General Conference: A chance to listen to inspired men.

first off.... shoutout to my sis., renee. Happy birthday yo! hope it is a good one.

this week not much happened. sorry this is going to be pretty short.

We have our golden investigator. she is doing supppppper good. she called us late saturday night and told us that she had some news to tell us at church the next day. when we asked us to tell us on the phone, she hung up. we were a little worried but turns out she got her answer. she knows the church is true and wants to get baptized in two weeks. before she was only investigating the church because it made logical sense to her but now she said that she got an answer that she can't deny. we are planning the baptism for the 11 of oct. i couldn't be more happy!!

We have our other investigators. they were doing really good until they didn't come to church yesterday. this means that if they do get baptized, we are going to have to push their date back. it is so hard when people don't follow their commitments. but whatever. every missionary has to deal with it.

i went on splits with an elder that has less time than me and a little less spanish. it was hard but it is amazing on how when things are dependent on you, you just step up and do it. we taught two lessons and almost put a baptismal date on a family. they said that they need to pray about it but i don't know how interested they really are. i must say, during the two lessons we didn't use the best spanish but they got the message because the spirit was able to take over.

other than that we just spent a lot of time contacting. we really don’t have many other people than the people that i listed above and we are trying to fix that. the problem is we are going through a trial of finding right now. i hope things turn around soon.

there isn’t really that much to report. not much happened this week.

one thing that i would like to comment on is time. time is a weird thing. there is either to much or too little in a day. time management is so critical on the mission. it is a skill that i want to develop but it that is easier said than done. i regret all the time that i wasted before the mission on the computer and social media. don’t wast time on technology. there are soooooo many other things that you can do. it is something that i am learning right now.

You can also view the video by clicking here.  

i know that this church is true. i know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and there isn’t anything that we have felt that he hasn’t felt as well. we just need to humble ourselves to him. i am excited for general conference and for the chance to listen to these inspired men. they really are called of God. i love you all and thank you for your prayers. i am doing good. 

Blessings of Conference video:

You can also see the blessing of Conference video by clicking here.

You can also watch the video about the Conference Center by clicking here.  

Please pass the empanadas.

first of all the earthquake....... to tell you the truth i didn’t feel anything.... kinda dumb i know, but what ever. when it hit we were on our bikes so i think this is the reason why i didn’t feel it. everyone else in  our city felt it though. but there is no damage down here. i think as a whole, the mission is pretty good. the most northern parts had some damage but nothing terrible. nothing more to report really.

IM STAYING IN SAN JAVIER!!! i honestly couldn’t be more happy. when i found out i was going nuts. our 4 solid investigators are doing pretty good. one is super solid. she is soooo prepared. we gave her the book of mormon a week and a half ago and she is already in 2nd nephi. she changed her work schedule to not work on sunday and she is super interested. i couldn’t be more happy. the other family is doing ok. i think the dad is starting to lose interest but is totally supportive of the mom and son investigating and they are doing great. their progress is pretty good. we will see how they turn out.

this week was supppppper slow. it was the week of the 18th and this is their independence day. to them it is the equivalent as christmas. every time we would contact someone they would come to the door and before we could open our mouths they would say, oh sorry we have family over and i have no time. , to which we would respond, oh sweet. our message is perfect for families! since your family is all there we would love to share it with you.... they would then slam the door in our faces. we didn’t get into a single house this week and this is the first time in my mission that that has happened.

the branch activity was pretty sweet. it lasted all day from 9 in the morning till 8 at night. we got permission to stay the whole time which was awesome. some member gave us cowboy outfits which were pretty sweet. all in all the day was pretty sweet and full of a ton of food.

the next day we went to 4 different members houses to eat empanadas. i have never eaten so much.  each member would give us 3 or 4 huge ones. they were super good but at the last sisters house i couldn’t finish all 3. i think that she was a little offended cause she spent all day making them. at least i had more that my comp. he could only eat 1 while i ate 2.

drunks, girls,  and dogs continue to be a problem. that is all that i have to say on the matter.

pretty solid week with our investigators. i’m happy with their progress. i hope that they keep on pushing through. i am happy to be here on the mission. the mission is sweet. i know that this gospel is true. thank you for your prayers.

A little side note from Elder Magnusson to his mom:  i have so many pics but i cant figure out how to upload them. elder edwards cant do it either. dont worry i am taking pics. i will figure out something soon.

Earthquake!

You can read about the earthquake that hit Illapel, Chile on September 16th by clicking onto our family blog found here.  We look forward to hearing from Elder Magnusson on Monday and if he felt the earthquake.  His mission president wrote and said that all the missionaries are safe and accounted for.

