Merry Christmas!!!

Hey everyone!!

Well, I just thought that I would send out a quick Christmas letter out to all of you while I had the chance :) This week in Bolivia has been quite spectacular! With a new companion, working hard, and enjoying the holiday season, I couldn't be happier right now :) I'm going to keep it short because I know that you all are trying to enjoy your own Christmases, but it will suffice to say that it was a really good week and my new companion is spectacular! Small investigator update: Daniel was not able to be baptized this week and we will have to wait a little bit of time before he can be baptized. I would like to ask that you all keep him in your prayers as he keeps working towards being baptized :) Now, Christmas in Bolivia. What do they do on the 25th? NOTHING!! I haven't seen anything Christmassy going on today, BUT they do celebrate the night before. Everyone in the family stays up until about 3 AM giving gifts, eating food, and spending some time together. So, I didn't really get to experience a Bolivian Christmas in all of its glory, but it is really cool to hear fireworks going off at midnight and hear all the celebrations going on. It has a really cool spirit about it :) And this Spirit is that which I would like to focus my thought today. Through all the food and all the gifts, I would like to give you all a little reminder of what this season is truly about: Christ. If you have been doing the #LightTheWorld, awesome! Great job! If not, there is still time to make your Christmas centered on Christ! I want to invite you all to give a little something to someone else today. Whether it is a gift, a hug, some time to talk, or whatever, I invite you all to give something. I love you all I I hope you all have a very Merry CHRISTmas!! You guys are the best!!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

Elder Wynn

Loving the Life We Have

Hello everyone!

How are you doing? Christmas is so close it's not even funny! Are you all ready to enjoy this wonderful time of year? I hope that life finds you all well and that you're enjoying the Christmas season. Well, this week here in Bolivia was rather spectacular, not going to lie. Rather crazy, but spectacular nonetheless :) Well, with transfers looming over us all week and an uncertain future ahead, we still went out this week and gave it all we could. We've been working really hard this week to contact old investigators or reach out more to recent contacts and we have found great success. We have extended a couple more baptismal invitations, set up appointments with many old investigators, and even found a couple really good, new investigators. So, to focus on a few, I will touch on Daniel, Liz, the Limón Family, Nayeli, and, a new investigator, Bryan. Daniel was not baptized this past week because he had his graduation from high school, but we set his baptismal date for this week, and this time it should happen! Really hoping for the best with Daniel. Liz still has not gotten permission from her dad, but is still working hard to stay active in the church and meet with us. The Limón Family made great strides this week with a talk about the Word of Wisdom. They have committed to abstain from those things and attended church this week as a family, so all is looking up for them :) Nayeli continues to show interest in the church and we are looking forward to her baptismal date on the 30th of December. We have also began teaching her mom, so we're hoping she will progress as well. Finally, Bryan, a new contact. We contacted him on Friday, taught him Saturday, he accepted a baptismal date, and attended church. He is AMAZING! We hope he continues to progress and cannot wait to see where he goes :) These are just a few of our current investigators and we are very pleased with the work that is going on here. Now, looking at this week, Elder Romero and I were very happy and very excited to continue working together to build the church in Avaroa. However, transfers happened, and we sadly will not be staying together. Elder Romero is being moved to an area closer to Cochabamba and I will be staying here in Avaroa with my new companion, Elder Alvarán, to keep the work going. I have many emotions about this change. Elder Romero is a phenominal Elder and a great friend. I am SO sad that we will be separating and SO sad that he will not get to keep helping me in the work here in Avaroa. However, I cannot wait to meet my new companion and keep the work rolling here :) This whole experience of transfers has taught me a wonderful lesson: Love the Life You Have. I have loved working with Elder Romero, and I am glad I had the opportunity to work with him, even if it was just for a little over 6 weeks. I am heartbroken that we are not going to continue, but I have made up my mind to love whatever comes. As a favorite quote states: Come what may and love it. I don't know what my new companion will bring, but I cannot wait to get to see. My challenge to all of you is to appreciate that which you have. Enjoy every moment so that you have no regrets when changes come. And when these changes come, "Come What May and Love It!" I love all you guys and thank you all for your support of me here in Bolivia. You are amazing and I hope that you know it. I am looking forward to what this next week will bring with a new companion, definitely nervous, but excited nonetheless. I hope you all have amazing weeks leading up to Christmas and I hope you will all remember the real reason we celebrate this time of year :) If you have any questions for me, don't be afraid to ask! I love you all and Merry Christmas!

Elder Wynn

     

We wanted to fit 4 in the back seat of the Taxi. Only 3 would fit normally, so we had to improvise ;)

Elder Romero and I celebrating at the Christmas Conference

Elder Olsen, an Elder from Orem, Utah, a day before heading home from his mission.

Overcoming the Everyday Struggles

Hey all!

