Monday, February 27, 2012

Weekly Letter

HEY EVERYBODY!!! :-D HOWZIT GOING?!?! :-D
SO thats it. Choro McConnell is off to Japan. Thats crazy :-D
Something funny, Choro in Spanish (or at least in Chile) is someone
who thinks he can fight everybody and WIN. Ive met a lot of
``Choros`` here in Chile and they were all little punks but being a
Choro Elder might be a good thing, thinking you can take on the whole
world with the gospel. Its kind of an unfair fight, 50000
missionaries against the world. MAybe we should send less
missionaries :-D
So things are going good here in the mission Chile Concepciòn
south side. I saw all the plaques in the picture and I feel proud to
be in this mission :-D THEre were two people that I couldnt recognize
:-D GO LAKEPOINT!!. ANyways, things here are good. A baptismal date
fell because Fabian didnt go to church :-P But we will fix that. We
have a new person who we are teaching, Brad Villegas. He is 9 years
old and his older brother was baptized recently. We taught them both
and their little sister about Lehis dream and the iron rod and they
are now all reading the Book of mormon :-D Brad was in Omni the last
time I checked :-D We kind of cheated and said ``To you want to get
lost and fall into forbidden paths?`` and they were like ``. . . Uh No
please.`` So we were like READ YOUR SCRIPTURES AND PRAY!!! and it
worked :-D Thanks Lehi.
A cool spiritual moment I had this week, we were teaching a less
active member who loves the missionaries but just doesnt go to church.
HEr names Caty and shes 16. Shes going through that rebelious age of
doing crazy things( she has the WEIRDEST haircut, its like a buzz cut
but only on the sides). BUt honestly I dont feel that she does
everything that she does because she likes it because she seemed
really lost. We came over to talk, just chatting and the conversation
turned to the church and she said the coolest thing. ¨I know that I
can be forgiven for what ive done and if I serve a mission and bring
souls to god, even better¨. I FELT IT. THere are several moments in
my mission when the spirit testified of a specific truth and this was
one of them. So I told her, What you said is true. I love saying
that. Truth is awesome :-D Please pray for her. Her name is Caty
Soto, and shes a little lost but at the end of the day a fantastic
person who will change the world. She just doesnt see that yet.
THAnks :-D

Elder McCOnnell, You are awesome. Dont forget.
So until the next, Mom Dad Sam(Elder McCOnnell), Meri, Grace, and
Sophie, I love you all and BE HAPPY!!
SIncerely
Elder JAmie McConnell

Monday, February 20, 2012

Weekly EMAIL

HEY EVERYBODY!! :-D HOWZIT GOING?!?!?!
Hey guys, how`re things? I hope good. SOunds like the despidida
is getting coplicated :-P Thats never fun. But thats ok, Things will
work out. Pres Hinckley said that AND HES A PROHPET. Prophets rule.
SO Sam, YOu`re on your way out. I know its hard, but you are
going to see everybody a LOT sooner than you think. Right now thats
really hard to believe, and honestly I don`t think you realize it
until like 20 months into the mission. But that day will come :-)
So things are going good here in Lota Bajo. Honestly things were a
little complicated, we had some companionship issues but we were ok at
least :-D Problem was that we weren`t able to work a LOT this week
:-) But thats ok. Thats why repentance is so handy, you stop doing
what you did before and you never do it again, genius:-D
FAbian is doing good. He can`t get baptized this week, cuz he
didnt go to church yesterday :-P BUT HE WILL BE BAPTIZED!!! Just not
this week :-) Keep Praying. The other investigators we couldn`t see
but I think SOMEBODY coughgodcough kept them safe. At least I hope.
THe attendance here is on average more than one hundred. Last week
it was 150. ITs a good branch and in fact, the city had a ward and
two branches in it at some point but something happened :-P Thats why
we`re here, to fix that :-D The members are really cool , and we`re
really cool so its a perfect fit :-D THAts one thing sam, where ever
you go, try and share something or at least ask your comp to do it.
Even if they are long time members, leave something behind.
I sent letters today so those should arrive sometime in two weeks.
It also has a picture card in it :-D Sorry for not sending one in so
long :-P :-(
Something I learned this week that was really cool. The 2000
stripling Warriors were not afraid to lose their lives, WHY?. I
listened to a talk by John Bytheway and the answer was ``We are not
afraid because we are clean. We have nothing to fear. If we die,
we`ll be with God, if we live, He`ll be with us`` HE said something
else interesting ``You know whats better than happiness, Peace.`` If
you are doing what you should and things aren`t working out ``Be still
and know that I m God``, and things will work out. Maybe not now, or
soon, or in this life, but it`ll work out :-D I like believing in all
this because its easier when you believe :-D
Thats it guys :-) Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie, I love you all
SO MUCH And BE HAPPY!!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

