Our Personal Conversion

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? I honestly cannot believe that July is coming to a close, but I hope that this past month has brought you lots of joy and that the next brings you even more! As for me, I have been very happy here :) I have to say that the baptism of Jose did not happen this past week, but he has accepted another baptismal date and we look forward to keep working with him. Investigators wise, I would like to focus on Janet, Evelyn, and Jimena. Janet is the mom of Diego, the kid that got baptized a couple weeks ago, and we have visited her for some time. A couple weeks ago, she accepted a baptismal date and we have been working hard with her to help her feel ready. This past week, we set goals about prayers, scripture reading, and church attendance to help her reach her goal feeling ready and we are very excited to see how everything goes there! Evelyn continues progressing amazingly fast. She has come to church by herself for more than 3 weeks in a row now and continues reading in the Book of Mormon. She is amazing and we look forward to continuing working with her :) Jimena is an amazing new investigator that we met with for the first time this past week. She is a reference from Evelyn, who is our cousin, and we cannot believe how unbelievably prepared she is. Everyone in her family is from a different religion and she finally decided to look for her own when Evelyn invited her to one of our church activities. She has accepted a Book of Mormon and shocked us by saying that it's a small book and she'll read the whole thing in the next month. We look forward to working with her and can't wait to see how everything turns out :)

Well, now that I've talked about a couple of the people that we are teaching, I would love to give a small thought. As you may remember, I have been assigned as a district leader here and give a class every Tuesday to all the missionaries in the district. One of the coolest things that I get to do with that is choose a district focus for the transfer, and I realized that I hadn't shared that with you, so here goes!

One thing that I've realized as a missionary is that we focus a lot on the conversion of the investigators. I can't say that this is a bad thing, but sometimes I feel that we forget about the personal conversion of the missionaries. After all, it is a commonly accepted quote that you cannot convert anyone more than your own conversion. So, this transfer we are focussing on the steps of our own personal conversion so that we can help others receive theirs. The scripture that I have found to pair with that is found in the Bible, 1 Timothy 4:10-16. I love it because it talks about that we must be an "example of the believers" (verse 12) and that we must focus on the doctrine and ourselves so that we can save ourselves and those that hear us (verse 16). This may seem like just a missionary thing, but it truly applies to all of you as well. Every day, we have the opportunity to share our personal testimony (or statement of belief) with at least one person, but if we are not personally prepared, we may not have the spiritual power that we must have to reach the hearts of others. So, as a challenge to you all, I invite you to study the scriptures about personal conversion, focussing on stories of amazing people (Such as Alma, Alma the younger, and Paul) so that you can find ways to strengthen yourselves in the gospel. As you do so, I invite you to make it a goal to share your testimony at least once a day and see your strength in this beautiful gospel grow, and grow. I promise you that you will feel the Spirit in more abundance and that you will feel your faith and testimony grow bigger than you ever would have imagined. That is a promise that I give you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, I sure do love all of you! Thank you so much for all of your support that you always send my way! I hope that you all have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Around 50 years ago, Spencer W. Kimball came to Bolivia to dedicate the country for missionary work. He came to the church builiding in Quiriza and hiked a small mountain nearby before holding the dedication service there. As a zone activity today, we all went to Quiriza to hike that mountain and see the altar that was placed to commemorate that action. Here's the altar.

It's a missionary tradition to spell your name in the rocks on top of that mountain, so my name is now up there with the rest

The view from the top of the mountain

I hope that you enjoy the pics! I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Search, Ponder, and THEN Ask

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? I hope that you guys are enjoying your July and looking forward to all that is to come :) As for me, I'm just enjoying the Tupiza life :) This past week has been a week of looking for new investigators. Today was the last week of Bolivia's winter break from school, so lots of our investigators left to Potosí and other places. However, that gave us some good time to look for new investigators, and I am happy to say that we found a couple people we have hope with. We look forward to appointments this following week and I will be sure to keep you all updated :) To talk about a couple people now, I would like to focus on Diego and Jose. As you may remember, Diego was baptized this past week. I just want to mention that he is looking forward to receiving the priesthood this following Sunday and passing the Sacrament. I am really excited as well :) With Jose, you may remember him from a WHILE ago. He has been in Potosí for the past 3 weeks for the break, but has been attending church every Sunday there with his sister, Febe. He has his baptism scheduled for this following Saturday and we really look forward to that :) If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to ask for your prayers for Jose so that he can take this amazing step :) Well, now that I've updated you all on a couple amazing people, I'd like to share a small thought from my personal study this week.