How have your weeks been? Is the cold starting to set in? Is there snow? I hope you guys are all enjoying your winter season because it is summer here! It's a little different than I expected, though. I was expecting blistering heat, but all that has happened so far is a downpour of rain. I'm not exactly sure if that is normal or not, but that's what is happening, and I'm not complaining! In complete honesty, this week was filled with many emotions, and a lot of those emotions were not so good. This week, we had a lot of empty days where all we had to do was contact, and we also had many full days in which all of our appointments fell through. With all of that, we have been a little frustrated and it has honestly been a good struggle to keep up our spirits and get to work. However! Good things did happen this week and I would like to focus on those for now :) So, as a snapshot on investigators, I will talk about Daniel, Liz, Guildo (the father of the Limón Family), Nayeli, and Maria (our new convert). With Daniel, we were hoping for his baptism this week, but he has become very busy these past couple weeks and we had to push his baptism back a week because of lack of time. We are very happy for him because the reason for his lack of time is the fact that he found a new job and is starting to study in a college, but we are sad that we are not able to meet with him all that often. Hopefully, it will happen this week :) With Liz, things continue as normal. We are working with her and trying to help in any way that we can, but her father continues to be strong on the topic of baptism. We will keep working with her. With Guildo, we have seen an amazing change. We gave him the Word of Wisdom lesson this week, and though he has many problems with this commandment, he seems very eager to follow this commandment. He also came to church for the first time this week, so we are really looking forward to continuing with him. His family was gone this week traveling, so we couldn't teach them, but he is progressing so we are very happy about that. A new addition, Nayeli is a 13 year old girl that we have been working with for a couple weeks and attended church for the first time this week. We love teaching her and have already given her all the main lessons and she also has said many times that she knows the church is true, so we will continue working excitedly with her. Finally, Maria, our new convert. She was gone this whole week with her mom, so we have no idea what is happening with her at the moment, but we hope that all is well. Personally, I am doing really good! As a companionship, things couldn't be better! We are working hard and giving our best, but as I stated, it's been a little bit of a rough week, and I'd like to focus my thought on that today. So, as I said, we had many days with no appointments and many days with appointments that fell through. It is hard to describe the feelings that surface during these times. You always want to work, you always want to have success, but sometimes, despite your best efforts, the success you are looking for just doesn't come right away. We felt that very strongly this week, but I personally have learned a lot from this week. Yes, it was hard. Yes, we were often discouraged. However, we continued working, and we had an amazing experience of having 8 investigators at church this week, which is much more than I have ever had. I have learned this week the power of sincere prayer to gain strength and comfort, as well as the rewards that come from working, even when that work is very hard to continue. My promise to all of you is that the success that you are looking for will come if you continue. I promise that whatever you are going through, no matter how hard it is, if you say a prayer asking comfort and strength and continue working with all you have, the success you are looking for will come. Maybe not right now, maybe not for some time, but it will come. I love you all and I thank you so much for your love and support of me here in Bolivia! Now is an exciting time here because, 1: Christmas is coming! and 2: Transfers are this Sunday! I have no idea what transfers will bring and I cannot wait for Christmas, so all in all, I'm just excited! Please keep our investigators in your prayers and keep being the amazing people that you are! If you have any questions about my doings here, don't be afraid to send me an email. Love you all!

Elder Wynn

Me with my Hot Chocolate and decorated desk :)

My Christmas package!!

The most awesome district EVER!!

Love you!

Elder Wynn

Overcoming the Adversary

Hey everyone!

How's life treating you? I hope you all are enjoying your winter season. It's summer here now, so regularly super hot, but we're entering a rainy season now and it's super nice. Well, this past week was great, but a little different than usual. Tuesday through Friday were business as usual, but Saturday and Sunday, due to elections here in Bolivia, we were not allowed to leave the house. So, we worked for the first few days, and then had two full days inside the house. Not going to lie, it felt pretty nice to rest up a little for two days. Did all my laundry, cleaned the house, rested, studied, etc. It was great :) Well, investigators wise, we are doing great! We are working a lot with Daniel, Liz, and the Limón Family as well as trying our hardest to find new investigators. We are super excited for Daniel because he is supposed to be baptized this Saturday! We cannot wait for that to happen! With Liz, her father is as strong as ever, but we are continuing to work with her and hoping that a change will eventually come. With the Limón Family, we are working hard to teach them as much as possible, but we're also just trying to be there for them and help them with some of the difficulties they have been having in their lives. Things have been turning for the better and they are super excited to attend church and other activities. We have high hopes for this family. If you could keep them in your prayers, especially Liz with her dad and Daniel with his baptism, I would greatly appreciate it :) Well, other than investigators, we have just been working hard in all aspects: with our Bishop, other members, and, a big focus right now, Maria, our new convert, and she is the one I would like to focus my thought on today. Let me just start off by saying that Maria is wonderful and has a strong desire to stay active in the church, but she has expressed a lot of struggles throughout this past week. She loved her baptism and said that she felt a lot of peace after her confirmation as well, but she has felt pelted with trials this week. We have explained with her a couple times that whenever we try and do something good, Satan will always try and attack us. And she has felt this strongly, but she has a strong testmony and is pushing forward through it all. Now, for you guys, I hope your lives are all going fantastic, but know that we all have our struggles once in a while. Whether small or big, these trials can batter us and cause us to question the things that we know. However, there is a sure way to conquer the adversary, and that is through our testimony that is founded on Jesus Christ. My favorite scripture is Helaman 5:12 and it talks about building your foundation on Christ. It states that when the devil fights you with all his might and strenght, if your foundation is on Christ, you cannot fall. I love this scripture dearly and can testify that it is true. So, for all of you, follow the example of Maria, who is going through some tough stuff right now, but is relying on her testimony, and, really, relying on Christ to get her through. No matter what you're going through, no matter what your struggles are, Christ can always help if we have our foundation, our very core, centered in him. I love all you guys and hope that you have a phenominal week! As always, if you ever have any questions about my doings here in Bolivia, don't be afraid to send me an email and ask! ¡Hasta luego!

