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!)




.......................down





..............................................down





.....................................................................down





............................................................................................down





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