Wed, Feb 10, 2016

Hola Familia!

So a few days ago I completed 4 moths since being out on the mission, so thats exciting!   I also "killed" my Trainer, Elder Zapata!  He is home with his family in Antofagasta!  Killing on the mission really is hard cause it makes you miss your family so much...but hey, my time will come in 20 more months... yep.

Oh also I got a new companion!!!!  His name is Elder Curtis from California!  He is super tall and he has 5 months left in the mission.  He is a pretty chill guy.  Since he is new to the sector I have to lead it so thats actually a lot of fun choosing what we do.  Don't worry, we work hard.

So I have been through so much already in my mission and it is only the beginning!

This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life... learning a whole new language, adjusting and living in a different culture, being away from all my loved ones at home, always having a packed schedule, needing to wake up early, getting rejected by people, looking like a fool 24/7 because I have a hard time understanding and speaking the language with people, living with the same person for a long period of time, losing investigators, and soooo much more.  There are so many challenges in the mission. so many things that make you get out of your comfort zone, but I know that all these challenges and difficulties are gifts from my Heavenly Father.  They are gifts because he wants me to grow. to learn. and to become more like him.

I can testify that all obstacals in our lives are opportunities for us to grow.  If we ever fall, we will learn how to get back up.  The lord is our gardener, and he has a place for all of us in his garden.  He may choose to cut us down, so that we may grow into something much more marvelous.  We must realize that he has a plan and a place for all of us, and if we ever make a mistake, we can rely on the Atonement and repentance to change us in our hearts to become some much more than we were before.  That is part of our purpose here on earth, to grow, rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, to change through repentance, to become like our Father in Heaven. He loves all of us and wants us to grow and become like him.  Through the trials we face we will become stronger.

With lots of love,
-Elder Sims

Wed, Feb 3, 2016

hola hola familia!

so this week has been good! full of trails and obstacles but they are ionly opportunities to learn and grow so thats good!

so i completede week 11 in the field last week. week 11 is when your trainer acts as the "new missionary" and you are the "trainer" and wow it was something i was so nervouse for at the beggining in week 1 but it actually went very well. leading the sector is something i need to be used to doing because it is what ill be doing after my companion leaves.

oh yeah. im going to kill my companion in 4 days! it is crazy to think that i am almost done with my training. i am always singing god be with you til we meet again to him just to drive him nuts and it is fun. for me at least.

so this week i dont have to many experiences to talk about. atleast interesting ones. i had an experience with a dog that seemed to really really love my leg, if you know what i mean. it was gross.
id like to talk about being an example this week. i chose this topic because one of our less active members wont go to church because she wants to go with her family but her family does not want to attend. she told us that she cant tqlk with us anymore becasue she feels like she is a waste of time for us. my compainion went on expaining about salvation and the inportant role church and the sacrament has in it. many ohter things were said but she still said that she cant attend because her family wont. he is a mother and a grandma.

i told her that if she wants her family to join her in foing to church, it is all going to have to start with her example for them. i invited her to be an example for her husband and her kids. to encourage them to go to churvh and feel the great joy we revieve when we recive the blessing from our actions.
we can apply this to our family and friends at home. we all need to be examples for those who need us.

short but its all i got for this week.

With lots of love,

-Elder Sims

 Wed, Jan 27, 2016

hola familia!

this week was just fantastic! full of some great and interesting experiences as always!

i will first start off with an experianve i had with one of our le active members named nora. We were teachingher about the holy ghost and the sacrament. it was a great lesson! at the end we invited her to join us in going to church this sunday, her answer was "i cant promise anything, but ill try" we then explained to her that the lord will bless her so much if she makes the commitment to go to church, and then we aked her again.... the answer was the same "i cant promise anything but ill try." we had tried eveything we could to get her to commit to going to churcvh this sunday but her answer did not change. i then recieved an impression that i believe was from the spirit to ask her thi specific question, which was, "hermana nora, do you know who yoda is?" i then explained that he was a man of great wisdom, and that another man had told him that he would TRY to complete a task..... yoda then replied "hacer, o no hacer, no hay intentar."(do or do not, there i no try).

