Hello Everyone!
Well to start off, it sure was great getting to talk to all of you on Christmas. Really was a great experience (and I'm not "trunky" about it either, so thats good haha). So now that Christmas is over now we get to celebrate new years! So to start off cambios (transfers in english) were today, and the good news is that none of us are moving! So that's pretty good.
So this week was pretty alright, had its ups and downs. So on Tuesday we had the activity we set up. It turned out not too shabby. A decent amount of people came and they enjoyed it I think.
So then on Wednesday we went to the local hospital and sang Christmas Carols to the people there for a couple hours. That was a neat experience, but unfortunately Elder Jorgensen felt pretty sick, so after that we went back to the house. We went to our neighbors house (recent converts) to get some ideas as to how he could feel better. So they gave him this drink, which had lemon juice, water, and bicarbonate in it. Not 20 seconds after he drank it he was throwing up in the bathroom. It was actually pretty funny. Then they put cut up potatoes with salt on them to make his temperature go down. Crazy chileans, haha.
So then on the 24th we went and sang to all of our investigators for 4 hours straight, then we had our Christmas dinner at a members house, a big asado (barbeque) which was delicious and a lot of fun. Then on the 25th we talked on the telephone!
Then Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal. Sunday we had the confirmations for the 2 people who were baptized, I got to give the comfirmation to 1. (I messed up a few times on the prayer, ugh). Anyways, so thats what happened. As far as our investigators are going...
So a lot of our investigators had gone out of town for christmas. We did get to teach Felipe once, and Carolina too. The lesson we taught with Carolina was really good, she talked to us about how before we came she couldn't forgive someone for what they had done, but she has forgiven him since. She said she never thought she would change, but she has. It really has been a blessing to see how the gospel can change peoples lives for the better. And we're still working on finding new people.
So thats about all I can think of at the moment. Have a fun New Years everyone! Love you all!
Elder Mayberry
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Elder Ryan's Christmas letter!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
So this week has been pretty spectacular. I shall tell you why…
So on Tuesday we did a division with the zone leaders, and I stayed in our sector and had to lead the sector. I was with Elder Bravo for the day, he dies (as they say here, or rather he's finishing his mission) in a week. So the day was alright, I like teaching with a latin. Elder Bravo teaches with pure power, he is a very good missionary. He also gave me a lot of good advice for the mission in general. So that was a lot of fun.
So the rest of the week was alright. We had a couple low points, one day we did contacts for 2 and a half hours straight and no one accepted a return appointment. So that was a bit depressing. But luckily we've been having a lot of the members come out with us, which is a great help. Members really do make all the difference in the world.
So.. Wednesday was the last day of English class til the next year. The people got little diplomas, it was cool.
So yeah, this week was rather uneventful until Sunday. So this Sunday we had 2 baptisms! One of Maria, and the other of the little girl named Nicole. Elder Jorgensen baptized both of them (Nicole was supposed to be baptized by her uncle but he never came), but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that these 2 people have now made this covenant with God, and are on the right path. And the other miracle, we had 11 investigators in church! This Sunday was the most stressful I've been in a long time. Between wrangling appointments with our investigators, getting everything ready for the baptism, setting up an activity for Tuesday, it was crazy, but worth it.
So the investigators are doing well, Felipe came to church, which was really good. We are going to challenge him to be baptized the next appointment. Also the lady Carolina came, and I think she really felt the spirit.
This week to come should be good, were gonna go caroling a couple times, one to a hospital and the other to our investigators. And Christmas! I feel like I'm forgetting a lot, but hopefully I remember if I am.
So I don’t have much else to say, other than enjoy the holiday season! But don’t keep the real reason why we celebrate too far in the back of your heads. Christ was born, born to go what every one of us would go through, and also to atone for the sins of everyone who has been, is, and will ever be. Remember the real Christmas message, that Jesus was born, in the humblest of circumstances, to give us a perfect example. Really, He was born so that every one of us would have life to come.
And with that, Merry Christmas and Happy holidays
¡Feliz Navidad!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
So this week has been pretty spectacular. I shall tell you why…
So on Tuesday we did a division with the zone leaders, and I stayed in our sector and had to lead the sector. I was with Elder Bravo for the day, he dies (as they say here, or rather he's finishing his mission) in a week. So the day was alright, I like teaching with a latin. Elder Bravo teaches with pure power, he is a very good missionary. He also gave me a lot of good advice for the mission in general. So that was a lot of fun.
So the rest of the week was alright. We had a couple low points, one day we did contacts for 2 and a half hours straight and no one accepted a return appointment. So that was a bit depressing. But luckily we've been having a lot of the members come out with us, which is a great help. Members really do make all the difference in the world.
So.. Wednesday was the last day of English class til the next year. The people got little diplomas, it was cool.
So yeah, this week was rather uneventful until Sunday. So this Sunday we had 2 baptisms! One of Maria, and the other of the little girl named Nicole. Elder Jorgensen baptized both of them (Nicole was supposed to be baptized by her uncle but he never came), but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that these 2 people have now made this covenant with God, and are on the right path. And the other miracle, we had 11 investigators in church! This Sunday was the most stressful I've been in a long time. Between wrangling appointments with our investigators, getting everything ready for the baptism, setting up an activity for Tuesday, it was crazy, but worth it.
So the investigators are doing well, Felipe came to church, which was really good. We are going to challenge him to be baptized the next appointment. Also the lady Carolina came, and I think she really felt the spirit.
This week to come should be good, were gonna go caroling a couple times, one to a hospital and the other to our investigators. And Christmas! I feel like I'm forgetting a lot, but hopefully I remember if I am.
So I don’t have much else to say, other than enjoy the holiday season! But don’t keep the real reason why we celebrate too far in the back of your heads. Christ was born, born to go what every one of us would go through, and also to atone for the sins of everyone who has been, is, and will ever be. Remember the real Christmas message, that Jesus was born, in the humblest of circumstances, to give us a perfect example. Really, He was born so that every one of us would have life to come.
And with that, Merry Christmas and Happy holidays
¡Feliz Navidad!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, December 14, 2009
Christmas bread everywhere!
Hello everyone!! Great to hear from you all. Things are going great here in Chile, the work is really moving forward, and we are recieving all kinds of blessings. So I'll start with the investigators...
So this week we've seen a lot of progress with our investigators. So Maria Alejandra had her baptismal interview this sunday, and she passed! So she's going to be baptized this coming Sunday, the 20th. Also, we received a blessing out of nowhere. So originally, this member came up to us and asked if we could teach his daughter. She is 8, and that means she should be his responsibility. But we just found out this week that she really isn't his daughter, but the daughter of the lady he lives with. So it turns out we are supposed to be teaching her. But the good news is that she too passed her interview, and she'll be baptized the 20th too! So were gonna have 2 more baptisms this Sunday. Exciting.
So other investigators. So we recently started teaching some ladies named Carolina, Margarita, and her son Sebastian. They received the teaching well, and they told us they really wanted to come to church. But in the end they didn't, so we'll find out why this coming week. Another of our investigators, Felipe (hes 15), we taught him and his family the restoration this week. He accepted it well, and he says he has been searching many churches, and this one is most in line with his beliefs. Anyways, we asked him to give the closing prayer, and halfway through he just started crying. We don't know exactly why, but we will find out this week. And more news on Amalia. We finally talked to Gerson, the guy she lives with, about moving out. And he is in a very difficult decision, very complicated. He said he would know what he was going to do this week, so we'll see how it goes. And our other investigator Erika came to church again! She has 0 support in her house, and this is a big roadblock for her. But thankfully she has confided in some of the members, and they are helping her a lot. Basically, we have a lot of investigators that are halfway progressing.
Elders; Mayberry, Jorgensen,Viana, Christensen
So in other news. just some random things. So there's a rascist dog that lives down a street, every time we walk by it basically follows us barking until we are super far away. But then a Chilean walks by and he does nothing, haha. Also the junebugs are out, which I thought to be pretty darn amusing. And another thing, potatos here are 190 pesos a kilogram. Thats about 40 cents for 2.2 pounds of potatos. Pretty good I think. Also here during Christmas time they have a thing called^Pan de Pascua. Here they call Christmas both Navidad and Pascua, even though Pascua really is Easter. Anyways, it's not very not good, but everyone has it and I'm getting sick of it, haha. So another cool thing, we went over to Alejandros house (the new convert) for his birthday and we ate some completos. That was good.
And today we went to a place called Vilches. Its basically like some mountains where you hike. It was cool and a lot of fun. Il be sending some pics with this email. Not in danger - Elder Mayberry
So that's about all I have for this week. I'm getting excited for Christmas to come, and the work is going very well here. But Elder Jorgensen is probably gonna leave at the end of this cambio. But we'll see. So I heard something funny, yet very true. Someone said, "You know it's the true church when they leave the entire integrity of the church to 19 year old boys" It is so true, where else do you see 50,000 plus 19 year old boys spreading the gospel for no reimbursement; only because they know it's true. Así es. This church is so true. The truest as a matter of fact. I know this without a doubt, and I'm so happy I can be a tool in the Lords hands, to bring people closer to him. Love you all a ton and look forward to hearing from you.
Elder Jorgensen and Mayberry
Until next time,
Elder Ryan Mayberry
So this week we've seen a lot of progress with our investigators. So Maria Alejandra had her baptismal interview this sunday, and she passed! So she's going to be baptized this coming Sunday, the 20th. Also, we received a blessing out of nowhere. So originally, this member came up to us and asked if we could teach his daughter. She is 8, and that means she should be his responsibility. But we just found out this week that she really isn't his daughter, but the daughter of the lady he lives with. So it turns out we are supposed to be teaching her. But the good news is that she too passed her interview, and she'll be baptized the 20th too! So were gonna have 2 more baptisms this Sunday. Exciting.
So other investigators. So we recently started teaching some ladies named Carolina, Margarita, and her son Sebastian. They received the teaching well, and they told us they really wanted to come to church. But in the end they didn't, so we'll find out why this coming week. Another of our investigators, Felipe (hes 15), we taught him and his family the restoration this week. He accepted it well, and he says he has been searching many churches, and this one is most in line with his beliefs. Anyways, we asked him to give the closing prayer, and halfway through he just started crying. We don't know exactly why, but we will find out this week. And more news on Amalia. We finally talked to Gerson, the guy she lives with, about moving out. And he is in a very difficult decision, very complicated. He said he would know what he was going to do this week, so we'll see how it goes. And our other investigator Erika came to church again! She has 0 support in her house, and this is a big roadblock for her. But thankfully she has confided in some of the members, and they are helping her a lot. Basically, we have a lot of investigators that are halfway progressing.
Elders; Mayberry, Jorgensen,Viana, Christensen
And today we went to a place called Vilches. Its basically like some mountains where you hike. It was cool and a lot of fun. Il be sending some pics with this email. Not in danger - Elder Mayberry
Elder Jorgensen and Mayberry
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hello everyone!
Hope all is well back home. So... things are doing great here, we had a pretty good week. So first and foremost it's pretty hot here. Every day. I can't wait for winter when it rains every day, haha. So yeah, I've been in the mission for over 4 months if you can believe it.
So on Monday we woke up in the morning and cut all the grass in the backyard. It took a while, and the Ecuadorian in the house burned some of the grass off. He's hilarious. Pretty much all of the Latinos are very funny, but I think it might just be becuase it's amusing that I get their jokes in spanish. who knows. So one of the members here had to go up to Santiago to get some eye surgery done. She called the Missionaries for a blessing, and I guess she was in the sector Aaron was in last! Pretty funny, she barely missed him- kinda. And another funny story. We heard the word "luna de miel" on the TV. Literally translated this means Moon of Honey. About 2 minutes of thought later we figured out it was talking about a Honeymoon. Then I realized how weird a word honeymoon is.
So we have some new investigators, some of which are pretty good. We have one who's named Francisca, who is pretty receptive to what we teach. Another is named Erika. She too is receptive, and she went to church this last Sunday, and couldn't stop talking about how good she felt because of it : ) She had a very spiritual experience there. Another of our new investigators is named Maria Alejandra. She has already been to church a bunch of times with a friend to a different ward, but she too is progressing. So those 3 are the 3 big ones right now.
So another interesting fact. The firefighters here are all voluntary. And I quite frequently have trouble thinking of words in English now.
So the big funny story this week. So it was the morning and we were outside looking at the grass. And all of a sudden we saw a lizard, so we tried to catch it. Next thing I knew it was on my shoe, but we tried to get it but it disappeared. So fast forward an hour and a half later, and were sitting in a food place (we didn't have anyone to give us lunch), and all of a sudden I feel something in my pants, above my knee. Then it hit me that the lizard somehow managed to stay inside my pants for the whole time. So I calmly stood up, shook the leg of my pants, and out fell the lizard. The good news is that I dont think too many people saw, haha. So yeah, Chile's a blast.
So this Sunday we had 2 confirmations! And I'll tell you in a bit why it was only 2 and not 3. So Daniel and Alejandro got confirmed on Sunday. And Daniel chose me to do it! I was so nervous, but I'm pretty sure it went well. So... that was pretty cool, my first confirmation, in Spanish too. So Geremias didn't get confirmed this week. He has had a pretty tough life, it's very complicated with him. And this has affected him as a person. I guess he acts a lot differently when we the Missionaries aren't around. But he made a mistake on Saturday night, so we called the Bishop and he said it'd be best to wait till he's ready. So we've been doing a lot of praying for Geremias. Hopefully he is able to be confirmed soon, but it's the Bishops decision.
So last night we went over to San Clemente and spent the night. We played ping pong, and then this morning went to a lake close by. So that was cool as well.