I got the above picture from this Deseret News site.  

"I know there is power in the Book of Mormon."

this week was as interesting as usual.

big news of the week is we found a solid family!!! all of them have a baptism dates for the 17th of oct. they were a reference of someone in the branch and they are golden. when we taught them about the restoration, the spirit was there. the only other time that i have felt it so strong was when i got my  patriarchal blessing. when i was bearing my testimony i started to tear up with the dad and the son and the mom started crying. it was amazing. i am so happy for them. we have a lesson with them tonight so i hope that things go just as well.

 our other golden investigator is still doing really well. as in we taught her the word of wisdom and she was all over it. she loves the fact that God would give us this law to help us. tonight we have a lesson with her about the plan of salvation so i hope that that goes well. there isnt a doubt in my mind that she will get baptized on oct 10th.

we get transfer calls this week and i am hoping with all my might that i stay to see these people progress. if not i know the Lord has another plan for me.

this week besides these people not much happened. just a lot of contacting. we did find a women who has a masters in english literature and has better english than me so we were able to teach her in english. it was soooooooo easy. i could say what ever i want. also the spirit was there in that lesson as well. when we asked her to pray about Joseph Smith she said that she wouldn’t cause she knows that she would get a good answer and she doesn’t want to make changes in her life yet. AHHHHHH!!!! but she says that anytime she is home we could come back and teach her so hopefully she turns out.

this morning for p-day our zone woke up at 5 in the morning and rented a bus to go to the beach. it was pretty fun to go cause everyone is so funny when they are around each other but it was a little sad knowing that i couldnt get wet but whatever it was still the best p-day that i have had. it was just a long 2 hour bus ride in a bus that shouldn’t even be street legal cause of how old it is.

i havent been homesick at all in my mission until this week. with byu football starting, byu idaho starting up again, and dad’s release it was hard to focus in the first part of this week but i just needed to focus more in the people and everything else fell into place.

Elder Magnusson's nieces and nephew sent this text to their Grandpa Sunday morning:

"Thinking of GRANDpa today"

Elder Magnusson's sisters visiting from Utah 

(Janelle and Dave and kids <from Idaho> couldn't make it)

Elder Falabella and Elder Sabin came to release Pres. Magnusson

The New Arcadia Stake Presidency

Pres. Terrill, with counselors, Pres. Yen and Pres. Ogilvie

things are going well down here. there is a lot going on in our area and things are improving. i know that this gospel is true and that God is a God of miracles. i know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and i know that there is power in the Book of Mormon. i love being a missionary.

"I love this Gospel."

family and friends,

holy cow. what a week!

this week was a crazy but good one. elder edwards and i only worked together in our sector together for 2 days. there was a lot going on. we had zone conference, divisions, a meeting in the mission home that took 2 days and p-day. but it was a productive week.

the big news of the week is we have a suppppper solid investigator. she is a single mother who is looking for religion in her life. she has gone to a lot of other churches looking for the truth. two weeks ago she talked to one of her classmates about her situation. turns out her classmate was mormon and invited her to go to church with him. she took an hour long bus ride to go to his ward and she really liked it. she said that she felt the spirit really strong. the elders got her address and gave it to us. we taught her 2 lessons this week and she likes our messages. she came to church yesterday and we think that she likes our branch. everyone was super nice to her. there is a good chance that we could have a baptism in 3 weeks. problem is changes are in 2 weeks and there is a really high chance that i will get changed but whatever, the important thing is that she gets baptized.

the last 3 weeks we have done a lot of contacting. i have talked to some crazy people. i’m having experiences that i thought i would never have. that being said, the majority of the people here are super nice. they are always willing to talk to us. i know that once i learn spanish i am going to really enjoy contacting because of everyone that we get to talk to.

there was a conference in the mission home for all the new district leaders in the mission this weeks and because my comp is a new district leader he had to go. because we are the farthest sector from the mission home it is quite a day to get up there. we have to take a bus for 5 or 6 hours. but i like it cause it is the only time that we are allowed to take a nap. we went up a night before the conference and stayed with the assistants. there were about 12 other elders that stayed with them as well cause their house is huge. almost all of them spoke english so it was like a huge party that night. it was soooo much fun.

this whole week it has been pretty hot. like 80s and 90s hot and then today it rained out of nowhere. we played soccer today in some of the hardest rain i have ever seen. we played on turf so the drainage system isn’t very good so there was a good inch of water on the field. we were literally drenched after 5 mins. but it was fun. it was one of the best p-days.

things are going great down south with me. i am learning so much and i am learning new things everyday. i love this gospel. i know that it is true.

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.