May 16, 2011

This week went well, we were able to find some good people to start teaching, several full families which is pretty rare to find here.  So we are excited to start teaching them and of course hoping for the best. 
 Things are going well with our investigators, the other day we tried to put a baptismal date with Magdalena who we've been teaching for a while now.  We tried for June 5th and the Spirit was super strong there and I felt for sure she will say yes, and she wants to be baptized really bad.  But when we said June she was like, Nope!  Not in June (because of personal stuff she said), it will have to be July.  So, bummer that I won't be here but the most important thing is that she will be getting baptized! 
And Francisco and Pamela are doing well, we couldn't find them the end of the week here but I think we are going to try and pass by tomorow. 
I do really like the Restoration dvd, I've seen it so many times and I still enjoy watching it.
To be honest I don't think I'll see any baptisms before I head home, but I want to leave as many people as I can preparing to be baptized.  We have a good bunch of people so I feel good. 

I'm not training Elder Hollister actually, he was a zl before, in my first sector actually.  So we have fun talking about El Sauce and the people there.  He was comps with my MTC companion, Elder Mills.  Funny how the mission works out sometimes. 
I tried to patch up my shoe with some adhesive stuff but by the end of the day it had been worn off.  So, I'm just going to have to go these 3 weeks with a hole, hoping it doesn't rain haha. 
Yesterday and today I have been sick, just like a common cold type of thing.  But I stayed in the house yesterday to rest.  My throat still hurts a ton and is swollen, but it will go away soon.

Yea, President and Sister King are awesome, I'm so glad they are my mission president. Great people, and they helped me out a lot. I don't really have any new pics to send, I'll try to take a bunch these next weeks.

Ok, well I hope you all have a great week, and that every heals up nice and stays healthy. I'm gonna keep working hard here, and finish strong. Love you all and am praying for you.
Love.
Elder DeLong

May 9, 2011

Well, the Mother's day call has come and gone. Actually, the family was able to do a  conference Skype call with Jeff. It was great to actually see him as well as talk to him. So not a very long letter after that.

Wow, so it was wayyyyy fun to be able to talk to everyonw yesterday.  I loved it!  We are one awesome family ;)  Haha, no but really, it's true.  I love you guys and am so grateful to have been born into this family.

Everyone looked great!  I'm excited to see you all again in just a few weeks.  But like you said I need to stay focused, and don't worry.  I am :) 

We are teaching some great people and we have the goal that by the end of this change(before I go home) we will have 5 baptisms or 5 people with baptismal dates.  So we are going to work hard to reach that goal.  Yesterday after Elder Hollister got done talking to his family we went and taught a lesson to some inv named, Francisco and Pamela.  It went really well with them.  Me and Elder Clark found them and they have been progressing really well.  We watched the Restoration dvd with them and Pamela starting crying during and had some really good questions at the end.  So they are excited to keep reading and gaining a testimony about this message of the restored gospel. 

Today we didn't go play any sports or anything, we are still sore from Basketball Saturday haha. But we went to eat breakfast and I got some bread with scrambled eggs(in the pics)


 Well, I really don't have too much more to say since I talked to you just yesterday. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the pictures.  And keep on reading the BOM! Love you all and you're always in my prayers.
Love,
Elder DeLong

Yum! It is so good. They eat a lot of that kind of bread here, in just about every meal. It's not a meal without their "pan".

May 2, 2011

We have been curious to find out who Jeff's last companion/replacement will be for his last six weeks of the mission. Here is his second to last comp Elder Clark.

So my last comp will be Elder Hollister!  He is a really cool guy, I know him from before because I was his DL out on the coast.   I told him too, One day we'll be comps.  And what do ya know he will be my last here on the mish. He is great, we get a long great and he'll help me finish the mission strong.  So I am really happy, I was nervous to see who my last comp would be.  But I am very relieved that it's Elde Hollister.  He is from Springville Utah.  He played football too, corner back.  Elder Clark actually went to San Antonio!  How cool is that, I know he'll enjoy the coast a lot.

Things here in Chile are going well though.  We still have quite a few investigators that are progressing well.  We hope to see baptisms this month, I'd really love to before I leave.  But if not, I'll be just as content to know that the seeds were planted and starting growing.  And miracles happen.

Man, sorry to hear about the lousy weather in MN and all of the states, I hope all the tornadoes stop.  Those aren't cool, and one of the only downfalls about living in the Mid west. 
 And as for mothers day I will be doing Skype on Sunday at 6:30 here which should be 4:30 there and 3:30 in Utah.  I plan on calling you guys in MN first and then calling the others in Utah.  So you shouldn't be getting a call from me before then, unless something changes about when I'll be calling.  Haha, it will be a lot of fun to talk, then in less than a month I'll be talking with you face to face!  Pretty crazy. 
Haha, mom you crack me up because you are using all the little text abreviations, its funny (lol).

