A week in the life of Elder Magnusson: "Pretty solid"

yo my peeps. what is up?

this was a pretty solid week.

we did a lot of contacting this week, and like i said in the last email, i am getting better at it. the nice thing about this sector is if we dedicate an hour or two of contacting, we can usually get into a house which is sweet. the problem is with this is we have soooooo many investigators, but none of them will progress!!!! we will have a sweet lesson with them where we feel like the Spirit is really strong and we will leave them with some thing to read or something and they say that they wont do it.... when we ask why, they say it is because they were born into a certain religion and they are going to die in that religion. it kills me. the only reason why they let us in is because they like our message about Jesus Christ but they don’t want to progress.

You can also see the video by clicking here or you can read the words in the video *below

You can read the whole talk by clicking here

the mission is becoming an emotional roller coaster. we will get into a house and i can understand them so i get all excited and cocky and then we talk to someone in the street and my pride goes right back down cause i couldn’t understand them. it is just up and down allllll day long. but this is good cause i am learning a lot about pride. my pride is something that i need to let go of. that is easier said than done. but i am losing it little by little.

every single person that hears that i am from Los Angles thinks that i am the coolest person ever. they all want to know what it is like, how cool it is, and how much do my parent make. they think that i am supppppper rich. well, i kinda am compared to them, but their love for the Gospel and Christ is much better because of how humble they are.

every time an elder hears that i have 5 sisters, this is usually how the conversation goes. “hey man, i just got dear johned last week and i get off my mission in 10 months. do you think that you could hook it up after i get off the mission?”  oh no buddy. my sisters are offfff limits.

When i heard that i was going to be going to chile on my mission, i thought that my baptism numbers were going to be really high. but i am finding out that that isn’t true. if numbers defined how successful a missionary is, there wouldn’t be a good missionary in the church. what i am finding out is important is how obedient i am, how hard i work, and how much i love the people. so right now i am a pretty good missionary.

i know this gospel is true and i am doing the most important work that can be done on this earth. the book of mormon is true and i know that president monson is a prophet today. i love you all. thank you for your prayers.

*From the video by Elder David Bednar:

We believe the same Church founded by the Savior anciently has been reestablished on the earth by Him in the latter days. The doctrine, principles, priesthood authority, ordinances, and covenants of His gospel are found today in His Church.

When we invite you to attend church with us or to learn with the full-time missionaries, we are not trying to sell you a product. As members of the Church, we do not receive prizes or bonus points in a heavenly contest. We are not seeking simply to increase the numerical size of the Church. And most importantly, we are not attempting to coerce you to believe as we do. We are inviting you to hear the restored truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ so you can study, ponder, pray, and come to know for yourself if the things we are sharing with you are true.

Some of you may respond, “But I already believe in Jesus and follow His teachings,” or “I am not sure if God really exists.” Our invitations to you are not an attempt to diminish your religious tradition or life experience. Bring all that you know is true, good, and praiseworthy—and test our message. Just as Jesus beckoned two of His disciples to “come and see” (John 1:39), so we urge you to come and see if the restored gospel of Jesus Christ enlarges and enriches that which you already believe to be true.

"If you live the Gospel, you'll be happy. It's really that simple."

this week flew by soooo fast. i guess that is a good thing, right?

this week we found soooo many people to teach in the future. we spent a large portion of our week contacting and it paid off. hopefully we get some good progressing investigators from it. i am getting a lot better at contacting. i can actually get people to stay at the door and talk to me now. before they wouldn't give me 2 seconds. but now my spanish is getting good enough to talk to them. i think the difference is i am with elder edwards. with elder remon his spanish was good enough to talk to people about anything. whenever i tried to talk the people would just shut us out. this has changed with elder edwards. i have had to use my spanish more with people and it has paid off. i am definitely more confident. that being said it is still really hard for me to speak. if it is about the gospel i can do pretty good. but if it is about everyday life i have no hope. i am not complaining though because i can understand almost everything which is a huge improvement. i know it will come little by little.

it is really starting to warm up down here. we no longer see our breath in bed when we wake up in the morning. during the day we can get away with a light jacket. in fact, one day this week i wore a short sleeve shirt and it was glorious.

on thursday we were contacting a street and we saw a biker ride past us. just as he past us his brakes fell off his tire causing his tire to lock up. he flew over his handle bars and face planted. he didn’t have time to break his fall so his face took the whole impact. we ran over and there was soooooo much blood. his nose was shattered and cut open pretty bad.  we started scrambling in our bags trying to find something to stop the blood. i looked in my bag and found a stack of 30 napkins that i have no idea how they got there. we started to help him and as we did so he started to go into shock. he was loosing blood fast and was turning ghost white. we helped him enough to slow the bleeding enough. just then his brother drove past us and saw him. we put him in the car and he rushed him to the hospital. i honestly think if we weren’t there the situation wouldn’t have been as good. we were definitely supposed to be there at that time. i just gotta say i hate blood.

