Set your limits now

Hi everyone

It is great to hear from everyone. I love getting emails and hearing how everything is going. This week was really great as usual with a lot of different experiences. We had interviews on Friday with President Kahnlein. They were the last interviews before he leaves in june. I will still have one more before I leave. I am so grateful that I am able to finish with president and Sister Kahnlein. They are so great. I loved my interview. We talked about what I had been learning in the book of mormon as we are reading itfor the fifth time as a mission. We also have been studying vitue and we talked about that. I asked him what I can do to make sure that in my life I can keep the spirit that I have had on my mission and the constant progress that I have seen. He talked to me about the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference in october of 2011 which talks about staying within our limits. I love the talk a lot.It is one of if not my favorite talk. He told me that in order to ensure something in the future we have to set our limits now. So he encouraged me to decide now what I want my limits to me. What things I will do to help me reach these goals and What things I will never ever do. 

This weekend as a zone we fasted for the people who have the asistences to be baptised in the zone this month of April but for other reasons (Live together without being married, doubts, or they need parents permision) they couldn´t be baptised. On sunday after church we heard about a miracle. A young man has been investigating the church, going each week to the meetings, and even going to seminary each day after school. He couldn´t get baptised becuase He didnt have his fathers permision who is himself a less active member. On sunday we found out that he got permission. On friday he was talking to his dad as he was getting some things ready for the next day. On saturday he was going to go to the temple in santiago with the members of the district. As they were getting things ready and talking together his dad ended up giving him permission to be baptised. Now on saturday he is going to get baptised. I love these miracles each day!! There are so many. I have gotten a stronger testimony of fasting in my mission. It really works! 

To finish this week off this morning We were taking showers and our gas tub started leaking a lot of gas so  I called my companion out of the shower and we took the gas tube out of the house and opened all of the windows. Luckly we were already low on gas and were going to buy more gas today so not a whole lot of gas was lost but it was a little scary. We turned off all of the power and started trying to air out the house with our towels. In the end we got it all out and we got more gas to take hot showers and to cook with but It was an interesting story. 

I love you so much Thanks for your prayers and support. 

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton

Let virtue garnish thy thoughts

You got a dog!!!!! Wow it just goes to show a husband is much more convincing than a son. I bet he didnt even do a presentation haha. I want to see a picture of it!!! I cant wait to see it. Will is stay small or get huge?

Family I hope everyone had a great week. 

My week went well. We did a lot of walking this week that is without a doubt. Last night my companion and I were so exhasted when we got home. This wednesday we had what we call La replica. It is when the zone leaders and the sister training leaders share all of the presentations that we received when we had our meeting with the president and His wife the week before. It was my first time doing it and it went really well It was a lot of fun. I like giving presentations. A lot of it was focused on Virtue. The president is doing interviews with the missionaries right now, I have mine this week, and he wanted us to study about virtue before the interview. I have really loved the study this week. He gave us a little pamphlet that the chuch has called let virtue garnish thy thoughts and I have been reading that and some of the talks that they suggest reading at the end of the pamphlet. It is a great resource for us all to read to help us with our virtue. In the world it is harder and harder to be virtuous I know it is  here in chile and I am sure it is the same all over the world. Now more than ever we have to strenthen our virtue and be not moved! In one talk I read it talked about the importance of temple asistance with virtue. It said that in almost every pornography case that this bishop had seen in adult men, The men had stoped asisting the temple before the adiction began and as our constant temple asistence lowers, so will our virtue. I am so so grateful that we literally have like 15 temples 4 hours from our house and we will soon have 2 in walking distance. I look forward to strengthening my virtue through temple asistance. It is what I have missed most these two years. 

We are really happy because after 3 months without a baptism in the zone Two sisters in a place called Los vilos baptised this weekend. We are really grateful to see that the zone is being blessed with more investigatores to teach and progress. As for our area, we are working to find more investigators, like always, because the ones that we have aren´t progresing much. I was very pleased because yesterday various less actives that we had visited durring the week went to church. 

It is still hot here generally during the day. At night it gets a little colder and in the morning but we are still not very far out of summer. Everyone says that it should already be colder now. I dont think that it will get that cold when winter finally comes.  