Monday, February 13, 2012

Dearest everybody. HOWZIT GOING?!?!
Hey guys, how`re things? :-D How is LIFE :-D On this side of the
world its awesome :-D Live it up. Every moment. :-) (Sophie, don`t
fall down :-D)
SOOO. I have decided, after a quite long session of reading,
praying, pondering, thinking, whatever, that, I am going to stick
around a little while longer here in Chile. Sam, I`m really sorry
that I`m not going to see you before you go. It was really hard to
decide. I honestly would never have missed that opportunity if it
wasn`t for the mission. Ever. BUT, President Martinez said that I
can call on monday next week for an hour to talk with you :-) So I`m
not completely going to not be there. I hope you understand.
I spent this last week thinking of several things over a very long
period of time. The mission in itself, what I`ve learned here (and
THAT is a lot), the people I`ve met, all the things that are forever,
lots of stuff. Elder Demke just left for UTah :-D My father in the
mission, Elder Valdivia also is heading home, to Arica Chile. You can
see it in all of there faces. ``I can`t believe its over``. I
thought to myself why. And I realized its because the mission is
awesome. How can someone destroy their feet and burn their skin and
withstand ridicule and rejection on a VERY regular basis for two
years? Because its one of the greatest things he or she will do in his
or her life. So much of what happens in the mission will last through
the eternities and that is a long time. Mom, Dad, I`m sorry I won`t be home so soon to see you and for school. Sam, I`m sorry we won`t see eachother with our eyes for
a little while. Meri, I`m sorry that I won`t be home soon to talk and
hang out. Grace, I`m sorry that I won`t be home soon to play with you.
And Sophie, I`m sorry that I won`t be home for your birthday. BUT
we will regardless have another birthday when I arrive. ANd
June isn`t all that far off :-D And Sam, two years FLY when you do it
right. I promise.
We`re doing good here in LOTA :-D mY new companion is called Elder
Montalbàn and he`s Chilaen who speaks perfect English. He`s fairly
new but VERY awesome and we`re going to have a ton of fun. Our
investigators are called Fabian, Margarita, Victoria, Bido and
CEsar. Fabian and Margarita have been going to church for a little
while now and Victoria the granddaughter of Margarita went yesterday.
She isn`t sure about god but we`ve been testifying a ton about him so
we`ll help her with that :-D Bido also went yesterday and his older
brother is a member already so we`re helping him out. and Cesar
already wants to be baptized but needs to quit smoking so we`re going
to fix that. :-D
Thats basically it guys :-) so until the next, Mom Dad Sam Meri
Grace and Sophie, I love you all So Much and BE HAppY!!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell
p.s. I read the miracle of forgiveness in spanish the other day.
Pres Kimball was pretty heavy duty

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Weekly Letter

HEY EVERYBOSY!!! :-D HOWZIT GOING!?!?! (I put the S on purpose)
So to get things straight, Sams going to the MTC on the 22nd? Thats
too bad, the waiting game is the worst :-D
Hey guys, How`re things? Hey Sam I like your talk. I wish I had
typed mine. I cant wait to take your homecoming talk and compare the
two :-D But that might take a while :D
So things are going good here in Lota. It`s hot but thats better
than rain so no complaints. We just entered into February (spelling),
Kevin`s got a month left, I have a little more :-P Crazy stuff :-D
Sorry for not writing monday. We had to go to a conference and we
thought we`d have time to write during the day but nope :-) We`re fine
though :-D once a month on a monday we have that conference so it
should happen again maybe two more times.
SO . . . one runs out of things to say after so long :-D Oh i got
it. I learned this week that Sin is not self sufficient. IF someone
sins long enough they will lose everything. Sin needs a constant
import of fuel to live. It gives nothing that lasts. King Noah was a
parasite to his people but because it was fun in the moment they
followed him. There are however people who appear to have a lot and
that do not live a ery Christ like life but I bet that if we looked
closely that they are constantly feeding a creature that cannot be
filled. Gambling, you get money you use it to gamble. Lying, you
sacrifice honesty to keep a lie alive. Greed, you must keep what you
have and have to have more. There are several examples more but thats
enough :D
Something cool this week, A guy yesterday sincerely asked us what
the Book of Mormon was and naturally we sincerely responded. He
wasn`t interested in the church YET but he did want to kno about this
little blue book. We explained that it was the word of god (And if
anyone who is reading this doesn`t know, believe, or is unaware of
this fact, it is true) and he seemed interested, not crazy head over
heels baptize me interested but he wanted to know a little more. He
asked where he could go to get a copy and I almost screamed `` In My
BACKPACK!!`` and I whipped one out and put it in his hands. I then
had the thought, ``How sad is it that there aren`t more people who ask
us `where can I get these books, the scriptures?`` NEVER unappreciate
the scriptures. There was a LOT of suffering so that you can have
them in your hands today.
Thats it for me guys :-D M;om Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie, I love
you all and BE HAppY!1
Sincerely
Elder JAmie McConnell