...I have spoken here of heavenly help, of angels dispatched to bless us in time of need. But when we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods.  

Elder Jeffery R. Holland

I did a blogpost where I discussed the above video about earthly angels.  

You can also view the video and read the post by clicking here. 

remember the family that i talked about that we challenged to baptism? well, they all had the flu this week and then on the weekend they went up to the capital so we weren’t able to meet with them. but we have an appointment tonight so pray that it goes well, por favor.

things are going better. we are finding people and like i said i can understand a lot more. this is a huge blessing. i just cant wait until i can talk more but i’m happy with this. my testimony and faith have really grown. i know that if you live the gospel you will be happy. it is really that simple. and make prayer and scripture study a priority. i wish it was a bigger part of my life before the mission. it really makes your day better. thank you for all of your prayers. i love  you all.

Just as we need daily physical sustenance, Elder Christopherson talks about the need for daily spiritual sustenance is just as strong. We can remember Jesus Christ every day as we pray, read the scriptures, and meditate.

Daily Bread: Pattern

 You can also view the video by clicking here or you can read the transcript below:  

I think it's not by chance God has created us in a way that we have to have daily physical sustenance. The children of Israel, coming out of Egypt, lived for 40 years, approximately, on something called manna. They couldn't have lived from hunting, and their lifestyle was such that they couldn't be planting. So they really didn't have an alternative. God was, in essence, providing their daily sustenance. And I think at least one of His purposes was to teach them to remember Him, to think of Him, to look to Him, to have faith in Him, that He was the source of their life. He did it in the way of making it a daily thing. They couldn't gather up manna and store it. It would only be good for one day. They couldn't forget who was the source of their blessings.

There's a spiritual parallel in our day. We all recognize the need for physical sustenance. Hunger and thirst remind us very strongly if we forget. But the spiritual need for sustenance is equally strong. It comes not in drinking water and eating food, but in our constant, daily efforts of communion with God. We ought not to think that we can go weeks and months without spiritual sustenance and not suffer and not have a deadening influence in our spiritual life. Acknowledging the reality of our need for a daily spiritual administration, or manna, helps us increase in our courage to do the right thing and to serve others more than we would have if we ignored God.

People sometimes think, "Well, those are such small things. Prayer, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, pondering, meditating--how can that really produce a significant difference in a person's life?" But it does. As small as those things seem to be--as daily, routine, sometimes, they may seem to be--these are the kinds of things that, day by day, transform us.

The Gospel is true.

Elder Magnusson enjoying his p-day with his zone

I found this picture of Elder Magnusson on a blogpost written by the Mission President's wife, Sister Warne.  You can read the post by clicking here.  Sam is on the left side of the picture towards the back. 

so i survived my first week without elder remon. it was a little hard at first but things worked out. elder edwards is my comp right now. he is from alpine utah and went to lone peak high. he is pretty chill. he is alot different than elder remon and that isn’t a bad or a good thing, just different.

our sector is huge and i thought that i was going to have trouble remembering where things and places are, but i have been blessed. i haven’t had any problems with it so all is good.

one thing though with the last change is, we were visiting a lot of people that weren’t progressing at all, so we were wasting a lot of time. we decided to stop visiting these people as much. because of this we have a lot more time on our hands. we have filled this time with contacting... a lot of contacting. it has paid off too. we think we have 2 new solid investigators, so things are looking good for us.

we have two investigators. they both come to church a lot, both have read the book of mormon all the way through, and both say that they have a testimony of the church but they cant get baptized because they aren’t married and they wont get married because of some problems they have had in the past and she cant forgive him enough to get married. that is the story that they are giving us. they are such a good couple and i want them to have the gospel so much. we are really going to focus on them this week.

we have another family that we committed to baptism yesterday. the mom was baptized when she was 13 and never has come to church since. she has 2 kids, one is 17 and the other is 10. the 10 year old said that he wants to be baptized and the 17 year old says that she will pray about it. they are such a good family as well. i honestly think that they will become members of the church. i have committed other people to baptism but haven’t told you guys about it because i didn’t feel confident about it, but i feel super confident about this family. they seem really good.

i had my first bad meal. when the hermana was dishing it up she said that she didn’t have enough time to cook the meat all the way so she hopes it is cooked enough. i took a bit and almost died. i asked her what it was but i didn’t understand what she said. i don’t know how i finished it but i did. when i left the house i asked my comp what is was and it was straight pig fat with beans. i was a little sick for the next couple of days but not enough to keep me in the house. gatta love the food here

funny story of this week..... we were walking in the street and we walked past a cop. i said hola to him and he turned to me and said in english.... "I love you... will you marry me and my wife" in a super heavy accent. before i could say anything, he turned and walked away. i thought i was going to die of laughing so hard. pretty funny.

things are going good right now. i have learned a lot this week after taking over the sector. it was harder but i am grateful for what i have learned. i love being a missionary and wearing Jesus Christ’s name on my chest everyday. the Gospel is true and will bless your life if you follow its teachings. this is my testimony.

