AJ's email from 7/31/2012

        well it was just another normal week here, although maybe not really but it just seemed to go by without anything wrong. and it wasnt until the weekend that anything really interesting happened. i dont have much time today to write it all so im just gonna tell what happened this weekend.
       saturday we went to a ward activity in another ward, juan griego. it was a talent show and we were told that we could go if we took an investigator. and so we took daniela so that she could see what a church activity is like. it also helped though that the  young women from our ward were going too cuz one of them was participating in the show (her name is valentina and she sings very very well. she was also a main part of the 50 year celebration that we had last october) the show was really good though. most of the people just sang but there were also a couple little things in between that were good. and it ended up being 3 hours long. but i had fun hanging out with elder tukuafu and elder balcon the whole time.        speaking of daniela also, she is doing really well. we are getting so much support from the whole ward with her which has been really good. i think this is the best i have seen the ward take in one of our investigators in my whole mission. and thats helped her be able to want to go to church more and feel comfortable around everyone and being there.        then sunday we had the baptism for carlos. i was so stressed out the whole morning with trying to make sure that he got there on time and filling up the baptismal font (which went bad cuz i forgot until it was late so the water wasnt exactly warm), and also making sure that daniela got to church and finding baptismal clothes for carlos and going to ward council before and just everything else that had to get done. but the baptism turned out alright and its done with now so that was relaxing for me afterward. but then we had a stake meeting with all the missionaries from the zone and the ward council from every ward in the afternoon and pres king was also there. so basically after Sunday i was just ready to sleep for a whole day. but unfortunately we cant and so im just tired still. i did also talk to pres king after the meeting about how stressed i was and talked to him about some of my struggles and he shared DyC 84:106 and that was kinda comforting for me. (106... And if any man among you be strong in the Spirit, let him take with him him that is weak, that he may be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also.).         but thats pretty much it for this week. changes came this week and went without anything happening to us so ill be here another 6 weeks with elder alcaraz (assuming that something weird doesnt happen before then which you never know with how my mission has been so far) but i hope that everyone has a good week. chao

AJ's email from 7/24/12

    this week was definitely weird for me. it felt like it went by extremely slow. i dont know if its cuz we have pday today and not yesterday, or if its cuz we didnt have a very good week, or what it is, but im just tired. every week more though that im in this sector, i realize more and more just how small it really is. i was looking at the map, and thinking about it as we walked around a couple days, and i figured out that our sector is a little bit bigger than a square mile, cuz we can walk a full circle (walking normally) around our whole sector in less than an hour and a half. and thats absolutely tiny for a sector. normally in a sector you MIGHT knock every door over 6 months if you cover the whole sector well, knock doors very often, and get lucky. but here i feel like ive already covered almost the whole sector and its only been one change, not even. so im pretty sure that if im here for a long time, im gonna knock the same doors at least 3 or 4 times. but i guess thats what we get for having such a small mission.

