Daily Routine

Thanks Dad, that did answer my question. [He says he keeps getting asked if Joseph Smith was a Mason.]

 

No,I  haven't climbed the stairs on the hills yet because that is only in Valparaíso. Apparently in some places your tie literally touches the ground because of how vertical the hills are. YAY! 

 

Mom asked for my daily routine....

7:00 wake up and exercise

7:30 - 8:30 breakfast and get ready for the day

8:30 - 9:30 personal study

9:30 - 10:30 companionship study

10:30 - 11:00 language study

11:00 Leave the pensión and start working

1:30 - 2:30 lunch (at least that's what it should be but since Chileans LOVE to talk and get offended if we leave ´early´, we usually end up leaving lunch between 3:00-3:30)

2:30 - 9:30 (or 10) work

9:30 - 11:00 plan for the next day and get ready for bed

11:00 - 7:00 sleep through earthquakes that happen regularly

 

Todo el día, todos los días. [All day, every day.] It seems monotonous but the days usually go by really fast. But every once in a while there is a day when 15 minutes is an eternity. Those days are really fun......

 

As for what happened this week....... Apparently my calling should be the Ward Nursery Leader because it turns out that I have the ability to keep any kid quiet and entertained during lessons and during sacrament meeting. Honestly I don't know how because I do the exact same things as everyone else. Gift from God, I guess? 

 

Más que nada estamos preparándonos por las últimas entrevistas de Presidente Kähnlein este Miercoles. [More than anything else we are preparing for the last interviews of President Kähnlein this Wednesday.] Oh, sorry....sometimes I don't realize when I'm mixing English and Spanish. If you don't understand, Mecham [his older brother] can help you. Not much has happened. We "scared" two less actives into going to church by using the examples of the disasters in Chile and the dreams/visions that many missionaries and members (including those 2 less actives) have had about a giant earthquake. Sometimes there's a tsunami included in the dreams/visions. So ya, we're still waiting for that fun vibration massage and mud bath.

 

So ya, that's this week. Don't die this week.

Elder Groneman

Tree of Life Insight

So this week was a little bit difficult. Our 2 most promising investigators told us that they didn't want us to come by anymore and we couldn't find any of our other investigators all week. BUT yesterday we saw at least 10 miracles during the day! A lot of them happened when a ton of less actives finally came to church! Another was that the recent convert of my comp showed up again and is normal again (he got back into drugs and alcohol after his baptism). You've got to look for the miracles because they are literally EVERYWHERE!

 

So it's really awesome when your convert of one month can literally destroy a Jehovha´s Witness of Level 33. For those of you who don't know, JWs have a ranking system based on their knowledge. Level 33 is the highest and it's also the level which they need in order to talk to the missionaries. If they aren't 33, then they are literally prohibited to talk to us. Haha so the neighbor of our convert is a JW Level 33 (we know because we´ve talked with her before). Apparently that neighbor has tried to tell our convert lies and to try to convince her that she's wrong - lies such as we worship Joseph Smith and that we don't believe in God, we practice polygamy still, and other things. Haha our convert stood up for what she knew was true and straight up told the JW that she was completely wrong then she told her exactly how things are. Yes, my comp and I are very happy to know that our convert of one month is firm in the gospel!

 

So the picture is quite awesome. Just look at it and you'll know why.

 

Here's a little insight from Lehi´s vision of the tree of life. So before Lehi tasted the fruit he had to be led to the tree. Then once Lehi had been led to the tree and tasted the fruit he, in turn, led others to the tree.  The Lord led Lehi (prophet) to the tree and then Lehi led others (his family) to the tree because he knew how to find it. In order to find the tree we need to be led by someone who is already at the tree and knows the way. We have the words of prophets, ancient and modern, who know the way and who lead and guide us so that we arrive at the tree of life. After we arrive at the tree and taste of the fruit we, like Lehi, will have the desire to help others arrive at the tree. More than the desire, we will have the responsibility to help others. The Lord expects us to help our brothers and sisters who do not yet have the gospel to arrive at the tree. If we don't use our time helping others arrive at the tree that unused time could become occupied with listening to the people in the building which is dangerous because everyone who gives heed to them will fall away. So, once we arrive at the tree, let's use our time in helping others arrive as well instead of using our time listening to the world.

