Welcome Home Elder Dehner

Scott returned from Chile on Friday, August 28, 2009. He arrived, looking and acting the same as when he left over 2 years ago. Granted, he is spiritually deeper and definately changed from his service to the Lord and the people of Chile. He is struggling with the English language and is listening to a lot of Chilean music. In Sacrament meeting (Sunday, August 30th) Scott gave an excellent talk and evidenced to everyone that his experiences of preaching the gospel had made him a powerful and converted servant. We know that he will miss the work, the people, the language and the culture. But we are glad to have him home. Enjoy some of the pictures below of his homecoming.

Elder Dehner's Welcoming Committee (Mom, Beth, Doug, Elder Dehner, Dad, Kate, Chad, Mike, Amber, Baby Will, Dillon, Miles, Morgan, Tyler, Kelsey)

The Nieces & Nephews (Miles, Will, Tyler, Dillon, Morgan, Kelsey) along with Kate & Chad for crowd control

Doesn't he look great??!!!!!!

Loves from Everyone

The Siblings

Elder Dehner with The Parental Units


Mom Taking off Scott's Missionary Badge


President Martin Providing Elder Dehner his Honorable Release

A Note From Father

Scott.......your mission to Chile has gone by slow and fast; different speeds at different times. I think slower at first and then fast and then this week has been like waiting for a great vacation. It can't come fast enough and yet there is still much I need to get done.

You have served the Lord two years. Not much out of what will be a long life. You are the apple of my eye. The full-time missionary I was never able to be. I wish I could have been your companion. You were "A Savior on Mount Zion" for many Chileans whose lives you touched. I know it was hard work. I know there were tests. And I know there were blessings immeasurably received. I'm sure it seems like life in some ways passed you by, but the spiritual education you received in the Lord's service is worth far more than the 2 years you spent. There is no greater education that the one you received in Chile. You are now well equipped to face life and its many challenges. You will be successful and you will be happy.

I am proud of you my son. More importantly, I know your Heavenly Father is pleased with your faithful service. You learned to serve and to love others. I know the Lord will bless you all your life because of your faith and your service. You are returning with honor. Keep up the good work.

Your mother and I love you. Dad. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Last Update From Chile

All the emotions are here and winding up each day is tough as I get closer and closer to home. I admit I know that it is something I need to do with coming home and what not, but I really don’t want to (hahah). I do, but I don’t. It is crazy, but the feelings I have are so great because I know I have put my all into the work and the people of Chile. I still have so much I want to do, but there is not enough time so we will see how it all goes. I am leaving Teno tomorrow and going to Concepcion to say bye to people and to get ready before going home. Wednesday we are with the President and then to a hotel that night. Thursday morning we fly to Santiago where we will attend the temple as a group. I will then catch a plane and fly solo that night arriving in Atlanta the next morning. Then I catch another plane for Columbus, and then home.

I am working as fast as I can to figure out which things I will take home and which things I will leave here for others to enjoy. It is interesting and it is pretty crazy at the same time. I am trying to stay focused and I am still here in the work, but it is more of a saying goodbye to the work as a full-time missionary and that is very tough to do. I really don’t know what to say other than I already miss Chile and the people and the language. I am leaving here with so much more than when I came. Going with me is the desire to get more and more. It is incredible and really i think that life is like this…..a continual desire for knowledge of all aspects of life; more and more and more.

Tell the YM in the ward to get ready for their missions and to be strong and hang in there, because it is hard, but at the very end is when you understand and it hits you harder than any other moment and it is worth all two years of hard work to feel it. I miss you and I cannot wait to see you Friday. I will be there all ready to give loves and smiles to all. Right now I have to go say bye to some more people, so I will see you Friday.

With all the chile-american love I have to offer,
Scotty Bubbers
P.S. I am loving preparing this talk for Sunday, but it is a beasty one to do after being away from the temple for 2 years. It will be interesting and I hope you enjoy it Sunday. Thanks for all your support.

Whhheeeeew, we made it :)

August 17, 2009 Update

Oooo dalali Oooo dalali

Okay, well here I am writing to you after a long P-day with lots to do. We had our last trip (Elder Atkinson and a couple others) to Seven Cups (Siete Tazas) and it was a blast. We took somw good pics which I will try to get out, but due to time and with lots to do I can make no promises. This is what we did all day today; it was our last grand thing before we leave Chile.

The mission time is coming to an end, but we still have a great week ahead and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. Yesterday, Sunday, I was able to baptize a girl named Yasisca in the stake center which was fun because it was a big font and she is a way cool girl and anyways the baptism went well. After this we went over to our branch presidents house to eat completos and enjoy the time there after the baptism, since he lives in the same area as the stake center.

Then the usual continued with the work out in Teno. We have found some good people we are working with and will continue to work with them, it loks like they could be baptized soon after I leave if all goes well. They all went to church last sunday and we had six investigators in church with an assistance of 57 people. It was a pretty good sunday.

Her is my delema. Obviously as missionaries we are sent to teach and baptize and to help people recieve their exaltation and I get all of this. They say that we should not get trunky especially during our last week and I am sure I will work and enjoy my time up until the last minute. However, I would like to see and spend a little more time with those who I have known and seen and taught a good share in the mission, but my companion does not seem to like the idea so he is throwing a hissy fit. I don't like having contention. but I hope I am okay in telling him to bug off for a second so I can cherish the time I have with the people whose lives I have touched and who have touched me. I hope you all are understanding to this fact as it really frosts my cookies when people just try to be the robot 100% factory-made work until you run out of gas type and leave no room for personality and love with some things. Anyway, that's enough of me venting my problems. Iam doing well and love the work and everything here.

I met one of Chads companions here in the Alameda Ward here in Curico. Supposedly he was with him when Chad had about 23 months in the mission. Also there is evidently another one of his companions here so that is crazy. Chad does Fernando Fierro sound familiar? I guess you trained him. He is in the Ward of Rauquen in Curico. I will show you pics later for sure. They all spoke great things of Chad.

If you invite friends that aren't members to the church for when I report back they are welcomed in my book and would be a great welcome to the church. I am also tryingto invite some as well, but you being there in thee Ohio can get the job done quite fine I believe. I will try to prepare a good talk for them.

So it looks like we have a nice ltitle suprise that will come to us this Wednesday. We get to go hear Elder Corbridge speak to us here in Chile. I dont know what it is, but my group here in the msision has been pretty blessed with the visits from general authorities and apostles. We have learned and have heard a lot of great things that have been noted in my journal. I am excited for the opportunity to go Wednesday to hear him and it will be a nice ltitle event before the final week comes. I am trying to get all the little things collected here in my bags before the time comes. I know we dont talk about this much, but yes it will happen some day and getting ready is quite the process and it is not easy.

Is there anyone else that has gotten married that I dont know of? It seems like everyone is getting hitched. Also, everyone is much further in school compared to me. I feel like a weirdo for being a freshman in college now haha. I am sure this passes through alot of missionaries heads :)

I am having a good time out here and really find it hard to leave, but I know that these things are limited and I have grown to this point now for a reason just so I can continue to grow later on and it is great.

bubby boy........Scotters

August 10, 2009 Update

Yesterday was Sunday and we had a great day because we baptized Valeria, who is the daughter of Patricia our convert who was baptized about 2 months ago. They are just golden and will do great here in Teno. We took some fun pics and then got down to business.











We had the font all set to be filled up and we turned on the water and the hot water was coming out. We left for awhile and right after we left, someone came along and thought it had been left on, so they turned it off. So, when we got to the baptism the water was pure and freezing.




I was the lucky one who got to baptize that day and so Valeria and I had a hard time breathing and keeping things cool, haha. but it all worked out and we got the baptism out of the way and got warm after we put new clothes on.

Here are some other miscellaneous pictures taken Saturday (2 days ago):

Flying Solo

Having had a companion stuck to my side for 24 months, I was surprised to get my travel plans from the President Chavez this past week and see that I will be flying by myself from Santiago, through Atlanta and home to Columbus. That will seem a little weird.

Great Day of "P" - Visit to Los Quenes

Today is the great day of P and we took a lovely trip to los queñes. this is a park up where snow usually is and some other pretty parts to walk around and see the nice sites. We took plenty of photos and enjoyed the outdoors. We found a place where there was a cave and so we decided to go inside, but the water was there up to our calf and so we had to take off our shoes. The water was amazingly cold and so many did not do it. Elder Micheles and I were the brave ones who faught through it and stepped on the stones (not feeling anything) to see what the cave had to offer. It got dark inside and so we had to keep taking pics to shine the way and it was quite the adventure until we found an outlet or two. We came back in one piece and with cold pooties. The trip was fun and it might be the last trip we have this transfer before I leave. Hopefully that is not the case, because Elder Atkinson and I want to go to seven cups; he has never been there so that might be next weeks adventure.

We are excited and are loving the work!!!!!

Here are some more Pictures of our P-Day adventure to Los Quenes:

Baptism Day Activity

This last week was quite dandy I must say.



Here is the update on the successful events that took place:

• We had a nactivity planned on thursday with games and a movie. Things were just going so good that we happened to have 2 of our baptisms pop back into place and they could get baptized Thursday. We turned the activity into a Baptism day/activity so we got the spiritual fix and then the physical fix that same day.
• Catalina, the girlfriend of Italo, got baptized and also the 8 year old son of Vicky and we are proud of them. They had a great baptism and then enjoyed the activity.
• The new president gave us keys to the church, but under strict direction that they are only for us and no one else and so it is nice because we can do a little more now with those in our possession.
• Sunday we went to church and turned on the heaters and got everything set up for our great fast and testimony meeting.
• That day as well we confirmed Italo, Catalina and Miguel. They are all now members and it was a great Sunday.
• We had 53 people in church which is the 3´rd or second highest number of people I have seen attend in Teno since the beginning of my 7 months of service here.
• It was a great day and then we went to the ex-president Jamett's house for the last lunch with him and his family. I say supposedly last lunch, because they invided us to come to lunch on the 23rd which will be my last Sunday in Chile. I love this family; they are a bunch of stallions who get the gospel and work for every principle and blessing it brings.

Catalina (Italo's girlfriend) Gets Baptized


Baptismal Day for Vicky's Son

Another Crazy Week

The missionary work is going well, but we are having trouble getting people to come to church. We have lots of plans for people we are teaching; August could be a busy month for baptisms. Catalina was supposed to get baptized yesterday (Sunday), but she didn't get home late and missed church. We will try to get it done sometime during this week.

The tough news at church is that the Teno Branch President (President Jamett) was released after serving for 20 months. He has done a great job, but his assignment was for about 18 months, so it is time. The new branch president is President Jara and we are looking forward to working with him, because he and his family seem like great one's. Both President Jara and his wife served full-time missions. The only drawback I can see is they only have daughters and what we really need are young men here in Teno. We have also heard that we will also be getting another member of the High Council to serve as the Elders Quorum President.

I am enjoying the time we have because it goes by so quick, but it sure is great while it lasts :) Lets all work hard and get things done so we can go home each day with a good feeling knowing we tried our best.

I miss and love you all and I will see you in 4 weeks. Keep the countdown strong, but maintained to a minor roar, like a little golf clap.

Rollin right along feelin' fancy free

Scotty Bubbys

Bada Bing....Bada Boom

Italo's Getting Baptized !!


Italo....victory over sin

The future of Teno

This last week was pretty spectacular. We had Patricia get confirmed a member of the church and recieve the Holy Ghost yesterday in church. Later that night Italo got baptized. I was not there for the church meeting and barely made it to Italo´s baptism because we did a mini-transfer so I could go interview one of the investigators in Licanten which is about 2 hours away and Sunday she was baptized as well. I only worked with my actual companion for like 2 days of thew week because we had alot of things going on. The exciting part is our confirmation and Italos baptism. He is such a stud and already has a calling prepared for him after he gets confirmed next week. I am looking foward to pounding his girlfriend Catalina in the water next Sunday as well. Everything seems to be going great for us so far; we are finding some people here and there and our investigators are progressing little by little, so they can achieve this baptism for the remission of their sins.

The sad thing this past week was with Miguel. He is our 8 year old who wants to get baptized and we teach him and his mom, Vicky. She could be baptized as well, but doesn't have a desire, even though she has passed two interviews. She said that her son could get baptized and we had it all ready this last Sunday. Then she came out with this excuse that he could not do it because she wanted to be there and that this Sunday they could not go to church because of an economical issue. This is a bunch of garbage because she doesn't need money to walk to church which she has done before; she was just throwing out poor excuses. I wanted to be there to talk to her but I was in Licanten doing a baptismal interview. We are hoping that Miguel will be able to get baptized this Sunday and that his mom will soften her heart and get to church so that he has completed this goal.

This Wednesday we have our Zone Conference and it is my last. It will be my last in the mission and I get to share my testimony with everyone. I am excited to do it, but I am not excited for it to be my last conference. I guess all good things come to the end so far as the mission is concerned, but the work will never be stopped until the lord decides it to be time.

I will keep on working hard here in the mission and in Teno. Hopefully we are making a good dent in the Lord's work to help His church grow here on the earth. I am loving my time here and enjoying every minute. Keep up your prayers for me and my companion and for our investigators, so they can progress and join the herd of sheep counted among his flock. I love each and every one of you and I hope that we have a great week. Thanks for everything. I love you Muah!!! Hugs not drugs xoxox

oh how it burns my soul, Scotty Bubbers

Keep it real, Dawgs.

Updatez My Dawgz

Ok, so this last week was great, like all the others. We are trying to firm up some baptisms for this month, especially with Italo and his little girlie, Catalina. We had them get their interview Sunday and they both passed. They have some problems believeing in a modern prophet (Thomas S. Monson), but they are willing to obey Christ and the commandments so they are going to get baptized; Italo on the 19th and Catalina on the 26th. They are amazing and we love them to death.

Genealogy info........ Italo is a stud on this and he has a geanology family tree on his computer that he has been working on with info and pics for everything and it is amazing. They loved the idea when I told them that the church was really involved with things like this. We have alot of other options for baptism this month as well and hope to be seeing some good miracles this month.

Yesterday we had a special stake conference which was not scheduled and we heard from President Barro one of President Amados' counselors. It was a great talk about how we are now focusing on saving those members who have fallen away from the church and all the things we need to do for it and what it means. It was a great talk and, I believe, really necessary for this stake and for chile.

Today is P day and we heard about our transfers and it looks like I will be staying up here in Teno until the end as a District leader with Elder Cantua still. It will be good and I would have rather had it this way I think because it would of been annoying to have left and met new people and then not be able to see my converts again. Anyways thats the news for what is going on in the mission up here in Teno so far.

Life sounds good at home and I can see and feel that we are being blessed in many ways. Lets keep up the great work and not lose hope ever and keep our focus on the kindom of God. We will be greatly blessed in our lives if we keep firm to the rod; that is the straightest and safest way to the eternal kindom. Keep up the great work and I hope that we all have a lot of success this coming week Let's do our best to keep a smile on our faces because we know and have the truth in our lives. This is hard to show and teach people when they dont believe nor have they felt it, so that's why our example is a perfect teacher.

"Teach the gospel, when necessary use words" Have a great week and know that you are l-o-v-e-d Loved. Wear my love as your shield, I know honest. Muah you're the best!!!!

Put your shoulder to the wheel, Scotty Bubbers

Siete Tazas

For P-day (today) we traveled up by siete tazas (seven cups) again and we went a diferent way to a little area called El Toro and there we hit up the river with some hardcore fishing.

The Road to Siete Tazas (Seven Cups)


Siete Tazas


Up River


Down River

Hardcore Fishing

The fishing usualy is great there supposedly, but today it went a little slow and that was a bummer. The place is beautiful and it was fun being by the river in that senic view. We brought stuff to grill up some longaniza (sausages) and ecco (like pero) and we hung out by the river casting out the rod. The best part was we went with out new investigators Italo and Catalina; they are our future hope for Teno.

They are dating, but not living together so it is great to finally ge a stroke of luck there in chile with that item of business. They are awesome!! Italo is a pretty sucessful guy. He is 25 with a pet food shop here and is doing well and his girlie, Catalina is 19 or almost 20 and is studying. Anyway, everything was fun and we enjoyed ourselves and had some good bonding with these future members.

A Successful Week

We had a lot of success and it was great to see. I think we have totally been blessed this last week. We found a lot of good people to teach that look like they could already be on fire to get baptized. We held an activity on Friday and it was great because we had a lot of investigators there and it was pretty rare to see; I know everyone was happy.


We came up with a game for our activity and i thought it would be a fun idea to make a human gameboard on the floor so we could move and play ad if we were the objects on a table game. It was great and we all laughed and ate and learned alot. This was great and it led up to us having 4 investigators in church and we were happy for that as well. Three of them stayed to see our investigator Patricia get baptized.


She finally did it after so many trials in her life with family deaths and being out of town. Our baptism (Felix) that we had 2 weeks ago also was confirmed and recieved the priesthood. The work is really moving foward here.

Felix Gets Baptized

Felix was baptized, but Patricia had to go out of town and so she was not baptized; hopefully next week. Not only did Felix get wet, but the last two days it has rained non-stop pretty heavy. The area really needed it, since we have been in a drought. Fortunately for us we have good umbrellas and people have let us in their houses. The rain stopped during the night and this morning it was all clear and beautiful, especially the snow covered mountains.

These are the days that you don't want to stop!!


This past week in my interview with President Chavez he asked me if I had a
preference for a transfer because I am coming up on my last one. I told him that I was willing to do anything and that he could leave the decision in the Lord's hands. He said alright and then asked if I was still happy or if I was bored of Teno and I told him that we are working and having a good time in the work and have a lot of desires for the following month and then he kind of hinted and made it seem like I would just end here because it would be more of a bother to move me on the last transfer. If that's the case, as much as I love my comp I think I would like to end with a latin just to be able to go out speaking spanish with a native. We will see what happens; either way I am happy to be here as a missionary.

The work here in the mission has changed al ot, we use to do tons of contacts and work on finding a lot. Now we are working with members and referrals and our style of teaching has been changed 100%. Instead of it feeling like we are convincing people of Joseph smith and the restoration we are teaching people from the very first contact that they need to repent and be baptized and then we give them a baptismal date from the very first conversation, in the street or at their door. This has helped the mission tons and we are seeing amazing things happen. Fear has been driven out and I think this is what we have needed to do from the very begening, but the Lord has prepared us in a way so that way we could be effective instruments in doing these things. It is amazing the viewpoints that people have on this, but it is a great work and a great message.

As for my cold and sickness, i am getting better i believe and so that is great. I just went to a pharmacy and asked for drugs because you can just buy alot of things here without a doctors reference so i went and got that stuff Dad told me about (Z-Pak) and some amoxicilin and am still kickin the vitamin C and it seems to be doijng something. A lot of people are sick here now so it is just a time to watch our health. Thanks for the prayers and support.

The Swine Flu Bash Brothers

There are many versions of the Bash Brothers. I think it started with Fulton Reed and Dean Portman in The Mighty Ducks. The latest is Elder Dehner and Elder Dallin H. Oaks who met elbow to elbow in Concepcion this past Friday during a special conference in Concepcion. All the missionaries from the Concepcion and Concepcion South missions met in conference with our respective mission presidents, the Area Presidency (President Amados and his counselors) and Elder Oaks.

Due to the scare of the Swine Flu, hand shaking was not allowed, but Elder Oaks went elbow to elbow with all the FTM's. It was great. The Conference was really inspiring. Elder Oaks said he could feel a special spirit in our meeting that he had not felt in others previously.

All the talks were good, but expecially Elder Oaks'. He spoke with a voice of thunder and gave us encouragement as missionaries. He spoke a lot on being grateful for what you have. It was fun to hear in English and then hear in Spanish as the translators repeated their words. It is great that God calls us as his little helpers to complete his work on earth; we just need to do our best and be grateful for what we have been given, be obedient and be blessed.

Our teaching this past week netted some good results. We found a fun couple to teach. They are dating right now, but not living together, so we shouted for joy, because that is rare here in Chile. They will be great members one day, I feel. We also have two baptisms for the Sunday. One of the two must not smoke for this week in order to qualify for baptism. We will help him there and keep our prayers for him going.

Yesterday we taught one of our investigators whom I love. He is from Equador and is progressing a lot. He was drinking a little bit because he was sad and a little depressed being in Chile without family or or kids on Father's Day. We helped him and I changed his thoughts and mood from feeling bad to being more joyful because I helped him understand how he could repent and get better and fix some things and that made him smile, which was nice.

I was asked again to speak in church once we got there (happening quite a bit). I spoke about the love of God and how the greatest gift he can receive is to have his sons and daughters come home to him. The Spirit was strong and helped to make this Father's Day great. We ate lunch with our Branch President and his family.

It is winter here and I miss our walls, roof, insulation, fireplace. Here we have wooden boxes with tin roofs and make-shift fire stoves. But, I can take it and be grateful as Elder Oaks said.

This Last Week Was Good

Ok well this last week was good; we made some good progress with one of our investigators and she is getting baptized this Sunday. We are really excited about that, because each baptism here is like a 4th quarter touchdown to win the game. This place needs help so we just get so excited when we can dunk another one of God's childeren in the water. We have some investigators that are progressing as well and they just keep getting closer to the water each day. Hopefully we will see some good things come from our labors and the investigators as well. Pretty much the big news of this week is that we are going to have a baptism this Sunday. We are building up the Relief Society more with women, but the men seem to be harder to get prepared for baptism. That is sad, but we just gotta keep our heads up.


Ok well the exciting thing about this week other than our baptism is that we get to go tomorrow (Friday) down to Concepcion to see Elder Oaks talk along with our Area Presidency and some other folks. I believe that our mission and the South Concepcion Chile mission are invited to this nice ltitle event which will take place at 3:00pm. We get the fun privilage of traveling from the most northern point of our mission to the south to see this and we are excited about it even though it will take 6 hours in a bus. When you come to think about it 6 hours on a bus isn't anything really.

