One year after the Earthquake!

  Well this week was a pretty decent one.  So Monday as is the common practice when a missionary leaves a sector, it's spent saying goodbye to members, new converts, investigators, etc. So thats what we did on Monday, Elder Demann went around saying bye.  So the orders we had were to be at the bus terminal at 10am so Elder Demann could take the bus. So we got there, he left, and I was left to wait with the other missionaries getting new comps, for our new comps. Now, unfortunately my comp was coming all the way from Concepcion, so I knew it'd be a long wait. So we waited, and waited. Then we waited some more. Finally, the bus with my comp and the other people from Concepcion got there, at 5 oclock! It was a pretty long wait, usually it's not that long.  So Elder Huerta got here, then we took a collectivo to our sector. Then we went over to the Lider (Wal Mart) to eat (we both hadn't eaten lunch) and buy our groceries for the week.  Then we went out to try to visit some people, but no one was really there.

   On Wednesday we had our district class in the morning.  Then the day was pretty normal. We went over to attempt to get Katalina to listen to us, and she did! It was only like 10 mins, but hey, its progress, it's the first time she's listened to us.  So that was good. Then, in the night, President Humphrey came over to Talca and talked to all the bishops, ward mission leaders, and ward missionaries about the new plan we have as a mission. It got them pretty excited, so we should see a lot more help from the ward now. Thursday was a pretty normal day, found a new person, taught a few lessons. It was the first like average day of the week. 

   Friday in the morning we went to go fill up some little pools for an activity they did in the church that night.  So that day was pretty normal, right before the talent show activity in the church we were doing contacts over there, and invited a couple kids in the street. Then 2 of them showed up at the activity with their aunt! So that was pretty cool.

   Saturday was different. So in Constitucion, the city on the beach that the sisters are in, a year ago got messed up by the earthquake, the chapel did as well.  So on Saturday they finished renovating the chapel, and had all of the elders of our zone go over there, because they had an "Open Doors", basically people could tour the newly renovated chapel. So we went to help get people there. We were there practically the whole day doing contacts in the plaza trying to get people to go. It turned out really well though, and it was fun to be a part of it.

   Sunday was kind of a disappointment, we didnt have any investigators here in church. But this weeks gonna be a good one. We have some people with a lot of potential we found this week, so we're excited to work hard. Me and Elder Huerta are getting along fine. He's from Texas by the way, in case you wanted to know. What's funny though, is that people have started saying that my spanish isn't as good anymore, but that his is really good.  We think they see a dark elder Huerta, and even though he's a gringo, they hear what they see. O sea, mexican. A funny observation we made.

   Well, here's to the start of a new cambio. This next week another month will have passed by (yikes!) it's passing by way too fast. Today we played some.. Well, have a great week! 

Elder Ryan Mayberry

 Pics: 1) The sweatshirts we got made as a zone

2) Me with Felipe (convert from Piduco) and Rafael (also from Piduco) at stake conference

3) Me and Elder Demann

4) Me with Elder Huerta at the astroturf field we play at on Mondays

Holas!

  Well, another week gone. Actually, a whole other cambio gone by. I'm pretty sure this one has gone by the fastest out of all. Well, sadly I didn't take notes again this week.  But I'll try to remember what went on. Well, Monday was pretty normal. Tuesday seemed like it would be pretty good after planning, but a lot of our citas fell through. Aww. On Wednesday we did a minicambio with the zone leaders. I went over to the ZL sector and elder Demann stayed here. It was a good minicambio, the ZLs had a lot of good people. And it felt good to teach with someone with the same time as me too.  Then we got back on Thursday and had a couple good citas. Friday I went over to the sector in my district, La Florida, and had a good minicambio. We knocked a lot of doors, but it was still a good minicambio. 

   Saturday was a good day, we had a lot of sit down lessons. The most intense one was in the night, with the new converts Luisa and Jamie.  They're the ones who got married and baptized the weekend before I got there. Well, we got there Sat night and it appeared they had a fight, and were not too happy with each other. So I basically played the role of marriage counselor. It was pretty interesting, me being a 20 year old not married person, gave some pretty good advice to them I think, they seemed a lot better afterwards. But it was all the spirit that helped. That lesson was like an hour and a half of intense, but it turned out good.