Like I said we have interviews this friday and I am very excited for that. Everyone that we have talked to said that the interviews have been very great. They are the last interview that president Kahnlein will have with the missionaries before he leaves. It wont be my last one with him seeing as I leave before he does by two weeks but I am looking forward to the interview a lot!! 

I love you all and hope that everything is going ok with everyone. 

Elder Hamilton

Tynan has wanted a dog forever.  Only problem was for years we already had 2 dogs and a cat.  When he was 9 he got a bunny but that really didn't help.  it will be a fun thing for when he returns.

very spiritual week

hola Familia

This week was so great. I loved it. It was a very spiritual week. I guess every week in our lives should be like that but this week was even more. On wednesday we had a family home evening with two members and a friend they invited over. We shared a short message and watched a video about a mom how has a lot to do during the day and is working so hard to be able to see her friend that night. In the end she was able to do a lot of good durring her day but couldnt see her friend. She is really sad for that and sends her kids to bed. Her son asks about the family prayer and he does it. In his prayer he thanks god for letting them do all that he wanted them to do. This makes her think about all the things she did that help others and did what god wanted.(http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/you-never-know)  It was great sharing this with them because with kids they could relate to it. It made me think about my days and how sometimes I am not happy with all that I get done. I have started trying to focus on what the lord wants me to do and less on what I want to get done. It made me look back on various days and see how what I could do with my time helped the lord help others. I love what president monson often says and I have felt it too. The best feeling comes when you act on a feeling of the spirit and later learn that you answered someone elses prayer. 

On friday we had the mission leadership counsel in viña. It was such a great reunion. We talked a lot about virtue and how we must be pure.It made me think about the temple. In Preach my Gospel in the section that teaches about virtue it says that a virtuous person is a temple recomend holder. This makes me want to do all in my power to obtain a temple recommend and be worth to enter there. The temple is such a pure place. I loved what Presidente Monson said about the temple. It is in the temple where we can really feel the peace that Christ was speeking of when he said My peace I give. It makes me so happy to see that they are announcing new temples again. It is really exciting for these places. 

I was able to watch the conference in english which was awesome and we watched the two spanish talks in spanish. It was really funny because the second spanish talk Elder Zeballos is an Area 70 over our area South america South. My companion commented to me right before the session started that he would love to hear him speak Then when they announced him we just looked at eachother and laughed. It was such a great weekend and I cant wait to hear and read the talks again. I just downloaded all of the sessions again to hear them. Isnt technology amazing. It is so much faster now. What a blessing. 

Well this was my week it was a good one. I hope you all had a good one too. I love you!

Elder Hamilton

Funny story to add. 

In the conference that I had with the mission leaders our president showed us two april fools jokes someone did for the church. It was so funny.

First he said that the church announced that We would now have church for 4 hours and then we could serve in a second mission for one year after a few years of not getting married. When he said that we had church for 4 hours I completely believed him. Then someone guessed that it was an april fools joke. haha.

I love you

 english speaking watching for priesthood

sushi friday

Lunch at the Beach

Lunch at the beach

Hola familia

This week we had changes and I got a new companion. 

Starting this week off. I was in a trio becuase a missionary from our zone finished his mission. That was a lot of fun and it was great because we could go into any house to be able to teach. (we cant enter houses with woman alone). Then on tuesday night the asistants called us to tell us that Both of the other elders were leaving. In my branch we used to have 6 missionaries but they let us know that we are closing one of the areas and taking out 2 missionaries. So I was the only elder that stayed here and the two sisters stayed as well. Now our area is bigger and we are learning it and getting to know the people together. On tuesday night we had to go over to the other elders house so that he could pack up his stuff to leave. We were there until 11:30 and ate some sushi which was so great. Then we went back to our house so my companion could pack and he did so until like 2 in the morning. On wednesday we got up and soon had to get on a bus to go to a place that is called los vilos. It is like 1 hour away in bus. We got there and waited until the bus came to take my companion and the other elder to viña. After they left I went with another elder in los vilos to work. We got to eat in a house that was right in frount of the beach. It was so awesome. I havent been to the beach in more than 1 and a half years. I loved it and took the moment to take a few pictures. After I was in los vilos working with Elder Leto from argentina until 8 when my new companion got here. His name is Elder Fraser and he is from argentina. He is really great and nice. We are really excited for this change. He is so great. He made brownies yesterday and said that he loves to cook so I am excited for that too. The rest of the week we have been getting to know our area now and working with investigators. we arent seeing very much progress with our investigatores right now so we are really looking for new ones. I guess in reality we are always looking for new investigators. We were a little sad because a lot of people that we had taught this week didnt come to church. Now today we started the day off by cleaning the old elders house that we are closing. It was a big cleaning project. It is a good thing I like to clean. 