Elder Wynn

Me with my Thanksgiving dinner that I made :)

Me with some awesome kids that we played soccer with and then taught

Me with a machete after a service project clearing trees with a machete. Not gonna lie, it was quite fun ;)

The Power of The Book of Mormon

Hey everybody!

How have you all been? All stuffed with turkey and potatoes I presume? I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving and just a great week in general! Sadly, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but it's okay, it was a good week! After a rather frustrating few weeks with baptisms falling through, I was finally able to enjoy my first baptism of the mission. I talked about it last week, but her name is Maria and she is amazing! She has been being taught by the missionaries for several months and she has expressed a great desire to one day serve a mission herself. I cannot express how amazing it was to take somebody to the waters of baptism. My companion, Elder Romero, performed the baptism and I did the confirmation, and we are just so happy for her! Our other principal investigators right now are Liz, Daniel, and the Limón Family. Liz still has not received permission from her father to be baptized, but we are still working with her and hoping that someday she will have the opportunity. With Daniel, we are super excited because he committed to a new baptismal date! It was originally this Saturday, but because of elections here, we cannot do it then, so it will be the following Saturday, but nonetheless, super happy for him! Finally, the Limón Family. This family has all the desire in the world to come to church and learn more, but they have just been bombarded with trials right now. I would like to ask all of you to keep them in your prayers because they are amazing, but the wife is currently in the hospital with pain of unknown origin and they are struggling with several other problems as well. Right now, we're just trying to be there for them and help them where we can. We love them and are hoping for the best. Besides investigators, we had another normal, but spectacular week of work. And, on Wednesday nights, Elder Estes (one of my zone leaders from Las Vegas) and I are teaching English classes! So, we're working hard, I get to teach some English, looking forward to another baptism in the near future, and all is truly just so good! Along with all this, I personally had a really cool experience and would like to center my thought on it today. This past week, I had the amazing opportunity to finish the Book of Mormon for the first time in my mission. Though I had done it a couple of times before, this was really the first time I truly dove in and studied the book from start to finish. As many of you know, the book finishes with a powerful testimony by Moroni, challenging everyone to read the Book of Mormon, ponder on what it says, and then pray to know that it is true. Well, though I felt that I knew already that the Book of Mormon is true, I finished, gave myself time to ponder, and then entered my room and prayed to receive a confirmation of the truthfulness of the book. Now, I want to give you all my firm testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that it truly contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. Because of this, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the church that was established through him is God's true church upon the face of the Earth. The Book of Mormon has power that is impossible to describe. Many of us have had this book close to us all of our lives, but my question is, have you truly studied it? If yes: Keep doing what you're doing! You're awesome! If no: Don't worry, you can start now! My challenge to you all is to truly take your study of the Book of Mormon to the next level. If you have never read it cover to cover, do it! If you have read it a hundred times, awesome! Do it again! My promise to you all is that if you read the Book of Mormon and ponder on its teachings, then ask in prayer to your Heavenly Father if it is true, you will receive an answer. I am here to tell you that it is true and that if you have doubts about the book or about the church in general, read the Book of Mormon and ask in faith. I promise you that your doubts will leave and you will receive an undeniable testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so honored to represent this Church and Jesus Christ here in Bolivia and I want you all to know that I know without a doubt that this church is true. Well, you guys are the best and I love you all! If you have any questions about the things that I'm doing here in Bolivia, don't be afraid to send me an email! I will do my best to respond. Love you all and hope that you have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Beauty of These the Latter Days

Hey everybody!

Did you guys just have the most amazing past week? I hope so! My week has been pretty spectacular here in Quillacollo! With our investigators, we had an awesome week and were able to contact many new investigators to begin teaching. I am often amazed by the willingness of the Bolivian people to listen to two strange, young people that knock on their door. Of the new people that we contacted this past week, we are most excited for the Limón Family. We contacted them on Thursday, taught them on Saturday, they had a family problem Sunday morning, so they couldn't come to church, but they came to an awesome choir activity in the afternoon. We are SUPER excited for them because they have a true desire to learn and they are eager to go to church this upcoming week. Hopefully they'll continue to progress! With our investigators that we have been working with for some time, we sadly had to cancel both the baptisms for this past week. Liz finally talked to her father to ask permission, and he gave a very clear and stern "No." We'll continue to work with her and continue to hope and pray for a change of heart because Liz is absolutely amazing and I really hope that she can have the opportunity to be baptized because she REALLY wants to. Daniel's baptism was canceled at his own personal request, not because he doesn't want to be baptized, but because he doesn't feel worthy or ready for this step. We love him and are working really hard with him because we know he has the desire, now we just need to help him feel ready for this amazing step. Though we had these two baptisms fall through, we do have another lined up for this coming Saturday. A 17 year old named Maria who really wants to be baptized and all we have been waiting for with her is the rule of three times attending church. This past Sunday she attended for the third time, so she should be baptized this Saturday! Our hopes are high for her! I want to ask a favor of all of you: Could you keep these three and the Limón Family in your prayers for me? There are absolutely amazing and could use all the help possible, so if you could keep Liz, Daniel, Maria, and the Limón Family in your prayers I would greatly appreciate it :) So, other than investigators this week, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the temple for the first time here in Bolivia. It is such a blessing to have a temple so close to my area so that we can literally take public transportation for less than an hour to reach the temple. I love going to the temple and I cannot express how great it was to finally be able to go after a little less than two months, and because of this, I would like to focus my thought today on the temple. How amazing is it that we have so many temples in Utah and in the United States in general? How cool is it that we can often drive for under an hour (usually less) and enter one of the Lord's holy temples? Now the sad question: How many of us take advantage of it? Here in Bolivia, there is just one temple, in Cochabamba. Sure, I have rather easy access to it, but I have been thinking, what about those that don't live close to the temple? For many, the opportunity to go to the temple is an incredibly rare experience, not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of opportunity. Contrast that with the United States. Many of us have multiple temples close to our homes, but we do not go. In these the beautiful latter days, we have been blessed with many temples, but we do not search out the time to go. So, my challenge to you is to go to the temple regularly. I know that you have busy lives and think that you may not have time, but before you make that excuse, think on the people of Bolivia. These people may only be able to go to the temple one time in their whole lives, and it is such a delight to them. Take advantage of the great opportunity it is to live close to a temple, and make the time to go this week. Make it a habit because you can, and I promise that you will feel the difference in your every day lives. I love all of you and hope that you have amazing weeks! If you have any questions about my adventures here, feel free to email me! You guys are the best!