   Sunday was really cool. Why? So get this, we had a stake conference, but it wasnt your average stake conference. It was by satelite, and guess who talked to us? 1 70, the young women president of the church, and Elder Packer and Elder Christofferson! It was soo cool, they talked to specifically the bottom half of Chile. And it was cool, cuz Elder Christofferson didn't even need a translater, his spanish is pretty good. But it was really cool because they gave some good cousel. And what's cool is thinking that the Lord specifically wanted to talk to Chile so they did that transmission. What a cool experience. It was like an appetizer of general conference.

    We had 2 investigators there, Katalina the daughter of Jaime and Luisa. She still doesn't share with us, but hopefully soon we see a breakthrough. And Carolina, the lady who went to church last week! She's really cool, we've taught her more now and she's really receptive and progressing, but the only problem is that she's living with her boyfriend. So we might have to address that this week.

   Well, and today was cambios. As we thought Elder Demann is leaving and I'm staying. My new companion is Elder Huerta. He got here the same time as Strong and Demann. Now you may be thinking he's a latin but hes not, he's from texas and is mexican, but is as gringo as they get. So it should be funny seeing how people react to him. So here we are in Jardin del Valle, ready to ponernos las pilas and work hard. I'll give you an update next week about how everything is going.

 

Have a great week, love you!

 

Elder Ryan Mayberry

This week was kinda rough.

Well, this week was kinda rough for us, as you can see in the title. But the good news, I took good notes! So this email hopefully will be a bit better.  So thats good.  Well, at the end of last week, the animo was super up, with great expectations for the future. Well, some things have changed, the animos still there, but this week took some unexpected turns.  A ver...

   Something I forgot to tell about last week. Our calefonts broken! The calefont is what heats the water. And we've been without a calefont for like 2 weeks now. Cold showers in the morning aren't too fun, but I'm kinda used to it now. But we should be getting the calefont back up and running any day now, so thats good.  Oh yeah, and last Monday we almost saw a lady get hit by a car.  She crossed the street before her turn, and the driver didn't even slow down, just honked at her and swerved at the very last minute. It was intense. 

   Tuesday was a pretty average day, except I almost got bit by a dog. We were just walking in the middle of the street minding our own business and this dog just kinda stares at us then goes at me! Luckily I think I scared it, but it left. I swear, that street has racist dogs, they only bark at us as we go by. 

  Wednesday was intense, it was where things started going not too good. So we had our first lesson with Paula and Catherin scheduled since they went to church. So obviously, we were super excited. So we get there, ask them how they liked church, and they both said they really liked it. Then Paula told us, 'But, I've decided I wanna be catholic'. It's pretty hard to explain how you as a missionary feel when someone says that, especailly after having taken the first big step, going to church. Lemme tell you, it's not fun. So we talked to her, and found out her doubts, and stuff. It turns out she hasn't prayed about it, so there's still hope for her. So they're not dead as investigators yet, just not progressing as fast as we had hoped. We've got our next appointment with them today, so wish us luck.

  Thursday I had a minicambio with La Florida. To be quite honest I was glad to get out of my sector for a day, I just needed to get away, like a vacation perhaps. So on the minicambio I got to ride the worst bike known to man, so that wasn't too fun.  But it was a good minicambio. The elders there were gonna have 2 baptisms on Sunday, the first ones in that sector in almost a year. So I'm super happy for them.

   Friday was a pretty normal day. Saturday too, we just went around inviting our investigators to church. We actually found a woman that day, and she said she'd go to church the following day.

   The big day, Sunday. That woman came!! That's so cool, cuz it never happens that people are found on a Saturday and go to church on a Sunday. The only not that great things is that she isn't married to the guy she lives with. But no big deal, we'll work right through it.  And the other investigator who came is the 10 year old daughter of Jaime and Luisa, the couple who got married and baptized the Sunday before I got here. Seems like the easiest baptism ever...wrong. The girl is like super pesada and porfiada. (Like kinda a brat I'd say, she's not really interested at all). So we're gonna see what we can do there.  And a cool exprience,we were sitting there during the Sacrament, and I had completely forgotten to see if Mario, our new convert was there. Then the sacrament gets passed to us and it was Mario, passing it for the first time! How cool! It was the first time he came in a shirt and tie too. It's was just a cool little experience. Then we went to the baptism of La Florida too, which was cool. They only had 1 though, the wife was sick, but she'll get baptized next week. It was really cool though.

