Christmas Miracle

Hey guys, hows it going?! How was your christmas?! Hopefully amazing! Well this week was a good one, that's for sure. I had the opportunity to see all your faces and talk with your guys. Super grateful. No lie. Anyway after we skyped we headed over to the Bishop's house for dinner, and man was it really good, but it was super important to gain trust and have a good relationship with him. The night went so perfect with the perfect mixture of fun and spiritual, man it was just awesome. 

But guys, you wont believe it. I had a christmas miracle in my mission! We got some presents and stuff, but it wasn't about that, we had no where to go and were just kinda walking and my comp tells me to call hermano manuel, super random but I did and I guess his son was sick, but we passed by anyway. Remember he is a member too and he got baptized I think a year or maybe 3 ago--don't know--but we were just kinda messing around, then we got into kind of a lesson and usually with members it's just a scripture but we practiced the first lesson for some reason with the pamphlet. While we were teaching he was telling us all about his conversion and his baptism and how good he felt and he started talking about the missionaries that baptized him. We finally ended in a prayer right when the prayer was done the phone rang, and guess who it was, The MISSIONARY that baptized him!!! HOLY CRap it was crazy and once he got off the phone he sat down and told us he had a feeling to call him all day and kinda just shrugged it off but during the prayer he had the thought in his mind call him! Call him! and he called wow! Super crazy, and he just started crying, then we gave his son a blessing and were on our way! Super crazy. But anyway we cant' leave our house tomorrow and the work is starting to get better here so I'm super grateful love you guys!

ballin

bishop and elder soulier

Bittersweet Week

Hey, so this was a bittersweet week, for sure. we asked our first guy to be baptized, and he said yes! so that was awesome, and we are working on this 15-year-old boy, so we will see how that goes! The bitter part is that i got sick on thursday, a day before our huge christmas activity which sucked! Elder Allen and I both got sick so we both stayed in thursday night and missed the sports friday morning... but on the upside we got to watch Remember the Titans for our activity in spanish! Holy crap! i was so happy! basically it was a spiritual experience and healed me of my sickness hahaha! so i have tons of pictures this week for you guys. Also we were able to have an awesome dinner and a gift exchange, where I received the best gift ever which was a tellitubbie.... worst gift exchange ever hahaha. it was like someone picked it up off the street hahah, but its all good. i cherish it now!

Well i can't wait to skype you guys and hear about all your cool presents and such. that's not gonna make me super jealous hahaha. Well my plans are to work and go to members houses I believe. and for lunch on christmas, me and my comp are probably going to do a little cookout thing idk. maybe because the guys a chef! hahaha but not as good as chef Brad of course! hahaha miss those smoothies.... anyway the work here has been pretty slow, but we are starting to pick up day by day, so we will see how that goes. We are starting to get to know the members and getting help from them so its going good for sure!. Oh I forgot we went caroling these last two days and it went awesome. we just spread the christmas spirit all over town! hahhaha but people actually really love it, but it really just doesn't feel like christmas.... well love you! bye!

my gift exchange present

cantadores

we felt and earthquake for real...

im a reindeer

completos

"The Work is Coming"

what's up everyone?! what's cracking in the 480?! well i'm not gonna lie this week was pretty tough because as you guys know i'm in a whitewash area, and so we are starting from the ground up. so basically everyday we wake up, do studies and go contact less actives and knock doors for the rest of the day just trying to find new investigators to teach. so as you can imagine it's been pretty tough, my feet flippin hurt. it's almost as bad as going to disneyland three days straight hahahah! but seriously.... well one of my great stories this week was my companion and I were looking for this person and couldn't find the house, but there was this guy just getting out of his car and it was an elantra like ours! so i was like "hey man i like your car!" so we talked and he spoke a little english so it was all good, and next thing you know he is telling me he has cancer and all this stuff. like he has a kid and a wife, but his wife doesn't seem to care too much about him and he is just having a rough time. so i told him "hey our message is centered on jesus christ and families. I know our message can help you. you love your son, right? yes he said. Well through our church and the gospel you can live with your son forever and with god." right when i said that his eyes lit up, and i got his information and all this stuff, so i'm really excited to see where it goes!
  

Also thursday through saturday was just knocking on doors with little to no success, so my companion and i were super frustrated and were just like where do we need to go?! why can't we find people? but in my head i had a thought that said "brock be patient the work is coming." so I just thought about 1 nephi 3:7 and put my trust in the lord, and that night i prayed so hard! the next day we had 2 investigators come to church and 1 less active! wow my prayer was answered! but last night was the devotional and i heard david archuelta perform and he is pretty good, and i had a great time! well love you guys a lot! miss you!

this is my planner. cool right?!

feliz navidad

juice and ice cream

david archuleta concert

investigator and less active

sick pic

keeping selfie sunday alive

In the Field

hello fellow troopers! i made it here and have finished my first week and it has been crazy! hahaha i'm digging it, though it's way better than the ccm! my new companion is elder ocarez from Ecuador and he is awesome. i love him to death! but we had thanksgiving in the ccm, so that was really good but it made me miss home a lot. it was bittersweet for sure, but thats okay. sorry i wasn't able to write. they don't give you a p-day your first day in the field. bummer right? well, esta bien. i love it here. there are tons of great people!