I told Jeff that the 150 millionth copy of the Book of Mormon was recently printed, passing another milestone in the book’s 181-year history.
Wow, 150 million copies, it's fun to say that I've given away a tiny little chunk of that :) 

On the mission I've had lots of cool little experiences. For example, the other night we were walking around knocking some doors because all of our appt had fallen through. Then we walked by this guy cleaning his car (a nice 1983 Porsche) and we got like 20 feet past went I felt we should turn back and talk to him. So we turned around and contacted him and turns out he was a really cool guy and we were able to note down his address and we have an appt with him for tommorow. It's just cool little experiences like that or little miracles that strengthen the testimony of a person. So we need to always be looking for the little miracles in our lives :)

Well, I hope that you are all well! I love you all and look forward to talking with you on Sunday. Take care (Cuidense!)
Love,
Elder DeLong

April 25, 2011

I sent Jeff a picture of his grandpa and grandma Marje at a 90th birthday cellebration for grandpa:

Hey!
Wow, thanks for sending the picture of Grandpa and Grandma! That was so great to see them. I didn't realize that Grandpa already completed 90 years! Thats great, he looks great still. I'm excited to see both of them and just talk with them. Thats cool that you were all able to eat with Uncle Pete and Aunt Angie, and that they invited one of their new neighbors. Haha, I remember that wood duck house. I wonder if there are any still standing in the park. How many years ago was that? Like 4? I don't even remember, that whole time period from after high school up till the mission is easy to get confused with.
But yea, so that was pretty weird for me to have to give my testimony. No, it wasn't hard to give it but it just wasn't expected yet. I have had to give a lot of talks and classes these last 9 months. So I really have gotten used to it, it's not a big deal to me anymore. So I guess thats good :) Yea, this change will have a lot more of those "last time" moments.

Oh right, so for the big news...I will be ending my mission in the same sector.  Yep, I will be dying here in Ochagavia, but the sad part of the story is that my comp and good friend Elder Clark will be leaving me.  I'm really sad to see him go, I was hoping that he'd be my last comp.  I have to train in a new zone leader companion so he can carry on when I leave, and my comp still isn't quite ready.  But he'll be there soon enough.  I am happy that I won't have to do another change though, that would
have been tough.  So now I'm just anxious to see who my companion will be and I'll find out tomorrow.
 As far as being trunky goes..I'm really not very trunky.  I'm just gonna keep on going hard these last few weeks, then when I'm on that plane I'll relax ha. 
 Thats what the Lord asks of us in life too.  That we are faithful and obedient until the end, not 99% but the whole 100%, then when we pass to the spirit world we can relax.  There are many different people who will read this letter, all in different parts of that journey.  Don't ever give up, there are always many challenges and trials but I know, I really do, that if we stay strong in the gospel we will make it through.  I just look at our family, we've passed through lots of trials, and we are still going strong.  And I know it's because of the gospel, without it who knows where any of us would be.

Yea, I'll let you know what day and time I'll be "Skyping" (is that a word).
 Ya know, I'm gonna be honest, I am looking forward to the college life again. I know I have to work my butt off and study hard, but it's a lot of fun too, especially with all the firends I've made here on the mish. SO it will be a blast. But thats a ways off still so..the summer will be great to relax!

Well, I'm happy to report that it has been getting colder here in Chile! Finally, I'm not walking around soaked in sweat haha. I just hope my shoes don't get a whole these next 6 weeks, because it's been raining a bit and will probably conitnue to rain here. But even if it does I'm just gonna put on another pair of socks haha. But I'm holding up fine, it's funny I think the Missionary Mall clothes are designed to hold together exactly 2 years. Because after these next 6 weeks I'm pretty sure that they are just going to fall apart! Oh well, I'm leaving most of them here in Chile, not worth the weight.

Well, I don't have anyhting else to say really. Today we had a big barbeque as a district, it was a lot of fun. I didn't eat much (I'm going home in 6 weeks can't get fat!) It was yummy though.
Ok well hope you all have a great week!
Love you all!
Elder DeLong

April 18, 2011

Yea, it was really sad about Elder Colman.  We had our conferences of zones this last Wed. and President gave a little presentation in memory of him.  It was sad, he started crying..
At that same conference several things happened.  I had to give a class in front of 4 zones, and I had to give my going away testimony too (because we only have these zone conferences every 3 months, so that was my last one)   So that was pretty crazy for me, one never thinks that they'll be up in front giving their parting testimony, but it came and it came fast.  This change has definitely been the fastest of my mission and no doubt that this last one will be even faster.  We'll see, all of the things I'll have to do will make it go fast, and talking with all of you too.   (Mother's Day call..Hooray!)   We will be able to do Skype again as far as I know.

