Week To Many (March 23, 2015)

Hello all,

So this week was interesting.  I`ve been congested most of it, but that`s fine because it`s happining due to the cooling of the weather here!  We`re under 30C degrees finally!!  I`ve just had to work harder to make up for the annoying health problems.  One really nice thing was one day we decided to knock one of the 30ish apartment blocks in our sector and it was really really good!!  We had 4 people invite us back at other times and they were so nice!! 

So this week I was asked to give a talk in church (my first in this ward) and I decided to talk about the talk President Uctdorf gave in April of the past year "Are you sleeping through the Restauration" and it really opened my eyes.  I decided to talk a fair amount about how the restauration still is happening today.  I looked at the stats of the church and my mind was blown!  I read about how there are more than 29 thousand wards or branches in the world and all I could think about is how there were 7 when Alma organized the church in Mosiah 18:24.  there are also more than 100,000 missionaries both full time and service missionaries.  It used to be that the only ones were the 4 sons of Mosiah.  In the Bible, Christ had very few members of the church he established, now we number more than 15 million.  It`s such a privilage to be in this epoca and we will want to say that we took part in it in the end.  This should be our first priority.  Nothing can get in the way.

This week I was also teaching the english class that we do every week and we only had one woman come to the class (a less active that i`ve become good friends with now) and it was amazing to watch her progress.  she`s made time for both the english classes and church two weeks in a row and it`s just amazing to watch her attitude change for the better!!  I`m loving this ward and the help I can give to it.  One of the recent converts in this ward (who is the most active recent convert I`ve ever seen) is the YMs president!  he`s completely changed the young men of the ward! 

So I hope all of your weeks are really good and I hope you`re all enjoying the changing tempreature as well!

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week ??? - Week 14

Hola everybody,

So this week we had a really strange week.  I can´t talk about most of it yet, it hasn´t all worked out completely and has some personal info that I´m not allowed to give out, but it was interesting.  Yesterday we had a taxi driver asking us what certain songs on the radio were saying which was kind of awkward because they weren’t the most appropriate songs. 

So this week I found the difference between getting good numbers and doing a good job.  I went on intercambios (when I go to a different sector for 24 hours and one of their elders comes here) and we had a packed day!!  We had like 5 appointments and only one of them didn´t work out, but they didn´t seem as meaningful as ours seem to.  For example, we just shared a scripture with one and then drank coke and talked for another 30 minutes.  And the entire day was like that.  But what really caught my attention was the lack of contacting we did that day.  We put no time into trying to find new people to teach.  Which is such a stark difference to my sector, where we spend 4-6 hours a day trying to find new people because we don´t have many people interested yet.  I enjoyed being in that sector though, their ward is amazing and they have some awesome lunches with the members!  

So today my companion and I have some plans to go bowling with our district, which will be fun!!  Last week we went to the zoo, which was my first time ever (unless the VA Living museum counts).  I´m loving life here and I absolutely love serving the Lord!  I know that what I´m doing is what I need to be and I know that the church is true which is why I´m here.  I love you all so much!!

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

I'm Losing Count - Week 10

Dear all,

So this week was one of the most productive I´ve had yet!! We went on interchanges on Tuesday, so I got to experience a different area of the mission which was a lot of fun!!  I got along well with the other Elder, and I’ll be doing it again this upcoming week with his companion!! 

We had a zone conference Wednesday with half the mission!  My friends and I were drinking a lot of juice and my companion decided to chug about 3 liters and when he was finished he ended up throwing up in front of the president...  He became very famous that day...  It was very funny honestly, but at the same time, he´s learned his lesson! 

This past Sunday we got to witness one of the boys in the ward baptize his sister, which was a really amazing experience!!  He´s currently working on his papers to be a missionary and so it was a great experience for him!  I don´t really know them yet though because I´ve only been here but so long.  There were 11 missionaries there though. It was really cool!!

We had one of our investigators agree to be baptized this week!!  It was such a spiritual experience!!  He has been searching for the Lord´s church for years and years and he thought it was silly that we had to ask him to be baptized. He said "Of course!" when we did and seemed like he didn´t understand why it was a question!  He has a lot of faith!!  I really like him!!  Now we want his brother to baptize him because that would be amazing!!

I love you guys and hope you are all doing well!!  

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

I Don't Know What Week This Is, But This Is My 2 Month Mark - Week 9

¡Hola!