This video talks about the message that Sam is sharing with the the people in Chile.

You can also view the video by clicking here.  

"The Church is true and I know that it blesses lives."

yo this week was a pretty slow week.

the reason for this is because it rained everyday this week!!! rain slows down missionary work soooo much. no one is out in the streets and no one wants to talk to us when we knock their doors. also, we can't use our bikes in the rain so that slows things down a lot.  it was hard, but whatever, we survived.

the highlight of the week was when my companion, elder remon, got all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled out  on friday. we took the 4 hour trip to rancagua in a bus. he got them all pulled out in under an hour.   he was awake for all of it, but he had local anesthesia.   afterwards the 2 assistants to the president drove us home. this car ride was one of the funniest moments of my life. the assistants are super hyper, so from doing push ups on the side of the freeway, to laughing our heads off at poor elder remon’s condition, to nearly dying of a bus crashing into us, to singing at the top of our lungs, we did it all. it was sooo funny.

elder remon is doing perfect. he slept of the anesthesia really well and was able to go to work the next day! i couldn’t believe it.  he couldn’t talk, which meant that i had to do alllll of the talking. its was sooooo hard because i don’t know anything. but somehow i managed to teach two lessons by myself. they were good enough that the people could understand. that is all that counts.

the next day they asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting about the Atonement. it was a 6 minute talk and i didn’t have any notes. i used really simple words. before the mission, i didn’t even know how to say Atonement in spanish, so i guess i am improving slowly.

You can also view the video by clicking here

the big news of the week is that elder remon is getting moved up north to rancagua to be a zone leader, which means that i am staying here in san javier and i am getting a new comp tomorrow. the news shocked us both!! we didnt expect it cause i’m not done with my training but its true. my new comp is from utah and has a year in the mission and that is all that i know so we will see how things turn out.

i am really worried about being in charge of the sector because i have been in survival mode the last 5 weeks and haven’t paid attention to  things in our sector. it is a huge sector and a big responsibility so pray for me this week!

thank you for all of your prayers. i feel them everyday!

The Church is true and i know that it blesses lives.


On a side note, Elder Magnusson's Mission president's wife does a weekly blog.  I like this post where she explains what it is like to be a missionary in the Rancagua, Chile mission.  

"I'm loving the work more and more!"

family and friends!! what is up?!

this week was by far the best week in the mission. i figured out the reason things are hard is partly because of my pride and attitude. i have to get control over this, so i tried extra hard to do better and boy did it make a difference. i tried to focus more on the people and not myself. i tried to love the work more and not myself. i tried to focus more on the Lord and not myself and it paid off. why did i not figure this out earlier?  don’t get me wrong. it was still hard, but a 10000Xs better. 

a missionary’s biggest enemy is time. there is either not enough or too much of it. between the hours of 3:30 until 7:30 is dead. we try to find people to teach but it is hard and then boom! work work work, which is good, but 2 hours isn’t enough time to see everyone that we need to. everyone gets off work at 7 o’clock. time management is a huge skill that i wish i had. 

i have made a huge jump this week in understanding people. i am able to follow conversations more which is super good. i cant really add to the conversation because once i figured out what they said and formed a good comment in my mind the conversation is already 2 stories ahead of me. but, it is soooo nice to understand more. 

this week i felt my first earthquake in chile. it was a 5.3. it lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to get my heart going. these are pretty common here. everyone keeps telling me to wait for the big one. 

everyday when we are riding our bikes someone we pass will say… “hello, how are you?!” it is the funniest thing ever. it happens so much that my comp and i kept an average of how many times a day it happened for 2 weeks. the average is 3.8 times per day. sometimes if we don’t have any set lesson we talk to the people.  i ask them if they know english and they all say, yes. i then ask them a super simple question in english really slow and they all say that they cant understand it or speak it but they can read it. litterally everyone "knows" how to read english. its kinda funny. 

i taught my comp the saying, "waz up, baby” and he honestly cant stop saying it. he says it in church,  in the street, while contacting,  everywhere.... it is one of my favorite things in the world because he is so funny.

i am getting out of survival mode and more into missionary mode. it has been a good growing week and i am loving the work more and more!! i know this gospel is true and that it will bless your life. if you haven’t read the Book of Mormon,  READ IT!!! the words in it are true and were written by inspired men called of God. 

You can also see the video by clicking here

I love you all!

elder magnusson