Here it goes again! Live from the air conditioned office in Maipú Santiago de Chile.

I SAW NATHAN STRATFORD ON MONDAY!!!!! Since we go to pick up the greenies from the Chile MTC, I was just chilling around when out of nowhere I here "Elder Pomar!" and I look and there is Elder Stratford returning from exercises. The meeting was glorious! I hadn’t seen him in 3 years, and so my heart was gladdened. A tender Mercy of the Lord. 

So now we have new friends in the office! Elder Harries, my MTC companion was called as an assistant, so we see each other everyday now! He´s such a great guy. A really focused missionary. Elder Allen got changed to the coast, to San Antonio, so we were sad to say goodbye. One friend parts, and another comes. That’s life for ya!

I just love how much I feel the spirit in the mission. I’ve never felt it so much in my entire life. The other day we were teaching 2 investigadores about the atonement, and as we began to testify I just felt the greatest feeling of happiness! This is why I came! To testify that Jesus is the Christ, and that all that are baptized in his name can be born again and live with our Father in their families forever. That’s what is all about. Everything is thanks to him. Every lesson, every contact, every person that gets baptized, every feeling of comfort, its because of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have come to know him more in these few months than in many years before the mission. I still have a lot to go, but I can testify with all the vigor of my heart that I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. And all I have to do is take his hand and let him guide me. 

I hope you all are striving to come closer to Christ. It’s the most beautiful thing in this world. Have a great day!

Love,

Elder Pomar :)

I feel really weird right now. I swear that it was yesterday that they called me to the office, and now a whole transfer has passed. Time in the office is non-existent. Its like as if Han Solo said "punch it, Chewy!" and we are travelling at the speed of light. But that's ok! I'm having such a fun time here. The guys in the office are great. We're playing soccer in the mornings for exercise, we have to leave on trips with the pensionists, and we just have a ball!

So we had a miracle on Sunday. We went to go look for William and Jocelyn to go to church on Sunday, and they just moaned and said, "I don’t feel good". They had so happily committed to go to church the day before, and they have a baptismal date for the 13th of February, so we were more than disappointed. Sitting and playing the piano during sacrament meeting, I look up and to my surprise, the two just magically appeared in the row in front of me. I was like, WHAT? I couldn’t believe it. They are such amazing guys!

Here's another funny thing: so since the number of missionaries has been dropping, a lot of zones are getting smaller. The poor Maipu zone was reduced to just 7 companionships, and after thinking about it, President Barreiros decided to do something to excite the zone: He placed us and the pensionists a district of the Maipu zone! Its really weird because all of us are experienced missionaries who have trained and been district leader, and our district leader is in his first transfer being a leader. It’s pretty comical! Sometimes he feels really awkward, but we encourage and help him. It’s a good time!

Oh my gosh, we had a worldwide training meeting with the 12 apostles via satellite, and it just absolutely blew my mind. Like, my brain just literally exploded from all the spiritual information that we received. I’m sorry for being so informal, but Elder Bednar is such a boss! :D I was really humbled during the meeting. I have so much to improve to become a preach my gospel missionary, but I’m going to do it with the Lord's help. One key lesson I have learned in the mission: Pride will cause your fall. And pride includes depending on your own self to do the things that only the Lord can do. Trust in Him, Trust in his spirit, and everything will go well. And keep the commandments. It’s the only way to happiness.

I know that Christ is my savior. He knows my most inner desires, and he gives me comfort in my times of need. Just as the bible does, the Book of Mormon has helped me grow closer to Christ than by any other book. Joseph Smith really is a prophet of God called to restore the kingdom of God on the earth. God is not dead, and that is why he sends young missionaries like me to preach the conditions of  repentance to all the world, that all may be saved in the Celestial kingdom of God

Catch you all next week!

love,

Elder Pomar

Hey everyone! Its good to be with you again. I know that so many of you have been anxiously waiting for the next episode of THE OFFICE: SECRETARIES VS ASSISTANTS, so I wont keep you waiting :) 