I cannot tell you how excited I am for the general Conference. It is the best week of the year!!! I am really looking forward to being able to receive help and inspiration for these next 6 months. There are great changes coming in these six months and I really am looking for the lords help as I make them. I love you so very much. Sorry this week we had some dificulties with the internet so Time is a little short but I love you all so so much. 

Love 

Elder Hamilton

Great Reward At The End

 Branch Missionaries

 Branch Members

Illapel Zone

Hola familia

Another week has passed in life and I am still happy and loving it. It is so great how many experiences we are blessed with in each one of our lives. If I look back on the week to be honest it just looks normal and like nother big happened but as I look at each individual experience I realize the hand of god in our lives each minute. It is the same for all of you in your lives. You can look at the small marks of divine help in your lives each day and it makes life great. Mom you talked about running my marathon and that process that I went through and the help I got from so many people. It is interesting because I have thought a ton about that during my mission. I have thought about the hardest parts of the marathon and what I did to keep going, knowing that the reward at the end was great. I had great help from family and friends who supported me, even running the last part with me. I realize that life and the mission are just like that. We have to keep running going through each experience and seeing the blessings each day waiting and working towards the great reward at the end. 

Yesterday I was really happy because some of the less actives we have been working with over the last few weeks went to church. There is a young man who hadnt gone to church the 5 weeks that I have been here. When I got here he had just gotten back from EFY and he had had such a great spiritual experience and then he just dropped and stopped going to church. His mom is also a member but his father and siblings arent. We had been sharing with them a lot but he always had an excuse. In the end yesterday he went to church and I could tell that he was happy with all the members telling him how much they had missed him. We also had a lot of people commited to coming who didnt come, as it happens often, and that is always sad to see. I really understand more and more how important our choices are in our personal progress in life. 

We taught a new investigator this week named Luisa. She is like 70 and is "catholic". She told us that she had never ever let religious people enter her house to talk about religion but that she had decided to let us in this time. We taught her the restoration and the next time we passed by I was suprised and happy to see that she understood it very well and was really taking seriously what we were teaching. There are a lot of people that you can find that are "willing" to listen to the message but really arent willing to apply it in their lives. She said that she has asked herself and god more questions in these few days than in her whole life. She is reading and praying about the book of mormon and Joseph Smith. I love having a message that is so clear and so perfect for answering peoples questions.  I have learned the importance of questions. it is the only way we learn. If we already know everything then there is no point of anything. Each day as I read and study I realize how little I know. I love learning and look forward to be able to do it more during my whole life. There are so many great books out there, the best being the book of mormon. I have realized that as we have been reading the book of mormon as a mission this last year (almost 4 times now) i have come to understand something in my patriarchal blessing. It says that I must rely on the scriptures for strength and guidance. I never really felt that before and wondered how I would find that in my life. I never was really that great at reading in my scriptures everyday, I read for seminary and then in the summer I struggled. As I prepared for my mission and started it I read the scriptures more. Now as I have grown acostombed to reading every single day in the book of mormon I have really come to rely on it for this help. It was a cool realization that I had this week. 