Well that's about all I have for this week. We have really seen the Lords hand in our daily lives, we've been receiving blessings like no other. This really is the Lords work. The church is true. Love you all and I'll talk to you later!
Elder Ryan Mayberry.
Hope all is well back home. So... things are doing great here, we had a pretty good week. So first and foremost it's pretty hot here. Every day. I can't wait for winter when it rains every day, haha. So yeah, I've been in the mission for over 4 months if you can believe it.
So on Monday we woke up in the morning and cut all the grass in the backyard. It took a while, and the Ecuadorian in the house burned some of the grass off. He's hilarious. Pretty much all of the Latinos are very funny, but I think it might just be becuase it's amusing that I get their jokes in spanish. who knows. So one of the members here had to go up to Santiago to get some eye surgery done. She called the Missionaries for a blessing, and I guess she was in the sector Aaron was in last! Pretty funny, she barely missed him- kinda. And another funny story. We heard the word "luna de miel" on the TV. Literally translated this means Moon of Honey. About 2 minutes of thought later we figured out it was talking about a Honeymoon. Then I realized how weird a word honeymoon is.
So we have some new investigators, some of which are pretty good. We have one who's named Francisca, who is pretty receptive to what we teach. Another is named Erika. She too is receptive, and she went to church this last Sunday, and couldn't stop talking about how good she felt because of it : ) She had a very spiritual experience there. Another of our new investigators is named Maria Alejandra. She has already been to church a bunch of times with a friend to a different ward, but she too is progressing. So those 3 are the 3 big ones right now.
So another interesting fact. The firefighters here are all voluntary. And I quite frequently have trouble thinking of words in English now.
So the big funny story this week. So it was the morning and we were outside looking at the grass. And all of a sudden we saw a lizard, so we tried to catch it. Next thing I knew it was on my shoe, but we tried to get it but it disappeared. So fast forward an hour and a half later, and were sitting in a food place (we didn't have anyone to give us lunch), and all of a sudden I feel something in my pants, above my knee. Then it hit me that the lizard somehow managed to stay inside my pants for the whole time. So I calmly stood up, shook the leg of my pants, and out fell the lizard. The good news is that I dont think too many people saw, haha. So yeah, Chile's a blast.
So this Sunday we had 2 confirmations! And I'll tell you in a bit why it was only 2 and not 3. So Daniel and Alejandro got confirmed on Sunday. And Daniel chose me to do it! I was so nervous, but I'm pretty sure it went well. So... that was pretty cool, my first confirmation, in Spanish too. So Geremias didn't get confirmed this week. He has had a pretty tough life, it's very complicated with him. And this has affected him as a person. I guess he acts a lot differently when we the Missionaries aren't around. But he made a mistake on Saturday night, so we called the Bishop and he said it'd be best to wait till he's ready. So we've been doing a lot of praying for Geremias. Hopefully he is able to be confirmed soon, but it's the Bishops decision.
So last night we went over to San Clemente and spent the night. We played ping pong, and then this morning went to a lake close by. So that was cool as well.
Well that's about all I have for this week. We have really seen the Lords hand in our daily lives, we've been receiving blessings like no other. This really is the Lords work. The church is true. Love you all and I'll talk to you later!
Elder Ryan Mayberry.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thanksgiving !
Hey everyone!
Hope you all had nice Thanksgivings. I did too! I'll tell more about it in a bit. Overall, this weak was kind of slow, and a bit uneventful. But here's what happened...
So on Wednesday we had our zone conference. That's when all the zones of the more nothern part of the mission (about half of the mission) meet together and the Mission President talks to us. It was a good conference, I learned a lot. One problem the mission has at the moment is helping investigators come to church. So he advised us that we should put more emphasis on the Atonement. So we've been doing that now.
So the day after, we were basically Super Missionaries. We talked to a lot of people, focusing on the Atonement. And it really worked well, we had a lot of success.
So Thursday was Thanksgiving! Elder Jorgensen's mom sent him some potatos, microwave turkey dinners, etc. And we also went out and bought a chicken. So it was enjoyable. Elder Ryan Mayberry thumbs up!
Elders: Jorgensen, Viana,Christensen, Mayberry
Hope you all had nice Thanksgivings. I did too! I'll tell more about it in a bit. Overall, this weak was kind of slow, and a bit uneventful. But here's what happened...
So on Wednesday we had our zone conference. That's when all the zones of the more nothern part of the mission (about half of the mission) meet together and the Mission President talks to us. It was a good conference, I learned a lot. One problem the mission has at the moment is helping investigators come to church. So he advised us that we should put more emphasis on the Atonement. So we've been doing that now.
So the day after, we were basically Super Missionaries. We talked to a lot of people, focusing on the Atonement. And it really worked well, we had a lot of success.
So Thursday was Thanksgiving! Elder Jorgensen's mom sent him some potatos, microwave turkey dinners, etc. And we also went out and bought a chicken. So it was enjoyable. Elder Ryan Mayberry thumbs up!
Elders: Jorgensen, Viana,Christensen, Mayberry
And on Sunday we had Stake Conference, which was also good.
So yeah, this week wasn't too eventful. And concerning our investigators, we are basically working on finding new people. The 3 who were baptized are being confirmed next week. But yeah, so basically find, find, find, is what were doing.
Sorry this emails so short. But I really do love it here, I can't believe I've almost been out for 4 months! This really is the Lords work, and I'm so excited to be serving Him for 2 years. Til next week! ¡Chao!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, November 23, 2009
2 additional roomates!
Once again, hello everyone!
I sure do love being on a mission. I love it here. How are things back home? All good I hope. So this week has been very good. And we had 3 baptisms this week! But I shall start at the beginning of the week…
The new elders are here! One's named Elder Viana and the other is Elder Christensen. Both are really cool guys. Elder Viana is especially funny. Elder Christensen is brand new, so he's still a little out of it, haha. But he is a rubio (meaning he has blonde hair and blue eyes). Needless to say he is a spectacle here. Everyone just stares at him, haha. The norm here is having dark hair and dark eyes, so whenever someone is different they get a ton of attention. So yeah, they're both super cool and are wokring very hard. So to continue…
So to start I'll talk about some of the food. On Monday was the first time I had herbal tea. And I'm not gonna lie, I like it alot! It's really good. Who would have thought! Another interesting thing we had on Monday is whats called a zapallo Italiano. It is a zucchini with all the stuff in the middle taken out, and rice put it. Needless to say it looked pretty formidable, but it really wasn't that bad.
So another interesting note. The past few weeks have been blistering hot. Then out of nowhere last week it got colder, then rained for 2 days. It was very weird.
So this week we did our best to visit Geremias, Alejandro, and Daniel every day, (they're the ones who were planned to be baptized on Sunday). We were at Geremias and Alejandros house, and Geremias gave the prayer. He prayed and said he was thankful for the opportunity he has to be baptized by me. That really touched me, it is so great seeing how big of an influence I have the chance to be in peoples lives.
So on Tuesday and Wednesday we had to go to lunch 20 minutes away by bus, in a town called Maule. We were sitting on the bus and a young boy walked on (probably like 15). He said he was a missionary of some church, then just said a thing he had memorized and tried to sell the people on the bus a pamphlet. This got me thinking about how different we as missionaries are. I do respect him for what he does, but he just didn't seem to care, you know? He didn't talk to us, preach or anything, just said a script. So yeah, something interesting. The family who lives out in Maule is called the Yañez family. To sum them up, they're old. Super old. Sr. Yañez is so old he has hair growing out the topo of his nose, haha. Anyways, when we got there, I saw that each plate had a huge artichoke on it. I was very worried, but it turned out fine. It wasn't too bad, but it is a lot of work to eat an artichoke.
Alright, so we were at Geremias and Alejandros house a different day, and his mom was talking about why Alejandro had never been baptized in the catholic church. She wanted him to have the decisión and pick which church he liked best. Then Alejandro said, but mom, its not only cuz I like the church, it's because it's the only true church. Elder Jorgensen and I were grinning from ear to ear when he said that. I felt so happy for him.
And another interesting guy we talked to. He knew the Bible backwards and forwards, and had all these equations and whatnot about the significance of numbers in the Bible and whatnot. Something I realized is that he had faith through these numbers and equations, and I have faith through God and prayer. It was just a strong testimony to how strong my faith is.
Alright, the big day Sunday. So Daniel, Geremias and Alejandro were being baptized. We went over to Geremias and Alejandros house in the morning and had breakfast with them. Then we headed to church and I was so nervous during the whole church. We started to fill the font early, but it was going to slow, so we turned up the cold water and let it go. So 30 minutes before the service we discovered the water was up to the middle of our torsos! So we had to leave it like that. The baptism service went off without a hitch, and I got to baptize Geremias 3rd. It was easily one of the best experiences of my life. The apiñes (feelings) I felt for him was something I've never felt before. So spiritual. So then came time to drain the font. And unfortunately (I'm using that loosely) the water was up super high, so I had to go completely Under to pull out the drain. Not gonna lie, that felt really good too. Then I said, hey - why not do a little bit of eggbeatering? Haha, just kidding. Didn't really do that.
So yeah that about sums up the weeks activites. It was an amazing week, definitely one of the best here thus far. I love you all, and please continue to write. Miss you a bunch, and talk to you next week!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
I sure do love being on a mission. I love it here. How are things back home? All good I hope. So this week has been very good. And we had 3 baptisms this week! But I shall start at the beginning of the week…
The new elders are here! One's named Elder Viana and the other is Elder Christensen. Both are really cool guys. Elder Viana is especially funny. Elder Christensen is brand new, so he's still a little out of it, haha. But he is a rubio (meaning he has blonde hair and blue eyes). Needless to say he is a spectacle here. Everyone just stares at him, haha. The norm here is having dark hair and dark eyes, so whenever someone is different they get a ton of attention. So yeah, they're both super cool and are wokring very hard. So to continue…
So to start I'll talk about some of the food. On Monday was the first time I had herbal tea. And I'm not gonna lie, I like it alot! It's really good. Who would have thought! Another interesting thing we had on Monday is whats called a zapallo Italiano. It is a zucchini with all the stuff in the middle taken out, and rice put it. Needless to say it looked pretty formidable, but it really wasn't that bad.
So another interesting note. The past few weeks have been blistering hot. Then out of nowhere last week it got colder, then rained for 2 days. It was very weird.
So this week we did our best to visit Geremias, Alejandro, and Daniel every day, (they're the ones who were planned to be baptized on Sunday). We were at Geremias and Alejandros house, and Geremias gave the prayer. He prayed and said he was thankful for the opportunity he has to be baptized by me. That really touched me, it is so great seeing how big of an influence I have the chance to be in peoples lives.
So on Tuesday and Wednesday we had to go to lunch 20 minutes away by bus, in a town called Maule. We were sitting on the bus and a young boy walked on (probably like 15). He said he was a missionary of some church, then just said a thing he had memorized and tried to sell the people on the bus a pamphlet. This got me thinking about how different we as missionaries are. I do respect him for what he does, but he just didn't seem to care, you know? He didn't talk to us, preach or anything, just said a script. So yeah, something interesting. The family who lives out in Maule is called the Yañez family. To sum them up, they're old. Super old. Sr. Yañez is so old he has hair growing out the topo of his nose, haha. Anyways, when we got there, I saw that each plate had a huge artichoke on it. I was very worried, but it turned out fine. It wasn't too bad, but it is a lot of work to eat an artichoke.
Alright, so we were at Geremias and Alejandros house a different day, and his mom was talking about why Alejandro had never been baptized in the catholic church. She wanted him to have the decisión and pick which church he liked best. Then Alejandro said, but mom, its not only cuz I like the church, it's because it's the only true church. Elder Jorgensen and I were grinning from ear to ear when he said that. I felt so happy for him.
And another interesting guy we talked to. He knew the Bible backwards and forwards, and had all these equations and whatnot about the significance of numbers in the Bible and whatnot. Something I realized is that he had faith through these numbers and equations, and I have faith through God and prayer. It was just a strong testimony to how strong my faith is.
Alright, the big day Sunday. So Daniel, Geremias and Alejandro were being baptized. We went over to Geremias and Alejandros house in the morning and had breakfast with them. Then we headed to church and I was so nervous during the whole church. We started to fill the font early, but it was going to slow, so we turned up the cold water and let it go. So 30 minutes before the service we discovered the water was up to the middle of our torsos! So we had to leave it like that. The baptism service went off without a hitch, and I got to baptize Geremias 3rd. It was easily one of the best experiences of my life. The apiñes (feelings) I felt for him was something I've never felt before. So spiritual. So then came time to drain the font. And unfortunately (I'm using that loosely) the water was up super high, so I had to go completely Under to pull out the drain. Not gonna lie, that felt really good too. Then I said, hey - why not do a little bit of eggbeatering? Haha, just kidding. Didn't really do that.
So yeah that about sums up the weeks activites. It was an amazing week, definitely one of the best here thus far. I love you all, and please continue to write. Miss you a bunch, and talk to you next week!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, November 16, 2009
¡Hola a todos! (¡Hello Everyone!)
¡Hola a todos! (Hello Everyone!)
I love being able to write every week to you guys. So this week overall has been fantastic. One of the best thus far. Lots of things happened this week.
