Santiago, Chile Temple

Santiago, Chile Temple
Santiago, Chile Temple

Monday, April 24, 2017

"I love you all and thank you for your love and support these last two years."


so i just wrote out a huge email and i erased it on accident..... ooooopppps

so this week is the last week in the mission. it is pretty crazy to think about. and i’m really really sad too. it has been my life for 2 years and with the snap of the fingers it is going to end.

i’m going to work as normal until friday morning where i’m going to travel to rancagua and then to santiago where we will spend the whole afternoon in the temple. then on saturday we will have a special study with pres in the morning and then in the afternoon we will have time to visit members in rancauga. on sunday i’m going to go to the recreo ward and then i’m going to have lunch with some members. then at night we are going to have a training with pres. on monday i have my final interview with pres and then the last lunch in the mission home. then from there we are going to travel up to the airport. crazy to think about.

the mission has been the biggest blessing of my life. i have learned so much but i just want to tell you guys that This Gospel is true and if we want to have true joy in this life all we have to do is relay on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. God loves us and we are his children. the Book of Mormon is true and it has changed my life. i love you all and thank you for your love and support these last two years. i’ll see you all soon.

Monday, April 17, 2017

"I know that...God loves us"

so this week was a s....l...o...w... one. it was semana santa and here in chile it is a pretty big week. they had a long weekend and when ever there are holidays it is sooo hard to get the people to talk to us but in the end it was a good one.

so one of the coolest things that happened to us was we found an guy on monday. he was a guy that was drinking in the streets 3 months ago when the missionaries past by him with a member. he shouted after them and for some reason they stopped and talked to him. ( i honestly have no idea why they did because drunk guys yell at us alllll day everyyyy day literally and we just ignore them cause they usually ask us for money or just cuss us out). but, anyway, the member had pity on him and took him to his house and let him use his shower. yeah lets fast forward  2 and a half months. he went to the members work a completely different guy. he found a house, got a job and stopped drinking all day everyday just because the member helped him out. and he wants to change his life. we met with him and invited him to be baptized. he said that he wants to change his life and accepted the challenge. we left him something to read and he read it and understood it. i was so happy. we just have to work with him to help him stop smoking and drinking. it will be a process but he will be baptized one day.

also we only were able to meet with the family whose baby died once this week and but it was a good lesson. we taught half of the plan of salvation and they opened up to us about a lot of things. he told us that he is doing better but he still struggles. we were able to testify a lot about the Atonement and how through Jesus Christ we can overcome anything. it was a solid lesson.

we are also having a lot of success with less actives. they just put in a new neighborhood in our sector and we have been contacting it like crazy. we found 2 less active families that just moved from santiago and who haven’t gone to church in a year or two. anyway we have been working with them and it turns out that both families came to church yesterday and loved it. i was soo happy.

so this week is going to pass by pretty fast because on wednesday we have to stay in the whole day because they are going to be doing a census and on thursday we have to travel to rancagua to have a zone conference and then on friday i have divs with the zone leaders so i’m not even going to be in my sector this week.

so thanks for everything and i know that this church is true and that God loves us.

elder mag

Monday, April 10, 2017

"I know that The Church is true and that Christ lives."

This picture was sent with no explanation
so to be honest, this week was a pretty low key week.

the biggest things that happened was we found two super sweet families.  the first family is a less active family that just moved from santiago. they have a lot of energy to come back but they realize that they need to make some changes. they said that they are willing to do it though. we have been with them twice and the both times we had amazing visits.

the other family that we found was a non member family. they are reference from a lady in the branch and they are a young couple as well. they really want to listen to us because a couple of years ago their 3 month old baby died. they basically told us that they haven’t had peace in their lives since. we watched the church’s new video, Prince of Peace, and we had a super good visit with them as we introduced the Plan of Salvation. the best part of the lesson was when a friend of theirs (who was also listening) told them that their child died as a punishment. we were then able to testify to them that that wasn’t true. that God would never do that as a punishment and that they would one day have the chance to raise their son. the spirit was so strong in that moment. we have a lesson with them on tuesday and so we are way excited for this week.