   So today we played some soccer in the morning. We play on a turf field, its nice, I'll take some pics for you guys. And after, we went to Piduco and said hi! That was cool going to my old sector, I didn't see to many people though. I saw Felipe and the familia Cristi. I'll go over again later to see some more of my converts.

   So basically that's it. Our investigators are all running low, so we gotta find more this week. Next weeks cambios, this one has gone by sooo fast.  I doubt I'm gone, Elder Demann is in his 4th here, so it's pretty sure he's gone. Well, until next time the church is true!

Elder Ryan Mayberry

The pics:

1) Marios bap

2) Our street

3-4) Constitucion (it was a cloudy day when we went)

5) A cuico house

 6-7) random parts fo the sector

We took an adventure to the campo trying to contact a reference

Hey Everyone!

Hey everyone!

So we just got back from a zone activity, and time is a little bit short, so sorry if this email sounds rather rushed.  But this week was kind of rough, but we saw good stuff too. We had kind of a hard week, we walked a ton.  We didn't have a too good of a week of contacts, some of the potentially better investigators we had, have gone on vacation for like all of February, and other fun stuff like that. But, amongst the trials we had, we had a big blessing, with 2 of the people were teaching. So, we're teaching a lady named Paula and her daughter Catherin, who's 12, and they're both super awesome. Paula's husband is a member, but way inactive, but a really nice guy. The good news is both Paula and Catherin and progressing very well. Both are praying to find out the truth, we taught them the Book of Mormon in a shorter lesson, and were like we'll teach you about Joseph Smith and stuff the next time, and Paula was like, aww, I want it now! So that was cool. But best of all, they came to church! Neither of them had been before, but both of them seemed to like it! They only went to the sacrament meeting, but were pretty sure they liked it. They're both really cool and receptive, and I'm pretty sure they'll be our best investigators for now.

   So we're gonna be working with them for this week. And we're gonna try to see what we can do with our other investigators, and we have some good plans to get this ward a bit more involved in the work. But other than that, things are doing good here. we're excited to work.

   In other news, like dad told me in his email, yes, I have turned one year and a half old in the mission, 6 months left. What does that mean? Time to get trunky? No, just time to work hard, cuz the time is going by fast. Don't worry, I'm not trunky. I'm gonna keep working hard. 

   And today we went to Constitucion! Its weird thinking I was there over a year ago, and we even were at the same beach. We ate some hot dogs, and played some soccer on the sand, it was a good activity.

   So once again, sorry for the poor email. And sorry that there's not really time to put on pictures, I actually haven't taken my camera with me a lot, but this week I will, I promise. Hope you all have a great week! The church is true.

 

Elder Ryan Mayberry

Another week...

  Well, there went another week here in Jardin del Valle. I'm gonna apologie in advance, my email this weeks not gonna be too exciting. It was for the most part a pretty average week here. Let's see...Monday: normal. Tuesday was good because we had a miniconference with the President. It was a really good conference, we kind of went over the new standards and new rules, and did a lot of practices. It was all in all a good conference, I left it feeling really edified and good. Wednesday; normal Thursday, Friday, Saturday: normal. I'm so sorry for this email. Sunday was not too fun either, we had 0 investigators in church. 

   Well I'm gonna lay it down for you, how this sectors holding up. So a little about the sector, it's pretty big. We should be using bikes, mines good, but my comps is broken and being repaired. So we do a lot ot walking. This sector is definitely the most calm one I've been in, there's like no flaites or bad kids. It's just a nice part of the city.  It's mostly just suburban. 

   And about our investigators. Well, were still looking for more, we found 9 new people this week, so that's good. But we gotta get these people to church. We've found some really good people, who I'm pretty sure will progress, but we just gotta help them take the step to getting to church. And so that's what were focusing on this week. 

   Well that's about it! This week should be good, with hard work I think we'll see a lot of people in church this next week. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Ryan Mayberry

Buenas!

  Well, this week was far better than the last week we had here in Jardin del Valle. Well, it started out rather hard but then it got good at the end of the week. I'm happy to say were not in an investiagtor crisis (well, not as bad of one) now. So here's what happened this week. Monday we taught a new lady and her son, but they were just mas o menos no mas. We also met with Alejandra (who just got baptized) and her brother Mario (who was gonna get baptized this week). It was the last time we saw him this week before his baptism, because he was going on the young mens trip for the week, coming back Friday, with his baptism on Saturday.  Now we decided to fast on Tuesday as a companionship to find some new, prepared investigators. So we started the fast on Tuesday after lunch.  Then our faith was tried the whole day. We had planned a good day of finding new investigators, doing contacts, looking for old investigators, trying to contact references, etc., Now, the whole day we didn't enter a single house!! So that was pretty rough, but we worked hard, and were super tired at the end of the day.

