7 days to Skype...and counting

Before I post AJ's email today I just wanted to mention a little about the second Elder Mlazgar...Nate. He entered the MTC on November 28th. He worked hard, studied harder, and learned fast, and is in Tampa Florida TODAY! Yesterday as he entered the mission field, the family got to talk to him a few minutes. Nate is a man of few words, but his heart runs deep and true. He is healthy and happy.Just hearing his voice comforted me and I could almost imagine the voice of another son telling his mother not to worry because he is about his father's business. I hope to have a few pictures to post now that he is in the mission field and can get into a routine. I probably won't post again until after Christmas, so...MAY YOU ALL FIND JOY AND PEACE IN REMEMBERING THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOR THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON. Love and prayers from our family to yours!

AJ's email from 12/17/12
        this week was another crazy week. i cant believe that im already almost down to single digit weeks now. its crazy. but this second week being back in melipilla i think was even better than the first. im especially loving the weather cuz if i was in santiago, it would be burning hot but out here i can enjoy a good breeze and its not nearly as bad as in the city. so that makes it easier to go out and work at 330 in the afternoon when its hottest.

       tuesday we did divisons with bollenar so i went with elder caballero (his name is funny cuz what it translates to is elder gentleman) who is from paraguay. but we had a fun time out in his sector. the best part of the day was when we went to the church to help with their branch choir that they are doing for christmas. so i got to play piano a little for them (as well as i could) and tell them how to do things. but then at night it was cool cuz he was showing me pictures from his house. and he got baptized a little over a year before he came on the mission, which means that the missionary that taught him got to go through the temple with him. and as i was looking at that picture of that missionary, i noticed that that missionary´s companion was someone i recognized, so i asked him what his name was just to be sure and elder caballero told me that it was elder andreason. and so i told him that i knew him as ricky cuz we are from the same stake and saw each other often. what a small world this really is.

       friday we did divisions again with them cuz elder caballero and elder vance had to go to santiago to do their visa stuff. so i stayed with elder garcia in my sector thursday night and most of friday. elder garcia is a funny guy from panama (and is also the only black guy in our mission...not being racist but its just cool) and that night as we laid in bed, him, elder zañartu, and i stayed up talking til like 130 in the morning about a lot of stuff and just laughing our heads off the whole time. it was a lot of fun. i realized though that i know a lot of the missionaries from that group that goes home together. cuz ive been with in a zone at some point, elder chavez, vilar, sanchez, salines, zañartu, garcia, sauceda, and some others that i just cant think of right now. so its cool. the only thing that really sucks about that day is that friday morning i lost my agenda and so i lost everything that i had written down for the last 2 weeks. and on top of that i have walked around feeling lost these last few days cuz i feel like i dont know what to do. its really weird and i honestly HATE not having that agenda in my pocket. what makes me more upset is that its the first time ive lost anything in the mission so that frustrates me. but its just how it is.

        sunday was a good day cuz we had lots of people come to church from the retention which is what i wanted the most from being here again. so im hoping that that keeps happening. and also we went out to pomaire which is that little town in our sector that is just a tourist place that sells all kinds of stuff. i felt good being there again. and then we came back and had some good lessons later in the afternoon. it really was a good week for us cuz we were able to find several new families to teach so hopefully a couple of those will be able to progress. one of them is a lady named flor that contacted us in the street and wanted us to come by cuz she wants to come to our church. and her husband is less active so we are hoping that she progresses quickly. and then a couple of the other families have active family members in our branch so we are gonna work together with them so that they come to church. its gonna be better over the next couple weeks.

        well i hope that everyone is doing well and that they are enjoying this time of year. christmas is amazing. im just bummed that i have to miss one more year of it away from my family but i know that its ok. have a good week and take care

PICTURES pictures PICTURES pictures

I CAN'T SEEM TO GET THE PICTURES TO FORMAT RIGHT ON THE PAGE, BUT WHO CARES? REMEMBER YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO VIEW THEM LARGER...ENJOY!

Playing in the water at the park

P-day fun

P-day fun

P-day fun

P-day fun

 

New Companion - Elder Vance

OH MY GOSH!

I can't believe its been a month since I posted. At first it was because we were so busy getting Nathan ready to go, then I didn't want to blog because I was missing Nate and blogging made me think about his being gone. Well...I am back to being a well-adjusted missionary mom again. So here are AJ's last two email. I will post his pictures in a separate post.

December 4th...

MELIPILLA! MELIPILLA! MELIPILLA! MELIPILLA!  Thats the sector that i got sent back to, the exact same one that i started in. Yesterday we had changes and when I saw my name up there on the board next to melipilla 1, I couldn’t believe my eyes almost. This almost never happens in this mission. Before now, ive only heard of 2 other missionaries going back to the same sector twice. And that’s with almost 400 missionaries having passed through the mission in my time. Its amazing. Its like every missionaries dream to be able to go back to the first sector at the end with the same knowledge that they have at the end and do things over and im gonna get to do that. I get to visit all my converts, see the members again, and finish it all where I started. I know for sure that I was supposed to be here for something now though because I got taken out before when I was supposed to stay. So if im back, there is someone that is still waiting for me here or there is something to do and I hope to do it. For sure the first thing that Im gonna focus on though is getting all my converts reactivated because all but one of them are inactive now. That’s gonna be the first thing. And then from there I hope that we can just take out the trash here. Its gonna be awesome.

        Other than that, I would say that I had a pretty boring week but it really wasn’t. we got almost nothing done as far as missionary work is concerned cuz we spent all week doing other things. Monday through Friday was just about cleaning the old house out getting it ready for the people to come back. So we didn’t do almost anything then. But it made those days go by realy fast cuz then when we did go out to work, we did like one thing and were done. So we moved over with the zone leaders from maipu and lived with them and that’s where they will be til they find a house. It was a ton of fun and we talked so much every night. I swear we didn’t get to sleep til about 1 every night cuz we were talking so much. I guess that’s what happens when you put 4 gringos in the same pension that all like to joke around and laugh.

           Saturday night we went with the familia Gomez parada to this Christmas concert that they are having at the temple these 2 weekends. It was a ton of fun and im glad that I got to go with them. There was a singer there that is kinda known, her name is Rebecca Lopez  Not sure if any of you have heard of her. But along with the singing they had dancing also so it was fun. We ended up getting back to our house really late that night too though but I think that it was worth it.

          Sunday was a crazy day cuz we had Segundo`s baptism. It went all really well and im glad that he got to get baptized before I left. It really was cool to see though how he changed and also cuz elder nilsen and I both found him and baptized him. That doesn’t happen very often either. Then afterward I just went around saying bye to everyone. Its weird as the mission has gone on, I feel like I get closer to the people quicker. So its sad having to leave them all after only 3 months but that’s just how it had to be. The one family that I will miss the most though is Gomez parada cuz I got really close to them over these last several weeks. They became like my family, especially the kids who are like my brother and sisters now. I hope that they keep progressing and can all take the step to be baptized. They know its true, they just need to do it.

          Anyway that was my week, action packed and just full. Im super excited to be back here in melipilla and I really hope that I can make these last 3 months count and just take care of everything that I need to. I hope that you are all doing well, take care

December 10th...
wow what a week. it felt like a dream come true really. seeing all the people from before. knowing everyone already and walking the same streets. i loved it. it honestly has made me feel like im not going home soon cuz i just feel like i did when i started just wanting to go work and strengthen the branch and the sector and the people. it was awesome. one the first things that we did this week was try and pass by and visit with all the people that have been baptized in the last 2 years. cuz there isnt a single person in that list that i didnt know before. and they were all so happy to see me too and have me back, especially some of my converts like melanie and ursula. it was so cool to see them again. one of my biggest goals these next few weeks is to get 100 percent retention which means having all those people come to church on sunday. and i think that i could do it too. other than that though it was a semi tough week with other things. cuz i was left with 3 investigators here which is basically nothing so we are almost starting from scratch. but i think that i can handle it seeing as how ive had to do that like 3 times before in the mission and cuz i can get the members involved right away since i already know them.

        wednesday we found a good family. it was cool finding them cuz it was just after everything had fallen through and we just went over to contact houses and found them on the first house we knocked. so hopefully they can progress some. i also got to see several of the members at night cuz we went to the church for a meeting and they were all shocked to see me there. no one could believe that i was back and were all happy about it. and then later that night i met our "best" investigator named maribel. she is a little crazy cuz she is a 40 year old who thinks she is still 18. i think that she already knows its all true she just doesnt really want to change yet. so we just need to help her do that.

         thursday in the morning we went to district meeting and i felt really weird being with only 10 people in a zone again after being in one of the biggest zones in cinco de abril. i feel like there is no one there. and they are all latin except for me, elder duce and elder vance and we all live together. (by the way elder vance is my comp. he is from utah, typical mormon boy from salt lake city, not really athletic, plays piano a little, big family, all that) then thursday afternoon was just a day full of contacts and not much else til we went to the church at night to practice for the activity on sunday.

          friday we visited familia garrido diaz, which is melanie and her family, the one who got baptized the week after i left here last time. and then just a lot of contacts again til night when we visited the other decent investigator, a 19 year old named sebastian, and then after him we went to familia cabello, the ones who made my scriputre covers.

           saturday was even tougher cuz we walked around from 330 til 915 just contacting cuz no one else was in their house and everything failed (i planned this week a little better, setting good citas everyday so that that doesnt happen again) and finally that night we got into a house of a member and were only there for like 20 min and thats all the time we spent in a house all day.

          then sunday was by far the best day. church in the morning brought back so many memories from before. and i got to see lots of people again. it felt so good coming back and being able to show them my real self this time and talk to them like normal and not just standing there not understanding anything. im pretty sure i shocked some people with my personality cuz they all thought that i was just this serious person who didnt talk a lot. then in the evening we had an activity where some active people came and we went out to look for less actives and bring them to the church for the second part. and in the second part we sang a christmas hymn, shared scriptures about christ and watched a video about his birth. and then after just had snacks and it was very successful. i was happy to see so many people come, especially cuz some of the less actives that went are people that were active when i was here before or that are recent converts.

         so that pretty much sums up my week. it was such a roller coaster and i hope to just get back to normal again this week and work hard. i hope that you are all doing well. take care

AJ's emails from 11/5 & 11/12

November 12
      the weeks just seem to be blurrying together more and more now as im getting closer. i swear i cant tell the difference during the week in days. they just all seem like the same with some small naps at night cuz i dont even feel like im really sleeping either. and i dont think that it will change much before getting home. its just gonna be one long day for the next 3 months with little naps in the middle lol but its all good.

       tuesday this week we went to do a baptismal interview. elder nilsen did it so i just walked around the huge church and took a video of it to remember how big it is. i would send it through here but its too big to send so youll all just have to wait til i get home to see the size of this church.