     wednesday i did divisions with departamental again but this time i went with elder martinez to their sector. it was a lot of fun being with him. its funny cuz its seems to me like the missionaries from argentina are all either prideful or just hilarious. and he is one of the funny ones. so we had a good time. the coolest part of our day is that we found this family that has 2 daughters that are world champions in speed roller blading. they had been to japan, venezuela, colombia, the states, and are going to italy next month for the world championships. and they showed us all the pictures and medals that they had. the cool part about all that though is that we first talked to the mom out in the street in front of a little store. and the first thing that she says to us is that she is REALLY catholic and doesnt want to talk to us. so we asked why and she said that she didnt want to talk about religion cuz she is happy with hers. so we just talked to her about her family and those sports stuff and some things that are happening in the world. and at the end we asked if we could go by her house sometime to talk to her more and meet her family. and she said sure so we got her address and walked away. when we got to the corner of the street, we stopped cuz we didnt know what to do from there so we stood there thinking for a few minutes when all of a sudden we see that lady running after us and calling us so we went to talk to her. when she caught up, she asked if we wanted to go by their house now and talk a little more and so we said sure and followed her to the house. so that was pretty cool.
       saturday morning we went by to teach daniela. something new that we are doing right now in the mission is leave a pamphlet or little part of the book of mormon with the people we teach and tell them that they have to teach us about it the next time we go. and it seems to work out well cuz then the people remember better the things they need to know and its easier on us cuz we dont have to teach so much. so we had left a word of wisdom folleto with her and she taught us that morning. it made it so much easier cuz sometimes those commandments can get a little tricky to teach but by doing that, it was easier and she committed to follow it from now on. then after lunch carlos had his interview so that he can get baptized this sunday and he passed so we are all good to go for this week. we just need to plan it all now.
       sunday was really stressful for me although im not really sure why. maybe cuz it was just the end of a really long week and i felt like there was so much to do and so it was a little rough. it started in the morning with ward council and we had a long discussion with them about whether daniela should go to the young womens or relief society. thankfully almost everyone was on my side and thought that it would be better for her to go to young womens for now. so that was an answered prayer. and then daniela ended up showing up an hour late to church which drove me crazy after all the arrangements that i was having to make for her. but at least she came so thats good. then after church we went to lunch with the bishop. im not sure if ive never tried shrimp before or if i just didnt like it but i loved it now. we had that with ravioli and so it was a really good lunch. its weird to think back on the times before the mission when i was so picky and wonder why i didnt like so much.
      then today we had our zone activity. we went to buin zoo which is just south of our mission boundaries. its definitely not as big as others ive gone to in the states but it was still fun. the only thing that i didnt like about the activity is that it was supposed to be as a zone and there was a companionship that didnt go and there wasnt a single moment when everyone was all together. but i guess thats just how it goes sometimes. although it left me basically without money til next week when we get more for next month.
       i hope everyone is doing well. take care

AJ's email from 7/16/2012

alright first off, no pictures again this week cuz the computers here are so all over the place. some of them work, some dont. so i wasnt able to upload my pictures here. so ill just have to send them next week. our week this week was alright. we finally got back to having a normal week again but that didnt necessarily help us a lot. it turned out that more people ended up failing on us this week than in the past so it was a little hard a couple days where we walked around all day just doing contacts. i felt a little how i did during my time in avenida matta where we would just walk the streets trying to get into a house and having my feet and legs killing me at the end of the night from so much walking, but at least we made it kinda fun.
      monday we went and taught a girl named camila. she does everything basically that a member should, without being baptized. she goes to church every week, and has for the last 2 years. she keeps all the commandments that she needs to in order to get baptized, she even pays her tithing. all that while only being 21 years old. and with that, she is dating a member. so the truth is that i dont know why she isnt already baptized. but when we talked to her, she said that she has never really read the book of mormon and that would be something important to know if the church is true or not. so we set goals with her to read everyday for the next 3 weeks and pray everytime. and then we`ll talk after that about whether she wants to get baptized or not. i think that if she does what we asked, she`ll gain a testimony and will get baptized in august or september. so im hoping for that.
       tuesday president king came out with us to visit carlos, our investigator that is skizophrenic. he came to really make sure that everything was ok there and to make our bishop a little happier. cuz he had asked if president would talk to carlos. and everything went well there. president said that he didnt feel like there is anything that would prohibit carlos from being a normal member after getting baptized. so he should get baptized in 2 weeks if everything goes well.
       wednesday we went to teach daniela again and she is progressing really well. she still reads the chapter in the book of mormon that we leave her everytime and is praying and doing the things that we ask. i think it also helps that she has so much time and is able to do those things. cuz a lot of the time, people just dont have time or get busy and forget to read or whatever. and also she came to church again this week but this time on her own so that was good cuz it shows that she wants to be there. so i really think that she could get baptized on the day that we put in august. and that would be really cool cuz it would be the first time that ive had that happen. where someone gets baptized on the day we first put with them.
        thursday and friday were our toughest days this week. when we didnt do anything and just contacted all day. but sometimes that can be good too to try and find more people. so hopefully with all those contacts, it means that this week some of those people will be home to go by and teach them. thats always my biggest hope and what makes me feel a little better those days that are just tougher.
       saturday we had a ward activity and it was pretty fun. it was also something different that i had never seen before. what they did is each family made like a big poster with pictures and other stuff about their family so that everyone could get to know each other a little better. so it was nice seeing the different things about each family and getting to know them better which is important seeing as how ive only been here for a month now. it was funny though cuz i put my little picture album on a table with the family that i like the most here so that i could be part of it a little.
      then sunday was another slow and tough day for us although we did have ward conference. i got to meet the stake president and for a country of mostly shorter people, he is huge. he is about 6`8 although he does have a background from the states since his last name is spencer. but i thought that that was funny.
       other than that though everything is going well. im hoping for a little better week this week and im sure that we will have it. we just have to keep working hard. i hope everyone is doing well. take care

