Youth from Colina District come to Mission Home

Presidente Yanez had a great activity for his youth who were Laurel/Priest age. They met at their chapel on Friday, March 27th, had some missionary activities and then surprise the 20 youth and had drivers bring them to the Chile Santiago North Mission home.

We enjoyed having them here in the Mission Home, where we could take a few minutes and give them ideas of how to prepared for a mission. Hermana May talked about preparing by learning how to cook simple things, tend to their own health issues, fix their clothes, do their laundry, learn how to work, having part time job, to also develop their own testimonies of Tithing, so they can teach and personally testify of that principle too. Also, how to meet others, develop social skills and also learning to serve and think of others. Presidente May talked about developing their own testimony, what to study, Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon, specifically. Also, he gave them an overview of the typical day in the life of our missionaries. They could ask questions and understand the process of a mission call.
Afterwards we took them into the dining rooms and had refreshments together, while they took some fotos inside and outside with each other. It was a delightful evening.

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Standard of Excellence

We have established a Standard of Excellence in the Chile Santiago North Mission to raise our vision, increase our level of faith, help us stretch, work effectively, and reach higher levels of performance. We should never lose sight that our purpose in achieving the Standard of Excellence is to baptize by water (Redemption) and by fire (Power of Holy Ghost) each and every week so that our converts will become clean and have the Gift of the Holy Ghost in their lives to remain faithful in the Church throughout their lives. Last week Elders Gunnell and Pini were the first companionship to achieve the Standard of Excellence in our mission. This should serve as a “Model of Success” in our mission so that every companionship can achieve the Standard of Excellence consistently each week.

We have used the analogy of “The Three Gardens” in our illustrating what is needed to be done to reach the Standard of Excellence. Each and every week the we must be diligent in working in the “Planting Garden”, “Cultivating Garden” and “Harvesting Garden”:

Weekly:
Planting Garden:
10 New investigators
10 Investigators with a baptismal date
8 Referral received and contacted
20 Contacts daily

Cultivating Garden:
6 Investigators attending Sacrament meeting
10 Lessons taught to an investigator with a member present
10 Other lessons taught
10 Progressing investigators
5 Lessons taught to recent converts and less active members

Harvesting Garden
1 Investigator baptized
1 Investigator confirmed
1 Investigator prepared for baptism next week (Fase 3)

There are many blessings that come from working as hard as we can in each of these gardens. (D&C 18:15-16) We can choose to receive all of these blessings for ourselves or we can bless the lives of the members of our wards and branches by inviting them to work alongside of us in each of these gardens. As we work in unity with the ward leaders and members, the harvest can be multiplied many fold. President Monson has said, “We will never achieve the success we seek in the Mission Field without the help of the members." We must gain the trust of the leaders and members so they will have a desire to work together with us in these gardens. The following is a list of suggestions that can help us achieve this:

1. Working hard all day and every day. Develop a reputation as an obedient, hard working missionary.

2. Making personal calls to stake presidents, bishops and ward mission leaders to keep them informed on the progress of the work and to thank them for their support.

3. Inviting members to have a discussion in their homes with their families with an investigator present.

4. Being on time for all meetings, especially with leaders.

5. Going on division to teach investigators, work with inactives and part member families, find new investigators, etc.

6. Occasionally teaching Sunday School and priesthood classes.

7. Teaching good lessons in Gospel Essentials class.

8. Inviting members to participate in baptismal services well in advance.

9. Inviting members to tell their conversion story at baptismal services.

10. Having the bishop, ward mission leader, or other members baptize your converts.

11. Bringing quality families into the Church that are well taught and committed to the gospel.

12. Blessing their house and family during visits.

13. ALWAYS BEING POSITIVE AROUND THE LEADERS AND BEING ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE WORK. DON'T TELL THEM THE PROBLEMS OR THE FRUSTRATIONS. LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE.

14. Looking sharp, dignified - a step above the crowd.

15. Smiling - greeting members on Sunday - being friendly

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Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Dear Sisters and Elders,

In Amos 3:3 the Lord asked, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Unity and teamwork in missionary work is powerful in bringing salvation to many souls. It can be applied to a companionship, district, zone, and a mission. It is also essential in the relationship between full-time missionaries and stakes, districts, wards and branches.


When two missionaries work as two individuals, the results will never equal what two missionaries can achieve working in unity as one. A basketball teams that plays as five separate individuals will never accomplish what five players can achieve playing as one. A missionary companionship will never achieve what they can if they work with a ward or branch as united team. When they do work together it is no longer a team of two but rather a much larger team that can accomplish so much more working together.

When a group of individuals work together as a team, their results will be multiplied and the end result will be greater than the total results of each individual working separately. This is called synergy. When companionships, districts, and zones work together in cooperation with wards, branches, districts, and stakes, the results will be greater in bringing many souls unto Christ. In Philippians 1:27 it says, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that they stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith in the gospel.