      wednesday we had our district meeting but we started it a little differently. we did a little breakfast and brought pictures so that everyone could get to know each other better. it was pretty nice cuz we could just chill and talk to all the missionaries in our zone. also we did divisions that day so i was with elder merino in our sector. it was funny seeing us together cuz he is from peru and is the smallest missionary in the mission. i honestly dont think he is taller than 4`6 so you can just imagine that one. it wasnt the greatest day for us either cuz everything just fell through but we were able to get a lot of stuff done at the church that night with coordination meeting and then making sure about things with presidents from the different organizations and quorums that were there.

       thursday we had our capacitacion especial and learned more about how to work correctly with the members in asking them for references and helping those people share the gospel with their family and neighbors. we are really really starting to focus a lot more on working through members which is good but also kinda sucks that we are doing it right at the end of the mission when i most likely wont see anything come from it in my time. im just excited that i get to be a part of the beginning and help start everything.

      friday we had the leader meeting in maipu and they changed it around a little so it was different. i got kinda bored after its my 4th time but the good thing about the day was that i was able to see elder vilar and elder sanchez who are both finally leaders. so it was nice talking to them and seeing how they are doing and all that. it made me miss the time that i had in el monte too when i didnt have to worry about so much.

      saturday we finally had the kind of day that we had been used to from the beginning of our time together. we taught several good lessons and got around to several people. we were able to teach both of our baptismal fechas, 2 less active families, found 2 new investigators, and got our weekly planning done. it just felt good getting so much done. and if we do the new mission plan right, thats how every sector should always be. thats the kind of vision pres has for our mission.

       sunday was also a good day at church cuz we had more people from our retention come that normal do and cuz we had segundo and freddy (both of our fechas) and also 3 from family gomez parada come to church so that was really good and made us happy. also after church we went to the baptism of the lady that elder nilsen interviewed and it turned out alright. the only thing that made us mad was that the bishop of that ward, 5 min before it started, called all the leaders from the ward into a meeting about something random. and so then when elder nilsen and i went to tell them that it was gonna start and that they needed to come, the bishop got a little heated and told us that they were talking about something that had to do with the new plan in the mission and how they can do it. and that made us really mad and i thought elder nilsen was gonna hit the guy in the face but we just left and went to watch the baptism. it just made us upset cuz they are supposed to be there to support this person who is taking a big step in their life but they had "more important things to do" which really didnt even matter. so we are gonna talk to the stake president about that. (i like having the power to do that too) but in the afternoon we had everything fail again like before so it was just another trial. but i think we should start getting back to normal more again cuz we have seen some good things from some people lately here.

        so that was basically my week. im doing well, just counting down the time while trying to keep working hard. i hope that everyone is doing well, take care.

November 5
      sorry about this but this letter is going to be kinda short this week. i just dont have time right now and really there wasnt a lot that happened that was real exciting, just a normal week of work for us, with lots of heat.

Concillio at president's house

      wendesday we did divisions so i went with elder gambini to his sector which is lo errazuriz. he is from argentina and i had a lot of fun with him cuz we have about the same amount of time in the mission and we are alike in lots of ways. so we just joked around pretty much the whole time and laughed. and on top of that it was also halloween so we saw lots of people dressed up. there arent a lot of people who put things up on their house cuz half of chile doesnt even like halloween cuz they say its an american holiday but the others try and imitate it as best they can. they still have to work on the concept of costumes cuz they all just dress up as ghosts and demons and witches and all that scary stuff so thats funny. but another different thing is that they dont go out in the afternoon like we do. most people start trick or treating around 930, 10 at night and are done by 12. partially cuz they have a day off the day after but still that was weird for me.

Silly boys!

       friday we had concilio in presidents house again. it was interesting trying to get there in the morning cuz the subway system was shut down til 8 for the holiday and we did know what bus would take us closest to waste time til we could get on the metro. so we just took a random bus and stayed on it til 8 came and then got off and jumped on the metro to the stop that we had to take. and then it was just a fun day there hanging out with the other leaders. the food was good again, we had mexican food. enchiladas with beans and rice. it was really good and it made me excited to go home and eat real food again like that. also during one of the breaks, i had a funny moment with elder brady (who is also my "nephew" in the mission cuz elder keogh trained my "brother" elder clark and then he trained elder brady) but anyway we were standing outside the bathroom waiting and talking about doing exercises in the morning and he felt my abs to see if i was doing them. and so right as he is rubbing my abs and saying oh thats good, president comes down the stairs to get something out of his room and just walks between us and says "excuse me, i hope im not interrupting something. if you want, you can feel mine" and elder brady and i just looked at each other and started laughing cuz it was such an awkward moment but it was funny.

      sunday we had stake conference which was alright cuz we had a few investigators there. the most exciting ones though was the gomez parada family who we have been teaching a lot lately. i think fernanda (16) and florencia(12) could get baptized in december cuz they seem pretty excited about church right now. so that could be good. and then in the afternoon we had ward council. the most interesting thing from there is that our bishop (who is absolutely amazing by the way to reaffirm that point) told them all that the stake president was asking if they could sell the land that is church owned that was originally bought 13 years ago to split the ward and build a new church but has still never happened. but he told the stake president no, that he wanted 2 more years. and so his new huge goal for the ward is building it up strong enough by the end of 2014 to be able to split it. that way they dont lose the land. its gonna take a lot of work but our bishop is good enough to do it. but us starting with the new mission plan is gonna have a big role in the whole process cuz we have to baptize like crazy and the ward has to retain them all so that the attendance goes up. but i think its possible.

       anyway that was my week. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care

Quote by Harold B. Lee

This quote by President Harold B. Lee had a huge impact on me when I read them Wednesday morning after what was a frustrating night of election results. The words are just as relevant today as they were when they were spoken in the early 1970s. I hope they help you focus and bring you some peace as they did me when I read them.

