AJ's email from 8/27/12

Elders Mackie, Clare and Van Duren

Elder Wheelright (MTC comp), AJ
& Elder Clare

The Fab Five...
Munoz, Wheelright, AJ, Clare & Tukuafu

      this week was just another one of those normal weeks again although there were a few things that happened a little different. so i guess it really wasnt just the normal week if you think about it.
      first off on tuesday and wednesday we got a lot of rain again in the afternoon which sucks cuz its already been tough enough for us to find new investigators these last couple weeks and when it rains, you can basically forget about it in our sector. cuz the people at home tell us to go away cuz its raining and the people that are in the street go inside and stay out of the rain. so we just kinda did what we could for those couple days. the funny thing about wednesday though was the district meeting. the first hour of the meeting is always a class and then the second hour is doing practices for something. and this week we practiced (although it was something real) going outside and contacting everyone that we see and just doing more contacts and talking to everyone. and so they told us we couldnt go back to the church unless we had 8 contacts or a new investigator (which means getting into a house and doing a house blessing). so we went out to contact and did some contacts which were pretty good. but it was really cold outside from the rain and wind so i said lets just go knock a door and get a new so that we can go back. and the first door that we knocked, it was a old guy named hernan whos wife fell and broke her back a couple months ago and thats been hard on them. so we did the house blessing and helped them with whatever we could. im glad that we could do that and help them out with feeling a little comforted but i couldnt help thinking about how ironic it is that we worked 20 minutes in another sector and find 2 news, and work in our sector for weeks and cant find anything. but its just a difficult time for us right now and we just have to work through it.
       thursday we had the capacitacion especial in republica and i thought that it was really good. president talked a lot about applying the book of mormon to the specific needs of every person that we talk to. and that if we do that during contacts, more people will want us to come by and will progress cuz they will be more interested in the book of mormon. and so im excited to use that more with investigators. now all i need is some new investigators to apply it with. the other good thing about that day is that i completed a year and a half in the mission which is crazy to think about. although i didnt do anything special to celebrate the day like i did when i hit a year. all i did was take some pictures with the other guys at the meeting that are going home with me. after the meeting i had a scary moment though. we were heading back to our sector and since i know that area pretty well, i wanted to take a different way home. so we were walking in the street and came to a corner where we had to wait to cross. and as we were waiting, a couple of buses turned right on that corner where we were standing. the first bus was fine, but the second one had problems. i saw the mirror go right across my face, almost hitting me and i just thought wow that was close. and as soon as i thought that, elder alcaraz pulled me backed and said watch out. and as soon as we stepped back, i watched the bus go over the curb right where we were standing. ill just say that my heart was pounding after that. and im thankful that im ok.
       friday i went to renew my visa and get the papers done to finish the mission and that was weird thinking about. i had a fun time being with that group of 5 during that trip cuz we were all gringos and just laughed at everything. but i found out that ill be flying home with elder nielson to arizona cuz his parents are in the tucson mission right now. and thats kinda cool cuz i sat with him on the plane coming here and then ill be with him on the plane going home.
       then finally sunday we had a little miracle....maybe. our ward mission leader has a nephew not baptized that lives on the border of our sector but really belongs to av matta. and he got upset this week cuz the missionaries there were supposed to go by but didnt do it. so he called the zone leaders there upset telling them to chew out those missionaries for being irresponsible and not going. and so i said, just joking around, what if we bring him over here and teach him here and baptize him here. and he liked that idea so he asked me today to ask permission from president king to do that. so if everything works out, we should have a baptism in another month or so which should be really easy. cuz all we will have to do is teach him. and then our ward mission leader will baptize him. so hopefully that will happen.
        other than that everything is going well. im doing well although ive been kinda tired lately but what are you gonna do? thats just the mission for you. i hope 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

Ward Mission Leader playing guitar
see video...he's great!

BONUS post...more pictures

I opened my email at lunch today and discovered a bonus email from AJ. It has pictures from this week...his delicious lunch...yum, the stake activity, and P-day soccer. No time for captions today, but I trust you can tell which is which! AJ must be taking a self-portrait because he is bored from having to sit out and chill.