It’s so awesome here. I’ve had such good experiences this week! Sunday we were going to go tracting, and we were having no luck. Out of nowhere, we see some one walking towards us in a white shirt and tie. It was Juan!!! Our best accompanier. He asked if he could go knock doors with us and he did! The first door we knocked opened, and the person inside started to talk with us. Turns out she and her family are immigrants from Peru. We asked if we could come in to say a prayer with her, and she consented. We invited her younger brother to participate as well. After the prayer and getting to know the two, we quickly realized that they didn’t understand much about God as we know him. all three of us began to testify of how loving our heavenly father is, and we introduced the topic  of baptism. After showing an illustration of the baptism of Christ, the spirit was palpable. SOOOOO strong!! We took a pause and we asked her and her brother: what do you feel. She thought for a moment, and said " a peace." We invited them to be baptized and they both readily accepted. Its soooo cool how God prepares people!

Now a funnier story: We went to the house of a less active member to see if they were there and they let us in. The grandmother and the grandson were present. The grandmother told us that her granddaughter wanted to talk to us, and that she was just in the bathroom. So we waited, and she came out. Her face was wet, as if she had washed it, and she sat down along side her family. She began to tell us how she was looking for a church that filled her since her last church disappointed her. We were excited, but right when we were about to begin teaching, the three that we were teaching started to quarrel. The grandmas like "you guys don’t show that you love me!" and the grandchildren are like "you don’t ever let us help you! You`re the stubborn one!" Then they start explaining to us their dramas and each member of the family begins to justify their selves to us all the mean while 40 minutes have passed and the face of nataly is still wet. Then she begins to justify herself and while she’s talking she starts to peel off a type of moisturizing beauty mask, and at that point I was dying of laughter within myself! We had no control over the lesson whatsoever. 

Well, those are some experiences from Chile. Hope you all are enjoying winter. See you all next time!!

Elder Pomar :) 

You heard it! Transfers within the Transfers!

It’s honestly the weirdest and funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire mission. Fortunately, I didn’t get transfers, but like 30 missionaries got transferred half way through the cycle. A ton a whitewashes, a ton of confusion, and a ton of fun! Now I can say that I have seen it all!

So to make it short, cause my time got eaten up again (sorry!) Nicole didn’t get baptized in the end. We had the font ready. The members in the chapel, the clothing ready, and when we went to go pick her up, her mom came out more enraged than I have ever seen. Nicole wants to get baptized, but now we just have to soften the heart of her mom. I know its possible!

Working hard here in Maipu. The ward is great, my comp is great, and I’m learning a lot of valuable lessons. One of which is the danger of pride. Almost all the character flaws we can have come from it, and it’s a big stumbling block. Humility is the key to progress and happiness. Love you all and Ill write more next week!

Love,

Elder Pomar 

That could me a good TV show. I’m sure it would win the hearts of thousands of LDS viewers all over the world. They´d laugh and cry with the stressful and sometimes ridiculously funny things that happen in: The Office

How you all doing? Hope you had great new years!! I’m a little short on time so I will make it quick. Here are the highlights of the week:

1) NICOLE GETS BAPTIZED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!! She is the 2nd baptism in our sector in 4 years, so that’s an accomplishment!!

2) I drove stick for the first time the other day! I crossed about half of Santiago to go pay a bill in a big ford truck. I stalled the car a few times but we´re A-Okay! God protected us a lot

3) experiencia espiritual de la semana!!!!!!

So we were going to a back up plan two days ago cause our appointment had fallen through, and out of nowhere, we see one of our less active members, and he starts saying "ELDERS!! COME WITH ME NOW!!" so we followed him. He took us to a house, knocked on the door, and started arguing with his friend so that we could go in his house. The man obliged, and when we entered the house , he softens 1000%. I bore my testimony more powerfully than I had done in my entire mission, and this man let us come back to visit him and said he will go to church tomorrow. Miracle!

Love you!!

Elder pomar