WELCOME!

Bienvenidos a la Mision Chile Santiago Norte! We love the Savior, and are blessed to be part of this great work, to share His gospel, and invite others to come unto Him. We are grateful to have this incredible opportunity to associate with such fine young men and women and other couples who are serving in this wonderful part of the vineyard. We decided to share this mission through a blog, with any who would like to know more.... All of the lessons, talks, training, conferences, and meetings are obviously done totally in Spanish, but for the sake of this writer, the notes are here in English, for speed in typing, and therefore, mixed with a bit of both worlds. We hope all of our missionaries, families, and loved ones can enjoy this blog, in spite of the writing, grammar, language, errors, etc. This will be a miraculous journey, and we invite you to share and enjoy it with us.

Lovingly, con cariño,
Presidente Michael May
Hermana Carol May

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Day in the Life of the missionaries

My dear Elders and Sisters, from Aug 8, 2008

I had the great opportunity to work with Elder Brumley and Elder Biagioni this last Thursday and Friday. It was a excellent experience. Thursday night we taught a mother and her two girls the importance of prayer and we took enough time in the lesson to teach them the “how” in the commitment to pray. Afterwards this mother followed by one of her daughters offered some very beautiful prayers. The mother committed to come to church this Sunday with all of her family.


We reminded her of the importance to pray to be able to fulfill her commitment to attend church because the advisory is going to work really hard to make it so they don´t go. Friday morning we shared a special breakfast sent by Sister May. After we had time to study personally and as a companionship, we all shared what we had learned from the Book of Mormon and after we read the Mission Hand Book along with Preach My Gospel. We studied chapter 9 about how to use family history to find new investigators. During our language study I took advantage to ask Elder Biagioni about Spanish. I learned a few important points. We felt a very strong spirit during our study time. After, we left to work in the rain. It reminded me of when I was a missionary in Bolivia. What a privilege it is to be missionaries! Thank you Elder Brumley and Elder Biagioni for the time that we shared together and also for all of your efforts to bring to pass the work of the Lord!

Always remember what the Lord expects of us:

1. Fulfill our purpose to Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end
2. Faith, Hope, and Charity
3. Obedience
4. Study and Apply Preach My Gospel
5. Diligence


Three Questions to think about:

1. Are we remembering our purpose of missionary work in everything we do?
2. Are we working in close collaboration with the leaders and members of the ward in order to find, teach, retain and activate?
3. Are we obedient because we love the Lord?


Thoughts from my Book of Mormon Study this morning:

In Alma 45: 2-7, Alma was interviewing his son Helaman before he went on a mission. Alma asked him the following:

1. Do you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon?
2. Do you have a testimony of Jesus Christ?
3. Do you keep the Commandments?

These are also good questions for us also in order to evaluate ourselves and our motivation in doing missionary work.
Thank you for all of you hard work in inviting others to come unto Christ. The gospel does miracles in the lives of the people who are looking for peace and happiness.
Con amor,
Presidente May

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Monday, September 8, 2008

Weekly Message from Presidente May to the Missionaries

Estimados Elderes Y Hermanas,
Les mando mi amor a cada uno de ustedes. He estado reflexionando mucho sobre la importancia de la obediencia en esta obra. Sabemos que es la primera ley de los cielos. Hay muchos ejemplos en las escrituras de la obediencia y las bendiciones que viene por causa de ella. (1 Nefi 3:7, D y C 105:6, 2 Reyes 5:1-14) Hay muchas bendiciones que recibimos por medio de la obediencia con exactitud. Exactitud quiere decir que si el horario es levantarnos a las 7:30, nos levantamos a esta hora. Si nos levantamos a las 7:31 somos desobedientes y tenemos que arrepentirnos.




Estas bendiciones vendrán cuando seamos constantes todos los días para obedecer los mandamientos del Señor y las reglas de la misión. No vendrán cuando seamos obedientes por una hora del día, dos horas del día, la mitad del día, etc. Ni las vendrán por ser obediente un día de la semana, dos días de la semana, tres días por la semana, etc. Las bendiciones vendrán cuando seamos constantes en nuestra obediencia. La bendición más grande que vendrá cuando seamos obedientes con exactitud es el poder de los cielos para llevar a cabo a nuestro propósito de bautizar, retener, y reactivar. El Espíritu Santo siempre estará con nosotros para mostrarnos a donde ir, que hacer y qué decir. Si queremos lograr nuestro potencial como misioneros y una misión, la obediencia cien por ciento nos concederá el poder de los cielos para hacerlo.
Asignación:
1. Traigan sus agendas a sus entrevistas conmigo para que yo las pueda revisar.
2. Por favor responden en su carta me mandan hoy a la siguiente pregunta:
Usar el frase ¨En esta misión nosotros… ¨ use 5 palabras o frases simples que a lo mejor describe como es su misión (por ejemplo, En esta misión somos obedientes o En esta misión trabjamos duros, etc.) En pocas palabras, que hacemos en esta misión.
Recuerdo Esto: Meta bautismal para el mes de Setiembre-120
1. Cumplir con Nuestro Objetivo
2. Desarrollar La Fe, Esperanza, y Caridad
3. La Obediencia
4. El Estudio y Aplicación del Predicad Mi Evangelio
5. La Diligencia


Resultados:
6 personas cumplieron con el compromiso con El Señor del bautismo
14 personas cumplieron con el compromiso con El Señor de la confirmación
435 cumplieron con el compromiso con El Señor de fijar una fecha bautismal
250 cumplieron con el compromiso con El Señor de asistir la iglesia
565 cumplieron con el compromiso con El Señor de escuchar el evangelio
31 está cumpliendo con sus compromisos con El Señor que tengan un gran deseo a bautizarse
65 referencias de miembros
20 personas en la iglesia por un miembro

Reflexiones del Libro de Mormon:
• Helaman 5 Nefi renuncio al asiento judicial y se dedico a predicar el evangelio con su hermano Lehi. Se acordaban de las palabras de su padre Helaman:
• 5:6 La importancia de guardar los mandamientos como misionero para poder enseñar la obediencia a otros.
• 5:8 Los motivos para predicar el evangelio tienen que ser puros y no para la gloria del mundo.
• 5:11 El gran mensaje del evangelio que Cristo vino para redimirnos de nuestro pecados y por medio del arrepentimiento podamos tener el poder del Redentor para la salvación.

Les amamos y deseamos que cada uno de ustedes tengan éxito en bautizar, retener, y reactivar.
-Presidente May


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Success Stories, comments sent to the President

The following are excerpts from the letters to the President that come every Monday morning. Enjoy some of them, without names, of course, but powerful messages; "Hemos estado aplicando el como orar y leer las escrituras con nuestros nuevos conversos e investigadores y ha sido maravilloso ellos están desarrollando un gran cambio en sus vidas tanto que ellos nos lo han hecho saber."



2."Tengo un gran testimonio del libro de Mormón un testimonio personal pero al ver el cambio que este produce en una familia cuando los padres y los hijos lo leen juntos, este testimonio crece. Jony y Dora son nuestros hermanos que se están preparando para ser parte de la iglesia, ellos leen cada día personalmente y como familia el libro de Mormón Jony nos conto que el antes bebía alcohol y robaba una cosita en los supermercados pero que al leer el Libro de Mormón muchas cosas han cambiado el dijo “este libro me ha cambiado, realmente yo lo puedo ver” antes gastaba su dinero en vino y con sus amigos pero ahora no cuando le pagaron este 15 el fue al supermercado compro víveres y un regalo para su esposa, cuando el nos conto esto sus esposa tenia lagrimas en los ojos, y el dijo la que se ha dado cuenta de mi cambio es ella, entonces ella dijo que si moviendo su cabeza. Jony nos dice que esta cansado de esta vida que quiere ser feliz y estar junto a su familia."