  

  

  

   

   

AJ's email from 8/20/12

      of course the week after i write you all and finish the letter saying that we havent had a lot of rain for a while, just naturally it  just had to rain all week and give us more problems than we needed. i dont know why i didnt expect it. but at least it was good to see some clean air for a little, even if it did only last for about a day.
      wednesday i did divisions with elder hallstrom and was with him in departamental all day. it was really a weird day, especially at the start. after having the district meeting, we went back to the pension to drop off my stuff and then we left to get lunch. but that day here was a holiday and the place we were going to eat was closed. so we had to go buy something to take back to the pension and make. so we bought noodles and sauce with some meat patties and before that, we started with soup. and to finish  it, we had peaches with condensed milk. and as i was helping him cook it (yes i just said that i was cooking) i just thought about how i hated to make food before the mission but how much that has changed now. its amazing. but then after lunch we went out to work and things started off slow so after the first hour, we went back to the pension to get something for the rain and "started over" for the day. although it didnt get much better but at least i had fun with him all day.
       then friday we did divisons with the zone leaders so i was with elder mackie in our sector that day. in the morning, we contacted this guy in a little park and sat down with him to talk a little. he said that he is more buddist than any other religion so that was something different cuz there arent a lot of people here that believe in that. the other thing about him is that he spoke to us in english the whole time and we asked where he learned it and he said just from what they taught him in school while growing up. (i dont know why we dont do that in the states cuz it would be cool to leave high school knowing spanish or something like that. although the other thing here is that they dont study spanish and we do with english so thats different) but it was just a long day full of contacts. we werent able to find any new investigators this week which is bad since the mission goal is 8 a week. so its been tough for us cuz we cant find anyone. it doesnt help though that we have so many apartment buildings in our sector so those are doors we cant knock and people we cant talk to. so the only good lesson that we had that day was with daniela and we just taught something easy, fasting.
        saturday there was a stake activity so we went to that and it was really good. the youth from each ward did a little skit and based it off a principle from "for the strength of youth" that they were assigned. and so they had to act and teach a lesson about that principle but also make it original and funny. there were some pretty good ones especially the winners who did it on using technology well and not spending so much time listening to music or on the computer. our ward was assigned one about dating (which is kinda ironic if you ask me since more than half the youth in our ward are young women between 15 and 17, maybe the stake was trying to say something without saying it) and they did alright but it wasnt great. elder alcaraz and i got to help a little though cuz we had to help hold up the stage stuff for a few parts.
       then yesterday we had a cosechon in departamental where the whole zone gets together in one sector and goes out to contact and knock doors so that that sector can have a little more success and can find a few more people to teach. i havent been a part of a cosechon that was really successful in my whole mission so im never extremely thrilled when we have to do it. but its a good way to support the other missionaries in our zone.
        thats about it for this week though. im really tired today cuz we went to bed a little late last night and still got  up early to go play soccer. speaking of that too though, even being in the mission, i have definitely not  lost any competitiveness cuz today i had to stop playing so that i wouldn't be angry with anyone in our zone. we dont have the most athletic people in our zone so they are alright with just playing and forgetting some of the rules and that was making me mad cuz i figure if we are gonna play, we might as well play right. but some others didnt agree with that. so i decided it was better for me to sit out. that all makes me miss a lot playing basketball full court against people who know how to play. that will  be one of the things i do first after getting home, which also reminds me that i finish a year and a half this week in the mission. crazy. anyway i hope that everyone is doing well. take care

Pictures

Companions for a few days

Bird from Central America

Another Bird from Central America

Crocodile

Kangaroos

Weird looking bird...cool

AJ and E. Balcon on the bus
with Hna Lopez peeking behind

Hna Lopez and Hna Fuentes
...stole camera and played with it :)