Elder Wynn 

Perseverar Hasta el Fin

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Are you all surviving? Enjoying life? Working hard? All of the above?! I hope so! This past week was awesome! Going to be honest, nothing really crazy happened, but just a great week of working hard and enjoying the mission. Of our investigators right now, we are continuing to work really hard with two, Daniel and Liz, and they should both be baptized this Saturday! We were actually hoping that Liz would be baptized this past Saturday, but, turns out, she didn't talk with her dad to get permission to be baptized. So, we had to push it back a week, and she was really sad, but if she talks with her dad and gets permission, she will be baptized this Saturday and she is super excited! With Daniel, he just continues to be amazing. He has only been meeting with the missionaries for just over a month and has already taken all the steps to be baptized. Super excited for them both! With exception of those two, we have been blessed with many other investigators and one of them, Araceli Angulo, accepted a baptismal invitation this week! We are super excited for her and really just super excited for all of our investigators because, as I think I have mentioned before, the people of Bolivia are honestly just the best! I'm loving the opportunity to work with them and share this beautiful gospel with them. Now, I'm just going to share some awesome things about Bolivia with you guys so you can feel jealous and want to move here. Everything is SO cheap. I bought 25 bananas here for 6 Bolivianos the other day (7 Bolivianos is 1 Dolar). There are little stores (tiendas) on every street where you can buy just about all the groceries you could need. Everything comes in bags, and I mean everything. Juice, milk, soup, food, etc. All in bags. Don't know why that makes Bolivia better, but it just does :) Honestly, I just love Bolivia; the food, the culture, the people, everything! Now that I've given you a little snapshot of my week and why Bolivia is so awesome, I will now give my thought for the week. This one comes from my personal study this past week. I am VERY close to finishing the Book of Mormon here and I am so excited, but I always find myself quite sad as I finish, not because I'm about to finish, but because of where the story goes. For those needing a little refresher, Jesus Christ visits the ancient people of ancient America and establishes His church among them, and a couple hundred years of peace and joy follow this experience. However, after only a couple hundred years, the people become very wicked all over again, and, eventually, all the righteous, with exception of Moroni, are killed by the wicked. This people literally saw Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, and descended into wickedness in only a matter of a couple hundred years. This is unbelievably sad, but there is an important pattern that we can pull from it and apply to our lives. It is said in these chapters that the first thing that began to lead them to their unrighteousness was their pride, which came from all of their many blessings that they had received. Pride is unbelievably powerful and I am here to tell you now to beware of pride, or glorifying yourself above your God. Remember, the people of Nephi saw Jesus Christ and they were able to fall away because of pride. How much easier would it be for us, those who have not been visited personally by Christ, to fall away if we are not strengthening ourselves daily in the church? This is what we teach as the theme of Perseverar Hasta el Fin, or Endure to the End. I counsel you all that if you are not DAILY strengthening yourself in scriptures and prayer, you should start today, so you can remember your God and keep from being lifted up in pride. This is the way to be truly happy and receive that which we all want: Eternal Life in happiness. You guys are the best! I hope that you all have amazing weeks and if you have any questions for me, feel free to send me an email and I promise to do my best to respond. Love you all and bid you farewell till next week. ¡Hasta luego!

Elder Wynn

The Will to Give

Hey all!