AJ's email from 6/9/12

       well i was hoping for a normal week last week but i didnt really get it. i was packed with doing divisions, zone conference, and then some other things that were just tiring. and on top of that, this week got really cold again all of a sudden. it was the coldest thats its been so far this year.

       tuesday we had a pretty good day. it started with a lesson with a new lady. her name is dafnie, not exactly the most common name in chile. but we started teaching her cuz we were walking in the street a couple weeks ago and this girl came up to us (obviously a member from how she greeted us) and told us that she lives in la reina (outside of the mission) but that she works in our sector in a sushi store and that she had given her boss a book of mormon just before that and her boss was interested in learning more. and so she wanted us to go by her work to meet them cuz her boss is almost always there. so we went by and the lady was pretty cool and seems alright. the only problems are that she doesnt have much time cuz she is pretty busy at work and the other is that she doesnt live in our sector. so we would have to teach her and then she would go to church in the other sector. the funny thing about that though is that elder vilar is in the sector right next to me and she belongs to that ward. so it would be easier to work with them than other missionaries. then after her we went to the new girl that we found a couple weeks ago, daniela. she is pretty good for only being 16 cuz she has read what we left both times now and is doing the things that we ask of her. that doesnt happen very often here.

         wednesday i did divisions with departamental so i stayed in my sector with elder morgan. it was fun being with him and we did alright even though the only cita that i had planned all day failed on us. then at night in the pension we made this peanut butter bread thing that is really good and that was really all that happened that day. then thursday we had the zone conference. it was good. i think zone conferences are my favorite meetings cuz its usually more exciting than the others and we get lunch there which is almost always good. i had a really good time at lunch talking with elder vilar and elder fearnley, who was there with vilar before i got there so we talked about things from el monte and then lots of other stuff from the mission. cuz he is going home this change. then after lunch i had to give a small class with our zone leaders about the vision of the mission. i had to talk about our part of that vision which has to do with the kind of missionaries that we are and should become. it went better than i thought it would and several people came up to me after and complimented me on it. so that was good.

      then thursday night the office called us and told us that we had to be in maipu at 730 the next morning to do the visa stuff for elder alcaraz. so that wasnt something i was looking forward to. we had to get up at 6 and leave at 630 and then spend half the day in lines waiting for everything. and i have to do mine again in a couple months so im not looking forward to that. but the cool thing was that while we were in the last building, there are people there from lots of different countries. and this lady came up to me and asked me in english where she needed to go exactly. so i told her and then started talking to her a little. i found out that she is from romania and is in chile for work. i tried to get her adress for the missionaries to go by too but it didnt work out very well seeing as how she doesnt believe in god and wasnt really interested. but it was still cool talking to her.

       saturday we had the cosechon in las avenidas. we all met in front of their church and then split up with someone else and went out to look for some names from the list and also do some contacts to help the hermanas find some people to teach. so i went out with elder incze and it was fun being with him for an hour or so. then after that we went to teach daniela again and it went so well cuz we have lot of confidence with her already. and she seems to understand everything pretty well. so at the end we put a baptismal date with her for the 11 of august and i really think that she could get baptized that day. i really hope she does too.

        sunday was another crazy day. we went in the morning to get daniela so that she got there on time and alright. so we ended up eating breakfast with her too before we left. then during sacrament meeting, we had to give a talk, both me and my comp. i talked about examples and how big a difference it makes in helping others want to learn more about the church. cuz when they see a good example, they see something different and want to know why. and elder alcaraz talked about missionary work. then after church, we went to see the baptism of the hermanas in the other district, hna equitè and hna herrera. we went to support them so that hopefully when we have a baptism, they will come too.

