Unplanned but ok

Illapel Desert.  (Looks like central Utah to me)

Hola familia

Estoy muy bien. I had a great week in my sector. Right now we are working with many people who have progressed and have asisted many times but they dont want to comite themselves to baptism. There is a young man we are teaching named M and we had some great lessons with him this week. He says that he knows that the church is true and that joseph smith was a prophet but we didnt know what his doubt was. This week we had a really spiritual lesson and were able to find out his doubt. he is worried about his future. He wants to be a professional soccer player and he was worried about how the church might affect that and thinking about his family. As I have explained in the past. Here in chile it is really common that people are not marriend they just live together. He is also worried about that compromise to marry. We shared with him about why it is important and how we can have trust in god. He still has been a little worried and unsure about things. he has had a hard time reading the book of mormon so we told him that he really needed to read the book to find out if it is true. It made me think about my life. I like things planned as some of you know. I get pretty stressed about a future unplanned. The mission has changed that a little being that I dont have everything planned. I thought about my life and my worries that I have about my future. After thinking it I realized that I still have a lot of things unplanned and I have no idea what I will do with things like school, family, ect. but I realized that I do know what I will be doing with the little things that are most important. I know that I will be reading the scriptures each day and going to church and the temple each week. I know that I will have a family that supports me. I know that I will be alright if I keep doing what I need to be doing. I hadnt realized this change in me until this moment. As I have learned more about what is most important to me in the world and in life all the other disisions and things dont take up my worries. I just focus on the things I have planned. That is what the gosple can give us if we let it. We can live a life without worries when we focus on obeying the commandments and doing the little things that matter most. Then we can just trust god that all will work out ok as we are obedient. I realize more and more each week that I have learned and am learning so much each day. I love it. Each day I write things in my planner when I feel like I need to write it down in my journal. Then when I have time I write it down. I know that at some point in my life I am going to be so grateful for having written all these experiences down. 

Well today I dont have much time. As a zone leader each week my companion and I have to send a weekly report with the investigators to the assistents and this week it was my turn to do it so there was a lot to do. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love

Elder Hamilton

Back to Work in the Deseret

 Last picture with the office

 On the bus to Illapel

New District in Illapel

Hola familia

Well it is a little wierd having my pday on a monday but I am very happy to be out in the field working in a sector all day. I never realized until I left how much stress I always had in the office with all the extra responsabilities. It was so great and I learned so much from it and now I am so happy to be out in the field. Literally FIELD. I am out in the middle of noware. haha. So I am in a place called Illapel. Yay I always have wanted to go to the north. It isnt very far north but Like you saw in the picture I had to go on the bus for 3 hours and then take another bus for 1.5 hours. So I am a little farther from Viña now. It is a little wierd because I have always been really close to a bigger city and this is a small town in comparasion. I really like it a lot. I am here now as a Zone leader in the zone of Illapel.  The zone of Illapel has 14 missionaries in three little towns, illapel, salamanca, and los vilos. They are all about an hour away from eachother so we have to travel a lot to get places. There are not very many members here in my branch there were 34 people asisting including 6 missionaries. There is a lot of work to do here. This zone has struggled a lot these last few months and we are hoping that we can help the area do better. My companions name is elder Enright he is from colorado. We were in the MTC together and got to the mission at the same time so we knew eachother a little bit before hand. I have always wanted to be with one of the missionaries from my group so I am really excited about that. He is a really great missionary who is really diligent in all he does. I am excited to learn a lot from him. As a zone leader we are in charge of the zone. talking with the district leaders each night and having interchanges with all the missionaries. We are really trying to animate the zone more because that has been difficult for the zone. 

This week I have learned a lot in church and in my studies. This morning I was studying Jesus the Christ about the premortal life with Christ and how 1/3 fought with Satan and the others fought with Christ, at least that is what I always thought, but not everyone else fought with christ some simply just didnt have an opinion and didnt fight on either side. These people also earned life here on the earth. As I read this I thought about how that is not what I want. I dont just want to win life by watching I want to be fighting. I think that in this life just watching isnt an option we must fight or we will loose with satan. Also in my reading in the book of mormon I loved Alma 26:11-12 when Ammon is talking about his strength coming from the lord and not from himself. I have seen diferences in my life when I have relied completely on the lords strength and when I have tried to rely on my strength. Just this week as I left the office I realized how much I have grown to rely on the lord. With all that I had to do in the office I was praying and relying more on him that in anyother time of my life. Now I am striving to keep relying on him because I know that without him we are nothing. 