Another week has come and gone! How are you all doing? I hope that all is well and that you are all enjoying life! So, this past week, I have been with my new companion Elder Romero! Just going to say, it has been spectacular! Elder Romero is a very dedicated and hard working Elder and I am SO stoked to work with him. We were able to contact a lot of new investigators this week and hope that they begin to progress. Along with the new people we've contacted, we have had some great success with our progressing investigators, especially with Liz and Daniel. Liz is 15 and has been meeting with the missionaries for some time. She has wanted to be baptized for a long time, but her parents wouldn't give her permission. But, this past week, she got permission! If that holds up, she'll be baptized this Saturday and we're so excited!! Our other really strong investigator is Daniel, and though he has only been taught the first two lessons, he has a strong desire to be baptized, so if we can prepare him in time, he will be baptized a week after this Saturday! I love all of the investigators that we have, but these two are really special. Any prayers you could send for these two would be very much appreciated :) All in all, this past week was spent just going out to work, work, and then work some more! I'm basically always exhausted, but I'm very happy, so it's all good. A cool event happened this past Saturday for two investigators from the other Elders in my ward, Elder De La Hoz and Elder Fuentes. The names of the investigators were Jose and Rassiel and they were not married, but had two amazing children. Per rules of baptism, they had to be married before they could be baptized, so, this past Saturday, they did both! Saturday morning we had the wonderful opportunity to attend their wedding, and that same afternoon, we got to see them get baptized. They are absolutely amazing and I am just blown away by the two of them, and because of that, I would like to focus my weekly thought on them. Jose and Rassiel come from very poor circumstances. There were very hard times along the way to being baptized, first because of all the changes, but second because of the finances and legal aspects of being married. It was amazing to see their faith and their will to give all that was necessary to make it to the waters of baptism and start on the path towards a happy and Christ centered life. So, my question for you: What are you doing now to continue your eternal progression? What are you willing to give up to take the next step, wherever you are now? After all that you have done to this point, there is always a next step. Seek out what you must do next. Ask "What Lack I Yet?" and be willing to follow the response that you get. Like Jose and Rassiel, I know that you guys will not only progress spiritually, but you will also be blessed with an abundance of joy. All you need now is the will to give. So, start now! I just want to say that I love all of you guys and think that you are amazing! If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to respond. You guys are literally the best and I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for me. Love you all!

Elder Wynn

"And I Do This for a Wise Purpose"

Why hello everyone!

How was this past week? Normal? Crazy? Spectacular?! I hope so! Well, to start off talking about this week, let's just say that it was interesting. So, as I have said before, Elder Garcia has been struggling for some time here. This past Tuesday, so the day after P-day, we had a Zone Conference, which was spectacular, but after the conference, Elder Garcia had an interview with President Montoya. After the interview, he was recommended to go to the Psycologist. We went right away, the Psycologist is a member, which is really cool, and he got in right away. After a very anxious hour and a half wait, the news came: Elder Garcia needed to go home. I cannot say I was one hundred percent shocked at this news after being with him these past two weeks, but it was still unbelievable to actually receive the news. Afterwards, he spent the rest of the day making phone calls home to different people to give the news. The next morning, he wasn't quite right. He was very fidgety, he broke down into tears multiple times, and you could just tell that he was not doing well at all. So, on the way to another conference, this time with Elder Montoya of the Seventy, we dropped him off at the Hospital with another Elder. President Montoya assigned another Elder to accompany him there, so I went to the conference, but honestly didn't get much out of it. Afterwards, I got to spend the afternoon with him, but, because I'm new I'm assuming, I was placed on a split of indefinite time with the District Leader, Elder Romero, and this ended up lasting the rest of the week. So, my week has more or less been working with Elder Romero with an undecided future and with lots of worrying for my companion. He was released from the Hospital Saturday night, and he went home this morning. I'm just going to say it, this week was really hard. The work was great as always, but the stress for my companion and my undetermined future weighed hard all week. I love Elder Garcia. He was the best Papi (Trainer) I could ask for here. I am going to miss him immensely and I wish him the best at home. Any prayers you could send for him would be much appreciated :) Now, about my future here. As I said, this whole week has been me basically on an eternal split with Elder Romero until further notice. That further notice came last night. We received a call from President Montoya with the news that I will be changing areas to Avaroa, which is a different ward in Quillacollo, and my new companion (Father-in-Law) is Elder Romero, the district leader. Honestly, I am super pumped for this. Elder Romero is a very dedicated, hard-working missionary and I'm excited to keep going to work with him here in Avaroa! This news brought a TON of relief and put to rest much of my worrying and stress that I had been having throughout this week, and it is this stress and worrying that I would like to center my thought on this week. So, as I have said, this week has been crazy and stressful and just overall hard. So, to fight that, I did lots of scripture study and have been praying probably more fervently than ever before in my life. There were moments this week where I, rather unrighteously, had the thought of "Why is this happening to me?" Turning to the scriptures, I came upon a scripture in Words of Mormon. Chapter 1 (the only chapter) verse 7 states "And I do this for a wise purpose . . . And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." So, honestly, I do not know why these things had to happen this past week. However I know that they happened for a reason, either for me, Elder Garcia, or some unknown future purpose. Yes, lots of stress, lots of worry, and just lots of struggles, but something necessary came from this experience, and I can take my peace in that. Now, all of you, whatever struggles you may be going through, whatever trials may come your way, remember this: it is all in God's hands and is serving some "Wise Purpose." No, that purpose is not always easy to see, but I promise that it is there. Now, to close, I want to share another scripture I came across this week that brought me some great comfort on the topic of worrying. 3 Nephi 13:34 states,"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." So, I encourage you all, in whatever you may be going through right now, to look to God, know that there is a deeper purpose, and stop worrying. Just work through it, knowing that God is in control and it will all be good in the end. I promise you that it all will be. Well, I love all of you and think the world of you! If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I will do my best to respond! I hope you guys have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Power of Giving

Hey Everybody!!