the people here are really poor a lot of the time, and its super sad -- like this old woman by herself with no gas for herself and like no water or money. it was super sad. she kept saying i need the the words of christ! so sad, i wanted to cry but we are gonna do a little service for her on wednesday i think.

this week has been kinda frustrating -- not gonna lie -- but great at the same time. the people here in chile have terrible spanish and speak so flippin fast, so its really hard to understand, but i'm catching on to it! but anyway, i have been really getting frustrated, especially yesterday. i was getting mad and my mind was just exhausted and wanted to go home, but i just kept a smile on my face and kept a good attitude and it went good the rest of the time. we entered a house, which is like unheard of because they all have gates or just don't want to talk to you so you contact through a gate and it makes it so much harder! but we taught that guy a lesson then met a less-active and we talked for about an hour, and this lady and i were just talking while my comp was talking to the kid. she was less active, but after we left he says, 'dude your spanish was perfect. i understood everything you said and you carried a conversation with her for like 30 or 45 minutes that was the gift of tongues!'  It was weird because i didn't think much of it, but i understood what the lady was saying and it was so awesome! but i'm in a white wash area, so we had to start from the bottom up and so we are just contacting a lot and finding less actives and future investigators. the list is so flippin long of inactives it's crazy! 

it's weird here. lunch is the big meal of the day, so it's really freaking good and i eat a lot of rice and i love it!

i'm gonna miss the food here in chile when i come home! but also my schedule is weird because chileans are night people so i dont go to bed till 11:30 and dont wake up till 7:30 so weird i know! 

sorry tj for the bad grammar. it's hard when you don't have much time. just work with me!

p.s. 

i forgot to tell you about my best friend named juan carlos. he was this little kid at the temple we talked to and i absolutely loved him! every time me and my companion go contacting in the temple we just talk to kids because they are the best and fun to talk to! we are going to the biggest mall in south america today so you will have better pics next week! hahaha there are so many stray dogs here! ohh i dont think i told you the story of this girl trying to hug me hahaha well basically we met this girl she spoke english (not a member) and at the end she tried giving me a hug and i just gave her the heisman stiff arm baby! said nope that's not how missionaries roll hermana! ahhahaha! tj, tressa, holli, tricia, jheri, chase--you all dropped the ball this time. i didn't here one peep on my nieces and nephews..... i will let it slide this time but next week will be different hahaha. well i don't know if i will be able to write because i will be leaving but love you guys!

The CCM - Week 5

Hola from Chile hermanos y hermanas! I'm having an awesome time here! Guess what? I only have one more week here, and I'm so excited! We started all of our classes in just Spanish and every sunday we listen to everyone in Spanish and it's pretty good! I have finished my three fast sundays here because every two weeks you have a fast sunday for the Latinos that show up here. It's really weird that I'm actually going to leave because I feel like I can never get out! Hahaha! But hey, Ryker is out in the mission now so thats awesome for him! Guarranteed he hardly knows what anyone says! Hahaha JK not that bad! But my week has been awesome. Just been teaching fake investigators and practicing! But I did have some pretty cool experiences!

Entonces I had to give a talk in priesthood about the missionary objective in Spanish, and it's funny because while I'm up there I have no idea if anyone knows what I'm saying at all. I just pray they do hahaha! Also we watched The Testaments in Spanish, and I probably felt the spirit more watching it in Spanish than I did watching it in English. It was nuts, and I loved that feeling! Also I have grown a deep appreciation for temples here because every saturday they have wards from chile come to the temple, and while talking to these people they always say that it took like 8 hours or more, usually. Just super far away and they can only come like once a year. The members here are truly faithful and it's kinda sad how many people don't use the temple and they are so close. We even have missionaries here getting their endowments for the first time. Crazy I know! Well I love you all! 

And I'm getting super good at soccer by the way hahahah! love you!

"2 More Weeks in Spiritual Prison" (The CCM - Week 4)

Well hello brothers and sisters and family and friends. What's up in the 480! Well this week was pretty standard. Basically we had p-day and temple, which was awesome. And actually this morning all the elders left for their mission, so that is crazy! What's even more crazy is that I only have two weeks left in spiritual prison! Yay! Hahaha JK. It's good to be here. You learn a lot while you're here, and it will help me a lot in the field, but I can't wait to get into the field! Well, tell Kaylee she has a present in the mail that I'm sending today so she will probably get in two weeks hahaha. Well the first mail I sent you should be getting there any day now! Well I love my teachers here. They are super awesome, and I'm super grateful for them! We are tight with all of them except one teacher. When he plays investigators he picks the weirdest ones ever. It's over the top like I laughed out loud in the lesson! Hahahaha well I hope everything is going good ,and your stomach is filled with good food because I get to eat mystery meat and mashed potatoes and rice. They served blood sausage yesterday and intestines another day! I'm gaining a little weight, but I'm exercising good to keep in shape so don't worry! Well we went to this sandwich place and they were huge! You will see a pic! 