my companion had been looking at me with the look that he wants to kill me while i said this. but then after i had said these things to nora she began to ponder, and then she suddenly said, " i WILL join you guys in going to church this sunday." the force (spirit) was strong in this moment. we ended with a prayer and departed. myu companion then looked at me and said that he was amazed that turned out the way it did. WOOHOO!

now for the interesting experience of the week. i call it super pollo(super chicen).

so here in chile there apparently is a chemical in the chicken that bnasically speeds up the hormones in people. dont know if that made sense but basically women here look 5 years older than they really are. so one night we were contacting people and we come acrossed this young woman and we began to talk with her. she seemed like she was about 23 years old. we were talking with her and i asked her about her family and she said that she has two brothers that are 6 and 9 and that they are crazy. i then said yeah i have two younger iblings that are 15 asnd 13 and they are still crazy. she then said to me " i am 13 years old." and she walked away all mad......... i was in one of the biggest shocks of my life! a girl that i thought was 23 was 10 years younger than i expected. missionaries call those super pollo experiences.


never judge a book by its cover.

this pic is me eating a giant completo. the first half wa good. the econd was a fight. but what a great experience right?

With lots of love,

-Elder Sims

Wed, Jan 20, 2016

Hola Familia!

Como estan? Espero que estan super bien!

The Spanish is getting better every day and I get so excited when I speak so fast that I stumble and look stupid, but hey, that's the fun in learning, right?

So this week was great  I had some good success with our investigators and less active members.  Our attendance in church is increasing even though people are leaving for vacations right now because it is summer!  By the way, this sun is insanely strong and I think it'll kill me before my two years are up.  I think winter sounds a little nice at the moment.

So this week we met a new woman who is now an investigator of ours named Liliana.  She has the two cutest daughters named Liliana and Teresa.   Liliana is 7 and Teresa is 5.  They were the two shyest girls I have ever met, but now they are off the walls energy.   The complete oposite from before!  They are so much fun and I love them to death!  I have already developed a special relationship with them.  While my companion talks to their mom I just play with the girls and it is a blast!  I don't think he likes it.... BUT I DO!!!!!!

So a few days ago there was a fire in Santiago and it was in a dump or something that had piles of garbage.  That put toxic smoke in the air and it was super gross.  We had to stay inside for more than half the day and after it cleared up a bit we had the choice to go outside if we wore masks.  My companion, being the hardest working missionary on the planet, decided we would go outside.  So I have a picture of us with masks looking so freaking cool!   I felt extremely sick at the end of the day because those masks dont do anything, but I'm good now!

So other than that my week was normal...work and more work.  Sharing the gospel is great!

With lots of love,
-Elder Sims

Wed, Jan 13, 2016

Hola Familia!

So last night I realized that today is day 99 since I left home!  Tomorrow is day 100!  That's almost 1/7 of my mission already!  Time is going too fast! Aaahhh!

So this week has been a decent week.  Not too much happened other than working hard and teaching people. Family Home Evening was great though!  My companion and I taught about agency and it was great!  We had a couple investigators and less-actives there too so it was perfect!  Another cool fact about that lesson on agency was that I had a pretty sweet gift of tongues moment!  I was going off speaking Spanish in Chilean speed!  It was so cool!  I barely remember what I even said....I just remember thinking about what I wanted to say in English and then when I opened my mouth it all came out in almost perfect Spanish!

The Lord gives us agancy as a gift, one of his greatest.  He wants us to use our agency for good purposes lke exercising our faith by going to church and reading scriptures and praying often.   Also to serve one another and be kind.  We must have the desire to do these things.

So on Friday I went to a different Sector with Elder Sosa who is in my District.  We taught a less active member and he pulled out an amazing scripture that made me think about my prayers and family.  It is a very simple scripture, but it has a lot of meaning to it...3 nephi 18: 20-21.  It talks about always praying for our families and that whatever thing we ask for in faith shall be given unto us.

I have a testimony of faith and that through faith anything is possible.  Faith is the first and most important principle of the gospel that we must always exercise.

Sorry this week's email is as short as it is.  I'll do better next week.

Shout out to Lindsey!   I just got your Christmas card on Monday and I loved it to death!  Thanks for making me homesick!  Love ya!