We have a lot of investigators that are progressing really well, hopefully in Mayo we will be able to have some baptisms again.  Like I said to dad, I have interviews with President King tomorrow, so hoprfully he'll tell me whats going to happen.  We have a really good relation so I hope so :)  But for sure next Monday I'll know whats going to happen.  I'd like to stay here with Elder Clark, but I don't think thats going to happen because I have to train a new zone leader in for when I leave.  So if thats the case I'd like to go to a neighboring sector where Elder Egbert is and be his comp.  But we'll see.  I'm pretty sure I'll be staying here in the zone though. 

Yea, having so many good friends that are gong to BYU makes me really excited for it.  I really hope I can work something out so I can live with E'Speakman, but we'll see.  E'Egbert will be living pretty close, so that will be cool.

I really like serving others now, before I did too, but it was just a lot harder for me to do it. Now it's a lot easier, I hope it stays that way.

I don't think they really celebrate Easter here much, we'll see what happens.
 I did find out the true meaning of why an easter bunny and stuff. And it has nothing at all to do with Christ, so that kinda took some of the enthusiasm out of it.

 Have they heard anything from Ex-Elder Matt Kennison? Hope he is doing well, I told him I'm going to visit him in Utah when I'm out there to get to know him better.

Ok, well really not much more to say.

Oh, today we had our zone acitvity and we played Ultimate Frisbee. It was a nice change of things from soccer and was super fun. I'm for sure going to play at lot at BYU :)
Ok well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Hold true to the rod always :)


Love
Elder J. DeLong

April 11,2011

Well, first of all I just want to start off with some sad news. One of the missionaries that returned this last change, Elder Colman from Panama, just passed away. Right before he left he got real sick of his kidneys. And he basically went strait from the airport to the hospital, and was never able to recover. It is sad, but I know that every death has a purpose. That Heavenly Father needed him above more than he needed him here. But I'm happy that he was able to see his family before he went. He was older, like 28. I lived with him for one change, he was a really nice, humble guy. Really quiet, but a hard worker.

Life isn't easy most of the time, but we all knew that and accepted it before we came here and knew that we would pass through challenges, but for our own good so that we can progress.
 
But this week went really well for us.  We continue to find lots of new people to teach, and many of which show potential to be progressing investigators. 
 We visited Magdalena yesterday and had a really good lesson with her about prophets and the word of wisdom.  She smokes and drinks coffee and was fine with not smoking but didn't understand why she couldn't drink coffee.  But we were able to teach her the doctrine of Christ behind it and then she understood perfectly and was happy to stop.  Cool stuff :) 
The low down on Jovanna is that she will have to go through a long process of writing letters to the First Presidency and finding witnesses that will confirm that she isn't a member and stuff.  It could take quite a few weeks.  But she seemed happy still and willing to do it.  So we hope that she will do what it takes do be able to recieve baptism in the church.

Hey so you guys have been doing a good job about not being too trunky,haha. I'm not too bad, I''m excited to keep working this last change. I wonder what will happen, If I'll stay or if I'll go. Who knows.
Yeah, I really hope that Speakman and I can figure out a way to room together. If not in the same apartment, at least in the same complex or something. He is a really cool guy. I've made a new really good friend here too, Elder Egbert. He too goes to BYU, so we will hang out too :) That will be a lot of fun. He gets home in July, one change behind me.
 
Well, I really don't have anything else to say, there's only 2 more weeks left in the change. So I hope they go well and then we'll see what will become of me for my last change.
Well, don't really have much more to say this week, so hope that all of you are doing great! That you are reading the scriptures daily and being faithful to the Lord :)
I love you all!


Have a great week!
Love ,
Elder DeLong

April 4, 2011

I said to Jeff that receiving his itinerary made it seem very real that he will be home soon:

Hey Mom!

Yes, it seems very real now..only like 63 days or so left. Pretty crazy.
But there is still a lot of work to do. Elder Clark and I have been able to receive a lot of inspiration that has guided us to many new people to teach. So we are excited for that.

I'm still in the same place, changes are in 3 more weeks.  I think I will either get a new companion who will be a zl, or I'll go be with one of the DL here and train him as a zone leader.  But, we'll see what happens.  I'd like to just stay here with Elder Clark, but who knows. 

The decision on Jovanna is that President is going to have an interview with her Wed.  I think that she is telling the truth, she says that she had the baptismal date and everything, and that day came and it was a Sunday.  Pèople passed by to take her to church but her husband wouldn't let her go and get baptized, and she never went again.  If that is true, that means the missionaries went ahead and registered as a member anyways.  So we'll see what happens.  And Magdalena is doing great, she went to conference and really liked it.  The only challenge with her is that we can only teach her on weekends, hopefully this week we will have a home evening night with her and her member friend. 