This last Monday we played dodgeball with all the missionaries again. We had a good time and it was fun having an activity and doing something more active outside of the house for a change. It has been raining here for two days, but we are doing alright. I am still getting better from being sick; I don't think it has completely left, but we are winning in the Lord's work so that is good.

Lovin you muah!!
heres lookin at you kid.

Golf Sauce

There is Golf, and


There is Sauce




And now there is GOLF SAUCE


I wrote my dad and told him that I saw some fry sauce the other day and it was called Salsa de Golf (Golf Sauce). It made me think of him and the great golf times we had. It made me laugh to think there is Golf Sauce.

When In Doubt, Pray It Out

Life Is What You Make Of It

We keep hearing from people everywhere we go about how bad Teno is, and how it is a ghost town. I just brush it off and say that it is what you make of it.

I have been pretty sick and i thought I was getting better, but last week it got the best of me and I lost my voice and I am still not any better. I am taking plenty of medicine; the standards......Nyquil at night, vitamin c, ibuprofin and amoxicilin during the day.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference and learned how our mission is really improving and setting some records in our progress. During our conference we learned that we might be able to go to Concepcion on the 19th to meet and hear Elder Oaks when he visits the area. He wants to shake all of the missionaries hands, which will be a lot of shaking.

"Kicking the cold and saving souls"

Go Bucks and keep up those great quilts Mom; they look GREAT!!!! You make my heart swell.

Pigs, Coons and God's Creatures in Chile

Well family, this last week was better than last week. We worked hard and kept our shoulder to the wheel and got places. We had about 40 people in church and 3 of them were people we have been teaching and they had a great experience. The branch president gave a great talk about the orginazation of the church and it helped a lot especially with our investigator Valery. Valery has gone through many churches and is trying to find the true one and she has had some fear in finding the truth which I think is common among most people. Sunday was great for her and we even heard some things from her about maybe wanting to be baptized so we will see :) As for other people we have been teaching, they are hard to find. We have one guy who says he wants to get baptized, but we can never get to him. He should be baptized this next Sunday, but he is a different type of guy, so who knows. We are seing good things and having success here, but its not easy and there is always a price to it all.

That's a little update of this last week.

I have had a little cold as well for the paset 4 or 5 days so I am trying to get over that. It sucks because supposedly the swine flu just got here to Chile and here in Teno there was one case I guess, but it is way over-talked and made bigger than what it really is, so I have to be careful if I cough or look sick. Recently, someone with the flu was traveling on a bus and people turned violent because they were scared of the flu and thought that the person shouldn't have left their house and it turned into a riot. Dont worry though, its not like that with me and all is well hahaha.

Well it sounds like the life there in the states in Ohio is good. I am excited for a new nephew soon and so we will keep our eyes pealed. Tell porter that the ipod is something material and unless it containes alot of church music he should leave it at home and just get over it because its nothing to miss thats for sure.

As for the coons just stay up at night and shoot the gun at them and laugh as they run away because they have lost. We can take control again and we will not sit back and let them run the joint.

Workin hard,

Scotty Bubbers

May 18, 2009 Update

Ok well this last week was not amazing, but we are still in the fight. We had a goal of baptizing 10 people this month, but that won't happen now because people have the hardest time getting to church. Chileans are so lazy and if it is raining they think the day is over. Usually we have about 45 members in church and this last week we only had 24 because it was raining. The life here is pretty much the reason why this country doesnt develop as fast as it could. The kids stay up till 1:00 am and then no one gets up until about 11 or 12 in the morning or afternoon and then they complain because they have to work for 6 hours sometimes. I just don't get how people cannot aspire to have more in their lives. Oh well, I am glad that we are a hard working people and that the church teaches these great principles.


Today we had our P day and we played Dodgeball and changed the teams around several times. Me and my companion are pretty sweet at the game and it took me back to the trampoline days; I was dodging with varsity kicks and slides on the floor and even making stuff up and it was great to play, especially with the Latins. We made a team in the zone with americans vs. latins and we didn't have enough Latins by one person so we put my companion over on the team because his last name sounds more latin "Cantua" even though it is native american from what he has told me. Well the Americans won in dodgeball 10-8 and it was a great game and we had a good time.

After our game we went and got something to eat and then came home, took a shower and then came here to do internet. It has been a good day and I am quite excited to have done something active for the first time in a while on a P day.

This week I hope all goes well for us and I hope that we can get more success and help some people repenst because they need alot of help, especially the one cheating on her husband. We really need these people to get the desire in their heart to go to church and get baptized, the plan is so perfect and the gospel is soooo great and true. I wish more people could understand the importance of these things; even if they don't get the concept I wish they would put their faith in God and know that these things are true. I am having a great time preaching to these people and letting them know of the truth and I have seen and experienced many great things, which I wont ever forget or take for granted.

Thank you all for your prayers and help that you give me. The package with the ties and sweets did help as well. Please keep up the great work and lets get some serious business done.


In the service,


Scotty Bubbers

Post Mother's Day Satisfaction

Well I am glad that we are riding high on life as we have all passed this mothers day yesterday. It sounds like everyone is doing great. I am sorry that I didn't get to talk to everyone but I loved every moment with all those whom I could talk to; especially the mummy pie :).

As you know things were covered pretty well yesterday on the phone and we are continuing to work forward not only today and during this week, but to the end of forever because this work is kind of an eternal calling. Today, my companion and I woke up to rain which was a bummer.

Here in Chile we live under these tin roofs and so in the morning or whenever it rains you can hear it pretty good and that is pretty fun and you hope that the rain doesn't continue all day. We have been pretty lucky ducks without the rain so far this year and hopefully it will continue that way.

After we got up and did our daily prep, we then went to Curico (30 minutes to the south) to do a little shopping and all of that fun stuff. I found a great offer on some good gloves here that I bought. They were about 2 dollars a pair with thinsulate lining and all of that cuddly stuff which is hand made from wool, and so I couldn't resist and bought some for now and for after my mission. After the shopping we took the bus back here to Teno to do some internet time and write you lovely people. That's pretty much all that has been going on for now. We are now excited and re-pumped to move foward after the mother day calls we had.


Working for the people,

Scotty Bubbers

May 4, 2009 Update

We baptized a young man a couple of weeks ago and now his mom is taking the discussions. We were teaching her this last week and all was well until she recieved a phone call and acted all shady about it and it wasnt any big deal, but I felt prompted to give her a scripture on repentance, hoping she will read it. Anyway, while teaching, the Spirit indicated to me that she was basically sinning, and then it was as if the Spirit opened up my mind and told me and showed me so that I could fortell the situation and know what we were facing. It turns out, as confirmed through a friend, that she has been cheating on her husband with a member of another family we have been teaching. Despite our efforts not to get involved, we as missionaries now need to go and call her to repentance and hopefully open up her eyes so she realizes the harm she is doing and hope she will desire to change her ways. The worst is when people know that what they are doing is wrong and then they keep on doing it and so we hope that is not the case with her, but it will be hard. Anyway it was amazing to see how the Spirit worked with us through the lesson and to know what was going on. The Spirit just hit me and my companion and we knew immediately what was going on and it became so clear and it was a sweet experience with the spirit :)

Hugs not drugs; peace in the middle east; death to all flu carrying pigs. :)

Scotty Bubbers

Another Long Email Ruined (4-27-09)

Once again, this week, I composed a really long email to tell my family all about how things went this week, only to have me logged off prematurely by the unreliable internet we use in Chile. When this happens, I then have to send off a short note with a quick recap. Sorry family. I know you look forward to getting some details, but not this week.

I am doing well here in chile and have been having a good time with plenty of teaching and success and good findings. If all goes well with things me and my companion will be trying to complete our desire of getting 10 baptisms this month of may. It wont be easy so please keep those prayers coming for us and we will do the same for you.


Ruling Teno with a testimony and a blue book,

Scotty Bubbers

My Chilean "Home-Made" Guitar

I had a guy make me this guitar. It is not perfect, but it has a lot of love behind it from the materials that he had in his house. I am happy to accept it. It is not anything you can buy in a store and it is 100% chilean made. It is fun and sounds good.

The Lost Sheep (Billy Goat)

Today (4-13-09) was P day. Elder Cantua and I went to climb a mountain here by Teno. We marched up that mountain in record time I believe. We came back down and realized that we had marched up a steper part, but handled it like pros. We took some pics that I will send later for you all. On the way down the mountain we heard a little Baaa noise, which ended up to be a little mountain goat caught in a thron bush. We went to his rescue and fought to help it out. After he was released, the little fella ran out to the open to call out. Soon we saw the dad or mom with a full goatee attached. We said goodbye to little billy goat knowing that we had done a good deed and had gone back for that lost sheep to bring it back to the fold. I knew we were called for something on that mountain today hahah.

Sad Events & The Plan of Happiness

Ok, I will share with you a couple experiences that made me reflect and think a lot this week. Both are kind of bad, but they really made me thankful for the gospel. More stuff has happened like this since I have been out, but these recent experiences just deepened the thinking process.

Well, me and my companion went to go teach a less active family and specifically their daughter who wants to prepare to get baptized when time permits I guess and what not. Anyway we went up the the door and we heard a scream and we thought it was loud laughter and so we continued to go to the door and we yelled "Hallo" to let them know we were there and after we said this the door opened with the 8 year old son running out to us crying and saying Help my parents are fighting. After this we just looked through into the house and saw the 9 year old daughter natalia crying as well as she watched her dad try to get through the door that the wife was trying to shut and then he stopped and looked at us and said they were busy and then shut the door.

We just stood there wondering what to do, and it was such a traumatic situation I just stood there feeling so bad for them, as if all of it was happening to me. It made me think a lot about the principles of the gospel and how those principles provide us a basis for living and having a happy family life. The family is a great blessing from God as it is governed by gospel principles.

The other experience we had was when we went to teach a girl named Valentina. We taught the law of chastity and we asked her a bunch of questions and we felt we taught a good lesson. You could tell she was shocked a little bit and then she just kind of broke down. She asked us why we didn't teach it to her sooner because she recently figured out that she was pregnant and the guy that supposedly loved her left and she is just stuck all alone. She is only 14 years old.

This made me think of how great the wisdom the gospel is, and how we are blessed if we are willing to obey its teachings. Both of these experiences just made me hurt for the people.

As a missionary I have found that these things just hurt more than anything else because the people are not aware of the gospel and if they reject it, it hurts. The domino effect of not accepting the gospel can be catestrophic and later they will wish they had accepted the gospel before all the pain and trauma occured in their lives.

I don't mean to make you sad, but these are just a couple experiences that happened this last week which allowed me to see why having, and living, the gospel principles are so important to our current and future happiness.

I am so thankful for my family.

Easter in Chile

La Virgen

Ok so we all know that good friday and all of these big catholic holidays are quite something right. Here during the wekend they played all Jesus movies on TV and it was quite interesting whenever we entered a house. We went in one house and got caught watching this little segment about Christ and his baptism, with John the Baptist. John was baptizing people by putting his hands in the watter and filling his hand up with water and pouring it on people's heads. WHAT?! That was nuts to see.

