Christ's Amazing Atonement

Hey everyone!

How are you?? I hope that you all had an amazing week and that this next one is even better! Well, as for us here in Bolivia, things are going great! We are really enjoying the work here in La Chimba and hope that we can continue seeing progress. Thinking of investigators here in La Chimba, I would love to mention Máxima, Alexander, and Douglas.

These three are the mother and two sisters of Miranda, a recent convert from before I got here. Miranda has done a great job of sharing the Gospel with her family members and we are loving the opportunity to visit them. We have been able to take them to a Family Home Evening with an amazing family of members and also they are making great efforts to read the scriptures, pray, and attend church. They are truly amazing and we look forward to the opportunity to keep visiting them and helping them along this Gospel Path :)

Well, this past week, I have thought a lot about General Conference and the amazing messages that were shared. I was personally touched by the talk of Tad R. Callister, the former Sunday School President. He talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the amazing impact that it has on our lives. More than anything, I want to speak to those that still feel guilty because of past mistakes. As all that know me know quite well, I am nowhere near perfect. Before the mission, like anyone else, I committed mistakes and, every once in a while, feel guilt for my past errors. However, this talk by Brother Callister helped me so much. According to him, anyone that can feel the guidance of the Holy Ghost in their life can know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is working for them. I hope that all of you know: Being worthy does not mean you are perfect. All of us are on the same journey of stumbling down the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life and exaltation. Do your best. Work hard. Know that as you do this, repenting along the way for your mistakes, you are worthy in the eyes of the Lord and will be guided by His Holy Spirit so that your mistakes become less and less. If you don't feel the Atonement of Jesus Christ working in your lives every day, please, make the adjustments necessary so that you can feel this amazing power every day. I promise that it is worth it.

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Deseos Misionales

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? Did you have a great conference weekend?? I hope so! As for us here in La Chimba, life is going great! Elder Salinas and I are just having the best of times here as we help other people to come unto Christ :)

This week, I would love to mention Álvaro and Miranda.

Álvaro is a 19 year old youth that is honestly amazing. We found him this past week as we met with his sisters. We found his sisters last Sunday and the commented to him a little about our message and he decided to sit in for our appointment. We reviewed the Restoration and then talked a little more about The Book of Mormon. He, and his sisters, loved the message and even had the opportunity to attend a session of General Conference yesterday. We are looking forward to our future appointments with Álvaro and his sisters :)

Miranda is a recent convert that was baptized a few weeks before I got here. We have had the great opportunity to visit her and her family members, who are investigators, and have loved it :) A couple of days ago, we had the opportunity to have an appointment with just Miranda and talk about her reading, her prayers, etc. and she had a great surprise for us. Even though she doesn't know too much about the scriptures or the Church in general, she feels that she needs to serve a mission. My companion and I were not expecting that, but we are overjoyed for her :) We look forward to helping her in the process of preparation before her mission :)

Well, I want to talk about Miranda and her decision as a small thought today. Miranda, since she was 14 years old, has had a desire to serve the Lord. She attended many churches up until she recently turned 20. She had just about given up in her search. All of the sudden, two missionaries knocked her door and taught her. She has prayed and knows that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Now, with that same desire, even though she doesn't know anything, she looks forward to serving in the near future as a full-time missionary. One of my favorite scriptures comes from D&C 6:8, which states (excuse the translation from Spanish),"If you desire, you will the cause of much good in this generation." All of us are called to serve the Lord as members of His Church. If you are in the age of full-time missionary service, read D&C 4 and make a decision if you desire to serve the Lord, because if you do, you are called to the work. If you are not in that age, still read the section and think about what you can do to better serve the Lord wherever you may be. Serve the Lord. Help others to come unto Christ. As you do so, you will experience more joy than you could find doing anything else.

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all that you do for me! You are the best! Please keep Álvaro and Miranda in your prayers if it's not too much to ask :) Have a great week!

Elder Wynn

Our Savior Loves You

Hey everyone!

Well, I am really running out of time here, but I just want to tell you all how much I love you and how much our Heavenly Father loves you. This past week here in La Chimba has been amazing and I loved the opportunity to begin adjusting to a new area. Elder Salinas, my new companion, and his old companion had prepared 3 people for baptism for this past weekend, so it was amazing to participate in that great experience :) The members here are really nice and I really look forward to getting to know each and every one of them. More updates will come as the weeks continue :)

Well, just as a little thought/homework that I would love to give you, I want you all to read Alma 7:11-13 this week and analyze what these verses mean to you. Our Savior really did, and continues to do, so much for us. Think about His loving sacrifice for you and how you can make it a bigger part of your life.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your loving support and the prayers. You are amazing!

Elder Wynn

The Power of the Gospel

Hey everyone!

How are you?? I hope that you're doing great! As for us here in Universidad, things are going really well :) We were able to have a great week of work along with the added bonus of zone conference with President Montoya.

As for investigators this week, I would love to mention Lourdes. Lourdes is a wonderful woman that we have come into contact with several times over the past couple of weeks. She is from Beni, another department of Bolivia, but currently lives here with her siblings as she studies at the University. While here, she heard about the Church from some friends and decided to go. She has already made quite a few friends and is loving the opportunity to attend church on Sundays. Even though she has come several times, we didn't have the opportunity to teach her until yesterday. She is truly amazing and is very excited to progress towards a baptismal date in the coming weeks. We look forward to seeing her continue to progress :)

Well, as a thought for this week I would love to share an experience that my companion and I had yesterday. After a small zone activity tracting in another area, we decided to take a taxi home. We flagged one down, negotiated the price, and headed out towards Universidad. Out of habit, we began to talk with the taxi driver about life and religion. When we arrived to our destination, we received an odd yet amazing question from the driver: Are you in a hurry? We quickly responded "No".  "Good," he said,"because I want to tell you my testimony." He told us a brief story of his whole life, including being married, having kids, and then losing everything as his wife forced a divorce and, due to all the costs and his inablility to pay everything, our friend was put in prison for a period of time. He recently came out last October and has been frantically working in a borrowed taxi so that he can make end's meet. He told us that he has been visiting many churches and praying a lot asking for help and guidance from the Lord. It was amazing as we were able to tell him,"Our message is the answer to your prayers." My dear family and friends, the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we know as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only message in all the world that will bring everlasting peace and happiness to all, no matter the circumstances. Our friend accepted our message and a copy of The Book of Mormon and will soon meet with the missionaries near his home. He is on the path that will lead him to the peace and happiness that he seeks. Please recognize the power of our message. If it still hasn't penetrated your heart to the very core, study more, attend more, and, most importantly, pray more so that you can truly feel it. And, once you have received this witness, I plead with you to open your mouth and share it with the world so that others can experience the same.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your love and support! As for transfer news, I report with mixed feelings that I have been transferred out of Universidad to a ward called La Chimba. I'm sad to leave behind all of the amazing people here, but I really look forward to the new opportunities that I will have in the new area. I hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

Elder Nelson and I at the Zone Conference :)

Our group for the special musical number :)

The day that Elder Tellez and I decided to take a member's dog to go tracting so that people would accept us as friendlier people. #ItWorked

 

When Small Things Turn Great

Hey everyone!

How are you?? I hope that all of you have had a great week and that this following week is even better! Well, as for us here in Universidad, everything is going well. We were able to have a good, normal week of work with many opportunities to serve and help others in this amazing area. What more could anyone really ask for?? :) Well, for this week, I would love to talk a little bit about Sergio :)

Sergio is the son of a less-active member and is truly amazing. He is 13 years old and very interested in the Church. We found him in a very interesting way. Several weeks ago, Elder Benancio and I were walking down the street and said hi to a person that passed by us. She said,"Why hello Elders." That's a good sign. We turned around to chase her down to talk and found that she was a less-active member. We asked if we could help her with anything and surprised us by saying that she had a BIG project that she needed help with. We accepted, slightly scared, and were able to plan a day and an hour for the service. During the service, we gained the trust of Angelica, the less-active member, and another appointment. In that appointment, we finally found Sergio and to this day we keep teaching them both. Angelica is still not willing to go back to Church, but Sergio really is. He has attended two weeks in a row and has made really good comments about it. We look forward to seeing the continued progress of Sergio and his family :)

Well, as a quick thought, I want to reference the story of Angelica and Sergio. We are SO happy now that we were given the chance to meet and teach Sergio, but as you may have noticed, everything came as a sequence of events. First, we simply said hi to someone on the street, which was followed by a conversation, a service, an appointment, trust, and finally, the meeting of Sergio. I find it interesting to think about this. Had we not been following the Spirit in any one of these steps, we probably never would have had the blessing of meeting Sergio. The scriptures say that by small and simple things, great things come to pass. Thanks to the fact that we said hi to someone and that my companion was ready enough to listen to the Spirit, turn around, and chase her down, we have been blessed with a great investigator that is showing a lot of interest in baptism. Is that not a small thing that brought something much greater? Now, for each of you, I want you to think about this. How many opportunities do we have every moment of every day to simply say hi to those that pass us by? Whether on social media, the street, public transportation, etc. the opportunities are there. Many of you, as members of the Church, have a light inside of you that must be shared. Please, please, please listen to the Spirit, be kind to others, offer them your service, something simple, and I promise that many great things will come to pass as a result of your actions. Don't be afraid to share that marvelous light that you hold. You truly can change lives :)