I hope everyone's week goes well and remember to remember that God is always watching over you.

Chaupo!

With lots of love,
-Elder Sims

Wed, Jan 6, 2016

Yep that's right!  I have already been away from home for 3 months now!  The first little bit was slow but the rest has been zipping through!
I have been in the field for a month and a half already too!  My trainer goes home on the 8th of February and then I'm on my own in this sector!  I still have so much Spanish to learn!  But the Spanish is getting better little by little everyday.

So the mission is definitely full of challenges.... physical and mental.  You come across one of these challenges every day... one of those challenges that I feel I have faced a little too often is.... finding hair in my food.  Why is this a challenge?  Because you have to eat ALL the food that is provided for you or you'll be hated by people.  This happens at least once everyday, but its lots of fun I guess.  What else can I do right?

So this week I went on divisions with Elder Bushman here in my sector and we had to prepare a lesson for a family home evening with my bishop that we invited some less active members to.   I prepared a lesson based on President Uchdorf's message from the October edition of the Liahona titled, "finish with your torch still lit."  I encourage you all to read about it for this to make sense.  This message talks about one of the 5 gospel principles we must follow, "Endure to the End".

What is "Endure to the End"?  Well the five principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are:  1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,  2. Repentance, 3. Baptism by someone who holds the power and authority of God, 4. Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, 5. Endure to the End.

Endure to the End is simple.  There are many things that can go in to this subject.  Endure to the end simply means to always build faith in Jesus Christ, repent daily, take the Sacrament (to renew our Baptismal Covenants) so that we may always have His spirit to be with us (as said in the end of the Sacrament prayers).  These are the keys to receiving God's greatest gifts and blessings.  There are of course other things that are important like having a family and getting sealed in the temple.

I know that if we continually have the Spirit with us we can obtain God's gift of salvation and eternal life if we constantly exercise our faith and always repent for ALL of our sins correctly.  Also by always renewing our Baptismal Coventants every week by taking the Sacrament so that we can receive the Spirit and have it with us at all times.

I know that the flame of the torch is Christ and that if we continually endure to the end there will always be His light and spirit with us.
It is a new year which means we all have goals for this upcoming year.  I'd like to challenge everyone to take the time to ponder and create 3 spiritual goals you can work on this year.

I love this work and I am learning so much everyday.  I'm glad to be here working my butt off everyday for the next 21 months.
I love you all and have a great week!

With lots of love,
-Elder Sims

Fri, Jan 1, 2016

hola familia!

sorry it has been so long since the last time i have written. since there was christmas and new years our pdays were switched up. but from now on ill be emailing evey wednesday like normal.

so christmas was awesome! i got some good gifts from home! i got a photo album that was awesome. there were pictures from my farewell on there and it made me miss everyone so much!

i also got some new scriptures that had some of your favorite sciprtures in there! i love going through some of them! if you didnt send your favortie scripture to my mom then please send them to me so i can mark them. i love thinking about the person while reading the scripture and it makes it more meaningful to me.

so on christmas i got to play basketball for the first time in almost 3 months. lets just say that the food here makes it harder for you to jump! but it was so much fun to play again! i got to play today as well and it was much better!

skyping home was great! i got to see my family ofcourse and my little niece malia, who couldnt even say my name before i left, said a prayer and the first thing she says is " please bless collin, then her family after" it was so cute! i miss that little cutie! i can testify that one hour on skype is definitly not enough! it felt like a 5 minute conversation. it was amazing though!

so my fijji people know abouit this scripture but i came acrossed it the ohter day in a zone meeting. DC: 58: 27-29. it talks about acting on our free will to do righteous things. and that we are "agents" amongst ourselves. in fiji we talked about being "agents" and "objects". an agent will work hard and always search for something to do that will improve something while an object just sits there until being told what to do. obviously being an agent is better because on the mission you can either sit there and just wait until you are told to do something or you can get up and get to work and search for work if there is nothing to do.

the lord gave all of us the gift of agency so that we may be agents and choose to do righto¿eous things with that agency we have been given. we can all be agents. i love you all and have a great week!

With lots of love,

-Elder Sims