Finding the Firm Foundation

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? Can you believe that March is already coming to a close?? I can't! Life has continued to fly by here in Tupiza and I am just trying to love every moment of it. I decided I'd describe Tupiza a little bit so you guys can paint a little bit of a mental picture. Imagine a small city surrounded by red-rock mountains that look like they could be from St George. Then, imagine walking down every dirt road and seeing vegetables of every variety being sold on both sides. Then, you see one of the really cool Motorcycle Taxis (called Toritos) driving down the road in your direction, bouncing up and down in every bump of the uneven roads. You feel the sun BLAZING down while in the light, but one step in the shade and you are hit with the refreshing chill of being at a really high elevation. You feel the sun and dirt, take a deep breath, smile, and get to work. That is Tupiza and I LOVE it! We are still mostly tracting and have very few investigators, but we are working, laughing, and enjoying this great opportunity that we have to be here in Tupiza. This week has been very similar to last week, and not much has changed, but just know that it was great and I continue to love working here. This week, I would love to share a thought about Testimonies. This week, we had the very sad experience of seeing a woman fall away from the church after less than a year as a member. She came in and was fellowshipped very strongly by the missionaries that baptized her and helped her along. However, with time, and with the changing of missionaries, her fire has begun to fade. We have realized that her testimony was less built upon Christ and his church, and more built upon the amazing missionaries that helped her and visited her. It has been devastating for us to see her testimony fade to the point that she doesn't believe anymore. Because of this, I want to issue a word of warning to all of you. Our foundation in the Church is completely critical. Maybe we are built upon our parents, our friends, and our leaders, but, as sad as it is, they will not always be there in every moment of every day. As my favorite scripture states (Helaman 5:12), we must build our foundation on Christ, nothing more, nothing less, and that will be our firm and undying foundation that will get us through any hard time that will come our way. My challenge to all of you is to look for where your foundation lies and see if it is truly and 100% on Christ. If it is, keep it there, dig in, and keep up the fight. If it is not, it does not matter if it is a good thing or a bad thing, a change is necessary. The only constant in this life is the true and undying love that Christ has for everyone of us. Now, for us, it is our responsibility to try and help this wonderful woman find the fire of her testimony once again so she can return and feel of the wonderful blessings of being in the true Church of Christ. Now, for all of you, it is time to look where your foundations lie and ensure that we are founded on Christ, the only foundation that really and truly will never fail us. I testify that Christ is our Savior and will truly help us through all of our struggles that we may have, as long as we build our faith on Him. I love all you guys and hope that everything is going well in your lives. I am SUPER excited for General Conference this coming week and hope that all of you are as well :) It's going to be amazing! As always, if you have any questions for me, don't be afraid to ask! I love you all and hope that you have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

The Crazy Tupiza Missionaries on Branch talent night ;)

The cross on the mountain of Tupiza

Elder Ordoñez and I at the top of Cross Mountain

Love you!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Commemorating Grandma with a milkshake and a Pepsi :) 

Love,

Elder Wynn

The Use of Time

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing?! How has the week gone?? Well, it's official: I'm in Tupiza! After a Tuesday of traveling the whole day, I'm here! I took an airplane to Sucre, a taxi to Potosí, and then a bus to Tupiza, finally arriving around 10 PM. It was a LONG day, but I'm not complaining because Tupiza is amazing! There was a companionship of Hermanas here right before us, so there are a couple of investigators, but we are still basically building from the ground up. One of the investigators has a baptismal date for this following Saturday, so we look forward to meeting with him and seeing what happens! Other than that, we have been doing a LOT of knocking doors. Every day has basically been wake up, prepare, study, eat, knock doors for 3 hours, eat lunch, knock doors for 5 more hours, and then (maybe) a Family Home Evening with a family here in the America Branch. It's been a LOT! However, it is also amazingly satisfying knowing that we are using every minute that we have in search of the children of God that are ready for this message, and this is what I want to focus my thought on today. Opening this area and seeing that we are not familiar with the area, have zero appointments, and are basically left on our own, I have realized how easy it could be to be a disobedient missionary. It would be SO easy to sleep in, work the minimum, and say that our lack of success is due to the fact that we're opening an area. However, that doesn't help us at all, and, more importantly, that doesn't help the work of God at all either. Luckily, I have Elder Ordoñez at my side, someone upbeat and willing to work in every moment. I feel like we truly have worked with every moment that we have had and look forward to continuing to do so. Now, for all of you: We all have a certain amount of time every day. How do we use that time? Are we trying to do all that we need to do? Are we all focusing ourselves on what matters most? I ask these questions only to get you all thinking a little bit and am not at all saying that I am perfect at this; saying that I feel good about our work doesn't mean that I feel there is no room to improve. I invite you all to try to use your time a little bit better this week. Visit your family, your Grandparents, your loved ones and make the time to make lasting memories because time can often be so short. Well, I hope you all have wonderful weeks and I hope that everything goes well! If you have any questions about what I'm doing here or any questions about my new area, don't be afraid to ask! I love you all and look forward to writing you next week!