And then Jesus enters the water and bows himself down in the water so that John could fill his little hand up and pour it on Jesus. I found it rather crazy and it would of been a waste of Jesus time to get half-way wet and not go all the way under haha. That was just a little taste of that movie and the way everything is portrayed to support the Catholic view of the world. Later on that night we walked in the street; here in Teno there is a big Catholic church and so we went over there only to see big speakers with music playing out in the plaza that you could hear for about a mile, and then a group of Catholic priests and people stopping on every corner to say something as they walked with a cross and candles. I must say that it was an interesting weekend.
The misionaries fight back!!!!!!!!! Thats right. During this weekend we did all that we could do so we could baptize Lucas on Sunday. The little stud went through with it and got dunked.

We were really happy and the spirit was strong and Lucas' mom was very content. We had a great evening teaching and then going by Lucas' house to congratulate him at his little baptism party. What I don't understand about the world!!!!!!!!!!! Lucas supposedly had his party and he and his little budies were out and about while all the grown ups were there back at Lucas' house drinking and smoking. For a moment it was hard to understand for whom the party was being thrown. We ended up teaching alot of them there and I am sure they left Lucas' house thinking a little more. Pricsilla, Lucas' mom was upset with all the drinking and smoking and we just told her that she had the right to say no and not to allow it, but she is not that strong yet to say that to her family. Let us all be smart please and follow the gospel and be good examples because that is what Chile lacks the most; a good example and strong work ethic, with a personal drive to be successful.

General Conference - April 2009

So how about that General conference? It was pretty fun wasn't it?? I was able to watch both days of conference as well as the Priesthood Session on Sunday. The messages were great and full of uplifting hope and help. I had many favorite talks, but one talk that made me think of our Savior a little differently was the one that Elder Holland gave. I found it interesting that the Savior had a period of time without his father and the spirit, just so that he could comprehend the feeling, with perfection, of how we as humanity feel here on earth as mortal beings. That was a great talk to hear.

For our lunch we had the family of our Branch President prepare us lunch in Curico at the stake center. We had a sandwich and two empanadas (dough wraped over egg,olive,onion, and meat - those are the oven cooked ones).

Seven Cups

Today was P day and we enoyed the day quite well. We went to a place called siete tazas (seven cups) and it is where the mountains have these caves shaped like cups and out of those caves are waterfalls.



It was really pretty and the water there is really clear and cold. I took some nice pics which you are now enjoying. We went up a steep cliff side though at one point and it probably wasn't the smartest idea of the mission, but we had a nice view and are still alive.

Next Monday we have permission to go paintballing so that is our activity next Monday here in the mission. I know, I cant believe that the Pres authorized it either.

The work is going well here in Teno. Sunday before conference started we had a baptismal interview for our investigator Lucas, 10, and he passed with flying colors. We will dunk the kid this coming Sunday :) Hopefully he will be the example for a couple of others we have planned for baptism this month. We are workin hard like little bumble bees and enjoying our time here. This next week I think will be successful with the baptisms and with the progress of other people we are teaching.

Licanten Beach

For our P day we left our area to go to Licantén to hang out with Elder Glissmeyer and Elder Clarke. We had a fun night of hanging out and sleeping and then we woke up and went to the beach.

It was awesome. The waves were really big and it was set in a cool little beach town with fisherman and little stores along the beach side. There was no one there because beach season has gone and it was not the prime beach going weather. Anyways it was great we took pictures and made videos and just had a good time. It was the first time I saw the beach here in chile so I was really excited to go and see it.

After the beach we went back to Licantén and went to each lunch with a member there and we made hamburgers. It was a pretty good day. After P day was over we stayed over there and worked with them and then called it a day and went to bed.

At their house they have a lady who sells clothes and they have a room stored up with a ton of clothes and so we were playing in that like little kids play in a ball pit and we had a ball :)

This was ourt P day and then we woke up the next morning and took the 1.5 hour bus ride to our distric meeting and then Elder Cantua and I came back here to Teno and worked.
Here we are now and this is why we couldnt write until now because we had stuff to do and all that fun stuff. Anyways this last week was good. We taught our good investigatores which will probably get baptized this month probably the 12´th and we are excited. We were talking to our Branch president here in our meeting and he pretty much told us that to get Teno going good we pretty much need to replace the branch with all new members and go foward with faith. This was crazy to hear, but as we look around it is kind of true. We have tons to do here and I absolutely love it because working in the mission is awesome and we can be very flexible with the things that we do here because it's like we have 12 callings haha. Me and Elder Cantua are having a good time and we get along pretty well so this transfer is going good thus far. Elder Cantua has been out in the mission for about 6 months; 4 months in chile.

We are excited for General conference because it is like the super bowl. The best is that all the Americans can just get in a room and watch it in english all nice and peaceful and just soak up all the good gospel advice. It is the best time of the mission probably. We are just hoping that we have alot of people go to conference from here in Teno especially our investigatores.

You have asked about any wierd food we eat. We have recieved a couple things that we don't know what it has been, but we just eat it and it has been pretty good. Usually this type of food is like a sausage link or some type of braut thing but it doesn't taste like a braut at all. Those sausages are the weirdest and I will show you some pics of it later :)

March 23rd......the day of P

Today being the day of P, we had permission to go bowling and it was pretty fun. I was just excited so I could see how Latins bowl. They had some pretty interesting techniques, but don't we all when it comes to bowling. I tried to perfect my technique by thinking of Dad; kind of like we do when we play golf when we approach the ball at the shot. I put my feet together looking down the path of where I wanted the ball to go, I shrugged my shoulder a little bit, took my side step to the left and put my feet together once again like a perfect pin man and then began to take a smooth stride to throw the ball. I had it down and I tried to be as pro as I could; it's not easy you know. After that we went and looked around at a couple of shops and then came here to do internet. It has been an eventful day.

Well this last week was pretty good, we have made some progress teaching those who will get baptized in April. It looks like we are going to get some kids dunked in the water. It was one of the brothers b-days yesterday and so we went over to say hey and eat some free cake and then spread the good example there and teach all the people there. Some weren't members so that we could spread the word. It was good and I think the little example we shared went a long way. I would purposely talk about something louder so that others in the corner would start talking. It is funny how you can dictate conversaions without being part of it just by words or example. There were people there drinking and smoking and offered us stuff just trying to be funny for their friends but then we all turned it into a big lesson on the word of wisdom and how we need to be example for the kids at the party because they were supposed to be throwing a party for the kids and not the parents. I think some people there left with a high image of us and with turned heads on how they could be better example and take care of their bodies. It was a fun time and we kept the work on our mind during the little time we were there and it was great.

The work here is going good. Each day is a battle and the adversary is working his tricks each day. We need to be obedient and work hard to overcome all these things and we will be blessed.

We are just working hard and trying to get Teno up and running. The weather has slowly started to change and it is a little cooler in the mornings and nights here. In April i think it will be getting colder and starting to rain more since we will be entering winter shortly. We are still without a heater so we need to go buy one here for the house. We are happy and just gettin it done here in Teno. We are going to baptize everyone here for sure. Thanks for the support and the prayers sent to me each day. I am sending them back ten fold. I hope that we all have a good week this week and that we get alot of stuff done and that we are produtive with our work and with our smile :) Keep up the great work and know that you are loved and know that I am wearing the love shield each and every day.

Cuidese (take care of yourself). Muah!!!

Rockin it for the lord,
Scotty Bubbers

Welcome to Teno, Elder Cantua

Ok well this last Tuesday I got my new companion. His name is Elder Cantua and he is from California and I think actually now his family is living in Nevada. He is a fun guy who likes to laugh and work which is good for everyone. I don't see too many problems in the near future with this one. I kind of miss the Latin talking everyday however. I like to find people to talk to so we can keep our spanish going and not get involved or caught up talking in English to one another, however it is fun as well. He has one sister and a father and his mom and dad are seperated and his dad recently remarried. It is a fun time so far and we are looking foward to working and getting things done here.

Last week we made some progress with some of our investigators. We have about 4 kids who want to get baptized, we are going to baptize a primary class haha and we have two other people who accepted a baptismal date for April. They are all people we need to work with and it will be good to se if they can do it because their families need a lot of help and love. Teno here really suffers in the church and so it is hard to get a really ideal church service done each Sunday. I am glad however that over there in Ohio the meetings were good with the authorities and stake presidents. Here we are working hard each day to battle Satan and his betwixed ways to warp the hearts and minds of man. We are happy-go-lucky type of servants and so this shines through and we are getting good feedback from the people. I urge each person to have a good attitude in all events and to wear a smile because it changes the world.

Creepy info!!! okay, so yeah we all remember the creepy gay man fernando who was a mini missionary with us here for a week. Well anyways he somehow managed to get our cell phone number here and called me today and I told him that he couldn't call us. I paid no attention to him; maybe I was too nice even though it is hard to believe when I had to yell at him numerous times for not following the rules. He also wrote me and decided to send me two pics of two guys kissing which was rather awkward if you ask me. I think he needs to figure alot of things out and stop being such a stalker and well this is pretty much my creepy story for the week and today. I now sleep with a knife at my bedside hahah.

blue skys without clouds still,
Scotty Bubbers

March 9, 2009 Update

This past week we worked hard like usual and felt good about everything. Nothing out of the usual went on. We had a new convert from the ward sleep at our house and have a day as a missionary with us because he wants to go on a mission by the end of the year, but is a little weird fella hahah. Anyways, all went well and we got some good things out of it and some good lessons with members. His testimony was pretty simple with phrases like "well for something I got baptized and that's why I am here". Anyways it was good to have the guy around with us. We worked hard other days as well and are trying to get some baptisms here at the end of the month. The Branch President told us in our weekly meeting and in sacrement meeting that the work we are doing is paying off and is showing. This was good to hear because sometimes. especially in areas like Teno, it is hard to see the fruits of your labors even though they are all around you. We are just gettin er done out here yo!!! (as best as we know how that is)

Today as we all know is P day for us missionaries and it has been a frantic one. We have transfers tomorrow and my beloved companion Elder Arellano gets to go to Chillan to serve there next. We were hoping to have one more split together but it didn't happen. He is especially sad considering it is his first area and it is hard to let go. I told him that the mission can really begin after your first area and it is pretty much true because you are once again winged away. I am getting a companion from California.......an Elder Cantoa or something like that. I dont know anything about him and well we will see how it goes. He is american so it should be fun I hope :)

March 2, 2009 Update

Ok well this last week was hard. We have been working like crazy and finding more difficulties with the branch here in Teno. There is a lot of things we need to fix and well basically I am pioneering this branch again from scratch with the president and my companion. It is hard work, but the blessings and knowledge is coming like never before.

We found about 8 new people this last week and it was pretty good. There are some crazy people here in Teno and one family has told me never to come back to their house because they thought I was disrespectful in some way or another. You can imagine my suprise considering this is practically the first time I have ever heard anything like this in my life. My companion told me that they are a really weird family and he speaks the truth. You would have to see and know them to believe it and then once you did you would understand. They are a family that live the soap opera lives and attitudes so it is really dramatic with everything blown out of proportion. I am good though and not affected by it at all and we are working all the same here and loving the work :)

Yesterday a cat was in the front of our house sick and so we gave it water and then we left. Today, in the morning, we see that it keeled over and died and was being invaded by ants. We had to put it in a bag and leave it for the trash guys to pick it up, we put some trash and boxes in the bag to make it look not so obvious that there was a dead cat. it was quite the time let me tell you!!

