Finding the Firm Foundation

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? Can you believe that March is already coming to a close?? I can't! Life has continued to fly by here in Tupiza and I am just trying to love every moment of it. I decided I'd describe Tupiza a little bit so you guys can paint a little bit of a mental picture. Imagine a small city surrounded by red-rock mountains that look like they could be from St George. Then, imagine walking down every dirt road and seeing vegetables of every variety being sold on both sides. Then, you see one of the really cool Motorcycle Taxis (called Toritos) driving down the road in your direction, bouncing up and down in every bump of the uneven roads. You feel the sun BLAZING down while in the light, but one step in the shade and you are hit with the refreshing chill of being at a really high elevation. You feel the sun and dirt, take a deep breath, smile, and get to work. That is Tupiza and I LOVE it! We are still mostly tracting and have very few investigators, but we are working, laughing, and enjoying this great opportunity that we have to be here in Tupiza. This week has been very similar to last week, and not much has changed, but just know that it was great and I continue to love working here. This week, I would love to share a thought about Testimonies. This week, we had the very sad experience of seeing a woman fall away from the church after less than a year as a member. She came in and was fellowshipped very strongly by the missionaries that baptized her and helped her along. However, with time, and with the changing of missionaries, her fire has begun to fade. We have realized that her testimony was less built upon Christ and his church, and more built upon the amazing missionaries that helped her and visited her. It has been devastating for us to see her testimony fade to the point that she doesn't believe anymore. Because of this, I want to issue a word of warning to all of you. Our foundation in the Church is completely critical. Maybe we are built upon our parents, our friends, and our leaders, but, as sad as it is, they will not always be there in every moment of every day. As my favorite scripture states (Helaman 5:12), we must build our foundation on Christ, nothing more, nothing less, and that will be our firm and undying foundation that will get us through any hard time that will come our way. My challenge to all of you is to look for where your foundation lies and see if it is truly and 100% on Christ. If it is, keep it there, dig in, and keep up the fight. If it is not, it does not matter if it is a good thing or a bad thing, a change is necessary. The only constant in this life is the true and undying love that Christ has for everyone of us. Now, for us, it is our responsibility to try and help this wonderful woman find the fire of her testimony once again so she can return and feel of the wonderful blessings of being in the true Church of Christ. Now, for all of you, it is time to look where your foundations lie and ensure that we are founded on Christ, the only foundation that really and truly will never fail us. I testify that Christ is our Savior and will truly help us through all of our struggles that we may have, as long as we build our faith on Him. I love all you guys and hope that everything is going well in your lives. I am SUPER excited for General Conference this coming week and hope that all of you are as well :) It's going to be amazing! As always, if you have any questions for me, don't be afraid to ask! I love you all and hope that you have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Crazy Tupiza Missionaries on Branch talent night ;)

The cross on the mountain of Tupiza

Elder Ordoñez and I at the top of Cross Mountain

Love you!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Commemorating Grandma with a milkshake and a Pepsi :) 