You can also see the video by clicking here

so this week the weather dropped. it got a lot colder. but one of the funniest things about Chile is how dramatic the people are about the weather. like it is cold but its not worth it to wear a sweater because its still hot during the day. so we just suffer a little bit for about an hour at night but its not even that big of a deal. but the people look at  and talk to us like we are crazy. it is honestly the funniest thing ever. its kinda hard to describe over email but if you were here you would get it.


so thanks for the love and support. things are going well and i’m super sad that the mission is ending. but it is what it is. i know that The Church is true and that Christ lives. Thanks for everything and ill see ya’lls soon.

elder mag

Elder Magnusson introduced the Plan of Salvation to the family who's baby died  .

You can also see the video by clicking here

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Conference Weekend

Elder Magnusson with the missionaries in the Buin District as they watched General Conference
so this week came and went and here we are on another monday.

so the highlight of the week was conference weekend. we had to travel to Buin to listen to conference in the stake center. because it was so far we weren’t able to bring any investigators which is a bummer because there were soooo many good talks. but it is what it is. the funnest part was the english room. they always dedicate a room to the gringos to watch conference in english.  it was pretty crazy. we were only about 15 gringos in the english room but it was still a party. we all ate ourselves sick. we couldn’t eat during conference but between sessions we stuffed ourselves. good times. 

so this week was kinda a slower week in the Lord´s work. we are still looking for people to teach. we only have about 2 or 3 progressing people and so we just spend a lot of time talking to anyone and everyone. i’m kinda sick of going house to house and so we have been doing more street contacts and we have seen and met some good people. i feel like my contacting skills have really improved over the past 6 months which is a shame since i go home in a month. but i guess that means that i just have to go all out for 30 more days. 

my comp is really cool and i really like being with him. he is an example to me. i look up to his trust in the Lord. i couldn’t have asked for a better companion to end my mission with. 

one thing that i am really learning about in the last part of my mission is about the Atonement. and this weekend it was all hit home to me. i now know that the Atonement is the most important thing to have ever happened in the history of the universe. i may not understand HOW it happened but i do know WHY it happened and that it DID happen. the Spirt testified that to me several times this past weekend and i’m grateful for that. 

so when we were taking a taxi back to Paine last night we were driving on the freeway and i was in the front seat trying to contact the driver. we were driving right into the sunset and we were passing some super pretty fields. it all hit me in that moment. in 30 days all of this is going to be taken away from me. the people and beautiful Chile. what i have loved for 2 years was right in front of me in that moment and it killed me to think about. i guess i just have to make the most of it. 

thanks for the love and support and i’ll be seeing you guys soon.

elder mag 

Monday, March 27, 2017

"This church is true and I know that God loves us."

so this week was a big change. i’m not in centinela anymore. i’m in paine.

paine is a pretty good sector. its  out in the middle of nowhere but it is kinda a big town. our sector is really small because there are 6 missionaries in paine and each sector is tiny but its all good cause it will be big enough for 6 weeks.

my comp is pretty cool. his name is elder newell from Nampa idaho. he has 6 weeks in the mission. he is a really humble guy who really wants to learn so i got pretty lucky with a  good comp. it should be a good change.

and i’m also district leader. i have 4 hermanas latinas in my district plus a senior couple. all 4 of the hermanas have sooooo much energy. it was good to teach with them this week because they are so energetic.  it is going to be a good change with them.

so when i got here we were struggling with people to teach. we only had one investigator. so we spent basically everyday contacting. i have honestly never contacted so much in my mission in one week. but it was good. we found 3 new people and the coolest thing is we contacted someone from haiti. he doesn’t know any spanish, but he speaks perfect english. he said that when he was in haiti he was a tour guide to north americans and there he learned english. anyway he said that his brother got baptized 2 years ago in haiti and just got his mission call to serve in the dominican republic. he said that he didn’t know anything about the church and that he wanted to learn more. we taught him lesson one in english and ended up putting a baptismal date with him. and yesterday he went to church!!!! we are pretty excited. he is progressing well.

this week is general conference and i’m so excited. conference weekend is the best!!

hey, this church is true and i know that God loves us. Thanks for your love and support. talk to you soon.

