Elder Pomar - Santiago, Chile West Mission

Hey Every one!

So did I get transferred, or did I not? Did I, or did I not? Drum roll please.....

*Drum Roll*

And the answer is... no!! I´m here for 6 more weeks in Los Libertadores! I´m honestly really happy! There is a lot of work that I still have to do here in my ward! My new companion is also from Argentina: Elder Astete. We´re just getting to know each other, but from what I can see he´s a really good guy. I´m looking forward to a lot of success with him!

So, funny story. As I'm walking in the street I see a bunch of people wearing American sports jerseys. Its just a cultural thing here. What I didn´t expect was when this random guy walked by with a LAKE ELSINORE STORM jersey! For all my Murrieta friends, that should make you laugh a bit! Who would´ve known I'd of found that down here!

One more funny story. SO in our ward we have 4 missionaries. One of the missionaries, Elder Banks, who arrived as a greenie with me, struggles a little bit with understanding Spanish. He´s gotten A LOT better these past few months, though. We were sitting in the house of the ward mission leader when he starts using his son that was sitting on the couch to illustrate a point. Out of nowhere, Elder Banks yells " WHAT!?!? HE´S YOUR SON!?" and we just burst out laughing!! We seriously almost died, because we´ve known his son for 3 months now (and he just happens to be named Caleb!) but it wasn´t until that moment that he put 2 and 2 together. We love having Elder Banks in our ward!

Now the spiritual stuff. One of the things that really made an impression on me is a spiritual thought that my ward mission leader shared in Doctrine and Covenants 20:

38 The duty of the elders, priests, teachers, deacons, and members of the church of Christ

That means this section pertains to ALL of us

42 And to teach, expound, exhort, baptize, and watch over the church;

45 The elders are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost, according to the commandments and revelations of God.

46 The priest’s duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament,

47 And visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties.

53 The teacher’s duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them;

54 And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evilspeaking;

55 And see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty

Guys, this is our duty. How often to we actually do it? Do we brush aside the things of God for naught? Its really, really easy to fall into the trap of justifying yourself in not doing it. I did it for 18 years before my mission. We all have something to improve, we just need to humble ourselves before the Lord and do it! One of the key lessons I´ve learned is this: The work of salvation is not just what we do as missionaries, but what we do as Home and Visiting teachers. Its sooo incredibly important. If we want to do the work of the Lord, we have to minister to others.

Love you all and see you next week! I know that my redeemer lives and that he loves me, and you, and all around us. When we humble ourselves before him and have faith in him, miracles happen.

Love,

Elder Pomar