What’s up everyone!

Transfers came and went, and here I ended up! My sector is the most north of the mission on the coast, and borders with the mission Viña del Mar. It’s sooo beautiful here. Literally a different world than the city. We have forest, hills and beach. and the sector is HUGE. My new companion is Chilean!! His name is Elder Araya from Iquique. Were both super pumped to start this new transfer, and we have high goals. Now we just need the faith! (And the smarts to not crash on my new mountain bike haha!)

It’s been a little sad leaving my first sector. Los Libertadores, like all places had its challenges. I’ve grown a lot in my 6 months there, and I keep growing every day. I made a lot of friends there, and met some of the most amazing people, but like with everything, the only thing consistent is change. 

I’ve been really paying attention in my studies and in the conferences we’ve been having as a mission, and I’ve come to note 2 things: First, change yourself before you invite others to do the same. Its easy to get caught up in telling everyone what they have to do, but we must always ask us one of my favorite questions in the scriptures:

"Lord, is it I?" (Matt. 26:22)

I know that as we always strive to correct ourselves first, then we will be able to teach others in the most powerful way possible: The Example.

The second thing is that the only thing that stops us from achieving our goals is ourselves. If we have the faith (and its the will of the Lord), we can do anything. However, not just any faith can bring about the miracle of achieving our goals. It needs to be faith founded firmly in the trust of Christ. Work like everything depends on you, and trust like everything depends on God.

Love you all and hope everything is going great. Have a great day! or not. The choice is always yours!

Elder Pomar

What’s up guys!

A lot of things have been happening with the winding down of my 4th transfer here.  There have been a lot of hardships and a lot of joys.  I´ve really learned "Patience in mine afflictions" so to speak.  My sector is a good one.  It just has its challenges!  Our mission president has implemented a lot of new rules, so we have more opportunities for blessings!  Its almost like we're slowly converting into the army (which makes a lot of sense since Pres. Barreiros is ex military!), but its good.  It keeps us focused and disciplined. 

What’s been a killer lately is the sun.  The ozone layer burst here in Santiago, so there's a lot of UV exposure.  It’s actually discolored a little part of my neck, so I've been taking extra precautions.  Some days your eyes just bug you all day.  Before I came on the mission, I would have been sick of it already (or "chato" as they say here), but a key lesson I´ve learned is that you have to keep going.  You choose to keep on smiling and working hard and at the end of the day, everything turns out alright.

The Lord is blessing us with new families and humble investigators.  We taught 14 new people this week in their homes, which is incredible for us here!  I´m just glad that I can be a part of the process.

Walter F. Gonzalez of the Presidency of the 70 visited us the other day.  He taught us a lot of how we need to be more than just a missionary, rather a representative of Jesus Christ, giving hope through his sacrifice.  He is the key to everything we do.

I heard a great scripture from Doctrine and Covenants there:

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)

That's all for today. Love you all and catch you later!

Elder Pomar

P.S. I didn't take pictures this week so we took a few selfies while traveling to get our visas taken care of and a picture of the discoloration on my skin. I´m putting band-aids on it every day to avoid sun exposure. Enjoy!

P.P.S When you have dinner with the missionaries, help them be obedient and have it for only 1 hour. Love you!

It’s like hitting a brick wall (but the wall will eventually lose!)

Buena Buena Mis Amigos!

This week has been a little draining. Elder Astete and I have had to fight for our success. Our appointments have been falling through, investigators haven’t progressed, but its life. At some moments I felt like a zombie walking through the street haha! We have been getting discouraged because of our lack of results, and We´ve been praying real hard. In spite of all that, we have had some bright moments of the week!

We found this man named Mauro while tracting, and out of nowhere, we began teaching the restoration. He readily accepted everything we taught, (and was surprised how it was so similar to what he believes), and accepted the baptismal invitation! The planned day is the 22 of Feb, so please pray for him! He doesn’t have a phone, and its a little difficult to find him, so we just have to hope that everything goes well.

We went to do a follow up visit with a contact we had made, and out came this guy in  a mickey mouse like wizard robe, long hair, and drunk like a sailor. I had to really control myself to not burst out laughing! He just kept saying things that didn’t really make sense. It was highly entertaining and helped break the monotony. 

One of the biggest things I´ve noticed is the difference the Book of Mormon makes. I’ve made a goal to read the 4 gospels before next Saturday, (and I´m in John 18, so I should be good), and so I´ve been using almost all my study time for that. Today, I picked up the Book of Mormon and started reading in Alma, and I swear I felt this huge peace come over me. The Bible is so important to study, but we cannot stop reading the Book of Mormon. These past few weeks without it have really taught me that lesson

I know that all these trials are happening for a reason. God has a lot of blessings awaiting us here in Los Libertadores, but we have to work hard to pass the test. Life is difficult, but the wonderful thing about challenges is that they always pass. See you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Pomar

PS THANKS for the cookies and Portugues books!! I love them!!

Hey hey hey everyone!

I´m gonna have to write this one fast cause they cut our computer time, but its all good! A few fun experiences:

I had the longest street contact of my life the other day. We talked to this man outside his house and after a few minutes, we asked if we could go inside to share. He said he couldn’t because he was just renting a room and he couldn’t, but he wanted us to explain our message right there. So, we basically share all of the restoration with him, and then he went on this rant about how he doesn’t believe in religions and how he´s not sure who God really is and finally told us that he wasn´t interested. I checked my watch after, and I realized we were in the contact for 1 HOUR.  Life happens haha!

We´ve been teaching this Protestant man, and its been the saddest thing. He´s a pastor, and knows the Bible in and out, so my companion spent a while lightly "debating" (I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was bible bashing), and at the end, we told him that he needed to pray and ask God if what we taught was true, and he refused! He thinks that he already knows, and he´s not humble enough to ask. It’s alright though. It was kind of funny to watch him and my companion go at it haha!

The biggest thing I´ve learned this week is the concept of consecration. Our mission president gave a whole special training meeting about it. He talked about how in the mission, we need to consecrate, our selves, or offer our whole being to the Lord. A lot of the times there are just little things that keep us from giving ourselves to the Lord in all our lives. Sometimes its listening to our favorite song that we know isn’t appropriate, sometimes its talking bad about someone just one time, sometimes its thinking that we can relax when we know that we have to do our duties to the Lord. In all respects, if we want to experience all the blessings the Lord has for us, we have to be willing to give our all too. 

Even though it’s been really hard and tiring, I´ve felt the spirit strongly as I´ve been here. My family is being blessed in ways I never could´ve imagined, and it all comes down to the mission.

Love you all and see you next week!

Love,

Elder Pomar