The Power of The Book of Mormon

Hey everybody!

How have you all been? All stuffed with turkey and potatoes I presume? I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving and just a great week in general! Sadly, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but it's okay, it was a good week! After a rather frustrating few weeks with baptisms falling through, I was finally able to enjoy my first baptism of the mission. I talked about it last week, but her name is Maria and she is amazing! She has been being taught by the missionaries for several months and she has expressed a great desire to one day serve a mission herself. I cannot express how amazing it was to take somebody to the waters of baptism. My companion, Elder Romero, performed the baptism and I did the confirmation, and we are just so happy for her! Our other principal investigators right now are Liz, Daniel, and the Limón Family. Liz still has not received permission from her father to be baptized, but we are still working with her and hoping that someday she will have the opportunity. With Daniel, we are super excited because he committed to a new baptismal date! It was originally this Saturday, but because of elections here, we cannot do it then, so it will be the following Saturday, but nonetheless, super happy for him! Finally, the Limón Family. This family has all the desire in the world to come to church and learn more, but they have just been bombarded with trials right now. I would like to ask all of you to keep them in your prayers because they are amazing, but the wife is currently in the hospital with pain of unknown origin and they are struggling with several other problems as well. Right now, we're just trying to be there for them and help them where we can. We love them and are hoping for the best. Besides investigators, we had another normal, but spectacular week of work. And, on Wednesday nights, Elder Estes (one of my zone leaders from Las Vegas) and I are teaching English classes! So, we're working hard, I get to teach some English, looking forward to another baptism in the near future, and all is truly just so good! Along with all this, I personally had a really cool experience and would like to center my thought on it today. This past week, I had the amazing opportunity to finish the Book of Mormon for the first time in my mission. Though I had done it a couple of times before, this was really the first time I truly dove in and studied the book from start to finish. As many of you know, the book finishes with a powerful testimony by Moroni, challenging everyone to read the Book of Mormon, ponder on what it says, and then pray to know that it is true. Well, though I felt that I knew already that the Book of Mormon is true, I finished, gave myself time to ponder, and then entered my room and prayed to receive a confirmation of the truthfulness of the book. Now, I want to give you all my firm testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that it truly contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. Because of this, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the church that was established through him is God's true church upon the face of the Earth. The Book of Mormon has power that is impossible to describe. Many of us have had this book close to us all of our lives, but my question is, have you truly studied it? If yes: Keep doing what you're doing! You're awesome! If no: Don't worry, you can start now! My challenge to you all is to truly take your study of the Book of Mormon to the next level. If you have never read it cover to cover, do it! If you have read it a hundred times, awesome! Do it again! My promise to you all is that if you read the Book of Mormon and ponder on its teachings, then ask in prayer to your Heavenly Father if it is true, you will receive an answer. I am here to tell you that it is true and that if you have doubts about the book or about the church in general, read the Book of Mormon and ask in faith. I promise you that your doubts will leave and you will receive an undeniable testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so honored to represent this Church and Jesus Christ here in Bolivia and I want you all to know that I know without a doubt that this church is true. Well, you guys are the best and I love you all! If you have any questions about the things that I'm doing here in Bolivia, don't be afraid to send me an email! I will do my best to respond. Love you all and hope that you have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Beauty of These the Latter Days

Hey everybody!