Elder Wynn

Saying goodbye to Elder Albarán in the airport :(

Me in a cholita hat :))))

The America Branch! Left to right: Elder Balta (from Peru), Elder Ordoñez (my companion, from Ecuador), and Elder Perry (my district leader from Canada)

I love you so, so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Leaving Your Mark

Hey everybody!

How are you doing? I hope you have all had amazing weeks and that life is just going splendidly :) Well, as for me, I am writing today a little bit early because I have a few important things to do tonight, but more on that later ;) This week has been really good! With transfers looming over, I did my best to not be affected, and I feel really good about our results from this week. I would love to focus on Martha Choque, the Rojas Family, and the Limón Family. With Martha, she was able to come to church once again yesterday and continues to progress. We plan on extending a baptismal date this following week, as the only struggle we've had is that she cannot read or write. We LOVE Martha and look forward to see how things continue to go with her. With the Rojas Family, they continue to listen to us and are really close friends to me personally. They may have been more anxious about transfers than anyone else, and in anticipation, they gifted me a small aguayo blanket (Aguayo is a classic Bolivian fabric that is EVERYWHERE here). They are amazing and I just wanted to give them a shoutout because I love them :) Finally, the Limón Family. The mom of this family has been traveling and working for QUITE some time, but we were finally able to catch all of them together again. She is already traveling again, but it was amazing to see them all together after quite some time. They still look forward to being baptized in the following weeks, but we will have to wait a little bit to see when we can catch them all together again. I LOVE this family as well and love seeing them progress. Okay, now that I've given a brief highlight reel, let's get to what my mom is REALLY waiting for: Transfers. Well, all I can say is "Bye bye, Avaroa." Last night, we received our transfers REALLY late (past 10 PM) and I received the news that I have spent my last week in Avaroa. Before I say where I'm going, I would love to focus my thought on this transfer. Well, for those of you who are counting, I have been in Avaroa for about four and a half months, and I have enjoyed it so, so much. I am honestly quite devastated to be leaving this area and all of the amazing people that I have met during this time, but I do my best to have hope in this: the hope that I have left my mark. Through all the work, all the sweat, frustration, and tears, I look back at my time and feel confident that I have left my mark on Avaroa. I feel that in these months that I have truly given it my all and done some good here, and that is what truly matters. One of my favorite scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants (blanking on the reference) states: "If you so desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation." I have desired, and now, I leave sad, but without regrets, feeling that I have done the good that I was meant to do. Now, for all of you, I challenge you, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to do your very best to leave your mark. Make your little part of the world better for your being there. You can make a difference, I am 100% positive. I haven't made a big change here, but I know that I have made a change, and that is what brings joy to my soul :) Well, now the news: I am leaving Cochabamba. The main part of the mission is now history and I am going *drum roll* to Tupiza. There are more than 160 missionaries in my mission, and in the city of Tupiza, there are 8, and it is FAR separated from all other areas in my mission. Overall, I am so excited! I cannot wait to get there. However, this is not all: I will also be opening my area there, starting from scratch. This will be an amazing challenge and I am SO looking forward to it :) My companion is yet another Elder from Ecuador, named Elder Ordoñez, and entered the mission 6 weeks after me. Two newbies opening an area SUPER far away? Heck yeah! Well, I will have MANY more updates for you all next week, but for now, I go to get to work :) I love you all and I hope that you have amazing weeks!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Zone Conference with the Missionaries from Quillacollo

