Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? How are your Halloween preparations going?? Well, I hope that you are all doing well and that you are enjoying the beginning of this amazing season of holidays! As for me, things could not be going any better! We were able to return to Sucre from Cochabamba with very few problems and my companion's toe is doing great! Thank you so much for all of your prayers for him in this past week :) With regards to our area here, we are very happy with the progress that we are having! This week, I would love to mention Maria Luz. Maria Luz is an amazing moman that was introduced to us this past week. She is a family member of a very strong family here in Sucre and recently moved into their home. Yesterday, we were able to have our first appointment with her and it was amazing. She told us many things about her life and we quickly realized how special she is. She openly accepted talking about the Restoration and we look forward to the upcoming appointments that we will have with her :)

Well, now that I've talked a little bit about one of our amazing investigators, I would love to share a quick thought :) Yesterday, we received a phone call from a lovely member asking us to come to her house urgently. We arrived and found her entire family there eating and drinking. She and her son took us to a room so that we could talk. She told us about a lot of the difficulties in her life. Her and her son are the only two members in her family, and the rest of the family does not respect their beliefs. Whenever the family gets together, they drink a lot of alcohol and try to give it to her and her son as well, even though they are very well aware of her beliefs inside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Yesterday was another one of those days, and she was struggling with the temptation. She showed a wonderful example in her reaction: she called us so that we could have an "Family Home Afternoon" with her and her son, singing Hymns, praying, and reading the scriptures together. She told us that she felt a strong peace after the opportunity to share some time reading from the scriptures and feeling the Spirit. I want to offer this experience as an example to you all. With this coming holiday season, many temptations are to come, going directly against the standards of the Church, whether it be from friends, family, or other loved ones. I cannot say that these temptations will be easy, but I can make another promise. If, when temptation strikes, we make the effort to turn our thoughts to God, all will come out okay. Use the example of this wonderful member, who, instead of just struggling on with her temptations, called us in an amazing effort of faith, knowing that her burdens would be lightened. So, as these holidays come and go, be strong, use the help that God has given and promised to give you, and I promise that you will be blessed, strengthened, and protected through everything. That's a promise :)

Well, I love you all! Thank you so much for your amazing support! I hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

The Cochabamba Temple :)

Reunion with Elder Waldvogel and Elder Nelson in the Leadership Counsel! Love these missionaries!

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? Did you have a good week?? I hope for all of you that you have had a great week and that this next one is even better than the last! Well, here in Bolivia, things have continued more-or-less as normal this past week. We continued working almost normal, but my companion had to have an ingrown toenail extracted, limiting our work a little, but we are still doing great and Elder Martinez is healing well. If it's not too much to ask, I would love to ask for your prayers for him as he continues recovering :) Well, even though our work was limited slightly, I would still love to talk about a couple of investigators. I am going to talk a little bit about Elsa and Rosemari. Elsa is a wonderful woman and is about 60 years old. We contacted her in the street while returning home one night, just giving her a pamphlet, setting an appointment, and inviting her to church. To our surprise, she was in Sacrament meeting 10 minutes early in a dress, saying that she knew that she had to come in a dress because it said so at the end of the pamphlet. She had now come to church twice and has also come to a ward activity, already making a couple of good friends. We love Elsa and look forward to continued appointments with this lovely woman :) Rosemari is a woman that has been associated with the Church for some time, as her boyfriend is a member. We were able to meet her when we had a family home evening with her boyfriend's family and she has shown a lot of interest. For a couple of weeks now, she has been coming to church as well as every activity that has happened. We were supposed to have our first real appointment with her this past week, but we couldn't as we were homebound. However, she is truly amazing and we look forward to meeting with her in a couple days :)

Well, now that I have talked about a couple of the wonderful people that we are visiting, I would love to share a small thought. This past week, President Nelson, the Prophet and President of the Church, has been in South America, making stops in Peru and, last night, in La Paz, Bolivia. As he was here, we had the opportunity to hear two broadcasts from him, one from Peru directed only to missionaries, and one from Bolivia for all the people of this wonderful country. It was an amazing opportunity for me personally to listen to the Prophet as he spoke in both English and Spanish to direct the saints here in South America. However, I believe that it was an even more amazing experience for the people of Bolivia as they heard their Prophet speak in their native language. Many people cried or just stared in awe as our amazing Prophet, Russell M. Nelson gave his message. I realized something while seeing the reactions of the people: Those of us that live in the United States are so privileged to hear from the Prophet of God in our own language so often. Now, a question: Do we really take advantage of that amazing privilege? As I have seen these amazing people enjoy this once in a lifetime experience to the max, I have made myself the promise that I will do my best to appreciate every chance we have to hear the Prophet speak the best that I can. I invite you all to do the same. Listen to the Prophet's voice and receive peace to your souls. I promise that as you listen to, and follow, the counsels of the Prophet with all your heart, might, mind, and strength that you will be blessed more than you can imagine, you will receive more peace in an ever more troubling world, and you will know more clearly what God wants for you in this life. That's a promise :)

Well, I thank you all for your support and your great examples to me in my life. I hope that you all have an amazing week! Love you all!

Elder Wynn

Count Your Many Blessing

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? I hope that your October is going well and that all of your preparations for Halloween are going great! As for us here in Sucre, life is great! Work has continued as normal and we are really pleased with how everything is going :) For this week, I would love to mention Jhysel and the Lopez Family. Jhysel is an amazing teenager that has been connected to the Church for some time. Elder Martinez (my companion) and his last companion were teaching her for quite a while before I got here, but right when I arrived, she began to travel a lot with her family. My whole first transfer here, I never had the opportunity to teach her, but she just showed up to church every once in a while. This last week however, we were able to set an appointment with her and her parents and it went amazing. We extended a baptismal invitation to the whole family, and Jhysel's parents asked for more time to think. Jhysel, however, bore her testimony that she knew that the Church is true and expressed a deep desire to be baptized. She is AMAZING and we really look forward to helping her progress towards the baptismal date that she has committed to :) The Lopez Family is a family of four that we just love. We have been teaching them little by little in these past weeks about the Restoration, but, before this last week, they weren't showing much interest. However, we arrived at their house last night and things had changed. They had read the entire pamphlet as a family and had TONS of questions about Joseph Smith, prophets and several other subjects. We were able to answer their questions and they committed to investigate a little bit more about the Church. They have committed to come to church this following week and to also read the Book of Mormon that we gave them. We are really hoping that they continue to progress :)

Well, these are a couple of the amazing people that we are visiting and we are truly so happy with the progress of all of our investigators :) Now, before saying goodbye, I would love to share a small thought. 

This past Saturday, we had an amazing experience. We were walking through a market in our area heading towards an appointment when we heard someone yell "Elders!" We turned around to see a lovely woman selling a powder to make Api (a delicious local drink). We walked up to her and began to talk. She is a member from another ward here in Sucre named Leticia. She told us that there were several problems that were happening in her life and wanted to talk with us. We headed to the church building that was nearby and she told us about her life. She is from Argentina and has lived here in Bolivia for 15 years. The only job that she has been able to find is selling little bags of powdered api for two Bolivianos a bag (worth just about 25 cents). She walks to every market in Sucre every day offering her api. She is starting to have back problems from walking every day and her sons are also having problems with men beating them in the street. Her sons cannot study because they need to help their mother. As she cried and told us that she feels that she cannot continue living in this way, my heart broke. Her life has been so hard. She is doing everything that she can to support her small family, but it is just so hard. We did our best to console her and had the opportunity to give her and one of her sons blessings of strength and comfort. We will be visiting with her this week and hope to continue helping her. As I heard the life story of this wonderful and strong woman, I realized how blessed of a life I have lived. I have lived in a very advanced country all of my life. I have received a wonderful education and look forward to continuing my studies. I have lived a life of comfort almost free of worries. A question comes to mind: Why have I been so blessed? This life isn't fair. Some of us have more struggles than others. I have come to realize this more and more in my time here. My invitation for you all this week is that you take the time to think about all of your blessings and thank God for everything you have. Remember that not everyone has the blessings that you have.

Well, I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your love and support that you always send me! I hope that you all have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Did you have a great week? Did you enjoy General Conference? I hope so! Here in Sucre, we had a great week! In the week of work, things went really well! Investigators wise, I would love to mention Marlene, along with a funny story that happened this week. Marlene is a teenager that is 18 years old who was a reference from other missionaries in our zone. I would love to share the story of us tracking her down. So, the reference said that we had to go to a bus stop near a rather large valley in our area. We called her and she said that she was almost home, so we waited about 15 minutes before deciding to call her again. She said she was home and we asked her to come to the bus stop so that she could show us where her house was. She said no because it was easy to see her house from the bus stop. She indicated that there was a large semi-truck in front of her house clearly visible from the bus stop. We began looking all around but the was no such truck to be seen. My companion then looked at the other side of the valley, where there were about 5 houses separated from everything, and there, clear as day, was the large semi-truck that had been indicated to us. We laughed pretty hard and then began our descent into the valley, just to come up on the other side. No worries though, it was 100% worth it as we had a wonderful appointment and gained a new investigator that attended 3 sessions of General Conference this past weekend. Normally the hardest things in life are the best :)

