Week 70: Adventures of God's time

Alo everyone!

Well we as a family received awesome news this week from Zach, and it was a return date! This means for us, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! He will be returning June 21st, and we seriously can't wait. Zach is really not looking forward to leaving though. He loves the people of Chile, and is heartbroken thinking about not seeing them again.

Zach is thankful for all of the skills he is learning: leadership skills, nun-chuck skills, service skills, bow-staff skills... These skills are why the mission president chose him to be a zone leader this transfer. He is over 24 missionaries (the second biggest zone in the mission). He is always taking calls from other missionaries and helping them out, so they are really working him to the bone (which he loves). It is probably helping him to not get fat from all the good food. The name of his new area is Los Angeles. I know what you are thinking... No, he is not in California now, though that would be fun for us because we would totally go sneak over there to see him.

This week Zach and his companion, Elder Peck were able to help a family of four. The mother was recently baptized into the church, and her husband is without a job currently. This was really weighing on her, as they are struggling financially. Luckily, our family had a similar experience several years ago. He was able to share this story about our family with them, and help them understand that God had not deserted them, but we just need to be patient. Our time is not always God's time. The story really touched the mother and she told Zach that she really needed that story. Never would have thought our struggle would be able to help another family, but it did. Maybe we were meant to experience it to help this family? Who knows! Our time is not God's time!

For p-day this week, Zach got to do his favorite thing... Soccer! He played soccer on a field with 30 sweaty elders. They were then able to go to Papa Johns and eat some yummy pizza :)

Week 69: Adventures of goodbyes

Dear Family,

This week was crazy! Just to let you know we have our transfers tomorrow morning at 9 am. I recieved a call from president last night and he said " Elder Van Pelt how are you doing?" I told him I was fine. He responded to me and said he had been praying alot recently to know who would be the new zone leaders for this transfer and told me he recieved revelation and a strong impresion that I needed to serve as his new zone leader. I was shocked! I was not expecting that kind of call. Butterflys shot through my body as I accepted the call to serve as zone leader. I will be in the zone of Los Angeles Sur..... San Martin. My new companion will be Elder Peck. He also is from Texas. Ive heard some great things from him. I will also be going to the most hot part of our zone so wish me luck with the heat. While you guys are cold and freezing, I will become darker then dark!


Texans Gone:

We sent Elder Gibson on the bus yesterday at 5 pm to start his journey back on home. I was super sad and very happy for him. It was a bitter sweet kind of experience. While his bus pulled off I cried. I cant help but cry when I say good bye to those I love. Elder Gibson was a great example and Im going to miss him. By the way mom and dad he will be going on over to utah and I told him that you guys would take him out for lunch. Would that be alright? His name is Jacob Gibson for his face book so you guys can chat and see if he wants to go out to lunch. If you take him out you will not regret it. He is the funniest kid ever!


Pitrufquen City:

Im going to miss Pitrufquen alot! We said good bye to most of the members and are going to visit the rest tonight to take some photos. The hardest thing about the mission for me is saying goodbye. Even with an eternal perspective in thought....that I will see the people I love again after this life, will still make me cry. I think its just built in me that im a sensitive guy and that when I say good bye I have to show it by my emotions.

I love this work though so much. I dont ever want to end my mission. I want to stay here in chile. I have fallen in love with teaching the gospel to those who dont know the truth. I have been changed in so many forms and have learned so many incredible life decisions and experiences in such a short amount of time. I am forever grateful for my savior jesus christ and the blessings that I get for serving as one of his representatives.


In Conclusion:

I know this is gods work. I know without a doubt that the book of mormon is the word of god and that as we study the book of mormon we will begin to see the truth and learn of gods commandments. Although we are all so imperfect we can truly be clean of sin and be made perfect as we take steps on the perfect plan of god. Although we are not perfect yet, every day we can take steps as we obey the commandments and stand up for what is right. We are in a war. A war that has been going on since before this earth. This battle must be fought by charity,hope and faith. We are the army of god, his first string warriors. We are here on the earth to prove ourselves worthy and qualify ourselves for the kingdom of god.

I know each of us are children of god with talents to bless and strengthen us and others. May god be with you all. Love you so much and hope to hear from you all real soon.