Did you guys just have the most amazing past week? I hope so! My week has been pretty spectacular here in Quillacollo! With our investigators, we had an awesome week and were able to contact many new investigators to begin teaching. I am often amazed by the willingness of the Bolivian people to listen to two strange, young people that knock on their door. Of the new people that we contacted this past week, we are most excited for the Limón Family. We contacted them on Thursday, taught them on Saturday, they had a family problem Sunday morning, so they couldn't come to church, but they came to an awesome choir activity in the afternoon. We are SUPER excited for them because they have a true desire to learn and they are eager to go to church this upcoming week. Hopefully they'll continue to progress! With our investigators that we have been working with for some time, we sadly had to cancel both the baptisms for this past week. Liz finally talked to her father to ask permission, and he gave a very clear and stern "No." We'll continue to work with her and continue to hope and pray for a change of heart because Liz is absolutely amazing and I really hope that she can have the opportunity to be baptized because she REALLY wants to. Daniel's baptism was canceled at his own personal request, not because he doesn't want to be baptized, but because he doesn't feel worthy or ready for this step. We love him and are working really hard with him because we know he has the desire, now we just need to help him feel ready for this amazing step. Though we had these two baptisms fall through, we do have another lined up for this coming Saturday. A 17 year old named Maria who really wants to be baptized and all we have been waiting for with her is the rule of three times attending church. This past Sunday she attended for the third time, so she should be baptized this Saturday! Our hopes are high for her! I want to ask a favor of all of you: Could you keep these three and the Limón Family in your prayers for me? There are absolutely amazing and could use all the help possible, so if you could keep Liz, Daniel, Maria, and the Limón Family in your prayers I would greatly appreciate it :) So, other than investigators this week, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the temple for the first time here in Bolivia. It is such a blessing to have a temple so close to my area so that we can literally take public transportation for less than an hour to reach the temple. I love going to the temple and I cannot express how great it was to finally be able to go after a little less than two months, and because of this, I would like to focus my thought today on the temple. How amazing is it that we have so many temples in Utah and in the United States in general? How cool is it that we can often drive for under an hour (usually less) and enter one of the Lord's holy temples? Now the sad question: How many of us take advantage of it? Here in Bolivia, there is just one temple, in Cochabamba. Sure, I have rather easy access to it, but I have been thinking, what about those that don't live close to the temple? For many, the opportunity to go to the temple is an incredibly rare experience, not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of opportunity. Contrast that with the United States. Many of us have multiple temples close to our homes, but we do not go. In these the beautiful latter days, we have been blessed with many temples, but we do not search out the time to go. So, my challenge to you is to go to the temple regularly. I know that you have busy lives and think that you may not have time, but before you make that excuse, think on the people of Bolivia. These people may only be able to go to the temple one time in their whole lives, and it is such a delight to them. Take advantage of the great opportunity it is to live close to a temple, and make the time to go this week. Make it a habit because you can, and I promise that you will feel the difference in your every day lives. I love all of you and hope that you have amazing weeks! If you have any questions about my adventures here, feel free to email me! You guys are the best!