Well, thank you so much for all of your love and support for me here in Bolivia. Please pray for Sergio so that he can continue to progress. That would me the world to us :) I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

No Effort is Wasted

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? Are you enjoying your March and all the madness that comes with it?? I hope so! Well, as for us here in Universidad, it was a week full of madness due to Carnaval. We weren't able to leave our house for 2 days due to the CRAZY celebrations going on, but we survived and all is well :)

This week, I would love to mention Gloria and Lourdes. As I mentioned last week, Gloria had a baptismal date and was progressing very well towards baptism this last Saturday. Sadly, she took the decision to travel back to Brasil this last Friday, so she was not able to make those amazing covenants. We have hope that she will either be back soon or will be baptized there in Brazil, but I ask for your prayers to help her as she makes this very large decision in her life. Thank you for all your support for her in this past week :)

Lourdes is an amazing woman that just kind of showed up out of nowhere. We came to church a couple Sundays ago and she was just there. Apparently, some time ago, the missionaries were visiting her and she really enjoyed the lessons. However, she travelled to another part of Bolivia for several months and completely lost contact. Amazingly, when she returned, she decided, all on her own, to come back to church to keep learning. She has come a couple weeks in a row now and is progressing well. We look forward to the opportunity to keep visiting Lourdes.

Well, as a quick thought, I want to reference what I just talked about with Lourdes. For us, the fact that she just decided to come back to church on her own is unbelievable and gives us the desire to keep working hard to find and teach new people. But, if I think about it, there must have been missionaries who thought very differently several months ago. They thought that they had found an amazing person that would instantly progress, just to find out that they were going to go far away for a long time. These missionaries were probably very saddened by that. However, thanks to their hard work, we are now seeing the fruits long, long after the effort. I believe that we can all learn from this. Many times, as members, we share the Gospel with other people, and, many times, these people decide not to follow for whatever reason. Sometimes, we become discouraged by this and lose hope that our friends and family members can and will one day accept the Gospel. However, I want to use Lourdes as an example for you all to say that no effort is ever wasted when we are sharing the Gospel. If the first missionaries would have thought that in the first place, we would not be seeing marvelous fruits right now. Please, share the Gospel with everyone and don't be discouraged if you are not accepted right away. Everyone has their time and their agency. Respect that and keep up your marvelous work with hope and a good attitude :)

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your love and support for me here in Bolivia! Have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

A good shot of Cochabamba :)

My companion and I enjoying the Carnaval from the roof of our building ;)

Our zone activity in Pairumani this morning :)

The Feel of the Gospel

Hey everyone!

How are you?? Can you believe that it is already MARCH?? I guess time just continues to fly by as always :) I hope that this last week went well for each and every one of you because for us it was really quite amazing :) We are receiving a lot of support from the ward and continue to work here in the center of the city. What more could one really ask for?? :)

This week I want to focus on Gloria. I believe that I mentioned her some time ago, but just to recap: Gloria is an amazing brazilian woman that doesn't speak any Spanish. We have been teaching her for a few weeks now and it has been an amazing experience. We have had a TON of support from the ward, especially a brazilian family (The Lima Family) that lives here and her progress has really been astonishing. With all that she has learned in this time, she has decided to take the next step and be baptized this coming Saturday. We are so excited for her and hope that everything can go well :) If it's not too much to ask, I would love to ask for your prayers for Gloria this coming week :) Thank you!

Well, I would love to share a quick thought that relates a lot with the amazing experiences that we have had with Gloria. In almost every appointment, we have had the help of the Lima Family to translate and teach, but I often reflect on the one time that just my companion and I were available to teach. My companion is amazing and knows a fair amount of Portuguese, but it was still quite a struggle to get our thoughts across. Even though Gloria probably couldn't understand much of what we said, she expressed her feelings of such joy as she attends church and receives us in her home. This taught me something very special: This Gospel isn't something that we learn, even though that is quite a large part, it is something that we FEEL. When we read the scriptures, pray, and attend church with a sincere desire to come closer to our Heavenly Father, the truth of the Gospel is something we feel through the Holy Ghost. I invite you all to watch the Church Video titled "The Music of the Gospel" that talks a little bit about the subject. Please ponder about if you really feel the truthfulness of these things. I promise that if you really desire to know that it is true, you can read, attend, and pray and you will simply FEEL that it is true through the power of the Holy Ghost :)

I love you all so much! I hope that you have an amazing week! Please pray for Gloria :)

Elder Wynn