Elder Van Pelt

Week 68: Adventures of the girl from Santiago

Dear Family,

What a crazy week its been here in chile. I am learning a lot about my self and my savior. I have encounterd a few people this week that have tried to bring down my spirit in this great work and also my work ethic, but I guess that my testimony of this church, the book of mormon and the love of my savior and father in heaven have blocked my view of these people.

As life progresses we will see a lot more damaging events hit our lives. We may have heart breaks, trials, addictions, etc. That cause us to look around and panic for a second but I feel like im learning through trial and error that as problems become visible we must look at it with eyes faith and a hopeful heart. Any trial can be overcome through the faith and hope in our savior Jesus Christ.


Service On A Saturday:

This week we had planned to do a service for the inactive member. Sister luz. She is that nicest lady ever. She was baptized 10 years ago but never went to church. We found her and now are helping her son learn of the truth. His name is nicolas.

Anyways..... We showed up to her house saturday morning at about 10 am and were ready to clean up a part of her backyard for a garden. When we showed up there was a girl visiting luz whos name is Annais from santiago. She is 17 years old and was super interested in the work that we do. She started asking us a bunch of questions about the church and even spent her vacation time to help us clean up and put up a fence to keep the chickens out of the garden.

When we finished we had lunch with the family and invited Annais to go to church with us the following day. She accepted the invitation to go to church and even wanted to read the book of mormon so we gave her that also.

She went to church wish us sunday and absolutely loved it! She has never been baptized in a church before and accepted to listen to missionarys over there in santiago. We got all of her contact information and then we parted our ways. When we said good bye I kinda felt deep down that she is going to get baptized. Thats my hope at least. What would had happened if we never would had planned that service with sister luz?


Our Trip To Country:

We have a bunch of country land on the out skirts of pitrufquen... well do you remember that family we found when we entered the gate of the mansion? Well we finally went out to  the yard keepers house in the country. They live in a beautiful area. ( Ill get photos next week) We shared about the book of mormon in 3 nefi 11 and read together as a family. The cool thing was the electricity went out so we read under a candle. The spirit was so strong in their home and the mother even started to cry because of our visit.

When we left we had to hitch hike back home. A friendly chileno picked us up in his truck and we drove all the way into town. What an awesome experience. Never thought I would hitch hike really in my mission.


Miss you all so much and think and pray about you all. Thanks grandma for your wonderful package. Just got it the other day. You are the best! Thanks everybody for your prayers. I really feel them.


May god bless you is my prayer.



love,

Elder Van Pelt

A surprise for you...

EXTRA PICTURES... Just because we as a family like to share Zach with you :) Enjoy the photographs of our handsome Elder having a fun October.

Halloweeners of Chile

Egg toss champions!

Week 67: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (missionary edition)

Dear Family,

What a crazy week! I dont think I have ever been more tired and more overwhelmed in all my life. We as a mission are doing something called a 40 day fast when whe fast for one day and then for 40 days we go without something that keeps away the spirit for example one of mine was music. Sometimes I find myself singing songs that arent exactly church songs and Ive been trying to go without that for 40 days we are on our 20th day. Every morning we ask for strength to change and every night we give an account of how the day went. I have many small things that I am trying to change and this week seemed almost impossible to change them.

I figured that when I started this fast of 40 days it would be easy, but it seems that satan has picked up his game because he knows my determination to change. If we take a step into the darkness we find its hard and there is not much direction in our lives but thats when we need to put our faith in christ. The 40 day fast I thought was all about changing the small things but I have seen that its not about that at all... I am trying to learn to love god and his will and do what he wants and not what I want. Try the fast out. After 40 days you end with another 24 hour fast.


The Gate:

So Elder Clark and I found a super rich house and the gate was open just a little bit. For some reason we had desires to go and knock on the door. So we put our fears behind as we stared at the mansion and entered the small opening in the gate and walked to the nearest door. It was actually the care takers house that we knocked and guess what... he let us in.

Him and his family live in country outside of pitrufquen and his wife so happened to be there with him visiting for the day. We taught him and here and introduced the book of mormon and totally want to get baptized! How cool is that? When you put fear behind you and just do it... you become and instrument for the lord. The gate actually closed 10min after we entered. What would have happened if we were not there in that exact moment?