So Tuesday was a big day. We had our usual zone meeting thing, and then we did a mini-cambio. Which in english I believe is called an exchange or something. I honestly don't know or remember. But anyways, it's when you switch comps for a day. Elder Jorgensen is the district leader, so he had to go over to San Clemente, which is about 20 minutes away, and I stayed here. And one of the missionaries from over there came here. So I had to lead the sector for the day! I was really quite nervous to do it, I had to start all the lessons, lead to all the appointments, etc. Lots of responsibility. But I did it, and it went off without a hitch. So that made me feel real good, I feel a lot more confident in knowing my sector, etc. The missionary who came was Elder Echeverria, he's from Santiago. So that was cool too, speaking Spanish with a native Chilean all day. So after the night we took a bus back to San clemente, and helped them cut their grass. Here most people don't use a lawn mower, they just cut it with some big scissors. So it takes a while, but what can you do.
So on Thursday we did some service at a members house. And what do you know, we cut some more grass. I wish I had the pictures(they're on e. Jorgensens camera and he doesn't have it at the moment), we cut a montón (a ton) of grass and weeds. Some of the weeds were taller than me! But yeah, I'll send you a picture next week. it took about 2 hours to do.
Ok, so now a little tidbit about the members. We have such great members here. There's a family who lives rght next to us and theyre so kind. Their recent converts, as of August I believe. The Cristi family. So yeah, they're awesome. The other night we were at their house after they came out to a lesson with us, and gave us some bread. The son, Matías, ran out and bought ham for me so I wouldn't have to eat the bread plain. They're just so kind to us it's incredible. The father, Rodrigo, got the priesthood this Sunday! That was super cool. More about sunday...
So this week we had 4 baptismal interviews set up for this sunday after church. We went to go pick up Marcelo, who has a strong testimony, all he lacks is going to church, and he wasn't there. He was one of the people who was supposed to be interviewed. I can't describe how sad I felt. Even though we had 3 more interviews lined up, I was still very distraught that he couldn't come. Which reminds me of a scripture in Mosiah. It talks about how the sons of Mosiah preached the gospel so powerfully, and they had so much love for the people they taught, that they would be devastated when someone didn't accept their message. I feel like slowly I'm becoming like them, amazing Missionaries. But hopefully he can have the chance soon. Anyways, so we had 3 more baptismal interviews, for Daniel, Alejandro, and Geremias. And the amazing news, all 3 of them passed and will be baptized this coming Sunday!! More about them incoming…
So Daniel is super ADD. The Lord has blessed me with so much patience, I can't believe it. Anyways, he is the son of a lady named Amalia. She isn't a member, but you would think otherwise if you hadn't known. She has such a strong testimony, but she can't be baptized because she is living with a guy (who happens to be a excommunicated member who is wanting to come ack to the church as soon as he can). He is the one who referred her to the Missionaries. So it would be a little weird telling him he's got to move out in order for her to be baptized. So yeah, it's pretty complicated. Anyways, back to Daniel. He passed his interview with flying colors. So I'm pumped.
The other 2 are Geremias and Alejandro. They're cousins, Geremias is 12 and Alejandro is 16. Geremias too passed with flying colors. We were pretty unsure about Alejandro though. We weren't to sure if he had sincere desires to be baptized. After a 45 minute interview, he too came out and passed! I can't tell tell you how happy I was when I heard he passed. I was grinning from ear to ear. So yeah, 3 baptisms next week! I'm super excited, and I'll get to baptize Geremias! I can't wait.
Also , Marta was confirmed in our Ward. That was very special too. Afterwards in class we walked in and she said I'm finally a member now! How cool it is to see the gospel change peoples lives.
So cambios are today. Cambios are every 6 weeks, when you can possible be switched to a different zone. Elder Jorgensen and I were afraid we would get Split up. But the zone leaders called and were both staying and we're staying together. 2 more missionaries are coming to live in our house and be in our sector. That should be super exciting and fun. It's only been a house of 2 up until the new elders come tomorrow. One's from Ecuador, and the other is a brand new Elder. Should be fun and interesting.
Well I think that's about it. I love the work. I love being here in Chile, spreading the Word of God. The Church is so true, my testimony of this grows on a daily basis. I love you all, please continue to write and encourage others to write too. ¡Chao, que les vayan bien!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
I love being able to write every week to you guys. So this week overall has been fantastic. One of the best thus far. Lots of things happened this week.
So Tuesday was a big day. We had our usual zone meeting thing, and then we did a mini-cambio. Which in english I believe is called an exchange or something. I honestly don't know or remember. But anyways, it's when you switch comps for a day. Elder Jorgensen is the district leader, so he had to go over to San Clemente, which is about 20 minutes away, and I stayed here. And one of the missionaries from over there came here. So I had to lead the sector for the day! I was really quite nervous to do it, I had to start all the lessons, lead to all the appointments, etc. Lots of responsibility. But I did it, and it went off without a hitch. So that made me feel real good, I feel a lot more confident in knowing my sector, etc. The missionary who came was Elder Echeverria, he's from Santiago. So that was cool too, speaking Spanish with a native Chilean all day. So after the night we took a bus back to San clemente, and helped them cut their grass. Here most people don't use a lawn mower, they just cut it with some big scissors. So it takes a while, but what can you do.
So on Thursday we did some service at a members house. And what do you know, we cut some more grass. I wish I had the pictures(they're on e. Jorgensens camera and he doesn't have it at the moment), we cut a montón (a ton) of grass and weeds. Some of the weeds were taller than me! But yeah, I'll send you a picture next week. it took about 2 hours to do.
Ok, so now a little tidbit about the members. We have such great members here. There's a family who lives rght next to us and theyre so kind. Their recent converts, as of August I believe. The Cristi family. So yeah, they're awesome. The other night we were at their house after they came out to a lesson with us, and gave us some bread. The son, Matías, ran out and bought ham for me so I wouldn't have to eat the bread plain. They're just so kind to us it's incredible. The father, Rodrigo, got the priesthood this Sunday! That was super cool. More about sunday...
So this week we had 4 baptismal interviews set up for this sunday after church. We went to go pick up Marcelo, who has a strong testimony, all he lacks is going to church, and he wasn't there. He was one of the people who was supposed to be interviewed. I can't describe how sad I felt. Even though we had 3 more interviews lined up, I was still very distraught that he couldn't come. Which reminds me of a scripture in Mosiah. It talks about how the sons of Mosiah preached the gospel so powerfully, and they had so much love for the people they taught, that they would be devastated when someone didn't accept their message. I feel like slowly I'm becoming like them, amazing Missionaries. But hopefully he can have the chance soon. Anyways, so we had 3 more baptismal interviews, for Daniel, Alejandro, and Geremias. And the amazing news, all 3 of them passed and will be baptized this coming Sunday!! More about them incoming…
So Daniel is super ADD. The Lord has blessed me with so much patience, I can't believe it. Anyways, he is the son of a lady named Amalia. She isn't a member, but you would think otherwise if you hadn't known. She has such a strong testimony, but she can't be baptized because she is living with a guy (who happens to be a excommunicated member who is wanting to come ack to the church as soon as he can). He is the one who referred her to the Missionaries. So it would be a little weird telling him he's got to move out in order for her to be baptized. So yeah, it's pretty complicated. Anyways, back to Daniel. He passed his interview with flying colors. So I'm pumped.
The other 2 are Geremias and Alejandro. They're cousins, Geremias is 12 and Alejandro is 16. Geremias too passed with flying colors. We were pretty unsure about Alejandro though. We weren't to sure if he had sincere desires to be baptized. After a 45 minute interview, he too came out and passed! I can't tell tell you how happy I was when I heard he passed. I was grinning from ear to ear. So yeah, 3 baptisms next week! I'm super excited, and I'll get to baptize Geremias! I can't wait.
Also , Marta was confirmed in our Ward. That was very special too. Afterwards in class we walked in and she said I'm finally a member now! How cool it is to see the gospel change peoples lives.
So cambios are today. Cambios are every 6 weeks, when you can possible be switched to a different zone. Elder Jorgensen and I were afraid we would get Split up. But the zone leaders called and were both staying and we're staying together. 2 more missionaries are coming to live in our house and be in our sector. That should be super exciting and fun. It's only been a house of 2 up until the new elders come tomorrow. One's from Ecuador, and the other is a brand new Elder. Should be fun and interesting.
Well I think that's about it. I love the work. I love being here in Chile, spreading the Word of God. The Church is so true, my testimony of this grows on a daily basis. I love you all, please continue to write and encourage others to write too. ¡Chao, que les vayan bien!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, November 9, 2009
1 Month in Chile !!
¡Buenas Tardes a Todos! (Good Afternoon Everyone!)
Once again, I apologize for such a short email last week. But I will definitely be making up for it this week. But the big news; baptism! But more on that later. So about the goings on from the 27th to the 1st…
On Tuesday the 21st I did a minicambio with one of the zone leaders. It's when one of us goes over to their sector, and one comes here. I can't think of what it's called in English at the moment. Lo siento (sorry). Anyways, I went over to the sector of the zone leaders. I was with elder Glissmeyer, he's the guy that’s 6 foot 7. What happens usually is that we exchange in the afternoon, then we change back the next morning. It was a cool experience, Elder Glissmeyer is a super good teacher.
Ok, so on Sunday we had a good day. At first when we got to church we were disappointed, not many of our investigators were in church, but then a bunch came and we had 8 investigators in church. That was good, it made me happy to see them there, making the right decision. Also on Sunday I gave my first blessing in Spanish, needless to say I felt like it was pretty bad. But oh well, what I say doesn’t really matter, it’s the action that matters. Ok, so that about sums up the activities from the week of the 27th to the 1st.
So some more stuff from this past week. We had English class again on Wednesday, and some people actually came back! It was surprising. We had 8 people in class, and like half weren’t members. So that was neat. Also something else that was funny. There was a dog we saw who was chasing his tail and had caught it! He kept going in circles though, at least for 2 minutes. The next day we saw him doing the same thing! Super funny. Ok, so an experience. We were talking to this lady at the door, and she was talking to us, and told us she was giving us a warning, that she wouldn’t get baptized. We talked to her some more, and she even told us she didn’t think her church was true, but she wouldn’t change due to tradition. Kind of got me frustrated.
So on Friday, we had a noche de hogar (Family home evening) at a members house. We had a couple investigators there, and it was fun. We made rice crispy treats, which are completely new to everyone here. They all love them, but they're super expensive to make, the marshmallows are expensive.
So let me tell you a little bit about the baptism! Her name is Marta, she's pretty old. Her son is a member, and so we baptized her in the sons ward, called Jardín de Valle. It was a little bit different, it didn’t really feel like a baptism of ours. One because it was in another ward, so we didn’t really prepare for it, and another because we still weren’t sure if it would be counted as our baptism. I know that’s not what matters, definitely not. What matters is that she is now baptized, she is clean of her sins. Anyways, it was a super cool experience, the spirit was very strong. Today we learned that she would be counted as our baptism, so there it is my first baptism! Such a cool experience.
SO a couple other things. I gave another blessing on Sunday, which felt like I did a lot better this time around (it feels like we give blessings of health out like candy). The "primary" program was in church too, so that was amusing. Also on Sunday we went and taught the wife, (an inactive member), of a member. I'm not gonna lie, talking to her was one of the first times I've been mad here in chile. What made me mad was the reasons she gave for leaving the church: 1) the chapel is cold. 2) she felt she was wronged by the members (she told us that when people are in the church, they should be perfect….[is anyone perfect?]). Yeah, and she was trying to tell us how she knows more about the church then us. Whose been active all their life and is there every Sunday? Ugh, it's frustrating sometimes, she was willing to sacrifice her salvation because the church is cold and people are imperfect. What can you do?
Alright, so know a bit about our investigators. So we haven’t been able to meet with Marcelo for about 2 weeks. We make appointments, but he's never able to make it. We saw him yesterday, and the first thing he told us is that he didn’t want to share with us anymore. He felt bad that he was letting us down. We assured him he wasn’t, and he was making the correct choices in life. He still has a testimony of the gospel, and he still has desires to be baptized, all he lacks is assistance (the word for "to attend" in Spanish is asistir, hence most of the elders here refer to attendance in church as assistance, haha) in church. So that was good, he may be baptized the 22nd. Also we have Geremías and his brother Alejandro, who are progressing very well. They also have dates for the 22nd. Another for the 22nd is a young boy named Daniel. He is super ADD, thus very hard to teach. His situation is rather complicated, which I won't go into at this time, maybe later. But he too is progressing. Antonella, is a young 10 year old girl. She is at the brink of being baptized, but doesn’t have the desire to. Well she does but she doesn’t know where. So were trying hard with her too. Ok that’s about it for the progressing investigators and what-not.
So time for some random stuff. Well I'm now down to 74.3 kilos, which is about 163 pounds. Thank goodness. I left the MTC at 179. Please don’t fret, I'm not being starved, not at all. I'm just not overeating anymore. Which is good. Please don’t worry, haha, but I think you might anyways. Another thing interesting, I already have the tanline from the white shirt. Ugh. It's like super high on the neck and looks funny, what can you do. So a little bit about some interesting food experiences. One thing we had at a lunch was some corn, mixed with a lot of mayonnaise, wrapped in a piece of lunch meat ham. Needless to say it was gross. Also, here on their salads they don’t use salad dressing, what they put on it is like lemon juice and vinegar or something. I'm pretty sure that’s what makes it gross. But I definitely am getting better at eating it. Also the other day im 90% sure we had like liver or something. Also gross. But the other days lunches are usually pretty good.
Spanish is getting better and better. They speak pretty uniquely here. But I am getting better and more confident, which is good.
So that’s about it for this week, sorry I had so little to write, haha. Love you all, please write, I love looking forward to hearing from you.
