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

The MTC Experience (So Far)

Hey Everyone!

So, how are all of you doing? What's it like in the outside world? I honestly think that nuclear war could be going on in the world and I wouldn't even know about it in here. Not a bad thing, but it's just really weird to honestly have no idea what's happening. Well, the MTC is starting to get into a rhythm now: Get up, Breakfast, Study, Morning Lesson, Study, Lunch, Study, Exercise Time, Study, Dinner, Night Lesson, Sleep, Repeat. The only things that break this up are when we teach, when we have devotionals, Sunday, and P-day. I'm going to be honest, the MTC is awesome! I love the fact that we study for 6-10 hours a day (because I'm a nerd like that ;). I love doing everything with my district and I think I've made some life long friends here. Probably the weakest part here is the food, and it really isn't terrible, just cafeteria food. Devotionals are the things I look forward to the most, partially because an apostle could come, but even without apostles, the devotionals are absolutely spectacular! We had the Managing Director of the Missionary Department, Gary Crittenden, on Sunday and the 2nd Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, W. Christopher Waddell, on Tuesday and I loved each of their messages. Our first investigator, Nico, committed to baptism, so no big deal, but I already have a baptism, soooooo... yeah. His real name is Hermano Cahoon and he's now one of our teachers, and one of our new investigators, Adriana, is our first teacher, Hermana Parks. A little interesting to get used to, but it's a great experience! We have another investigator right now named Arlando, and he is what's called a TRC investigator. These investigators are a lot more real and a lot harder, but it is SO fun. Our investigator is from Argentina and his Spanish is way to hard to understand (sorry Dad, but Argentine Spanish is 100% not the best), but I find that I understand enough to get the point of what's being said. My thought for this week (because I want to start doing this consistently) has to do with the Spirit. I'm realizing more and more how important it is to have the Spirit with me at all times. Not just in lessons, not just while teaching, but in everything I do. I'm learning more and more that if I don't have it while studying, my teaching declines. If I don't have it during lessons, I don't learn nearly as much. I'm also learning that the Spirit doesn't stick around AT ALL if we're not worthy of it. I'm not perfect and I struggle sometimes, but I'm learning, I'm getting better, and I'm loving my time here at the MTC. I have felt the peace and comfort of the gospel more strongly here than everywhere else in my life combined. It is my hope that all of you will make a conscience effort to do better at something this week, whatever it may be, for me, it's becoming more in tune with the Spirit, but I hope you'll evaluate what you're doing and find something in your life you can improve. One of my favorite quotes is,"Do something today that your future self will thank you for." I love all of you so much and if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer. Honestly, any contact with the outside world is awesome and I enjoy hearing from you so much :) Wish me luck as I go into week three!

Love,

Elder Wynn​

Es La Verdad!

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

Okay, I don't even know where to begin, the MTC is NO JOKE! I mean, day one you walk into your first class and your teacher speaks 100% Spanish, and on day three we taught our first lesson... in Spanish! This has been such a crazy adventure so far and I will do my best to catch all that has happened here in the first week. So I arrived at the MTC and right away was taken to my room to drop stuff off and then right to my first class. My teacher's name is Hermana Parks and she is fantastic! I was supposed to meet my companion, Elder Hunt, in my first class, but since his shuttle from the airport was late I didn't have a companion for quite a while on the first day, but it was all good! The day continued with a meeting with the MTC presidency, with all 800 of us that arrived on Wednesday, and that was amazing! Then I finally met my companion for the first time and went to kind of a group role play session where we taught an "investigator" in a group of probably 30 missionaries, which was really crazy! Then we met our zone leaders, who seem like a couple of really chill, but really crazy Elders and that was cool. Then our first day was over. It didn't take too long to type, but it was a LONG day. Day two was another day just trying to get into the groove, so we had another Spanish lesson, then another group meeting, and ended the day with meeting our branch presidency, and they were all super nice. Again, a LONG day just trying to adjust to everything going on. On Friday we had our morning lesson, then had our first exercise time, which was more needed than I can explain, followed by our first lesson in Spanish. Our "investigator" is named Nicolas, or Nico for short, and we've been teaching him for a few days now. It's hard because I feel like I know the stuff I need for the lessons, but then just getting the message across in Spanish is a whole different ballgame. I feel like the motto for my time so far in the MTC is "Great! Now, let's learn it in Spanish!" On Saturday morning we taught Nico again (so we had very little time to prepare) and it went kinda-sorta alright. Then we had exercise time and a night Spanish lesson. Sunday was a crazy day with so many meetings, between District, Priesthood, and Sacrament in the morning with a big group meeting in the afternoon and a devotional at night. The devotional was AMAZING! I had heard that these meetings were legendary, but I don't think I really understood. Kenneth Cope came and played music and spoke with us and I loved it more than I can express. Then we watched a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ", which was absolutely spectacular! We had another devotional on Tuesday, where President Weatherford T. Clayton spoke, and I loved that as well. The past couple days have been kind of just business as usual, we teach a lesson, exercise, and learn a lesson at random points in the day and then study during all other available time. The MTC does not mess around at all, but that's good because I'm always super busy and just enjoying it all. Finally, more about my companion and district. Elder Hunt is my companion and he is from Gilbert Arizona. He loves Basketball, so we've done that a couple times for exercise. My district is composed of 10 Elders all going to Bolivia, 5 to Cochabamba and 5 to Santa Cruz North. All the companionships have elders going to the same mission, except for mine, which is split because Elder Hunt is going to Santa Cruz. My district is SO fun and we basically just do everything together. The title of this, Es La Verdad, is an inside joke between our district, and that just shows you how amazing it has been with them. I'm loving my time here, but it is crazy how fast you move into everything! Tonight we plan on committing Nico to baptism and we're just going 100% all the time. Love you all and hope that everything is going well between school and anything else. Please email me about anything! Hearing from anyone while here is honestly one of the best things EVER! Hope you all have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn