WOOHOO!!

German got baptized! It was quite the process, but he was super ready. It was a really cool experience.I´m really excited for him to get prepared for a misión and all those other wonderful things. His mom came and she really loved it, she got a Little emotional during the hymns. German was so happy, he gave me a huge back crunching hug afterwards, haha! It was really cool to see God´s work moving forward.

Elder McGann is super awesome.

We´ve been really sick most of this week, which was a bummer. We´re feeling better and should be getting out there now. J Today we had an asado with some of the other missionaries in the district, that was awesome.

It´s been super cool to see Elder Velazquez learning and the rest of us learning with him, haha. I feel like we´re all children in the góspel.

Haha… Something I´ve learned is that you should always take responsibility for things and take care of them in the moment, the longer that you don´t do anything about it the bigger problem it becomes. Mostly because I´ve been cleaning up after old messes from other missionaries (I´ve had my own stuff to fix up too, of course- I caught up on that today), it´s a pretty cool analogy for repentance, the longer you wait the worse it gets. For example, a long time before I got here, something happened with the pension, and it wasn´t taken care of, so for the next 3 weeks we´re going without electricity. XD I´m pumped, actually.

I really love the misión!! J It´s so fun, haha. There is absolutely no sarcasm in that.

I´ve been getting better at taking pictures, now that Elder Bills is gone and isn´t here to do it for me, haha… Anyways.

We have a ton of work to do this week, some of which is a noche de hogar with Anibal and Vanesa, hopefully they decide to get married. J We also are gonna see if Hermano Alvarado can get things together so that he can baptize his kids, we had super wonderful lessons with them and they´ve accepted to get baptized. J Selene, the 6 year old, drew me a cute Little picture, it reminded me of my sister Lydia. I love you Lydia!

Being on a misión is really the best. (for now ) I love getting to meet all these people and help them come unto Christ. As I come unto Him, I find the strength to overcome weakness.

I love this work!!!

Aloha,

Elder Chock

Some pics of the old district, there are some pictures of Elder McGann and I. That´s us with him at the baptism, and then some girls in the ward that he´s made friends with! :) It´s been super cool to see how openly he was welcomed, in class on Sunday he gave a heartfelt prayer thanking the Lord for sending him the missionaries to teach him and bring him to the true church of Jesus Christ, and for all the people that have been so welcoming and loving to him. I think that was one of the things that most impressed the mom, to be greeted and treated so kindly and welcomingly. I love this ward/stake all these people. :) All of JAS (or young single adults) came for his baptism.

​

Fwd: This is my Life and Joy

Que locura este semana! Hermanas, Hermanos los cambios han llegado, y este semana paso con cualquier cosa. 

The last week of the transfer we running around everywhere, week was full. We had some intercambios  in the pensh, ate some great asado, ice cream, had our district meeting in the middle of the week with a National Paro! There is so much work...and at the end Ive been called to serve in Florencia Varela, in Mayol! Super excited got here earlier today, with another Chileno! jaja, pero Im finishing his traning. Elder Nienhuser, hes actually in the same stake of the last Chilean comp I had Elder Rubilar. My first Chileno, and mission comp, my pops, called me today to say he was heading out, and wed be talking soon, the time has passed!

Back in Tolosa, we had big things going on, German is going to institute, getting friends, passed his interview, the less active family Flia Alvarado came to church, and their kids are getting closer to baptisim! Sunday was a special gift from God, with all the amazing members, friends, investigators, and great Elders that I served with. German is an amazing kid, very intellegent, and so faithful! 

Soo much was learned, Elder Chock was a great Elder of God. I love those people. 

This is my Life and Joy! I hope every single one of us, takes the gospel, our faith in Jesus like the Iron Rod, Hold tight and never let go. This is our purpose, and it leads to Eternal Life, there is no happiness like it. 

Be faithful, Follow Him humbly, and Serve!

The real changes Ive seen in the people, coming unto Him, is incredible!

Take care, Wish you guys the best week!

Elder Bills  

Felices Pascua!

Alright, this week has been a blast! My new companion is Elder McGann, he´s from Chicago, and he´s hilarious! I´ts been super awesome learning along with him. He´s helping me develop characteristics that I´d been praying to the Lord for. We´ve seen some pretty cool miracles this week!

Familia Alvarado asisitieron a la iglesia esta semana, otra vez!!! And this time, they stayed for all the classes! I was so happy. And German got here on time all on his own! He´s been a little finicky about setting his baptismal date, he´s had the interview and passed twice because the other two dates for his baptism fell through. But he´s finally getting baptized this Saturday. It should be really awesome!

I´ve seen some real miracles happening through prayer! Sometimes things happen on the mission that I feel like should be told in person, pretty special and sacred things. Mosiah 27:14. 

It looks like my efforts to truly love and serve the members here in Tolosa is paying off! They really love and respect us, they´ve been inspired to participate more in the missionary work, and they´ve been helping us a lot and they´ve been sharing the gospel with their friends and acquaintances! It´s miraculous to see the work. The bishop said to Elder McGann that this area is a little hard, but I think it´s the best it can be and I know we´re going to see even more miracles here in the next few weeks!

The zone leaders gave a challenge to give out 150 of the cards of the Pascua on Saturday, the first companionship to do it would get a special reward. They only counted if the people comprometieron to watch the video- we thought it would be pretty impossible, but Elder McGann and I decided to do it. It worked! At first it went super fast, it was pretty crazy! Near the end it got really hard. Now we have a ton of new contacts to teach, we planted a ton of seeds of the gospel out there! We called, and we were the first and only elders to finish the challenge. It´s pretty cool what happens when we obey with faith, God does miracles. 

I´ve really enjoyed eating with members and sharing spiritual moments with them this week. At first, I felt awkward trying to make good relationships with them, I prayed a lot and just decided to love them with all my heart and do whatever came next. It´s truly been miraculous what has happened. I would urge you all to do the same, wherever you are- truly love the people that surround you and then do what comes next, and you will find yourself surrounded by the brightest and most wonderful people in all the world.

These pictures are of me, Elder McGann, Elder Gastelo, and Elder Velazquez (Elder Gastelo is training him. He´s super cool! He´s from misiones, so he´s a misionero de verdad, haha!) I love these guys. I´m gonna forward you guys an email from Elder Bills, he went to Florencia Varela. I love that guy a ton too.

 

Traslados

So, this week, we had traslados, which is when they tell us if we go to new areas or not. Elder Bills, whom I´ve been with since I got here, left to go to florencia varela! It wasn´t too hard to say goodbye, but it was weird. With true friends I feel like goodbyes are pretty temporary. 

My new companion, when we heard who it was, everyone in my pension went WOOHOO! He must be a cool guy. :) Elder McGann. In my own opinion so far, he seems really awesome. I think he´s gonna help me figure out how to work on that thing they were saying in conference about taking yourself too seriously. I´m excited to work really hard. He´s from chicago and has the same amount of time in the mission and Elder Bills.

Elder Smith went too. But Elder Gastelo is staying! WOOHOO! He rocks. He´s going to be training a new missionary this traslado! He´s gonna do a great job. He´s such a cool guy.

German didn´t end up getting baptized this week... It was a bit crazy. He has had some interesting obstacles, but he´s super cool, and he should get baptized this week if he will let us finish the registro. :) 

This sunday was a super happy moment! At first German didn´t get there for his baptismal interview, and I was feeling pretty poopy. It´s pretty hard when people need to come to church to progress and they promise to and then don´t. But then Flia. Gomez, a less active family we´ve been visiting, came with a nena that´s not a member. She really liked church! Her name is Alma and she drew me a cute picture. :) They needed us to pass the sacrament, none of the aaronic priesthood showed up this sunday, that´s something we got to get to work on... But while I was passing, I saw Flia(familia/family) Alvarado!!! These are the kids that we´ve been working with their parents to let them come to church and get baptized! The parents are actually members, they just hadn´t come to church for most of their children´s lives, and they felt like their kids didn´t pay enough attention at church, so they said they weren´t going to bring them. The kids are some of the brightest, most intelligent and happy, and well mannered kids I´ve ever met. We really love them and their family, and it was so exciting to see them! Hno. Quinteros, I´ve been becoming really good friends with him, anyways he got to them right away to talk about coming over for home teaching!!

This ward is so awesome. The members are always doing all they can to help! I really appreciate them. There are some that are struggling with some pretty tough things, but their testimony of this gospel shines on their faces, they are sharing the gospel every opportunity they have, even some of the shyer ones. 

We have a ton of work to do this traslado. :)

I love you all. Going on the mission has been the most proving, wonderful, fun, edifying, and satisfying thing I´ve done in my life until now. Much more to come. ;) 

WOOHOO! Man, I just feel great! Seems to happen when you are anxiously engaged in a worthy cause. :)

Elder Chock (is having the time of his life)

A great and a marvelous work

This week has been pretty miraculous. 

We had a really cool district meeting. Elder Gastelo wrote these slips with a Christlike attribute on them, we each took one and then taught the others about it. The Spirit was very powerful. We each happened to get the one that we most needed to learn about, it was muy lindo when we all got to share and be honest about our weaknesses and share our testimonies of Christ. 

Haha, guess what attribute I got? Patience. Woooeee, hahaha.

At the beginning of this traslado, the zone leaders had us do this cool activity where we had a prayer and asked the Lord how many people He had prepared to be baptized in our area for this traslado. Elder Bills and I both felt 5. Well, at this point in the traslado, that seems pretty impossible by our means- which I suppose it has always been. As in, it´s all only possible with the help of Him. We fought pretty hard to bring people to sacrament meeting this week. 

Earlier this week, the zone leaders proposed a special fast, they called it a ´fast of miracles.´ We would fast, asking the Lord for a specific miracle, and then by revelation we would choose a part of our area where we would just do street contacting. Elder Bills and I did it, the miracle we asked for was that we would be led to the people that the Lord had prepared to be baptized. Well, the first two people we talked to were really impressed because none of the evangelists had stopped to talk with them before because they were poor. The 3rd person yelled at us that he was anti-Christ. The fourth person, an 18 year old boy named German, had been reading and wanting to learn more of Christ. His mom had good experiences with the church 30 years ago. It was a very cool first lesson. We asked if he would pray to know if these things are true, and he said, ¨Ï already think it´s true. It just feels good.¨ But he said he would pray and ask.

Sunday, we had a ton of plans to bring a bunch of investigadores to church, they all fell through- except for with German. On the way to church, he said that he had prayed, and that when he asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet, he felt this inexplicable good, happy feeling like a fire in his chest.

We showed him the baptismal font and he asked if he could be baptized right then! Haha, German is a kapo. He has a lot of cool questions, and because of it he´s learned a lot in a very short amount of time. God really does answer prayers, and where there is faith there are also miracles, just as in the bible and all the holy scriptures.

German was the only one who we´ve been able to bring to church, but there´s a TON of other people that we´ve been working with, which is a huge blessing. It´s been a rollercoaster to see all of their progression, and sometimes digression. People of all different shapes and sizes and backgrounds and circumstances- but the gospel, the love of Jesus Christ for them, is the same for all of them.

I have found that the solution for every problem is found in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is my testimony, and in His name I give it. Amen.

Love, Leadership, y Humilidad - March 13, 2017

This week has been awesome and difficult. I wonder if those two things are ever truly separate, haha.

The doctor had me resting and taking this medicine for the concussion. I called Presidente Nuñez every other day to make sure I was doing alright- I was supposed to be resting mentally as well as physically and not stressing out. Well, one thing was stressing me out and it had to do with the music that was being listened to in the pension. I asked that we follow what´s in the mission manual and what Pres. Nuñez had told us as an inspired servant of the Lord, and was pretty reviled for it. It kinda has surprised me honestly. Anyways, Pres. Nuñez brought me in for a personal interview and told me that I could call him at any time if I needed, and pretty much told me to keep on following in trying to be obedient. He told me that as someone who was going to be a leader in the mission, that I needed to learn how to help and animar otras to do the work of the Señor. 