Elder Mayberry
Once again, I apologize for such a short email last week. But I will definitely be making up for it this week. But the big news; baptism! But more on that later. So about the goings on from the 27th to the 1st…
On Tuesday the 21st I did a minicambio with one of the zone leaders. It's when one of us goes over to their sector, and one comes here. I can't think of what it's called in English at the moment. Lo siento (sorry). Anyways, I went over to the sector of the zone leaders. I was with elder Glissmeyer, he's the guy that’s 6 foot 7. What happens usually is that we exchange in the afternoon, then we change back the next morning. It was a cool experience, Elder Glissmeyer is a super good teacher.
Then on Friday we had interviews with the Mission President. We meet at our chapel then he talks to our whole district, interviews us individually, and we do some teaching practices. That went well too. Nothing too exciting, but it was good.
Also, it was Halloween. Like Aaron said, it's not too big here, and its mainly for little kids. There was an activity in the church for the youth, but it started at 10:00pm so we couldn’t go. A funny story, completely unrelated to Halloween: we went to a new converts house, whose son is also a new convert, but is becoming inactive. We went to invite him to church, and he said he couldn’t come because his finger hurt, haha. Just a random, funny excuse to not go to church.
So now time for what happened this past week. On Monday we went to Constitución. It’s a smaller city about 2 hours away from Talca, right on the beach. So to start the festivities, all 10 elders in the district stayed in our house on Sunday night. That was pretty crazy, and a lot of fun. We woke up at 5:30 or something,I don’t even remember it was too early. Then we headed to the train station to take the train there. The train ride was super bumpy, the train was uber old, but it was a very pretty ride. So we got there and the beach was really fun. I'll send home some pictures. We played Frisbee, walked on the rocks, and had an asado (a barbeque) on the beach with hot dogs. One of the elders made a joke that we were going to baptize some fish (go swimming, haha). A quick note, they don’t have cheddar cheese here. So what I like on my hot dogs here is ají (a type of hot sauce is basically what it is), and a little bit of mayonnaise (which im pretty sure is a bit different than the mayonnaise back home). Then we took a bus home, and got home at about 5:50pm . Since P-day ends at 6, I had to write a super short email. Once again, sorry.
So on Friday, we had a noche de hogar (Family home evening) at a members house. We had a couple investigators there, and it was fun. We made rice crispy treats, which are completely new to everyone here. They all love them, but they're super expensive to make, the marshmallows are expensive.
SO a couple other things. I gave another blessing on Sunday, which felt like I did a lot better this time around (it feels like we give blessings of health out like candy). The "primary" program was in church too, so that was amusing. Also on Sunday we went and taught the wife, (an inactive member), of a member. I'm not gonna lie, talking to her was one of the first times I've been mad here in chile. What made me mad was the reasons she gave for leaving the church: 1) the chapel is cold. 2) she felt she was wronged by the members (she told us that when people are in the church, they should be perfect….[is anyone perfect?]). Yeah, and she was trying to tell us how she knows more about the church then us. Whose been active all their life and is there every Sunday? Ugh, it's frustrating sometimes, she was willing to sacrifice her salvation because the church is cold and people are imperfect. What can you do?
Alright, so know a bit about our investigators. So we haven’t been able to meet with Marcelo for about 2 weeks. We make appointments, but he's never able to make it. We saw him yesterday, and the first thing he told us is that he didn’t want to share with us anymore. He felt bad that he was letting us down. We assured him he wasn’t, and he was making the correct choices in life. He still has a testimony of the gospel, and he still has desires to be baptized, all he lacks is assistance (the word for "to attend" in Spanish is asistir, hence most of the elders here refer to attendance in church as assistance, haha) in church. So that was good, he may be baptized the 22nd. Also we have Geremías and his brother Alejandro, who are progressing very well. They also have dates for the 22nd. Another for the 22nd is a young boy named Daniel. He is super ADD, thus very hard to teach. His situation is rather complicated, which I won't go into at this time, maybe later. But he too is progressing. Antonella, is a young 10 year old girl. She is at the brink of being baptized, but doesn’t have the desire to. Well she does but she doesn’t know where. So were trying hard with her too. Ok that’s about it for the progressing investigators and what-not.
So time for some random stuff. Well I'm now down to 74.3 kilos, which is about 163 pounds. Thank goodness. I left the MTC at 179. Please don’t fret, I'm not being starved, not at all. I'm just not overeating anymore. Which is good. Please don’t worry, haha, but I think you might anyways. Another thing interesting, I already have the tanline from the white shirt. Ugh. It's like super high on the neck and looks funny, what can you do. So a little bit about some interesting food experiences. One thing we had at a lunch was some corn, mixed with a lot of mayonnaise, wrapped in a piece of lunch meat ham. Needless to say it was gross. Also, here on their salads they don’t use salad dressing, what they put on it is like lemon juice and vinegar or something. I'm pretty sure that’s what makes it gross. But I definitely am getting better at eating it. Also the other day im 90% sure we had like liver or something. Also gross. But the other days lunches are usually pretty good.
Spanish is getting better and better. They speak pretty uniquely here. But I am getting better and more confident, which is good.
So that’s about it for this week, sorry I had so little to write, haha. Love you all, please write, I love looking forward to hearing from you.
Elder Mayberry
Monday, November 2, 2009
Short note this week
This is going to be a very short letter this week. I don't have much time, we went to the beach in constitucion today! Its was a ton of fun, but it's late and p-day is about over. SO I don't have much time, but I'll fill you in on some details now, and write a much longer letter about this week next week.
SO we have an investigator named Marta whos being baptized the 8th! But in a different ward, but it doesn't really matter. We have a couple who may or may not be baptized the 8th or 15th. There's a young boy named Geremías who is super cool, and he's progressing really well. His whole family is. It's amazing how the gospel really can change peoples lives. I love it here. Well I've got to go. I'm very sorry about such a short letter. I'll make up for it next week. I'll also answer all your questions next week.
Love yopu all!!!
SO we have an investigator named Marta whos being baptized the 8th! But in a different ward, but it doesn't really matter. We have a couple who may or may not be baptized the 8th or 15th. There's a young boy named Geremías who is super cool, and he's progressing really well. His whole family is. It's amazing how the gospel really can change peoples lives. I love it here. Well I've got to go. I'm very sorry about such a short letter. I'll make up for it next week. I'll also answer all your questions next week.
Love yopu all!!!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tons of blessings given to us!
Hi everyone!
Well now I've completed 3 weeks here in Chile! I'm really getting used to it here now. I'm starting to be able to wake up better in the mornings, and I'm pretty used to the schedule now. And the spanish and the work is going pretty good. More about that in a bit. But this week has been both exciting, but also a little disappointing. So I'll go through the weeks events: (I have been jotting down notes of things to write throughout the week, I'm a much better planner now than I was before, haha).
So, Monday was P-day. We didn't really do much, we relaxed a lot, which was good. We went to McDonalds for lunch, which was good. An odd thing, while we were sitting in McDonalds we saw probably a 12 year old walking by - smoking. That was pretty shocking. Anways, I was really missing chicken nuggets, so I had those. The sad thing is that they don,t have ranch here. The only ranch they have in the stores is super expensive. There's a couple things here that are basically luxuries that are normal back in the States. Take peanut butter for example. Here it costs about 3.000 for a jar (3.000 is 3,000; here the commas and dots are backwards). That's about $6 dollars! That's one thing I miss back home, just normal American food. But the food here really isn't too bad, so I'll live.
A couple random thoughts: right now we're teaching a guy named Marcelo. Hes 16. He has a baptismal date for the eighth of November. He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith, and he also prayed about baptism and feels good about it! So I'm excited for him, but he needs to attend church. We taught him about the word of wisdom. Evryone here drinks coffee or tea. So it's pretty hard, but there's some stuff that tastes like coffee but is made from wheat or something, so we give them that to try.
Another cool thing is that my comp Elder Jorgensen has a book of Chilean slang. It has everything a person could ever need to learn the words here! So I've been using that a lot. Chilean spanish is pretty different than other spanish I've heard, but I guess that happens a lot in many places, everywhere has their own slang.
Tuesday was a really cool day. We saw a ton of blessings given to us! We had been feeling down about the work, but then we saw a lot of blessings on Tuesday. We knocked a door of an inactive lady, and she told us she wants us to teach the rest of her family! She has a 12 year old nephew named Jeremías. He's a nice kid, but at the moment he's in the hospital; not quite sure why. But he gets out soon and we'll be able to teach him. Also on tuesday, we were just walking down the street and a lady stopped us and asked us where the church was. She told us she just moved here and she had been inactive, and she wants us to baptize her daughter! The church is so true, I know it without a doubt. Also, I know the Lord is guiding me to where I need to be, and I'm doing exactly what I should be doing.
So lately we've been buying a lot of suckers. It's pretty funny, in all the negocios (the small stores found in some houses) they sell suckers for like 50 pesos, which is about a dime. and I just can't pass up on a deal like that, haha. Another thing I tried is called manjar (pronounced mahn-har). It's basically a dulce de leche type thing, I don't know excactly how to explain what it is. But it's kind of like a caramel but super good. Just a couple random things, haha.
So contacts here are pretty alright. We try to do 20 contacts a day at least, which we usually do. My comp is training me well, making me do contacts even when I don't feel too confident. Even though I can, I still need his help to do them, and he's really helping me by forcing me out of by box you could say. Most people either listen, say they're busy, or say "I have my religion". That's what we get the most I'd say. We went to another sector because my comp is the district leader and he had to do a baptismal interview for another sector. I went on a split with one of the zone leaders, his name is Elder Glissmeyer. He's 2 metro 5 tall. 2 meters and 5 something. I don't know exactly how tall that is, but he's huge, and people always just ask him how tall he is while he's in the street.
On Friday we had an activity we planned. It was a noche de juegos (a game night). It turned out pretty well, a lot better than we thought it would. We had some investigators there and it was fun too. And on Wednesday we had an English class. No investigators came, but we talked with a member in English the whole time. Most people here take English classes.
On Saturday we taught a reference from one of the zone leaders. We had to walk 30 minutes just to get to her house, but it was worth it. it was a very solid lesson and she seemed to be genuinely interested in the Church. Our sector is huge. I think it would probably take 45 minutes to walk from one end to the other, and that's walking at Missionary speed, which is basically a sprint. And that's just the portion that is in the walkable distance, there's some other places in our sector that we have to take a bus too cuz they're so far away. But they're going to be sending another pair of Missionaries here the next transfer, so that should make it better.
Sunday was a little bit disappointing. We were expecting at least 5 or 6 investigators in church, but only 2 came. Its frustrating when they tell you they'll be there but then they don't show. It's just something that we can't control. But other than that it was still a pretty successful day.
A couple other random thoughts. I'm not sure if I told you this earlier, but we can't play soccer here. Basketball too. There have been Missionaries injured so they're stopping it for a while. Oh yeah, they also celebrate Halloween here. It's not as big, but they still have it. Another random thought, there's a new convert named Rafael who's really cool. He's 19, and has been in the church for like 6 months. And he comes out with us, and even sometimes he comes at night just to share a scripture with us. Hes got such a strong testimony, and is working on his papers for a mission! OK, one more random thought. You know the whole kiss on the cheek thing they do in some places, like in Europe, for example? well they do that here in Chile. I hope you know what I'm talking about. Well we as missionaries aren't supposed to do it. Luckily I haven't run into anyone who's tried it, but it happened to Elder Jorgensen the other day. Either you could just go with it, or tell them your not supposed to. Just something funny.
Alright, and today. Today we went to a hill nearby, called Cerro de la Virgin. It's basically a hill with a big statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Its probably like 20 or 30 feet tall or something. The funny thing is that theres also a statue of Jesus on the cross too, but it's probably like 12 feet tall. I took lots of pictures. You can see all of talca from on top, and theres a great view of the Andes too. We ate at some place and had someting called churrillana. Basically it's a pile of french fries with some sausage, pork, and eggs on top. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.
Well as you can see I was much better prepared for this weeks email. I think I managed to remember everything I wanted to say. I love you all, thanks for writing me, and continue to encourage people to write me. The church is so true, and this truly is the Lords work. Love you all a ton, and I'll talk to you next week!!
¡¡Ciao!!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Well now I've completed 3 weeks here in Chile! I'm really getting used to it here now. I'm starting to be able to wake up better in the mornings, and I'm pretty used to the schedule now. And the spanish and the work is going pretty good. More about that in a bit. But this week has been both exciting, but also a little disappointing. So I'll go through the weeks events: (I have been jotting down notes of things to write throughout the week, I'm a much better planner now than I was before, haha).
So, Monday was P-day. We didn't really do much, we relaxed a lot, which was good. We went to McDonalds for lunch, which was good. An odd thing, while we were sitting in McDonalds we saw probably a 12 year old walking by - smoking. That was pretty shocking. Anways, I was really missing chicken nuggets, so I had those. The sad thing is that they don,t have ranch here. The only ranch they have in the stores is super expensive. There's a couple things here that are basically luxuries that are normal back in the States. Take peanut butter for example. Here it costs about 3.000 for a jar (3.000 is 3,000; here the commas and dots are backwards). That's about $6 dollars! That's one thing I miss back home, just normal American food. But the food here really isn't too bad, so I'll live.
A couple random thoughts: right now we're teaching a guy named Marcelo. Hes 16. He has a baptismal date for the eighth of November. He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith, and he also prayed about baptism and feels good about it! So I'm excited for him, but he needs to attend church. We taught him about the word of wisdom. Evryone here drinks coffee or tea. So it's pretty hard, but there's some stuff that tastes like coffee but is made from wheat or something, so we give them that to try.
Another cool thing is that my comp Elder Jorgensen has a book of Chilean slang. It has everything a person could ever need to learn the words here! So I've been using that a lot. Chilean spanish is pretty different than other spanish I've heard, but I guess that happens a lot in many places, everywhere has their own slang.