In Conclusion:

Follow gods will. Learn to love god, live the gospel and enjoy the blessings. I know that we are all children of god. He has a plan for us and has an infinit love for each one of us. I hope you all remember that. In times of trouble and gloom look to your father in heaven I like a scripture in Ether 12: 41. I know this is gods true church on the earth and that even though life will get hard we must keep on peddling up the tallest hill which is this life. But we are given christ to help us. Christs atonment is like our gear shift in a way. If we only had one gear on our bikes and we were taking on a mountain, it would be impossible even with the best of training... Christs atonent is our gear shift and if we use it, it is a huge blessing. It is An incredible help on the tall hill that seems so high.


Love you all,


Elder Van Pelt

P.S.

We Found one of the paintings that were stollen from the church about a month ago... We had the privillage of putting it back on the wall.

Week 66: Adventures of miracles

Dear Family,

Hey guys I love you so much. Whitney this last sunday a member spoke in sacretment meeting and she sounded just like you. I savored the special moment to think about how you are enjoying it up in south korea. Miss you a ton!

Ryan Van Pelt Hope You Are Reading:

Weird story... Yesterday we were walking down to a future investigator after two appointements fell and we ran into a guy who was from Antafagasta. I asked him if he knew a ryan van pelt and he said he did. He said he was teaching him and his family but didnt end up getting baptized. He was down here because of some problems with his family. We gave him a few bucks and some water because he was hitch hiking all the way back to antafagasta. It so happens I had an extra book of mormon to give out that day. I gave that to him. He said he is going to change his life around so he can get baptized there in Antafagasta.


Miracles Do Exist:

This is story about another guy we found in the street named Carlos Reyez. We talked to him when he was a little drunk and very upset. His family kicked him out of his house, he lost his job and didnt have any real help from anybody. We told him that we were messengers from god and would help him. We wrote down his cell phone number and called that night to set up an appointment in the church for the following day.

The next day my companion and I were waiting for him in the church for 20 minutes and just as I lost my patience and about lost my faith in teaching him that day... he showed up. He said he wasnt planning on coming but felt strongly to go meet up with us. After he left his house a taxi driver drove him into town for free. He told us it was a miracle from god because he had no money and If he wouldnt have taken that taxi, we would have left.

The following day we found him in the street and he said he had gotten into a car accident and told us he could have died. He said he knew it was a sign that he lived and that he needs to change his life and become a member of gods church.

This was a wonderful little story that occured to us this week. Isnt it amazing how god works his miracels.


In Conclusion:

I know that god is a god of miracles. I know I am in his great work. I am so grateful for you all so much. I miss you all so much. Keep your heads up and do what god wants you to do. I know that as we follow gods plan and commandments we are blessed. Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week.


Elder Van Pelt

Week 65: Adventures of smoke in the air

Dear Family,

This week was an interesting one. I have felt so close to my savior this past week. It was a beautiful and hardworking time with lots ups and downs. I´ve really realized that through our difficult trials we are blessed. I´ve seen the hand of the lord in my life. Especially in my heart. For the past few months I have struggled with loving the people here in chile, because every day you have to deal with people who make fun of missionarys and the church, who slam doors in your face, and much more.

I have been praying really hard to develop charity and love for these people. I really do care about all of the people. Gods changing my heart through my experiences. I feel like we all can go through a change of heart or love. We can either appreciate our experiences and have a faith in Jesus christ and his plan, or seal our hearts and close off from giving thanks to god. What are you going to do when trials hit your car door?


A Strange Call At 9:15 pm:

It was 9:10 pm and we had 20 minutes till we ended our day. We had been teaching and talking to people all day and I was super tired. My companion sugested that we go talk to our neihbor until the end of the night, but I had a distinct impresion that we should go to the park. When we got there we had recieved a call from the mom of krishna. ( Maritza ) I answered the call and she was super nervous and stressed about something. I could tell in the tone of her voice.

She then said her family had gotten into a fight and Krishna ran off. Shes 14 years old. A pretty little princess like her should never be out at night. It is not anything like Utah were all the kids can play night games and you are basically pertected by the surounding mormon homes.