I love  you all so much 

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton

Mission Movie Theater

Hola mi querida familia

This week was great. I know I say that often and you probably are all sick of the same old things that I am saying week after week. But I do enjoy each day. To start off this week I want to talk about my favorite part of the week. Yesterday we had a zone conference which was so great. I loved it. The highlight was that we got to watch Meet the Mormons!!!!!!! It was so awesome. I sent you a picture of the set up. They had it like it was a little movie theater. We even got a little bag of popcorn and a small water bottle. I loved it so much. If you havent seen it you need to do so. The experience of the member were so great I especially loved the last one about the mother and her son going on the mission. Her story is so inspiring to know that God is leading us, as members, by the hand to bless others lives with the gospel. And as you could probably guess a lot of people were crying at the end including me. I was just so happy and thankful for the gospel in my life. When it showed the mom saying goodbye to her son so many memories came through my head as I thought about the last few months I have been able to have in my mission. I am so grateful for each opportunity that we have because of the gospel. It helped me to really focus on how the things I teach are going to help people in their lives. We arent just teaching to share information rather to see these miracles in their lives. I loved the conference so much and am so grateful that we were able to have it. They always give me a great spiritual boost. 

This week were were able to find 5 new investigatores and are looking forward to working with them. We are teaching two siblings, I have talked about them before, named M and D. We are working with them alot so that they can progress. We have really been working on letting them have spiritual experiences to motivate them to make the needed changes in their lives to obey the commandments. They are really great and understand things really well but it is hard for them to change their culture. It is something really hard for people here and I bet in the whole world. 

I want people to understand and accept these blessings in their lives so they can feel the happiness that only comes through christ. As I learn more and more about the gospel I see more and more of the things that I need to change. what you told me today mom was perfect and exactly what I needed. As you study more about Christ you realize that there is so much more that you need to do to repent. I get frustrated sometimes and am really working on patiently going through everything one thing at a time. My companion is such a great example to me and I am so grateful for him. There is so much to learn in life and the mission and I just sometimes dont feel like there is enough time to do it. I am so grateful for the atonement that helps us change. The church is doing a new video for easter that our president showed us yesterday. It is very similar to the video they did the year before and I love how it helps me apply the power of the atonement in my life. 

I love you all so much. Thanks for the examples that you are in my life. 

Elder Hamilton

 Cactus Fruit

 Elder and Sister Cluff from the office

I Understand Why People Need Visits

Hi familia

Sorry I am writing so late. We had a lot of stuff to do today. I had to go to get my second chilean id card and it takes forever. But now it is done and in a few weeks I will get the card. I cant believe I am already receiving my second I feel like I just got the first haha. This week went well. It went so fast. We started out the week in Viña for the leadership counsel that we had. So monday night and tuesday we were in viña. It was a really great conference. I love having these conferences because they give you a shot of the spirit to keep you animated and going. Now this next monday we will have a zone conference with the president. So that being said, next week my pday will be tuesday just to through everyone off. haha. 

This week we were really happy to see some progress in the branch. On friday we had an activity that was really great. Not very many people were there 5 others and 6 missionaries but it went well. As I was sitting in the activity and after I thought a lot about how God must look at these things. I love seeing the faith of the people even when there are only a few people. It makes me so happy to see the work of the lord working in the lives of even a few people. I know that all over the world there are little congregations reunited showing and growing their faith and I think that is so awesome to see. That being said, sunday we didnt have a lot of people asisting either. 31 people including 6 missionaries. Normaly there are more people we arent sure what happened this week. We were really happy becuase we feel like the members are started to work actively in the work and in their callings. Yesterday we had two brothers with us visiting people a new convert and a leader. At one point we needed to leave them and they decided to go and visit another two houses alone. It was so awesome to see that and we want to do that with more people. Bring them out with us for a few lessions and then send them on their own for a few visits. One thing that is hard here are the home and visiting teachers, it just doesnt get done, but we think that in this way we can get more people visited. I have learned so much the importance of doing visits. Sorry for everytime I didnt want to go with you to visit, dad. I understand why people need visits and need to talk to people especially people other than missionaries. There is a young woman here who is so great at doing missionary work who helped us a lot this week. A few weeks ago at EFY the youth gave out references of their friends and so we received 3 from here from that and this week she gave us one more. It was so great. I was amazed at how much more receptive people are when they are receiving the missionaries from their friends. We are hoping to work more with these referals this week. 

I am doing very great and am really excited for this week. Remember that I will be writing next tuesday not monday. I love you all.

Elder Hamilton

Leadership Conference