 

That is all for this week. Love you all! Read and Watch the conference talks again because you'll receive even more revelation.

Elder Groneman

General Conference and earthquakes

General Conference was AWESOME!! It's literally like candy for missionaries. Haha so if you want to get just a little bit of an idea of the Spanish I have to listen to, compare the speed of the Spanish of the two Spanish talks. Elder Zeballos is from Chile and his Spanish was notably faster than Elder Pino´s. Now take that speed of Spanish, speed it up more and take away the diction and enunciation then cut off the endings of about half of the words and add a lot of sayings and words that don't exist in Spanish (only in Chile). Once you've done that you will have a bit of an idea of what I get to listen to every day - and I love it!

Besides General Conference nothing much happened. A few temblores no más. Oh, a temblor is a weak earthquake. A Terremoto is a strong earthquake. In Chile a terremoto is 8.0 and higher and everything else is weak. Haha in the rest of the world a terremoto is everything stronger than a 6.0. Ya, Chile gets a lot of temblores. Now when it happens at night I usually sleep through them and don't even realize that we had one.

So ya, That's it for the week. Love you all. Don't die, that would be unfortunate ;)

Elder Groneman

Natural Disasters & A Spiritual Experience

Okay. Thoughts about R** [his new nephew]. First off I like the name. It's not boring or overused (or used at all). It's original and R** just sounds cool. I approve of the name. As for who he looks like more - I have no idea. Every picture is different so at this time I cannot make an accurate, informed decision - in other words, more picture are required for analysis ;) He is really cute though. I'm excited to "meet" him in May. Assuming Skype decides to work of course. 

 

As for answers to questions - No I did not get transfered and neither did my comp so everything is still in the normal swing of things. Yes, I did get the package. THANK YOU! OH, my comp says thank you, too. He was really happy when he found out that half of the stuff was for him. 

 

So I'm actually surprised that Mom didn't ask me about all of the things that happened / are going to happen in Chile. To sum up the current events of the past week.....Don't read this, Mom, unless you want to go into an anxious, worried frenzy. You've been warned.

 

The northern part of Chile is the most arid desert in the world (yes, more arid than the Sahara). All of Chile has been in a drought for YEARS. Well, this week we got rain. A lot of rain for a desert in a drought. Long story short - we aren't supposed to drink water from the tap for a while because the river now has a ton of harmful minerals and chemicals in it and the filtration plant isn't working now. Apparently God´s protection is real because everyone who drinks the tap water (before boiling it and adding 10 drops of bleach (yes, 10) ) gets sick immediately - except the missionaries! We haven't done anything to our water because we don't have the time and none of us have gotten sick. Farther up north in Copiapó they received the amount of rain of 1 year in one day. In that area there are no trees so with all that rain and dirt there is a ton of mud. So much mud that there are 2-story houses that are completely covered. Miracle - the chapel is the only place that doesn't have a speck of mud but is completely surrounded by it. Also the members´ houses only got a little mud inside but none of them lost their houses. Oh, and now scientists from the US are saying that northern Chile is going to have a 9.5 earthquake soon. To confirm that, one of the missionaries has been dreaming of that earthquake for a few nights now. He only dreams when something is going to happen, and it ALWAYS happens. We´re just waiting to see what the prophet says this weekend. YAY!!!

 

So now for a spiritual story. Yesterday night all of our appointments had fallen through and we were headed to our last one. They weren't there. Right as we started walking, a neighbor (member) stepped out of her house and started telling us of another neighbor whose son had died 3ish weeks ago. Apparently this neighbor se acercó (cant remember the translation of that) [drew closer] to the member about 2ish weeks ago and told her everything. The member gave her a BOM and a Liahona. After she told us all of this we asked if she had time and if she could introduce us right then. She went with us to the house and the lady came out and told us that she was reading the Liahona right then and really liked what she was reading. We shared with her a part of the Plan of Salvation and Temples. Basically she told us that she was willing to join the church if God answered her pray about the BOM - that was a mini-miracle because apparently many churches have already visited her. God 1 and Satan none!

 

So ya. This week was great fun. Every missionary and member is excited for General Conference (the members mainly because they are waiting to hear what advice the prophet has for them in this time of disasters).

 

Love ya all!