Needed a picture with Liz before leaving :)

Saying goodbye to the Rojas Family :(

Love you so much Mom!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Death Has No Sting, the Grave No Victory

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? Can you believe it's already MARCH?! I hope that this past week has treated all of you well! As for Elder Albarán and me here in Avaroa, it's been a solidly normal week. Avaroa continues to be the best area in the mission ;) Well, with regards to investigators, I would love to focus on Liz, Martha Choque, and the Rojas Family. I am just constantly blown away by Liz. This past week, I had the opportunity to help her with her homework a couple times (#IMissPhysics!!), which was super fun, and every time we meet with her I am just more and more amazed. She always goes to Seminary in the morning, she is memorizing her doctrinal mastery, and she bore her testimony in chuch yesterday. She is amazing, and though I may not get to see her be baptized, I know that she is on the right path :) With Martha Choque, she was able to come to church again yesterday! She is amazing as well, and though she cannot read or write, she is such a pleasure to work with. She doesn't currently have a baptismal date, but we are hoping to extend the invitation this week because she is just such an amazing woman :) With the Rojas Family, which is a family of four that we've taught for some time, we had an amazing lesson with them this week about the Plan of Salvation and answered several questions. We were able to bear testimony to finish with a really powerful Spirit and it was unbelievable. We were able to extend a baptismal invitation and look forward to March 31st! :) We have a couple other investigators at the moment, but these are the ones that are really progressing and continuing strong at the moment :) Well, as I started with, this was a normal week, so I really don't have much to say more than it was great and I am still 100% in love with Bolivia :) I'm even learning to love Spanish! It is an amazing language and I would love to share a thought that I had about Spanish this week that I thought was cool :) In English, we use the verb "to be" to describe just about everything, temporary or permanent. However, in Spanish, there are two verbs, "Ser" and "Estar." Ser for permanent conditions, like personality (El es feliz=He a happy person), and Estar for changeable conditions, like emotions (El está feliz=He is happy). Well, the other day, I was doing some Spanish study when I realized something cool. When you use the word "Dead" in Spanish (Muerto), you do not use Ser, you use Estar. "El está muerto" As I thought about this a little bit more, I realized that even the Spanish language testifies of a very beautiful truth: Death is not permanent. No matter how devastating, no matter how sad death may seem, it is NEVER permanent. We know that death is NOT the end. We know that we will see our loved ones again. All of this we know because of Jesus Christ. In and through HIm, death has no sting and the grave has no victory (see 1 Corithians 15:54-55). We can take joy in this knowledge and we can remember it through any seemingly devastating losses that may come our way. I testify of the truth of this, and the Spanish language is my second witness ;) I hope that you all will remember this through anything that may come your way. As you do so, I promise that the peace that you seek will be easily found in the arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ. If you want another cool resource for this, I invite you to watch my favorite Mormon Message, entitled "Because of Him." Well, I just want to tell you all that I love you and I thank you for supporting me through this amazing adventure in Bolivia. I will have my transfers for you next week, so we'll see what happens! I hope you all have an amazing week, and as always, if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! You are all amazing!

Elder Wynn

Me with Hermano Denis doing barbecue from last week!

Martha Choque and I :)

Real time selfie from the internet café in my alpaca wool sweater/jacket

Love you so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Living in the Moment