During the interview he didn´t say anything in reprimand, but I left feeling guilty- I realized that I hadn´t done all in my power to change the situation before going to him. From that moment on I decided I wouldn´t be made weak by the winds and anger of men, and I will always do all in my power instead of waiting for the Lord to save me by some miracle. 

The miracle happened when I did all in my power. Because for now, the rules for music are being followed. But the truth is it´s never easy. It shouldn´t always be a wrestle, but if it is, I know the Lord will give me the strength to go to bat for Him again and again. 

Haha, as for the WORK work of missionary work- This week we met with a bunch of people in an area we hadn´t explored before. I felt newfound courage, and we had a bunch of very successful street contacts. It has still been hard to bring people to the capilla, but little by little I see the Spirit of God growing in greater force here.

We have an antiguo investigador (I don´t know how the missionaries call that in english) that has received many of the lessons from many other missionaries, and they left him because he just wouldn´t make that final step of bautsimo. His name is Roberto. He´s really intelligent, and awesome, and has a huge understanding of many things about the gospel. But something he misunderstood (hopefully he understands better now) was faith. He sits there and tells us his testimony of God and Jesus Christ and how it´s obvious that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true, and then tells us that he has no faith... He said he was waiting until he has this undescribable faith(basically a perfect knowledge) before he got baptized. We taught very patiently and lovingly that faith is action, and we receive a real testimony of that something is true after we act, not before. He´s a smart guy, and we had to teach as if to a child- 

The gospel really is so simple. If it doesn´t feel simple, I invite you to focus on Christ, and somehow all the complicated stuff will become very simple. Not easy, mind you, simple. I have felt the Spirit helping me a lot- telling us very clearly when to go or when to stay and rest so I could recuperate, it´s built up my faith and my relationship with the Lord un monton.

By the way, for traslados I and Elder Bills and Elder Smith are staying. Elder Guirin se fue. Following are some scary pictures of when we were celebrating the year mark of my entrenador, Elder Bills, then a beautiful day we had, then pictures with the zona and the district, and then our pension.

By the way, we got Roberto to church. He´s actually asistido multiple times in the past. Hno. Atencio, the gospel principles teacher, was super awesome and... That lesson was inspired. I really think Roberto is a lot closer than he thinks. :)

Sorry if this letter is a little all over the place. I have been working on not thinking too much as express wishes from the President, haha.

On that note, I think I am pretty much healed at this point. Yeah, it´s been a process of faith and prayer, and I have no doubt it was impossible without the Lord´s help.

Elder Bills is a true friend. I am really grateful for him.

I love my Savior and am truly, truly grateful to know that He lives. 

Well, my letter will be better next week. See you guys!

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March 13, 2017

You guys didn´t get my general one? I wrote a super long one. Maybe I should check to make sure if others got it or not, haha...

Thank you guys so much for the letters.

I´ve been trying to not take too much time at the cyber, that´s been a weakness of mine so far. I´m only supposed to use an hour and a half, and I have to pay for everything. I´m working to get everything I´m supposed to in.

I really love you guys. 

I ate a ton of meat this week- my very first asado! Elder Gastelo did it. He´s super awesome- mostly because he just helps us to laugh. Pretty simple guy, that´s cool. I hope he can help me out with the situation with Elder Smith. Some relationships all you can do is love and wait, do your best and let the Lord do the rest. 

I´m pretty sick right now, not too bad but I hope I get better. 

Working out has been fun. I mean, hard when your sick but other than that good.

Life is pretty much too easy, and yet really hard. Too easy because everything is provided for by God, really hard because I´m just little old me. But this is really great.

Love you guys. And I´m proud you´re my parents, I thought of that with Roberto. You guys really have been a huge spiritual strength and have taught me really well. I love you lots.

Mahalo and Aloha,

Elder Chock