Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Purifying Power of Gethsemane



Good to hear from Elder McAlister this week.  The last few weeks have been hard for him and we have been praying that things work out.  Please include Sean and his companion in your prayers.

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Hey everyone how is it going?

I totally forgot that Halloween was this week and in the states it’s a lot better there. More people dress up and there is a lot more activity's like carving a pumpkin. It’s not a very popular holiday here. I really miss eating pumpkin pie. Football sounds like it’s going awesome and the Steelers crushed the Colts (HaHa). I miss watching some good football. Glad to hear that everyone is doing great. Sounds like Sabrina is going to have a fun Halloween and it’s going to be a scary one (HaHa). Thank you guys for all your support and all that you guys do for me and thanks for your emails! They are helping me out a ton right now! 

This last week was very, very difficult and very stressful. I learned a ton and we saw the Lords hand in our lives. My comp is still struggling and I still have hope that things can change up and I hope we can change our situation! 

Last Monday we had a zone activity and we had a BBQ and we played a game that was a war with paint in water balloons. So we got covered in paint and it was super fun. Then we played a little bit of volleyball and soccer and it was a really fun activity. Then in the night we work.  

Tuesday we had our conference with our Mission President and I really liked it. We learned how we should be contacting people in the streets and how to make goals with our contacts. Also we learned the reason we need to work with members and what is their role in the work. It was a very good conference and we got to listen to a talk from President Uchtdorf. Which was pretty much saying Satan wants us to be lazy and not work, He talked very well about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it affects us as missionary's.   
The rest of the week we visited people and we pretty much lost all of our investigators this week. We are down to two investigators and we have another that is just there, but not really progressing. Right now we are working with Gonzalo, but we couldn't find him this week and that was really hard for us. This week we walked so much and it was a very hot week. So right now I have to treat this sector like a new sector and act like we are the first missionary's in this sector. But on Saturday we were not having any success and it was very stressful and very hot. We walked and walked and every visit that we had planned fell through and we just we talking with people in the street and knocking doors. The other missionary's had a baptism at 8:00 so pretty much we were out of time and at 7:40 we knock on this door and this kid comes out and he says that his name is Milton. We ended up entering his house and we started teaching him. He then told us that he is searching for the truth and his friend died recently that day. He told us that he felt like we were sent to his house for a reason. We taught him a little and he accepted a baptism fecha and he said that he would come to church. But on Sunday he had the viewing and so he couldn't come, but it really was a blessing for us.  After a week of losing every investigator and having a hard week. We received a blessing. It was awesome!!! So please pray for Milton and Gonzalo that they can progress! Thanks!

I hope that you guys can look up the talk that’s called "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane" By Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I read this talk a lot this week and it is a very strong talk about the Atonement and I thought that you guys might like to read it! It’s very, very powerful and it’s amazing!  

Well thank you so much for everything and I love you guys a ton. I hope that have great week and keep on being awesome! I miss you guys a lot and I want to thank you for giving me this chance to serve here in Chile and to know this gospel. I love you guys and I can’t wait to hear from you next week!

Love You Guys!!!

Elder McAlister

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This week I shared the following from Elder David A. Bednar, in his October 2014 Conference talk "Come and See", speaking about why we do missionary work. He said:

    "Latter-day Saints take seriously this responsibility to teach all people in all nations about the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We believe the same Church founded by the Savior anciently has been reestablished on the earth by Him in the latter days. The doctrine, principles, priesthood authority, ordinances, and covenants of His gospel are found today in His Church."

    "Devoted disciples of Jesus Christ always have been and always will be valiant missionaries. A missionary is a follower of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His gospel."

This a great message from Elder Bednar, and should be a real inspiration for missionaries as they are out doing the very missionary work fulltime which he describes of sharing the message of the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.

Until next week everyone be safe and enjoy some ne pictures from Chile….


View of Chiguayante, Chile, where Sean is serving.

Elder McAlister at a service project.

Elder McAlister, Elder Hoopes, Elder McAllister and Elder Letelier at a service project.     
Elder McAlister and Elder McAllister

Chiguayante District service project.


Chiguayante District on P-day

Elder Hoopes and Elder McAlister

Elder McAlister and Elder Hualinga


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Pictures!!!



Elder McAlister is doing good.  He said they found new person this week and he is really awesome. His name is Gonzalo and he thinks that they can help him and his family. He asked us to please pray for Gonzalo.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.


Elder McAlister and his new companion Elder Bravo


Not sure why he is carrying a tree branch.

Concepcion & Chiguyante Zone Conference 2014

Lunch at the Concepcion & Chiguyante Zone Conference 2014

The Chiguyante Zone at a Zone Conference 2014

Concepcion & Chiguyante Zone Conference 2014

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Transfer time...7th companion on his way.

Short update from Elder McAlister this week because his companion is being transferred, needs to pack and say goodbye to people in the area.

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Hey everyone,

Thanks for the emails and I hope that you guys had a good General Conference! I learned a ton from this last weekend and I hope that you guys did too. I am happy to hear that you guys are all doing ok and that’s cool that you guys got to go up to John’s ranch. It looks pretty over there and Brooke I hope that you had fun in your apartment. The ranch looks awesome and I want to go there some day, it looks cool and I love the horses and the ATVs.

Well today at 7:00 in the morning we got the calls for our transfers! My companion is leaving to Penco and I am here for another cambio. My new companion is Elder Bravo, who is from Chile, and I will get to meet him tomorrow. I have heard that he is really shy and doesn't like to talk that much, so we will see how that goes. Also Elder Hoopes and Elder McAllister are the same for another cambio. So I will have another 6 more weeks in Chiguayante!!! 

This last week was pretty good, and we worked very hard running place to place and talking with everyone just to find new investigators. We did end up bringing Antonio to the General Conference and he liked it. We taught him forever ago and we haven't been able to find him. This last week we ended up finding him, and we are helping him out. He told us a lot of stories in a lesson and he told us that he’s killed people before! So he had to show us his guns that he has! So I will send you guys the pictures! He has a lot to learn, but is really cool and we are hoping to help him change.  Also, Mirta was doing super good but then she never came to church which didn’t help at all, and it’s getting harder to have her keep commitments. We will work hard to help her this week.

General Conference was awesome I learned a lot from it and I can’t believe how fast it went by. I really liked all the talks and I watched most of it in English! Other than the talks that were in Spanish and the one in Portuguese, which I understood quite a bit! I watched it in English because I love hearing their voices. I really liked Elder Bednar’s talk and why we share this gospel. We don’t want to be annoying. We want to share a message that will bring them happiness forever and all eternity! I really liked all the talks and they really focused on personal testimony, following the prophet and revelation. It was really great and I loved the talk from Elder Uchtdorf from priesthood, the lemon story killed me (HaHa). I wish I could have seen it with you guys. But really General Conference is the super bowl in the mission (HaHa)!!! I really can’t wait to read the talks soon. 

Hey I am really short on time today because my companion has to go say good bye to everyone! Sorry, but I love you guys. Thanks you for your emails and I am glad that everyone had a fun weekend. I am happy to hear from you and I am hoping that you have a good week. I love you guys a ton and remember that we have the true gospel in our lives!

Elder McAlister

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Spiritual thought I shared with Sean this week, in my preparation for conference I was reading a talk by Elder Robert D. Hales called "General Conference: Strengthening Faith and Testimony" He said:
 

"What is said is not as important as what we hear and what we feel. That is why we make an effort to experience conference in a setting where the still, small voice of the Spirit can be clearly heard, felt, and understood. Oh, how we need general conference! Through conferences our faith is fortified and our testimonies deepened. And when we are converted, we strengthen each other to stand strong amid the fiery darts of these last days"

Isn't that so true. Everyone gets something different from conference, and its what we personally need to learn, or hear, but we need to put ourselves in a place we can receive the message. Often its not the words, but the feelings. I hope you've all had a great conference and have been uplifted.


Here are a couple pictures Sean mentioed in his email.  And no the missionaries are not armed in Chile, these are the guns of one of their investigators...

Pull

Bond...James Bond