elder mag

You can also see the video by clicking here

Monday, March 20, 2017

The Church is True





first and foremost happy birthday to janelle and kristine. hope you guys have a good b-day and i love and miss you.
Elder Magnusson's sisters were born on the same day, 3 years apart.  
On their birthday this week they will 27 and 30 years old.  

hey so this week was a slower one but we were able to get a lot of good things done.

so our 9 yr. old investigator was baptized and it was soo good to see. i was able to do the baptism and it was really special cause i was able to see the whole progress of the family and i was there to complete it as well. the testimony of the mom was so good.i wish i could have recorded it because she talked a lot about the blessings that the gospel has brought  into their lives in the past 4 months. the only bad part was the water wasn’t super warm. so when she got into the water her face went from calm to fear so i had to talk her into doing it. for a second i thought she wasn’t  going to do it but it was a special moment when she came out of the water.

so we got changes and i’m going to a sector called Paine and it is in the northern most zone called Buin. i’m going to be district leader and i’m going to be finishing a missionaries training. i’m pretty excited. my comp is named elder newell and he is from idaho. i talked to him on the phone for about 5 min yesterday and he seems like a pretty cool kid. so my district is kinda different that usual because there are only hermanas in it. because there are only sisters that means i cant do interchanges with them and that is the best part about being district leader. but its all good. i’m still going to enjoy it. plus in my zone i have a ton of friends so it should be a good last change.

so i started saying goodbye to a bunch of people yesterday. it was sooooo hard. i have been working with them for 6 months and then just like that i had to say goodbye. it is honestly the worst part of the mission. there are days that are hard because  all of the lessons fall through and no one wants to talk to us but you don’t remember those days. but the days that you have to say goodbye are hard and you remember them. i’m going to finish the goodbyes today and then tomorrow i head up north early in the morning...

hey thanks for all of the love and ill see you guys in 6 short weeks. the church is true.

elder mag

Monday, March 13, 2017

Baptism!



so this week was a pretty good one. it was stressful but good.

so the biggest news this is that our investigator got baptized. it was such a good baptismal service. two other people got baptized and because of that there were a ton of people there. we had been teaching him for about 2 months and i saw a huge change in him... he has came a long way. To confirm to me that he was really ready was when he came out of the water he looked at me and with a big smile on his face he asked me "am i really clean?” when i told him yes he said, "oh good cause i feel clean". it was a real honor to baptize him. then on sunday he received the holy ghost by my my comp. it was a really nice blessing.

So our other investigator is going to get baptized this week. she is a 9 year old girl and the daughter of a family from the ward that we have been working with. the family had an interview with the branch president and put goals to go to the temple. we are super excited. anyway she already had her interview and passed so now we just have to finish one more lesson and we are good. one crazy thing about her is that she is super smart. she is the number one student in her school and it is a huge and good school. sometimes i feel like that she knows more about the doctrine of the church than us and that isn’t a joke. she knows so much. i just hope all goes well this week.

So yesterday i realized that it was more than likely my last sunday in centinela because next week we have district conference and then changes on tuesday. as i looked around the chapel i realized how much i have come to love the members. they are so good and they do so much to help us. when i have to say goodbye to them when i go there are going to be some hard goodbyes. when i got set apart to be a missionary and as i bore my testimony i said it was going to be hard to love the people here because i didn’t know them. i realize that was a pretty dumb comment. i have come to truly love the people here.

so next week ill write with the news about changes .  i’m pretty sure that i’m going. i have no idea where but we will see what happens.

i love you all and i will see you all soon.

elder mag

ps i have a ton of pics but i don’t want to send them because the computer place is pretty sketch and i don’t want to get a virus. i’m going to try to back them up on a pin drive and send them next week but no promises.