       right now im doing alright although im not feeling really great. i think its cuz we got a flu shot at the zone conference so that is affecting me a little. but hopefully it will pass soon. i just need to get some rest. but i hope that all of you are doing well. have a good week

AJ's email from 7/2/2012

D&C 122:7 ..."know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."  that's the scripture that president king shared with me this week after we had special changes. yes, for my third time in the mission. i would have been happy not having special changes again after the 2 times almost a year ago. but something happened in another sector and someone had to go home early and president felt that elder sauceda was the one that needed to go to that sector and be senior comp now. the assistants called us Wednesday afternoon and shocked us when they said that he would be leaving and that i would get a new comp here in parque subercaseaux. and im not gonna lie, i wasnt expecting it at all after only a week here. but when they called and asked to talk to my companion, i knew something was going on. so thursday afternoon after our capacitacion especial, they took elder sauceda to his new sector and we went to pick up my new comp.

        so now im with elder alcaraz. he is from buenos aires, argentina and has 4 months in the mission. so im gonna have to be more of a teacher with him too to help him learn how to teach and help him progess as a missionary since he is basically just starting the mission really. the only thing for now with him is that im having to get used to how he talks cuz he still has a really strong accent and also talks a little quieter so i dont understand about half of what he says. i feel like i did when i started the mission. so i have to ask 3 or 4 times to repeat something before i understand. its gonna be a rough couple few weeks though cuz i dont really know the sector well since ive only been here for a week before the change and cuz i know  a few of the members but i really dont know their names well still. just a few. but i think that we will be fine and i feel confident in being able to figure out all that stuff quickly.

        Tuesday we did divisions with the zone leaders so i went to santa fe with elder mackie. its kinda funny that i spent the day with him and that he is my zone leader now cuz his twin brother was also my zone leader my first 3 weeks in the mtc. so thats kinda a weird coincidence. we had a good time together although the day seemed to go by pretty slow. and then at night it was fun cuz they live in a pension with 4 so we stayed up talking for a while with everyone. i also figured out from that, that elder morgan and elder martinez are pretty funny and we had a good time.

        Wednesday was a slow day cuz after we got the call for the changes, we basically just spent all day saying bye to a few people and then packing his stuff cuz it had to be all ready to go the next morning before we went to the meeting. but the good thing is that we bought pizza again to kinda celebrate our week and a half together. the other thing from wednesday is that i got a letter from jose and magaly, the lady i baptized in avenida matta. i was so happy to read that and it really just made my day. cuz i had been thinking these last couple weeks about how they are doing and all that. so when i read that they go to church every week still and that their daughter is going to seminary and that they are preparing to go to the temple in november, it made me more than happy. i think the only thing better than having a baptism in the mission, is hearing some time later from then and hearing that they are doing well and are doing the things they should. then thursday morning in the meeting, president king really stressed the importance of our investigators reading the book of mormon. cuz if they dont do that, they wont really gain a testimony and they wont stay very long after getting baptized.

        Friday we had a mission district and zone leader meeting that was like a training to teach us how to be good leaders. it was a lot of fun cuz it was basically all people that i know and since most have a good amount of time in the mission, we have been together in the mission a while and we all just have fun and there was a lot of joking and laughing. but after that meeting and the last couple days we had had before that, we basically just lost 3 days in our sector.

        then pday yesterday was pretty fun too. we started by playing soccer with the other missionaries and about 15 young men from the stake and so we had really good games and it was really competitive. then after that, we went to the little shopping center here in our sector with the hermanas in our district, hna lopez and hna fuentes. we ate together and had a good time talking and im glad that we decided to do it cuz sometimes i feel bad for the hermanas cuz as a zone we always play soccer so it was good to do something with them also.

        basically this was just a long week for me and im glad that we are gonna be able to have somewhat of a normal week this week....hopefully. it would be nice after the last couple weeks. but im doing well with all thats happened. i was gonna send a picture of elder alcaraz and i with this but the computer im using is weird and wont let me put it so ill have to send it next week. i hope that everyone is doing well. have a good week