This day marks the second month that I have been here in Chile and the start of a third!!  This week has just flown by!!  

We did a lot of work, which was great!!  Yesterday we were with one sister from church who when we were with her brought us to about 4 different houses for us to talk to people!!  It was really cool!!  I really enjoyed it!!  She was so energetic to help with the missionary work!!  We also had a lesson with some less active members who were really awesome!!  They all discussed the scriptures we read together, they found cross references and just talked about it in general!  We didn´t really have to say much because they were all discussing it amoungst themselves!  

This week we had a lot of lunches with people, and they were all really good, but I always leave extremely full!!  It´s really funny!  And I taught my first lesson on my own, my companion just said "my companion needs to practice his Spanish, can he give a short version of the lesson?" And it went really well! The next day we taught the full lesson completely and together, and it went really well!!  The man, halfway through, turned off the TV of his own accord, and all of a sudden we could all feel the Spirit so clearly!!  It was really amazing!!  I was just bearing testimony that simple things can distract from the Spirit!  

This up coming week we have zone conference about an hour away that will take up almost an entire day!  It should be fun!!

I hope you all have a great week!!

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week 4 (it´s flying by!!)‏

Dear Everybody,

So I´ve had a great week, but it´s gone by so fast!!  I said goodbye to the second group of missionaries here in the CCM!!  There are presently only 33 people here, but tomorrow we´re getting about 27 more people!  It´s so small, we know everyone!!  

So today my companion and I just went out and bought a bunch of cool things!!  We also got candy, which is awesome!!  We´ve become such good friends it´s so cool!!  

This week we´re transitioning into speaking only Spanish, and it´s honestly really difficult!!  But I´ve learned more in the past 4 weeks then I did all 3 years I took Spanish!!  I can talk to some of the natives... if they talk slow... and they all love missionaries!!  

This week we had some exercises to practice different aspects of missionary work!!  We all go ‘street contacting’ in the halls and just walk up to each other and start inviting them to church and such!  It´s a lot of fun!!  

My comp. and I probably had our best lesson ever yesterday!!  It was so spiritual, and we managed to prepare the lesson perfectly to answer the questions the lady had for us!!  Now of course it´s not real, but we are still glad we have the opportunity to learn like this!!

This next week is the start of a two week celebration for Chilean Independence Day, and so we´re going to the local festival and proselyting for the first time!!  It's going to be so scary, but we´re ready for it!!!

I can´t wait to leave the CCM, but at the same time I love it here!!  I hope everyone is doing well!!  I love you guys!!

Love,

Elder Forsgren

Week 2 - CCM

Dear Everybody,

Here in the MTC (CCM) we have a saying; 'the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days' and that is such a true statement!!  It feels like I just wrote to you all yesterday!!  I just want to say that while that saying sounds like just a fun little quote it is because of God's love for us that it is true!  I mean think about all the stuff you could learn if each day was a week!!  We learn A TON everyday!!  Yet all of it goes by in a snap!  We are given the time to learn, yet the time still flies!!  I love that!!

So last time I sent home mail I said I was rooming with 3 others; well sadly now the two Elders (Elder White and Elder Aurich) are leaving for the field!  It is truly a sad day!  In the two weeks I've known them they have been such amazing role models for me!!  It's weird to think they're my age!!

My companion, Elder Despain, and I have bonded so much it's insane!  I don't think there is anything I wouldn't do for him!!  And he has such a strong testimony! That's another great thing about it here; everyone has so much faith, and a testimony to go with it!!  We have on Elder (Elder Jackson) who has been a member of the church 1 year and 5 months and he has already devoted his life to the Lord for 2 years!!  He has so much faith it touches me everyday!!

So this past week (Friday-Saturday) my district fasted for the whole district and one companionship specifically.  This companionship is made of an American who speaks English and a Brazilian who speaks Portuguese and neither speak Spanish!  They really have it rough!  But immediately after the fast we could see changes in their behavior and confidence!!  It's amazing how much God helps us!!

So in lesser news this week we had our first noticeable Earthquake!!  It was really cool!! And I just can't help but love the people here!!  Today while we were out buying stuff this one girl walks up and asks if we are Mormon missionaries and asked how to get to the church and such!! And another guys told us how impressed he was with how we give up everything for Christ!!  It's so nice here!!

I love you all, and really miss you guys!!

Love,

Elder Forsgren