How are you all doing? I hope you all had great weeks and that you're just loving life because things are pretty great here. Throughout this past week we have been working a lot with our progressing investigators, especially the ones with baptismal dates. First off, Stephanie was not able to get baptized, which was super sad, but we feel that she has the desire and just needs to build her testimony a little bit stronger. Any prayers that you could send for her would be awesome :) Something awesome that happened this past week was the opportunity to extend a baptismal invitation to a girl named Adela. She is awesome! Not only did she accept it, but she attended a baptismal service of other missionaries, AND attended church for the first time. She is responding well to all of this and the members have welcomed her with open arms so we hope that she continues to progress. We were not able to get in contact with the Luna Family this week, which was kind of a bummer, but we're hoping to get in contact with them and continue to teach them because they seem SUPER interested in the gospel and we would love to see them continue to progress. These were the highlights of the week investigators wise, but all in all, everything is going well with the work here and I am just trying to love every moment because all I have is two years :) Random sidenotes: Quiacollo, and all of Cochabamba, is so pretty. The city itself is just so beautiful and I just love it. Also, the sunsets are especially beautiful. Another sidenote: the food is spectacular! I haven't really come across much here that I don't like. Whether it's the fried Buñelas that are sold all over the place or the Silpancho that is very popular here, it pretty darn fantastic. Last sidenote: the people here are unbelievable, and they are who I want to focus my thought on this week. Quiacollo is an especially poor part of Cochabamba, but that does not stop these people from giving. One of the hardest things here is being invited into somebody's house, seeing that they really don't have a whole lot, and then watching them pull out food and a drink to serve you. It honestly breaks my heart to see the conditions that some of these people live in, but it does not stop them from giving. I think that we could all follow the example of these wonderful Bolivian people and give a little more. One of my favorite quotes from our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is,"He who gives money gives some, he who gives time gives more, he who gives himself gives all." While we may not have the ability to just give money to those around us, we can still give more and all according to Thomas S. Monson. Be generous with your time and look for opportunities to give of yourself to bless and strengthen others around you like these amazing Bolivian people that I love so much. Especially as the time for giving comes closer, look to give and I promise you will find opportunities that will not only bless you, but those around you as well. I think you guys are amazing and hope that all is going well. My advice, keep being yourselves and all will be well :) Love you all!

Elder Wynn

Always Working

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time wherever you may be! You guys are the best! So, this week, I have been doing my best to just keep working with every moment that we have. The work here is fantastic and I hope to just keep it up! We have about 10 progressing investigators right now and 5 with baptismal dates, so we're very excited and hoping for the best with all of them! If all goes well, my first baptism will be this Sunday!! Her name is Stephanie (technically Estefani, but I translated to English for you guys :) and I really hope that it works out! The hardest thing here is finding out the commitment level of the people. The people are super nice, but often aren't too interested in the message. But, I feel like we are finding people and I hope that we can, with time, find even more people willing to learn and act on our message. This week has been a little different than most because Elder Garcia has continued to struggle with back issues. With this, I have gone on a couple of Exchanges with Elder Romero (the district leader) so Elder Garcia can rest an recupperate. Hoping for the best with him and if you could continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers, that would be great :) Along with the work we've done this week, I also had the opportunity to give my first talk in church, and I feel that it went really great! My Spanish still isn't great, but I'm learning and always working on it. The thought I want to leave with you all today is the power of sincere prayer. In the above message I have talked a lot about more of the great and happy things that have happened this past week, but I'm going to be honest for a minute: this is hard, hard work. I love it, but it is really hard. It's hard to walk all day every day. It's hard to lack the communication skills to effectively communicate your message. And it's hard to watch somebody that you love reject your message, especially because you know how much this message can bless their lives. However, throughout this week, the power of sincere prayer has really been manifest to me. Through the hardships, through the frustrations and through everything else, I know that I have a Father in Heaven that is willing to listen to me and comfort me. I know this for myself and I know this for you. So, throughout this week, through any struggles you might be facing, I encourage you to "send a knee mail," because I know the power that it can have, especially through my experiences this week. I love all you guys and think that you are the best! If you have any questions for me here in Cochabamba, don't be afraid to ask! You're all amazing!

