birthday cake and Pdays

Hey Mom,                                October 13th, 2014

Things here are going good, I loved all of the presents you sent me and the cake was absolutely delicious, when I ate it I had a flashback that I was at home haha.  

This week started off slow but ended well, we were able to have 7 investigators in church. That was cool to see and have them there. I have heard alot about that movie  "Meet The Mormons"  but I doubt that we will be able to see it. There is like one movie theatre here in Chile and Im not sure how many people would be interested in it, but I did find out that 1 out of every 30 Chileans are mormon. And of those who are mormon, 9 out of 10 are inactive. That blew my mind.  I knew inactivity was high but I didn't know that it was that high.  There is a lot of work to do down here haha.

I am doing ok, some days are better than others, but thats how life is, I just gotta focus on what I can do to be a better missionary and not focus on the outward results compared to the outward results of someone else, that sure is a formula for disappointment.  I think that applies to all of us in this life. We shouldn't compare the blessings given to us to other people's blessings.  That is a way to become ungrateful and or prideful.  I still have alot to work on as a person and as a missionary, but I know that with the Lords help I can do it, and so can all of us. Love you alot Mom and I am grateful that we have this gospel in our lives and in the lives of our families. Sometimes I wish that I could just make the investigators see and feel all the importance that the gospel can have in their lives if they just choose to accept and live it.

We are about 30 minutes away from Concepcion by bus. We go every pday, its a pretty cool place, they have Mcdonalds and stuff so thats cool. It looks like a normal city, its actually not part of our mission though, its part of the Concepcion mission. Today I think we are just going to eat some lunch in Concepcion and then my comp wants to go home and sleep haha.

I love you alot, your the best! 

Elder Noel

Hayden's favorite birthday cake.  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting!  YUMMY

Elder Noel's 20th birthday

Hey Mom,                                                         October 6th, 2014

 Thank you for the birthday wishes and presents! I know that you put alot of work into it so thanks so much for all that you do to make me happy. It definately works. Out of all the things I got, the thing that I love the most was the journal entries. 

I recieved all of the packages so no worries. Thank you so much for all of the stuff! I will use it all! 

I totally forgot about the Aggie game but the first email I opened up was Cole and his friends with the Utah State score! I just about lost it over here in Chile haha. All the missionaries here were sorta bummed they lost but me and another Ute fan were celebrating, it was awesome! I will try not to get to trunky haha.

Conference was awesome. I learned so much. I know that this is the true church because the prophets are really called of God. I loved conference. Being in the mission and listening to conference is really a cool experience and I loved being able to see and feel the importance of everything that was said.  Prophets, I am so grateful for prophets on the earth today. They guide and lead us to God. Without prophets we would be lost, and you can definately see that here. So many churches with no direction. But there were alot of things that I learned and that I will apply in my life and mission going forward. One thing that I learned from conference was that we shouldn't let good decisions, keep us from making the best decisions. I thought that that was an interesting concept. Sometimes we can get comfortable with where we are, and as a result we don't move forward or progress.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the thing that will ensure we make the BEST decisions if we live it.

One of our investigators who has been investigating the Church for about 2 months now came to conference. She said that every question she had was answered, we are hoping to put a baptismal date for her this week.

This week was sorta a slow one. We didn't have much work to do and we had a lot of lessons that fell through. But we have some good people that we are teaching so that is good. We just need to focus on finding those who will recieve us, and then baptize them. Always things to improve, and always things to change. But I know that as we apply the teachings of Jesus we can become our true potential.  Thanks for writing those families, I miss them a lot and I am grateful for the opportunity that God gave me to be able to meet and teach them this gospel.

And your right, 20 years goes by way to fast. I never thought that this point in my life would come. I know that there are somethings in the past that I could have done better, or maybe changed, but I know that we don't live in the past we live in the present, so I just need to take what I have learned from these 20 years and look forward to the next twenty. That will be one crazy day! I am getting old, one fifth of my life is complete. I know that I am here for a reason, and that this is where I should be at this point in my life.

I love you and I am thankful that I have a mom who loves and cares about me like you do.

 I love you, your the best, 

Elder Noel

20 yr old Elder Noel

Dear Hermana Noel,                          Oct 6, 2014

Today was PDay and we happened to be in the office when Elder Noel and his companion came in.  We got to give him birthday hugs and I took a few photos for you.  He was happy and having a good day!

With love,

Hermana Bluth

birthday handshake with President Bluth

All the elders in the office sang Happy Birthday

birthday hug 

Packages and Baptism

Hey Mom,                           September 29th, 2014                              

I cannot believe that I am going to turn 20 years old this next week. That just absolutely blows my mind. And by the way, I received the package! Thanks so much. Don't worry, I haven't opened up the presents yet, I am going to wait until the sixth haha.  The rain is getting old thats for sure, but it sounds like the rainy season is just about to end so thats a good thing.

I hope the Aggies can pull it of against YBU. I have faith in em. 

The beginning of this week was sorta blaaa. But it ended up being a pretty good week other than I have got a cold again. I can't seem to catch a break with this sickness stuff. But oh well thats how it goes I guess.  The constant work I think can sometimes seem over whelming and we don't see how we can keep up with it.  But the Lord has provided a way for all of his children to overcome whatever trial and test we face in this life, and I know that if we will LEARN to depend on him then our weaknesses will be made into strengths.

J got baptized! It was so cool to be able to see him get baptized and take that important step.  I just hope we can keep showing him the true importance of the gospel so that he will continue to make good decisions and choices in his life.  

I live with the zone leaders, and this week we got a new Zone Leader. His name is Elder A. He is a really great Zone Leader and the second he arrived he changed the zone around. I had the opportunity to work with him on thursday and it was awesome. We worked really well together and I learned a lot from him. He helped me to see that we can be hardworkers and have fun at the same time. He is a great guy.

I from my first sector called me the other day. It was cool to hear from him and talk to him. He sends his love and everything. I thanked him for his help that he gave to me at the beginning of my mission. I think it would be cool if you guys could maybe write him, share a scripture or something. Just a thought.

This week is conference and we are all getting pretty excited. Watching conference in the mission is really alot different then at home. I feel like I get alot more out of it than I did at home. I challenge you guys to watch and apply the stuff you learn at conference this week. 

Keep up the good work as a mom and I will talk to you next week, on my birthday. 

Your the best! Love you!

Elder Noel

Lots of presents for my birthday!

Love my chips ahoy

Our baptism this week