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

Chile Independence Day

My attempt at a selfie

Let's go fly a kite

 Elder C is cool!

Celebrating Independence Day with the Elders

Hey Mom,                                      Sept 22, 2014

 How are ya? I hope that things are still going good for you. Im glad to hear that you guys got tickets to the temple dedication. That is awesome. I wish I could have seen all of those apostles and prophets, Im sure that it was an amazing experience.  Thanks for your advise, I know that the things in the mission will help me with my future problems and my future life. Lets not talk about marriage just yet hahaha, that is a whole other ball game.

Chile is good. They had their national independence day on the 18th. There was an activity for the ward and everything. It was cool to see. We flew kites and ate empenadas. They are the national food of Chile basically. It was cool but bad for the work. No one wanted to listen to us. But I guess its like that some times right? 

The baptism did not go through this week. But that is okay, we are going to see if he will be ready for this week.  But we did have 4 investigators in church so that is always good.

Transfers are tomorrow, me and my comp will be the same. But the new missionaries get here tomorrow, so im sure that they are on a plane right now, I will be sure to look for Elder Stevenson. 

By the way I complete 11 months tomorrow, is that crazy or what? I can't believe it. Time really does fly by. Talk to you soon!

 

Elder Noel

40 cigarets down to 1

This is from a zone conference.  It includes the mission president and his wife and his counselors.  Can you find Hayden?

Hey Mom,                                      Sept 15, 2014

 It was awful being sick but Im fine now. I am doing just great.  I think for the most part I am happy.  I just want to find my stride as a missionary so to speak. I think that i just need to dive in and not worry about other things.

This week started out good and then went out the window. We have and investigator with a date to get baptized this saturday , his name is J , we are trying to find John, to baptize him haha. J smoked 40 cigarets a day. The church has a stop smoking program and we are trying to help him with that.  So far, he has smoked 1 cigaret this week. Quite an improvement.  We are hoping he can keep it up to get baptized this week!

But mom I love you so much! You are the best! I hope that you guys have a great time this week and I will be praying for you guys! 

I don't really have any good pictures to send, but next week for sure I will send some great pictures, hopefully with a baptism. 

Elder Noel

Nothing like the flu!

Not sure where this is

In our ward there are 8 missionaries. Sometimes we get lucky and have lunch together.  It's quite the party!

Hey Mom,                                    Sept 8, 2014

I am really getting sick of the rain here but it will pass soon, after this month there is no more rain for three or four months, so we just have to wait it out.

Boca sur is fine. We saw a lady smoking marijuana the other day but that is sorta normal here haha.  All the gangster dudes are basically just punks.  They are good though.

On Friday I got sick. It was terrible. I woke up at 2 in the morning and threw up, then at 4 at 6, 8 and 10. It was a bad day.  Then yesterday my comp got sick. So we had a rough week as far as the work goes, but we just gotta keep moving on right?

 Elder Noel!

Another week

My old comp from Canete

Elder C

river in Denver, we missed him this trip

Hey Mom,                                    Sept 1, 2014 

How are things going along in Denver? I'm sad to hear about the Aggies, but the good thing about losing is that you can see where your weaknesses are, make adjustments and then improve.  Just like us.  We fall down, make adjustments, and improve.

This week was a crappy one. We couldn't find anyone to teach really and the investigator that we have for baptism is really evangelical.  Not sure what will happen with him, but we will keep teaching him.  We spent one whole day building a house for a member whose house burnt down like 4 months ago.  Not sure what we were doing but we got it done.

Cool story. On the way to Concepcion today I sat next to some lady on the bus. I started talking to her and then she told me that she almost got baptized like 10 years ago but felt really pressured to do it so she never did.  Well it turns out that she lives in our sector, so we will be teaching her this week. Hopefully she can open up her heart a little so that we can baptize her. 

I hope that you guys are having an absolute blast in Denver. That was one of the best vacations I think we went on as a family. Be safe and have fun. Are you guys going to go to that river that we went to? That was fun. But anyways, I love you, thank you so much for all of your love and support. I can feel it all the way over here in Chile.

 Love, 

Elder Noel