Monday, March 6, 2017

Baptism this Saturday

so this week flew by.... i cant even remember what really happened.

so the good news is that our investigator is going to get baptized this saturday!!!!  the bad thing is that he is going to be in santiago the whole week and he comes home saturday in the morning so we are going to have to have constant contact with him the whole week so that he is ok. statan likes to work on people the week before their baptism. we are way excited for him and we know that the Lord has really blessed him.

also we have been working a lot with a family in the ward and it has been paying off. they have been to church several times and they have a 9 year old girl and she wants to get baptized. they had an interview with the branch pres. and both he and we think that we need to baptize the girl. we have taught her everything except for tithing so we are doing pretty good. we have a date planned for the 17th. it should be good. they just have to come to church this sunday and we are good. the family loves me for my b-day they gave me a beautiful gift. i couldn’t believe it. especially because they aren’t the richest family on the planet. i felt super bad taking it but they said that they had it custom made and it was already too late. it made my day.

so this week was a really good week with my new comp. i really like him. he is a humble guy that has a lot of patience. he is going to be a great zone leader when he figures out what he is doing. i feel like we are teaching more with the spirit and we work pretty well together. I just feel bad because i feel like i’m not going to have enough time to teach him everything because we still have to do a bunch of interchanges with the zone.

this week we have a 4 hour training with president harris planned. the whole conference is going to be about how we can repent on the mission and how we can teach repentance better. i talk to other people that already had the training and they said that president was amazing. i’m pretty excited to hear what he has to say. one thing about pres. harris is that he knows soooooo much doctrine.

i love you guys and i cant wait to see you soon. it is going to be a glorious day. the church is true and God loves you.

elder mag




Monday, February 27, 2017

"I love and miss you all"

wow so this week was not what i thought it was going to be like..... it was different that any i've experienced on the mission.

on thursday we got the call from president that we were going to have special changes. and that my comp was going to go. and that i was going to stay in my sector to train my new comp to be a new ZL. there were some things that were going on in the mission that we had to change and its just kinda what happened. so my new comp is named elder monja and he is also from peru. he has a year in the mission and he is a very good elder. so after all of the changes i had an interview with pres and he told me that i have 3 weeks to teach my comp the sector, the zone and how to be a zone leader. I asked him if there was another way to do it with more time and he told me no because he wants to send me  to another place before i go home so we will see what happens. so it looks like we are just going to have to “get her done”.

we have been seeing big blessings in the sector. Our investigator is progressing so well. he is basically ready for his baptism. we just have to wait so that he has one more week to go to church. i have seen a huge change in him and he is a big example to me. also a member brought a friend to church yesterday and the person stayed for all the meetings. after church we got her information and went by her house and ended up setting a baptism date with her. the Lord has been good to us. when i leave centinela i’m really going to miss it. i have learned a lot here and its going to be sad to say good bye to everyone.

so my b-day was kinda boring but its all good. because of the special changes the APs called us thursday night to tell us that we weren’t going to do interchanges. so we didn’t have much to do friday cause i canceled it all but it all worked out. we were able to get some solid contacts in and that made me happy. in the house we did a bbq and that was pretty fun.

thanks for everything. i love you all and miss you all. take care and just remember that the church is true.

elder mag

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

"Thanks for all the love"




So this week came and went and it was a harder one. i just kinda felt off my game but the last part was better than the first.

So the big news is about our two investigators. The first was doing great until he didn't show up to church....AHAHAHAH - i don't get why it is so hard for people to come to church. he is doing everything and he comes to church for one of two weeks and then he doesn't go for a week. if he went yesterday we would have baptized him this saturday or the next but he didn't go so now we have to wait. we just have to work with him a little bit more.

On the other hand our other investigator is progressing so well. He didn't go to church but we knew that he wasn't going to to go because he had to work but he doesn't have to work this next week so he should be going. we taught him the word of wisdom and law of chastity and he is totally willing to live them both. We should be seeing his baptism the 11th of march. we are pretty excited for him.

so this is my 4th change in the sector and i remember that when i was in Recreo for 5 changes the 4th was the hardest. i'm kinda having the same feelings. i love the branch but it is getting hard to push though the sector cause i feel like i have already contacted everywhere. we just kinda have to do it.

so this week its my B-day on friday and i was all excited because 3 different families invited me over to celebrate during the day. but that’s not going to be happening because i got a call from the APs on saturday. they told me that they they wanted both me and my comp to go up to rancagua on friday to do interchanges with them in their sector. i explained that it was my birthday and asked if we could do it another day... but i got shot down. the good thing that the families told me that we could do it all a different day so i'm still excited.

thanks for all the love. i cant wait to see you all soon. like honestly you all have no idea how excited i am to see you. but  we have to finish strong so, “no mas". take care and have a good week.

elder mag

Monday, February 13, 2017

"This week flew..."

so this week flew.... and i think its because we had something different almost each day.

On tuesday we had changes.... i have said it once and ill say it again. i hate dealing with changes. but this time it wasn’t too stressful. the only problem that we had was the zone leaders down south didn’t plan their changes too well and some elder got stuck alone down south. he was traveling to our zone so some how it became our problem and we had to figure out how to go get him. so we ended up sending and older couple to go get him. it wasn’t too bad and we finished way early which was nice.

on wednesday we did interchanges with a sector that just got whitewashed. my comp just came from the sector and so he was able to go and help them figure things out.

on thursday we had consejo. that is when all of the zone leaders and hermana leaders have a training with president Harris in rancagua. this time it was sooooooooo long. from 10:30 until 6 with 45 min for lunch. but it was good. we formed new goals and plans for the mission and talked about a lot of doctrine stuff. the president is happy with the improvements that we are making but he wants us to do it faster. we just have to do the small stuff. it ate up our whole day because then after we had to travel back to the house and stuff.

friday and saturday were pretty normal but on sunday we had to travel to chimbarongo to train the members on a open house that we are going to do in the chapel there. luckily it only ate up the morning but it was sad cause we weren’t able to go to all of our church. and we had a lot of investigators in church so we don’t know how it went with them 2nd and 3rd hour. we are going to check in with them this week.

so we have 2 people that are more than likely going to get baptized this change. Both are really progressing and the only big challenge that we see with them is them making time to listen to us. we are pretty excited for them and we just have to push forward to help them. ill give you more details about them later when i have more time.

so my new comp is pretty cool. he is from lima peru and he goes home the same day as me. we often wonder why president put 2 "dead" missionaries togethers and every time we joke about it we have to get refocused and back to work. we just got our flight plans so we have to stay extra focused this week. but he is a good guy and i’m really going to enjoy my change with him.

So I have never gotten sick in my whole mission. i have been super blessed when it has come to my health. but last night some elders in the house brought home a cake. well i think it was bad because the 3 of us that ate the cake spent the whole morning in the bathroom. it was a killer. i forgot how bad it is to get sick. but i feel a lot better now so we should be good to work tonight.

thanks for the love and support. i cant wait to see you guys in 11 short weeks.

elder mag

Monday, February 6, 2017

"I'm coming into my last 12 weeks....."

so the week has come and gone and there was some good activity in it.

so the big news is that we got changes and i’m staying in my sector! it is going to be my 4th change here in centinela so we will see how that goes. i kinda saw it coming though because on tuesday i had to go to rancagua to do some paperwork stuff so i can get my papers to go home. afterward we had to go to the mission home because the guy that i was doing all of the paperwork stuff with had an interview with president. then after i asked to talk to president about some things that were going on in the zone and in the interview he told me he was going to keep me in the sector and my comp was going to be headed out. but he told me that its going to be my last change as zone leader and that after he was going to send me somewhere else for my last area.  so i saw it coming.... turns out my current comp is going to be going to the office to be a secretario to the mission. my new comp is a current district leader in the zone. his name is elder estrella from peru. he is a good guy but i still think it is going to be an interesting change. it’s definitely going to be different. but i’m excited for the things that are going to happen.

so this week we were able to teach a young man and it was a super good lesson. we talked about baptism and he basically invited himself to be baptized. he seems super excited for him baptism. he came to english classes and to soccer this week and loved the two things. he couldn’t come to church yesterday because he had to work but we are going to teach him tomorrow. he is a super prepared guy and i’m excited to see the change that is going to happen with him. one of the biggest blessings that i have had in the mission is the changes that i have seen in the people and especially in myself. i know that these changes are possible only thought Jesus Christ.

