'm funnier but they still liked him. They're going to help us find some more people to teach, they are a really cool family. 

This week we found a guy named Luis. Or maybe Igor. We were walking down the street and my companion was like we need to knock the door. We knocked on the door and it was the easiest contact ever. The guy looks at us and he's like "You guys are out this late? Come on in!" It was pretty sweet and we went in and talked to him for a bit and me his wife and son, Benjamin. His wife didn't participate in the lesson, but while we were talking Benjamin(he's 10) brought us juice and cake from his birthday party. He was a super cute kid haha. We talked to Luis a lot about eternal families. It went really well and he invited us to go back. 

Tell Dustin not to plan out the end of his mission before he starts haha. But it would be cool if everyone was out there before he leaves. 

This week I read a story in the Book of Mormon that I always like. It's about Alma the elder when he recently started preaching and teaching people. It's in Mosiah 23-25ish and you should definitely read it. But one of the scriptures in there Mosiah 23:21-22 says "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people." This was a group of people that was recently converted and baptized, they were keeping all of the commandments and doing everything right. But with all that there was a reason they had to pass through more trials. Sometimes in our lives we're doing everything right, but for some reason there are a lot of challenges. That's becuase God is preparing us for the future. He gives us chances to grow and increase our faith. At the end (without spoiling the story) the people of Alma were able to bear all the burdens that were put upon them with patience and joy. It all depends on our attitude and if we are willing to put more confidence in God than in ourselves. 

Hey I love you guys a lot!! Have a good week!

Elder Cheney