Well guess what... there on the other side of a small grassy field we found Maritza who was talking to us on the phone. We talked to the mom and she was really upset. She didn´t know what to do with her life and what she should be doing to raise her kids. The whole family has been hit with about every trial that could happen to anyone. We sat Maritza on a bench and she began to cry. We comforted her with the hope of the gospel.

Krishna later came home and we had a great tender moment with her mom and learned a lot about what we can do to more fully help them in their lives.


Smoke In the Air:

As we were following the impresions of the holy ghost we were led to an area that we had never contacted before. We knocked on a door and a women came out named luz. She was a sweet lady who never talked to mormon missionarys but she had talked to about every other missionary there was. She said she was willing to listen.

When we entered the house I recognized the oder of cigarette smoke. She is a women of 45 years. We shared with her about Jesus Christ and his plan and why he can to the earth and that through his example we can return to heaven clean and pure. I then said " I noticed that someone smokes here" She then looked at me very oddly and said, "yes I smoke. I have had an adiction for all of my life almost." I asked her if she would like to quit so that she could be more clean and healthier. She told us it would take a miracle and then paused for a few seconds and said. "It´s strange. This morning I was praying to god to help me quit smoking because I failed my health exams and needed to give up smoking." She then said "Why did you knock on my door? How come you guys never have Knocked my door until I prayed this morning?"

I promised her that we were on the lords errand and we were here to bless her life and help her give up her addiction. What an amazing miracle right? Keep her in your prayers.


In Conclusion:

I hope you all stay safe and keep doing the things god wants us to do. Obey the commandments and we will recieve blessings. Love you so much! Until next time.



With Love,

Elder Van Pelt



P.S. I made a tortilla and it came out to be like the face of dobbys friend in harry potter the one that lives in the house of black.

Week 64: Adventures of drunk Hulk

First of all I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to the best mother in the whole wide world. I have been given so many blessings, thanks to you mom. I miss you dearly and think of you every day. I wish I could give you the biggest hug but for now I send my love and prayers. I miss you a lot and hope you know that with out you in my life I wouldnt be who I am today. The talk that president holland shared in general conferance of mothers was my favorite talk. I know that you are an incredible person.

Also everyone here in chile when I show them your photo thinks that you are my sister. They always say... " Wow shes your mom? Shes so young and beautiful!" Great choice dad you picked the best mom in the world. Love you mommy.

The Work:

This week was super hard as far as the work going. We tracted a lot and taught less then usual. We tried our best to find the people who are ready for baptism and have found many new people to teach. As far as our investigators are going prebisto is still not yet baptized and doesnt have any plans yet for baptism. Also krishna our 14 year old investigator is still going strong and going to church and progressing. We are trying to get her whole family to church this week so we can start planning for their baptism. They are such an awesome family and need to get baptized they are so prepared.


Drunks Are Like Hulks:

This story isn`t necesarily spiritual but its kinda funny. We were on a street contacting people and looking for some elect children of god to teach. It was about 4 pm and while we were walking down the street in the heat of the day and I saw a guy across the street yell up in the sky.... grab his t-shirt and rip it. The guy obviously was angry about something. He then took off his shirt and shook it in the air like Rocky Balboa. He proceded to flex like the great hulk. Sadly he didn`t have any muscle so what he was flexing was fat. My companion had a laugh at this as we just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and watch this experience take place in front of our eyes. There are a lot of drunks here in chile.

The Hospitial Is Great:

We went to visit a member at the hospital this week, he is super sick and needed a priesthood blessing. We had the privilage of going in and blessing this man who was suffering from diabetes.

When we left the hospital we ran into a 45 year old women who asked us to visit her 15 year old daughter in the hospital. She told us that she had tried to commit sucide by pills. When this random lady told us this story my heart sank thinking how could a little 15 year old princess try and take her life. We told her that we would love to visit her. She told us to visit her sunday. ( The following day)

The next day we visited this little girl and she was excited to see us and talk to us. We shared with her about the book of mormon and the hope we have in life and the wonderful joy there is to be seen. She seemed to open her eyes and feel the spirit. We did our best to invite the spirit in the croweded hospital. We will be seeing her later this week.