Okay, well it sounds like things are getting a little tighter there at home and with the economy and all the sorts. I have been praying diligently with all my heart to bring us all comfort and strength; I was reassured that everything would be alright.

I am on the process now of thinking about my future and I have thought about every possible option and thing that I can do regarding college, etc. I am working it through right now actually and the process is pretty interesting.

I love each and every one of you as my family and I cant wait to be close to your side again to work and grow together. Families are eternal and we need to be close and work hard if we are to be expected to do the same later on. When all is said and done we need to be cheerful and smile and love the Lord and root for the Buckeyes always. Keep it real and wear the love shield and know that you are loved. Lets not be afraid nor timid but let us be firm and courageous with hope and an eye single to the glory of god. Gett Er Done :)

The willing elder that does,
Scotty Bubbers

A Long Bus Ride

Today we had planned to go hike this mountain. We took a bus to go towards the mountain, but didnt know where to get off so we kept on riding through the town of Chepica and laughed when we saw another church there, we knew that we were then in the mission of Rancagua hahah. We knew that the bus had to go back towards Teno when it turned around, so we kept riding it until we got to the city of Santa Cruz. We then planned that we would hike the mountain another Monday due to the time we had because we still needed to come here and eat and do internet. Anyways check out on google earth where we went, we ended up sitting on that bus for like 2 hours or so and it was probably one of the most beautiful rides I have been on here in Chile through the country. We left the mission, but without knowing so now we know what to do next time haha.

We Got Hosed Tommy

When we got back to our apartment last Monday (P-day) after writing our letters at the internet cafe, we was that everything was not as we left it. In other words, we got robbed. Our front gate had been bent and broken and our window was broken and left open.

Once inside, my companion, Elder Arellano, and I took inventory and besides being ransacked, I noticed they took my CD player, Guitar (wasn't mine - borrowed), electric shaver, mini speakers, watch, quad scriptures, patriarchal blessing, line of authority, pens, scripture marking pens, etc. etc.

It was pretty sweet and now we have a lot of people talking about it here in Teno and people are trying to help us and figure out who did it. We got the police over there and the one that took the report (on the left) was drunk and it was pretty funny.

Anyways yeah that was a good way to start the week. The next thing that happened was that our bathroom broke and so we had to fix that, we are looking for a different house now.

Ok well last week we also started our mini mission. Each area here in Curico in this stake now has 2 young men who are preparing for missions in the next couple years and they are to work with us as part-time missionaries to preach the word with us. This is hard because now we live with 4 people and we have to do alot and teach a ton. It is a fun experience, but sometimes hard and stressfull. One of them is a little Femmy and is here with me now telling me his stories of his life and how sad things are and it is kind of Emotional and I hope it doesn't last much longer.

The other one is a nerdy guy who wants to leave on the mission and learn alot. This situation is real weird and it will be an interesting week and I will have fun when it ends next tuesday :) Well, this is where we are this week and we are just going to work; the good thing is that every lesson is a lesson with a member. We are just going to hit the work hard this week and show these boys a good missionary experience and hopefully they will grow in their testimony which is the most important thing of all.

Preachin like a crazy man,
Scotty Bubbers

February 2, 2009 Update

Hello hello one and all; whoever is reading this email. I am here now in Curico to access the internet. However my actual area to work in is about 30 mins north of Curico in a place called Teno. It's not a very big place....about 6,000 people in the close-in area and another 18,000 people that live throughout the rural area. We are about 700 feet above sea level and the mountains are about 12 miles away. I should see snow on them during our winter (June - August). Here in Teno it is now hot and and dry. The sun just melts off your skin and it is pretty strong, especially here in chile where they have a thinner o-zone layer (at least that's what Al Gore says)than some other areas which makes the sun pierce through stronger (Al says thank you to all the gas guzzling, big carbon footprinters in the U.S.). We can walk on the streets sometimes and see lizards run along and they are fun little guys to see. I am trying to get some pics of them before winter comes. I hear that winter is pretty cold (due, no doubt to global warming) here in Teno. The word Teno comes from the indian group "Mapuche" which is something like the cold grabs you. Here are some pictures of the area......from the sky and from the ground.

Teno, Chile - Google Earth Aerial

The nearby mountains

Palm trees, asphalt and electricity

Smart Horse - free, cool shade and grass to eat

I have a companion his name is Elder Arellano and he is from Ecuador. His family is like ours with four children; two guys and two girls. His brother is serving a mission in Bolivia and has the same amount of time in the mission as I do. Elder Arellano is a happy type of guy and is fun to work with. He is fairly new in the mission and is learning like a new birdie trying to fly and it is really fun working with him. Right now we are working on trying to not get worried so much with things because he is a little worry wart at times and it's like he was just winged away from the house. Some latins are more fragile than others due to their strong family ties and being close to home always. He is a great guy and we will get the job done I believe. Here is a picture of me and of me with my companion, Elder Arellano, and Claudio and his family at the baptism we had this last Sunday.

This area of Teno for missionary work is pretty interesting. The people are really nice and sometimes to get inside a house we can just show up and say, "hey we want to share a message", and then they let us in. Supposedly a while back there were a lot of problems here with the church and so there are a lot of crazy stories and excommunicated people here. Some still go to church and some don't. This last Sunday we had 41 people in the church. I think that this area will provide both trials and great successes in many different ways. We have a Branch President assigned to us here in Teno from Curico and his son is our mission leader and he returned from his mission last April. We are working hard together and just trying to get success. Our idea is to work with the youth more than anyone else because they are fresh and will be the future of the Church here in Teno. There are two youth here named Moroni and Nephi which is kind of funny as well (stuff you find in Utah).

Teno Chapel

This last Sunday we had an interesting class in which we taught our new converts and investigators about the creation and that went well. After that we went upstairs to the adult class to hear the teachings a little bit and we had a fun battle of the difference between our church and others in terms of being accepted into God's presence after these last days. Seriously, the people here need to be smacked in the face and think more logically and strengthen their testimonies. I had to get up and explain some things in two classes to add testimony onto what the President said because people could not understand. Here in Teno, we missionaries are like councelors to the President. I am sure I will learn a lot here. I have no idea why I am here, but I know that I am a missionary here to help in some form or another so I will just do that. This should be a fun and interesting time in Teno, and well......we just need to saddle up.

Some things work differently here in Curico as well with our zone of the mission. They arren't big things, but they are things that I have not done all of my mission. Here in Curico we don't count other lessons we have with people, we just count lessons with members. This is the main difference considering because the emphasis if on working with the members to help strengthen them.

By the way here in Teno there is a mall-type place and it has McDonalds which will be nice after not having it since i was in Talca in San Javier a while back.

Have a great week and Go Bucks!!!

Teno Chile.....Here I Come!!!!

I heard about transfers today and I am heading to Teno, which is an area about 30 minutes north of Curico, Chile. It is the northernmost area of our mission and it was just reopened for missionaries after being closed for 5 years. Apparently, there has been some apostasy there for a while with women blessing and passing the sacrament (could just be a rumor......I can't believe this is true), nonetheless, it should be interesting. I am excited to go out there to work. My companion will be Elder Arellano who is from Ecuador; I think he has been out for about 6 months. Teno is near the mountains and has more extreme temperatures (hotter and colder) than we have here in Concepcion. It is about a 6 hour bus trip to get up there and so today I am spending most of the day packing and saying goodbye to some of my contacts and families. We also went out for a nice lunch to Centro Espanol as a zone. Here are some pictures I took that I though you might enjoy.

Centro Espanol waiting area

Me and Elder Riddle

January 12, 2009 Update

This last week we worked like normal and had a little bit of success, we didn't find a lot of new people to teach. My companion was frustrated with that and along with his stomach issue he has been in a bad mood even with the way he acts towards the people here. I am not happy about that because some people just need to learn to love and take what is thrown at them; instead he is always trying to beat them and prove them wrong or tell them off as they say things to us and so it is hard, but we are working it out. We didnt work as much last week due to his stomach issues. He has stayed in bed some days and all that business. We still work from time to time and get things done so I am still smiling and just chugging along like the little engine that could. We are working towards 3 or 4 baptisms for the 25 of Janurary, but it is hard and i dont know if they will happen due to people leaving or testimony and other issues, but we are trying the best we can to help them all out. How perfect......Bob Marley just started to play in this internet cafe saying "dont worry about a thing every little thing is gonna be alright" anyways those are wise words.

Un-Happy New Year

Well, Christmas is now behind us and it was great being able to talk to the family. We were not able to connect on Christmas Day, but I was able to talk to Mom and Dad the day after Christmas. This week we are working, but it is difficult because of people thinking about New Years. We learned that we will no longer to play soccer on our P-day. We had an accident in our mission and so President Chavez suspended soccer; so sad.......I want to cry! I'm hoping (and praying) he will let it continue sometime in the future, because I am going crazy. I really love to play. I have looked forward to playing each Monday in the morning for a couple of hours. Now my favorite is added to baseball, football and basketball as activities that are "non permitido". We are allowed to play volleyball, so I'm sure we will give that a try.

Almost Christmas 12-22-08

Well hello hello. How is everyone doing this week?? Ok, well this week went well for us and we got some good work done. On my Birthday, Elder Riddle and I went to our favorite family's house to eat some cake and teach their friends, so I tried to kill two birds with one stone you could say. We had a good time and I think it will be the same thing on Christmas day. We will be going over there because they have us for lunch and then I believe we are going to eat dinner there as well. I am excited to call home as I am sure each Elder is.

From hot to cold, but it's still Christmas everywhere. Love to All
Scotty Bubbers

Happy Birthday to Me !!!!!

This week is my birthday and I am excited to be able to come home to the U.S and go clubbin and buy drinks for all my friends and just have a good time.............Not really, I am just excited to be getting wiser in life as they say. I think we are going over to a house to make brownies and teach a little bit on my birthday so that should be good.

I am excited to be here and the time is just movin real fast, but I am lovin' every minute of it whether it is good or bad. Just keepin the head up as they say. I have been truely blessed with an eternal family and this family is trying to make others live eternally as well.

Hema Gets Baptized

Hema (Hemalatha Devi Voruganti) with my parents just before her baptism

Ok well this last week was very eventful I would say. Hema was baptized and I was soo thrilled to hear that. On Saturday, December 13th, I stopped during contacts and was just like Woo Hooo!!!!! Hema got baptized today. I was really happy and still am. Now I have another good friend in the church which I am excited about. I know her family is not supporting her, but she is way strong and we will all be there for her. Thanks Mom & Dad for the help with everything; it is amazing.

Ghetto Zoo

Some of My Feathered Friends

Hey, if pigs can play with a tiger, then why not me??