Tuesday was a really cool day. We saw a ton of blessings given to us! We had been feeling down about the work, but then we saw a lot of blessings on Tuesday. We knocked a door of an inactive lady, and she told us she wants us to teach the rest of her family! She has a 12 year old nephew named Jeremías. He's a nice kid, but at the moment he's in the hospital; not quite sure why. But he gets out soon and we'll be able to teach him. Also on tuesday, we were just walking down the street and a lady stopped us and asked us where the church was. She told us she just moved here and she had been inactive, and she wants us to baptize her daughter! The church is so true, I know it without a doubt. Also, I know the Lord is guiding me to where I need to be, and I'm doing exactly what I should be doing.
So lately we've been buying a lot of suckers. It's pretty funny, in all the negocios (the small stores found in some houses) they sell suckers for like 50 pesos, which is about a dime. and I just can't pass up on a deal like that, haha. Another thing I tried is called manjar (pronounced mahn-har). It's basically a dulce de leche type thing, I don't know excactly how to explain what it is. But it's kind of like a caramel but super good. Just a couple random things, haha.
So contacts here are pretty alright. We try to do 20 contacts a day at least, which we usually do. My comp is training me well, making me do contacts even when I don't feel too confident. Even though I can, I still need his help to do them, and he's really helping me by forcing me out of by box you could say. Most people either listen, say they're busy, or say "I have my religion". That's what we get the most I'd say. We went to another sector because my comp is the district leader and he had to do a baptismal interview for another sector. I went on a split with one of the zone leaders, his name is Elder Glissmeyer. He's 2 metro 5 tall. 2 meters and 5 something. I don't know exactly how tall that is, but he's huge, and people always just ask him how tall he is while he's in the street.
On Friday we had an activity we planned. It was a noche de juegos (a game night). It turned out pretty well, a lot better than we thought it would. We had some investigators there and it was fun too. And on Wednesday we had an English class. No investigators came, but we talked with a member in English the whole time. Most people here take English classes.
On Saturday we taught a reference from one of the zone leaders. We had to walk 30 minutes just to get to her house, but it was worth it. it was a very solid lesson and she seemed to be genuinely interested in the Church. Our sector is huge. I think it would probably take 45 minutes to walk from one end to the other, and that's walking at Missionary speed, which is basically a sprint. And that's just the portion that is in the walkable distance, there's some other places in our sector that we have to take a bus too cuz they're so far away. But they're going to be sending another pair of Missionaries here the next transfer, so that should make it better.
Sunday was a little bit disappointing. We were expecting at least 5 or 6 investigators in church, but only 2 came. Its frustrating when they tell you they'll be there but then they don't show. It's just something that we can't control. But other than that it was still a pretty successful day.
A couple other random thoughts. I'm not sure if I told you this earlier, but we can't play soccer here. Basketball too. There have been Missionaries injured so they're stopping it for a while. Oh yeah, they also celebrate Halloween here. It's not as big, but they still have it. Another random thought, there's a new convert named Rafael who's really cool. He's 19, and has been in the church for like 6 months. And he comes out with us, and even sometimes he comes at night just to share a scripture with us. Hes got such a strong testimony, and is working on his papers for a mission! OK, one more random thought. You know the whole kiss on the cheek thing they do in some places, like in Europe, for example? well they do that here in Chile. I hope you know what I'm talking about. Well we as missionaries aren't supposed to do it. Luckily I haven't run into anyone who's tried it, but it happened to Elder Jorgensen the other day. Either you could just go with it, or tell them your not supposed to. Just something funny.
Alright, and today. Today we went to a hill nearby, called Cerro de la Virgin. It's basically a hill with a big statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Its probably like 20 or 30 feet tall or something. The funny thing is that theres also a statue of Jesus on the cross too, but it's probably like 12 feet tall. I took lots of pictures. You can see all of talca from on top, and theres a great view of the Andes too. We ate at some place and had someting called churrillana. Basically it's a pile of french fries with some sausage, pork, and eggs on top. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.
Well as you can see I was much better prepared for this weeks email. I think I managed to remember everything I wanted to say. I love you all, thanks for writing me, and continue to encourage people to write me. The church is so true, and this truly is the Lords work. Love you all a ton, and I'll talk to you next week!!
¡¡Ciao!!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I love Chile - Elder Ryan Mayberry
Hey everyone!
How are things back in the States? Good I hope. So things are settling down here. I'm getting used to the missionary lifestyle now. I still have a hard time waking up in the morning, but oh well.
So on Monday like I said last week we went to Downtown Talca (Talca Centro), where some other missionaries are. We had some longaniza (basically some hot dog/sausage type thing) which was good, then we went on a hike to a river, which was pretty cool. I'll try and see if I can send the pictures today.
Anyways, so the work is pretty good. Basically what we do is study in the mornings, go to lunch at a members house, then do our appointments and such. We usually are pretty booked every day with appointments. I'm still not very good at teaching people yet, but I'm getting better. I'm starting to understand people better, but still some people talk sooo fast that I can't understand them. The problem at the moment is that we don’t have many people progressing, (keeping commitments, making return appointments, etc). We are able to find a lot of people, but generally they either don’t want us to come back, or when we go back they're not there. But we do have a couple people who are progressing. Ones named Marta, she's a very kind lady. She has a son who is a member in another ward, so she goes with him almost every Sunday. We think she's probably going to be baptized over there. But we're still teaching her.
Also, all of the members here are super nice. The Chilean people in general are nice, I haven’t had a door slammed or anything, mostly people listen because they respect us. People here are very religious, most people have a belief in God and Jesus Christ. Most are Catholic, but very few are actually church going, it's more of just a tradition type thing. So yeah, the members here are super nice. They always give us tons of food for lunch or anytime we stop by. The lunches are pretty good usually, almost always its some type of meat, and then some rice or mashed potatoes. Usually there is a salad of some type, which is pretty gross. The eat a lot of palta (avocado) here which I don’t like at all, but I try my best to eat it. Another thing they have here is called a completo. Its basically a hot dog, but with tomatoes, avocados, and mayonnaise. I didn’t like it very much. But they have this stuff called ají here, which is basically some hot sauce like the kind at taco bell or something. I like it.
So yeah, Chile’s great. About the dogs; most of them just walk around and pay no attention to you. Barely any of them are… I can't remember the word, but most are pretty timid. It has been getting pretty hot here during the day, but almost every night its pretty cold. But in my bed its warm, so that’s good. Today were going out to lunch with the district, then maybe going to play bowling or something. We tried giving an English class on Wednesday, but only a couple members came. Another thing, I'm getting better at doing contacts and stuff. I just need to start speaking more Spanish with my comp so I can improve my speaking Spanish. Another thing we did was we went to the hospital again to give a little girl a blessing. That was a neat experience, but the hospital is not good. I think I talked about it in my last email.
Oh yeah, we also had a zone conference on Wednesday. Basically all the missionaries that are close come by and the Mission President talks to us. It was pretty cool, its fun meeting the other Missionaries.
So yeah, I think that’s about it for this week. I just want to have people progress more; hopefully they will. I'm not sure if its us or the people, but we are trying hard, the investigators just aren’t progressing. Hopefully we can see a baptism in the near future. I know how the Gospel can truly change people’s lives, but they just don’t see it.
Alright, I love you all, thank you for all your letters, and continue writing me. I look forward to hearing from you all week. I hope I didn’t forget anything. ¡Chao!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
How are things back in the States? Good I hope. So things are settling down here. I'm getting used to the missionary lifestyle now. I still have a hard time waking up in the morning, but oh well.
Anyways, so the work is pretty good. Basically what we do is study in the mornings, go to lunch at a members house, then do our appointments and such. We usually are pretty booked every day with appointments. I'm still not very good at teaching people yet, but I'm getting better. I'm starting to understand people better, but still some people talk sooo fast that I can't understand them. The problem at the moment is that we don’t have many people progressing, (keeping commitments, making return appointments, etc). We are able to find a lot of people, but generally they either don’t want us to come back, or when we go back they're not there. But we do have a couple people who are progressing. Ones named Marta, she's a very kind lady. She has a son who is a member in another ward, so she goes with him almost every Sunday. We think she's probably going to be baptized over there. But we're still teaching her.
Also, all of the members here are super nice. The Chilean people in general are nice, I haven’t had a door slammed or anything, mostly people listen because they respect us. People here are very religious, most people have a belief in God and Jesus Christ. Most are Catholic, but very few are actually church going, it's more of just a tradition type thing. So yeah, the members here are super nice. They always give us tons of food for lunch or anytime we stop by. The lunches are pretty good usually, almost always its some type of meat, and then some rice or mashed potatoes. Usually there is a salad of some type, which is pretty gross. The eat a lot of palta (avocado) here which I don’t like at all, but I try my best to eat it. Another thing they have here is called a completo. Its basically a hot dog, but with tomatoes, avocados, and mayonnaise. I didn’t like it very much. But they have this stuff called ají here, which is basically some hot sauce like the kind at taco bell or something. I like it.
Oh yeah, we also had a zone conference on Wednesday. Basically all the missionaries that are close come by and the Mission President talks to us. It was pretty cool, its fun meeting the other Missionaries.
So yeah, I think that’s about it for this week. I just want to have people progress more; hopefully they will. I'm not sure if its us or the people, but we are trying hard, the investigators just aren’t progressing. Hopefully we can see a baptism in the near future. I know how the Gospel can truly change people’s lives, but they just don’t see it.
Alright, I love you all, thank you for all your letters, and continue writing me. I look forward to hearing from you all week. I hope I didn’t forget anything. ¡Chao!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Monday, October 12, 2009
Elder Mayberry opens his spirit to the people of Concepción.
¡¡Hello all from Chile!!
Well I'm finally here. I think I'll start from the very beginning. Actually first I just wanted to apologize to everyone that I wasnt able to call anyone, I'm really sorry about that. And don't worry, I'm fine and settled in. Well, from the beggining:
Well we left the MTC at about 6am. I got pretty much everything packed into my suitacases,(by the way, sorry if there's a ton of typos, the keyboard at this internet cafe is a bit different than at home), and we took a big bus to the salt Lake airport. It was funny, because a ton of people would tell us good luck and stuff there. Anyways, the problems started when our first plane had a malfunctioning part, and we had to wait to get a replacement. So while we were sitting there, me and elder Doxey (my very first companion in the MTC) a lady was sitting across from us and told us how much she respected and admired us that we were giving 2 years to our church. She stopped after that, but I really felt like I should talk to her. I didn't though, I was being shy. Then a return missionary randomly walked up to us and told us that we should talk to her. But we still didn't. Finally the lady finally asked us if she could talk to us for 10 minutes. So we shared with her about the church for 10 minutes, and she told us how she was supposed to be sitting somewhere else, but she felt drawn to sit by us. It was such a cool experience, we werent even in Chile, and the Lord was already putting people in our path. She sounded like a really good person who was interested in the church. It really solidified my testimony of how this is the Lord´s work, and he will help us. I hope that story made sense.
Alright, so we finally got on the plane to LA, then ran to our next flight once we got there. However, we were already pretty late, and they had stopped boarding people. But they eventually let 10 of us go through, but 6 had to stay back (I think they ended up staying the night in LA). So the flight was super long, we stopped in Lima, Peru for a brief second, then continued on to Santiago. I talked to the people next to me a bit in spanish, it was pretty cool. SO we finally arrived in Santiago, then took a plane to Concepción. We arrived at like 9 in the morning, after leaving at 6am the day before. And I didnt even sleep on the plane much either. >Oh well. SO the mission president and the asisstants picked us up at the Concepción airport. They took us to the nearest chapel, where we had some lunch and they talked to us for a bit. <We got our cards there, which is how we draw out our funds each month or so (ill tell more about that later). So then we finally got to meet our trainers. My trainers named Elder Jorgensen, he´s from Utah and hes a really cool guy. So then he informed me that our sector (thats what an area is called here) is in a city called Talca, which turns out to be 4 hours north of Concepción by bus ride. So that was a long ride, I slept a lot. They were also playing a video of Michael Jackson music videos the whole time, so that got old by the time we arrived. So then we're finally here. The rest of that day, (it was about 8 when we got to our house) we knocked some doors. So thats how I got here, now I have to talk about how Chile is and everything else.
So Chile is really cool. I really like it. So first, our house. Its a pretty nice house, my trainer says its one of the best he´s had. Its 2 storys and we have it all to ourself. The sector were in, Talca, is huge, we do a lot of walking. Normally theres 2 companionships here, but at the moment its just us 2. I'm gonna try to send some pictures and see if that works over the email. Anyways, I'm in Chile! Its crazy. Here's the really cool thing I like; even though I'm on a completely different continent, thousands of miles away from home, and they speak nothing but spanish here, I really don't feel uncomfortable or nervous or anything. Originally I thought I would be so nervous teaching lessons or contacting, but in reality, I haven't been nervous once, except for when I bore my testimony in church. But other than that, I really feel comfortable here, and it just makes me feel so good that the Lord knows where we should be, and that I'm exactly where I should be.
Anyways, Chile is a really cool place. It isn't that poor, but its not that rich either. Its funny, dogs just roam around and do what they want, I think it's pretty funny. Also, pretty much no one here drives cars. They either take the bus or what's called a colectivo, which is basically a taxi, but you pay a set amount and it drives a specific course around the city. Talca is a pretty cool city, I like it a lot. It's pretty big too. And it wasn't too big of a culture shock here, like I said, I do feel really at home here (but not as at home than at my real home :))
So the spanish here is pretty cool, I like it. They do talk super fast though. The first day I was pretty lost most of the time, but now that I've been here a week I'm understanding a lot more. It depends on the person who's talking, but I understand usually about 80-95% of the conversation. Another funny thing is that they do infact say 'po' a lot here. Like Sipo. They basically just add it to the end of a sentecnce whenever they want, its pretty funny.