In Conclusion:

I love you family. You are incredible. I think and pray about you every day. Keep doing what is correct. Keep showing your love and faith in your day to day activitys. I know that this is the true gospel, restored to the earth today. Familys can be together forever. Love lasts forever and we are going to succeed in obtaining ever lasting life, only if we follow christs example and do the will of the father.

Echeleganas....



Love Always,

Elder Van Pelt

Week 63: Adventures of a spiritual Saturday

Dear Loving Family,

I have some wonderful news for you all. This week was a crazy week full of work and miracles. I was also very spiritually fed from general conference. Wow wasn`t it amazing?


Spiritual Saturday:

This last saturday was a day full of the spirit wasnt it? After the first session we baptized Javiera. She is 14 years old and was able to get baptized. My companion baptized her and it was a magnifacent and wonderful baptism. She came out of the water super happy. Her cousin who is not a member went and told me. Wow I really like this church. She stayed for the second sesion of conference and loved it. We are going to try to teach her now also.

Transfers:

Can you believe that we already have transfers? My companion and I are staying the same. We have a lot of people who have potential to be baptized this month. This last week we had 7 investigators in church. We are going to be working even harder to have a few more baptisms.

I will also be district leader again. There are 8 missionarys I have to watch over including myself. This transfer will be a good one. Throw some prayers in for all of our investigators and our district.


Serving With Everything:

One thing that called to my attention from general conference was that we need to have courage to have faith and keep doing what the lord wants us to do. How beautiful is it to be members of the church of god, and to have access to the brilliant knowledge of the gospel. As we put fourth our faith by steps of courage we will progress to the mansions of heaven.

I know that as members of the church of jesus christ we must have hope for the future. Living and standing up for what is good. I believe that is that familys can be eternal but only by living the commandments and following gods will. Familys are the most important thing we have. I know thats true. Time after time I have seen that in my life and even more so in my mission.

This life is hard sometimes but as we live the commandments and do what is right we will be okay. And as we follow our perfect example we will be led back home... home which is our mansions above with a joy that is unbelievable. Follow Jesus Christ! We need to right now and forever to be together forever.


Love You Always,


Elder Van Pelt

Week 62: Adventures of the under cover missionary cops

Hello everyone!

Robbings And Under Cover Cops:

A month ago our church building was robbed not once but twice. All of the pretty paintings of Jesus Christ were stolen. All the members were super worried and upset that the beautiful paintings of Jesus Christ were just robbed.

This last week we went to a ladys house. Her name is patricilla and we were going to teach her for the first time. Shes like 40 years old and has lived a sad life of drinking and being consumed by many addictions. We stopped her in the street and she said she need help. She told us she had been praying for help. She called us her guardian angels.

We passed by friday at about 11:30 am. She answered and we stepped foot into her house. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It smelled like wood polish all over the house. The next thing I noticed was a very familiar painting. I looked at it and told her "thats really pretty" and she replied, "Thankyou". I then glanced in another direction but very confused I did a double take at the painting. There in front of my eyes was one of the stollen paintings. What the heck!!! She said it was a gift from a friend, who bought it from a gifted kid. Suposedly he painted the picture of christ with the children by the well and then signed it as the year 1975 at the bottem left corner. Hmmm thats weird.

We taught her quickly in her living room about abandoning her past and addictions and following christ. We invited her to be baptized which she accepted. After that we closed the lesson which was filled with the spirit with a lovely prayer that she offered to say.

After that we started to ask her more about the painting and where she got it. I felt like an under cover cop. We ended up telling her that the painting she had was stollen and was part of the church of god. Her face then turned red and said "WHAT" She started to freak out and get super worried like we were there to turn her in.

In the end she told us that she was going to give us the painting back and also find some of the other stolen paintings.



My Testimony Of Christ:

Our trials help us and humble us so that we can come unto christ more fully. I know that through our experiences we gain beautiful new perspective of life. Our life is like a smal black dot drawn on a white board. Eternity is the white board. We have to make incredible decisions everyday that will draw us closer to our savior.