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the New Jerusalem. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. We are living in a time of great crisis. The Country is torn with scandal and with criticism, with faultfinding and condemnation. There are those who have downgraded the image of this nation as probably never before in the history of the country. I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. . . . It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through. We must be on the optimistic side. This is a great nation; this is a great country; this is the most favored of all lands. While it is true that there are dangers and difficulties that lie ahead of us, we must not assume that we are going to stand by and watch the country go to ruin. We should not be heard to predict ills and calamities for the nation. On the contrary, we should be providing optimistic support for the nation. We must tell the world how we feel about this land and this nation and should bear our testimonies about the great mission and destiny that it has. If we do this, we will help turn the tide of this great country and lessen the influence of the pessimists. We must be careful that we do not say or do anything that will further weaken the country. It is the negative, pessimistic comments about the nation that do as much harm as anything to the country today. We who carry these sacred responsibilities must preach the gospel of peace, and peace can only come by overcoming the things of the world. Now, we must be the dynamic force that will help turn the tide of fear and pessimism."

AJ's email from 10/29/2012

       this was one of the longest weeks ever. first of all, the weather finally went back to how it normally should be at the end of october here, which means that it got crazy hot very quickly out of nowhere. and that just happened to come in the week where god decided to test us and see how much we could take. literally thats how i felt about this week too. i dont think i have ever had a week in the mission where ive had so many things fall through in the same week. we literally had around 20 appointments fall through. and its not like we just went and they werent there. most of them were cases where we called the night before to confirm and they said yes and then an hour before or even as we got to their house, they tell us that they cant or that they dont have any time. it  was just tough and that left us walking around a lot in the hot sun doing contacts. thats probably why im so tired this week.

       thursday we did divisions with amengual so i was with elder langford in their sector who got here last change. it was weird being with a greenie all day which is something that i havent done in the whole misson. just having to teach so much more cuz he didnt understand everything and just seeing the look on his face as he tried to get everything that was being said. it was just funny. but it was also cool to be around him and all the energy that he has to do everything. i had kinda forgotten what it was like to get here to the field and just have that "want to do everything" feeling. cuz i havent really felt that in over a year. then at night in the pension it was really cool cuz it was 4 gringos and 2 of them are greenie so we had a lot of fun messing around and talking. im pretty sure we stayed up til around 1 in bed just talking about lots of different stuff.

       saturday was just the worst day of the week. on a normal saturday here since i got here, we usually teach about 8 lessons which is pretty good. so we are always just busy and get into a ton of houses. and we usually do divisions with some people from the ward to be able to get to more houses. but this week, like 15 min before, the people we were gonna do divisions with failed. then one by one, all the lessons fell through tell the end of the night when we got into the last house. and on top of that it was the hottest day of them all. it was just terrible and i couldnt help but laugh as it all happened cuz it was just a feeling of disbelief that everything failed. but like i said, i hope that it was just one of those weeks that we have even now and then and that this week things will get back on track.

     sunday was just more of the same. we had planned on our ward council taking up 3 hours of our day, so when they announced in church that it was being postponed til next week, elder nilsen and i couldnt help but look at each other and laugh at how bad our luck was this week. but church was shortened this week cuz chile had their elections that day (dont ask me why they do it on a sunday) so they cut it down to just sacrament meeting so that everyone could go vote.

       anyway i hope that everyone is doing well and will have a fun and safe week. take care. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

AJ's email from 10/22/2012

After the announcement in conference about the change of age eligibility for missionaries, Seth began going to Mission Prep with Nate. The class suddenly grew from an average of a couple dozen to 60 prospective missionaries. Multiply that by every stake in the world...the gospel is truly rolling forth...and rolling down hill!

      this week was another crazy week to this crazy change. im just glad that its finally over and that we can get back to normal things and normal weeks again. although the weather doesnt seem like its gonna follow that pattern and is just gonna stay crazier than ever. last year it was crazy hot at this time and not a single drop of rain. but this year, its like we are going back into winter again. it was really cold and windy last night and it rained almost all day and night. but that was cool cuz we woke up this morning and the air was clearer than i have seen it in my 20 months in the mission. its amazing.

       monday night we found another pretty good family although this one is very, VERY catholic. it was actually kinda awkward at the end of the lesson. cuz we wanted to leave them with a prayer and so we asked who would say it and the 18 year old son, felipe, offered. so he started out with the catholic cross and then some other different stuff. it was just weird for us cuz we didnt know what to do. so we just sat there and respected them. but they are a good family that could do well if they follow through with the things that we ask them to do.

          thursday was a weird day cuz we had changes. normally its on tuesday but this change was different cuz president has a mission president seminar today and tomorrow in argentina. and also because of what happened on friday but ill talk about that in a second. but anyway it was a nice meeting cuz we got to wake up in the morning like normal and go without luggage and then come back without anything too. so it was all just tranquilo. the funny thing though is that elder alcaraz is in my zone now so its gonna be funny being his zone leader after being his comp. 