The people here are all really humble and kind. I think thats part of why I don't feel nervous here. Like when I was in the airports at the states I felt super nervous to talk to anyone, but here it just feels different. I've already met a lot of new families that are all very nice. Most people have a tv, but thats about it. Some have computers, not many have dvd players either.
I think I'll run through a couple of the other days and experiences I've had here. So the lessons are pretty good. Usually we don't teach about lesson 1 (the restoration) first, most of the time we teach about faith, repentence, and baptism. That kind of caught me off guard. But I am starting to talk more during lessons and contacts. Which is good, I need to improve my speaking spanish. We usually have some appointments, but if not we do contacts, basically either knock doors or just teach people in the streets. The people here are very nice, even if they want nothing to do with our church, they still listen to us because they respect us. Its nice, the people are a lot different than Americans.
Anyways, the schedule is a bit different than in the MTC. we wake up at 7, do a half hour of exercise, then shower and stuff for an hour, then do an hour of personal study, then an hour of comp study, then half an hour of language study. Then we go out at 11. We do stuff until about 1:30 or 2, then we have lunch. Lunch is the big meal here, we don't really eat dinner here. They have whats called 'once' here late, which is usually bread and drinks. The lunches have been pretty good. Usually some meat and rice, and like a salad or soup. The salads are pretty bad, so are avocados. Ugh, I struggle to eat half of them. But oh well. The food is usually pretty good. Then we do stuff until 10, then return, plan, and go to bed at 11. We do walk a lot, I get a nice workout walking every day. When I go to bed at night I'm usually super tired, and it seems like I just fell asleep by the time I wake up. But oh well. I love it here.
Lets see, what other cool experiences have I had here. Well just the other day we went to the hospital to give a blessing to a little girl who has a bone infection in her foot. The hospital here in Talca has a reputation for being bad. Like dirty and stuff. Which is very true, there are flies flying around the hospital and we even saw 3 dogs running around inside. Was a bit shocking. But most hospitals arent like that. MOst of the building here are humble places, not too big, but then again they could be a lot worse.
I'm starting to get the knack for teaching people now. I've even challenged someone to be baptized already, haha. But they said no, but what can you do. At the moment we have a lot of new investigators and a lot with the potential of being baptized, but hardly any members that are keeping their commitments. So that's the dillema. But were working hard to fix that.
Today is first Pday (Mondays are the pdays). We went to another missionary house in Talca, but a different sector called Talca Centro. Its more in the downtown part. We hung out a bit and walked to a river. It was fun.
Church on Sunday was pretty good. We had 4 of our investigators there. I was presented and bore my testimony, and that was the first time I've been nervous here.
Oh yeah, about the money here and stuff. Here they use the Chilean peso, which is 500 to every dollar. Were given about 80 mil (80 thousand) a month, which is about 160 or so dollars. We have a card that we use to get it. The stores here are pretty normal. They have a lot of wal mart type stores, but a lot of people run small shops out of their houses; these are called negocios. People do what they can to live out here. Oh yeah, the apple juice here is completely different that the apple juice back home. And the milk tastes different too, not bad, but different. And the water here is safe to drink from the tap, so that's good. So yeah, I'm in Chile. Its crazy. I'm basically just writing this willy nilly, I should have planned ahead of time. Another thing, the soccer here is really big (duh). Chile just won the game the other night to qualify for the world cup, and it was nuts. There were tons of people in the streets and stuff. On the tv it showed a video of the people in Santiago, and it was even crazier. It'll be super hard to teach during the world cup, haha.
So I can't really think of much else to share. I love it here already, I'm safe and I'm starting to get the hang of this whole mission thing. I'm super excited to be here and spread the gospel to the people. I love you all, and would love to hear back from you. ¡Chaopo! Les amo!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Well I'm finally here. I think I'll start from the very beginning. Actually first I just wanted to apologize to everyone that I wasnt able to call anyone, I'm really sorry about that. And don't worry, I'm fine and settled in. Well, from the beggining:
Well we left the MTC at about 6am. I got pretty much everything packed into my suitacases,(by the way, sorry if there's a ton of typos, the keyboard at this internet cafe is a bit different than at home), and we took a big bus to the salt Lake airport. It was funny, because a ton of people would tell us good luck and stuff there. Anyways, the problems started when our first plane had a malfunctioning part, and we had to wait to get a replacement. So while we were sitting there, me and elder Doxey (my very first companion in the MTC) a lady was sitting across from us and told us how much she respected and admired us that we were giving 2 years to our church. She stopped after that, but I really felt like I should talk to her. I didn't though, I was being shy. Then a return missionary randomly walked up to us and told us that we should talk to her. But we still didn't. Finally the lady finally asked us if she could talk to us for 10 minutes. So we shared with her about the church for 10 minutes, and she told us how she was supposed to be sitting somewhere else, but she felt drawn to sit by us. It was such a cool experience, we werent even in Chile, and the Lord was already putting people in our path. She sounded like a really good person who was interested in the church. It really solidified my testimony of how this is the Lord´s work, and he will help us. I hope that story made sense.
Alright, so we finally got on the plane to LA, then ran to our next flight once we got there. However, we were already pretty late, and they had stopped boarding people. But they eventually let 10 of us go through, but 6 had to stay back (I think they ended up staying the night in LA). So the flight was super long, we stopped in Lima, Peru for a brief second, then continued on to Santiago. I talked to the people next to me a bit in spanish, it was pretty cool. SO we finally arrived in Santiago, then took a plane to Concepción. We arrived at like 9 in the morning, after leaving at 6am the day before. And I didnt even sleep on the plane much either. >Oh well. SO the mission president and the asisstants picked us up at the Concepción airport. They took us to the nearest chapel, where we had some lunch and they talked to us for a bit. <We got our cards there, which is how we draw out our funds each month or so (ill tell more about that later). So then we finally got to meet our trainers. My trainers named Elder Jorgensen, he´s from Utah and hes a really cool guy. So then he informed me that our sector (thats what an area is called here) is in a city called Talca, which turns out to be 4 hours north of Concepción by bus ride. So that was a long ride, I slept a lot. They were also playing a video of Michael Jackson music videos the whole time, so that got old by the time we arrived. So then we're finally here. The rest of that day, (it was about 8 when we got to our house) we knocked some doors. So thats how I got here, now I have to talk about how Chile is and everything else.
So Chile is really cool. I really like it. So first, our house. Its a pretty nice house, my trainer says its one of the best he´s had. Its 2 storys and we have it all to ourself. The sector were in, Talca, is huge, we do a lot of walking. Normally theres 2 companionships here, but at the moment its just us 2. I'm gonna try to send some pictures and see if that works over the email. Anyways, I'm in Chile! Its crazy. Here's the really cool thing I like; even though I'm on a completely different continent, thousands of miles away from home, and they speak nothing but spanish here, I really don't feel uncomfortable or nervous or anything. Originally I thought I would be so nervous teaching lessons or contacting, but in reality, I haven't been nervous once, except for when I bore my testimony in church. But other than that, I really feel comfortable here, and it just makes me feel so good that the Lord knows where we should be, and that I'm exactly where I should be.
Anyways, Chile is a really cool place. It isn't that poor, but its not that rich either. Its funny, dogs just roam around and do what they want, I think it's pretty funny. Also, pretty much no one here drives cars. They either take the bus or what's called a colectivo, which is basically a taxi, but you pay a set amount and it drives a specific course around the city. Talca is a pretty cool city, I like it a lot. It's pretty big too. And it wasn't too big of a culture shock here, like I said, I do feel really at home here (but not as at home than at my real home :))
So the spanish here is pretty cool, I like it. They do talk super fast though. The first day I was pretty lost most of the time, but now that I've been here a week I'm understanding a lot more. It depends on the person who's talking, but I understand usually about 80-95% of the conversation. Another funny thing is that they do infact say 'po' a lot here. Like Sipo. They basically just add it to the end of a sentecnce whenever they want, its pretty funny.
The people here are all really humble and kind. I think thats part of why I don't feel nervous here. Like when I was in the airports at the states I felt super nervous to talk to anyone, but here it just feels different. I've already met a lot of new families that are all very nice. Most people have a tv, but thats about it. Some have computers, not many have dvd players either.
I think I'll run through a couple of the other days and experiences I've had here. So the lessons are pretty good. Usually we don't teach about lesson 1 (the restoration) first, most of the time we teach about faith, repentence, and baptism. That kind of caught me off guard. But I am starting to talk more during lessons and contacts. Which is good, I need to improve my speaking spanish. We usually have some appointments, but if not we do contacts, basically either knock doors or just teach people in the streets. The people here are very nice, even if they want nothing to do with our church, they still listen to us because they respect us. Its nice, the people are a lot different than Americans.
Anyways, the schedule is a bit different than in the MTC. we wake up at 7, do a half hour of exercise, then shower and stuff for an hour, then do an hour of personal study, then an hour of comp study, then half an hour of language study. Then we go out at 11. We do stuff until about 1:30 or 2, then we have lunch. Lunch is the big meal here, we don't really eat dinner here. They have whats called 'once' here late, which is usually bread and drinks. The lunches have been pretty good. Usually some meat and rice, and like a salad or soup. The salads are pretty bad, so are avocados. Ugh, I struggle to eat half of them. But oh well. The food is usually pretty good. Then we do stuff until 10, then return, plan, and go to bed at 11. We do walk a lot, I get a nice workout walking every day. When I go to bed at night I'm usually super tired, and it seems like I just fell asleep by the time I wake up. But oh well. I love it here.
Lets see, what other cool experiences have I had here. Well just the other day we went to the hospital to give a blessing to a little girl who has a bone infection in her foot. The hospital here in Talca has a reputation for being bad. Like dirty and stuff. Which is very true, there are flies flying around the hospital and we even saw 3 dogs running around inside. Was a bit shocking. But most hospitals arent like that. MOst of the building here are humble places, not too big, but then again they could be a lot worse.
I'm starting to get the knack for teaching people now. I've even challenged someone to be baptized already, haha. But they said no, but what can you do. At the moment we have a lot of new investigators and a lot with the potential of being baptized, but hardly any members that are keeping their commitments. So that's the dillema. But were working hard to fix that.
Today is first Pday (Mondays are the pdays). We went to another missionary house in Talca, but a different sector called Talca Centro. Its more in the downtown part. We hung out a bit and walked to a river. It was fun.
Church on Sunday was pretty good. We had 4 of our investigators there. I was presented and bore my testimony, and that was the first time I've been nervous here.
Oh yeah, about the money here and stuff. Here they use the Chilean peso, which is 500 to every dollar. Were given about 80 mil (80 thousand) a month, which is about 160 or so dollars. We have a card that we use to get it. The stores here are pretty normal. They have a lot of wal mart type stores, but a lot of people run small shops out of their houses; these are called negocios. People do what they can to live out here. Oh yeah, the apple juice here is completely different that the apple juice back home. And the milk tastes different too, not bad, but different. And the water here is safe to drink from the tap, so that's good. So yeah, I'm in Chile. Its crazy. I'm basically just writing this willy nilly, I should have planned ahead of time. Another thing, the soccer here is really big (duh). Chile just won the game the other night to qualify for the world cup, and it was nuts. There were tons of people in the streets and stuff. On the tv it showed a video of the people in Santiago, and it was even crazier. It'll be super hard to teach during the world cup, haha.
So I can't really think of much else to share. I love it here already, I'm safe and I'm starting to get the hang of this whole mission thing. I'm super excited to be here and spread the gospel to the people. I love you all, and would love to hear back from you. ¡Chaopo! Les amo!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Elder Mayberry is in Concepcion!
First letter from Concepción Chile.
Dear Mayberry family,
Your son has arrived safely and securely in Concepción Chile. He has met his trainer and is now working diligently in his new sector. We are excited to have him here and expect to see many miracles through his service. Attached is a letter from him, a photo with President and Hermana Chavez, and a map to help you know where your missionary is serving. Thank you for your sacrifice and support.
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Elder Eric Davis
Secretario
Misión Chile Concepción
Tel. 041-222-7613
2015528@ldschurch.org
Dear Mayberry family,
Your son has arrived safely and securely in Concepción Chile. He has met his trainer and is now working diligently in his new sector. We are excited to have him here and expect to see many miracles through his service. Attached is a letter from him, a photo with President and Hermana Chavez, and a map to help you know where your missionary is serving. Thank you for your sacrifice and support.
Elder Eric Davis
Secretario
Misión Chile Concepción
Tel. 041-222-7613
2015528@ldschurch.org
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Last Email Before Leaving for Chile!!
Well this is it, the last email before my mission starts; before I leave the comfort of the United States and Provo before heading to the distant land of Chile. I cant express how excited I am now, however the nerves are starting to set in too. But I know I'll be fine.