May we as missionaries work together in unity with our great and faithful leaders and members here in the Chile Santiago North mission that we may truly multiply our efforts in bringing many souls to the waters of baptism, that they may receive and enjoy the precious Gift of the Holy Ghost in their lives so that they may walk in His path, even Jesus Christ.

We love you,
Presidente May
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Medical Maladies in the Mission

Sister Burnett oversees the medical issues in the mission as they arise. She does the triage, and gives our missionaries good, sound, veteran-mother-experienced advice or sends them on to see Dr. Dave Dixon, our member Doctor who works out of the Church offices on Temple Square/Obispado, where he oversees all medical maladies for ALL of Chile in regards to missionaries. Here is PART of 2008 year end summary;

Allergie-3 Athlete's foot-4 Blisters-4 Chicken pox-2
Dog bite-3 Appendicitis-1 Bloody Nose-7 Constipation-3
Ear Ache-5 eye infection-5 fatigue,weakness-15
fleabites-8 fractured bones-5 hemmorrhoids-4 hernia-2
headaches-7 ingrown toenails-7 heartburn-6 parasites-4
stress attacks/panic heart attacks 13 rash-13 rat fear-2
scabies-3 sore throat-13 Spider Bite-3 sprained ankle-2
tumor/cyst-3 urinary infection-4 swollen glands 2 swollen eyeball-1
water in ear-1 cramps, vomiting, diarrhea-88 sore feet-155....all?!

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March's Theme (for the 6 week change cycle) Christ-like Attribute: DILIGENCIA/ Diligence

Study in Chapter 6 of PMG, about "Diligence," one of Christ's attributes that we would like to develop as a mission. Missionaries prepare a 3-5 minute talk on the subject, in Spanish, of course, to be called upon at ANYTIME, to share in any setting with a group. This helps all of us learn more about being Diligent, hard working and following the Savior's example. Study: Moroni 9:6, DyC 10:4, DyC 107:99-100,DyC 75:2-5, Mosiah 4:26-27, DyC 58:26-29.

Our Latin missionaries also have an "ENGLISH" challenge each month, from being able to give a Prayer, share their testimony, talk about their family, etc, all in English when they have their interviews with Presidente May. This has been super motivating and our missionaries are working together to help each other succeed. This change they need to describe their purpose as a missionary, as taught in PMG, in English.
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Missionary Cookies

Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies (missionaries love these!)

MOM’s Peanut Butter Cookies
(From Jeanie Glazier’s kitchen, the mother of Sister May)

½ c. soft butter ½ tsp. salt
½ c. brown sugar ½ tsp. baking soda
½ c. white sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon
½ c. peanut butter 1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg 1 ½ c. flour

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. No need to grease cookie sheet.
3. Roll into small golf ball size dough, flatten with fork tines, top with 4-5 chocolate chips of 1 Hershey chocolate kiss for fun.
4. Cool before removing from pan. Enjoy!
5. This recipe only makes about 3 doz cookies. I always double, triple or 4x the recipe, to have plenty on hand.

“Always made with love,” Hermana May, Chile Santiago Norte Mision



MOM’s Galletas de Mani’
(de la cocina de Jeanie Glazier, la mama’ de Hermana May)

½ c. mantequilla ½ tsp. sal
½ c. azucar moreno ½ tsp. biocarbonata sodio
½ c. azucar blanco 1 tsp. canela
½ c. crema de Mani’ 1 tsp. vanilla
1 huevo 1 ½ c. harina

6. Pre-calientar el horno a 170*
7. No pone spray en la bandeja/cookie sheet.
8. formen en Pelotas de golf chicitas, marken con tenedor arriba, arregan 4-5 chocolate chips o 1 Hershey chocolate kiss.
9. Dejan que enfriar antes de sacar el cookie sheet. Enjoy!
10. Esta receta solo hace 3 doz cookies. Yo siempre doble, triple o 4x la receta, para tener bastante a mano!

“Siempre hecho con amor,” Hermana May, Mision Chile Santiago Norte

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He that thrusteth in his sickle with his might....

During the zone training this past week, Presidente May spoke of the cycle that we have in the mission, symbolically like working in gardens. We have three seasons or needs;Planting, Cultivating, and Harvesting:


We compare the planting in the mission, Sembrar, such as finding new investigators, making contacts, having references from members and others, putting some with a baptismal date, etc. These are the beginning of the growth. Give them lots of water, careful place them in leccons to receive the nourishment of the word with the Book of Mormon, and then help them to begin to establish roots of understanding, developing their faith in Christ to want to change their lives and repent.