I am so happy to be out working again. I thought that time would go a little slower and that the days would feel longer but I have been so surprised at how fast time has gone this week. 

I love you all so much. I am glad to hear that all it well. 

Les quiero mucho.

Elder Hamilton

In doing some research(thank goodness for the internet) Tynan's companion's name is Kegan Enright from Colorado Springs. He has a twin in Argentina and a sister in Houston on missions- so never feel sorry for yourself to have one missionary out.  I found his blog, but we had better see if he likes Tynan before I post the address haha.  CH

 Elder Kegan Enright

 View from the bus to Illapel

 Food Fair

 Views in Illapel

 These photo's showed up on Facebook, no idea where they are taken

My son Nathan in Nashville TN sent these pictures today, they are having a huge ice storm

CHURRO!

Hola Familia

This week was a very great week with a bunch of fun different things. First off last saturday I ate a CHURRO yay my first churro since disneyland a year and a half ago. There are always people selling food in the street like churros, empanadas, sopapilla, and other sweets like pie. but it isnt the best to buy from these people becuase who knows how it was cooked and for how long they have been sitting out in the sun. so I have never been able to by a churro even though I was dieing to try one. Finaly we went to a art market and they had a store that sells churros. So I thought that it was ok becuase it was an astablished place haha. It was good and full of dulce de leche in the middle! Then on sunday we had lunch with a gringo family Aka a family that is from the USA. It was cool and in english. We ate Hot dogs and hamburgers with pasta salad and watermellon. It was very american we loved it. And the view from their house was so beautiful. They live in a place called Reñaca which is where all the tourists go. so it is close to the beach. 

In the things more spiritual. We had a very great activity on Saturday night that was a lot of fun. We talked about the family and the importance of the family. Two primary kids got up and bore their testimonies about the family and it was so cute. How grateful I am for a eternal family so that we can be together forever. The world is all lost. It is the only way we can say it. They are lost in sin and lies. We have a great mesage in our lives about how the family can be together forever. It is worth fighting for everything that this brings. I have learned that there are a lot of fights that we have to fight in life but it is all worth it. I remember the pioneers who died going to zion becuase they knew the fight was worth it to be sealed in the temple as a family. I am so grateful for that sealing that my family has that holds us together as long as we keep our covenants. We have been working with a less active endowed member and we have been able to see a lot of progress with him. He talks about when he reads his patriarchal blessing and all of the things that God has for him. He hopes for an eternal family and that is where his goal should be. He has started reading the book of mormon and praying again and has been able to feel the spirit in his life again. We are also working with a family that is reactivating and their 2 daughter are going to be baptized this month. They also are working towards this goal. It doesnt just stop at baptism for anyone we need to do more and we are trying to teach them that. They have really progressed too. The sister has a calling now and the brother has started asisting church for the three hours. It is so awesome to see what this eterna promise does for people so they can come closer to god. 

In my last week in the office I didnt do any of my old responsabilities. I left it all to my companion and he did a great job. I was busy getting things ready for the mission leader counsel that we had yesterday and the president gave me a special responsability that is a little differenet than what a missionary would be doing. I am selling stuff. haha. All my KSL and ebay skills have really come in handy. So like I said a few weeks ago we are closing a lot of areas and houses so we have a lot of stuff that we need to get rid of so I have been taking picture, posting them in a website that is called YAPO and selling them. We have been able to sell a lot of stuff so that has been great. I have liked it. It is really different but it reminds me of mom posting things on ebay or ksl haha. 

It has been a great week. Fast. This week we have changes. ahhhhhhh. I have no idea where I am going but I know that it will be like 9 days until my pday. So i wont be writing again until monday the 16. I am a little nervious about the changes but It will be good. I am also excited for new experiences. I love you all

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton

Renaca

Ward Party

More Vina Beauty

My Beautiful View

 All photos are the view from his apartment or in from of his house. He loves seeing the ocean everyday and the lights at night.

