Brandon and Dayna's Baptism!

This week was another great week! On Thursday, we received permission to play soccer with out ward and investigators. That day I learned that Chileans have a gift! Man, every one of them can play! It is in their blood or something because every one of them could control the ball, pass with ease and just make it look effortless. I, on the other hand, was a different story! lol. But I managed to luckily score a goal!!

On Saturday, we had to spend a major chance of our day preparing for our baptism on Sunday. We had to of to the Bishop to ket the keys to the church, we had to make copies of the program, go and buy paper because we were out and didn't have any in our church and we desperately searched for baptismal clothing for Brandon and Dayna. 

They are 10 and 9 years old and their family is less-active. However, they have been coming to church almost every Sunday! For their baptism, their entire family showed up which was so great to see! I had the opportunity ti baptize Brandon and Elder Carney baptized Dayna. At the end of the service their dad gave one of the most sincere closing prayers and was holding back tears during it.  This baptism will bless  and help this family tremendously because of Brandon and Dayna’s decision to follow the example of Jesus Christ!

On Mondays, we have our District Meetings but once every transfer, we have our Zone Meeting(our district within another district) and it was an amazing meeting. We talked about the qualities that we are trying to have as missionaries and we went around and each person shared one of the strongest attributes of their companion.  It was really cool to see what each person sincerely thought of their companion. After that, we talked about being missionaries who go the extra degree and do the little things.  Overall, a really great meeting.  

Happy Thanksgiving this week.  Elder Carney and I  are planning on having a feast….of Completos that is. 

GOAL!!!!!

This week has gone by so fast! I have been in the mission field for 2 months now. Crazy!! They say your training is the longest part of the mission, but to me it has flown by so fast.

On Thursday, we had service at a nursing home. We cleared out their garden area of weeds and grass. That took a couple of hours. The next day we had service at a members house. We cleared/broke apart one of their rooms to lay concrete. We will be laying their cement this upcoming Saturday.

On Sunday we attended church.  They have the two hours of classes before Sacrament which is the final hour. We had an entire less active family show up for Sacrament meeting!!! The dad hadn't been to church since he was 16 and he was really nervous but enjoyed it.

On Monday, I had my second interview with President Gwilliam!  It was great! We talked about my family, some of my goals and study habits, and about some of the new changes that will be happening in the mission.  President Gwilliam is such an amazing mission President!

On Tuesday, we had a really good day! We found two new investigators and had good lessons. Yesterday, it just so happened that Chile and Uruguay were playing a qualifying game in Santiago. While we were walking around at 8:00 pm, there was nobody on the streets. I mean dead. It was the weirdest thing because at this time of night, everybody is out, but because of the game, all the Chileans were glued to their seats watching the game.  At 8:30, while we were walking through the neighborhood, we heard a man yell “GOAL!!!” A second later, the entire neighborhood was yelling goal and screaming! It was insane!! If you guy’s have heard/seen, Sanchez had an amazing goal! I like to think that Sanchez and I are very similar in our style of play. LOL

Today we made sushi as a zone and watched Frozen! Here, everybody loves sushi. It was a very relaxing and fun P-Day!

This week, I have thought a lot about why Heavenly Father calls us to missions in the language He desires us to proselyte in. During my division last week, I was amazed at how well and profound my District Leaders ability to talk and articulate was! He is from Ecuador and speaks really pure Spanish; whereas, I am from the United States and barely speak the language. For a second there, I compared myself to him (which as a missionary you are not supposed to do) and realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to speak like him. At least not for a year plus. I was frustrated there for a second because I can articulate and speak just like him, but in English. But then I realized, it doesn't really matter. I am called to teach the very basics of this Gospel, not necessarily to use big fancy words and difficult grammatical phrases. The purpose of teaching people is so that they can feel the spirit and gain the confidence and knowledge that what I am teaching them is true. 

I have been here for 2 months! I often look back at my first two weeks here in the field where I barely and I mean barely could understand Chileans. And during that time, I thought about may dad, and how he managed to do it speaking one of the most difficult languages in the world, Vietnamese. No matter how long it takes, I will get there. Learning and growing is part of the process!!

