Random photos of families and missionaries that I love!

Hey Mom,                               February 23rd, 2015

     How are you!? Thanks for the letter like always and thanks for all of the updates! It sounds like you guys had a pretty good week! I can't believe that C

 still has not got his call yet, but he has just got to be patient and it will come!

     This week was a good week! We had some people come to church who are preparing for baptism, so that is good and we are hoping that we can keep helping them progress in their conversion! This week I was really thinking about how cool of a calling we have as missionaries to go out and find people to teach about God and his son Jesus Christ.  It is pretty amazing if you ask me. What we do as missionaries really does have a big impact in the world and in the lives of those we teach.

    My comp is doing good! I keep learning from him each week and it is good because we help each other to be obedient and to work hard. When one of us gets lazy the other one helps out. Its teaching me a lot and I'm grateful for the blessing and privilege that I have to be servant of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

     I just completed 16 months today. I can't believe it! M and C are going to be getting home in the blink of an eye! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!! But I'm glad that I still have time to do what I am doing and trying to be better each and every day! Time keeps on flying by.  Me and my comp were talking about it and we started to get a little scared and nervous about coming home. Especially him because he goes home in July! But I can't worry about that right now. I still have 8 months that I can work and not have to worry about school and work and things like that, but it was just sort of a reality check. I sorta realized that I'm not going to be a missionary forever.

 I Know that this gospel is true and that thanks to the gospel we have the family that we have!

 You are the bomb!! I love you!! 

Elder Noel!

A good week

Hey Dad!                                February 16th, 2015

    

     There are alot of things that I can't control in missionary work and in fact in life, but if we just do what we can we will be blessed! Like in the Book of Mormon, the Lord always says that inasmuch as we keep the commandments, we will prosper in the land. It also applies to missionary work. Me and my comp get along well so that helps out alot and we are trying to work hard and have fun at the same time. In the beginning of my mission, I didn't believe that the two could be mixed. Fun and hard work, but it's true, they can.

     This week President sent out a bunch of new rules for the mission. More specifics. One of the rules is that we can't ¨chat¨ over email. So me and you won't have that opportunity anymore, I want to be obedient, so I will only be able to send one at a time. 

     The zone this week looks alot better than last week. We had 18 investigators in church and have 10 dates for baptism so thats a ton better than last week.  We just gotta keep pushing so we can get better every week. 

     On thursday I had a chance to work with one of the assistants named Elder K.  He is a really great guy. Solid missionary.  Anyways we talked and we had nothing scheduled that day so me and him contacted people in the street and people at their doors for almost the whole day. At the end of the day we got into a house with this lady and we challenged her to baptizm and she accepted. She is really cool and prepared to receive the gospel.  That day I learned, or relearned, two things; 1- When we are diligent God always blesses us. 2-Talk to everyone!              After the cambio me and my comp talked about how we needed to talk to more people, well in the whole week we ended up with 322 contacts and 10 great new people to teach who can really progress.  If we talk to everyone then God will put the people that are prepared to recieve the Gospel in our path because he knows we will talk to them. It was something really cool to see and experience.

     Tomorrow we have interviews with President and his wife. They are actually going to come to our house to do the interviews, so we are making sure to keep things clean and stuff like that haha.  It was my turn to clean the bathroom so that was great.

     But thanks dad for all the advice you give and for the prayers that you send. I really do love being a missionary, even though at times I just want to throw my hands up in frustration I am learning slowly and patiently what the Lord wants and expects of me. Thanks dad for your great example to me and for helping me achieve my goals! I love you and have a great week! Be safe! Chau!

     Love,

     Elder Noel

My 1st training

Hey Mom!                                   February 9th, 2015

      The week went okay. We have just been knocking on doors the whole week because we haven't really had anyone to teach, so that has been a little discouraging. We just gotta keep knocking to show the Lord that we are willing to work hard and I know that he will bless us if we do so! 