Elder Groneman

Short and Sweet

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

So I'm an uncle......this is new......WOOOOT!!!!:)

 

So I don't have any crazy stories this week because it was the last week of the change. We are going to have changes this Tuesday/Wednesday. I'm guessing that my comp is going to go because he has been here for 3 changes already and President doesn't usually keep missionaries in an area for more than 3 changes unless they're new in the mission. I guess we´ll see......

 

All is going well. An elderly man accepted a baptismal date for the first time in like 14 years!!! Sooo many missionaries have tried to baptize him because his whole family are members except him. We are 100% sure that he will be baptized that day because he actually announced it to his family when they were having an asado (like a BBQ). So ya, in April there's going to be a baptism! Looking forward to helping another one of God´s children make a covenant that will allow them to enter into the Kingdom of God!

 

So that's all for this week. Love you all.

Elder Groneman!

Baptism & Zone Conference

So before I forget - Guess who I ran into this week? One of Mecham´s comps - Elder C** (I don't remember how to spell his name). Apparently he was also waiting for a visa to Venezuela that never came. So ya, I met him. Apparently Mecham and I are "exactamente lo mismo [exactly the same]". Okay?

 

So yes, The baptism did happen on Saturday. Her dad baptized her which was awesome because when I first came to this area he was inactive. There was also a lot of member support which doesn't always happen when the baptism is on Saturday.

 

For the first time in my mission I wanted to cry in a lesson for something other than feeling the Spirit. We were teaching a less-active family that was sealed in the temple. The wife is fine and realizes that the things that are happening are because they've stopped keeping all of the commandments. The husband is the opposite. The whole lesson he gave excuses and tried to justify himself and tell us that we didn't understand because we were young. The part that made me want to cry was when he said God will leave his children alone in the world sometimes. That's just the jist of what he said. He has lost the most basic and fundamental part of every testimony. God will NEVER leave us alone. He ALWAYS will help us. It's us that distance ourselves from Him. He will always have his hand outstretched waiting for us to take it so that He can lift us up.

 

This week was awesome. Baptism and Zone Conference. Oh, haha President Kähnlein surprised us and let us watch Meet The Mormons. Good movie - I highly recommend it.

 

So ya. Until next week!

Elder Groneman

Elder Groneman & Elder C** (a former companion of Parker's older brother, Mecham)

La Serena Norte Zone Conference

Trip to the Zoo

So we ended up not having the baptism yesterday. We didn't finish teaching her all of the lessons so we moved the date to Saturday. And yes, we are sure that she wasn't baptized into another church because 1- her parents are sealed in the temple, 2- every member knows her and her family, and 3- they remember the baptism (her dad baptized her). So really the record just didn't get put into the computer.

The zoo was great. It was a lot smaller than Hogle Zoo but it was fun to do something that none of us had done for a long time. One of the pics that I'm sending is titled ´Mecham´s "other" side...´. On the way home from the zoo we actually almost had to hitch-hike. The zoo is a bit in the middle of nowhere and therefore there aren't any taxis that pass by that aren't already full of people. And the one bus that travels on that road doesn't pass often. Well, after waiting for a while, we prayed. About 2 minutes later the bus passed by and picked us up! Talk about immediate answers to prayers!

My ward is Compañia Baja. Honestly we don't know why it's called Baja [low] because another ward nearby is Compañia Alta [high] but in elevation it is a lot lower than ours. The chapel is on the corner of Perú and Las Rosas. I'll send a picture of one of the views from my sector. Oh, I don't know when you are going to send another package but it would be awesome to have some maple syrup. You can find it here but only in one store (the one bought by Walmart) and that store isn't close to our area so we can't go. So ya..... :)

¿Que más......? [What more?] Oh, the English classes are good I guess. We've only had two as of now. We are going to start puting up signs on the street to advertize it so more people start coming. Hopefully it works because a member told us that English classes have never been successful in this ward/area. Ya, we're going to change that.

Creo que eso es todo por esta semana. [I think that's all for this week] Not much happened. Stake Conference was good and this week we are going to have Zone Conference (I think it's the second to last with Pres Kähnlein) so we are excited for that. And ya....I think that's all.

Love you all!

Elder Groneman

one of the views from my sector

Mecham´s "other" side...