 Elder Hendrix inherited a large head from his Grandpa Conser. Not many hats fit our heads!

Blink of an Eye

The weeks are going faster and faster! It really feels like a blink of an eye. I have been in Chile for almost two months!!  We had the opportunity to go back to the college where we helped the kids out. I had the chance to play basketball and shoot around with kids and teens while Elder Carney talked with some of the less actives and one of our investigators. It was so fun!! The instructor who is now one of our investigators wants us to teach him! 

His mom is an active member and he really likes us. We will be teaching him in the next day or two. Another mission miracle! On Thursday and Friday we had Pendortes(sp) or contacts in the park. Most new missionaries are nervous when they do it, but I absolutely love it! It helps me with my Spanish and its great practice! The only awkward part about contacting is tracking down a person that is sitting by themselves in a park. Lol, because there is nothing more peculiar than a gringo walking right at you in a white shirt and tie, with a book in his hand, hahaha.

As for the rest of our week, we had our normal week. Lots of walking and lessons! I feel that my Spanish is slowly, but surely improving. I’m starting to see a little progression in my ability to understand Chileans!

Last Thursday,, we had a lesson with a menos activo that we ran into while we were walking. We had the chance to teach him and watches a really powerful video called “La Esperanza de la luz de Dios” in Spanish. “The Hope of God's Light” in English. It was the perfect video for him and his situation in life.  He expressed how he wants to change, how he wants to bring his family to church and how he wants to be active again! one of the most powerful lessons I have been in  and it all started with an encounter on the street! It may seem cheesy but we do see miracles every day! It’s so amazing! Each day has something so unique than the day before.

Yesterday, I had divisions with my District Leader, Elder Champutiz and we taught two lessons on La Esperanza (Hope). In our Preach My Gospel books (missionary study guide) we have a chapter called Christlike Attributes and one of those attributes is hope. Hope is such a unique attribute to me because we all have it.  We hope for a successful life, a successful job, a successful family and a better life after this one. Hope is having a firm confidence in the Lord, that He will fulfill the promises He said He will fulfill. In the words of President James E. Faust,"Hope is the anchor of our souls.” My advice to us all is to continue to have hope. Hope when times are hard and seem impossible to endure; hope to achieve our goals in this life and a grand hope to return and live with our beloved Father and our Savior Jesus Christ because more powerful than fear, failure and doubt is HOPE!

Until next week,

Elder Hendrix

Here is the video that Elder Hendrix referenced about Hope 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

 Photos from a member where the Elders were helping her with a school project

I have no idea who this Elder is.  Elder Hendrix needs to take and send better pictures. :)

Living The Dream One Day At A Time

This week has been, by far, one of my best weeks in the mission.  On Saturday, we had a baptism for Valeria. It was awesome! Beforehand, we had to get everything ready which included filling the baptismal font.  The drain wasn’t working , so I had to go outside and manually turn the hatch to get it to work, and I didn't even have to call Rob Ogden! lol. (inside joke) Besides some stress, Saturday was amazing,  The service was great and the spirit was so strong.  Elder Carney baptized her and I had the opportunity to confirm her a member of the church. It is absolutely amazing to see people change their lives. In just a 2 month period Valeria has gone from having no real knowledge of the church to being a member! And she lives 100 yards or so from the church. Crazy!

Kind of a backtrack here, but before Valeria’s baptism, we had a lesson with her and watched The Testament (a church movie) with ether that was so powerful. It is a great film! Afterwards, she closed our meeting with a prayer and said one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard someone say! The spirit was so strong in that moment. It was incredible; a mission miracle for sure! 

On Sunday, we had our meetings at the church beforehand and then finished the final hour with sacrament meeting( they hold the three hour block of meetings here different). I confirmed Valeria a member and gave her a blessing afterward, which was a really neat experience. We also had one of our investigators show up to church who has a baptismal date.  His name is Venel.  He is the man from Haiti. Such a cool guy who is very receptive to our message. He really enjoyed church and said that he wants to come every Sunday!!