  You can also see the video by clicking here.

so this next change is going to be and interesting one just for the people that we have in the zone. we are really going to have to work extra hard to keep the zone going. there are some interesting companionships and its going to be pretty crazy to see how everything turns out.

the mission is going good and i just cant believe it is coming to a close. i'm coming into my last 12 weeks and i know that i have to make the best of it. thanks everyone for your love and support and i cant wait to hear from you guys in a week.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

Fire!

first things first..... happy birthday lisa. hope you have a good day this week. cant wait to see you.
Elder Magnusson and his sister, Lisa

this week was pretty solid. we taught a ton this week which was nice. alot of people started progressing and we found some solid people.

we found some guy this week... he said that we contacted his house about 2 months ago but he was in the shower and by the time he got to the door we were already walking away. he saw the hermanas walking in the street and asked them if they could send us by. we just have had one lesson with him but it was super super solid. he is really prepared. he reminds me of our other investigator  (who went to church yesterday!) we were going to invite hime to get baptized but right when we were going to bring it up he got a call from his boss saying that he had to go work but he committed to go to church. we went by his house to pick him up on sunday but he wasn’t there. at 12:30 we got called by him 6 times but we couldn’t answer because we were in church. we called him back and he apologized and said that he got called in again last second. but we have a lesson set up with him on tuesday. we are way excited.

we had a worldwide missionary training this week. elder Oaks, Anderson and Bednar were part of it. they talked about how we can teach the doctrine of Christ better. it was way good. the craziest part was at the end they announced our new daily schedule. basically there is no set hour to study. we just have to use our judgement and study at the least productive hour. it’s wired and i’m not sure if i like it but we just have to get used to it.

so the biggest news in chile right now are the fires. there are a bunch of arsons setting fires all over the country. it has gotten out of control. many people have died and thousands of houses have burned. chile doesn’t have the man power to stop them so they are asking help from other countries. the states have sent over some planes and stuff. the city where i am at hasn’t gotten effected at all but there are several parts of the mission that have gotten some pretty heavy damage. it has  made contacting a lot easier thought. all you have to do is just bring up the fires and you got the person talking for 10 minutes. its kinda funny.

things are going good. but we get changes this week and i think like i’m getting changed and i’m going to be a normal missionary. it is really rare that an elder finishes as ZL so we will see what happens on saturday.

Thanks for your love and support. I love you all.


You can also see the video by clicking here.  

Monday, January 23, 2017

100 days left in the mission


so this week came and went. the days are passing pretty slow but the weeks are flying. its crazy to think that i hit my 20 month mark this week. it was kinda sad to think about.

so big news our investigator got baptized!!! she is a grandma lady who is super funny. she loves to talk. it was soooo hard to teach her just cause she wouldn’t stop talking sometimes but, she did it. she has been investigating for almost a year and recently she really became interested. she said that some of the last lessons that we had with her really touched her and she felt like she needed to be clean from all of her sins. the baptism was really special. when she came out of the water she started crying and you could tell she was really touched. it was a sweet moment to see. if i have learned one thing here in chile it is that the atonement really does work. i am grateful for my Savior and what he has done for me.

we are trying to find new investigators. we are teaching a lot of people but no one can progress because they aren’t married. AHHHHHHHH. people don’t get married here and it kills me. its because the government gives them a boatload of money to be "single parents".  so the point is we are contacting a lot. and we have had some luck. we have seen the hand of the Lord in our sector.

so it is really hot here.... like really hot. i load up on sunscreen and still burn but whatever there isn’t much you can do. but our house is 3 stories. but really 2 because we live above an office building. anyway our beds are on the top floor and at night we would just roast. before we would take cold showers right before getting into bed and just not dry off and that would work for about an hour and then we would wake up from the heat. but then we figured out that the mattresses fit out on our balcony. so we have been sleeping out under the stars for the past week and it is sooooo much better. but i have figured out the heat is better than the cold. doing missionary work in the winter is way harder.

so today was a pretty good p-day. we found some guy that has a frisbee team here in san fernando. they invited 6 of us to play and they were super good but we held our own. i LOVE ultimate frisbee. i miss it soo much. then we played dodgeball with the zone and then soccer. i can just feel myself getting sore right now. i’m going to regret it tomorrow but it was way fun.

thing are going good right now. i’m just realizing how much time i have left..... (100 days today) i just have to make it count. love you all. thanks for your love and support. the church is true.

elder mag

Monday, January 16, 2017

"I love you all"


 thanks for all of the emails and love. the best part of the week is hearing from you all.

this is going to be a quick email...