Buenos días a todos

This week was a great week. We are really working on activating endowed members of the church and so we have been passing by many of them in our time. until now we havent been able to teach very many but this week we were able to share a few times with a young man who is endowed and had served a mission. We had two very great lessions with him this week. It is amazing how the spirit can leave someone. it says in the scripture that the spirit will not fight with the people who are not being obedient. it would be such a sad thing to loose that spirit as I have grown to love the spirit so much and rely on it every day of my life. as we go farther and farther from the truth we lose it. But the miracle is that we can repent and come to christ and feel of his spirit again. I have seen so many lives changed in chile. people that have never felt the spirit before and those that have felt the spirit but have forgot of that feeling. the spirit literally has a crucial role in our lives and so we must live to have the spirit. 

Well this will be my last full week in the office. next saturday will be the last time that you have to write on friday which will be good because i know it has been a little more confusing. i have felt like this is a small feeling of what i will have when i leave the mission. i am sad to be leaving the office as i have loved it a lot but I know i need to move on.This week my president shared something about change that i really loved. he talked about how in the scriptures it tells us that God and Christ are perfect and unchanging. That is something that is different about us... We change. In fact it is a difference that is the most important thing of our lives the power of change. it isnt easy and sometimes it isnt wanted but it is crucial to progress. without change we can not repent and we can not progress it would be imposible. so as i go through this change i am looking forward to that. Looking forward as we know is far more important than looking back.

i love you so much. Have a wonderful week. Smile

Elder hamilton 

Office Fun

Hello everyone

This week we started it off with interviews in the apartment on monday. IT was so great. I love having interview with the president. It is different now becuase I see him each week but I love being able to talk to him one on one about everything. It is hard to believe that I have been here for long enought to know him so much better. I still feel like I just arrived here in Chile. This time in the office has gone oh so fast. I like it when I am busy like this time in the mission. It makes life a lot more entertaining keeping myself busy. 

This sunday I had a scary and funny experience. We had to go to the bus station to pick up a missionary that was going home. So my companion knows how to drive stick so we took the office truck so it would be easier. Well he hasnt driven in a long time let alone stick. So it was a little bit of a indiana jones style bumpy ride haha. Ok not so much. To top it all off I was directing us because he doesnt know his way arround viña as well as "I Do". haha. Just so you understand. In viña almost all of the streets are one way. I hate that!! It makes driving so much harder. I know my way walking around viña becuase you can walk in whatever dirrection. Driving is a little different. So we ended up taking a detour that took us a little farther than where we were going. It was really funny. No one wants to be in the car the first time I drive again. haha. I´ll try the autopia first. 

This week we have been teaching and working with a young man and his sister. They are really great. The sister, Javiera, actually talked to us before we could talk to her. They both havent had much of a believe in God before but they acredit that to not knowing much about God. We have been able to share with them a few times. What I love is hearing the brother, Juaqine, pray. He prays so sincerly. Especially for someone who didnt believe in God. I am always so impressed with his prayers. It is so great to get to hear people pray who dont have the habit of praying becuase usually it is something that comes from their heart. Their words are so simple but powerful. Especially when they really are asking to know if these things are true. 

On friday It was fun becuase we were able to hike/walk up to a lookout point that is above our house. It was so pretty to see over the city. I had gone up there before with my first companion in the office but It was dark still so you couldnt see everything in the pictures. This time the sun was out, as it is each morning when we wake up. AS we left the house to walk up there we realized that we left the keys inside. Luckly there are more keys for our house than anyother house. The other office elders have one, the asistents, and the elder in charge of the houses. So it wasnt so hard to get back in. 

Everything is going really well like always. I am happy and working hard. It is the best cause in the world. I love that each day in my studies I understand better and better what the lord wants for his children. One of the elders in the office heard last night from the president that his grandma died. I am so grateful we know about the plan of salvatión so that we know that as mom always says "everything will be alright in the end." 

I love you all. Have a great week

Elder Hamilton

 I love this one with the elder stretching. CH

 Elder Flake

 Tynan keeps talking about this plant and how his plants keep dying.  I thought this picture was interesting because of the stamp next to it- it has his full name on it, not Elder. Will be interesting to know what it was for- a question for when he gets home. CH

#missionaryproblems

 Office Zone

Great picture!