As for the rest of my week, I went on divisions again with Elder Martinez in his area and had such a great time! I learned a lot. There home was almost broken into at night, so they all sleep with metal rods under their mattresses. lol. I had such a great P-Day today! Played a ton of soccer and ping pong. It was a blast.

Yes, those are his feet on the ceiling

As I thought about what I want to share with you guys, I want to talk about the notecards that my parents wrote me. So in all of my shirts and pants, my parents wrote notes on index cards of inspirational quotes, etc… Anyway, I carry a different one with me every day in my pocket, on my shirt. One card I carried this week said,

“Work like it is all on you,

 Have faith that it is all on Him”

To me there is a lot of meaning and truthfulness in that.I need to work hard with the perception that they are dependent on me, however, I need to have faith that they will come unto the Lord. I think that too many people are expecting a miracle or a miraculous sign from God to reveal them the truth. This perception is entirely wrong. We need to exercise our faith through actions. When we do this; when we act like it is all dependent on us, in turn, the truth will be revealed unto us. I believe that our road to Damascus is through faith and works.

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Mom Note:  There was a 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake outside of Santiago this week.  All is well.  Just wanted to document it for Matthew.  I can't wait to see what he writes about it this week. :)

Gangsters Paradise

Last week for P-Day, we went to the south of our mission to go to a mall that was really nice. It made me feel like I was at home. We had a great time with some of the other Elders in our District, that came with us. On our way back home, I began to not feel so good. At that time, I thought it was just because I was a little dehydrated and nauseous because of the bus ride. However, when I got home, I started feeling much worse. I began throwing up off and on for the next hour and then got sick from the McDonalds I ate at the mall.

Besides that, my week has been great.  This week we have changes so Elder Tocigl and Elder Gerrardo are leaving our Ward. They were great guys.  Elder Carney and I are still in my training period, so we will still be together for another six weeks. 

We have one investigator who is really beginning to progress whose name is Venel and is from Haiti. A lot of Haitian immigrants are moving to Chile which is really cool. They are such awesome people who are very humble and want to hear our message. He has lived here for 7 months and already speaks really good Spanish.  For his roommates, we have to do a lot of reading in The Book of Mormon and in the pamphlets(that we hand out) in Creole. It’s really fun trying to talk in Creole. hahaha. Anyway,I’m really excited to see where that will go.

We have another family that we are teaching who are really cool. We were walking down the street and heard them listening to Gangsters Paradise. lol. Anyway, we contacted them and are teaching them twice a week. They are Super receptive!

Elder Carney and I do a lot of walking each day. Our area is about 2 1/2 miles x 1/2 mile, which seems really small, but there are so many people in it! It’s been a great week.

In our lessons, we teach people the doctrines of Jesus Christ. This is just one of the lessons we teach and in it, we teach about repentance and what it truly is. When people think about the word repentance, many times they accompany this word with shame, faults, wrong doings and other negative words. A different word comes to my mind and that is the word Gift. When we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ and truly ask for forgiveness of our sins, we can be cleansed. We can thank our Savior for this gift. Because of His suffering and sacrifice for us, we can continue to repent throughout our lives knowing that we can be cleaned thanks to our Savior. When we recognize our sin, stop what we are doing wrong, confess our sins to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, restitute our faults and then accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have truly repented. I testify that repentance works; that doubt and guilt can be turned into confidence and happiness through sincere prayer to our Lord. 

Repentance has a drastic of a change as does turning on a lightbulb in a dark room. There is a drastic change from dark to light, just as there is a change of being sinful to cleansed. When we go through this process we can be changed! 

Disfruten su semana. O y hablaremos el proximo miércoles!

Short and Sweet

What a week this has been! The weather’s been freezing cold the past 5 days. On Saturday, we had a ton of rain and the streets (in some parts) were filled with water! That day was so fun!

Last Friday, we had a really powerful lesson on the ability to do hard things with a less active member. We shared the video Mountains to Climb by Henry B. Eyring, which is one of my favorite messages/videos by the church.