   On Wednesday morning we had district class, were we got some news. The zone leaders had conference with the President on Monday and Tuesday, and came back with the news. We got a lot of the rules changed (not big rules, but like small ones.) So that was interesting. Also, we got our schedule changed. We now wake up at 7:30, go to bed at 11:30. So thats kinda cool I guess. We also started teaching the mom of a newer convert, she's kinda old and slow to understand things but hey, we're working with her little by little. So then a coule days went by of missionary work, and then we saw the blessings from our fast. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we found really, really cool people that I think are going to progress.  I'll tell you more about them next week, but we ended the week well, with 13 new investigators! Saturday was Marios baptism, and it went really well. I'll send pics of it next week. Then on Sunday he was confirmed. The only investigator we had in church was the mom of the newer convert. But things are very hopeful here in Jardin del Valle. We've been able to turn things around pretty good, and things are looking bright for the future.

   This morning we played some soccer on a turf field and it was fun. And tomorrow we have a little mini-conference with the President, so I'm excited for that. Well, the church is true, and I'm way excited to be here in this sector. Have a great week!

 

Talca!

  Well, I don't even know where to start, there's a lot going on in my mind. But things are quite good! Here I am again in Talca, dying of heat (its suuuper hot), making the best of my new sector,  Jardín del Valle. So I'm gonna give a rundown of whats going on here.
  So last Monday, was my saying goodbye day in Lirquen. I think it was the hardest goodbyes I've done so far, because I've met some of my favorite people in all of Chile here in Lirquen. So that was really rough. Then I had to pack (ugh), and got ready for the trip. So Tuesday morning I reported to the bus terminal in Conce at like 9, and from there started the long trip back to Talca. So at 2oclock, I arrived in Talca. So I got to the terminal and talked with the ZL's a bit, and learned we would be having a baptism on Wednesday (that's cool) and heard a lot of good things about the sector and the ward. So then I met my comp Elder Demann, he's from the same group as Elder Strong.  So we headed out to work. On Tuesday, I met the bishop of the ward. And it turns out that he is Martas (my very first convert) son! So that's cool. The bishop is really cool, he's only a convert of 3 years, but he's pure power. Then we met the girl who was gonna be baptized Wednesday, Alejandra. She's also really cool and was ready for her baptism. Then towards the end of the day we went to buy groceries, and on the way there I saw Felipe, my convert! That was really cool. Pretty sure next monday I'm gonna go to my old sector and make an appearance.
  On Wednesday morning we had the district class and I got to meet the zone. It's relatively small (12), Penco was 20 missionaries. But it's all good. I continue as a DL, my district has only one other companionship.  So right after luch we had Alejandras baptism! It was really good. So now a little about the new sector.
  Jardin del Valle is in the bottom left corner of Talca (Piduco was the top right). The ward has about 115 members who go each week, which is pretty good. The missionaries have been having good success, last Sunday a couple got married and baptized, and Wednesday there was the baptism. The bad news? We have 1 investigator. No one else. It's the brother of the girl who was baptized on Wednesday, and he's getting baptized this Saturday. So really we're in an investigator crisis, which isn't really fun to come to a sector where there's no one. But I'm excited to work. This week I've been formulating my plan of attack for this sector, and I'm gonna work a lot with the members, going and asking for references a lot. We got like 7 references from members last week, so I'm pretty sure it's gonna work. But basically, we're basically just trying to find news. But we have some pretty good references, so we're gonna see how it goes. I've got a lot of hope and faith that we'll see a lot of success here, I can just feel it.
  So the week was spent going to members, trying to find news, etc. Sunday the only investigator we had in church was Alejandras brother, Mario. So, here we are this week. Kind of in a crisis, but we're gonna have an amazing week and find like 9 million people. This morning we went to Centro, and we played some basketball and soccer with other missionaries. So that's about it! I'm very excited to be here in Talca again, sad to be out of Lirquen, but I know that for something, I'm here. I love this work, and I'm gonna do work! Love you!
Elder Ryan Mayberry