AJ's email from last week...6/25/2012

Okay...so I have some major repenting to do here. I'll start by posting AJ's email from last week. I don't have his email for this week yet, but it will be coming soon. I will make a big post with all the pictures from the last couple weeks in its own post so you don't have to wade through all the emails. Here ya go for now...

     this week has been pretty long for me. with changes and having to get used to a new sector, new roads and buildings, and a new ward. its just felt like its taken forever. but hopefully it continue like that and it was just something for the first week getting used to everything.

      alright so the most important part about where im at and who my comp is. im back in the middle of the city again in a sector called parque subercaseaux. (su-ber-ca-so) and thats in the zone of san miguel. its kinda funny though cuz its right next to avenida matta where i was before, in fact we have a border with them so i see some of the buildings that i used to see everyday. and there are several connections with the people so hopefully i can see some of the members from that ward at some point while im here. my comp is elder sauceda from cortez honduras and after this first week i can already tell that i should get along with him very well and we should have a lot of fun. the only thing about this new sector is that there are more apartment buildings than just about anything else so its gonna be a lot harder cuz its always more difficult to get in there. and also elder sauceda told me that almost everyone here works til about 7 or 8 and then get home so that sucks. but we ll just have to work through it.

      im also district leader now and so the people in my district are hna lopez that i know well cuz i was with her for all 4 changes in talagante, her comp is hna fuentes from mexico that just got here this change. then the other companionship is elder morgan from utah and elder martinez from argentina. and they are all pretty cool so it looks like we ll have fun in district meetings and all that.

      now some things about our ward. first off we have everything in our sector. a major shopping center. one of the biggest streets of santiago. the biggest hospital in santiago. a cop station. and more buildings than anything. and the people in our ward are really good too. almost all of the men have served missions here which is the first ward that ive been in like that. so they know how things are supposed to work although there arent very many people that attend. our attendance is about 60 every week. because we also have a ton of people who work in the stake. we have a stake presidency counselor. the stake young womans president. a counselor in the stake young mens presidency. a representative in the high council. and then the biggest one is that we have an area seventy in our ward, elder nuñez. so we have several good members. hopefully we can get them involved in the work so that it makes it a lot easier for us. thats what i would like to do really cuz thats how it should be.

       so on tuesday we had the change meeting and i was so nervous about where i would be going. so after i heard my name called, it was relaxing. we got to the pension and then went out to get lunch. but when we got back to the pension, elder sauceda realized that he had forgotten the keys. so we had to have the guy working there help us break into the apartment by opening the door. and it turned out to be a lot easier to open the door than i thought so that was a little worrysome. but at least we are on the top floor so there arent many people that come by our door. and then the rest of the day was about meeting a few members and meeting the guy that was going to get baptized yesterday. (more on that story later)

       thursday we had the district meeting so i met the whole zone and everyone is pretty cool. we have a lot of experience here. the 2 zone leaders. then the other district leader is elder balcon that has 19 months in the mission. then there are 4 of us from my group. and then elder sauceda who has a year now. so more than half of us already have a year or more. there are 2 things that i realized that im not gonna love as being district leader. and that is having to call my district every night cuz i just feel like sometimes i dont know what to say. and the other is having to give a class every week in district meeting. but that will come easier with more time.

       saturday was a really good day for us. something that is always kinda low here in the major parts of the city is how many investigators we have cuz its just tough to find people. but saturday was good cuz we found 7 new investigators which is more than i had ever found in one day before. the best one of all them is a girl named daniela. she is about 16 and has a one year old boy. she seems pretty good and will have time to listen to us and come to church so that will be good. we just have to get her to do it.

      then sunday i met the whole ward. everyone is pretty cool. our ward mission is pretty funny and he told me that at first look i look like a nazi soldier. i already knew that he was gonna joke a lot cuz elder sauceda explained how he is but when he said that it still caught me off guard cuz i hadnt heard that one before. but it was funny. our church building is so small though. it doesnt even have a chapel. they just put chairs up in a cultural hall type thing. and the funniest part about that is that its a tiny builiding in between 3 huge apartment buildings. so it makes it look even smaller.

      but anyway thats about it for this week. thanks for all the birthday wishes that i got from everyone. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care