          then friday was the great day of the week and one of the most memorable ones of the whole mission. we had to be in republica to listen to....wait for it.....elder david a bednar of the quorum of the 12. it was just an awesome devtional overall and i learned so much. i recorded it with a voice recorder and i wanted to send it to you all to listen to but the files are too big to go through. so we´ll just have to listen to it together when i get back from the mission....which by the way is now only 4 months away. but the devotional started out with a special musical number by someone pretty famous. i got to meet him as elder archuleta but most of you will know him as david archuleta. he is serving in the chile rancagua mission and they came with us to the devtional so  he sang. he sang im trying to be like jesus but in spanish and it was really good. i thought he started out a little shaky but i mean who wouldnt having to sing in front of 350 missionaries, 2 mission presidents, a first quorum 70, and an apostle. so i thought it was good for the circumstances. so then elder bednar started talking and it was cool cuz he started out by joking around about how there is a bad tradition in the church of writing down whatever the speaker says when those notes most of us wont ever use and in 3 weeks cant even find. so he told us to write down things that we felt and thoughts that came. and he was just joking around for like the first half hour while also kinda teaching. and the way he taught was just amazing and helped show us how we should teach. and he talked a lot about faith and prayers. and how we have to act according to our faith and not just ask for things to come. it was really special. then at the end he bore his testimony and it was so powerful. just before giving it, he talked about how a testimony should be, without the stories and the fluff. a pure testimony is just what you know and feel. its testifying.

        before we went though, we had to study 2 talks by him from past conferences. im gonna attach the one that i thought was better cuz it also talks about what members should do in helping out missionaries. but i just want to say one phrase that stood out to me, and that is "missionaries are full time teachers, you and i are full time finders." i just wish that more people here in chile would realize that and fulfill their calling in doing that so that we could teach more. but we have to get there.

       anyway i hope that everyone is doing well and that everything is good. take care

Elder  AJ Mlazgar

Alma 32:21     2 Nephi 26:8

AJ's email from 10/08/12

After opening Nathan's mission call this weekend and then hearing the announcement lowering the eligibility ages for missions, I feel like I have emotional whiplash. While our sons and daughters have to be willing to "Go Where you Want Me to Go, Dear Lord"...the moms have to be willing to emotionally go where the Lord would have us go. After conference, I feel ready to face the challenges the next 8 months will bring as my home develops a missionary revolving door.  

         this week was crazy, mostly just for the weekend though so im just gonna skip to that part to write about cuz nothing really happened before. first off i just want to say that the weather here is going crazy. last year at this time it was so hot that we could easily walk around in short sleeves all day long and still be kinda warm at night. and it was obvious that summer was starting. this year its so cold that we still can wear jackets all day and not get too hot. last year it didnt rain after the first week of september until around march. this year, it rained this entire past weekend. the rain started friday morning early and literally didnt stop until late late last night. its insane although im not complaining cuz i will enjoy it before it gets hot.

        friday we had whats called "zone leader council" where all the zone leaders get together in presidents house to talk about the mission and how we did the last month. so we had to get up an hour and a half early to get ready and get to La Reina in the east mission at 9 in the morning where presidents house is. it was a really fun meeting too. the first thing that we do when we get there is eat breakfast. so we had scrambled eggs and french toast with a yohgurt. then we go upstairs to give an account about the numbers in the mission. and so we go through each zone showing the graphs and how we are doing. after that we have a snack which was a fruit cup. then president takes time to give us a new iniciative for the mission to try and improve things. but this time we didnt get an iniciative, we got something that is going to be a complete change and how we work. i would explain it but i still dont entirely understand it completely yet and its way long. but i think it will help us a ton if we do it correctly. then after that we have lunch which was an american hamburger with cheese, lettuce, tomatoe, and mustard. it was so good cuz that kind of thing doesnt really exist here. and then we just go back upstairs to talk about things we can work on as a mission. it was really fun.

         saturday was general conference but it was so crazy trying to get to the first session. first off cuz it was raining. then when we got to the stake center, it was like 20 minutes til it started and we didnt see hardly anyone there. so we asked one of the stake leaders whats up and he told us that with the rain, the power had been cut out somewhere close and that they were working on it but that it would be safer to go somewhere else until they got it back. so then we had to take the bus again to go over to republica cuz that was the closest stake center. so cuz of that, we got there 20 min late for the first session. when we got there, we asked what we had missed and the other missionaries we like "oh nothing big, just the fact that they changed the age to go on a mission" and we just freaked out. i honestly cant believe that they changed it. the one for guys doesnt seem that weird cuz its been 18 for mexico and chile for a while now so it makes sense in the whole world. but for girls going at 19, that sucks for me cuz its gonna take out some of the girls from the dating pool when i get back lol

         then on sunday i watched conference in spanish cuz i stayed to sit by our investigators that had come and also cuz daniela (our good investigator from parque subercaseaux) came to visit me. its just not the same in spanish though as it is in english. you still learn the same teachings that they want to teach but the spirit is just different. its different hearing the voice directly from the prophet than hearing some translator that just speaks kinda like a robot. so it was a good experience for the mission but i probably wouldnt do it again after if i had the choice.

           i dont know if i really had a favorite talk but there was just one phrase that stood out to me more than anything else and its probably cuz im a missionary. and that was when elder holland said (and i listened to it in spanish so im translating from what i remember) that when in baptism we say having been commissioned of jesus christ, that authorization doesnt just last for 2 years but should be for a lifetime. that moment in life shouldnt just convert the person being baptized but also the one baptizing them. being here in the mission for me, ive been able to see that. especially with so many return missionaries here that go inactive afterword and you just ask yourself, did they not learn anything on their mission? obviously no one is perfect and has to make their own choices but it just seems illogical to serve a two year mission teaching about all this stuff and then not follow through with it after when your own life is on the line.

         but anyway i hope that everyone enjoyed conference and that you are all doing well. take care

Lunch on Sunday

Elder  AJ Mlazgar

Alma 32:21     2 Nephi 26:8

HC room - Conference in English

Bonding between sessions :)

NATHAN'S MISSION CALL CAME!!!!!