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? I hope you all were able to enjoy this past week! As for me, I have to say that it was a normal week for a missionary. We worked, searched for new investigators, visited members, and all in all had limited success finding new people, but the investigators that we have are progressing nicely. I would like to focus on Emerson, Martha Choque, and Liz. Well, Emerson is a 15 year old investigator that we recieved as a reference from on of his friends. He is a really amazing person and we love the opportunity to teach him. He has a baptismal date for the 10th of March, so we hope that things will continue to go well with him :) Martha Choque is somebody really special for us. She is a Cholita (meaning she dresses in the traditional Bolivian style) and cannot read, but is an absolutely wonderful person. Yesterday, she attended church for the third time and we were unbelievably happy for her :) We hope to extend a baptismal invitation this week with her and we look forward to continuing to work with and teach her :) Finally, Liz, who I have mentioned quite a few times, but not for some time. She is 15 years old and has been taught by the missionaries for quite a long time. She REALLY wants to be baptized, but doesn't have parental permission. We have continued visiting with her and are unbelievably impressed with her. Liz is attending seminary at 6 AM every day, she is attending church every Sunday, and is just a radiating example of joy everywhere she goes. It is an absolute blessing to work with her here, and though I am quite saddened by the fact that she cannot be baptized just yet, I have hope for the future and know that it will happen, even if she has to wait until she's 18. Well, I don't really have much to explain in regards to this week, and I don't want to bore you with the day in, day out work, so I'm going to jump into my thought. So, this week it has been brought up to me MANY times that transfers are only two weeks away. I'm not sure what is going to happen, but EVERYONE is convinced that I will be leaving Avaroa this transfer. As everyone has been telling me this, I have caught myself looking forward to transfers curiously, wondering what is going to happen. However, in doing this, I also find myself missing out a little bit on the beautiful things that are happening EVERY DAY here in Avaroa. So, I have made the goal to forget about transfers and just keep my mind here in the moment of now. I feel like this is not just something that affects missionaries, but something that applies to all of us. Maybe we are looking forward to the day when college is over and we're working in our career. Maybe we're looking forward to the day when our next vacation will come. Whatever the case, I would encourage you to think a little bit more about the now. There are beautiful, amazing things that happen every day, but we might miss them if our mind is not in the moment. I have no idea what will happen these next transfers, but whatever happens, I look forward to enjoying these next two weeks the best that I can, and I encourage you all to do the same, whatever your case may be. Live in the moment, and enjoy it like there is nothing more to come :) Well, I love all you guys and thank you for your support! If you ever have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! You are all amazing and I hope that you have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

Enjoying Salteñas with Elder Albarán! Probably my favorite Bolivian food!

Chilling in the cabin of an AMAZING member with other missionaries! Thank you Hermano Denis!

What the inside of a Salteña looks like. It's basically like eating a delicious soup inside of an amazing dough right in the comfort of your hand!!

I love you so much!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Hitting Milestones

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Did your Valentine's Day include that special someone?? Or was it spent eating icecream in the darkness of your basement while watching a movie?? Alone?? ;) Well, however your week went, I wish you a happy Monday and hope that this week will be even better! :) As for me, this week was full of really cool experiences, but first, the investigators :) This week, let's talk about Verito (or Veronica ;), Emerson, and the Limón Family. Verito got baptized this week! It was an amazing experience and it has been such a blessing to be able to teach her. We have high hopes for her to continue active in the church :) With Emerson (whom I doubt I have mentioned before... but I'm not sure... ;), he is an amazing teenager that we have taught for about 2 weeks now. He went to church for the second time yesterday and accepted a baptismal date for March 3rd, so we're super pumped for him! With the Limón Family, they are doing great! We were able to meet with the whole family last night and extend a new baptismal date invitation. They accepted the date of March 10th and we are confident that they will be able to meet that goal. I am in LOVE with the Limón Family and it has been super hard to watch them through their struggles they have experienced, but things are turning for the better for them and we couldn't be happier to be able to teach them :) With all of our investigators, if you could keep them in your prayers, that would be greatly appreciated :) Now, the cool experiences. First off, we were not able to leave our house this week Monday night and all of Tuesday because of Carnaval. However, I did get to see a little bit of it Tuesday in the afternoon and I just have to comment on how cool it was! It was amazing to see a little bit of a culture that I have never experienced. It was really cool :) Also, I had the opportunity to confirm Verito a member of the church and give her the Holy Ghost. There are not words to describe how amazing that is, but just know that it is unbelievable :) One more, though there were countless cool experiences, and this one was a mission milestone, and I would like to focus my thought on this milestone. Maybe some of you already know, but every 16th of every month is the anniversary of me entering the mission. This week, I had my 6th of these anniversaries, completing 6 months in my mission. I am just blown away by how fast this is already going! I have already learned so much and I cannot believe that I only get to be here for 18 more months. You better believe I am going to enjoy them :) I just wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity to bear my testimony with you guys. I want you all to know that I know that this Church, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, is the one and only true church upon the face of the earth. I know that Jesus Christ is at the head and directs the church now through our beloved Prophet, Russell M. Nelson. I know that the church was restored through a true Prophet, Joseph Smith, and I know that the book that was brought to light through him, The Book of Mormon, is the word of God and a true book of scripture. I love this Gospel and I love the opportunity to go out and preach it every day, so that I can help others to come unto Christ and show them the path that leads to everlasting happiness. I am so unbelievably blessed to be able to be here in Bolivia and I cannot wait to be here for 18 more months. I hope that you all know that I know that this is true, that I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that through Him, I can return back to the presence of my Heavenly Father. All these things I seal in writing in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I love you guys so much and I can't wait to see what these next 18 months will hold because the first 6 have already been lifechanging. If you ever have any questions about what I am doing here in Bolivia, don't be afraid to ask! Love you guys and I hope that you all have amazing weeks!