picture from AJ's apartment

another picture from AJ's apartment

and another from AJ's apartment

ward party in July

ward party in July

ward party in July

ward party in July

ward party in July

AJ's email from 8/13/12

this was another one of those weird weeks that we have every now and then where we have several meetings during the week or anything thats just not normal. and i always just feel like we do a ton but really we dont do much.
        wednesday we had interviews with president king and it felt good to be able to sit down with him and talk about a few things, with elder alcaraz being really the most important. it was definitely the longest interview that ive had since getting to the mission, but the time seemed to go by quickly. at night we had a lesson with camila, the girl that just wont decide to get baptized and stick with it. we talked a lot about not needing to know everything before and things like that. cuz she said that she noticed during this last time she had off from school that the days that she didnt read the book of mormon, she felt like something was lacking.so that was good. we just need her to make the decision and follow through til the end. cuz i know that she would be a great member, seeing as how she basically already is almost.
        friday we had the leader meeting in maipu and that has definitely become one of my favorite meetings now cuz its always a lot of fun while also learning how to be a better leader. this time it was funny cuz several of the zone leaders did a little skit thing to go along with their class. so it was fun.
        saturday we went to the baptism that hna lopez and hna fuentes had. i wanted to go with daniela so that she could see another baptism but at the last moment she couldnt go. but we decided to go anyway to support the hermanas. i feel like both the hermanas have become my good friends now and i have a lot of confidence with them, which normally doesnt happen a lot between the elders and the hermanas. their baptism went well though and i was happy for them. the other cool thing about going though was that i got to talk to a guy that i knew from republica that speaks english. apparently he had gotten married recently and is going to that ward now. so it was cool to be able to talk to him.
         sunday we had a big meeting with all the leaders in the mission again. but this one was more important because it was with elder zeballos, the first counselor in the new south america south area presidency. and it was also with the leaders from the santiago north mission. but he talked a lot about how we arent baptizing enough basically and that we need to baptize as many people as possible. cuz right now we have gotten into a stage of only baptizing the people that are really good that we are sure have a chance of staying active. but he said we need to find those people and the others that are waiting for us in our sectors. and that we need to give a bigger effort because there is another level above where we are now. basically i just walked out of that meeting wanting to just baptize and be a better missionary and do everything that i can. it was a good feeling.
         thats all the important stuff from my week though this week. the weather got kinda colder again lately but it still hasnt rained much which is sad cuz we are starting to get out of the rainy season here without having hardly any rain. but everything is going well. hope that everyone is doing well and has a good week.

P.S. Watch for pictures later this week...I actually put it on my calendar so I won't forget...head back about Thursday. :)

AJ's Email from 8/6/12

       Its kinda weird thinking about how much time i have in the mission now. i was talking to elder tukuafu today during our activity about that cuz he is from my group too. and just talking about how long we have been here and all the changes that we have seen and all the experiences we`ve had. and then thinking about what we have left, its crazy. i just hope that i can make the most of what i have left, which is a little more than 6 months.
       monday night we had a noche de hogar with daniela. we took her to our ward mission leaders house and had fun with him and his wife. it was funny though cuz about 10 min before getting there, he asked if i had prepared the message and i told him no cuz i thought that he would do it and he told me that i had to share. so i had to come up with something really quickly that would both be kinda interesting and that would help daniela progress a little. so i decided to talk about prophets cuz thats been her biggest challenge so far, accepting that we have a prophet. and then after i shared the message, paul (our ward mission leader) started talking to her about it more. and the little 15 min lesson that he gave her after i finished talking was amazing and even i felt more convinced about the need for a prophet in our time. it was great and i hope that she felt the same way.
         tuesday was the change meeting in the morning (another one come and gone) and although we didnt go, its always interesting calling someone from the zone to hear where everyone went and who the new people are in the zone and the new zone leaders and all that stuff. then thursday in the district meeting is the first time that we got to know them. the new district leader with me is from my district in the mtc, elder clare. he replaced elder balcon. and then elder hallstrom, who was one of the district leaders in talagante, came for elder morgan. so it was kinda funny seeing that, how he was the district leader in talagante and now the roles are switched as im his district leader. and then the other thing about the zone is that elder tukuafu is training so its gonna be fun listening to a new gringo missionary trying to learn spanish. (he also was the reason elder alcaraz was teased during that meeting cuz he said that he doesnt understand elder alcaraz`s spanish and the other missionary from argentina said that he doesnt either so dont worry and we all laughed hard)
        Saturday we had a lesson with a new guy, julio. they were a reference from the hermanas in san miguel. he went with his wife to the hermanas ward and they passed us the address. his wife is an inactive member and they are planning on getting married in about a month. so that will be good. he seems pretty humble and has a bit of a speech problem but also seems kinda smart so hopefully he can read well and understand what we teach. the only thing that i didnt like is that the wife told us at one point that she hasnt gone to church consistently for about 4 years but doesnt feel like she is doing anything wrong cuz she still does everything else. and i just wanted to tell her that she was flat out wrong and that she is doing a lot wrong by living with him before getting married and for not going to church, but i just let it go cuz that will be a topic for another day when i have more confidence with them.
          sunday carlos got confirmed and so i was glad to finally be done with that and to  be able to send the baptismal record in now and just be good. its been a long 6 weeks getting him to this point and all the struggles that have come up along the way. but one thing that made me happy is that he really appreciated the fact that i gave him my shirt after the baptism and he said that no one had ever done that before for him. so that made me feel better. 
         everything is going alright here and i hope that everything is well for everyone over there. take care and have a good week

Elder  AJ Mlazgar

BE GOOD OR BE GOOD AT IT

Alma 32:21     2 Nephi 26:8