I am currently still working on finishing the Book of Mormon in Spanish and recently arrived to the book of Ether. There are amazing things that happen here with Jared and his brother, and I want to invite you all to read the book of Ether if you never have before. Here we find Jared and his brother travelling from their homeland to the Americas and have recently arrived to the sea. They have received revelation from God and build ships according to His instructions. They find some problems though. These ships are COMPLETELY sealed. Which means no air, no stearing, and no light. The brother of Jared goes and asks God about these apparent problems and receives two quick answers about the first two problems, but something very interesting happens with the third. Forgive my imperfect translation from Spanish, but God asks the brother of Jared: What do you desire that I do (Ether 2:25). I find this fascinating. I don't believe that God is out of ideas and is relying on mankind to find the solution that He can't. Here, He is testing the brother of Jared and allowing him to use his faith and search out an answer for himself. Read the story for yourself to see what happens next because I want to apply this to all of you now :) Many times, we have faith in God and desire something, so we simply ask for it. However, it is often not that simple. Many times, we personally must make the effort to search, ponder, and THEN ask for what we need. According to D and C 9:7-8, we must first study it out in our minds and THEN ask. Now, I invite all of you that are looking for answers, and seem to not be receiving those answers, to make a stronger effort. God will not always do everything for us, in the same way that our own parents cannot do everything for us, so that we learn and grow. I promise you that if you personally look for a response, ponder about your findings, and THEN ask God that you will receive the answer that you seek, that is a promise :)

Well, I love all of you guys and hope that you have an amazing week! Thank you for your support and I hope that you guys know that I'll be keeping up my work here in Tupiza as long as God permits me to be here :) Talk to you next week!

Elder Wynn

Diego with the tie I gave him :)

My favorite Bolivian dish: Picante de Pollo, with extra chuño!

Luis, one of my favorite young men here :)

¡Provecho! I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? Did you have a good week?? I hope that this last week went well and that this next week is even better! As for me, this week has been one of my favorites thus far in the mission. First off, the investigators :) Let's go with Diego, Marcela, and Alex. As you may recall from last week, I said that Marcela and Diego had baptismal dates this past Wednesday and Saturday. I am pleaded to report that both of these amazing children of God entered the baptismal waters this past week :) I had the amazing opportunity of being a witness at Marcela's baptism and the great blessing of entering the water with Diego to perform his baptism. Seeing their smiling faces as they left the water made every minute of work or stress with them 100 percent worth it. Continuing with their progression, Marcela received her temple recommend and made the 18 hour bus ride to Cochabamba with the branch to visit the temple and Diego is now looking forward to receiving the Aaronic Priesthood and passing the sacrament. I love these two people and look forward to continuing working with them :) As for Alex, he is a new investigator from this past week. We taught him the first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. I loved seeing his face as we explained a little about this amazing book of scripture. We look forward to continuing working with him and his family this following week :)

Now, let's talk about transfers. If you're keeping track, I've been here in Tupiza for three transfers, two of which with Elder Vergara. Here in my mission, it is a trend to have one, MAYBE two transfers with every companion, but never three. Going into Sunday night, I was POSITIVE that I would be leaving, as sad as that made me feel. Little did I know, but the trend was about to break. I am staying here in the America Branch of Tupiza with Elder Vergara for another transfer! I'm so excited! I REALLY look forward to this next transfer and hope for the best with everything that comes our way! Thinking of this, which, at least to me, is a miracle, I would like to present my weekly thought :)

As I have explained, it seemed impossible for me to stay, legitimately impossible, but it happened. This helps me realize an eternal truth about God. There are many things that confront us in our lives that we see and think,"That's impossible!" Maybe it's getting into our dream college, getting the job we feel slightly under-qualified for, or receiving the answer to our prayers that we are searching for. In all of these circumstances, we may think that it is impossible for things to turn out the way we want them to. I thought that about these transfers, but I realized a couple amazing things.

1. God answers prayers. I cannot tell you how many times I prayed to stay, even though it seemed so improbable. The fact that I get six more weeks here tells me that God truly listens to and answers prayers.

2. God can do ANYTHING according to His will. Whether it is my transfer, your dream college/job, or the answer that you seek, God has the ability to make anything happen. This is a promise from me to all of you :)

God answers prayers. God really and truly can do anything. All that I invite you to do is try Him. Ask for His help. Trust in Him. He truly loves you and wants what is best for you, so go and test Him :)

Well, I love all of you and I thank you for all the support that you all send me! You truly are all amazing and I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Wynn

Diego's Baptism :)

Marcela's Baptism :)

Our winning team at the District Tournament :)

I hope that you enjoy the photos! I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Hey everyone!