Oddly enough in this talk by President Eyring, he explains how he “asked for a mountain” or a really tough challenge to be put before him. I had to think about that for a minute….I don’t know if I have the faith to ask God for a trial (mountain) to be placed before me. Regardless, two weeks later, President Eyring was given a really tough trial.  One of the toughest of his life. Climbing that mountain is tough. We will climb, we ill slip and fall, but with faith we will get to the top of it. That much I do know.  

One of our investigators is getting baptized in 1 1/2 weeks.  We are so excited for her! She is so receptive to everything. It’s as if she’s a member already!

Elder Tocigl (my roommate) is banking on his Visa coming in next week and leaving the country for Las Vegas. He bought 100 rolls (20 mil) of sushi for us two nights ago.  It was awesome! hahaha

Sorry for the short email. Next weeks will be longer.  

I Love it here!!

Chow!

Elder Hendrix

Below is the link of the video that Elder Hendrix referenced in his letter this week:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-04-1070-president-henry-b-eyring?lang=eng

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Mom note.  When asked if he is having fun, this was his reply:

Ya we are. We play this nutmeg game in the streets to where if we see a rock we kick 

it in between each others leg. I kicked poop that I thought was a rock..... :)

Elder Carney and I with Nefi, one of our ward members. He is a great guy!

Santiago Temple

We Can Do Hard Things

This week has been a great one! On Thursday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple with one of our investigators, Valeria, who has a baptism date at the end of this month! Thus far, that experience had been the highlight of my mission.  It was such a great experience. We took the metro to downtown and from then ere went to the temple. The temple is so beautiful! We walked around the gardens and Valeria was absolutely amazed by everything there. There truly is a different spirit there. While there, we shared a message on temples and took her into the foyer part of the temple. Such a great experience.

The Santiago Temple

On Saturday, we were able to go to one of Elder Carneys old investigators baptism. It was so great meeting him and talking with the other missionaries. I am truly surrounded by such great people here.

Two days ago, we helped a member paint their house. I admire this sisters faith in letting 19 year old boys paint her living room! hahahaha. The too, turned out looking pretty good. After we finished painting the room (and each other) we had a lesson with a girl who is from Sao Paulo, Brasil. She was SO receptive to our message, so I am looking forward to more visits with her!

Yesterday, Elder Carney was throwing up and had a fever and Elder Gallardo (one of our roommates) was sick too, so Elder Tocigl and I managed both of our sectors today! During the lessons in my sector, I was forced to lead the lessons and I thought I did a pretty good job of it. I’ve been here almost a month now and I’m slowly but surely beginning to see results! However, yesterday, I received some very scary news. lol. I apparently have to give a talk on Sunday…..for 15 minutes….in Spanish. Did I mention that I have only been here nearly a month! Pray for me. lol  Other than that frightening news, my week had been good. We do a good job of keeping ourselves busy each day. Each day goes by so fast!

This week I’ve had a few people ask me the question of, ‘why is life so hard? Why do I have such hard trial and why do bad things happen to me?’  Every time I am asked this, I tell them that I do not know the exact reason for their difficulties. That no matter how hard the challenge may be, we know that God will not give us a challenge that we are unable to bare. Despite how overwhelmingly impossible it may seem to overcome, we need to have faith that we, through the help of our atoning Savior, can and will overcome this challenge or any challenge that we will face in the future. A month or so ago, one of my best friends, Benjamin Blessing shared a scripture with me that is directly applicable to this topic. In Romans 8:18 it says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us.” Though our suffering may bog us down now, when we overcome our trials and continue to overcome them, I firmly believe that every trial will be worth it when we obtain that glory! This much I know to be true.

Chao!

Elder Hendrix

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An email from Elder Carney

Hello sister Hendrix!

So here are some pics from these last few weeks, its been a good one! Your son is doing incredible and is a beast! He is really picking up on the language and is really trying hard! Super diligent. Life has been good here, just living it up with Elder Hendrix! He is an incredible missionary! Hope all is well in your fam! Que tengan una semana maravillosa!! 

Elder Carney