3. "Estamos enseñando a una jovencita( Valentina Villanueva), su papa tenia 18 años de no asistir a la iglesia, pero estamos muy felices de ver a ellos dos juntos, y ella tiene fecha bautismal para el 31 de Agosto, es una jovencita muy especial, se que ellos dos juntos seran verdaderos pilares para que el resto de la familia pueda activarse, tengo un fuerte testimonio de trabajar con personas menos activos, cada vez que encontramos personas asi, es un privilegio compartir con ellos e invitarles a venir a cristo otravez, y conocemos nuevas personas que estan dispuestos a seguir a cristo."

4. |amo este evangelio, y cada dia es mi deseo perderme en esta obra, y saborear lo delicioso de ser misionera.|

5. |Algo que me impresiona de este barrio es que tienen mucho amor a las personas que vienen y a sus miembros vi que algunos maestros a veces no sabian lo que estaban enseñando sin embargo la paciencia y el amor de ellos hacia que estos miembros e investigadores sintieran el poder de convencimiento del espiritu fue algo nuevo para mi y me gusta es un enfoque que todos los barrios deben tener mas que pagar diezmos o seres sabios personas que se aman y son discipulos reales de Cristo."
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Zone Conference Themes

Every six weeks the mission holds a Zone Conference. The first one we had was held on 2 different days, so we had smaller groups so we could get to know the missionaries a bit easier with less crowds. We had the first one with about 80 missionaries, and the next day we had the 2nd one with about 75 missionaries. Then the following month, last change we met as a whole mission, which was wonderful for all of us to be together. Of course the whole meeting is done completely in Spanish. Here is an explanation of what the themes are about:



The assistants to the Presidente conduct the meetings, and we have a song, prayer and any business announcements. Presidente May gave the missionaries the assignment to study and prepare a 3-5 minute talk each on the theme of the Pure love of Christ; Charity/Caridad. Each missionary was to study and research in their scriptures, PMG, etc on the subject and be prepared to share their talks if called upon. Then during the conference, the President asked 4-5 different missionaries to come and teach from the pulpit and express the things that they have learned. These missionaries are fabulous, and we are so grateful for their obedience and preparation. Then last change we also did another theme, which was Faith/Fe. This was delightful to hear these fine missionaries compartir their thoughts and testimonies, especially those who taught how they have learned about faith in their missions. Each month we have another theme as they prepare.
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New Arrivals/Llegadas Nuevas

New Arrivals on Tuesday, Sept 2nd. This is a happy day for us; one to receive new missionaries!
It's like adding another great person into the family, which we are always thrilled to do. The missionaries arrive VERY early, 5:30am, if they are coming from the USA-Provo MTC. The Latin missionaries are released from the CCM here in Santiago at 8:00am to us. We are all excited to meet each other! Here are our new arrivals:
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These new incoming missionaries are wonderful already:

USA/MTC-Elders Low, Moser, Toone
CCM/MTC-Hermanas Cañari, Cuevas, Spielmann
Elders Escobar, Argueta, Campos, Caro, Millagueo, Pini, Vargas
Bienvenidas a todos! Our trainers are Elderes Salazer, Giddens, O'Neill, Kartchner, Quatralle, Pavlovsky, Flores, Moore, Diaz, Neff, and Hermanas Ward, Quispe, and Aparicio Read more!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Posting Fotos

Seems like there is so much to write and to tell from our experiences here, but we decided to put more fotos instead as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words...
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We are using flickr.com that will allow us to post in different categories and sets. We are putting some fotos to show missionaries in action, those who are here, others departing, others arriving. It is an ongoing process that happens every six weeks. We love these missionaries, and wish we could keep them longer, but they must go home and move into the next phase of their lives. The new ones arrive so eager and fresh, that it is contagious, and we are so grateful for the faithfulness and willingness to serve and be obedient. We admire and respect them for their worthiness to be here. Bienvenidos, welcome to you all.
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