 We had concilio with President in his house last Friday.  And because it was the 1st he played a little joke on all of us.  After lunch, we went up to have more classes and he came up with a letter in his hand that he said he had just received from the 1st Presidency.  He started to read it and it basically said that because of all the natural disasters that have been happening missionaries will no longer serve outside their own countries, and that the stake presidents will organize the mission work in thier stakes.  Haha, we all believed it, he wrote it really well.  It was pretty funny, but Sister King was behind it all..it was her idea. Haha. 

I think my shoes will make it 2 more months, they kinda have too ha.  No, I threw my other pair away, they were totally trashed.

And conference was great :) I love listening to the prophets and apostles now (unlike before the mission if you can remember). Oh how the mission changes one, but all for the better. And the time passes so fast, 2 hours is nothing now. But it is such a blessing to have a prophet, listening to him alone is testimony that he is called of God. And that is testimony that the church of Christ is a living church, what a great blessing! I can't imagine living in a time with out the light of the restored gospel and can't imagine not having it in my life now. We truly are blessed :)
I too took many notes and received lots of personal revelation.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!


Love,
Elder DeLong

March 28, 2011

The big news for this week: Jeff received his itinerary to come home! The day we have looked forward to for 2 years is June 7th.
 And did you get the travel Itinerary that I forwarded to you?  That's really important that you respond to that as soon as possible.
 So, I'm flying to New York!  That will be pretty fun, (minus the 11 hours in a plane part) but I'm excited to see New York.  Then I'll fly to MN and land at 2:30.  You guys will be able to go and pick me up right? 
Really, would we be anywhere else that day?? I chuckled at that question from him.

 Thanks for the encouragement, it's been a good experience. (Being the lone zone leader ) E' Clark and I get along really well, so I am happy about that.  I think going to BYU was a good choice too, (Jeff went one year to BYU before heading out on his mission. At the time I wasn't sure this was the best choice...) helped me get used to being away from home and being on my own.  The culture here is much different, kids don't leave the house till mid 20's or later at times.  So when they go on a mission it can be a big shock for them.

Yes, Dylan got baptized yesterday.  It went well :)

We have a baptismal date with the mom, Jovanna, because we thought for sure that she wasn't a member, but now somehting has come up and we aren't sure again.  So President King today is going to research it so we can have a definite answer.  I love President King, he is a great man and great example.  It's been fun having him my last year on the mission.
We have been teaching the recent converts, we have ward missionaries now and are trying to orient them in and train them, but the process has been going slow.  Hopefully things will work out so they can teach the converts

On being "two tall white guys" as a missionary tool:
I do think that people listen to us more cuz we are so huge to them.  They are probably scared haha.  But we definitely draw a lot of attention.  But I 've gotten used to it now, it will be nice however that everyone won't stare at me in the states haha.
 It will be interesting to see if I'll end my mission here in this sector or if President will send me somewhere else.  We'll see.  But remember to email the mission that you can pick me up so they can buy the ticket. 
Alright, well I don't really have much more to say. My feet and legs have been killing me this last week, we've been walking a lot lately. But the work is moving forward well, in the month of March we had 15 baptisms as a zone! That hasn't happened in a long time here in the mission. So that was cool to be a part of it. Hopefully this month we can keep baptizing. We have 2 potential baptisms, hope that all goes well.

Alright love you all and am always praying for you. I really like the poem mom, it was a good find. Went strait to the heart ;)

Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place, and praise
Will come, in time, to the one who stays.

Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too;
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories, after awhile

Love,
Elder Jeffrey Douglas DeLong





- Show

March 20, 2011

Well, being the only zone leader has been going pretty good so far.  My new companion is Elder Clark, he is from Morgan Utah.  He is a really cool guy, he makes me feel old because he graduated in 2010..haha.  But he has 4 months here in Chile.  So I'm excited for this new change with him.  But he'll help me out a lot with ideas and stuff so it won't be so bad.  As he tells me he is the co-zone leader haha. 
The baptisms are still happening, this next Sunday we will have another.  Dylan, who is the younger brother of Grecia and Dante.  Then we had a lady come to church yesterday named Magdelena.  And she really liked it, so I feel that she will be not too far behind Dylan.  Yes, Yessenia and Nayaret both got baptized 2 Fridays ago.  It was a very special baptism, I felt the spirit there more strongly than in any other baptism I've assisted.  It was great, and they will both be very faithful members.  They're awesome.  All of our converts here are doing well.

Yea, the majority of the missionaries here are from UT too, there are so many.  Thats good though.  We just found this young matrimony who were a reference from the office.  The lady Tamara is an inactive member and her husband Cristofer is not a member.  But they are very interested in the gospel, especially about being ablle to be together as a family for ever, so we are excited to keep teaching them. 
And we also found a girl who is from Haiti, she has like 10 months in Chile and speaks great!  I thought she had years here.  She speaks 4 languages, but she is really interested in the gospel too.  So we have quite a few people we are teaching that I think will progress well. 

Today we played soccer with another zone.  I got to see an old friend from the coast, Elder Fuhriman.  He is great.  I'm sad that a lot of my friends here went home in this last group..but I still have some really close friends here so thats good. 
 Every companionship in the zone except one had changes.  And I lost my District leaders and recevied two new distirct leaders that I have to train in and teach them all of their responsibilities and stuff.  But they are really good and learn quick. 
 Its funny because Elder Clark is taller than me, 6'5.  So we are two tall white guys roaming the streets of Ochagavia. 
Obama is here for a few days.  There are some protesters and stuff, kinda funny.  I dont think these trips are the best use of our money..but the people elected him so..

I am very grateful that I obtained my Eagle scout, I just wished I remembered the stuff that I learned ha. I'll have to re pass everything some day.
Wow, Japan got hit a lot worse than here in Chile. I hope they can recover from it and that nothing bad will continue to happen to them. I know the church wil be sending lots of aid there.

 The day of registering is drawing cose, hopefuly all goes well for Maire. OK, well hope that you all have a great week! Love you and am always praying for you.
Elder DeLong

March 14, 2011

Wow, thanks so much for taken care of the housing for me.  I'm excited to room/live with Peter.  Hopefully for winter semester I'll be able to live with E' Speakman.  That would be so great.  Yea, Peter gets home the same day as me now, the 7th!  How cool is that.  Yes, my comp and Elder Kennison and lots of my other friends at this time are preparing to go home.  Its sad to see them all leave, they are great guys and missionaries.  But I'm going to see a lot of them after the mission.  It will be fun.

It was a good experience to give the class in concilio, I know that if the missionaries apply it it will help out a lot with their teaching and they will see many miracles.

President told me some interesting news in his email to me. I'm not receiving another zone leader companion..I'm just receivning a junior companion. So I will be a lone zone leader..that will be pretty interesting! And I'm losing my 2 district leaders and receivng two new ones. But, I know that the Lord will help me, will give me the strength that I need. I will have to stretch my self even more and it will be a great opportunity to learn and grow.

Yea, the food for concilio is always american stuff, I love it!


The earthquake was quite a surprise especially because it was so powerful! It was much worse than here in Chile, remember that the richter scale goes up by multiples of ten I believe. So 8.9 is ten times stronger than 8.8. Crazy, I hope every onw will be okay and can get the help they need. Nothing really happened here, but I am positive now that I never want to live in a country with earthquakes! Nope.

 okay Mom, gotta run now, we are going to have a BBQ with the missionaries here in a little bit. I'll try to send a couple picks quick of the baptism, it was great! The most spiritual one Ive been to.
Love you tons!


Elder Delong

March 7, 2011

So this week went really well too :)  The baptism for Dante went really well.  Only thing was that he didn't like the clothes that he had to wear and almost wouldn't come out of the bathroom (had to have some persuasion) and he didn't want to take a picture because he was ashamed and thought he looked really bad.  He looked great actually but he didn't think so.  But thats a pretty typical 11 year old boy for you.  He finally came out though which was good and the ordinance went really well.  His younger brother, Dylan, will get baptized on the 20th of this month.  And this Friday we have two more baptisms, Yessenia and Nayaret.  They are both young single adult women of 18.  Nayaret has been going to chruch for like 2 years but could never get baptized because she wasn't 18, and Yessenia was an old investigator that we found through her grandma who is a member.  So we are excited for that baptism, it will be a great experience.

 Yea, it will be sad when he (Elder Zeron) leaves, we work great together.  That we have so much experience on the mission definitley helps, we have all those experiences to draw upon to help us improve and do the work in the right way.  And thats why we've seen so much success, because we are trying our best and relying on the Lord and He is helping us a ton. 

Yea, going to the Zoo was a great idea.  They all really liked it.  I was feeding a piece of grass to a llama.  I liked the monkeys, they were fun.  The train was pretty nice, built within the last 10 years.  Only the buses on the coast are really old and crappy.  The buses here in Santiago are huge and nice. 

Today my comp is going and saying goodbye to all his old sectors, so thats what we will be doing all day today and Saturday. Then Friday he has the temple and we have the baptisms and Thrusday we have that zone conference. So it will be a pretty busy week, thats for sure. Just like last week. We had Concilio with the President again as the zone leaders. It was really good, me and my comp had to give a class there actually about the things we are teaching and doing to have so much success. It went well. The food of course was great too. Pancakes it the morning and some sort of American rice/chicken dish for lunch. I liked it. Okay, well I think thats about it for now, hope that you have a great week! You're always in my prayers. Love you mom!

Love,
Elder DeLong

February 28, 2011

Hey mom!

Yea, so the zone just keeps on seeing miracles, it is amazing. In my whole mission I've never seen a zone steadily progress like ours is now. It's great to be able to see. We had the baptism of Connie yesterday. She has been a member her whole life, well we all thought. But she was never registered officially so in the end we had to teach her/ baptize her again. The coolest part is that her newly baptized husband was able to baptize her. It was cool.

 Yea, it was great to have the chance to see Marisol make the convenant of baptism with the Lord finally.

The difference about the success that we are having is that we are unified in our dedication to the Lord, and we have enthusiasm and follow the Spirit.  Because a missionary can be obedient but be a robot, and that isn't what the Lord wants.  And we have fun doing it.  So it has been a great experience.  The way things are looking we will have a baptism every week this change!  Now we just have to prepare people for after this change too :) 

 Yea, I got the trunky papers, I think it's funny because it says dia de tu liberacion or day of your freedom. 

 Peter just emailed me and said that Clayton is looking for a place for the 3 of us. So Peter is getting home the same day that I am, well the 8th because travel from Africa takes so long.  Pretty cool huh?  Beth will be at BYU too?  thats crazy!   I did get on my BYU site, but I was pretty lost to be honest haha.  After 2 years I don't know how to work the thing, oh well. 

I told Jeff that I had gotten some blueberries and when I got home noticed they were from Santiago Chile, arandanos bluets:

This is funny too, I have no idea what arandanos bluet are, haha.  But the fruit here is amazing, thats one thing I love about Chile.  So Wal-mart will officially be here in like another year.  They already bought one of the biggest super market chains here, Lider, and have turned it into Wal-mart basically.  Every time I walk in I think I'm in Wal-mart.  Pretty crazy how much money and power.

Here is something cool. Today as our zone activity that me and my comp organized we went out of our mission (with permision of course) to Rancagua. It's to the south a bit. We went to Buin Zoo.

It was pretty fun, nice to have a change of pace. It was a nice zoo, had lots of animals and modern.

The missionaries enjoyed it. So that was fun, and we got to go there by train! I've never taken a train before.

 So I liked that. Ok, well only 2 more weeks in this change, then Elder Zeron goes home. Pretty crazy.

Well hope you all have a great week, you're always in my prayers.

Love
Elder DeLong

February 21, 2011

Hey Mom!

This week was really great! I was able to go to the baptism of Marisol and also we had the baptism of Raul yesterday, where President was able to attend with his wife. It was a really great ordinance, a really strong spririt.
 

We have the goal of having a baptism every week this change and the way things are going all looks well. We had stake conference yesterday all throughout Chile, and President Packer and Elder Christofferson spoke to all of Chile. It was a really great conference, Pres. Packer is really funny. And all of our 5 investigators who are going to get baptized were able to attend. It was great.
 
I asked Jeff why he thought they were having such success in teaching and baptising in this new area versus his other areas:

 1). Elder Zeron and I are very unified and we work hard to help out the zone, sometimes sacrificing time in our sector to help them.
2). We have a great relationship with the Bishop and he helps us out a ton with the work. That is key.
3). We are involving the memebers in the work as well, and the investigators feel good going to church.

So those are some of the key things that are going on to help us have so much success. We work hard for the zone and the Lord has been blessing us in our sector.
Yes, most of the missionarys work hard, but a lot are pretty relaxed/lazy at times. 
Miracle, we went to church and one of the members came up to us and said, Elders you haven't visited me for a long time can you come over? We said ok, set up an appt then when we went her grand daughter was there too. She before had listened to the missionarys but wasn't ready yet, now she is super ready. The 2nd visit we put a baptimal date!
Then there is this girl who has assisted for many months but couldn't get baptized because she wasn't 18, she turns 18 the 22 so she will get baptized in March! The Lord just keeps putting people in our path, its great.
 

 
On the other 2 Elders that share the house they are currently living in:
 One of the Elders in the house is from Idaho, the other is from Argentina. 

Currrent companion will be going home soon:
Yea, Elder Zeron has 3 weeks left, crazy.
Jeff, are you back in the area where the sisters in the ward do your laundry?
The sisters do our laundry in this sector too, a huge blessing.
The weather continues to be burning hot, hopefully in March it cools off a bit
Pres. gave me permision to go onto my BYU account, so I'm gonna look at it here in a bit.  onto my BYU account, so I'm gonna look at it here in a bit. I'm gonna have to find a job when I get home (if I can)
Ok, well I send pics of the baptims here in a bit. They were great. Love you mom, hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder DeLong
oh and I almost forgot, I need the addresses and telephone numbers of the Bishop and Stake President. I got my "trunky" papers as they are called and have to fill them out. I need your cell numbers too. And 's it's the Minneapolis International Airport, right? I think that's everything, I forgot the paper,oops. But that should be all.       thanks!

February 14, 2011

Hey mom!
Yea, so it has been a really fun two weeks here in Ochagavia so far (minus the heat!). But our zone has been seeing a lot of miracles lately, this week we doubled the number of baptismal dates! So that was really cool. The baptism for Grecia went really well, her mom and younger brother assisted and went to church the next day and we were able to put 2 baptimal dates with them.

  And yesterday after church one of our other investigators had his baptismal interview with President King!  And he is going to get baptized next Sunday!  And we have this other lady, Connie, who has been a member her whole life but never got registered in the records of the church. So, we are teaching her all the lessons and it looks like she will get re-baptized the 26th, but this time but her newly converted husband who just received the priesthood yesterday.  Pretty cool.  And Marisol, from 2 sectors ago (we baptized her son, Dylan) is getting married on Friday and then baptized Saturday and President gave me permision to go because it's close.  Pretty cool, huh?  And we have other investigators that are progressing really well, so we are really excited.

Yea, Elder Mills is in the sector where I started the mission, in El Sauce.  So that is pretty funny.  But yea, we have council at the beginning of every month.  It is fun.  We just report on the zone and how everyone is doing.  We live in a house, and share it with 2 other missionaries in the zone.

 Haha, Elder Smith's mom contacted you, that is really funny. Yea, he saw the blog before he got to Chile, and then I was his first district leader. Pretty funny huh? Elder Smith is really cool, I had a lot of fun with him and my last district. Tell his mom hi and thanks for sending Elder Smith on the mission. They were the best. Well, I just found out that Elder Mckay got married recently
 
So yea, thats whats going on here in the city of Santiago.  I'm excited for my next few months here, I know we will continue to see miracles.  We can always find miracles in our lives, every day.  And it's important that we can recognize they or else we will get slothful like Lehi and his family and we wont progress in our journey (Alma 37:41) I think thats the right verse, it's some where in that chapter. 
 
 

I love you and hope you all have a great week!

Love
Elder DeLong

February 6, 2011

Hey :)


Well, I guess the news you are most anxious to know is where I'm at and what I'm doing. Well, I'm in the city again in a place called Ochagavia as a zone leader :) Yea, it has been a bit of an adjustment being responsible for 16 elders now. But luckily I have a great companion, Elder Zeron from Honduras. Hes been a ZL since last July so he has a lot of experience.
 But it has been really fun here so far, besides the extreme heat! As I am writing you I'm like over heating, the internet place has no air or anything and is suuuuuper slow. Oh well. So that is the big news. This will be my last sector I think.
The ward is about average size, 70, that assist. We have a baptism Saturday, a 12 year old girl named Grecia (Greece). So that will be cool. And we are working with several others, but always we are in the process of finding new people

 We had council with the President last Friday in his house. All the zone leaders in the mission go to that.

We had french toast for breakfast and than tacos for lunch, yum!!!! Best food I've had in a longggg time. Then we just present whats going on in our zones, than the President delivers to us the vision he has for the mission and then we bring it to the missionaries in our zones. It's a lot more responsibility but its fun. We have a good zone, the missionaries are working hard here.
So yea, I am pretty excited. It will be a lot of fun. I'm going to learn a lot, I already have in my week here. Elder Zeron goes home in 5 weeks, so I'll be his last comp. And then my last comp will come after him, pretty crazy, huh?
 
My last comp was able to fix my mp3, he had to reformat it which took forever! But it works again now so its all good. I'm really glad this will be my last change, I think, because I hate having to haul all of my luggage around. It's a pain.

I ran ino Elder Nielson today, that was fun. He is in a zone near by. He is doing well. It was fun to see a lot of my friends in council last Friday, Elder Mills was there, my comp in the MTC and elder Young too. Fun stuff.
Well to be honest I don't have too much more to tell.
 I did find out that the girl I was teaching in Llolleo, Isabel, has a baptismal date for this month. Pretty cool! I hope it all works out.
 And Marisol, from my sector before llolleo, is getting baptized this month. President might give me permision to go and see it. That would be awesome. So we will see what happens.
I sent you guys the pics from council, they are pretty good. I'll send you a couple more if I can on this slooooooooooooooooooooow pc, haha.
 I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder DeLong

January 31,2011

Hey mom :)

Yea, we were pretty bummed that they didn't get baptized :/ But we left them alone for a while and will go back and see them this next week, to see if they made the decision to follow the Savior. I hope so.
 We had our young matrimony go to church yesterday and they really liked it. They learned about being sealed and were really excited about that. Now Isabel just needs to make the decision to be baptized and their journey to the temple will start :) So we are really excited for them.
 
