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