Change number 9/16!‏ (August 24, 2015)

Hey all!

So this week is the start of the 9th change of my mission and I will be staying in Corona Sueca with Elder Tulipano until October it looks like!  It should be a good time, however we are both working on keeping up the good spirits due to our knees and our other fun problems.  We did a lot of paper work recently so that Elder Tulipano can be in Chile legally and that took all of one day, we also had physical therapy for him and X rays for him and we`re just sick of things other than the mission.

However this last week we have had a big focus on Courage.  It was the theme of our most recent Ward Conference (yesterday) and it has gotten me thinking a lot.  I`ve asked myself what is courage in my own words? I haven`t found an exact answer, however it has a lot to do with faith.  We act based on our faith that we know that the Lord will do His part if we go out of our way to do something that we wouldn`t be able to do without His divine help.  We need to work to have courage in all our life.  I would like to invite all people to take courage and act upon the promise that the Book of Mormon gives us.  Read it, ponder it`s message and what it tells you, and ask if it is the truth.  For if you do the Lord will answer you.  This I know by experience.  You will find an answer to your question.  And if it isn`t right, nothing will happen, you will just have a stronger testimony in the fact that the Lord answers prayers, if it is right, it is the most important message in the world.  

I want you all to know that it is true, and that it contains the fullness of the Gospel.  I know this, and I want you all to reap the benefits of that.  I love you all.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

1 year!! and 3 baptisms!!‏ (August 17, 2015)

Hey all!

So I just completed ONE YEAR in the mission!!  It`s been a very short year actually!!  It shocks me just how fast everything has gone by!  In such a little amount of time I have seen a lot of personal spiritual progress and a lot of spiritual progress of the wards I have been in.  I have had 6 companions, 2 wards, 3 sectors, and 6 baptisms and 4 people reactivated.  

This week we also had the baptism of the Reyes family!  It was such an amazing baptism I loved that I could be their for it.  But not only that, Scarlett (the daughter of 8 years) asked if I could perform the ordinance and she was my first ever!!  Sadly I dropped her, because I wasn`t sure how it worked, but in the end what is important is that she got baptized.  

The bishop later talked a lot about how God calls unprepared people to callings of importance (such as Bishop) and trains them in that calling and through that calling.  He focused on one example that made me think a little bit.  He said to Brother Reyes "It is possible that in 1 year I`m sitting on the opposite side of your desk in the bishop`s office" which is really impressive and true.  The Lord calls the weak to strengthen and humble them.  Look and me and my companion.  Together we only have 2 good knees (of 4), we know we can`t do anything without the strength and help of the Lord.  However we are finding it, and seeing our own strength grow every day.

This week has opened my eyes a little bit more as to how I need to work and how I can receive the blessings of the Lord.  I`m so glad to be here in the mission and I know that this Gospel is true.  I hope every one of you can come to that understanding as well.

Les amo muchísimo,

Elder Forsgren

Preaching in the rain‏ (August 10, 2015)

Hello to all people!

This week we had a lot of rain.  An incredible amount actually!  It wasn`t near to more than VA gets in the Summers a lot, however for Chile it was enough to cause nationwide disaster and panda-mania.  We enjoyed it thoroughly!  It has cleared up the smoggy air so much and brightened our spirits a lot.  One day we weren`t allowed to leave the house though, it was so bad.  This week was a little slow on lessons, but the many we had were important, especially for one family.

We are currently working with one family to be baptized this next week.  We`ve been working with them for about 2 months and they`re very excited to be baptized, but we`ve had to push the baptism back 2 weeks already, so we are nervous about them getting discouraged, but they assure us that they aren`t even close to it.  They say that they have made their decision and when the baptism is doesn`t matter, they just want to make the covenant with the Lord.  Everything we explain to them the understand.  At first we had a lot of trouble with the Brother (Brother Reyes) and the Book of Mormon, however he followed the promise and prayed about it and received his answer.  He knows it to be true now.  We`re very excited for that.

One theme that we are talking about a lot in our ward is the theme of Eternal Families.  We are talking about God`s plan and how we cannot achieve everything without an Eternal Spouse and how through this commandment we have the blessing of being with them and our children for all time and eternity.  It`s a wonderful experience to know that I was born into such a covenant and that the people who i`ve known since my birth (or theirs) will never leave my side.  I love them all very much and know that they are my family for the eternities.  I cannot wait to see them again, but until then, they are with me in my heart.

I hope you all have a good week and can see the blessings of your Heavenly Father in your lives.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week of success without half our hours‏ (August 3, 2015)

Dear everyone,

This past week as a whole was a miracle for me and my companion.  We both have to work half hours still, however even with half hours we managed to have one of our best weeks we had had in a long time.  We worked more in our first sector together than we had in a long time and we managed to pull out a lot of success.  A great part of these were teaching family members of a Recent Convert and helping them understand a little better the Gospel. The number of lessons we had in the end was just shy of the goal that president has set for every companionship for every week, and doing that with half hours testified to us that we can accomplish it when the health restrictions are released.  We are a lot more confident now.  

I`ve also been learning how to cook this week and I`ve been working a lot with eggs more than anything.  However I also tried pancakes again and they actually worked out!  Today my comp wants to try something strange.  I don`t have a clue what it is, but I`m excited.  

I love you all, and I want you to remember that.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

P.S. so president has asked us that we use the hour we have to use email specifically to write to family, and I`ve prayed about it a lot trying to have the strength to do that, and it`s exactly what I`m going to do.  This doesn`t mean you can`t write me, it just means that I will not be responding over email.  However if you can send me your home address with you email, I`ll do my best to get back to you as fast as possible.  It may just take some time with postage.