 Unfortunately I won't be here to see her get baptized because I have changes! Surprise haha. Yep, my time here on the coast has ended. I'm sad to be going, I love it here, the people the climate. This has been my favorite sector by far, but all good things come to an end. I'm excited to have a new sector, new challenges and people. This next one will probably be my last one Iim thinking. We'll see what the Lord has planned for me. It will be sad to have to say good bye to everyone, thats always hard. I don't like that part of being a missionary. But thats part of the deal. Hard to think I have only 4 months left..I'm gonna keep working hard and giving it my all.
 

Elder Thomas is good, he was a great comp.  He will do a good job leading the sector now.  It will be interesting to see who his new comp will be.  He has had a crazy mission so far, in 5 changes he will have 5 comps.  Pretty rare, but he's a good kid.  I will miss my district a lot, I love them.  We have a lot of fun together and they are some of my best friends.  I'll mis them a lot, but hopefully I go to some of the other friends I have here in Chile
There is still one set of sisters here, one of them has changes.  Nobody else in my district has changes, just me and her.  It's weird to think that I'll be going back to school..it will be hard to get back into the swing of things.  Hopefully I can find what I want to study!
 
Well, the pics that I send now wont have the ocean in them, but I try to keep sending good ones. Maybe greg could send my a short video of Logan through email, thatd be fun. The mp3 player I bought in Dec is having problems, I tried returning it today but they were stupid about it and I had to do this whole long month process. Hopefully my computer genius companion can fix it, haha. I hate Chilean mp3s, they stink.

Well, next week I'll be writing from somewhere different. We'll see what the Lord has in store for me. Hope you have a great week! Love you


Love

Elder DeLong

January 22, 2011

Hey mom :)



 My week was alright, the older couple didn't end up getting baptized :( He can't kick the smoking..so right now it doesn't look like they'll be getting baptized anytime soon. I hope so though.

Our other investigators are doing really well, we did a great FHE with them and some member friends on Sat. We watched the Restoration video. It went really well, a good spirit. I love watching that movie, I feel the Spirit everytime.


No, I don't do the interviews for our investigators, the zone leaders do them. I do them for my district though. I did 2 last Tuesday that got baptized on Saturday. I think I might be going this change, but I'm not sure. We'll see what happens. I'd like to go somewhere else and finish my last 3 changes there
 
I love football, it is the best sport by far.  I miss watching/playing it.  It's fun.  I hope Calvin follows through with the mission, it will be the best thing he will ever do in his life and it will bless his family a lot too.  Do you guys have the Restoration video?  It's a good one, you should buy it if you don't have it.

The mission has taught me that, even when maybe we don't see the results we want, as long as we have been doing what we are supposed to we have accomplished what the Lord needed. I havn't seen a ton of baptisms but success isn't measured by numbers.
 
I think one thing that I've really been able to help with here is the re-activation of members. We had another family go yesterday to church that hadn't been in over a year.
 
 But the key to happiness and success in life is having the gift of the Holy Ghost with us constantly. It is the greatest gift from our Heavenly Father and all good things come from that power in our lives.
 
So always strive to have that gift and follow the impressions. Then we will have tranquility and peace in our lives always.



Ok, well hope you have a great week and that it warms up a little bit. Say hi to everyone for me :)
 Love you mom,

Elder DeLong

January 17, 2011

Hey mom!

Yea, being sick is never fun. Being able to rest will be nice, but I still got another 4 months in me :) Well I have good news about the older couple, they had their interviews yesterday and they passed! So this Sat they will be having their baptisms. We are pretty excited, he was so happy. And we had this other young married couple go to church too. The guy is an inactive member that we found and his wife isn't a member. They are awesome and I feel she'll get baptized. The district is doing really well. The sisters are struggling the most I'd say. I don't think they get along very well, but I try to encourage them.

I got Marie's email, it was great! I'm liking what she has got set up. She is a smart girl, I'll think about it and pray and see how I feel. As far as rooming with E' Speakman, he gets back in Nov, so he will be at BYU for the winter semester. So we can make it work out..hopefully.
 Me and Peter write every once and a while, I'll ask him what he is planning on doing.
Thats great that Logan is crawling! I'll see him soon enough :)

 Sometimes the Lord humbles us, but it's always better that we humble our selves.

We had  found a little hiking activity today and got some great pictures. I'll try and sed them today.

 

Wow, I really dont know what else to say today. Sorry this is such a short email, but I'm pretty tired. I try and write more next week haha.

Hope all is well and that you all have a great week!
Love you
Elder DeLong