If you have 2 minutes, watch Nate opening his mission call...  

(if you don't have the time, scroll down for the big news!)




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Nathan has been called to the Florida, Tampa Mission, English Speaking and will report to the MTC on November 28th. YAY...its going to be a whirlwind 7 weeks!!!

AJ's email from 10/01/12

Nathan's call didn't come Friday or Saturday as we expected. But the Bishop looked online and told us that the status of his mission call is that Salt Lake has assigned him a mission and the papers were mailed out on Friday. We will have one AWESOME family home evening tonight opening his mission call...hopefully. (My husband reminded me something about chickens and hatching.)

       this week was just a solid week working. its been great having such a good change up til now as far as the people we are teaching and the lessons that we have and just everything. i never really understood before why the zone leaders always had better numbers than everyone else and i always just thought it was cuz they were in the best ward of the stake and their sector was just better. but now im starting to understand that it really does have a big impact the missionaries that are in the sector and how they work. cuz i feel like it goes so much better and easier when we both know well how to do everything and what it takes to have success and just work together. its amazing how much better the work goes.

      tuesday we had a long talk with one of our investigators who has to get married so that they both can get baptized. and we talked a lot about eternal life just so he knows why he needs to get married. and while we talked, he kept saying that he doesnt really want eternal life cuz he doesnt want to live forever cuz he thinks that he will just get bored. but its cuz he didnt understand that we will have everything that we enjoy from this life without all the bad stuff so it will just be perfect. and that he wont ever get bored cuz he will still be able to do all the things that he enjoys from now. so then he understood better but still wouldnt commit to do anything like marriage yet. but it made me realize just how few people really understand eternal life

       then wednesday we had a meeting with the stake president. thats one of the perks of being zone leader is that we can meet straight with him and tell him what things are going bad in the wards as far as missionary work and what we need from him so that the members help us more. and it was an interesting meeting, especially cuz pres king came. and so the stake pres seemed pretty nervous the whole time. but he seems like a good guy although he is way to concerned with how he looks

        thursday we had a capacitacion especial in maipu and we talked about how to set a baptismal date with someone. cuz we have had that number go way up over the last year but the number of baptisms stays the same. so we talked about how we have to wait til the person has felt something before committing them to baptism cuz if not, they are gonna understand and really prepare themselves for the day that we put.

        saturday was a really good day for us. first we set a baptismal date with a guy named segundo thats from one of those good families that we found my first week. he told us during the lesson that the night before we got there, he had a dream that god wanted to tell him something. and then the next day we knocked his door. it was one of the coolest things that ive heard in the mission and every missionary dreams of that kind of situation. so i think that he really could make it to his date at the beginning of december.

       overall it was just a really solid week for us and im having fun working here with elder nilsen. im really kinda glad now that i had changes and came here this change even though i was nervous about it before. i hope that everyone is doing well there and finished september well. take care

Elder  AJ Mlazgar

Alma 32:21     2 Nephi 26:8

AJ's email from 9/24/12

Just a quick note about AJ's younger brother Nathan. His mission papers were submitted to Salt Lake a week ago so we are checking our mailbox every day! Watch for another blog this week if we get Nate's call. Exciting Times!! 

      trunky papers are what every missionary gets with about 5 months left in the mission. it asks things like your parents names, your ward and bishop, and where you will be flying into. its called trunky cuz it makes you think about your "trunks" or luggage, which makes you think about home and your family and all that. i got those papers this week. i just felt wierd too cuz it was what made me finally realize how little time i have left really. these next 5 months will fly by.

       tuesday was the chilean independence day so our ward had a big party. there was lots of food, lots of people, lots of dancing, and a lot of fun. presidnt gave us, the missionaries, 4 hours to be there and enjoy everything. i realized though that i had to have one 18th to fully enjoy this one. cuz this time i understood better everything that was going on. we started with eating and the meat was great. i ended up eating so much meat and salad that i couldnt walk for an hour or so. then after they played some games like sack race and tug o war. elder nilsen and i did the sack race. then after that they did the dances and some others sang. i loved being there and its sad it'll probably be my last time ever doing that.

          wednesday we did divisions so i went to the sector of amengual with elder enamorado. i had fun cuz it was like being back in republica again with him. we get along pretty well. friday was a long day cuz we had to wake-up an hour early to go to a zone conference in maipu that started at 8. we got taught by elder esteban resek, an area seventy from argentina. he talked to us a lot aout working through the members and knowing the members situations better to help our investigators. but he also talked about how we have to help them share the gospel more with their friends so that they give us references. thats how it works in the states now and they have tons of success. they dont do contacts, they just ask members for references. whereas here for us the standard of excelence is 140 contacts a week cuz we dont get any references. but we have to build up the members so that one day missionaries in chile wont have to do contacts.

         friday night we went to see miriam, juan, and their daughter tiare, the ones we found last sunday. they are absolutely amazing! they had read what we left and had tons of questions for us to understand everything better. and miriam said the prayer again this time at the beginning and it was amazing. she says better prayers than lots of members that i have met. its crazy but i like it. so we answered all their questions and then taught about the plan of salvation and everything went better than we had hoped and then at the very end we invited them to church and they committed very firmly to going. which they did do and stayed the whole time yesterday. and it was great how our ward just took them in and made them all feel welcome.