So the big news: ¡¡Flight Plans!! They're finally here, and the mission is starting to feel very real now knowing that I'll be leaving in about 5 days. Alright, heres my travel itinerary:
First, we'll take a shuttle to the Salt Lake Airport. Theres 16 total people in my group: turns out Aaron and I are in different groups. Anyways, so we meet at the travel office at 6AM on October 5th. Then we leave Salt Lake via Delta Air Lines Flight 470 leaving at 9:51Am heading to LAX. We get to LAX at 10:45AM. Then we have a break in LAX: the next flight leaves at 1:20. So sometime inbetween 10:45 and 1:20 I'll be calling all of you! So make sure and be ready for a call in between then. The next flight is on Lan Chile S.A. Flight 601 leaving LAX at 1:20pm, arriving in Santiago, Chile, airport SCL at 5:25AM on October 6th. That'll be a fun plan ride, haha, nice and long. Then we get on another Lan Chile S.A. flight, Flight 203, leaving Santaigo SCL at 8AM, arriving in Concepcion Chile at 9:05AM. Then the mission starts for real! So there you have it, my travel plans. From the airport the Mission President will pick us up, then we'll be on our way to our apartment.
So among other news, we get to host the new missionaries again this week! So thats exciting. Everything here is doing quite well, I'm anxiously waiting to leave and truly start my mission.
SO hows everything back at home? Probably more of the same I assume. So yeah, the spanish is getting pretty good I would say. I think by the time I get in the field I'll be fluent in about 2 or 3 months. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to teach right away once I get there; normally the new spanish speakers don't do a lot of teaching the first couple transfers. But I think I'll be able to, so it'll be interesting.
Any last questions? Make sure to email me them today or write a dear elder, but make sure thats done before saturday, or else I probably won't get it.
My testimony has grown so much since I've been here, and I know it will continue to grow. So here goes: I know that this church is true. I know it now more than ever. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, that He suffered and died for my sins. I know that this work, missionary work, is such a divine and guided thing. I want to spread the Gospel to the people of chile, so they will know the things I know, and have the joy I have. I know that the Book Of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Bible. I am so grateful for this Gospel and this church, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with the world. I know these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Anyways, so this is it, I'll talk to you all in a week, and I'll be soooo far away! It'll be crazy. But remember to wait for my phone call on Monday. Anyways, I love you all, thank you so much for all the support you've given me. I've grown so much already, and I know I'll be a much better person after these next 2 years. The time really will fly. ¡Buena suerte, y vaya con Dios!
Con amor,
Elder Ryan Mayberry
So the big news: ¡¡Flight Plans!! They're finally here, and the mission is starting to feel very real now knowing that I'll be leaving in about 5 days. Alright, heres my travel itinerary:
First, we'll take a shuttle to the Salt Lake Airport. Theres 16 total people in my group: turns out Aaron and I are in different groups. Anyways, so we meet at the travel office at 6AM on October 5th. Then we leave Salt Lake via Delta Air Lines Flight 470 leaving at 9:51Am heading to LAX. We get to LAX at 10:45AM. Then we have a break in LAX: the next flight leaves at 1:20. So sometime inbetween 10:45 and 1:20 I'll be calling all of you! So make sure and be ready for a call in between then. The next flight is on Lan Chile S.A. Flight 601 leaving LAX at 1:20pm, arriving in Santiago, Chile, airport SCL at 5:25AM on October 6th. That'll be a fun plan ride, haha, nice and long. Then we get on another Lan Chile S.A. flight, Flight 203, leaving Santaigo SCL at 8AM, arriving in Concepcion Chile at 9:05AM. Then the mission starts for real! So there you have it, my travel plans. From the airport the Mission President will pick us up, then we'll be on our way to our apartment.
So among other news, we get to host the new missionaries again this week! So thats exciting. Everything here is doing quite well, I'm anxiously waiting to leave and truly start my mission.
SO hows everything back at home? Probably more of the same I assume. So yeah, the spanish is getting pretty good I would say. I think by the time I get in the field I'll be fluent in about 2 or 3 months. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to teach right away once I get there; normally the new spanish speakers don't do a lot of teaching the first couple transfers. But I think I'll be able to, so it'll be interesting.
Any last questions? Make sure to email me them today or write a dear elder, but make sure thats done before saturday, or else I probably won't get it.
My testimony has grown so much since I've been here, and I know it will continue to grow. So here goes: I know that this church is true. I know it now more than ever. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, that He suffered and died for my sins. I know that this work, missionary work, is such a divine and guided thing. I want to spread the Gospel to the people of chile, so they will know the things I know, and have the joy I have. I know that the Book Of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Bible. I am so grateful for this Gospel and this church, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with the world. I know these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Anyways, so this is it, I'll talk to you all in a week, and I'll be soooo far away! It'll be crazy. But remember to wait for my phone call on Monday. Anyways, I love you all, thank you so much for all the support you've given me. I've grown so much already, and I know I'll be a much better person after these next 2 years. The time really will fly. ¡Buena suerte, y vaya con Dios!
Con amor,
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Phone calls in Spanish! Travel plans in 2 days.
i everyone!
How are you doing? Its really great to get letters, emails, and such from all of you throughout the week; I always look forward to reading them. So how are things here? Well, its basically more of the same thing. Study, study, study, and eat. Basically I'm really ready to get out into the field and be a missionary for real.
There have been a couple cool things this week: The first is that we got to host last Wednesday. That was super fun and exciting, it breaks up the monotony of the week. Ben Walters came in, a friend from Budge hall at BYU, and he's living on my floor! He's in Aaron's zone, so thats pretty cool. Another fun thing that we got to do this week was we got to do phone calls in spanish. They have a place here where we're able to do confirmation calls for people who've ordered DVDs, Bibles, Books of Mormon, etc. Normally we do them in English, but this last time we got to do them in Spanish. That was pretty exciting, also pretty nerve wracking too.
Also among the exciting news, we get our travel plans in 2 or 3 days!! Im very excited to get those.
So the spanish is going pretty well. To be honest I pretty much am solid with all of the grammar, I am especially good with it on paper. In speaking though, I'm not as good. Basically what I study in spanish now is vocabulary. We plan on having at least 3 days a week where we speak nothing but spanish all day. I like those, its really the times when i get the most needed practice.
So I think thats about all thats going on here. Basically I'm waiting eagerly to get out of here and start the real mission. (Which is only 2 short weeks away :D)
Alright, I love you all and thank you so much for all of the support, letters, emails, etc. Thanks and talk to you all later!!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
How are you doing? Its really great to get letters, emails, and such from all of you throughout the week; I always look forward to reading them. So how are things here? Well, its basically more of the same thing. Study, study, study, and eat. Basically I'm really ready to get out into the field and be a missionary for real.
Also among the exciting news, we get our travel plans in 2 or 3 days!! Im very excited to get those.
So the spanish is going pretty well. To be honest I pretty much am solid with all of the grammar, I am especially good with it on paper. In speaking though, I'm not as good. Basically what I study in spanish now is vocabulary. We plan on having at least 3 days a week where we speak nothing but spanish all day. I like those, its really the times when i get the most needed practice.
So I think thats about all thats going on here. Basically I'm waiting eagerly to get out of here and start the real mission. (Which is only 2 short weeks away :D)
Alright, I love you all and thank you so much for all of the support, letters, emails, etc. Thanks and talk to you all later!!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Saturday, September 19, 2009
3 weeks to go! Flight plans pending. Food experimentation.
Hi everyone! Velez(Texas), Benson(Russia), Klein(Algeria), Brase(Phoenix), Martinez(Japan) Mayberry(Chile)
,Benson(russia),Klein(algeria),Brase(phoenix),Martinez(Japan)Mayberry(Chile).JPG)
How is everything back home? Things here are pretty normal, not much new happens here. So Its exciting to hear about BYU, I guess theyre doing pretty good. Yeah, so here at the MTC things are going pretty well. The spanish is coming along. The classes are pretty much all in Spanish now, and its up to ourselves if we speak it outside of class. I like to try to have 3 days a week where I speak nothing but spanish all day. I'm getting pretty confident in it. I'm pretty sure that within a month or 2 of being in the field I'll be fluent. Teaching in spanish is going pretty well too. My companion Elder Paull is a good teacher; his spanish is a little bit under par, but its alright, we still make it through the lessons. I try to help him out as much as I can. And basically when we don't know a word we just carry around the dictionary they gave us, which is useful.
Some more good news; we get our flight plans in about a week or so!! I'm super excited for that, I just can't wait to get in the field. I kind of feel restricted here, I'm pretty sure if I went in the field now I would be pretty well off. But oh well, these next 3 weeks will hopefully fly by. Something cool is that I get to be a host missionary tomorrow, I get to pick the missionaries up after theyre dropped off and show them around.
To Jordan: High schools alright, it can be pretty fun. Just make sure you do well, then get into college; thats where the fun really happens. And make sure and let me know how your football games and your fútbal games go.
And to everyone else, I have begun the long and difficult process of trying fruits and vegetables. So far ive tried onions, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, cantelope, pineapple, and a green grape. On a scale of 1 to 10, they're rated a 2,3,3,3.5,5,3,6, respectively. So thats pretty good, I just need to start working up to eating more of these now. Oh yeah, I also tried eggs too. Theyre alright.
Ok, thats all the news I have for now. If I didnt remember anything I'll type it in another message later. I love hearing from you all! Thanks for supporting me! Talk to you later!
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Goodbye party for English !
Hey everyone!
So I'm really dying to get to the field. Oh, another thing, I think starting tomorrow I'll be experimenting with vegetables and fruits and what not. I'll keep you updated on how that goes, haha. So yeah, I want to get to the field so badly. On our temple walk the other day we talked to an RM who just got back 3 weeks ago for about an hour. He says he feels a lot more comfortable around us, and he already wants to go back. It'll be so crazy when I get to that point, but thats 23 months away. I really am anxious to get speaking spanish fluently; the guy said it took him about a year in the field, but he was in a beginner class. I don't think it should be too long before I feel close to fluent when I get in the field. As far as studies go, I'm practically done reading the Book of Mormon in english, I'll either finish today or tomorrow. Then after I'll either re-read it in Spanish or start the Bible in Spanish. Its amazing how much I can get done here, especially when we follow such a strict schedule.
Something funny happened this week. One of the guys in my district, Elder Barksdale has been getting a lot of headaches. So they took him to the hospital to get an MRI. That night at 10:10 (5 minutes before quiet time) 2 BYU police pulled him out of the dorms, and he came back crying. His companion said they had found something small and they had to take it out before he could go to the field. But after about 5 minutes they told us he was just kidding. So yeah, had us spooked for a bit, but it was just a little bit of fun (not in very good taste if you ask me, haha)
Well thats about all I can think of writing for now. I love getting Dear Elders and emails and letters from you, it makes my day. To my friends who write, be sure to include you home address, so I can write back.I'll write more a little later tonight!
Elder Mayberry
How are things back California? I hope everyone is ok despite the fires, it was even hazy and smokey here in Provo a couple days. Its really hard to hear about the news here, I feel really out of the loop. One of our teachers will occasionally tell us about the outside world though, because he knows how it is to be a missionary and knows that we need some things to keep us human. We did hear that BYU won their first game against the 3rd ranked team in the nation. So that was pretty exciting. When I heard that it really made me realize that the outside world is continuing without us, but I know I am here for the right reasons, and am so excited to be leaving in 4 more weeks (ugh)
So things here are the same old same old. We basically study and eat everyday of the week except P day, which is a very welcome change. I truly know I have been blessed; I have been able to study diligently everyday; back at school it was hard studying for more than an hour! But really, I have made so much progress, both in my Gospel understanding and in Spanish. Something interesting: we had a goodbye party to English in class yesterday. We wrote letters and did a bunch of stuff, symbolizing that were only gonna be speaking Spanish in the class now, and I'm gonna try real hard to speak it throughout the day to. Thats pretty much my only problem in spanish, I can't speak it extremely well. But I can pretty well, hopefully by the time I get out of here I will be pretty well off. Were also teaching in the TRC in spanish for the first time on Friday. The TRC is a place where volunteers come in and be pretend investigators. It's a pretty cool experience, we'll see if i can do it in spanish though. So I'm really dying to get to the field. Oh, another thing, I think starting tomorrow I'll be experimenting with vegetables and fruits and what not. I'll keep you updated on how that goes, haha. So yeah, I want to get to the field so badly. On our temple walk the other day we talked to an RM who just got back 3 weeks ago for about an hour. He says he feels a lot more comfortable around us, and he already wants to go back. It'll be so crazy when I get to that point, but thats 23 months away. I really am anxious to get speaking spanish fluently; the guy said it took him about a year in the field, but he was in a beginner class. I don't think it should be too long before I feel close to fluent when I get in the field. As far as studies go, I'm practically done reading the Book of Mormon in english, I'll either finish today or tomorrow. Then after I'll either re-read it in Spanish or start the Bible in Spanish. Its amazing how much I can get done here, especially when we follow such a strict schedule.
Something funny happened this week. One of the guys in my district, Elder Barksdale has been getting a lot of headaches. So they took him to the hospital to get an MRI. That night at 10:10 (5 minutes before quiet time) 2 BYU police pulled him out of the dorms, and he came back crying. His companion said they had found something small and they had to take it out before he could go to the field. But after about 5 minutes they told us he was just kidding. So yeah, had us spooked for a bit, but it was just a little bit of fun (not in very good taste if you ask me, haha)
Well thats about all I can think of writing for now. I love getting Dear Elders and emails and letters from you, it makes my day. To my friends who write, be sure to include you home address, so I can write back.I'll write more a little later tonight!
Elder Mayberry
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Blessed by an Apostle. Chad leaves for Japan.
Hey everyone! So just writing a quick note about how things are going here before I have to go to breakfast. So things are going pretty good here, although I am beginning to get a little tired of the MTC. But I am halfway done here, then the actual mission starts, which I am excited for. Spanish is coming along well; in fact we have had 2 days where we have spoken nothing but Spanish all day. We are going to be doing 2 of these a week, but probably soon increase it to 3 times a week. Thats basically what I need to get better in spanish. I'd say im fairly confident in all of my writing and listening, but speaking is still coming to me. I am making progress though, which should be good. If all goes well I think I should probably be a very good speaker, not fluent, but definitely well off.