Elder Wynn

It truly was wonderful :) I hope you keep having fun with the Bishops!! I have not had the opportunity to use the scrubber-bag-thing, but I definitely will!! This will also serve as my pictures email because I'm running out of time!

Verito's baptism

Drinking Mate with Elder Albarán inside of a pineapple

An AMAZING photo that Elder Albarán took!!!

I love you so much and hope that you have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Elder Wynn

Tiquipaya

Hey everybody!

How have you all been? Can you believe it's already February 12th?! How fast the time seems to be flying! Well, this week was really, really, cool with many different experiences, but first off, the investigators. I will focus on Veronica, the Limón Family, and Martha Choque. With Veronica, though we were hoping for her baptism this week, he Grandmother fell very ill in La Paz, so she had to travel over the weekend. We send our love to her and look forward without worries to her baptism this following week. With the Limón Family, we actually hadn't been able to run into the whole family together for quite some time because Rosy Limón was traveling (the mom of the family), but we were able to meet with them all this week and hope to be able to talk about baptism with them again during the following week. They're honestly amazing and I have loved the opportunity to teach and spend time with them. With Martha Choque, she sadly didn't come to church this Sunday, so we still have to wait a couple weeks before she can be baptized, but she is SUPER excited to be baptized, so we are not worried a bit :) There are a couple of other really good investigators that we're working with at the moment, but these are really the principal investigators for the time being. Now, the awesome experiences ;) First off, we were able to go to the Temple for the second time in my mission. I can't say enough about how amazing it was to enter the Temple again and feel the wonderful spirit of the House of God :) The second experience was something that I will never forget, and I would love to focus my thought on it. As a few of you may know, there has been LOTS of rain here in Bolivia. I mean, LOTS. Because of this, there has been some minor flooding all throughout the past few weeks. However, this past week, a city called Tiquipaya was devastatingly flooded, the result of a river overflowing, filled almost 3 stories higher than its normal volume. With the terrible flooding that has happened, many people have flooded to Tiquipaya to help out. This past Friday, we received the news that our stake, Quillacollo, would be going and that President Montoya gave the green light for the missionaries to go as well. So, a few days ago, I had the opportunity to serve in the flooded area. Hearing all about it from investigators, members, and other people made it seem terrible, but seeing it with my own eyes was a whole different story. Some houses leveled, others filled with mud, cars scattered in all directions by the water that blasted them aside, etc. It was devastating. While working in a home, trying to clear out some of the mud, I began a conversation with a man working alongside me and quickly learned that he was the owner of the house we were working in. It broke my heart to hear him say "This used to be my home." I will never forget the opportunity that it was to serve in Tiquipaya. Now, for all of you, I invite you to think about these events. With all the technology and equipment we have as the human race, we need to remember who is really in charge and appreciate the things we have, because we never know how long we will really have them. These poor people have lost everything. Absolutely everything. We are so blessed, even if we don't have every luxury that this life has to offer, we are SO blessed. This week, I invite you to look at the life you live and find a way to be a little more grateful for it. Whether it be your home, your family, your many things you have that make your life that much easier, there is always more room for thankfulness. I love you all and hope that you have amazing weeks! If you ever have questions about what in the world I'm doing here in Bolivia, don't be afraid to ask me about it! Until next week, ¡Kaya kama! (#TryingToLearnQuechua ;)

Elder Wynn

Me after the service in Tiquipaya

Me and mi Compañero at the Cochabamba Temple

Enjoying the beautiful, Bolivian landscape. I love Bolivia :)

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

Love,

Elder Wynn