La Serena semana 8‏

I LOVE the weeks when we can see some good progress! Ricardo, came to church for his Second time yesterday and we was ready and waiting for us when we went by his house! He is WAY unlike the majority of the Chileans here! jaja And Natalia and her family are doing good as well! They said they were going to come to church this last week but THEY DIDNT! UGH!!! The members even went by to help them get there, but they had just woken up! ugh... thats life I guess! jaja 

We also got a phone call this morning from a member who went and visited a less active family and set up a cita for tomorrow night so that we can go and help them. They are looking for a little more help and she wants (the mom) to return to the church. She has a daughter that has 14 and she is not a member. So we are excited to go and to share with them as well!!!

Miercoles (wednesday) we had a few different meetings and we also had interchanges. I was with Elder Hancock in his side of our ward and we hada great day! We talked with one lady in the street who said "I think that there are many ways to get to God." and I thought for a minute and Elder Hancock said "You believe that God is merciful and just, right? How can we all be judged according to the same conditions if we have different visions of these conditions? If different churches teach that some things are ok, but another church accepts it, how can their judgement be the same?" God truly has blessed us with the true and living church so that we KNOW how to prepare to meet God. His commandments and laws are guides to us so that we can be prepared for that day. So that we can have more liberty while we are here. I really liked how he explained the judgement to her, and it makes sense. We also hada NDH with a less active family who invited their friends over . We talked about "the proclamation to the family" and temples and it was AWESOME!!! Their friends gladly set up another cita with us and the spirit testified to everything that we taught! I loved it!!! 

So I would like to make the same invitation to all of you. Think, and pray to know who YOU can invite over for a FHE. And then when you get it all planned, invite the missionaries! You can tell your friends as well that the missionaries will be there so there isnt any surprises, but you can do something SO simple to help your friends learn a little more, and fill the agendas of the missionaries, just as we were ALL invited to do in the general conference. What do you think? =D

Last night, we went and taught a young couple and talked about the same thing. They thought for a minute and felt impressed to invite a few different people over for a NDH, and they accepted to do it. They even felt more excited about the work as they took on their part in it all!! How cool is that?!  Dont you want to feel more excited about the work? I LOVE this work!! 

So thats how things went. I hope that everyone else had a good week as well! Just remember all your prayers and studies are so important. D&C 64:33-34. I love you all!!! 

Elder Marvin

La Serena semana 7

Well the changes came and left and well it appears that there are none for this change! jaja I stayed here in La Serena con Elder Holmes and we are just going to have to get some people baptized since they left us together! The work has been a little slow, but we are starting to see some good progress in our investigators.

Small note to ALL: I now have permision to write anyone! So if you so feel to write me an email, I will do my best to reply quickly, but I will reply! Thanks to all those that have respected this rule, and feel free to send me some love! Its always openly received! jaja

So one day we were putting up english class posters and this lady stopped and watched us put the whole thing up. Then as we finished I asked if she was interested. She rudely responded "No. Why would you even offer such a class?" We told her it was a service that we do and it is because many want to learn. She said "How can you even offer classes if you dont even speak english!? My ancestors are from england and they know how to speak english! What you are teaching is trash! Where are you even from!?!" and my companion calmly stated "We are from the US." and she said" Exactly! You offering english classes would be like me offering mechanical repairs; I cannot offer something that I do not know how to do." I chuckled, and I said "Hermana, so you think that we do not know how to speak english?" *pause, and ponders* "YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!!! My brothers have the same blood and you do NOT." At that point, I said "well classes are friday at 7, hope to see you there!" jajaja Now looking back I have to think "what could have possibly happened this morning that has left her angry at the world? People do not live to just give others hectic" I dont know what happened, but I hope that she is alright.  

Also, this week while we were looking for a less active family, we asked a lady who was watering her front lawn if she knew them. She said that she did not, but also that she just didnt even have anytime at all and it was just luck to find her there. We asked if we could sing her a song to help make her day better. She hesitated, and then said "ya, come in" So we went in and sat down with her and her son and his girlfriend. We told them that life can get crazy and a lot of times we may not have time to even take a breath. Then we sang her "nearer my God to thee" and she started to cry. The spirit was VERY strong and I LOVED it! It was just so awesome!! We explained how the book of mormon could help her so that she could have the peace that she needs EVERYDAY of her life. She accepted the book and said "I will read it!" SO PERFECT!!! And so we tried to get another appointment set up and then we left. As we were going out the door she said "Thank you vrey much. God always sends what I need when I need it. I truly know that you are servants of God" 

I was left speechless. I think that may have been the BEST compliment that I have ever received from anyone, ever! It was a moment when I could confididently feel that I was doing my part. I dont think there is a better feeling as a missionary! wow. 

So it has been another FANTASTIC week here in La Serena! Its starting to get cold, I think we might start wearing a jacket at night, but it still gets hot during the day. So we will see. I studied also a little in Alma 12-14 and its a really good area of the book of mormon. I invite you all to read them! And look for how you can draw closer to God and understand what he wants for you! I love you all!!! 