     This week we had to give a training to the missionaries in our zone of what we learned when we went up to Concepcion, I think it went okay. We talked about obedience and things like that, I hope that the missionaries were able to learn and understand something from what we taught. I understand that I have to 2 weeks at being a zone leader and that I am still learning and growing. I want to help the zone to have results but sometimes the results just don't come. I guess that I need to be a positive example to the missionaries in our zone and do my best and then let the Lord take care of the rest.

      We took a lady to church named V. She is a single mom who runs a sewing shop. She has a hard time really grasping what we are trying to teach her, but we will keep working at it and I think that she will make the decision to be baptized and receive  the Holy Ghost.

     One thing that I have learned in my mission, excuses don't get us anywhere. If we always are making excuses for why we don't accomplish our goals, we can never realize that maybe we just have to change and be better. I know that I have a lot of things that I can do to be a better missionary.  We all can do better everyday, thats what this gospel is about.

     Keep on praying for those missionary opportunities and I know that they will come! Thanks for everything! 

     Take care,

         Elder Noel

Lots of travel

Hey Mom,                                February 2nd,2015

      Hows it going?! It sounds like the Super Bowl was awesome although the ending wasn't the best. I heard that Turbin and Wagner both played really well, so thats good!

     This week was pretty good. I really do like my new sector, its really big and just about the opposite of Boca Sur.  On tuesday in the morning I took a five hour bus ride to Temuco, where I met my comp Elder A, he is a really great guy and I have known him since the begining of the mission, he was in my first zone and has about 18 months in the mission.  He was assistant for about 7 months or so as well, he is really good.  My sector is called Labranza, its about 45 minutes outside of Temuco.  There was a family from Catrihuala who I recognized who had moved to Labranza, so it was cool to see them.  On Friday we had whats called consejo, it's when all the Zone leaders and the hermana leaders meet up with the President and the assistants to talk about the upcoming month, we then take the plans of president to our respective zones. So we had to travel on thursday night 5 hours to get to the mission office, and then after consejo, five hours back to temuco, so this week I have been on a bus for about 17 hours in total. Kinda sucked haha.

     I really can't believe how fast everything is going and how fast everyone is growing up.  Cole turned in his papers, Logan, Mason and now Daniel and Nathan will all be baptized within 2 months, it really is crazy how fast the time goes.

      Thanks for your testimony about Jesus Christ, I as well am grateful for my Savior and his gospel, I know that only through him can the pains of sin and death be taken away.  This week I have just realized and continue to realize the sacred importance of my call as a missionary and my duty to find those who will receive the restored gospel. I love you! I hope that you have a wonderful week! Take care!  

 Elder Noel

Hi Everyone!!

Transfer and new job

Hey Mom,                                 January 26th, 2015
     It was a little hard to go a whole two weeks without a letter from you but at least I have one now.  

     Im sorry to hear about Tuff, thats really sad and it makes me want to cry, he was a really great dog. I remember when we were at our old house and every once in awhile he would escape from the backyard and then everyone would just start freaking out because that meant we had to go on a wild goose hunt to go find him haha.  It was really annoying back then, but now looking back on it, it makes me laugh and smile. I will miss that dog alot, but I know that right now he is up there and I will get to see him again haha.

     This week was sort of a slow week. It was hard for me for some reason to get motivated to get out there and work, I think that part of it was I knew that I was leaving but my comp is doing a great job and now I will just leave the sector up to him, he will take good care of it.

     This morning President Bluth called me and told me my cambio. He told me that I was going to Temuco, the zone Cautin, and that I was going to be a Zone Leader, my jaw just about dropped to the floor, 32 missionaries, its the second biggest zone in the mission.  I didn't really know what to think, but Pres said that he had prayed about it and that he feels that it is the right decision, I guess we will see about that.

     My new comp is Elder A, he was an old assistant to the president and he was in my very first zone so I know him pretty well. I have not been to Temuco for a year, so that will be cool to see how it is. 

     It was really cool last week to see all of my old CCM friends and to see what they are all up to now. The hermanas from my district finish their mission in three months, I really can't believe that, it seems like yesterday that we all got on the plane to go to the CCM and now they are going home.

 I love you and thanks for everything, have a great week! 

Elder Noel

My zone before transfer

Having fun!

My dog Tuff