Elder Wynn 

Perseverar Hasta el Fin

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Are you all surviving? Enjoying life? Working hard? All of the above?! I hope so! This past week was awesome! Going to be honest, nothing really crazy happened, but just a great week of working hard and enjoying the mission. Of our investigators right now, we are continuing to work really hard with two, Daniel and Liz, and they should both be baptized this Saturday! We were actually hoping that Liz would be baptized this past Saturday, but, turns out, she didn't talk with her dad to get permission to be baptized. So, we had to push it back a week, and she was really sad, but if she talks with her dad and gets permission, she will be baptized this Saturday and she is super excited! With Daniel, he just continues to be amazing. He has only been meeting with the missionaries for just over a month and has already taken all the steps to be baptized. Super excited for them both! With exception of those two, we have been blessed with many other investigators and one of them, Araceli Angulo, accepted a baptismal invitation this week! We are super excited for her and really just super excited for all of our investigators because, as I think I have mentioned before, the people of Bolivia are honestly just the best! I'm loving the opportunity to work with them and share this beautiful gospel with them. Now, I'm just going to share some awesome things about Bolivia with you guys so you can feel jealous and want to move here. Everything is SO cheap. I bought 25 bananas here for 6 Bolivianos the other day (7 Bolivianos is 1 Dolar). There are little stores (tiendas) on every street where you can buy just about all the groceries you could need. Everything comes in bags, and I mean everything. Juice, milk, soup, food, etc. All in bags. Don't know why that makes Bolivia better, but it just does :) Honestly, I just love Bolivia; the food, the culture, the people, everything! Now that I've given you a little snapshot of my week and why Bolivia is so awesome, I will now give my thought for the week. This one comes from my personal study this past week. I am VERY close to finishing the Book of Mormon here and I am so excited, but I always find myself quite sad as I finish, not because I'm about to finish, but because of where the story goes. For those needing a little refresher, Jesus Christ visits the ancient people of ancient America and establishes His church among them, and a couple hundred years of peace and joy follow this experience. However, after only a couple hundred years, the people become very wicked all over again, and, eventually, all the righteous, with exception of Moroni, are killed by the wicked. This people literally saw Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, and descended into wickedness in only a matter of a couple hundred years. This is unbelievably sad, but there is an important pattern that we can pull from it and apply to our lives. It is said in these chapters that the first thing that began to lead them to their unrighteousness was their pride, which came from all of their many blessings that they had received. Pride is unbelievably powerful and I am here to tell you now to beware of pride, or glorifying yourself above your God. Remember, the people of Nephi saw Jesus Christ and they were able to fall away because of pride. How much easier would it be for us, those who have not been visited personally by Christ, to fall away if we are not strengthening ourselves daily in the church? This is what we teach as the theme of Perseverar Hasta el Fin, or Endure to the End. I counsel you all that if you are not DAILY strengthening yourself in scriptures and prayer, you should start today, so you can remember your God and keep from being lifted up in pride. This is the way to be truly happy and receive that which we all want: Eternal Life in happiness. You guys are the best! I hope that you all have amazing weeks and if you have any questions for me, feel free to send me an email and I promise to do my best to respond. Love you all and bid you farewell till next week. ¡Hasta luego!

Elder Wynn

The Will to Give

Hey all!

Another week has come and gone! How are you all doing? I hope that all is well and that you are all enjoying life! So, this past week, I have been with my new companion Elder Romero! Just going to say, it has been spectacular! Elder Romero is a very dedicated and hard working Elder and I am SO stoked to work with him. We were able to contact a lot of new investigators this week and hope that they begin to progress. Along with the new people we've contacted, we have had some great success with our progressing investigators, especially with Liz and Daniel. Liz is 15 and has been meeting with the missionaries for some time. She has wanted to be baptized for a long time, but her parents wouldn't give her permission. But, this past week, she got permission! If that holds up, she'll be baptized this Saturday and we're so excited!! Our other really strong investigator is Daniel, and though he has only been taught the first two lessons, he has a strong desire to be baptized, so if we can prepare him in time, he will be baptized a week after this Saturday! I love all of the investigators that we have, but these two are really special. Any prayers you could send for these two would be very much appreciated :) All in all, this past week was spent just going out to work, work, and then work some more! I'm basically always exhausted, but I'm very happy, so it's all good. A cool event happened this past Saturday for two investigators from the other Elders in my ward, Elder De La Hoz and Elder Fuentes. The names of the investigators were Jose and Rassiel and they were not married, but had two amazing children. Per rules of baptism, they had to be married before they could be baptized, so, this past Saturday, they did both! Saturday morning we had the wonderful opportunity to attend their wedding, and that same afternoon, we got to see them get baptized. They are absolutely amazing and I am just blown away by the two of them, and because of that, I would like to focus my weekly thought on them. Jose and Rassiel come from very poor circumstances. There were very hard times along the way to being baptized, first because of all the changes, but second because of the finances and legal aspects of being married. It was amazing to see their faith and their will to give all that was necessary to make it to the waters of baptism and start on the path towards a happy and Christ centered life. So, my question for you: What are you doing now to continue your eternal progression? What are you willing to give up to take the next step, wherever you are now? After all that you have done to this point, there is always a next step. Seek out what you must do next. Ask "What Lack I Yet?" and be willing to follow the response that you get. Like Jose and Rassiel, I know that you guys will not only progress spiritually, but you will also be blessed with an abundance of joy. All you need now is the will to give. So, start now! I just want to say that I love all of you guys and think that you are amazing! If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to respond. You guys are literally the best and I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for me. Love you all!