Well it's time to get off, but I love you all and you will have more mail every week till I'm in the field! But my brothers and sisters I want to know how my nieces and nephews are doing because I miss them more than you know. So don't slack! Love you all especially mom and dad! Bye!

Elder Holland (The CCM - Week 3)

Wow wow wow wow! Elder Holland came and spoke to us at the MTC here today, and it was insane. I was sitting like 15ft. from him and it was absolutely amazing! I could feel the power in his words and it was just so awesome. I knew that he was a man of god and I felt the spirit so strong. He basically changed my mission because he changed my outlook on how I see missionary work. I owe my mission to Elder Holland and I will always be grateful for his testimony. He gave a broadcast today and oh my gosh he just speaks with such power and such conviction. This is the work of the lord here. We are here to save souls, not to get baptisms. I can honestly sit here and just talk all day to you about him because it was that good. One thing that stuck out to me was 'never ask the question why is this work so hard?' It's hard because salvation isn't a cheap experience. Think about that.. Let it sink in because that's powerful and can apply to all of us. 

Well, this week has been really great. I just loved it! Me and my companion have been doing really well and give awesome lessons! The language is coming along just dandy, so I'm excited! I can't wait to get into the field. I'm half way done! Crazy right?! Well I'm going to be sending more letters home. I have one for Jefferson and Brandon in there, so make sure they get it. 

Well I love you guys so much this church is true and blesses families. Once a missionary always a missionary.

The CCM - Week 2

Hey, well this week was pretty good in the CCM! It was pretty freaking, long not gonna lie at all, but m glad I had mail when I got onto here because that's what I look forward to all the time is p-day! I sent some letters home so you should be getting some in two weeks but if you send mail send it to the mission home because I will be there by then. I guess it takes a lot longer to send in than out, but it's okay. 

Mom, I need my athletic band for physical therapy and you need to call the bank because my card isn'I working in the ATMs, so ya that's what i need! Also pictures of all you guys. That's very important to me! 

Well on sunday an area of the seventy came and spoke to us, but he spoke to us in spanish but it didn't matter because I still felt the spirit strong with him and I loved it! Well I'm just learning learning learning. Basically, my spanish is okay but I'm getting better. It can't all come at once right?! Well it's so beautiful here and i love the weather. Like I could probably live here. And I was able to go through the Santiago temple which was beautiful and I loved it, but not as much as I love you guys, haha. It's crazy here. I just was able to read the letters the grandkids left me today and I bawled my eyes out.... I miss home so much, but I'm staying strong, haha. It's just surreal because our roommates left today to the field. I can't wait for the field. It's gonna be sick. 

I love you guys! Write back soon! oh and my p-days are either at  2 or 4 my time. love ya!

The CCM

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to talk to you! You guys have no idea, I feel like I have been waiting forever to talk to you guys. It's so crazy! I want all your addresses so I can send letters every week on my p-days. 

Well, I love you guys so much and I realized that even more since being here. It makes me wanna cry all the time. The MTC here is called the CCM, which is pretty cool and all the people here are really awesome and nice. It's actually like 50/50 on Americans to Latinos, which is weird, but all the teachers are chilean but can speaK english as well. My teachers are all awesome, that's for sure. So today is Tuesday at 2 is my p-day, but it could change because districts are leaving to the field in a week. 

This first week has been so long. Probably the longest of my life. For all of you that think school is bad, you have no idea! I sit in a class all day trying to learn how to speak Spanish, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm picking it up pretty good, i think. We just started to practice talking to investigators and teaching so thats been fun. That's basically the most fun here besides writing and physical activity. But I WANT ALL YOUR ADDRESSES PRONTO. Es muy important to me and get my mailing address from my mom. She should have it or i can get it next week for ya. 

I just cant wait to get out in the field because thats where the magic happens. Love you guys! Can't wait to see those cardinals win the world series!!! 

Love you! Can't wait to hear back!!

I Made It!

Hey guys! I made it! 

This is just a short letter just telling you that i made it to the MTC okay. I don't know when my p-day will be, but I should find out soon. My flight was super long and I have had basically the longest day ever. Make sure to send me everyone's emails too. I want to write to everyone. Chile is an amazing place. It's so beautiful here. I met Elder Sherman at the the Phoenix airport -- he goes to Mountain View and he is super cool. My companion now is pretty awesome. He plays baseball like I do.  I have a couple pics of here so I will send it you on my p-day, but all my classes have been super cool, the teachers are all awesome and I already love it here. I just cant wait to get out in the field! 

Well got to go! Love you guys! Talk to you soon!

Elder Hale's Farewell Pics

 After getting set apart:

Steak dinner with friends and fam the night before leaving for Chile:

Brock's last hitting practice in TWO YEARS:

The final farewells at the airport:

Brandon and Brock - best buds!

Bye-bye Brocky!

Have fun in Chile!