Not Your Will, But His Will

Hey everyone!

How are you?? Did you all get STUFFED on Thanksgiving?? I hope so! I hope that you keep enjoying this holiday season and that the holiday spirit can fill you with joy and light! As for me here in Sucre, things went great :) First off: I received my new companion! As I believe I mentioned already, his name is Elder Behotas and is from Argentina (Mar del Plata). He is an AMAZING missionary and I am already loving my time with him :) Second off: Missionary work is amazing! This past week went great and I would love to talk about a couple of our amazing investigators! This week, I would love to mention Kevin and Maigualida. Kevin is an amazing young adult that we have loved teaching. He has shared many things about his past life and has a deep desire to change. On Saturday, we had the great opportunity to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He accepted the message with joy and thanked us about a million times. He is amazing and we look forward to seeing how he decides to progress :) Now, Maigualida :) Maigualida is an amazing teenager (about 18 years old) that we met this past week. We contacted her during the week and then taught her for the first time yesterday and it was an amazing experience. We taught the Restoration and she had amazing questions. Why are there so many different churches? This was her first question. We taught the lesson and she understood very well. How can I know that this is all true? This was her last question. We gave her a Book of Mormon and explained that if she studied, pondered, and prayed that she would receive an answer. She took it as a challenge and told us that she would read that very day. We're excited to continue visiting her :)

These are a couple amazing people that we are visiting. If it's not too much to ask, I would love to ask for your prayers for them. That would mean the world to us :)

Now, I want to share a quick thought :) Yesterday, when we did our planning, we found something amazing! We had a full day of appointments! That never happens! After church, we excitedly got to work and hit a hard wall of people not being home. That was HARD! However, with my amazing companion at my side, we dove into our backup plans and began looking for a reference that we had received. We walked up to a tienda (a small store that is found inside the house of someone) and asked for directions. Being focussed on finding this person, we almost missed an awesome opportunity, but God had other plans. As we thanked the woman in the tienda and almost turned to walk away, the woman (about 70 years old) asked us,"You two are missionaries, right?" We began a conversation. That conversation turned into her inviting us in to talk. She invited her whole family to come and we ended up teaching an amazing family. I learned a lot yesterday. Sometimes, we have our own plans for how we think things should go. Sometimes we think that our plans are AMAZING!! And although that confidence is great, we must remember that God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us. Don't be discouraged if things don't go your way! That means that God is telling you that He has something else planned! Do all that you can and I promise that the blessings will come as we accept God's will and keep moving forward :)

Well, I hope that you all know that I love you! You are amazing! I hope that you have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Photos:

At the Cochabamba Temple with Elder Martinez :)

The same, but with Elder Nelson :)

Saying Goodbye to Elder Martinez in the Airport <3

Challenge

Hey everyone!

I am WAY short on time this week due to transfers, but I wanted to give you guys a quick update and a small challenge.

First off: Jhyssel got baptized on Saturday! She's AMAZING!! Everything went great with the baptism and I will be sure to send pictures next week :)

Second off: Transfers. To my great sadness, my compi, Elder Martinez, was sent back to Cochabamba today in the afternoon as his transfer. He is an amazing missionary and I loved the opportunity to work with him :) My new companion is Elder Behotas from Argentina! He's from the same city as Elder Garcia (my trainer) and I'm super excited to start working with him tomorrow!

Third off: We had a visit from Elder Falabella from the Area Presidency here in the mission and it was amazing! He shared a quick idea that I wanted to share with you all as a challenge. We have 1440 minutes every day. How many of those minutes are you willing to spend reading the scriptures every day?? I challenge you all to set a goal and complete it every day this week! Share any results you have with me! I hope that it goes well! I promise that if you do it, your testimony of the scriptures will strengthen and you will find that you have even more time to complete with the most important things in life. That's a promise :)

I love you all! I hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Examine Everthing; Retain That Which is Good

Hey everyone!

How are you?? Did you have a good week?? I hope that everything is going well and that this next week treats you even better! As for us here in Sucre, everything is going great! We're working hard and having a great time :) 

Well, for investigators this week, I would love to talk about Jhysel, Alian, and Tatiana. Jhysel is an amazing teenager that I have mentioned a couple times but I would love to do a follow up. This past week, we were able to work with her a little more and she continues excited for her baptism this coming Saturday. She shares such a powerful testimony and I love working with her so much :) Alian and Tatiana are two siblings that I absolutely love. Even though they weren't able to come to church yesterday due to a family commitment, they continue with excitement in the church. I loved hearing their comments about the time they came. They came for a fast and testimony meeting and said that it all felt different than other churches. They said that they're looking forward to next month so they can go up and bear their testimonies as well. They're amazing :)

Well, as always, I would love to share a quick, little thought :) This week, I had the amazing opportunity to go have four days of companionship exchanges with three different Elders. One was quite a bit older than me, and two were new missionaries still in their training. Even though we had varying amount of time in the mission, there was one constant that I loved: I could learn SO much from each one of them! This helped me learn a great principle: everyone, and everything, comes into our lives with a purpose and, if we take advantage of it, we can learn, so, so much! There's a scripture that I love in 1 Thesalonians chapter 5. Verse 21 says (forgive the rough translation from Spanish),"Examine everything; retain that which is good." It's so true! This coming week, I invite you all to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. I promise that as you do so that you will progress more than you could ever imagine.

Well, I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support and love! You are amazing and I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

I bought an aguayo blanket a while back and an amazing investigator (Maria Luz) embroidered (I think that's the word...) the border for me! I love it!

My companion and I in the airport

Zone Activity!

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? Are you enjoying your November?? Did you get more tricks or more treats for Halloween?? ;) I just want to start off by saing that I love you all! You're amazing!

Well, this past week for us here in Sucre went really well :) I would love to talk about Jhysel and Nicole this week :)

Jhysel, as I have mentioned before, is an amazing teenager that has been coming to church for some time. A while ago, we set a baptismal date, and yesterday we had the opportunity to confirm that she felt ready. After our question, she simply replied,"Of course!" She has a baptismal date for the 17th of this month and we're really hoping that all goes well with the preparations for this date. I would love to ask for your prayers if that's alright :)

Now, Nicole :) Nicole was baptized little over a month ago and I just wanted to give a little update. Nicole continues strong and is doing great! She continues going to Seminary in the morning and is also playing a large role in teaching Jhysel, picking her up on Sunday to go together to church. I was especially impressed yesterday when she bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting :) Nicole is amazing and I have loved the opportunity to help, although just a little, her with her conversion :)

Well, I would now love to share a small thought with you before I go. Question: How many of you have read the Book of Mormon? Not just skimmed the pages, but actually read it, studied it, and tested its teachings? The Book of Mormon is a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ, and I testify of that. Yes. I know it is not a small book. Yes, I know that it is sometimes hard to read scriptures (#Isaiah ;). However, I know that the Book of Mormon will bless your lives. If you have not read it: READ IT! If you have already read it: READ IT AGAIN! I promise that you will see a greater abundance of blessings if you read (And when I say read, I mean ACTUALLY read ;) and study this book. I can promise that because I see these blessings every day in my own life and in the life of those we teach. Don't believe me?? Test it and try to prove me wrong. I promise that you will feel the divine power of this book and, along with this, know that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is God's true church upon the face of the earth. That is my true testimony.

Well, I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support! Talk to you next week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

Elder Estes and I after a companionship exchange

My companion enjoying Halloween with our ward mission leader (Rodrigo, in the middle) and his brother ;)