         saturday we found a good family also, mostly the son who is 23 but the mom was there too. in his doorway we talked about how god has a plan for him and he told us about how he has been having a hard time lately cuz lot of things have happened to him. and that he will be going to washington soon to work cuz he has a cousin or something there. but we got into his house and talked to him more and he told us that he didnt know why he let us in cuz last time he let religious people in, they robbed him. but that he felt different with us. and it was good talking to him and he was really interested in what we have to share with him and how it can help his life. so we will go back there on thursday.

         yesterday was a crazy day too cuz we had so much to do. we had 27 contacts left to make our goal for the week. and to put that into perspective, 20 contacts is having a good day working a full 7 hours. and we got to around 730 with only 3 contacts on the day. so i just thought there was no way we would make it. but we just started talking to EVERYONE in the street. then at 9 we had a cita that was a good lesson but we still needed 5 more contacts. we got out of that house at 1015 and had to be in the house at 1030. so i told elder nilsen it was a good run and we were close but we just didnt make it. but he refused to go inside unless we made our goal. so we found 5 more people to contact and somehow made our goal for the week. it was crazy but i felt good about doing it.

         the only sad thing from yesterday is that someone in our retention (the people who have been baptized in the last 2 years) had been sick. about 9 months ago he had a stroke before being baptized and he is about 70 years old. and last night we found out that he had had another stroke and was in critical condition last night in the hospital. so we are gonna see if we can go by there tonight and give him a blessing or something. but i hope that he gets better.

          i hope everything is going well for everyone and that everyone is doing well. have a good week

Elder  AJ Mlazgar

BE GOOD OR BE GOOD AT IT

Alma 32:21     2 Nephi 26:8

AJ's email from 09/17/2012

AJ and E. Nilsen

     this has been a good week for me. getting back into a sector where we have some success and having a comp that helps and that i can have fun with is gonna help me. so im sure youre all wondering where im at after changes last week. i got sent to a zone in maipu called cinco de abril. its in the northern part of maipu. and my sector is called pajaritos. its a sector of just pure houses and houses and more houses which is nice cuz its my first sector like that. my comp is actually someone that i mentioned a couple weeks ago. hes the one that will be flying back to arizona with me cuz his parents are in the tucson mission. his name is elder nilsen. we´ve had fun this first week together and i can tell that he is gonna help me be better. another thing, just for those who dont know. im now zone leader. and that means that im in charge of other missionaries and making sure that they are doing what they should. the mission is divided into sectors, with a companionship of 2 missionaries in each sector. then you have 3 or 4 companionships in a district, 2 or 3 districts in a zone. and there are 12 zones in the mission. so we have 16 missionaries in our zone and me and my comp have to make sure that they are working hard and everything is alright.

AJ, Camela & E. Alcaraz

        so monday night i finished saying bye to people. first we went to camila, our investigator. she was sad that i was leaving but she understood and knows why since she has been investigating for almost 3 years now. the best part was that i had her write in my book where everyone writes and after i read what she put. it was special because she said she was grateful that i came on the mission and that she thinks she found her testimony in that really strong lesson we had a couple weeks ago. and that she wants to get baptized, maybe not right away but soon. after that we had a small noche de hogar for my other good bye. it was with paul (our ward mission leader) and his wife, 2 girls named yaris and valentina that are cousins, and then daniela. we just had a short message and then played games and talked the whole time. i had fun and im gonna miss those 5 most from the ward. saying bye to daniela was especially tough cuz weve gotten really close these last couple months and ive helped her witha  lot. and so im gonnna be worried now that im not there to help her. i just hope she keeps progressing and doing what she should.

AJ playing Jenga...or whatever they call it in Chile

          tuesday was just more about getting to know the sector. and is was only half the day cuz around 6, president sent us a text saying we needed to be in thge house before dark cuz it was that day where the youth go out and cause trouble and its dangerous. our sector was alright pretty much but its cause we are so close to one of the worst parts of santiago called villa francia.

          wednesday was a little more of working and getting into everything. going out in the morning and working, doing contacts and everything. we had our meeting with the ward mission leader in the church that night too so i met several people from the ward. we have a decent sized ward here cuz the average attendance is around 150 and the building is normal sized too. so thats a nice change after being in parque subercaseaux

AJ and Spiderman

          thursday and friday were good days too cuz we found a couple new good families. on thursday we found a family who is the dad, mom, and daughter. (segundo, louisa, and delicia) they were good and interested and on saturday we went back to teach them the first lesson and the daughter had read the pamphlet that we left and everyone payed attention and was involved. that was good. and on sunday segundo and delicia came to church which is one of the first times that i have found news and then them come to church that first week. it was exciting to see that.

          then finally on sunday i met the whole ward and the bishop and everyone. our bishop seems really good and like he knows how to work which isnt very common down here so thats nice. sunday night was really good though. we found another family that seem like some of the best ever. the mom, miriam, isnt very religious but she had a lot of questions and was really interested in everything. and at the end she was excited to say the prayer and said one of the best first prayers that i have ever heard in the mision. it was incredible. and her husband, juan, is pretty good too cuz he had even more questions than she did. so im excited to start working with them and i hope that they start progressing quickly.          basically thats it for this week. im happy to be in a good sector again where we can have success and have fun and work hard. i think that it will be a good way to end the mission, assuming that i should end here. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care

