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

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

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

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.

Elder Eric Davis
Secretario
Misión Chile Concepción
Tel. 041-222-7613
2015528@ldschurch.org

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