Next comes the culivating/cultivar, where we have the lessons taught with members, have them attend church, progress as investigators, which is the time we carefully help them along, weeding out the bad habits or challenges in their lives, add the water and sun needed for them to begin to flourish. Sometimes we have to pluck out the ones who have died, so we don't keep watering dead plants, and give our attention to those who are progressing and want to grow, change their lives.

Lastly, the harvest/Cosechar, comes when the plants bear fruit and an investigator is Baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here they can have complete joy, as they receive the Holy Ghost and are confirmed members and also begin the planting cycle as they refer their families, neighbors, friends in this miraculous work. We have to constantly be tending to all parts of these separate sections of the garden, as they grow in stages. We can't just continue to plant seeds and plant seeds, without helping them grow to completion and bear fruit. We are here to teach and to Baptize. That is our calling and purpose.
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“MISSIONARIES ARE HERE TO BAPTIZE!”

Recently I had the privilege of attending a seminar for all mission presidents in Chile. What a blessing it was to receive counsel and be taught by our Area Presidency, Elder Amado, Elder Corbridge, and Elder Zeballos. We also had the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas among ourselves, the mission presidents, on how to improve missionary work. In his concluding remarks, Elder Amado gave a powerful reminder of what are true purpose is here in the mission:
“MISSIONARIES ARE HERE TO BAPTIZE!”

It is so easy to loose our focus on why we are here. When we stop and think about the mission, there are so many aspects to a mission. Learning a new language, getting accustom to the transportation, eating different foods, meeting many interesting people, etc. But this is not the reason why we are here. It is like visiting the top of Cerro Cristobal and looking out on all of Santiago. There are many impressive sights from the Cerro Renca to the wonderful mountains to the many impressive buildings. In order to find the spire of the Temple would be difficult without knowing the specific area of where to look. It is possible to find it with the naked eye but becomes much easier to find with the use of one of the telescopes that are available on the top of Cerro Cristobal. The telescope magnifies our vision and allows us to focus in on an object, in this case the Temple spire.

There are also many things we can focus on in the mission. Preach My Gospel is like the telescope that is a tool which allows us to focus in our purpose, to baptize. We know that some of the most important things are planning, finding, and teaching. These can easily become “things that a missionaries does” or “missionary things” if they are not connected to our purpose. Planning to baptize, finding to baptize, and teaching to baptize brings a whole new dimension to how and why we do missionary work. It allows us to focus in on our purpose in all that we do thus enabling us “to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). We will then be fulfilling the counsel of Elder Amado, “baptize!”

It is my prayer that we can fulfill our purpose of why we are really here. May we maintain our focus of bringing salvation to the souls of many through baptism by water and the Spirit which will allow Heavenly Father´s children here in Santiago to receive a remission of their sins and have the power of God in their lives is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Zone training/capacitacion

Presidente May wants to spend more time training, teaching and practicing with the missionaries and finds that when they can do a training within a smaller group, they can cover more material. He has gone to areas and had the missionaries come for a short, 2hr training, and they can accomplish so much more. This last week, he and Hrma May attended 2 trainings; in Alberdi and Colina. Pdte. May spoke about our Gardens here. Symbolically like 3 separate ones that have a cycle in the lives of our missionaries, in regard to their work with investigators, such as:

1. First garden: Planting/Seeds (Sembrar) where we make contacts, find investigators, use references from members and new converts, have baptismal dates. He said that when we receive a reference from a member, it is like planting a seedling or start, because it has a few roots already and chances of making it to full growth are better than sometimes just seeds.
2. Second garden: Cultivate (Cultivar) where we have lessons with members, other lessons, attendance at church, progressing members, and we need to pluck and weed those who are not growing. Are we watering dead plants who don't want to grow? Move onto plants who want to flourish and progress.
3. Third garden: Harvest (Cosechar) Baptisms, where we have the fruit of the work and the product of the seed growing to completion, also confirmation, and them more references and new seeds to continue to grow and plant. Cycle of the work.

Next Hrma May spoke about the sacrifice and Atonement of the Savior. When we think we are doing so much for Him, we can still never begin to come close to repaying for His Life and sacrifice He made for each one of us. She quoted Alma's testimony of Christ in Alma 7:10-13 where we are blessed by His suffereing, pain, Atonement that we can't quite comprehend fully, but realize our own failings and inablity to do this for ourselves and satisfy justice. It is now contigent on our own repentance and desires to turn to Him for all things, and submit our will to His and our Heavenly Father's. We will surely all have challenges, trials, pruebas y desafios, but still will be for our experience and growth. D&C 122:8-9. Someday we make look upon our lives like a beautiful quilt, with threads sewn in trials and challenges, joys and peace. The Savior has a beautiful pattern and individual design for each one of us, and we will surely see His handiwork in every stitch that will be beautifully blended together to create the lives He wants for us, if we endure them well.

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