Well here we are again at this computer with an internet connection that is slow like we had back with dial-up times. It is killing me and i dont know how we did it back then. This last week went well; we found lots of new people to teach and are seeing progress with some people so we are trying to push them in the water in december but we will see how things go. We will keep working and hopefully get some good results this week.

Today was a good day so far because we wentto the zoo and the zoo here is Ghetto because they have a fence for the animals, but that's about it, otherwise you can stick your hand in and play with the animals if you can. I got a tiger to wake up and come over to the fence and then we started petting it and it started getting all lovable like cats do when they rub up against you. Every one thought I was crazy when I started cuddling with the tiger through the fence. I can officially say that I have cuddled with a tiger ha, ha. It was pretty fun and probably dangerous, but hey I am on a mission and we just have to have fun experiences like these at times. The zoo was fun even though it was pretty ghetto and small. We made the most of it.

Ok, so as to the doing at home it sounds like there is snow and things are cold. I think that sounds awesome, here it is hotter and we are just working around and doing our thing for a little while during these two years. It gets hotter but this last week was mostly cloudy which is weird but it was nice for us to have a break and feel good while walking for a week. My companion is a funny guy with things and it is hard sometimes, but we get through it just because the work is so important.

Speaking of blesings, my friend, Hema, told me that she has chosen her baptismal date for the 13´th of december at 1:00 pm so if you could all please support her in this it would be real great because her parents and family aren't really supporting her and she told me that she would love for you guys to be there. We gotta take care of the new ones in the church so that they grow and stay strong.

Well thats pretty much all I have for now, I am hanging in there and looking foward to our call on X-mas. I hope that everyone is having a good week so far; hang in there and be strong. This time of the year is a good time to share your testimony as we are a little more close to the birth of Jesus. Anyway I love you all and Mom and Dad for creating this handsome person I have come to be. Good work fellas!! Have a great week and let's getter done; be go getters.

It's a Pizza Thanksgiving in Chile

Well hello, hello. How's it going? I guess we just said goodbye to Thanksgiving and that is all dandy and fine. I made some hand turkeys in the morning to feel the spirit a little bit so it was pretty good. We really don't get much in the way of holidays here and they kind of pass by like they don't exist. We ordered pizza and ate alot to feel like we were real stuffed to try and get the Thanksgiving meal effect. It's not the same, but we tried. Seems a little strange that we are in Chile, celebrating Thanksgiving, by eating pizza; very international.

The Kressin Kids

Well this last week went well we ended up having 3 baptisms of our own and then the ward threw in another one so we had a total of 4 get baptized this last sunday and everything went nicely. It was good to bring these kids to the church because they are way good and strong. I think they will help set examples here which are needed greatly. We are just trying to work as much as we can.

We have been out a little bit due to Elder Riddle being sick with something. At first they thought it was heart related but the tests came back normal. They said that he has an enlarged spleen or something like that. We need to go today to the hospital again to see a specialist; a Gastrologist I believe is what they call the specialty. We will see what goes on today, hopefully we will get things figured out, because sometimes it seems like my companion wants to die he is in so much pain. We will keep our heads up and hope all goes well.

This next week we really dont have too much planned considering we just had our baptisms so now we are working with some more possible people who could get baptized, we need to work real hard to get some good results. Speaking of Baptism our good friend Hema sent me a letter telling me thanks for the one I sent her about baptism and I think that she will be in the water in no time. I told her that it is hard but that it is way worth it. I said that Dad was a convert to the church and she wants to talk to him a little bit. So give her a call as soon as you can Mom & Dad. She loves you guys like all my friends did.

November 24, 2008 Update

Today we played soccer and then came downtown to eat and then later around six we need to go to the hospital because my companiuon, Elder Riddle, needs to go get some tests taken. He has had stomach pain for the past 3 weeks and is really tired and exhausted all of the time so we went once last week and they think it might be heart related, but we aren't sure so we have to go back to get three tests done today which should be fun. I get to see the mall which is a missionaries little dream considering we get to leave the mission for a little bit because we are so close so hip hip hurray!!! Elder Riddle is coming along. He is a pretty good guy and likes to work, he freaks out about some stuff sometimes but we work all the same and he is currently learning to love and show more love to the people from Elder Dehner. He is a good missionary and has been out here in the mission for about 6 months or so

Last week we had some good success again. We didn't find as many people, but we taught some good lessons and have some good people to work with. It looks like we will have 3 baptisms for sure this next Sunday and that is pretty fun. The ward will have one baptism as well so we are slamming 4 in the water next Sunday. It should be a good day and we are excited for the day to come. This last week we changed a roof off of someone's house which I will send pictures of later, it was alot of fun and hard work. I was hit in the back with a roof tile and it exploded because my body is like steel and the tile couldnt handle it hahaha. It might of actually been a little dangerous but we got the job done and that's all that matters. It was a pretty good week and we will just keep on going with things to get more good results.

I am keepin the district in line and having good success. I only wish that missionaries could think a little more logically and do the things they know are right, because we waste a lot of time on pointless questions and rules and teaching stuff when the answer is right in front of them, and has been told to them several times.

It sounds like things are going well for you all over thereat home. We have seen some changes of callings in the ward, and are facing the holidays which is even more fun. Just be sure to hang on to those pennies of yours and dont go spending them on a nice fancy record player any time soon. I hope that things get better with the economy. Here is is amazing to see how much our country has an effect on other countries in the world. We always hear about the USA and how the economy has changed for the better or worse, sometimes it is just talk but sometimes you can see the changes here. It is actually pretty interesting this world business.

Well thats all I have for now. Thanks to each member of my family for the support and for everything you do for me. I hope that we all have success this next week and we can all pray for it to happen. Prayer is pretty powerfull. Well I love you tons and I hope that the week goes well.

The Elder son, even though he's the younger son,
Elder Bubbers :)

Nertz in Chile 11-17-08

Thought you mightlike these pictures. I was caught playing Nertz (that's right, Nertz) with some of my bros' on P-day.

Making Progress

Meeting of the Minds

Well, hello hello my homies. Hows it hangin today?

We have been having soome good success here and that is always nice to hear and see. We just need to keep it up and take care of the people we have. My companion is sick so we are taking things a little slower now, but it will all end up well in the end I beleive. He is getting along a little better with things as we have talked a little bit, but not hardcore. I am sure we will get there and I am open for anything from his end so we are very flexible it seems. Well, it seems for sure that we will have 3 baptisms the 30th of November and maybe more if things go really smooth. We are working hard to get things done and are having some good things happen so far.

Blinders - Working It Out With My New Comp

This last Tuesday we got new companions and I got a guy named Elder Riddle who is from Layton, Utah. He is a nice guy who likes to work and all that fun stuff, unfortunately we clash a little bit which is pretty hard to do with me, but it happens a little bit whether he knows it or not. He is a guy without personality and really much visible love. He likes to work and help find and teach people, but if we do anything other than that he gets mad. I have love for a lot of people and like to help out eveywhere whether it be a member, less active or investigator; and it doesnty matter because we are all God's childeren and we all need something. We have not gone past our new converts because he doesnt like to and so I fear what will happen to them because he doent take care of the converts. He just likes to find and teach, but in the end it is hard because they wont get retained. I like to go by everyone and help them out with talking or service or whatever it may be when we can do it, but that doesn't go too well with this guy, and so we clash a little bit and it is hard. I honestly don't know what to do too much here with him to help him see that all of these things are important. I know that as missionaries our job is to baptize and teach and find, but we have to be respected and loved by all to get the best results in all things and it is hard to do that if we don't take care of the members, less actives, and investigators. I guess we need to take care of all and he is not yet good at that really. I guess I gotta love him equally. Thanks for letting me vent a little bit on this matter. Moving on.......

Ok so we had alot of success this last week with two baptismal dates thrown into our lap for the week of November from another area as well as others we have worked on to find. We found another girl who told us that she would like to get closer to the church after the first lesson which was cool. We are just working with these people and trying to do all we can for them. I kn ow that a lot of challenges will come from this, but it will be way good in the end if all goes well.

As for how things are here for us, it is good. Being district leader (DL) is pretty good and it's not that bad from a normal missionary; all I have to do is receive numbers from other missionaries and prepare classes for our district meetings and that fun stuff. I am essentially the middle man between the zone leaders and the president. If the zone leaders don't do their job then I don't know what goes on and others won't know so I get some fun calls from them checking on things. I guess I just get a couple more minutes on my cell phone.

That's all for now. Just keepin it real down here. Elder Scotty Bubbers.

Elder Riddle - New Companion

Transfers are this week and we were told that Elder Cunningham will be going to Talca and I will stay here in Barrio Norte and my new companion will be Elder Riddle, who I think is new. I will be training again. I will also be District Leader.

Keep up the great work and know that you are loved as well. Thanks a bunches of oats.

Workin it like simmons step-up exercises.

Scotty Bubbers

Working Like It Was Our Birth Calling

This past week we just went out there and busted it out like it was our birth calling. We taught some families and people and even found a Brazilian to teach, which is cool. We had a good day Sunday with church and all that. We only had sacrament meeting because they had some elections for voting so everyone was walking around with a blue thumb. We can't vote and didn't know what we wanted, but we heard a lot of good things about one girl and I said I would go for her and she ended up winning; so I am one point up this week.

I gave a good talk in church yesterdy. I spoke on missionary work and used Doctrine and covenants 4 and Alma chapter 26 for my talk; it went well. After that we got ready and took some pictures, and then went and just Slammed Nicole with her Baptism which was good. She is 17 and has a child and we have high hopes for her in this gospel and for their little family. I must say she has been spiritually slaughtered. Good work boys!!!! We had a couple other people for baptism, but we need to work more with them and so we will keep in touch for the future with all of this.

Today, so far we have played soccer and then had a zone activity with pancakes and fruit and ping pong and what not to keep everyone happy to be alive here in the mission. It has been a fun P-day so far and we will see how the rest of this week goes. I think everything will be good we just have to get out there and get it done.

I thank everyone for everything they have done for me; for the prayers and the letters and extra things. I know the Lord will give it back double, maybe tripple, but let's not push it :) Well, I better get going, but it has been a pleasure writing this week once again. Next week we hear about transfers so we will see what happens with us here. Keep on keepin on and have a great week with love and desires to grow as God's childeren. Smooches and Big bear hug!!!

From the half chilean boy,
Scotty Bubbers

2,000 Things on my Mind

I am always thinking. Did you know that the mind can process over 2,000 things in one moment? Things such as sound outside, moving your arm, breathing, etc.......

It is incredible, The Mind.

Sometimes Things Can Be Tough

This last week was a hard one. We had success, but we just had a hard time with the people and with things falling into our hands like they have been doing before. We met this one guy whose opinion on everything concerning the gospel and Jesus Christ was just mixed up. With people like this it is hard to change their mind and what not. Anyway, we just taught this guy as much as we could and gave him the Book of Mormom with a brief explination; we are hoping that he will have the desire and good intentions, and hopefully convert himself through the Spirit. Sometimes it is like that. There are some missionaries that bust out the Bible or just try to lay down the law on people, but I prefer to go with them and ask them questions to better understand, and then I bear testimony and leave with a stronger relationship with the Spirit; hoping that I did my part with love and then they will, over time, come to understand. At least this is my approach and I think it is a good one because it allows contention to stay away and love to prevail. I'm all about the love.

General Conference - October 2008

How to Watch General Conference

This past week was great with our Zone and General Conference. As a mission we baptized 100 people with the last baptism taking place at 9:00 pm on the last day of September. We are all proud and rejoiced reverently in the conference and all left feeling good about the work we did. We have every intention of doing it again. Now we know that 100 baptisms are possible. It was also a good birthday present for President Chavez.

General Conference was great!! The brethren talked a lot about love and unity and how we just need to be prepared, and follow the commandments and let the Lord do the rest. If we do His will, He will do the rest and everything will be alright.

Waso Outfit

I thought you might get a kick out of seeing me in the traditional clothes of a farmer.

Abrazos y Besitos (hugs and kisses)

Centro Espanola

Centro Espanola


My Meal at Restaurant

Mote Huesillo

Today was our P-Day. It started by us playing soccer (glorious) for 3 hours. After soccer, we went back to the house and got cleaned up. We then met up with the Assistants and some others, along with a missionary couple that work in the office. We all went out for a really nice meal at Centro Espanola, which is probably the nicest restaurant (good steak) in Concepcion.

There were 12 of us when we arrived and seeing 12 hungry Americans, they upgraded us to our own room. The people just get annoyed with Americans at times, because of the fact that we are Americans; we talked in English, had some good food and we stayed there for quite a while and they didn't mind, because in the end they know we will pay the bill. It was fun and a good experience.

When we were done, we went back to our areas and taught and nurtured our investigators just like good missionaries do.

September 15, 2008 Update

My companion, Elder Cunningham, and I had a couple baptisms this week. Here we are standing by the girls we each baptized. It was a good baptism. My companion didn't fill the water up very high and we both had some problems. You can see that Elder Cunningham and the girl he baptized are both pretty tall. It took them twice to get her completely immersed. The girl I baptized has a fear of water so that didn't help me very much. Everytime I baptized her some part of her didn't get under the water. It took us 5 times, but finally I talked to her and said that we were going to do it fast and right. That worked and she was completely baptized. We all laughed because she used to drink and party a lot and so we figured it took that many times to get all of her sins erased.


Here I am in my customized paint shirt, just working on our new apartment. We are doing a lot of fixing up.


Typical dirt road in Barrio Norte, where we serve.

This week is also the 18 of September which is like the 4th of July in the USA and so it should be a good time. There will be plenty of empanadas to eat and i am sure we will gain some weight and go rolling home. (Rolling with the hommies) name the movie Kate..........wrong kate it was Clueless the movie is called clueless but good try. We are having an activity in the church for this day and hopefully we can have some good non members there to enjoy and see what we are all about. I am hoping to get away with playing some soccer as well because we are invited but i will ask the president on tuesday in interviews. I am excited and it will be a good and busy week.

Well I must needs be going but i am hanging in there and just trying to go out and teach and give myself and others good lifechanging experiences. I think it will be a good week and I am enjoying every miinute of it. I find myself not having enough time because there is so much to do. I wish I could excercise more or study more or teach more and everything but there is not enough time. We are just trying real hard to be quick and do as much as we can. You just have to love everyone and do it all with love for others. When you can do that I think is when you get the most success and nothing else matters. Well thats all I have for now but I will be keeping in touch as always.

September 1, 2008 Update

Some missionaries get way caught up on numbers!!!!!!!!

As for this week we worked hard and we didnt do many contacts but we found 7 new people which we will keep maybe like 2 of them and then we have scheduled 6 baptismal dates. We are working hard and are having a great time doing it. We are just chugging away at things and helping some people. I explained to my companion that I dont care what our numbers look like just as long as we are doing everything with love, and through the spirit, and putting in our best so we can walk in the door each night saying that we tried and did a good job. Some missionaries get way caught up on numbers. Anyway, we are working hard and are getting some things done here. This week we are working on changing our house to an apartment which belongs to the president in Antofogasta Chile. We are going to paint it and everything so it will be a busy and fun week with many different things. Something I ask is that you keep praying for us and our work, and also the language because it is more difficult with two American companions to talk and even though we try. We want to learn alot and you all know i have great desires for this work and the language as well. Please pray and I will return those prayers as well for you all. I thank you for everything and your support. Keep up the great work and hang in there and have a good week. I will be here in rainy Chile until Wednesday when it should clear up hopefully.

With loves and hugs and not drugs,
Scotty Bubbers

P.S. I got a letter from the mom of my convert Belen from Collao and she has returned to the church after 13 years and has a calling and is doing great; Belens younger brother may get baptized as well. The work is great and we do leave a lasting impression where ever we are and go with our actions and example. Stay strong and know that you are l-o-v-e-d.

August 25, 2008 Update

An Old Rusty (American) Tractor


Brent Wahlquist - A Well Oiled Machine

This last week I met President Swensen who is the president of the Chile Concepcion South Mission. We talked for a while and i learned that he was from Pittsburgh. I thought of my Auntie and Uncle Brent whom we love so dearly. Anyway, President Swensen mentioned that he was a Stake President there when Brent served as Bishop and he told me how Brent was always flying out of town and then coming back to the ward to serve as Bishop. He told me he has never known a better Bishop. Way to go Uncle Brent!!!!!!!! He said that you had your ward working like a well oiled machine.

The work here in Concepcion is going pretty well. We are working hard and seeing some results. Of particular note is a non-member mother of a family where all the family are less active members of the church. She has struggled with a dying husband and I think I was able to help her and she has now commited to be baptized on September 14th.

We are going to move to a different apartment because our current place is just a wreck. Our new place belongs to the President of the Antofogasta Chile mission. We will move in this Saturday and we are pretty excited because we can fix it up the way we want and make it nice.

August 18, 2008 Update Hello From Concepcion

My new companion is Elder Cunningham who is from Missouri. He family has a military (Air Force) background and they have lived all over, including Korea. He is a good guy and we are getting things done. We are starting an english class to help kids in the ward and the community. We are in the Barrio Norte ward (North Ward in English) in Concepcion which is near the stake I was in before (about 15 minutes away). I played soccer today for the first time in a while and that really made me happy. Our house here is in much worse shape than some others. We are looking to move, since there are a lot of leaks when it rains. We are both excited for this transfer and we are trying to get a lot of ideas going ans working; hopefully that will lead to much success.
I have seen some of the fruit from my labors when I was last in the area. It is great to come back to an area and see that you really did make a difference.

August 11, 2008 Update Concepcion Here I Come......Again!

Hola Hola. Como estan? Para que sepan yo he recibido informacion sobre nuestros cambios aqui en la mision.

I have heard today that I will be going back to Concepcion to the same Zone I was in before. I still don't know what area, but I will hopefully be rid of companion issues and move onto a good, growing, and learning experience. I will be a senior companion in this area, which isn't a big deal to me, but it will push me more to learn and grow, which is part of the plan. In San Javier, I am leaving about 5 good investigators that will likely be baptized, so I am leaving with a good mindset. I will miss the families I have gotten close to.

July 28, 2008 Update - Mini Transfer with ZL's

We had interviews with President Chavez this last week and we talked about a lot of things. Many of the missionaries talked about my companion, Elder Gamez. I now have one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Garcia, as my companion for the rest of the treansfer period, which is 2 weeks; this is good. We have found lots of new people (14 new investigators) and hopefully that will translate into good teaching situations and a couple of baptisms. In two weeks I hope to still be in San Javier.

I thought you might all enjoy seeing some country scenes here in San Javier. It is quite beautiful. Also, here is a picture of a ward family that i am quite close to, the Vergara's. Their little girl, Vale, was always attached to me. She is sooooo cute.



San Javier Country ................San javier Country #2

San Javier Country #3................. Vergara Family

Vale Vergara - my little shadow

July 21, 2008 Update

First let me say thank you to everyone for your emails. They are greatly appreciated. Well for the most part I am doing well and maintaining a smile. Things are still hard with my companion and the complications are getting greater. We have a new Branch President (only a member for 1 year) and it has brought about some problems. He is very critical of our missionary work and is not open to discussion, yet he doesn't know or understand our rules. It is complicated by the difficulty of having a companion who will not work. I don't like having a bad image and it makes me sad.

June 30, 2008 Update

Well, hello, hello from San Javier. We heard about our transfers and we found out that we will be together for another 6 weeks. This was a little upsetting, but then I did tell President Chavez that I wanted to help out my companion, so I think he is just giving me some more time to do the guy some good. There are worse things, and I will just charge ahead with the work just like before. We have 3 baptisms lined up and though my scripture study is coming along well, I think my strong trait is to just be there for people and sharing my rockin testimony.

The pictures are from our District and Zone meetings and me chasing a horse. Hope you enjoy them.

June 23rd Update

We met with President Chavez last week and I updated him on my companion. He said for me to be alert and if something happens to let him know. My language is coming along fine and I find my ability to communicate with the locals getting better. Because of my companion I find myself wanting to work and share the gospel more and more which is a good thing, but he does get in the way.

There was a news story about a school van that got in a wreck with a sime truck. Several children were killed and others are in the hospital in intensive care. One of our repentant members has a neice who is one of those in the hospital. He cannot perform the blessing so he asked me to go to the hospital and administer to his neice. We had to wait for authorization for us to be able to touch her for the blessing. She is in really bad shape; her eyes are swollen shut and it was an incredible sight. I left the room after the blessing comforted that I was worthy to give the blessing and that everything will be brought to pass as Heavenly Father has in store. I have since done some studying about God's will and there are a lot of scriptures about that and different blessings given to people.

Mini Transfers - Problems with Elder Gamez

I have struggled for some time with my companion, Elder Gamez. He will only work if I set the example and push him hard. Many days it is a battle and he comes up with every excuse you can think of. He uses the cell phone to call his girlfriend (isn't that against the rules??) and tries to hide it by saying he needs to go to the bathroom. Who is he kidding? Only someone my dad's age can spend an hour in the bathroom. When I come to write my parents on the computer he spends his time playing computer games. Anyway, he has a reputation for not working and I'm sure they put me with him thinking I might be able to get him engaged. It has been very difficult and the work has definately suffered. Even our Branch President thinks we are a couple of deadheads. I have had a number of mini-transfers/splits (Elder Garcia from Lima, Peru and now Elder MeLoy from Washington). I have told the Zone Leaders about the problems with my companion, Elder Gamez, and they said it will get worked out one way or another. That probably will mean another interview for him and this Wednesday on June 18th we have our interviews with President Chavez. I am grateful for the experiences I am having in Chile and the time I get to work for the Lord. We just have to take advantage of each minute we get here because life is precious and we must use our time to the fulest extent.

San Javier Update

Life in San Javier

Yes....it rains in San Javier!!


P-Day with my new companion, Elder Gamez,
and a local member who we helped


Scott Bunyon


My First Mission Casualty


So Much For This Pair of Shoes
(1 down and 1 to go)

I am now in San Javier which is outside of Talca like 30 mins and its a pretty nice area. Its kinda like a little island away from things. My companion is Elder Gamez and he is from Antofogasta which is Northern Chile. He is a different kind of dude but we are doing pretty good.