Well, we're very happy with Marlene and all of our investigators. There is lots of work for us to do here in Sucre :)

Well, I would now love to talk about Conference and share a quick thought with you all :) First off: Wasn't that amazing?? Between the huge announcements about Sunday meetings and Temples and the great talks about just about all topics, it was an amazing Conference. I hope that you all were able to at least watch part and receive the answers to any questions that you may have had :) One thing that really struck me was how many promises we were given during the sessions. Almost every authority of the Church extended an invitation and promised us blessings along with our faithfulness in completing their invitation. One example: President Nelson talked about the importance of the name of the Church. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, not Mormons. He invited us to strive to use the true name of the Church and drop any nicknames we may be using. He then extended several profound promises, one of which was that we would be able to take the Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. That is a HUGE promise for such a seemingly simple change. Well, I want to give you my witness that this promise, and every other promise made in these past two days, will be completed according to our willingness to accept the invitation. So, my invitation to you all: Follow the words of the Prophets! You will be blessed more than you could ever imagine! That is a promise :)

Well, I love all of you guys so much! Just for your information, we had transfers last night and nothing changed here! I will be here with Elder Martinez for another 6 weeks at least. I look forward to continuing the work here in Sucre!  I hope that you all have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

Descending into the valley while heading to Marlene's house

A selfi with my compi :)

Visiting the famous black Christ statue here in Sucre

Preparing for General Conference

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? Can you believe that it's already October?! I hope that this last week has treated you well and that this next week is even better! As for me, it was a crazy week. We travelled a ton, even going to Potosí for our Zone Conference and it was an amazing experience. President Montoya talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it was truly amazing :) After returning to our area, the week finished well and I am happy to report that Nicole was baptized this past Saturday. She truly is an amazing girl and I cannot express how happy I am for her :) I'll be sure to keep you updated on how she's doing in the weeks to come :)

Now, let's talk about some other amazing people that we are visiting :) I would like to focus on Marcela, Teresa, and Gregorio. Marcela was a reference from a recently returned missionary and she is amazing. She says that she has gone to many churches and loves reading their pamphlets and other things they give her, but she has started to lose faith in their being a "true church". We loved the opportunity to talk with her and she had many amazing questions. She is very well studied in the Bible. We look forward to seeing how things turn out as we work with Marcela :) Teresa and Gregorio are a lovely couple that we met as we looked for their son, who is a less-active member. We actually found Teresa first, and as we talked with her, she shared that she thought her husband would not be interested in our message. This last week, we met Gregorio for the first time and had the opportunity to teach about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Much to the shock of Teresa, Gregorio was very interested and asked many good questions. We look forward to continuing the work with these two amazing people and trying to help them accept this amazing gospel :)

Well, now that I have talked about our work here this week, I want to talk about General Conference. I know that not all of the people on this email list is a member of the Church, so I want to explain real quick. We believe that prophets (Such as Moses, Noah, Abraham, etc.) are not just people that exhisted in ancient times. We believe that we have a living Prophet and Apostles that really do communicate with God and receive revelation for our times. This coming weekend, we will have a General Conference where these men will speak with the whole Church giving us counsel about how to live our lives. Now that I have explained, I want to ask a question: If you heard that Moses (supposing that he were on the Earth today) was coming to give a talk to the world and you had the chance to listen, how excited would you be? How would you prepare yourself to receive what he would say? Well, the amazing question is that this applies. God's chosen representative, President Russell M. Nelson, and the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ will be talking to the world this weekend. We should be excited! We should prepare ourselves! You better believe that I will be preparing myself spiritually for this experience and I invite you all to do the same. Now, for those of you that are not members, I invite you to take a challenge of mine. I promise that this is the true church. Don't believe me? Well, I promise that if you go into this weekend really wanting to know if this church is true or not, you will know without a doubt if you watch every session. That's a promise for you all.

Well, I hope that you all enjoy General Conference! I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

Saying Hi to Elder Ordoñez, Elder Vergara, and Elder Romero at the Zone Conference!