It's July 9th! How crazy is that?? Well, I hope that all of you had an amazing week and that this next week is even better than the last :) This past week has been a great one for me, but before I talk about my week, I want to give a HUGE shoutout to my big brother Keaton who got married this past Friday! Keaton and Tiana, I love you both so much and wish you the best in all that you do! :) Well, now that I've let myself be slightly trunky for a second, I'll talk about my week ;) Investigators wise, I would like to talk about Evelyn, Diego, and Marcela. Evelyn is an investigator that we have had for a while, but until recently, she wasn't showing much interest in progressing. However, in these past couple weeks, she has made some really important steps. She is in chapter 6 of 1 Nephi and accepted a baptismal invitation for the beginning of August. On top of that, she came to Church for the first time yesterday and even brought two of her cousins with her. She is doing amazing things and we are really happy with the progress that she is choosing to make :) With Diego, some of you may remember him, we are very happy. We have been working with Diego here since I was with Elder Ordoñez and I am happy to say that he has his baptism planned for this following Saturday. Diego is the Branch President's grandson and we have always been impressed with his knowledge of the Church. We can never truly say we have a baptism until it happens, but we are truly happy with Diego and look forward to this special week with him :) Finally Marcela :) Just like with Diego, I am happy to say that she has her baptism planned for this following week. She wants to be baptized on her mother's birthday, so the plan is for this Wednesday, and we couldn't be more excited for her :) Well, if it's not too much to ask, I would love to ask for your prayers this week for these three investigators. They are amazing and could use all of the support that they can get :) Thank you so much and I love all of you guys :)

Well, this week for a thought, I would like to steal something from my mission president who had a conference in my branch yesterday. He talked about Matthew 5 and the things that Jesus taught to the multitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. He talked of the Pharisees (I think I spelled that right... there's no spell check here and the scriptures I have are in Spanish... ;) and their strictness to a group of rules. They treated the rules that Moses had given them as rules, nothing more. It didn't matter if they were jerks to other people, the rule only said you couldn't kill them. They lived according to the rules very well, but they didn't truly understand the purpose behind the rules. Jesus explains very well in Matthew 5 that we need not only restrain ourselves from killing others, but also not to hate anyone. He explains that we should never seek revenge, but that if somebody does us wrong, that we forgive them. The rules that the Pharisees were living were very, very good, but their purpose was a little bit deeper. These rules were supposed to work for their perfection, making them more and more like their Heavenly Father, but the way that they were living the rules made them hard, mean, and very un-Christlike, which is the opposite of their intention. So, my invitation for you is to think of the way that you are living the rules of the gospel. Are you living them to become a better, more loving, Christlike person, or are you living them to feel better than others? Why do you do the things you do? Think about these questions and strive for improvement, because that is truly all that we can do. Jesus invited us to be PERFECT, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect, but that is not an overnight process. Think of these things and do your best so that you can one day be the truly amazing Saints that Jesus has invited you to be. It will never be easy, but it has always been possible :)

Well, I love you guys so much and I hope that you all have amazing weeks! This next Sunday is transfers and you will know the next time I write you if I am staying in Tupiza or going somewhere else. I have loved my time here and hope it doesn't come to an end, but if it does, I hope to follow a favorite quote of my mother: Come what may and love it! I promise to do that and keep working here! Love you all!

Elder Wynn

We celebrated my companion's birthday this past week so I thought that you all would enjoy a little insight into how that went down! Here's his cake, my companion after the smash, and then us two together after the smash. I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Thank You :)

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? I hope that all of your weeks have been amazing because mine sure has! I don't have too much time left, but know that I went back to Quiriza (getting to play the old piano again :) and had an amazing time :) I also got to work a lot with investigators and I am very happy with the amazing progress that they are all making :) I would like to mention Marcela again because she once again came to church and is looking forward to her July 14th baptismal date :) I love working with her :)

For a quick thought to share with you guys, I wanted to talk a little about my birthday that happened this past week. I had the wonderful opportunity to complete 19 years on this wonderful planet this past Thursday and it was such a treat. I got to celebrate with a cake, api (a sweet purple drink made from corn, I believe) and bunuelos (a piece of delicious fried dough) in the house of members with all the missionaries from my branch. It was such a treat :) Then, I got a birthday package from home, showing tons of love and support from my family and many of my friends. Then, today, I got on my email and found more than 40 emails from you guys wishing me a happy birthday. As I look at all of this love and support that I have felt in this time, I cannot feel anything more than grateful for all that you all have done for me. Thank you for your love and support because I truly would not be the man that I am without each and every one of you. You are all so amazing and I just want you to know how much I love an appreciate you :) Please keep sending that love to me and all the missionaries of the world so that we can keep up this wonderful work :) I love you guys so much :)

Well, not much of a thought, but one last time: THANK YOU! I hope that you all have amazing weeks and I will send out another message next week! Love you all!

Elder Wynn

My starry pillow, 

getting my face smashed in a cake, 

the cake and Hermana Rosa before the smash. 

I love you so, so much!