Elder Wynn

"And I Do This for a Wise Purpose"

Why hello everyone!

How was this past week? Normal? Crazy? Spectacular?! I hope so! Well, to start off talking about this week, let's just say that it was interesting. So, as I have said before, Elder Garcia has been struggling for some time here. This past Tuesday, so the day after P-day, we had a Zone Conference, which was spectacular, but after the conference, Elder Garcia had an interview with President Montoya. After the interview, he was recommended to go to the Psycologist. We went right away, the Psycologist is a member, which is really cool, and he got in right away. After a very anxious hour and a half wait, the news came: Elder Garcia needed to go home. I cannot say I was one hundred percent shocked at this news after being with him these past two weeks, but it was still unbelievable to actually receive the news. Afterwards, he spent the rest of the day making phone calls home to different people to give the news. The next morning, he wasn't quite right. He was very fidgety, he broke down into tears multiple times, and you could just tell that he was not doing well at all. So, on the way to another conference, this time with Elder Montoya of the Seventy, we dropped him off at the Hospital with another Elder. President Montoya assigned another Elder to accompany him there, so I went to the conference, but honestly didn't get much out of it. Afterwards, I got to spend the afternoon with him, but, because I'm new I'm assuming, I was placed on a split of indefinite time with the District Leader, Elder Romero, and this ended up lasting the rest of the week. So, my week has more or less been working with Elder Romero with an undecided future and with lots of worrying for my companion. He was released from the Hospital Saturday night, and he went home this morning. I'm just going to say it, this week was really hard. The work was great as always, but the stress for my companion and my undetermined future weighed hard all week. I love Elder Garcia. He was the best Papi (Trainer) I could ask for here. I am going to miss him immensely and I wish him the best at home. Any prayers you could send for him would be much appreciated :) Now, about my future here. As I said, this whole week has been me basically on an eternal split with Elder Romero until further notice. That further notice came last night. We received a call from President Montoya with the news that I will be changing areas to Avaroa, which is a different ward in Quillacollo, and my new companion (Father-in-Law) is Elder Romero, the district leader. Honestly, I am super pumped for this. Elder Romero is a very dedicated, hard-working missionary and I'm excited to keep going to work with him here in Avaroa! This news brought a TON of relief and put to rest much of my worrying and stress that I had been having throughout this week, and it is this stress and worrying that I would like to center my thought on this week. So, as I have said, this week has been crazy and stressful and just overall hard. So, to fight that, I did lots of scripture study and have been praying probably more fervently than ever before in my life. There were moments this week where I, rather unrighteously, had the thought of "Why is this happening to me?" Turning to the scriptures, I came upon a scripture in Words of Mormon. Chapter 1 (the only chapter) verse 7 states "And I do this for a wise purpose . . . And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." So, honestly, I do not know why these things had to happen this past week. However I know that they happened for a reason, either for me, Elder Garcia, or some unknown future purpose. Yes, lots of stress, lots of worry, and just lots of struggles, but something necessary came from this experience, and I can take my peace in that. Now, all of you, whatever struggles you may be going through, whatever trials may come your way, remember this: it is all in God's hands and is serving some "Wise Purpose." No, that purpose is not always easy to see, but I promise that it is there. Now, to close, I want to share another scripture I came across this week that brought me some great comfort on the topic of worrying. 3 Nephi 13:34 states,"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." So, I encourage you all, in whatever you may be going through right now, to look to God, know that there is a deeper purpose, and stop worrying. Just work through it, knowing that God is in control and it will all be good in the end. I promise you that it all will be. Well, I love all of you and think the world of you! If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I will do my best to respond! I hope you guys have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Power of Giving

Hey Everybody!!