On another note, my companion is now Elder Paull. Because the 3 Elders left for Guatemala they had to split apart our trio to accomodate. And they split up me and Elder Doxey, but its ok, Elder Paull is a nice companion.
Our classes have been pretty crazy. So far we've had at least 12 teachers! We had our 2 original teachers, but one got married and the other went on a trip, so we've had substitutes for the past week or so. But now we have one new teacher for good, and the other teacher who was one of the originals is stuck in Chile, haha. But he'll be back soon. Our new teacher is a really nice guy, he talks to us about the outside world a bit, because he knows how much we can feel seperated or alone here in the MTC. On another note, my companion is now Elder Paull. Because the 3 Elders left for Guatemala they had to split apart our trio to accomodate. And they split up me and Elder Doxey, but its ok, Elder Paull is a nice companion.
Alright, well I've got a lot more to talk about, for instance an Apostle came and talked to us at a fireside! But I've got to go to breakfast. Ill talk to you in a bit!
Breakfast is complete:
Alright here's some more stuff I didnt get a chance to write about earlier. Like I said, things are doing very well here. I am however getting tired of the MTC. People say its nothing like your mission and it improves many times over after you get in the field. I did receive the camera and its working great. Just one thing, next time I send the memory card home leave the pictures on the card too, and I'll delete them if necessary. I think the Microsoft charge is fine, they said they had to charge us one more time. I'm pretty sure thats the last one, but if it happens again we might have to call or something. About dad posting the pictures on facebook, he can if he wants to. Just make sure he doesnt check my notifications or anything. He could even give a little update on the status or something if he wants. Also, encourage people to write me, anyway, Dear Elder, email or regular mail.
Alright, so things are good here. Like a said, im getting a bit tired of it, but at least I'm halfway done here. Chad just left for Japan on Monday, so we got another picture with all of us BYU guys. 3 more guys from the floor have come. The highlight of the week I guess was last tuesday Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the 12 came and spoke to us. It was easily the best talk I've heard given. He spoke so powerfully and I knew that he is a man ordained of God. He even gave us some apostolic blessings (if thats the word for it). He blessed us with a gift of protection and the gift of tongues. So hopefully those help :D Anyways, if I can think of anything else Ill write a little bit later today. ¡Hasta luego, Chao!Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Elder Ryan Mayberry introduces his Companions
Entire District at the Provo Temple.Elders (left to right): Barksdale(Anaheim), Mayberry(Chile), Velez(Texas)
Gardner(Nicaragua), Doxey(Chile), Woods(Nicaragua), Goodman(Guatemala)
Davis(Guatemala), Cooper(Texas), Montoya(Guatemala)
Hi everyone! How is everything going back at home? Things are going well here. I'm definitely used to the schedule nowadays. Its not hard waking up in the morning or anything. Writing by Dear Elder is fine, so is regular mail. E-mails are also fine too, just know I wont be able to read or write them til tuesday. And I can email anytime on tuesday before 6. And Mom, you can send the package whenever you like. Alright, so an update on things. I sent the camera home on saturday. So hopefully it'll be there soon. So about my companions, I may be getting a brand new one today or tomorrow. 3 of the guys in our district left this morning for the Guatemala MTC. Its weird, we only knew each other for 3 weeks but we felt pretty close. Anyways, one of the guys on my floor is now companionless. And he said he may choose me to be his new companion. Its still not known for sure, but we'll see how it goes. My current companions are Elder Doxey and Elder Paull. Elder Doxey is from Utah, but spent the past 3 years in Mexico, because his dad was Mission president there. He went to one semester of BYU after that. Elder Paull is from Florida, and played beach volleyball. SO when we play during gym he's pretty good. To answer Dads questions: The spirit is pretty strong here. I had problems recognizing the spirit at first, but I am getting better at it and more used to it. All of the talks and devotionals have been super good here. Probably because of the spirit here. Spanish is going pretty well, I definitely am good at listening and writing it, speaking I find to be much harder. But with practice that can get better. We haven't had to teach any of the lessons in spanish yet, but I'm pretty sure I could struggle through it if I had to. We taught lesson 2 the first time yesterday, which didnt go so well, because we had barely studied it, and because there is so much to teach in that lesson (plan of salvation).
Elders: Mayberry,Velez, Hatton, Martinez.
Well all is well here, I can't really think of anything else I want to type at the moment. I'm saving some of time for later use. Alright, thanks for all the letters, I love you all so much, and I'm thankful you are supporting me. I truly know I have grown a lot spiritually and as a person since I have been here. I know why I want to be a missionary, and I really want to do the Lord's work. Well I'll talk to you all a little later today.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Ryan getting the rhythm 8-18-09
Hi everyone!
Hows everything going? Im gonna start off this email by running through an average day here at the MTC. We wake up at 6:30, shower and do all that good stuff, then go to a classroom by 7. We have all of our classes in one classroom the whole day, so basically we live in that classroom, and sleep at home. We do personal study until 7:45, then go eat breakfast. After breakfast we go to the gym; ive been playing volleyball recently. After an hour of gym, we have 30 minutes to get ready for class again, then go to class until 12:30, when we have lunch. Usually during this class period we learn some spanish and go over some gospel stuff too. After lunch, we have a block of class for like 4 hours until dinner. After dinner we have MDT, Missionary Directed Time, where we choose what we want to study and stuff. This is nice because we can study outside, which is usually a relief. We do that until 9, then plan for the next day for for 30 mins, then head back to the residences. We go to bed at 10:30. So thats a normal day here, some days it gets pretty mundane, but as long as you study hard and keep yourself busy then time can go pretty quickly. Like they say here "Days seems like weeks, and weeks seem like days." This is very true, I cant believe its almost been 2 weeks. The P-day schedule is pretty similar, but we dont have to go to class to do our studying. We wake up, do some studying in the room then head to breakfast. After breakfast we go to the temple, then come back for lunch. Then we have time to do laundry, write letters, and all that good stuff. We don't have gym on P-days, which is kinda silly, but what can you do. As for how I'm doing here, im doing pretty good. Im learning a whole, lot, not only the language but I'm also growing a whole lot spiritually. I'm really getting excited to teach the Chilean people about Christ and His Gospel. I've been sleeping pretty well each night. It takes about 15-20 minutes of laying in bed before I fall asleep; theres so much going on in my mind each night. And each night I've been here I've had a dream, dont know why. I do sometimes wake up during the middle of the night, but its no problem. To answer Grandma Sharons and everyone elses question about learning spanish, its going fantastically. Spanish is really coming back to me now. I can write a letter home in spanish if you really wanted to. The hard thing about it for me is actually speaking the language, I can write it very well, but speaking comes a little harder, sometimes I'll forget a word or conjugation. However, I'm pretty sure I could make it through the day only speaking spanish. I say all my prayers in spanish now as a matter of fact. To answer a couple of your other questions: I dont think I need anything else other than whats being sent. Yes, Im working very hard here. Yesterday I went over every verb tense for spanish study yesterday. And I'm about halfway done with the Book of Mormon already. After I finish it I'm going to read it in spanish, and hopefully I can finish that before I leave the MTC. Another new development, my companion Elder Doxey and I got another companion, so were a trio now. His name is Edler Paull, hes from Florida and is a pretty cool guy. I see all of my BYU friends in here a lot, Jason left last tuesday, and my roomate Chase and Brian Anderson just left yesterday. The next to go is Chad, he leaves at the end of the month. A couple other random things: I got that package, and it was very nice, thank you. Another funny thing, my district is living on the floor and in the rooms that were quarentined with swine flu when it was here. So the rooms have been stripped of the furniture and we got some old run down stuff, but it works. And I did here about the triplets the day I got here, never saw them though. A funny thing is that there's a pair of twins in mine and Aarons classes; one's in mine and the other is in Aarons. So, the camera, I've been taking quite a few pictures, and I can probably send the card home soon. Do you think that would be that best way to do it? It probably is, that way the pics can be put on the blog. How would I send it home, in an envelope? One more thing, you didn't send up pictures in the last package, so next time you get that chance to that would be very nice. Well thats all I can think of writing at this time. Thank you so much for the letters, they mean a lot. I'll write you again later today I think, or if not, talk to you next week!!
With Love, Elder Ryan Mayberry
Hows everything going? Im gonna start off this email by running through an average day here at the MTC. We wake up at 6:30, shower and do all that good stuff, then go to a classroom by 7. We have all of our classes in one classroom the whole day, so basically we live in that classroom, and sleep at home. We do personal study until 7:45, then go eat breakfast. After breakfast we go to the gym; ive been playing volleyball recently. After an hour of gym, we have 30 minutes to get ready for class again, then go to class until 12:30, when we have lunch. Usually during this class period we learn some spanish and go over some gospel stuff too. After lunch, we have a block of class for like 4 hours until dinner. After dinner we have MDT, Missionary Directed Time, where we choose what we want to study and stuff. This is nice because we can study outside, which is usually a relief. We do that until 9, then plan for the next day for for 30 mins, then head back to the residences. We go to bed at 10:30. So thats a normal day here, some days it gets pretty mundane, but as long as you study hard and keep yourself busy then time can go pretty quickly. Like they say here "Days seems like weeks, and weeks seem like days." This is very true, I cant believe its almost been 2 weeks. The P-day schedule is pretty similar, but we dont have to go to class to do our studying. We wake up, do some studying in the room then head to breakfast. After breakfast we go to the temple, then come back for lunch. Then we have time to do laundry, write letters, and all that good stuff. We don't have gym on P-days, which is kinda silly, but what can you do. As for how I'm doing here, im doing pretty good. Im learning a whole, lot, not only the language but I'm also growing a whole lot spiritually. I'm really getting excited to teach the Chilean people about Christ and His Gospel. I've been sleeping pretty well each night. It takes about 15-20 minutes of laying in bed before I fall asleep; theres so much going on in my mind each night. And each night I've been here I've had a dream, dont know why. I do sometimes wake up during the middle of the night, but its no problem. To answer Grandma Sharons and everyone elses question about learning spanish, its going fantastically. Spanish is really coming back to me now. I can write a letter home in spanish if you really wanted to. The hard thing about it for me is actually speaking the language, I can write it very well, but speaking comes a little harder, sometimes I'll forget a word or conjugation. However, I'm pretty sure I could make it through the day only speaking spanish. I say all my prayers in spanish now as a matter of fact. To answer a couple of your other questions: I dont think I need anything else other than whats being sent. Yes, Im working very hard here. Yesterday I went over every verb tense for spanish study yesterday. And I'm about halfway done with the Book of Mormon already. After I finish it I'm going to read it in spanish, and hopefully I can finish that before I leave the MTC. Another new development, my companion Elder Doxey and I got another companion, so were a trio now. His name is Edler Paull, hes from Florida and is a pretty cool guy. I see all of my BYU friends in here a lot, Jason left last tuesday, and my roomate Chase and Brian Anderson just left yesterday. The next to go is Chad, he leaves at the end of the month. A couple other random things: I got that package, and it was very nice, thank you. Another funny thing, my district is living on the floor and in the rooms that were quarentined with swine flu when it was here. So the rooms have been stripped of the furniture and we got some old run down stuff, but it works. And I did here about the triplets the day I got here, never saw them though. A funny thing is that there's a pair of twins in mine and Aarons classes; one's in mine and the other is in Aarons. So, the camera, I've been taking quite a few pictures, and I can probably send the card home soon. Do you think that would be that best way to do it? It probably is, that way the pics can be put on the blog. How would I send it home, in an envelope? One more thing, you didn't send up pictures in the last package, so next time you get that chance to that would be very nice. Well thats all I can think of writing at this time. Thank you so much for the letters, they mean a lot. I'll write you again later today I think, or if not, talk to you next week!!
With Love, Elder Ryan Mayberry
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Greetings from the MTC !! 8-11-09
So to answer some of the questions from the dear elder letters;-The sleeping schedule has been fine. Most nights I sleep really well, and have very little to no problemn waking up in the morning. -The spanish is actually coming along really well. I can already confidently pray and bear my testimony in spanish, and more and more is coming back to me each day. I think by the time I get outta here i'll be pretty far along in spanish, almost fluent if all goes well.-Ive seen everyone from the floor that is here right now. Jason just left today I believe, and Chad and Marshall are doing well in their languages. Me and Mauricio are neighbors, and are in the same district. And Aaron is one floor above me, but i see him often. So here goes the real update: I sent a letter home after the first day, i dont know if you got that yet. So this past week has been going well. The schedule of studying in the same class every day day in day out has taken some getting used to, but im pretty accustomed to it now. The district im in is all good, the people are nice and our spanish is all more or less on the same level. Im in the intermediate class if you havent heard already from my last letter. Gym time is going well; I have ran some, (I ran 2 miles yesterday, which to me is quite an accomplishment), lifted weights, and played some volleyball. The food here is the same as the cannon center, and I'm trying not to eat too much. We went to the temple today, which was really neat, we got to do a session. Today is my P-Day. I'm basically just writing things as they come into my head, haha, so sorry if it doesnt make to much sense. We have started practicing Lesson 1, in english though. We spend the first 4 weeks here teaching in english, then it goes to all spanish. We got a nice picture of all of us from BYU right before jason left (Aaron didnt make it in the picture though) Ive also taken a few pictures of the temple, and my room and classroom. However, i dont think i can send those via email. So thats all for now, i want to save some time to check later if i forgot anything(ill explain below)Love you lots,
Elder Ryan Mayberry
Elder Ryan Mayberry
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