Christ paid for our sins he suffered for us so that we can return to the presence of our loving heavenly father. Everyday we need to start out on our knees to pray for the blessings and strength to keep shining bright of the love of christ. We need to be the light of the world.

This week as you all are listening to conferance, pray that your testimony of Jesus Christ will be strengthened. He is our foundation and rock. If we have him we will not fall. We maybe stuck in a storm of trials but we will be firm and stand boldly through the trials of satan and life.

I am an imperfect man, following a perfect plan. Although I am imperfect, im following a perfect man.

Love you all so much. So So Much!



Elder Van Pelt


Photo of The members in Gorbea. We had a district conferance so they all came to pitrufquen.

Week 61: Adventures of a Chilean Rodeo

Soooooooooooo... Zach went to a rodeo this week. Not like Fiesta days, it was like a rodeo for baby Chilean kids. It was to celebrate independance day in Chile. They also got to watch a parade along with the rodeo.

Here is a little excerpt from Zachs letter:

"This week I was really trying to study charity and putting christ at the foundation of everything I do. I realized that when we have doubts or problems we have, we need to just relax and take a break so that we can figure out what it is that is causing the problem. Then we fix it through careful prayer and scripture study. These simple things really help. I promise.

I was also thinking about my life and how everything has played out. Sometimes I think of the hard times ive been through and ponder about how I got through them. We as humans have a natural man or women who always is fighting against the way of god. Its just normal. The first thing I belive our natural man will fight is our faith. More specifically in christ. As we put christ at the center of our lives we notice small changes that ultimatly effect our lives in ways we never would have imagined.

Although the light of our hope may be dimmed, we can rekindle the fire of faith and love. By doing so we are shown the iluminated picture of our surroundings which is the hope that everything will be okay in the plan of god. We are litteraly his children and he loves us and has a plan for each of us. Do you hear that? I hope you do! You know who im talking to... So keep on moving forward my loving sister and family. Put god at your driver seat. Let him take control of your life. He will guide you through the path of life."


Hasta luego!

Week 60: Adventures of 100 doors and 1 person

Alo everyone!

Zach is so happy with his life right now. He is a missionary serving as a district leader in Chile, and it truly is blessing everyone. He recently used an activity to teach the other missionaries about the holy ghost. It was an activity that I remember doing at our family home evening many years ago, so I am glad it stuck with him. He blindfolded one missionary and had him look for pieces of paper that Zach had spread through out the room. The trick was that the blindfolded missionary had help, another missionary representing the Holy Ghost. The room was also full of the rest of the missionaries who were trying to lead him in the wrong direction, representing Satan. He also bought all the missionaries in the district Tic-Tacs, and decorated them to say "count your many blessings". I am actually quite impressed with him, is he sneaking on Pinterest? Who knows...

A young investigator has the opportunity to get baptized this week or next week, so lets all keep her in our prayers. The bishop is a little weary because she is so young at 14 years old, but she has support from her family and has a testimony of the truthfulness of the church. Apparently Zach put in some calls to some important people to change that, because he obviously doesn't want people to be denied baptism for fear they may become inactive.

So a cool experience that happened recently with Zach is he and his companion were out tracting in a new area. They had knocked on a TON of doors, and no one was willing to listen, even being rude to them. When they felt they were not going to find anyone, Zach saw a house with lights on, so they decided to try knocking on the door. Zach was in a grumpy mood, so he had a grumpy face (obviously), but before his knuckle hit the door, he had a feeling that he needed to be smiling when the door was opened.

He knocked.

A woman opened the door, she seemed sad, so it was a good greeting for Zach to have a smile on his face. Her husband had been arrested the night before due to some things he had done, would be on trial, and could face up to 5 years in jail. She let the Elders in and soon after she told them that they were sent from god. Zach told her the experience they just had, knocking doors over and over again, with no one wanting to hear from them. She replied "Keep knocking doors. If you knock hundreds of doors, that is fine, because you will find the one person who needs you." Zach realized then, that if they had given up after their failure, they wouldn't have found this woman who was in need of their help.

Zach found one of their investigators on the street drunk the other day, so that kind of stinks... Definitely something that you guys can pray about for Zach to help him defeat his addiction.

That is all for this week!

Hasta luego!