Hola Familia

Another fast week. I had a really good week It was a little calmer than some of the other ones that I have had before so that was good. My companion is learning a lot. He is doing really well and is learning more and more each day. I remember when I was in his spot. It feels like it was just last week. It is so crazy how fast time has gone over these last few months. I can tell you that time really does go by so fast when you are busy. In our area we have been able to find some great people. THis last saturday we had a lession with a less active who hadnt gone to church in a few years. We had a really great lession with her and then sunday she went to church. On wednesday she had an interview with the bishop and now has a few goals to get her started on the road to the temple. Right now she is working on getting her patriarchal blessing. I love seeing how the spirit can influence the lives of people and help them to make changes so fast in their lives. 

I am really happy because after a year and a half of wondering I finally figured out that Yes There is a difference between the ensign (USA and Canada) and the Liahona (even the english liahona for the rest of the world). I know this is a little random and wierd but I have always been wondering this. So the ensign is based almost entirely for adults because we have the friend and the new era. The Liahona (ensign international) has stuff for kids adults and youth. So it actually stinks a little because with the liahona, even the english liahona, you dont get all of the articles. #missionaryproblems haha I found this out because in my house I found an ensign from FEb 2014 and a liahona feb 2014 and they are different. They actually had to take out a few really great articles for that. 

Well to get off of that random note. Everything is going really well. This next week we have interviews with the president. Being in the office it isnt that different because we see him each week but I am looking forward to that. I always like interviews. They are going to be in our house too so we need to clean up a little.

This last saturday we went to the "feria" it is a little market that they have everywhere in Chile. (at least everywhere I have been) We bought a lot of fruit for the week to eat. When we got home we left them in the little bags they were in not knowing that they would all go bad faster in the bags. I knew that if you had closed bags they go bad but the bags were open so I didnt think anything of it. THis week we are going to take good care of our fruit so it lasts a little longer. I am learning a little about everything. 

I love you all so much and hop that everything is going well for all. Have a great week

Les quiero. 

Elder Hamilton

Fireworks!

Hola a todos

Esta semana fue bueno. Nothing to big happened, just another week. but It was good. Something funny to start off. This sunday we were walking in the sidewalk and someone droped a firecracker out of a window on top of us. hahah. It was scary in the minute but hilarious. We saw that there was something on the ground on fire. We had just walked passed a guy juggling fire so I thought it was from him. I saw that we were way to far for it to be from him and when i looked closer I thought it was a firework. I sprinted off right when it blew up. It was really loud and we had a buzzing in our ears for a while after that. but it was really funny. 

We have been busy this week in the office. My companion is learning everything really well and will be a great financial secretary. I didnt have to move houses I am still in the same one which use it is really great and comforable. 

Yesterday we had the leadership training meeting we have each month. That is really interesting that they anounced the new president. I havent heard anything about the new president yet. I will be the last group leaving with my president and I am very happy that I will be able to leave with him still here. Our mission is getting smaller. We are at 250 missionaries right now before we had almost 300 and the area has told us that we will be at 200 in 6 months so we will be closing a lot of sectors. My president said that he is happy that he got to see the anouncement of the age change and see all the rush of missionaries in the mission and now to be able to see it lower down to a more stable amount. The new groups of missionaries that we are getting are smaller. the last group had 16 and 18 missionaries left. The group before last had 27 missionaries that went home and 18 that came. So we will be seeing more of that. 

In our sector we are busy looking for more people to teach. Our sector is huge so there are people we just have to find them. We are working with a less active family so they can activate their family and baptise their two little girls. They have been going to church some time now and have the goal to go to the temple to be sealed. We are hoping that the father will be able to baptise his daughter at the end of this month. 

I am a little sad becuase this family that just got baptised in november are having a lot of dificulties financially and have to leave there appartment. What is worse is that they are going to have to separate themselves for a little while to live with the abuelos until they have the money for a new appartment. In all of this they have been able to lean on their new understanding of god and his blessings. The sister always says that she knows it will all be ok. She wants to do what god wants with her family. She has been reading the scriptures and has received a lot of strength from that. Their names are Ximena, Patricio, Antonella, y Giobati. They really need all the prayers they can have. They are really special and I have grown to love them so much so it makes me sad to see them go through these things. I know that they can work through it and everything will work out in the end. They are very strong and their testimony has grown so much during this short time period. 

We are working a lot more with the leaders and members in our areas. The area is really focusing on that. They want everyone doing the same work. I love that you are reading Preach my Gospel mom That is something we all need to read full time missionary or full time member missionary. 

I love you all so much. Have a great week! Hasta luego

Elder Hamilton