E.Alcaraz, Paul, AJ

Daniela playing Jenga

Yaris, Valentina, Paul & Yessenia

 Saying goodbye at the Noce de Hogar

Yessenia, Yaris & Valentina w/AJ

AJ's email from 9/10/12 & 9/3/12

That's right AJ...ran TOWARD the gunshots! Its a miracle there aren't more incidents involving missionarires. Those guardian angels sure have their hands full!! 
  

     this weeks email is gonna be kinda short due to the fact that i have changes and have to pack all my stuff. i wasnt expecting it really but at the same time im not entirely surprised cuz i knew that either one of us could go. the good thing though is that im moving up to zone leader. president king called me saturday night to tell me  that so im gonna have even more responsibility and even less time lol but i know that ill be able to handle it and that it will be good for me so that i can keep getting better. it`ll also be nice cuz my companion will be a zone leader also so ill have someone that i can teach with and rely on to help with everything instead of having to make sure everything gets done on my own. its gonna be nice. the only thing im worried about is where am im gonna go. im pretty sure that every single zone has changes in the zone leaders so i could end up anywhere. although im not gonna lie i wouldnt mind  going to the coast and finishing the mission there.
      the other interesting things from the week now. monday, we were walking home to the pension late at night. and from about a block away from where it was happening, we heard people yelling, "they`re robbing, they`re robbing" so obviously being 20 year olds, we hurried up to see if we could see what was going on. we got to the corner of the street and as soon as we did, we heard a car screach as someone hit the gas peddle of a car. so we stood there and watched as they drove off. about 3 seconds after they had started, we heard gun shots. so we hid behind the corner, and overall we heard about 5 gun shots. it was pretty intense. so we just stayed where we were for a few minutes til things died down. and all that happened in the richer and nicer part of our sector.
        wednesday we had the assistants in the district meeting and that  was fun cuz ive always gotten along well with elder merchan. its weird that he is going home today though, along with about another 20 missionaries. and after the meeting i did divisions with elder martinez and had a fun day with him. he is pretty funny.
       other than that though it was just a normal week. im nervous and excited for changes tomorrow but i know that it will be something good for me and that really i probably needed it to start over again and get a little more energy heading into the last few months of the mission. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care


Last week's email from 9/03/12
     its never fun being sick in the mission cuz you dont have anyone to take care of you but yourself really. at least while i was in el monte i had hna aida to help me out a little. but the end of this week, being sick with a runny nose, a fever, and a sore throat just made it not great. i just hope that what im taking will work quickly and the weather will stop being so bipolar so that i can recover quickly.
       on monday last week we went to visit  family that the wife has been a member her whole life and the guy got baptized about a year ago. they havent gone to church in the whole time that ive been here. and from what we had heard from the ward it was just cuz she is pregnant and has a hard time getting up in the morning with that. but while we were talking to them, they told us more of the real reason why they havent been going. she admitted that a part of it is cuz of the pregnancy, but more its cuz they just dont have any friends in the ward. and so we shared about the importance of taking the sacrament but apparently they just dont understand very well cuz they didnt come again.
     tuesday we taught camila and the whole lesson was just us helping her make a list of the reasons of why she knows the church is true and the things that she doubts. that way we knew what we needed to help her with more. and i think that it helped us a lot cuz in our lesson with her on thursday, we taught the restoration and i could tell that she really felt the spirit cuz i felt it too. i felt bad afterword cuz i didnt let elder alcaraz talk too much but it was a decision i made at the time cuz i felt like i had made a connection with her and that i could help her out and i think it worked out alright. cuz in our lesson on thursday, she cried a little a couple times.
    also tuesday night we got into another house of a inactive family. really we were only able to share with the lady but it was good cuz she talked to us about all the problems she has been having with her mom and some other things. so we shared a little about the atonement and how it helps  with everything that we need. and that through the gospel we can find the comfort that we need with everything. and we shared a little scripture about that and she said that it really helped and that she feels like now is the time when she and her family should probably come back to church. and then during the last prayer that she said, she cried a little. but it was the first time that in the mission where i have been with an inactive member and they say that they want to come back to church in the first visit and i feel like they really mean it. that was good.
     thursday was kinda a hard day for us, other than the lesson with camila. cuz daniela told us that she probably wont get baptized, at least not for a long long time. cuz she said that she feels good in the church and she has made some friends there and its nice, but being involved in a church and reading scriptures and saying prayers just isnt her thing and so she doesnt want to be committed to it by getting baptized. so that kinda hurt but i dont want to give up on her just because of that so we are gonna keep working with her and see if we can get her to understand the things that she would be missing by making that choice. hopefully we can help her see that.
      friday we had to go back to do something with elder alcaraz´s id card cuz when they gave it to him, they had spelled his middle name wrong. so we had to wake up early to go into the office and take care of that. i dont know how often that happens in the mission but i dont think very often from how the guy in the government building reacted when we explained the situation.         saturday we had a really funny activity in departamental where we did a little show thing. i played batman and elder alcaraz was robin. but its about a book that talks about happiness, help, and god (referring to the book of mormon) and its the last one on earth. and all these superheroes/people fight each other for it, killing each other off one by one to have the book. it was pretty funny and im glad that i could be a part of it.
       then sunday the time changed here  so we got one less hour of sleep. and i dont think that helped with me being sick. and so sunday was kinda tough cuz its the day when i felt worse this whole week so we werent able to do much. today im feeling a little better than yesterday although i still just want to sleep but we have a couple of citas tonight that we have to go to so i cant just go to bed. also today we went to fly kites as a zone and it was a good day to do it cuz its pretty windy but it didnt work out to well cuz only 2 people were able to get them off the ground. but at least it was funny to watch. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care