Elder Wynn

Getting into the Flow

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? Surviving the regular world? I hope you all are doing great and want to start off by telling you that I'm doing awesome! This past week has been just as crazy as the first, but, to my great surprise, it has flown by! Elder Garcia and I have been working hard this week and I feel that our work has paid off. We set our goals rather high this week and we achieved them! We were so happy! We have found several new investigators, but what I'm most excited about is a family of 10 that we have had the wonderful opportunity to start teaching! They are the Luna family and they seem to be enjoying the lessons and progressing well, which is such a great opportunity! The people here in Bolivia are AMAZING! They are so nice and even if they are not interested in our message they are super polite and loving. Along with teaching opportunities, I had the ability to go on two exchanges this week, one with a zone leader, Elder Fuentes, and one with the district leader, Elder Romero. They were both amazing and I really loved being able to go out and get a feeling of what different companions can be like. Besides that, it has mostly just been going to work and trying to spread this beautiful message that is the gospel, and though not everything is all sunshine and rainbows, the majority of everything here is just amazing and I love it. The message I want to share with you this week is about service. First off, my companion, Elder Garcia, has been experiencing some back and shoulder problems, so if you could keep him in your thoughts and prayers I would greatly appreciate it. With this, and just being in Bolivia, there have come some great opportunities to serve. Whether it be cooking dinner or doing laundry for my companion, or helping a ward member with a project in their home, or even just playing piano for church meetings, I have had so many wonderful opportunities to serve those around me, and this has been one of my favorite things here in the mission so far. I'm learning that using whatever abilities or talents that I might be blessed with is so enormously gratifying. So, I challenge all of you this week to go out and serve! Maybe for your family, a friend, a neighbor, etc. We all have been blessed with so many talents and abilities, so go out and use them to help someone in need! I want you to know that you're all amazing! I am the person I am today because all of you: My amazing village of people to support and help me. If you have any more questions on anything, feel free to send an email. I hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Elder Wynn

Cochabamba At Last!

Hey everybody!

How are all of you doing? Well, finally, after all this time, I have actually made it to my mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia! How crazy is that!? Well, I don't exactly know where to start after almost two weeks of craziness, but here goes! So, I finished up my time in the MTC and said goodbye to my amazing teachers (Shoutout to Hermana Parks, Hermano Cahoon, and Hermano Jake! You are all amazing!) before heading out Monday morning (a week ago) at 3:30 AM. Then, I flew to Phoenix (Arizona), then Miami (Florida) with a 6 hour layover there, then flew over night to La Paz (Bolivia), then Santa Cruz (Bolivia) where we went through customs, before waiting another 6 hours to fly here! Cochabamba at last! So, after getting to Cochabamba around 3 PMon Tuesday, we went to the Mission President's house to take care of some quick business, we got pictures taken for our Bolivian ID cards, and then headed to the house of the Assistants to the President (APs) to sleep. The next day we went to a local chapel before getting briefed on the mission rules and receiving our first companions! My trainer's name is Elder Garcia and he is from (get excited Dad) Argentina! He speaks WAY fast and I can barely understand what he says, but he is awesome and I have enjoyed my time with him thus far. After receiving my trainer we took a taxi to our area, got settled, and then headed right out to contact and start working. Basically, besides general conference, this has been a lot of what we've been doing, going out contacting, meeting members, eating crazy good food, and having a really good time. We have taught a couple lessons with investigators that already had a few lessons before I got here, and we've also had the awesome opportunity to extend a baptismal invitation! She said yes! All in all, I'm loving Bolivia and all of its craziness, my companion is great, Conference was amazing, and life is good! If you have any questions about anything that I'm doing here, don't be afraid to send an email and I'll do my best to respond as soon as I can. The message that I want to share with you all this week is about patience. Here in Bolivia, I honestly know nothing. Zilch. Nada. I can barely communicate in Spanish, the culture is crazy different, and I can't understand much of what others say. Yes, this is incredibly frustrating, but it is coming, MUCH slower than I would like, but it is coming. I want to counsel all of you in whatever you're doing to have patience, especially with yourself. Whatever you are striving for will come, maybe not the way you would like, or at the speed you anticipated, but it will come if you keep working at it. I promise. Like a lot of the General authorities said in conference, especially President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland, it is not worth it to beat up on yourself. Have patience with yourself, keep working, and I promise it will come. I just want to let all of you know that I'm sending you my love from South America! You are all amazing examples to me in my life and I hope that all is going well with you. Until next week, I say farewell. Wish me luck!

Elder Wynn

Photos from Hermana Parks

I am alive!

Hola familia!

Well, I am here in Cochabamba and am alive! Five flights and 36 hours, so it took some time, but I love it here and am doing well. The city is not at all what I imagined, but I think it is absolutely spectacular! Hope you guys are doing well!

Love you!

Elder Wynn

The Home (Bolivia) Stretch!

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! How's the world? From the reports of it, because we only hear about the large natural disasters, the world is ending, but I REALLY hope that's not the case. My week here has been great! We honestly haven't done a whole lot differently here, just the same classes and teachers, but it has been awesome :) For all of you that know a little bit of Spanish, we started leaning the Subjunctive tense last week and it is legitimately destroying me. No creo que sea importante... pero esta bien. We had our two devotionals this week and they, as always, were spectacular! President and Sister Livingstone came from the Provo Temple Presidency and, last night, Elder Quentin L. Cook and his wife came! Two amazing devotionals and I can't believe we had another apostle here! Okay, now to the crazy stuff: I leave in less than a week! My time is almost up here and I can't wait to go! I'm in the home stretch! (Not really the home stretch... but you get what I mean. The Bolivia Stretch I guess :) With my MTC time winding up, along with tremendous excitement, I've also been feeling a little bit of anxiousness and stress, and with that I would like to share a small thought with all of you. I was studying (because we legitimately have anywhere from 6-9 hours a day of studying) and I was in a little bit of a panicked mood because the Subjunctive tense was making me scared about Spanish and I just felt I wasn't progressing fast enough and that I wasn't going to be ready to serve only having a little over a week left, but I came upon some verses in the book of Moses that really turned that around for me. I won't type it all out, because I do not have the time, but it's Moses 6:31-34 and Moses 7:13. Basically, Enoch has been called of God to preach to the people, but Enoch feels unbelievably inadequate and expresses this to God. I love the response in verses 32-34 and they have brought me all the peace I've needed while here. The Lord tells him to have Faith, take courage, and trust that because the Lord is with him that all will be well. In Moses 7:13, we see Enoch speaking with power, "and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command." To me, this brings power, knowing that if I trust in God and move forward in him that I can and will have his strength with me. And I make to all of you the same promise. I don't know all the struggles or trials that all of you are having in your life, but I promise that if you rely on the Lord, pushing forward with Faith in Him, you will have the strength to do what you need to do. I love all of you and hope that you all have wonderful weeks! I want you all to know that I'm having a BLAST here and that I have the most amazing district in the world! I could not have made it through without them :) The next time I email you it'll be from Bolivia and I don't know when my P-day is, so it will be longer than a week, but I want you all to know that I can't wait to go out and I can't wait to serve. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me! You're all amazing! Thank you for all that you have done for me!

Elder Wynn

Just Keep on Swimming!

Hey Everyone!

How are you doing? How have your weeks been? I hope you guys are all doing well and enjoying the things you are doing because I am having an absolute BLAST here at the MTC. I had the crazy realization yesterday that after this email I only have one more before I'll be in Bolivia! How crazy is that?! My experience here somehow feels like four eternities stacked on top of each other but also like a blink of an eye. I don't know how to explain it, but that's how it feels, sooooo... yeah :) This week had the exact same schedule and much of it I found myself reminding myself of the title of this email: Just Keep Swimming! I'm learning Spanish slowly but surely as well as being taught lessons and teaching lessons. It's slightly overwhelming, but, again, just keep swimming! We had two amazing devotionals this week by Chad Lewis (BYU/NFL football player) and Patrick Kearon (of the Presidency of the Seventy). They were both super entertaining along with having great messages and I loved them so much! The message I want to share with you guys was touched upon by both speakers and it has to do with trials. It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, or where you're from, you're going to have trials and hard times in your life. The amazing thing is that we have the ability to choose how we react. We can either become angry, hateful, and depressed, cursing the world for all of our hardships, or we can look to the future with optimism, dig in our heals and push on. One of the amazing things that we know in the Gospel is that trials are meant for our good and will never be greater than we have the ability to handle. One of my favorite analogies for this was shared by the amazing choir director here Brother Egget about silver. Silver is a curious metal in that in order to purify it must be heated, but not overheated or it will harm the metal. The good purifier knows just how much to heat the metal to make it the purest possible without burning or damaging the metal. Similarly, we have a Father in Heaven that allows trials to come upon us not to burn us or damage us, but to make us more pure and allow us to truly shine. I challenge all of you this week to push through whatever trials you may face, whether in work, home, or school, and push through them with a positive attitude, knowing that you are gaining the strength today that you need for tomorrow. Here at the MTC, I have had my fair share of problems, but I'm learning, I'm progressing, and I'm trying to do my best. None of us will ever be perfect, but all we can do is our best. I love you all and hope that you are all doing well! If you have any questions or if I can do anything for you, don't hesitate to email me! You guys are amazing and I wish you the best in all you do!

Elder Wynn

Pluggin' Along

Hi all!

Another week has come and gone and I just don't know how to feel. On the first hand, I'm half way through the MTC! I've been so excited to get out into the field and enjoy the experiences there, so being this close makes me so excited! On the flipside, I don't have much more time to prepare! I can't wait to get out, but it's also super daunting. We'll see if I can figure things out in my final three weeks. Well, this week has been just about like all the others: Same schedule and same people, but super fun and exciting all at the same time. My district is honestly some of the most amazing people I've had the opportunity to spend time with, so every second with them is an absolute party! Whether it's the long talks and jokes during meals, or the super spiritual devotionals, or the awesome exercise times, I love being around them and enjoying their company. I've talked a little bit about the devotionals before, but I just need to reinforce how amazing they are. Sunday we had one of the MTC Presidency members speak, and I was a little disappointed at first that we didn't have a general authority coming in, but it was amazing and I loved it. Last night was something really special though. During the MTC choir rehearsal we were told that the devotional was being broadcast to all the MTCs around the world. Then we showed up for the devotional, and they refused to tell us who it was. Finally, right before the devotional started, they announced that Elder Dallin H. Oaks was speaking to us! We got to have an apostle come talk to us and he and his wife both gave spectacular talks. Both Elder Oaks and the MTC Presidency member spoke along the same lines and I would like to leave it as my thought today. They talked about becoming consecrated missionaries and that we shouldn't just obey the rules to obey the rules, but obey them for the purpose that they serve in our lives. I don't know how many of you have served missions or plan on serving missions, but the amount of rules we follow is crazy! It would be so easy to follow them just to check another thing off the list, but if we follow them because we are serving our Lord, knowing that we will become better people in the process, then we will not only follow the rules, but change into a better version of ourselves. This doesn't just apply to missionaries, so I'm challenging all of you to find something in your lives, whether in the church or out, that you do grudgingly. Once you find that thing, I want you to do it, whatever it is, but don't think of it as something you just have to do, think of it as something that will either bless your life or the lives of those around you. Love you all so much and hope that you all have wonderful weeks! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to email me and I'll do my best to respond :)

Elder Wynn