How are you all doing? I hope you all had great weeks and that you're just loving life because things are pretty great here. Throughout this past week we have been working a lot with our progressing investigators, especially the ones with baptismal dates. First off, Stephanie was not able to get baptized, which was super sad, but we feel that she has the desire and just needs to build her testimony a little bit stronger. Any prayers that you could send for her would be awesome :) Something awesome that happened this past week was the opportunity to extend a baptismal invitation to a girl named Adela. She is awesome! Not only did she accept it, but she attended a baptismal service of other missionaries, AND attended church for the first time. She is responding well to all of this and the members have welcomed her with open arms so we hope that she continues to progress. We were not able to get in contact with the Luna Family this week, which was kind of a bummer, but we're hoping to get in contact with them and continue to teach them because they seem SUPER interested in the gospel and we would love to see them continue to progress. These were the highlights of the week investigators wise, but all in all, everything is going well with the work here and I am just trying to love every moment because all I have is two years :) Random sidenotes: Quiacollo, and all of Cochabamba, is so pretty. The city itself is just so beautiful and I just love it. Also, the sunsets are especially beautiful. Another sidenote: the food is spectacular! I haven't really come across much here that I don't like. Whether it's the fried Buñelas that are sold all over the place or the Silpancho that is very popular here, it pretty darn fantastic. Last sidenote: the people here are unbelievable, and they are who I want to focus my thought on this week. Quiacollo is an especially poor part of Cochabamba, but that does not stop these people from giving. One of the hardest things here is being invited into somebody's house, seeing that they really don't have a whole lot, and then watching them pull out food and a drink to serve you. It honestly breaks my heart to see the conditions that some of these people live in, but it does not stop them from giving. I think that we could all follow the example of these wonderful Bolivian people and give a little more. One of my favorite quotes from our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is,"He who gives money gives some, he who gives time gives more, he who gives himself gives all." While we may not have the ability to just give money to those around us, we can still give more and all according to Thomas S. Monson. Be generous with your time and look for opportunities to give of yourself to bless and strengthen others around you like these amazing Bolivian people that I love so much. Especially as the time for giving comes closer, look to give and I promise you will find opportunities that will not only bless you, but those around you as well. I think you guys are amazing and hope that all is going well. My advice, keep being yourselves and all will be well :) Love you all!

Elder Wynn

Always Working

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time wherever you may be! You guys are the best! So, this week, I have been doing my best to just keep working with every moment that we have. The work here is fantastic and I hope to just keep it up! We have about 10 progressing investigators right now and 5 with baptismal dates, so we're very excited and hoping for the best with all of them! If all goes well, my first baptism will be this Sunday!! Her name is Stephanie (technically Estefani, but I translated to English for you guys :) and I really hope that it works out! The hardest thing here is finding out the commitment level of the people. The people are super nice, but often aren't too interested in the message. But, I feel like we are finding people and I hope that we can, with time, find even more people willing to learn and act on our message. This week has been a little different than most because Elder Garcia has continued to struggle with back issues. With this, I have gone on a couple of Exchanges with Elder Romero (the district leader) so Elder Garcia can rest an recupperate. Hoping for the best with him and if you could continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers, that would be great :) Along with the work we've done this week, I also had the opportunity to give my first talk in church, and I feel that it went really great! My Spanish still isn't great, but I'm learning and always working on it. The thought I want to leave with you all today is the power of sincere prayer. In the above message I have talked a lot about more of the great and happy things that have happened this past week, but I'm going to be honest for a minute: this is hard, hard work. I love it, but it is really hard. It's hard to walk all day every day. It's hard to lack the communication skills to effectively communicate your message. And it's hard to watch somebody that you love reject your message, especially because you know how much this message can bless their lives. However, throughout this week, the power of sincere prayer has really been manifest to me. Through the hardships, through the frustrations and through everything else, I know that I have a Father in Heaven that is willing to listen to me and comfort me. I know this for myself and I know this for you. So, throughout this week, through any struggles you might be facing, I encourage you to "send a knee mail," because I know the power that it can have, especially through my experiences this week. I love all you guys and think that you are the best! If you have any questions for me here in Cochabamba, don't be afraid to ask! You're all amazing!

Elder Wynn