so this week was a longer week for us. we struggled to find a lot of people in their houses. its all good because we were still able to get a lot of good contacts in and that was a blessing because we found some good new investigators towards the last part of the week. there isn’t too much to say about them because it was just the first lesson but we have some potential. time will tell i guess.

so we are teaching an old grandma lady and she has a baptismal date for this saturday. she is doing really well. we just have to verify a few things and i hope she gets baptized this week.

this week we had one lesson with our investigator.  he is now in santiago for 2 weeks. but the lesson went really well. he told us that when he prayed he felt super good and wants to learn more.

its getting to get pretty hot. before the weather would get into the 100s every once in a while but now it is getting to that every single day. let me tell you it is hard to work at 3 o’clock with the sun burning down on you. but i guess it is going to only going to be in the peak like this for 2 or 3 more weeks and then it is going to start dropping.
thanks for everything. i love you all. hope you all have a good week. the church is true.

elder magnusson

Monday, January 9, 2017

"Thanks everyone for the letters and love."

Elder Magnusson is with his zone.  He is in the very back middle in the dark green shirt.  


thanks everyone for the letters and love.

so this week was a pretty slow week. nothing too crazy.

the coolest thing was we found a guy that was super prepared this week. like honestly he is one of the most prepared guys i have ever met. we were just contacting and we knocked on a guys house and started talking to him.  he invited us into his house when we tried to present him with a Book of Mormon. he got really excited and he told us that someone gave him a book in 2002 and he reads it everyday. he told us that he believes it is true and he wants to learn more. so we taught him the restoration and he said that he wants to study it out for a week and then he wants to meet with us again. so we have a lesson with him  tomorrow and we are hoping that all goes well. so pray for him tonight.

we also had zone conference. we had to train the zone on a better way to teach lesson one. it was a good training. a lot of people said that they liked it. we also have to prepare for a training that we have to give to the zone tomorrow about how to teach about baptism in a more effective way. i’m kinda excited to give it. it should go well.

other than that this week was really slow. we just had our normal lessons.... nothing too special.

love you all.... talk to you soon.

Elder Magnusson talks about handing out a Book of Mormon.  
Watch the video below to find out what the Book of Mormon is.  
You can also see the video by clicking here.  

Monday, January 2, 2017

Learning new things for this new year.

 honestly this was a pretty chill week. nothing too crazy. it was actually pretty boring.

the craziest this this week was the changes. holy cow this change was a lot worse than last change. the zone leaders from the north and from the south didn’t send the missionaries early so they got to our bus station really late and all at once. it was nuts. but it all worked out in the end. it was just 30 min of CRAZINESS!!!  at least the missionaries seemed to work with us a little bit better. except for one hermana who didn’t want to buy her bus ticket when she needed to. (she almost missed her bus) let me tell you my least favorite part about being Zone Leader is the changes.

Another cool thing this week was we went to consejo. consejo happens once a month and all of the zone leaders and hermana leaders go and have a training with president and the APs. it was a good training but it was way too long (6 hours). we talked about how we can teach and contact in a more simple way. but we learned a lot. the best part was we were leaving the church and president asked us if we wanted a ride to our house cause he was going down to san fernando. so we had a super good 2.5 hour drive with president. he asked a lot about the zone and the vision that he has for the mission. he wants to do some big things. but i’m excited. he is a great mission president. you can tell that he knows a ton about the Gospel and he loves us.

on new years eve president told us that we had to be in the house at 7 but some member called him and asked if us and two other sets of elders could go to his house to have a bbq. president gave us permission to stay out until 9. it was a pretty fun night. just ate and talked. i can tell that i’m really going to miss the members in san fernando when i go. its going to be hard to say good bye.

other than that it was  a pretty chill week. not too much happened because of new years. all of our investigators were out of town so there were a lot of long, hot, hard days of contacting. but there are weeks like that in the mission.

thanks for everything. i know that this church is true. just live the commandments and all will work out.

elder mag

Just before Christmas we met with a couple of elders who returned from the Rancagua, Chile Mission a few months earlier - Elder Porter and Elder Will (I don't know his last name)  They weren't Sam's companions but they worked with him in their zone.  It was fun to talk to them about their lives in the mission, serving with Sam and their plans for the future.