Crazy week!!‏ (July 27, 2015)

Dear everyone,

So this week has been so long, however it has been so satisfying at the same time.  We had a lot of work to do with a crazy number of doctor appointments at the same time.  And all this with working half time!!  So one piece of crazy news is that starting next week the president has informed us that we will only have 1 hour to write home on Mondays, which is actually normal for missionaries, so I`m not surprised nor disappointed.  It just means I`m going to have to write faster and I`m going to have to write more letters in my free time.  

This week for us has been very spiritual.  Full of finding peoples doubts, helping them understand doctrine, and then bearing a testimony that has the Spirit testifying of every word we say just after we say it.  I`m so glad that I have the opportunity to be a servant of the Lord in this short amount of time and that i can be an instrument in His hands, showing to others the blessings His Gospel brings.  

One thing that we need to get better at is that we need to talk with more people.  Right now we aren`t contacting as much as we should be.  We`re making goals to get better at that, because that really is why we`re here.  We need to humble ourselves enough to realize that even though we are doing well right now, we aren`t doing well enough still.  We need to learn that we can never stop looking for more people to teach.  

All in all it has been a fun week.  And everyone is telling us of how much of a special companionship we`re going to have because we are both going through so much together we will never forget it.

I love you all so much and I hope that you all have a good week.

Mucho cariño,

Elder Forsgren

Though not mentioned in this email Alex tore his PCL.

And it came to pass in the 2nd year of the reign of Renè Videla, began the 8th transfer of Elder Forsgren‏

Hola todos!

So their have been a fair amount of changes today alone!  This week has been a little slow but full of action for us!  Today Elder Ramos and Elder Tibbitts (both of the Elders from the other half of the ward) had transfers, but that isn`t the hectic part; they aren`t sending Elders to their sector, they just doubled the size of ours...  We now have the entire ward to work in, and we have to keep up with the high speed pace that Elder Ramos and Elder Tibbitts set.  So this next change we will be working really hard.  We also now have a house of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a fair sized living room all to ourselves!  So we`ve learned the lesson "Where much is given, much is required" and we will be enjoying working hard this next transfer. 

This past week we got rain and we got a lot!!  It made me so happy, I`ve missed the rain so much!  It ended a very long drought in Santiago, so the people hare really happy, however, no one knows how to live in rain here, so they`re all a little ticked at the same time.  It was really funny, there was an ocean outside our apartments yesterday, and we had to go out in boots, umbrellas, and plastic bags to protect us and our scriptures from getting soaked.  Then it stopped raining hard...  after we left in all our gear.  But it still gave us a nice sprinkle for a good while, and so I was thoroughly pleased.  

Our ward this past week decided to do a typical food from Chile activity and it was really fun!  I enjoyed eating all the different types of Chilean food.  It actually inspired me to try something typical from my house, so I tried to make pancakes.  It went less than splendidly, and they turned out to be little weird looking things.  However, with a little bit of syrup they tasted really good!  

I would now like to testify to you all the importance of the Gospel of Christ.  He has revealed this Gospel to us throughout all history through His prophets.  He has given it to us so that we can receive the blessings that we need to come unto Him and our Heavenly Father after this life.  He knows we can`t do this without His divine help, and so he has sent us prophets throughout all times (especially now) so that we actually have it.  I know that He has called prophets for us in these days so that we can benefit from the same blessings that the people in the age of Adam, Moses, Isiah, and even Jesus Himself received.  I know that in this day Thomas Spencer Monson is a living prophet of His and I know that we have the Gospel because He revealed these things unto Latter-Day prophets.  

I love you all and share these things with you all in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

"Welcome to IHOP this wonderful evening, My name is Elder Forsgren, I`ll be your server, and may I recommend the "eating in home"?  It`s cheaper and our chef didn`t make it!"

Hand update

4th of July and Chile won the cup!!‏ (July 6, 2015)

Hey all!

So I`d like to start with a grand HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!  I really wish I could be in the States to celebrate this holiday!!  However there was plenty of celebration here because in the Copa América here, Chile beat Argentina, winning the cup for the first time in History!! So all of the 4th we were inside because of the danger of the celebrations of the Chileans.  It was a long day and night...  

This week not much really happened, but we worked a lot for the time we had to work, and in that time we helped a lot of people.  We`re even finding ways of being useful from the house!  While we were in the house one day we decided to take the Area Book and call the numbers of people we didn`t know!  It turned out to be really useful and help a lot of people in the end, so we`re all very happy here!  

As a mission, we are reading the Book of Mormon together.  2 chapters everyday for 5 months and then when we finish we wait a month and start again.  Well July 1st we started for the second time and I can`t tell you all how much waiting we felt in June.  I was so anxious to start it again, and now I`m just absorbed!  I love this book so much and I testify of it`s truthfulness.  I`ve put it to the test for myself and it has changed my life and my perspective of life as a whole.  I know I`m a child of God and I know that He loves me enough to talk to me and tell me what is true.  I know these things through reading the Holy scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and praying about the truth of the things I read.  I`ve seen my testimony just increase so much in the measly 6 days that I`ve read about 10 chapters, and I`m so glad I can see this change.  I want to help everyone to have this testimony and blessing that I`ve found.

I love you all, please take care this week.  Remember that each and everyone of you is a child of the Most High.

En el sagrado nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Elder Alexander Jay Forsgren

The Americans

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