Falling sleep with my companion on a bus ride to the airport ;)

Nicole's Baptism :)

The Importance of the Spirit

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Did you have a good week? I hope that life is treating you all well :) As for me, life couldn't be better! Working here in Sucre was amazing this past week, even though we weren't here for half of it. More on the other stuff that went on in a sec :) With our investigators, I would like to mention Nicole and Epson. Nicole is a great investigator that we've been teaching for all my time here. She has progressed amazingly fast and looks forward to being baptized this following Saturday. She has come to church for a LONG time with her friend Abril and just loves it. She is also going to seminary and doing so many other things that just blow us away. We look forward to seeing her be baptized this week :) Epson is an investigator that Elder Martinez found with his last companion here. He loves reading the scriptures, almost scarily so, and just loves learning. This whole transfer, we have been working really hard with him and trying to get him to come to church, but he never could. However, yesterday, he finally came. At first he sat in the back, but then, for the last talk, he walked all the way up to the front row. He loved his first time at church and said he wants to keep coming, so we're really excited to keep working with him :) Well, those are a couple of the people that we are working with here. Now, I would love to talk about the other thing that happened this week. Last week, I was writing from Cochabamba because I was there for a leadership counsel and it was amazing! We got to talk with th Mission President about problems that are going on in the mission and how we can improve. It was amazing :) Now, for my thought, I would love to share a part of what our Mission President shared as his message for us.

He started with John 16 and read a few verses that said that (forgive my crappy translation) it was convenient for us that Christ left. I was shocked by these verses as I had never thought much about that statement. It goes on to say that it is so convenient for us because it would allow the Holy Ghost to descend upon us. This got me thinking: How important is the Spirit? Is He really so important that it is better for us to have Him more than Jesus? After a discussion, we came to the conclusion that yes, the Holy Ghost is even more necessary on the earth than Christ, and here's why: Jesus is amazing, but has a body, meaning, even though He is perfect, that He can only be in one place at a time. He can make an unbelievable change in that one place, but only in that one place. However, the Holy Ghost does not have a body, so he can be in any number of places at once, confirming truth right to our hearts and helping us know whenever anything is true. I feel that often we are not that grateful for the amazing presence that is the Holy Ghost. In this following week, I invite you in your personal study to read about the Holy Ghost and all that he does for us. Then, I invite you to study how to have Him with you in every moment of every day. Then, I invite you to apply that so the Spirit can be with you more often in your lives. I promise you that you will be happier, you will find more success in your daily lives, and that you will feel more guided as you make decisions in your life. That's a promise :)

Well, I love all of you and hope that you have amazing weeks! You are so amazing! Talk to you next week!

Elder Wynn

Eternal Progression

Hey everyone!

How are you doing?? I hope that you are enjoying your September! Can you believe that it's already halfway over?? Well, I hope that this last week has treated you well adn that this next week is even better! As for me, it has been a normally amazing week here in Bolivia :) I continue getting used to Sucre (It has been a STRUGGLE!) but I am loving it more and more every day! Well, I would like to talk about a few of the amazing people here that we are visiting for just a moment. I would like to mention Jordan and Mayra. Jordan is a teenager (17ish) that we just love to visit. He loves learning about Jesus Christ and has so much desire to follow Him. This past week, we were able to talk with him and extend an invitation to be baptized in October. He truly is amazing and I am so happy for the opportunity to know him here in Sucre :) Mayra is a woman that has been familiar with the Church since she was a young girl. She has always loved the Church and was once meeting with the missionaries here in Sucre before she moved to Argentina and completely lost contact. However, she has moved back and a member referred us to visiting her and we have loved the experience. Mayra is someone that loves to learn, especially about God. We look forward to working with her in the weeks that come :)

Well, now that I've talked a bit about my week, I would like to share a small thought :) Here in the mission, there are so many amazing experiences that happen every day, but I would like to talk about one of my favorites. Having a leadership assignment here, I have the great opportunity to give baptismal interviews to amazing people that are making the choice to join the Church. Talking with these people is an unbelievable blessing. As you probably know, there are many standards that one must live inside of this church, and talking with people that have accepted these standards and lived them helps one learn the powerful change that this church brings to the lives of others. I have talked with people that were once drug-addicts or alcoholics. Others have even been imprisoned for some time. However, they all share on thing in common: a desire to change. These people have made the decision to completely abandon their old lives, deciding to live on a higher plane. I have an amazing respect for them and am so grateful for the opportunity to meet them in every interview that I give. And now, an invitation. These people have had to make very big changes in their lives as they have recently grown to know the Church. Many of you are members, and if you are not, you are at least familiar with the Church, and that brings changes. However, I invite you to never think that you have made all of the changes that you will ever have to make. We live in a church of eternal progression, so we need to be trying to improve each and every day. I invite you to think about ways you could improve, maybe as small as daily scripture study or as big as being baptized, because we can ALL make important changes in our lives today.

Well, I love you all and I thank you for your support of me here in Bolivia. I hope that you have an amazing week!

Elder Wynn

Photos:

A Sucre Sunset

A Selfie with my Compi :)

P-day Selfie with my companion and Elder Nelson