We are getting the work dont here in this Branch. We had 31 member attend Church yesterday and I think that was pretty good. We use a radio and a Hymn CD to sing at church. Our baptismal font is outside under a roof thing. The people here are nice and it will be a crazy different time here in San Javier. We have two baptismal dates right now and we hope everything works out for them. We have found some other good people and so we will see what happens here. The house when I got here in San Javier was dirty and it still is but I can't function like that so I am cleaning each day to get it somewhat managable again.

It has been raining here lately and the storm drainage isn't too great so I found myself walking in flooded streets up to my knees this last week. It went away but started to rain again today which ruined my soccer time and so I was bummed, until I found out that we could eat at a McDonalds!!!! that was cool for a change because they didn't have one in Concepcion. We were in the hospital visiting a member today and we got back to San Javier late so my emailing time was cut short. Later tonight we have a family home evening and I am going to play the guitar there. The last family we were close to in Collao (Concepcion) gave me their guitar, so I should be good to go with being able to play hymns if needed.

Winter Is On Its Way

Goodbye Sun


Hello Rain

Everyone at home tells me that their weather is getting nice and that summer is finally on its way. Well, done here our summer weather is leaving and our winter rain and cold is on its way in. Instead of sun and temperatures in the 70's everyday, most days hover around the mid-50's and rainy weather is the norm.

When we purchased everything for my mission, we included an inexpensive, rubber/plastic-like rainsuit. Well now the pants are shredded because...........you get what you pay for. Mom and Dad are sending me some sweaters, which I now need. I am also hoping for some better protection from the rain; hint, hint.

The work is going well, but seems to have slowed down. There has been a lot of emphasis on hitting our goals to find new contacts, teach discussions, etc. etc. This isn't necessarily bad, but everyone seems so intent on turning in good numbers, that something seems to be missing in the spirit of the work.

I have been in the same area since I got to Chile in October and I have had two companions. I would be okay to stay here longer, but I'm guessing when transfers come, that i will be sent elsewhere. I'll keep you posted.

I was able to talk to the family on Mothers Day. That was great!!!! our mission isn't very restrictive on how long we talk; I spoke to my parents and my sister, Kate and her husband Chad for almost two hours. It was good to talk about some mission details with both Kate and Chad who also served missions in South America (Pery & Argentina). The fam seems to be doing well and i am glas for their support and prayers.

General Conference Was Great

General Conference was great. I thought all the talks were good and provided a generous dose of the Spirit. I especially liked Priesthood Meeting and the talks by our new First Presidency. I loved President Monson wiggling his ears and the story of his first date with his wife, Francis. I could just picture him waiting for Francis to kiss him on his cheek. We had a little issue at the Stake Center and the local members letting us watch Conference in English. Preach My Gospel says that everyone will learn the gospel in their native language. It was nice for us to be able to listen in our native language as well.

Here are some recent pictures of me, my companion, Elder Arias and some of the other Elders serving in our area.

Lunch with My Fellow Elders

The sun has been great each day during the nice weather months; the weather is starting to change.

Elder Arias and I on a rainy day just in from preaching the gospel

Missionary Fun in a Costume Shop???

Scott sent us these pictures this week with his regular email. There was no explanation about how Scott and his companion happened upon all these costumes, but I particularly like the yellow-haired Rupunzel choice as it brings out his brown eyes.

Preparation Day & Other Good Things

Monday's are our Preparation Day. This is the day we clean our apartment and wash our clothes. It is also a day when we are able to have some recreation (today was soccer) and do some of our shopping. This is also the day when we are able to be online for a short time to read our emails and send an email to my family. P-Day as it is called, is a nice diversion from our normal routine.


Elder Arias and Me After Playing Soccer


Fixing Lunch


Negrita


Soccer Field


Another Sunset

The Good Work Keeps Moving Forward

This last week we taught 30 lessons and hopefully something will come of these lessons because it's a lot to teach. We have a goal in the mission to do 210 contacts each week, but our zone has said that we can do 230 each week so that is our goal. This last week Elder Arias (my new companion from Santiago, Chile) and I did 245 contacts and we are hoping to keep on with this effort and success. Earlier in my mission I have done more, but there is a difference between doing contacts for numbers and doing contacts to find and teach the souls who want to listen to the gospel.

My pictures this week are of a family we baptized on March 2nd. We have been teaching them for the past couple of months. It has been a great experience to be with them. They are a great family. I baptized the father, Marcelo, and his son, Christian. My companion, Elder Arias, baptized the mother whose name is Renate. Their last name is Biggemann; or I guess it would be Clerc because that is the last name of the dad. But here is where it gets a little weird because in Chile, you take the last name of both the father and the mother. For example the son's full name is Christian Marcelo Clerc Biggemann and the dad's full name is Pedro Marcelo Clerc Fray, and the mother's full name is Renate Ines Mollor Beggemann. Its a little wacky, but that is how it is done. We just say Family Clerc because its shorter and easier (ha.ha.).


Christian, Renate, Marcelo


Me, Christian, Renate, Marcelo, Elder Arias


Christian (Just Baptized)


Renate (Just Baptized)

The other pictures I have included are of some kids we are teaching. It has been kind of difficult teaching them, because two of them are not that interested; but the other one is great! Don't be fooled by the dark Iron Maiden shirts as everyone is a child of God.


Elder Arias, Me, and "The Boys"

Well, that's all for now. I will be keepin a smile on my face and I thank you for all of the prayers and support; know that I will be sending them right back to you this week and always.

Concepcion or Powell.....Not a Tough Choice

Here I am in Concepcion, Chile. And there is my Dad in Powell, Ohio. Now I ask you, where would you rather be? Me too. I love being about the Lord's work. Don't get me wrong, winter is probably my favorite time of the year, but 75 and sunny everyday isn't bad either.

My Friend Jenny

Here is a picture of my friend Jenny with my parents. She is way cool and she has had some interest in the Church. Elder Mack and Morby have met with her and she went to our ward back home in Powell, Ohio with my parents. I used to go over to her house before my mission and sit on her back porch with her and her parents and play Dave Matthews songs on the guitar and talk for hours.

Patricio Gets Baptized

This past Saturday, January 19th, I was able to baptize one of our investigators named Patricio. We enjoyed teaching him and as you can tell from the pictures we had a pretty good connection. It is great to see the fruit of our labors.

As you can see by my tan, I am seeing the sun a lot as we go about our business during the day.

Another Beautiful Day in Concepcion

Life is great in Concepcion. Every day is blue sky, sunny and about 75 degrees. No kidding, if you look at the 10 day weather forecast that is what you will see. Our transfers were this past week and my mission president, President Chavez, kept Elder Paredes and me together. I love change, but I am okay with us staying together, because we just started teaching a really cool family of four. We seem to have a very good connection with then, so hopefully good things will come from this.

Here are two recent pictures. I especially love the one with me on the lawn with the bull. I am cracking up.

2007 - First Christmas in Chile

2007 was my first Christmas away from home. Of course I missed my family and all the things we do, but I know being here is a good thing. Christmas isn't as big a deal here as it was back home. I was able to call home and talk to the fam. I spent about an hour on the phone with My mom and dad and my sister, Beth, and brother, Mike. They asked a lot of questions about how and what I'm doing and I got to hear their voices and remember how much my family means to me. I spent about 15 minutes just talking to my brother about being on a mission. He served his mission in San Diego, California. It's nice knowing that he has experienced some of the same things I'm going through. Everyone encourages me to stay focused and work hard. Of course I'm doing just that. It's ALL GOOD!!



Towards the end of the call, my dad did a conference call connection with my sister, Kate, who was spending Christmas with Chad's family in Mesa, Arizona. I got to talk to her for about 15 minutes also. We are really close. She went on a mission to Peru, so she understands what it's like to go foreign and preach the gospel.

12-23-07 Belen Gets Baptized

In this picture you see my companion, Elder Paredes, and the daughter of a less active member of our ward. Her name is Belen. Belen is 12 years old and was baptized on Sunday, December 23 rd. She is one of my favorite people to teach and it was fun to see her be baptized. Her uncle is active in the church and her family are members, only not as active as Belen and her uncle. That said, they are way awesome and make shirts and jerseys and jewlery for a living. Belen always has a positive attitude and is funny. I guess by the picture you might say I'm kinda funny too.

Concepcion CHILE

Now I am in Concepcion, Chile serving just outside the city in the Callao sector. My companion, Elder Paredes, is from Lima, Peru. He is my trainer, but actually, I think we are both learning from each other. I am doing okay with the language, but I have a long way to go before I will be real effective. They sure don't speak the same Spanish here that you learn in school or at the MTC. They speak so fast, almost like everyone is running late and has to get what they're saying out quick. It would be nice to be able to be fluent with the language because when we are teaching our investigators, I have thoughts and feelings that I would like to share with them, but the words just aren't there yet. It will come, so I'll try not to get too impatient.

We are teaching several investigators and we have had a couple of baptisms. Here is a picture of Bryan who I baptized on November 4th. Bryan is the boyfriend of the young woman in the picture with her family; they are members of the ward I attend.

Life in the MTC

My experiences in the Mission Training Center (MTC) for 9 weeks were good, even though I thought there were a lot of rules and sameness there. I learned, studied, ate and went to class after class after class. I looked forward to playing soccer each week and attending the temple was also special.

Entered the Mission Field 8/22/07

Well, As you can tell from these pictures, I have entered the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah. No, I'm not spending time on the computer making my Blog look nice.......that's my Mom & Dad doing the good work at home. I will get to see this whole thing when I return from Chile in August 2009. For those of my family and friends I hope you enjoy reading about my mission while I am in Chile. I always knew I would go on a mission. In fact, I always wanted to go. It isn't easy leaving your family and your friends, not to mention your guitar, music and relatively free lifestyle behind. My friends are all off to college (I miss them) and I'm doing what the Lord has asked me to do at this time in my life.

President David Martin Set Me Apart

I was set apart as a full-time missionary by our Stake President, David Martin. Standing in with him were my father, my brother Mike, and my brother-in-law, Doug Seymour. I was set apart on August 19, 2007.

Receiving My Mission Call

I received my letter from the Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, on Thursday, May 31, 2007. I have been assigned to the Concepcion Chile Mission. All the family came over and we called Kate & Chad to have them on the phone when I opened my letter from SLC and read where I would be serving my mission.

Going to the Temple - July 27, 2007

On Friday, July 27th, I went to the temple for the first time as an adult and received my endowment. I enjoyed the experience and loved the beauty and the feelings of peace I felt there.

Bishop Cluff

Bishop Cluff helped prepare me for my mission. He met with me regularly to get all my paper work started. He was really gung ho for me to get things done by a certain time. He was really helpful. He has a great family and his son, Taylor, is a friend of mine and left for his mission a month before me.

Graduated From High School June 2007

High school graduation was great. Boy, was I ready to move on. It was a great 4 years, but it is even better knowing I have moved on.