Elder Marvin =D

La Serena semana 6‏

Can you believe it!? Thats another change that has already come and gone! I have already been with "mi hijito" for a month and a half! And we havent had a single bad day together! I love this Elder, he is great! jaja

So this week was a little "short" to say the least because for General conference we basically didnt have ANY time to work the lessons or streets much. We also had to get all of our studies in on top of all of that. But MAN I just LOVE conference! Is anyone with me on that one!?! jaja They are just always awesome!!! My favorite talk... well there was a few different really good ones!! I feel like they hada really big theme of obedience. I feel like that is way important! We may start to tolerate more and more as a people in whole, but we must be willing to stand for what we believe. I really liked how Elder Holland said that same thing "If we feel that our testimony is week, the best we can do is BELIEVE IT!" I really liked how sometimes we may have felt these things, but Satan is going to work against us. Its so true! He also cited a few scriptures that were PERFECT!!! We had just talked with an investigator about the same scriptures that same week! and Ricardo (that investigator) was sitting there with us!!! I was pleased!!! And so that was just awesome, we actually had 2 investigators that came! I loved it! That might have been the best that I have ever had in my mission experience!! and they both really liked it. The other is a young girl who is friends with a girl that just got baptized (the one I interviewed) and so she is just way excited and we are excited to share with her more!! I also really liked how they talked a lot about how we ALL can be missionaries now, and how we need to help fill the agendas of the missionaries with people to visit. We have no need to fear. Maybe we have been rejected before, but perhaps now our friends and familyt are ready to receive the missionaries. Whats asking going to hurt? So I invite you all to take on the challenge. Be natural and your friends will want to know more! Just invite them to listen to the missionaries!! We aren´t THAT weird! ;)

So we also had a very, VERY good lesson this week with Ricardo. We had not seen him in a few weeks! I was stoked to share with him again, but he didnt seem too excited as we started to teach him. We asked how he had been, busy. And we went right into what he read last time, and he shared about faith and hope and Charity. I loved it! So we tied it all in and started talking about conference and prophets. and he asked how many prophets we believed in, and we shared how the bible and the book of mormon tell us there will be many false prophets and so we have to pray. Thats what we needed. WE needed for him to understand prayer a little better. And we shared 3 Ne 14 with him where it talks about how we are commanded to pray and ask for the help that we need, and he understood! He said "Now I understand that." He said at first he didnt think that wit was very good if we always asked for things, butwe cleared that up and he said that he wanted to go to conference! Then on sunday when we went to get him he was ready and waiting for us to get there! It was awesome!!! So now we really just hope that he will sprout and feel the spirit work within him! 

And to bless us more, we played bball this morning. Yes! and we have a lot of good players in our district! So it was fun! 

Lastly, we had a great NDH with Jose and his family. We did a good activity I love to do and it put things into perspective of what is most important in our lives and how we need to do those things that matter most to us. His mom FINALLY said "I reallywant to know which is Gods path." so we told her she HAS TO PRAY!!! She refuses to pray and so we just hope that now she understands a little better. She finally found for herself that she had to do it! So it should be good! 

So it was still a full week! I loved it! I love this work that we have, and now we are really driving to help a few different people so that they can be baptized! I really want to help Elder Holmes have his first baptism and feel that feeling that he has helped someone to make these promises with God. Its great!!! So thats where we are at. 

Things are great! I hope the same is for all of you! Just keep being obedient and remember to ask God for help. Be humble, and love all. Its the secret! =D Chao!!! 

Elder Marvin =D

Bryce tried sushi

La Serena Semana 5‏

From:	Bryce Marvin (bryce.marvin@myldsmail.net) This sender is in your contact list.
Sent:	Mon 4/01/13 12:03 PM
To:	rosalie marvin (rosaliemarvin@hotmail.com)

I cannot belive how fast time is flying!!! My poor hijo is just growing up too fast and learning too much!! jaja We had a great week although we really need to have some big spiritual lessons this week and see some more progress from our investigators. They have some good potential, but we just need everything to get up and start rolling!! 

To start the week we talked about how we can crack down and do our best in all that we do. I read this week in my personal studies from the last conference about how Presidente Uchtdorf said "we must not settle for "an alright effort". We have been saved for these days, and we must be able to give the example to everyone. We should strive to do all things well. So we are wokring on doing our very best, getting all of our studies in and being very prepared for all of our lessons and for everything that we do. So that the spirit can help us take every step along the way and we are not only blindly following.

Sadly, sometimes, like Alma relates in chapter 8, the results dont reflect our efforts. Sometimes, we put in a lot and seem to come out short. Thats kinda how the week was. We were also able to do some service and we had a conference so we didnt have as much time to work, but still, we have room to get better. 

However, we are still pumping away and loving it! I love how even when its rough, the spirit can truly keep us up! Although, our reference that we received from a member, the girl that came to church last week loved church so much that she went home, told her family, and all her family wanted to hear about it. I am glad that we were able to make her experience so geat and now we passed the reference to coquimbo so they can teach her whole family! I heard a statement in our conference this week in a video  we saw there. It said "Experience is what you get when you dont achieve what you were hoping for." I also read in my studies that "failure is temporary. Success is a product of hard work." So we know we just have to stick at it. I dont know if anyone else has felt this way before, but I invite you all to read Alma 8 y 9. They are great chapters where we can see that "life aint always bautiful" at first. 

I did go on interchanges out to Vicuña with Elder Toapanta. We had a great time and they on the other hand have LOTS of people that they are visiting! Its great! We visited lots of people and they should be having quite a few baptims out there this month. And, for a nice confusion, I was confused for a mexican again! YES!!! jaja I love it when that happens! jaja  

So things are on the uphill, we are loking at having a few baptisms in the month of Abril, so thats what we just gotta go do! I hope that everyone is just as excited for conference as I am! I COULD SCREAM with excitement! jaja Its going to be awesome!!! I just know it!!  Loves to everyone!!! 

Elder Marvin =D