~Mlazgar Missionary Moments~: 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