Love,

Elder Wynn

The Use of Time

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing?! How has the week gone?? Well, it's official: I'm in Tupiza! After a Tuesday of traveling the whole day, I'm here! I took an airplane to Sucre, a taxi to Potosí, and then a bus to Tupiza, finally arriving around 10 PM. It was a LONG day, but I'm not complaining because Tupiza is amazing! There was a companionship of Hermanas here right before us, so there are a couple of investigators, but we are still basically building from the ground up. One of the investigators has a baptismal date for this following Saturday, so we look forward to meeting with him and seeing what happens! Other than that, we have been doing a LOT of knocking doors. Every day has basically been wake up, prepare, study, eat, knock doors for 3 hours, eat lunch, knock doors for 5 more hours, and then (maybe) a Family Home Evening with a family here in the America Branch. It's been a LOT! However, it is also amazingly satisfying knowing that we are using every minute that we have in search of the children of God that are ready for this message, and this is what I want to focus my thought on today. Opening this area and seeing that we are not familiar with the area, have zero appointments, and are basically left on our own, I have realized how easy it could be to be a disobedient missionary. It would be SO easy to sleep in, work the minimum, and say that our lack of success is due to the fact that we're opening an area. However, that doesn't help us at all, and, more importantly, that doesn't help the work of God at all either. Luckily, I have Elder Ordoñez at my side, someone upbeat and willing to work in every moment. I feel like we truly have worked with every moment that we have had and look forward to continuing to do so. Now, for all of you: We all have a certain amount of time every day. How do we use that time? Are we trying to do all that we need to do? Are we all focusing ourselves on what matters most? I ask these questions only to get you all thinking a little bit and am not at all saying that I am perfect at this; saying that I feel good about our work doesn't mean that I feel there is no room to improve. I invite you all to try to use your time a little bit better this week. Visit your family, your Grandparents, your loved ones and make the time to make lasting memories because time can often be so short. Well, I hope you all have wonderful weeks and I hope that everything goes well! If you have any questions about what I'm doing here or any questions about my new area, don't be afraid to ask! I love you all and look forward to writing you next week!

Elder Wynn

Saying goodbye to Elder Albarán in the airport :(

Me in a cholita hat :))))

The America Branch! Left to right: Elder Balta (from Peru), Elder Ordoñez (my companion, from Ecuador), and Elder Perry (my district leader from Canada)

I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Leaving Your Mark

Hey everybody!

How are you doing? I hope you have all had amazing weeks and that life is just going splendidly :) Well, as for me, I am writing today a little bit early because I have a few important things to do tonight, but more on that later ;) This week has been really good! With transfers looming over, I did my best to not be affected, and I feel really good about our results from this week. I would love to focus on Martha Choque, the Rojas Family, and the Limón Family. With Martha, she was able to come to church once again yesterday and continues to progress. We plan on extending a baptismal date this following week, as the only struggle we've had is that she cannot read or write. We LOVE Martha and look forward to see how things continue to go with her. With the Rojas Family, they continue to listen to us and are really close friends to me personally. They may have been more anxious about transfers than anyone else, and in anticipation, they gifted me a small aguayo blanket (Aguayo is a classic Bolivian fabric that is EVERYWHERE here). They are amazing and I just wanted to give them a shoutout because I love them :) Finally, the Limón Family. The mom of this family has been traveling and working for QUITE some time, but we were finally able to catch all of them together again. She is already traveling again, but it was amazing to see them all together after quite some time. They still look forward to being baptized in the following weeks, but we will have to wait a little bit to see when we can catch them all together again. I LOVE this family as well and love seeing them progress. Okay, now that I've given a brief highlight reel, let's get to what my mom is REALLY waiting for: Transfers. Well, all I can say is "Bye bye, Avaroa." Last night, we received our transfers REALLY late (past 10 PM) and I received the news that I have spent my last week in Avaroa. Before I say where I'm going, I would love to focus my thought on this transfer. Well, for those of you who are counting, I have been in Avaroa for about four and a half months, and I have enjoyed it so, so much. I am honestly quite devastated to be leaving this area and all of the amazing people that I have met during this time, but I do my best to have hope in this: the hope that I have left my mark. Through all the work, all the sweat, frustration, and tears, I look back at my time and feel confident that I have left my mark on Avaroa. I feel that in these months that I have truly given it my all and done some good here, and that is what truly matters. One of my favorite scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants (blanking on the reference) states: "If you so desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation." I have desired, and now, I leave sad, but without regrets, feeling that I have done the good that I was meant to do. Now, for all of you, I challenge you, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to do your very best to leave your mark. Make your little part of the world better for your being there. You can make a difference, I am 100% positive. I haven't made a big change here, but I know that I have made a change, and that is what brings joy to my soul :) Well, now the news: I am leaving Cochabamba. The main part of the mission is now history and I am going *drum roll* to Tupiza. There are more than 160 missionaries in my mission, and in the city of Tupiza, there are 8, and it is FAR separated from all other areas in my mission. Overall, I am so excited! I cannot wait to get there. However, this is not all: I will also be opening my area there, starting from scratch. This will be an amazing challenge and I am SO looking forward to it :) My companion is yet another Elder from Ecuador, named Elder Ordoñez, and entered the mission 6 weeks after me. Two newbies opening an area SUPER far away? Heck yeah! Well, I will have MANY more updates for you all next week, but for now, I go to get to work :) I love you all and I hope that you have amazing weeks!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Zone Conference with the Missionaries from Quillacollo

Needed a picture with Liz before leaving :)

Saying goodbye to the Rojas Family :(

Love you so much Mom!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Death Has No Sting, the Grave No Victory

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? Can you believe it's already MARCH?! I hope that this past week has treated all of you well! As for Elder Albarán and me here in Avaroa, it's been a solidly normal week. Avaroa continues to be the best area in the mission ;) Well, with regards to investigators, I would love to focus on Liz, Martha Choque, and the Rojas Family. I am just constantly blown away by Liz. This past week, I had the opportunity to help her with her homework a couple times (#IMissPhysics!!), which was super fun, and every time we meet with her I am just more and more amazed. She always goes to Seminary in the morning, she is memorizing her doctrinal mastery, and she bore her testimony in chuch yesterday. She is amazing, and though I may not get to see her be baptized, I know that she is on the right path :) With Martha Choque, she was able to come to church again yesterday! She is amazing as well, and though she cannot read or write, she is such a pleasure to work with. She doesn't currently have a baptismal date, but we are hoping to extend the invitation this week because she is just such an amazing woman :) With the Rojas Family, which is a family of four that we've taught for some time, we had an amazing lesson with them this week about the Plan of Salvation and answered several questions. We were able to bear testimony to finish with a really powerful Spirit and it was unbelievable. We were able to extend a baptismal invitation and look forward to March 31st! :) We have a couple other investigators at the moment, but these are the ones that are really progressing and continuing strong at the moment :) Well, as I started with, this was a normal week, so I really don't have much to say more than it was great and I am still 100% in love with Bolivia :) I'm even learning to love Spanish! It is an amazing language and I would love to share a thought that I had about Spanish this week that I thought was cool :) In English, we use the verb "to be" to describe just about everything, temporary or permanent. However, in Spanish, there are two verbs, "Ser" and "Estar." Ser for permanent conditions, like personality (El es feliz=He a happy person), and Estar for changeable conditions, like emotions (El está feliz=He is happy). Well, the other day, I was doing some Spanish study when I realized something cool. When you use the word "Dead" in Spanish (Muerto), you do not use Ser, you use Estar. "El está muerto" As I thought about this a little bit more, I realized that even the Spanish language testifies of a very beautiful truth: Death is not permanent. No matter how devastating, no matter how sad death may seem, it is NEVER permanent. We know that death is NOT the end. We know that we will see our loved ones again. All of this we know because of Jesus Christ. In and through HIm, death has no sting and the grave has no victory (see 1 Corithians 15:54-55). We can take joy in this knowledge and we can remember it through any seemingly devastating losses that may come our way. I testify of the truth of this, and the Spanish language is my second witness ;) I hope that you all will remember this through anything that may come your way. As you do so, I promise that the peace that you seek will be easily found in the arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ. If you want another cool resource for this, I invite you to watch my favorite Mormon Message, entitled "Because of Him." Well, I just want to tell you all that I love you and I thank you for supporting me through this amazing adventure in Bolivia. I will have my transfers for you next week, so we'll see what happens! I hope you all have an amazing week, and as always, if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! You are all amazing!

Elder Wynn

Me with Hermano Denis doing barbecue from last week!

Martha Choque and I :)

Real time selfie from the internet café in my alpaca wool sweater/jacket

Love you so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn