Christmas Week 12.22.2014

White Christmas

In other news this week was once again a week of miracles, really it seems to me that each week, or more truthfully put, each day is filled with miracles and blessings, and as we tune our minds and our hearts to God's will our ears and our eyes become more tuned in and enable us the recognize these blessings.

Here's a few that happened this week;

1. As a mission our focus is the Baptize, Retain, and Reactivate. In an attempt to do so my companion and I have searched these past few weeks for 4 of the 11 new converts in our sector who had completely disappeared, as in no address, phone number, records of them all that we had was their name. But through the mercy of the Lord and through great diligence on our part with week was made contact with each one of them. Some were found through random contacts in the street, others from calling random unregistered numbers in our phone. But we were able to make contact, get the dats and even help out with a move in the process.

2. We are teaching Ignacio, the son of two new converts, he is 25 and pretty shy, but he is extremely intelligent. (as in as we verified reading assignments from the Book of Mormon he quoted scriptures back to us that had called his attention) But this Saturday night his faith was tested, his father was called in to work the next day in the morning (as in he would not be attending church) and his mother (she is a little less 'firm in the faith') said that she had too much to do the next day to go to church...and as ignacio stated going to church should be a family experience, and at first he almost decided not to go to church, but when we explained the importance that it has in helping us to progress he firmly declared 'Ill be there'. and he was, with a newly ironed shirt on top of it. it is amazing the change that the Lord works in the very hearts of the people.

Those are just two examples of miracles which one sees every single day while in the service of the Lord, and we will recognize them as we develop eyes to see. 

I know that all things are in the Lord's hands, trust in Him and everything will be okay. I love you all and will be seeing you on Thursday.

Elder Huchins

Gratitude 12.15.20114

Whelp this week was a week of miracles, literally. Beginning with Monday we had an alright focus group of people that we were teaching, and by Friday each one of them told us that they didn't want us to come by anymore, that they just wanted to be friends (like one of those bad high school break ups) or that they were just sick of listening to us. 

As I pondered the state of our sector I said to myself If you want different results, you have to do something different that was Friday night when it seemed as though everything was going wrong. But I decided to do something different. I committed in that moment that each and every prayer that I offered would only include the things that I was grateful for. In other words I would not ask for an increase in blessings until my heart was full of gratitude at the blessings that I had. And I testify that since that moment until today the Lord has not ceased nor even paused in blessing us. I cant tell all of the blessings for lack of space and time but here comes a few of the many.

1. Ignacio is the son of two recent converts, he has never read the book of Mormon or come to church, this week (Saturday and Sunday) he did both, and more than that is he committed to a baptismal date for the first Saturday in January.

2. We received a reference of a family of 5 that we will be contacting on Tuesday and the members tell us that the family wants to join the church and get baptized. (Sunday at church) 

3. We found and taught a family that has been meeting with the missionaries for about 10 years, we committed them to church (Saturday night) and they came, then on Sunday they committed to baptism on the 10 of January. 

4. We are teaching an evantist (the religion that Emma white founded that worship on Saturday) but yeah, Islander is his name and he has been a missionary for the church for 5 years and he accepted a book of Mormon and came to church on Sunday (and he loved it, he was so excited about it that he said that he was going to invite his friends the next week!!)

5. We received a reference from the branch president of a return missionary who is inactive and his non member wife who want to start coming to church.

6. Sunday we received a reference of a woman named Andrea, so we went to visit her and we talked to her daughter for a few minutes (we found out that she is a less active member of the church) and then Andrea came in and you could tell right away that she felt miserable, so we said hi and she sat down and the room fell into a brief silence and I looked up at her and asked Andrea, are you happy? she responded No. As we asked a bit more and discovered the reasons why she was not happy I looked at her once again and said Andrea I promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that if you complete the invitations that we are going to leave with you, you will feel happy. She committed to read the book of Mormon (mosiah 2) to pray, to come to church, and to baptism on the 10 of January. Then after she committed she looked at me in the eyes and seemed to stare into my very sole and said This promise of yours, it had better be true. And i cannot tell you how glad I was in that moment that I knew that I had been called and ordained by representatives of God himself and that my promise was as valid and god as if Jesus Christ himself had spoken the words.

7. I think that the biggest miracle of all is that in my heart right now there is nothing but gratitude and love towards my Father in heaven. 

I know that He lives and that His son does as well and so shall each of us. love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hutchins

Mini Exchanges 12.8.2014

This week was amazing. Enough said. 

Tuesday I was with Elder Flores from Bolivia in a mini exchange in a SMALL town called Longavi, I swear besides the four missionaries there, there is a population of 50 stray dogs, 1000 cows and maybe 20 people. But we made it fun, I love working with other missionaries, they always teach me so much. Also at the end of the day to show my appreciation to him I bought  the house a pizza. I think the best moment of the mini exchange, was just how we were able to pump each other full of energy and talk to everyone that we saw. In the end we talked to 40-50 non members and a few of them invited us the come by their house the next day.

 

Thursday was another mini exchange, but with the traveling assistants, I was with Elder Herrera a convert of 4 years, he is from Washington, but his parents are Mexican. It was another excellent learning opportunity for me. I learned the importance of inviting people to come unto Christ rather than invite them to: Read, pray, get baptized. The purpose of commitments are to bring us closer to Christ, not to say we completed _______ commitments. The prize moment of this mini exchange, was right after we got out of teaching a man named Hugo, it was close to a hundred degrees and the sun was shinning bright and hot, we were toast, literally. We went into a little store and right when we walked in a guy buying stuff at the counter immediately yelled, "AND GIVE THESE TWO YOUNG MEN A DRINK; THEY WALK ALL DAY!" the lady at the counter turned and took out two ice cold bottles of orange juice, just what we needed. Count your blessings!

One of the families that I am home teaching came to church this Sunday and really it filled my soul with joy seeing them there. I love it!

Elder Hutchins

Another Awesome Week 12.1.2014

Well this week was awesome.

On Saturday we had two baptisms, Miguel and Paola. They have been meeting with the missionaries for almost a year now and just a few weeks ago were married and Saturday were baptized and Sunday confirmed members of the church. It was a cool experience especially because miguel's less active mother (of about forty years) came to church on Sunday to see him be confirmed, it was powerful, we had a total of three confirmations in the Sacrament meeting and that is what I call a powerful batting order, starting it off with the line "Receive the Holy Ghost" but three times. 

Also our prayers were answered, for while now my companion and I have been praying specifically to find a family of five people to teach and yesterday at about 8:30 at night we found them, we found the dad at the door and persuaded him to let us show him the two minute Christmas video that the church has come out with (for those of you who haven't seen it christmas.mormon.org) after some convincing he let us in, right after we finished the video his thirteen year old son woke up and he wanted to see the video, so we watched it again, then Christians wife and two daughters came home and they too wanted to watch the movie, after we talked a little with them about some difficulties that they are going through and the mothers absolute love for Christmas. Then we decided to finish by singing Away in a manger and that was just like putting the cherry on top after our "angelical"(they said it, not me) rendition they were practically begging us to come back. The Lord answers prayers.

Que estèn bien los quiero arto

Elder Hutchins

Another One Bites the Dust

I would like to send a special shout out to the one and only Sister Naomi Hutchins. (I even dedicated the title to you ;) 

This week I met my new companion Elder Jackson, a gringo from the factory, no other than Utah. He is a funny kid but has a lot of energy and loves talking to people and working in general. This week I could see a distinct change in the people that we are teaching, them just seemed to understand more the spiritual importance of the invitations that we are leaving with them. This is good. 

Monday evening I was companionless and so I had to hire a member to come out and do visits with me, it was good, we visited two less active members a new convert and an investigator, who lives with another less active.

On Tuesday I was in charge of sending everyone off on their buses and receiving all the incoming missionaries (transfers are always a blast).

One of the new district leaders is Elder Flores, he is an elder that I just lived with in San Carlos and is a super good kid and a strong worker. I am excited to be able to work with him again. 

I think that the most exciting day was probably Saturday, in the morning we were doing service in the country, moving and stacking wood. (You'd think that going on a mission to the other side of the world would get me out of that, but nope) And it was actually a good thing that I was there because my companion and I were the only people there who had ever stacked wood before.... without us it would have gotten out of control.

Then in the afternoon on Saturday, the sisters in our branch had a baptismal service for one of their investigators, so when we called them to see how everything was at about 1 (baptism was at 4) they had forgotten/claimed not to have known to fill up the baptismal font......hmmmm well that womps. But they said they were going right away to start filling up the font that tales about two to three hours to fill up. At 2:30 we get a call, "Hey Elders we don't have keys to the chapel....." SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!?! So we went, got the keys from the other elders and the new key to the gate from the first councilor, and booked it to the chapel, by the time we got there we had about an hour to fill up a font that takes anywhere from two to three hours to fill up so we used our heads. I am eternally thankful that our church has a fire hose. Enough Said.

Then at night we had a killer activity of human taca taca (foosball) it was one not to miss.

Remember I love you guys

Elder Hutchins

Companion Killer 11.17.14

Karen got baptized!!!

Well I am officially a killer, my companion finished his mission and died on Sunday.......I have been alone (with members and another companionship of missionaries) for the past day and Ill be getting my new companion tomorrow, another gringo named Elder Jackson I'm not sure but I think hes from Utah. 

This week we found a 17 year old girl named Camila, we were actually looking for her less active mom from the list of old members, but we found her daughter. She came to church on Sunday and went to mutual on Friday, she is in love with the church. The only hard part is that practically she lives alone. Her mom works in Santiago and has been there for three months and her dad works in Chilean and is there indefinitely. All of her extended family live in Santiago, but she lives here, in Linares, alone....it is a weird situation. but she loves the church and the members are helping tons with her, they are making her feel like part of the family that she doesn't really have.

This week on Wednesday we went to a family of investigators for the second time and read with them 2 Nephi 31. They loved it. Nicolas, Carla, and Sofia, they love the fact that we come by and talk to them about God and help them to understand how they can find true everlasting happiness in their lives. We or actually I am going to see them tonight with a member.

Yesterday I was out with members all afternoon and it was a huge blessing for me, I was able to contact a few references from the members and receive a few more, really though I think that the biggest blessing which I received was probably the relationship I was able to form with the members. We have to be united to work together. This week on Wednesday we have a meeting with the District presidency to talk more on this subject.

Zone conference

I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hutchins

Nov 10, 2014

This week all cycled around on singular thing: the Book Of Mormon. As spoken by Elder David A. Bednar, the Book of Mormon is what changes hearts. (obviously when combined with the spirit). So this week our zone started the focus to "Flood the earth with the book of Mormon" as stated by the prophet Ezra Taft Benson in general conference years ago. This week we adopted that vision and made it our slogan. 

My companion and I did not leave the house without a copy of the book of Mormon in our hands. Neither did we leave a visit without either giving a copy to the person of leaving the specific invitation to read a part of it. And boy did we see a change in the work.

First was with a less active and her family, a year ago (when they were active) their family was reading daily from the book of Mormon. It is no surprise to me that about a month after they stopped reading together from the Book of Mormon, that they also began to stay at home rather than go to church. Well this week we challenged them to read a chapter a day as a family and what do you know, at church about half the family came, progression, still more to do, but we are getting their. 

Second Miguel and Paola, they are something like eternal investigators, until now, they recently were married and their oldest son is a member, but they had stopped coming to church mainly out of laziness, well who would have guessed, but when we verified with them they were not reading the Book of Mormon...like at all. So we left a specific assignment with them that involved reading a chapter a day as a family. They too were at church on Sunday and their baptism is scheduled for Saturday at 4.

Just so each of you are aware my companion Elder Mcintye just lost his grandmother, she passed away from cancer on Saturday morning, so if you could keep him and his family in your prayers it would be much appreciated.

I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hutchins

This week was a very interesting week. You see last Saturday after lunch in the twenty or so minutes that we had to rest I listened to a discourse by Elder Eyring titled 'mountains to climb', I had heard it many times before and every time I listen to it I end up praying that same day for more mountains to climb so that I can become more like our Savior. So that's what I did, and as always God answered my prayers, and He did it instantly. 

We had about six investigators set with a baptismal date and that same day (Saturday) half of them fell, Sunday more of them fell, and half way through the week each one of them had fallen. One stopped coming to church because he now goes out and parties with his new girlfriend Saturday nights, another is not going to be able to get baptized because he is moving in with his girlfriend and has to wait until he gets divorced until he gets married, and two others have decided that they would rather finish their catholic Communion than get baptized for the moment. 

But notwithstanding this week was a great week in which the spirit was my constant companion. On Thursday morning, my companion and I did a special zone study on consecration and it was good. Just a few of the highlights included a video made by yours truly (thanks Naomi for teaching me) which was the result of many fallen tears and then the second one was a bit more out of the box so to say and included a mound of rubble and a burnt offering....it was an experience not to be forgotten. (we'll talk more about it another day in the future)

But yeah other than that I learned this week the importance that the Book of Mormon has in changing our hearts and that family history has on turning our hearts, both of them are necessary to purify our hearts and to become a consecrated person ( one of the requisites for entering into the celestial kingdom).

I love you all, if you have any questions just let me know.

Elder Hutchins

We are currently teaching the two adopted children of a less active member (returning to activation) their names are Pedro and Nancy. Last week we began to involve the Branch President and his family in their fellowshipping and boy was that a GOOD idea. He and his wife and his granddaughter have taken  personal responsibility  for them. This week the grand daughter picked them up and took them not only to mutual, but also to seminary. On Sunday they were asking, so when are we going to seminary again. They have a hunger for the gospel and now they have a lot of friends in the church. The Branch President and his wife have become almost third parents for them, they sit with them at church they invite them to their house and they just love them. Working with the members is great and truly a blessing.

This week we did a special zone study focusing on God, on why do we worship Him and nobody else and what has He specifically done for us. This week I learned that in order to be truly converted to the gospel we must continually REMEMBER what Jesus Christ has done for us, on a personal level. Yes He has saved us and because of Him we will live again, but what difference has He made in our lives, when we can answer that question continually life will be easier.

Thursday we had our Zone conference, it was a spiritual feast. The best part was the special discourse by President Uchtdorf. He had spoken at a Mission President training, and it was so good that they were encouraged to share it with their missionaries. The focus was on coming to a knowledge and understanding that Jesus Christ lives. It changed Peter and it can change us. As disciples of Jesus Christ we should fear no man. It was an excellent talk.

Also Linares was hit by a giant heat wave this past week, my companion and I have been sweating us a storm. We did several services for members this week, making sure that we did them in the early morning and then returned for our studies. But in the afternoon until about 7 or 8 its HOT. (Don't worry I am drinking a lot of water, it reflects in how much I have had to pee this past week aka about every ten minutes)

I love each of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hutchins

Elder Hutchins' New Assignment

Working hard....or hardly working????

This week started out interesting and ended the same way.

chillan nuble zone

We are currently teaching a 'family' of four, the moms name is Maria, the uncle (who is currently living with them) is named Hector and the two children (adopted) of Maria are named Pedro and Nancy. They might just be the most interesting family that I have ever taught in my entire life. First off, Maria is a less active member. She still fondly remembers her baptism and is in contact with the sister missionary who taught her. Maria has a  little bit of a temper when things don't go her way (for example when her children didn't study the book of Mormon for two hours on Sunday after church she YELLED at them, I know because I was there), but she loves the church and is excited to come back after so many years. Hector is hyped to get baptized and loves the church as well. The kids love the church probably for two reasons, 1. It brings peace to their home, and 2. It allows them to get out of the house without getting in trouble. As of now they have plans (Hector, Pedro, and Nancy) to get baptized this Saturday. 

On Tuesday we visited a less active family and when we got there the Mom was dead, all of her energy had been spent and as we walked through the kitchen all of the dishes still had to be washed and the kitchen cleaned. Honestly she reminded me of mom a bit, and she just had 'one of those days' so we decided to help her out a little bit and before we taught what we came to teach we did a little service activity cleaning up the entire kitchen. The smile she had by the time we left was sufficient.

Also today in the morning we went up into the mountains to a big river, it was beautiful and just reminded me of the greatness of the creations of God. (don't worry ill be sending pictures the next week). We went up there with the whole zone and the father of a family that i home teach. It was good.

I love being a missionary and I know that this is the most important work in the entire world. I love and care for each of you so much.

Elder Hutchins

Linares

Well here we are in the farthest bounds of the mission Chile Concepcion, and boy do I love it!!!

I got here and instantly went to work. I'll give you a little summary, first of the activities we had this week, then of the people that I have met and that we are teaching.

Tuesday, I had to wait two hours for a bus so that I wouldn't have to take it alone and then it was a two and a half hour bus ride to get to Linares, my new sector. 

Wednesday morning we had District class.  It was good.  As a mission we are trying to have the district leaders focus more on the people and brainstorming ideas as a district to help these people progress. So our district leader did that for about half the class and then had us do a crazy contact activity. It was fun. 

Thursday we had to leave our sector at about 6:30 in the afternoon to travel to Concepcion for a capacitation the next day early in the morning. But as the bus ride is super long we had to leave early in the afternoon. The bus ride was alright, I was able to study the Book of Mormon and really get involved with Captain Moroni planning his righteous strategies. For a bed I had a hard wooden floor and it might be that I am getting old, but the next morning my back was sore. 

Friday was the special capacitation, we talked about the focus of the mission and how we can improve. The real focus was the need that the mission has of leaders who adopt the vision of the Lord. If the leaders don't do it first we can not even hope to gain the promised blessings. I think all left with a firm desire to adopt and carry out the vision of the Lord for our mission. That is something that each of us should do, pray fervently to know the Lords will for us. As Joseph Smith counseled John Taylor, many times the spirit will prompt you to do things that don't make sense and that you can't comprehend, but as we act on the promptings of the spirit and live the vision of the Lord, we will be blessed and will prosper. 

Skipping to Sunday at church I think it was probably the weirdest first Sunday I have had in a new branch. My companion has a tradition where he stays standing until he feels a distinct prompting to sit next to someone. Well, as I didn't know anyone I decided to go and sit next to an older gentleman who was all alone. About five minutes after the meeting started a group of young woman (I think his granddaughters) sat next to us in the row, another group sat in front of us. During the meeting the man stood up to give his testimony and when he returned to sit down, the man sat in a different seat!!!! He abandoned me, as I sat in a sea of young women I decided that it was time to abort. My companion was trying not to crack up....

That was my first week here in Linares, now for some of the people:

Elder McIntyre he is from California and this is his last transfer in the mission that is to say that he goes home when Naomi goes home. He is a funny guy and although he talks a lot about home, he is still working and we are going to keep it that way. 

Manuel: He is going to be baptized this next Saturday, he is solid. He has a strong testimony and loves the change  the gospel has had on his life. He is 28 and single. 

Alegria: hes a member who we ate with this week, when we ate with him he joking told me that it was a tradition for the new missionary to wash the dishes. Well I like that tradition, so I washed to dishes, the whole time he and his wife apologizing and telling me that it was a joke. Sorry, but nobody jokes about service with me.

Elder Hutchins 

The changing winds

Well my friends the time has come, after six months of hard work here in San Carlos the call has come. I will now be going to the farthest corner of our mission, Linares. It is a small farm town at the northern end of our mission. 

But this last week in San Carlos, was an incredible one. First off we were able to get a bunch of service projects done or planned. One such service opportunity was one often joked about, but rarely attempted by anyone. A new member asked us to come to her house Wednesday morning to cut her grass. So Wednesday morning we showed up bright and early with a newly ordained elder (preparing for his mission) and I could hardly believe it when to cut her grass she handed us...............nothing more than two pairs of scissors.........wow. But not discouraged we went to work and after about twenty minutes a slightly larger pair of scissors was also added to our list of 'tools'. It was hard work, but in the end the grass was defeated.

Other than service my companion and I were able to finally contact 'Popcorn guy' his name is actually Mario, but popcorn guy is more fitting as he, for the past 10 years, walks around a tiny push cart selling bags of caramel popcorn. He walks around from about 12 in the afternoon to 10 at night and blasts music all day. But he is happy. He is an interesting guy.

I LOVED general conference it was a spiritual feast, and boy was I filled. I think the message that hit me the hardest was that not just of serving, but of giving everything. I know that the Lord loves each of His children and He wants us to help them and to serve them.

I Love all of you!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hutchins

Unity

ministering practice

If you are not one, you are not mine saith the Lord. This past week the President got in our faces a little bit about uniting with the members, so without delay my companion and I put it into practice. 

On Tuesday we stopped by the bishop's and we put a plan in place (with him) to help the members be nourished by the good word of God. Since the members are not doing their home teaching and they are not reading their scriptures or praying on a daily basis, we put a plan in place where we will go on divisions Sunday afternoon and visit the active members to put things back into place as they should be. We will verify their daily reading in the scriptures and their prayers. (Those things are a little REALLY important) Then on Thursday we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and at last established with him expectations. What we need from him and what he needs from us. It is super helpful to know what we expect from one another. 

I had an incredible experience of being a minister for the Lord this week. On Wednesday I was doing exchanges with Elder Hernandez from Colombia and as I talked with him, he let me know of some difficult things that were going on back home and he opened up. From then on the spirit took the lead and after trying to counsel with him and help him I did as the spirit directed me to and I placed my hands upon his head and by the authority and power of the restored priesthood which I hold I gave him a blessing during which his fears were calmed and his mind comforted. I love holding this restored priesthood it is such a blessing.

We are working hard trying to do what Jesus himself would do in our place. Remember your prayers and scripture studies, have them on a daily basis!!!

Much love,

Elder Hutchins

Happy Independence Day!

Well, this week was the biggest party week in Chile. The 18 of September is their Independence day and they are crazy about it. This entire week no one had work, but there were plenty of parties.

This week Elder Gorham and I knocked a lot of doors. We talked to a lot of people, and we were able to effectively avoid eating a lot of food. I think that the most important lesson that we learned this week is that true success comes from enjoying the presence of the Holy Ghost, that is why we do everything that we do so that we can more fully enjoy the presence of the spirit. 

This coming week we are planning for the baptism of Karen, she is ready for baptism and ready to remain active and to enjoy the presence of the spirit in her life. Her father died a few years ago and she is already excited to go to the temple to have his temple work done for him!! 

We are teaching a less active woman named Zulema, her big problem is that she loves to sleep, she literally spends the majority of her days sleeping her life away. It makes Elder Uchtdorf's talk about 'sleeping through the restoration' very relevant. But with the help of the spirit, my companion and I have been able to help her to come to Church these past two weeks and to rekindle the love that she once had for the church, she is now cultivating the flame of testimony.

I am excited for the future, especially for General Conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I invite all of you to prepare yourselves for it with much fasting and prayer. I love you all and pray that the spirit is your constant companion.

Elder Hutchins

This week was pretty darn SWEET!!!! 

Tuesday things started off with a special capacitation by Elder Scholes, that man is a bomb of knowledge and wisdom. We focused on the basics, the Doctrine of Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the end. As we talked specifically of each one of those steps the question arose as to what was meant by 'endure to the end'  and as the conversation deepened, the spirit guided as we learned that the last step just means a repetition of the first four steps over and over again. As we do things right, our faith is increased and that leads us to have a desire to repent, in order to complete the repentance process we must partake of the sacrament (renewal of the baptismal covenant) and in turn God promises to give us His spirit which in turn will increase our faith which will lead us to repent of our imperfections, and you get the idea.  It is a continual process until we are perfect.

After that spiritual feast I was assigned to be companions for the day to the legendary Elder Mackliet. (If you remember back to November of last year he was my second companion here in Chile) And let me tell you it was a blast! I loved it. I mean any day where I get to be with a humble follower of Christ I would call it a good day. But what made it even better was that we found a less active family (part member) who were going through a really rough moment in their lives. By the guidance of the spirit we were able to help them realize that hope was there, that through our great mediator Jesus Christ all of our pains and sorrows would be made right, That through Him we are healed. 

But the adventure with Elder Mackliet could not have ended in a worse fashion. He, with his companion, recently began the workout routine of completing a ridiculous amount of squats in the morning, something that I have not done for........well, a while. But I couldn't leave the challenge unanswered, and believe me it was answered. Just after answering it I was hurting.

This Saturday was the South America service day for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, our stake was assigned to help re-paint a graveyard. All the tall gringos were assigned to paint the fences, which were about 24 feet tall. So we scaled the fences and painted and painted after four hours of hanging from the fences and getting plenty of paint in our faces and hair we finished, the end project looking a whole lot better than when we begun. 

The highlight of the week though was Sunday for sacrament meeting where, after a hard week of work, we have the church attendance at a 15% increase due to all of the less active members who attended. It was a sight to see. One of those less active members was the first branch president of San Carlos and he stood up and bore a moving testimony of how it is our duty to go out and bring back those who have been lost. (He being the fruit of such an effort).

Much Love,

Elder HUtchins

On the Lord's Errand

My companion elder Gorham and I have really been focusing in on listening to and then following immediately the impressions of the Holy Ghost. We love quoting President Thomas S. Monson, with his, "I want the Lord to know that if he has an errand that needs running [Elder Hutchins and Elder Gorham] will run that errand for him." That's the goal and it is always an adventure. 

We didn't wait at all beginning Monday we acted on each and every impression that came to our mind without hesitation. We talked to a lot more people and felt the joy of working in the vineyard of the Lord. 

Come Tuesday we were still set to follow each and every impression received by the spirit. My Companion felt the distinct impression that we had to go to a certain area at a certain time even though it was no where near where we were going to be, but if the Lord has an errand that he needs done, Elder Hutchins and Elder Gorham will fun it for Him and so we did. In the pouring rain we walked forty-five minutes out of our planned route to another sector to do the Lord's work. Once we arrived we had no idea what to do or why we were there, the only thing that we knew was that the Lord had sent us here and we set to work, knocking on every door and talking to everyone in the street (there were not too many as it was pouring rain) after about an hour of intense work, with rain dripping down my chin and drenched (then rain got through my jacket and my umbrella broke from the wind earlier in the day) we had nothing, we had knocked on almost every single door, talked to each person we had passed and time after time received the response "NO!" or "I'm busy" or "I cant I'm late for church!" We were cold and wet and rejected. But the Lord had an errand and we were there to run it so we kept going, we came to one small yellow house, we could see smoke coming from the chimney through the torrential downpour, we called out "ALU" (that's how they 'knock doors here') after about ten seconds the door opened and a teenage boy ran out in the rain to greet us, with a smile on his face and ours we asked if we could come in and share with his family a message of Jesus Christ and his plan for them, he told us to wait while he asked his mom, he ran inside and after a few seconds appeared again, this time shaking his head right before he slowly closed the door.So we turned and Elder Gorham says to me, "Hey why don't we knock that door over there" as he pointed to a blue house across the street, so we crossed the street and knock on the door. An older man answered the door and immediately told us to get out of the rain and to go into his house. After a few moments we discovered that the older man and his wife had members of their family that were members of the church and they were super friendly and loved the lesson we had with them about eternal families and eternal life. 

Saturday and Sunday were our Sake Conferences, in which we were accompanied by President Arrington and his Wife (the mission president) and Elder Urra, a member of the 70. The message and theme of the conference was looking for the one. one thing that I recently learned is that leaders are men who can direct many while ministering to the one. During His entire life Jesus Christ looked for, sought out and served the one. In each moment everywhere we go I am convinced that God sends us there to find one of His children. To them up, to inspire them, to love them. If we can each do that, look each day for one person who we can then elevate, we are well on the path to perfection.

We are currently teaching Karen, her eighteenth birthday is next Saturday and she is converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She is in Alma in The Book of Mormon, she has read all the pamphlets, the principals of the gospel and many other church books in the short two months that she has known of the church and its existence. She has the goal to be baptized on the 27 of September and is already looking for a church next year that she can attend (she will be going to college in Concepcion). 

Last night we met with a young man who recently sent out his papers to go on a mission as well, with him we placed some goals of things he would like to accomplish before he goes on his mission. His goal was to bring 5 people to the church. So with our help and the help of the spirit we created a focus group with his consisting of non-members, less active members, and new converts who he would help. Personally placing himself in charge of these people and making specific plans for each of them. I invite each of you to invite over the full-time missionaries and with your family make a focus group. A mixture of Non-members, less active members, and new converts who you can them guard and help, a list of specific people so help hasten the work of the Lord. 

I love each or you with all my heart.

Elder Hutchins

On the Lord's Errand

Remember some time ago when I was teaching the Riquelme family, well the daughter got baptized by her now active father and they have the goal to go to the temple to be sealed together forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chilean sky

Well this week we have focused a lot of the Guajardo family and they are progressing well. On Monday night for a family home evening we talked about sacrifice and watched the John Tanner movie. He was a man who truly sacrificed all that he had in order to serve the Lord and bring about his eternal purposes. 

They, as a family, are now reading the scriptures together as a family on a nightly bases (the Book of Mormon) and they love it. They really love the fact that they can read it. Both the help with the spiritual, but at the same time it is a story or rather a history of 1000 years with wars and heroes and bad guys and trials and afflictions but also joys and triumphs. It really is the world's greatest book. 

They, as a family, are working towards living the law of chastity, they are going to get married and will have the date at the end of this week. Also every time that we go there Brother Guajardo, Christian, always tries to feed us. It is a rule in our mission not to eat with the members or others unless it is in a family home evening. So it is like a competition, he tries to give us food and I always try to get out of it. But he is a really good guy and will soon be a leader here in San Carlos.

This week was made a little difficult by the loss of our cell phone. Monday, the other elders we live with lost their phone so on Tuesday morning I gave them my phone to use and when they returned it, the sim card in it was fried and no longer performed its function. So on Saturday we went to the city and got a new phone from the mission, not quite an I-phone, but a step up from the brick we used to have. Hastening the work in simple, but big ways.

In district class the week we learned about consecration and the importance of being consecrated to the Lord's work, opposed to merely interested in it. Being consecrated is a tough thing and involves many different steps, but it is the most important thing the we can do with our lives. I mean, the whole purpose in life is to see if we will do all things that he /God) commands.

We left with Hernan this week (a new convert) and visited some of our investigators. He gave a simple but powerful testimony to them saying, (after one of them asked us to ask for peace in our prayer) "If you really want to find peace, here is the place to find it. I searched for my whole life for peace and I wasn't even close to finding it until I met with the Elders, now my whole life has changed and I am happy, and more importantly I am at peace."

Another important thing that I learned this week is the importance of looking for the one. In every thing that we do every place that we go I am convinced that the Lord sends us there to find the one. Maybe there are many that we can edify, but we always go in search of the one.

My companion and I focused this week on cleaning out the vineyard. We have a giant book full of old investigators and old converts and new converts and less active members of the church. Well in spirit of Jacob 5 (from the book of Mormon, if you haven't read it: read it) we asked the Lord for one last chance to labor together in the vineyard and we have gone to work cleaning and pruning and A LOT OF DUNGING: But it is fun and I couldn't think of something I would rather do.

Love you all

Eder Hutchins HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ISABEL, TREVOR, AND HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the new door of a less active member...?

Another transfer together

8.25.14



Well today were transfers and Elder Gorham and I will be staying together yet another transfer!!!! We were both so excited to hear that! It is the best thing that could have happened, it makes it even better to know t hat the Lord wants us together,

So this week we kept teaching the Guajardo family (the one found through Rescate) and they are super excited to learn (or for the husband relearn) about the restored church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. It is a little funny, every lesson that we have with them the mom, Elizabeth, ends up balling, Christian (the dad) told us that she NEVER cries, like it is super weird that she cries and he told us that the only reason that she cries is because she feels the truth of the restored gospel for the first time. We asked her yesterday in a lesson if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, her response, yes, he has to be I mean look at his story. We continued the conversation a little bit and asked her, do you desire to be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints? Her response: Yes, I know that it is what I need and I want to do it. So they are currently making plans to be married this year (they are aiming for October, the government makes the process long) What makes this experience even more sweet was when my companion and I found out that Christian holds the Melchizedek priesthood. He is working on getting worthy again and they cannot wait to go, as a family, to the temple to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. That's the goal.

We were teaching a new convert this week who has been slacking off in church attendance and really in just keeping the commandments in general so we went in there and did some work. We were guided by the spirit and learned among other things that she was smoking again, her husband and her were seriously thinking about a divorce and she has been having some depression problems. By Sunday she had stopped smoking again and was a buzzing ball of energy. She came to church and for the first time in about 4 months stayed for the classes, she read and answered all of the questions and will be fasting (the topic of the class) this week to apply what she learned. I love it when a plan comes together.

Sacrament meeting and really just the church meetings in general are getting so much better, so much more spiritual. This week we made a pass out for the sacrament meeting (something not done outside of the United States) and the bishop had the congregation sing an intermediate hymn, standing. Also a first time. Of course I was still conducting it and there was no piano, but we worked with what we had. 

District meeting

We are teaching a young woman named Karen, she is the referral of a young elder preparing for a mission. She is probably the most advanced investigator I have ever taught. We starting teaching her from nothing about two months ago and this past Thursday she came to our weekly meeting (her circumstances only allow her to meet with us once a week) with questions and they were questions that were just super good. About the millennium and the spirit world and we learned that these questions came because about a year ago she lost her father and she has a serious interest in helping him to receive the saving ordinances in the temple. Only problem is she lives and hour and a half by bus from town. And the buses don't run on Sunday. That being said she has already assisted twice and will be assisting in two weeks.

The work is moving forward, we are laboring in the vineyard and cleaning it out as much as we can. 

with much love, 

Elder Hutchins

Crazy happenings in Chile

This week was a crazy week. I am going to copy my fathers style of writing and go to bullet points right away.

• My companion and I in our personal and companionship studies did a really in depth study of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it hit home. We were both stunned by the loving and unselfish sacrifice that he made. We then took it upon ourselves to make it known to all the people. Begining with the members (who had made sacrament more of a habit and social hour than the sacred ordinance that it is) and then taking it to the less active members, the new converts and the investigators (this style of teaching makes placing the goal of the temple a lot more fluent and meaningful). With this 'new' teaching meathod, we were able to feel the guidence of the spirit so much more this week and have gained the undying trust of the bishop and other key members of the ward, Now we must be careful how we continue as to maintain the trust. 
• We are currently (under the direction of the bishop) teaching an excommunicated now married couple and we brought the heat this past week, teaching specifically of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the need to do 'all we can' they were excommunicated 11 years ago and have not made any effort to be rebaptized (besides saying its what they want to do) so we made them feel the urgency to make the next step, that being an interview firstly with the bishop and then with the stake high council. But progress is being made
• Today for our P-day we went as a zone to 'The CAMPO' (half of the time when we invite investigators or less active members to come to church we are met with the response, Im going to 'the CAMPO' or better phrased, the wilderness because that is what it is.) it was an adventure and we had a delicious cookout. I love being a missionary. (mom you would have loved this adventure, we drank water from a mountain river, went to a waterfall, drove through the country side and in the mountains.) (dad you might have liked it, but there were not nearly enough people to interview for temple recomends out there, so it would have been too quiet for you.) 

For lack of time I leave you with my testimony that God lives, and his love for us, well I am recently beginning to understand it.

Elder Hutchins

To the rescue

So in our mission we have a list of all of the less active members and it is a VERY extensive list. (1 in every 30 Chileans is a member and 9 of every ten Chilean members are inactive) The title of this list is El Rescate, or the rescue. Our President and each of the seventies who have come to our mission have told us very straight forward, if you reactivate more members you will baptize more. And even more specifically if we use rescate we will find more people to teach. Well I have been using this list for months now and all that I could show for it was a bunch of people who had moved or were not interested in listening to us, but not discouraged my companion and I continue to use it on a daily basis. And this week we saw the fruits, thank goodness we continued faithfully. 

Monday evening my companion and selected a few names from the list and went to visit them, the first one we went to.....nothing, the second......nothing.....then the third one that we went to......nothing. But after that we planned to go to Christian Guajardo a forty two year old less active member. We came to his door and knock on it and the nanny answered the door and told us to come back a different day. As we walked away we both felt this feeling come over us that we had to go back and soon. So Sunday night we planned it out and we returned, and what did we find? Christian and his wife in tears because that Thursday morning their cousin had committed suicide. I cannot explain the joy that we felt as we talked of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and about how their family can be an eternal family. Christian expressed his instant desire to return to the church (something he had expressed before when his wife was sick a few years ago and received a powerful priesthood blessing from some members of the church, they lacked the follow-up) But last night his wife Elizabeth accepted the invitation to baptism (something they had previously considered, but never had the push). They were astounded that amidst the thousand less active members in San Carlos we had selected Christian and come to visit them in this moment of great need. We expressed who much that shows that God loves them. The spirit was super strong and they are super excited for church on Sunday. Miracle, I think so.

On Tuesday we contacted a lovely couple in the street who asked/commanded us to come by, they committed us (that's something I am not used to) But since then we have had two lessons with them and both were super filled with the spirit. At the end of each lesson one of them has offered a kneeling prayer after which they comment on how much closer they feel to God. Sergio (the guy) used to go to church, but was never baptized, currently he is looking for a church to join or something to help him to feel more peace in his life. They are committed to church this Sunday and are super excited! God led us to them as well.

Then with Maritza (an older lady who we have been teaching) we had a super powerful lesson in which she opened up to us. She was progressing super slow and actually was not showing too much interest in learning more, but on Saturday she broke down and told us of a few problems that she has been having and expressed a sincere interest in being baptized. She has had a difficult life, but some of it she has brought upon herself and now she will begin making the changes necessary to be happy. 

Lastly on Saturday night we visited with a Member, Victor Hugo. He recently asked to be released from his calling as young men's president. But we went there because his wife is not a member of the church and, well, that's got to change. So we shared with him mosiah 2:17 which struck him to the very center, because he asked to be released from his calling for lack of time, but he told us that he never would have said that to the Lord. The change in his character was visible. He is now committed to make the next steps to help his wife enter into the church, We want them to go to the temple and God wants the same exact thing. 

I know this is the work of the Lord, that's why we have been able to accomplish the things which we have, but there is always more to do.

Love you

Elder Hutchins

The focus

Well this week the focus of our mission was, well, refocused. We have been focusing the majority of our efforts, in the baptize area, and maybe lacked a little in the retention and the reactivating efforts, as a mission. so this week during the zone conference that we had we refocused our efforts on that and talked about how if we reactivate more people that we will retain more as well as baptize more people. So this week my companion put that into practice and met with ten different less active families while at the same time having fourteen lessons with member at investigators. Some of the best lessons were;

1. With a family where the parents have both been excommunicated, the ten year old son is a recent convert (got baptized in November) and they have not come to church for about 8 months (pretty much right after his baptism) We stopped by Saturday night with the bishop and commenced to talk about the love that God has for all of his children and his role as our father. We committed them to come the next day to church and not only did they come, but during the testimony meeting their son got up and bore a short, but powerful testimony. Awesome.

2. Sunday night we went on 'rescue' visits as dad calls them to a family that has not been to church in a year for an interview that the wife had, had with the bishop. They are sealed in the temple and lets just say that after talking about their family and what they really want to achieve as a family, we, along with the first councilor of the bishopric committed them to church this next Sunday. Lets just say that we cannot let anything impede us from keeping the covenants that we have made with God. 

3. We left on Thursday with Hernan (baptized for about two weeks) to visit some less active members, one of which was Brother Lieva, the first branch president of San Carlos. Boy is he old, but let me tell you that does not stop him from keeping the conversation rolling. (note to all, when the missionaries visit let them teach you something.) But in the end it was a very good lesson in which we addressed the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of attending church on  a weekly basis (sacrament). 

Other than that we did bring a few non members to church yesterday, one of Which is named Maritza she is an older woman who has to care for her two grandchildren because her daughter-in-law said she was going out for a while and then she would come back, well three years later she has yet to return. But she is a very humble woman and she loves the gospel.

We also did a visit with the bishop with a less active couple who are living together, but are not married yet expecting their first child, we (with the bishop) were able to put some goals with them and to motivate them to come back to church. 

I love being a missionary. This week my companion began talking to someone in the street and tried to ask if we could come by one day to share with them our beliefs, but he ended up asking if we could come by to share our creations with them, the woman responded, 'ummmm.... I'm gonna have to analyze that one.....' (in Spanish beliefs and creations are very similar words) 

LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Elder Hutchins

Getting things moving

Well this week there was literally an adventure and miracles every single day. 

On Tuesday I worked with Elder Acton, a elder from Montana he is huge and hilarious!! I think he is the nicest missionary I have ever met he is so polite and just a great guy. Working with him he had set up an appointment with this one guy, Jaun Pablo and he hasn't gotten baptized because he just doesn't feel completely prepared. So being led by the spirit we read in Alma 32:27 which clearly tells us that all that we need before we act is a desire to believe. Nothing else, but we need to let this desire work within us and miracles will take place. Well that desire has begun to take a place in Juan Pablo and he was struck to the center by the spirit and has found his desire to be baptized and now knows that, that is all that he needs. 

Wednesday: Today was great working with my companion good old Elder Gorham, we shook things up and got them moving, we found a bunch of new investigators, about five and put each one with a baptismal date! The Lord does guide his servants. One of them is named Claudio, his is in his early forties and has lost his parents and his sister not too long ago and he accepts us as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. We astounded him with the Book of Mormon and he loves listening to us. His biggest problem....he loves praying to the Virgin Mary..........hmmmmm yep that's gonna change. 

Thursday: Today we contacted the less active daughter of an active member and found out that she has a daughter who is 13 and wants to be baptized, you thinkin what I'm thinkin?

Friday: Today was our weekly Soccer game and let me tell you, they tried to banish me to goalie, but you know what that's not me, so after a while I convinced them to 'unlesh the beast' and in about five minutes I had two goals and after that they sent me back to the goal........dang. I think they like the games a little fairer.

Saturday: We had a great lesson with a returned missionary and the mom of one of our investigators, she testified of the difference that our visits have made in her home. In her own words, "Just a week ago contention was a constant thing in our home, we were always arguing and we just we not happy, but since you have come especially when you are here I just feel at peace, its like you guys just bring it with you and just help us all to calm down and see whats really important." She might have tried to give us the credit, but we know who really deserves the credit here, the spirit, is our constant companion and He makes the difference in each of our lives. 

Sunday: Today I was blessed to be able to confirm Hernan Edwardo Soto Reyes a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and tell him to 'recieve the Holy Ghost'

I just love all of these adventures and all of this work, it is my favorite thing in the world, sometimes when it is pouring rain and everything seems to be going wrong I take a minute and I just reflect upon how blessed I truly am and you know what even in those moments I feel happy. 

Elder Hutchins 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANTARCTICA

Well as some of you may recall in our house we have been showering with cold water, no longer! The hot water was fixed and this week we officially showered the majority of the week with warm water, but alas as we have hot water in our house, the churches hot water got cut. Its usually not too bad when it happens unless you happen to be having a baptism that same day!!!!! 

Hernan got baptized on Saturday in the dead of winter in ice cold water. My companion and I tried to heat it up by throwing in boiling water (from the churches kitchen) but to no avail. The water was cold and Hernan was baptized. (Included will be photos of his baptism as well as that of Sofia from last week) 

This week my companion got his toe operated on and so Monday and Tuesday had strict orders not to walk on his toe. Then the following day in district class we each made a commitment to talk to everyone, at least 10 people a day every missionary, adding up to at least 140 people in the week, for the first few days I was worried about this goal because we lost two days of work as well as a conference on Thursday so we have to go to Concepcion, but call me Thomas, I couldn't believe until I saw it my companion and I went contacting crazy and pulled the highest numbers for contacting this week!!! That's what I call being led by the spirit. 

Also I think I had one of my favorite lessons ever on Sunday night. In our ward there is a young man, Juan Saurez who is preparing to serve a mission, his older brother, Jorge was preparing to do the same but began to study psycology and lost his faith and became inactive. Well we see him every week at our soccer games and we went to visit them last night and we began with one simple question "Who is Jesus Christ?" from that 'simple' question things got real and we had to open up the Book of Mormon to the book of Alma chapter 32 and explain that Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of anything, but is rather a hope. That is all, eb¿ven a desire to believe. Jorge is committed to read the book of mormon and to pray (first time in over a year he will be doing either of those) and the desire and faith will come. As a seed grows into a tree so too will this desire grow into a knowledge.

Things are good, I am happy-

Love you all 

Elder Hutchins

A sudden burst of heat

Well after about a month of cold water, cold rain, cold drinks, cold showers, things finally heated up a little bit! We got the shower fixed a Saturday night, and had hot showers the next morning!! But then the shower died again today, but hey it was worth it.

This week we have been working a ton with Hernan and found out the he wants to marry his girlfriend, we talked a while about that with him and a little about the temple and he has decided that he wants to do everything possible so that she gets baptized and they get married in the temple! That is what I call building the kingdom, God is changing his heart and preparing the way for him to stay active. 

On Saturday we had the baptism of Sofia, she is a young girl whose mother is a new convert and she has so much faith. She has already decided that she wants to go on  a mission and is practicing by calling all to 'repent', also she is a testimony to me of why Jesus loves 'the little children' so much, they have unbreakable faith and they literally cause miracles to happen. 

And I just want to finish my update with a little story that I heard this week and what it made me think. We are teaching a less active family, the Guzman family and they just bought a new house and had a stove made. One cold winter night they made a fire in that stove and casually left the door to the stove open a little bit. From the open door jumped a single lonely spark, that spark landed directly on the dry flammable couch, well by the time anyone noticed it was almost too late to save the house the couch was on fire and that fire was spreading to the walls. They were able to put out the fire, but it was a terrifying experience. This got me thinking, how many of us, at times, casually leave the door open in our lives to the influences, temptations, or voices of the devil, or the world (it is the same) by making that simple mistake we give room for a single spark to jump out. That can literally cause our lives to 'go up in flames' As Alma once said, "Do NOT procrastinate the day of your repentance" the day to close the door is today. I have seen people leave the door open the tiniest bit thinking that they would be okay or that nothing would happen but when we least expect it that spark jumps and it might be too late. So I would exhort everyone to search for the doors inyour lives that are open to the voices of the world and close them lest a spark jump and your house go up in flames.

LOVE YOU ALL 

Elder Hutchins

A Constant Companion

7.7.14

Well usually people don't like it when they are continually followed by someone else, it is actually really creepy when this happens, but there is a huge difference when that 'someone' is the spirit. And this week God has blessed us with him as a constant companion.

Tuesday, what a day. Monday night my companion and I planned out an amazing day Tuesday in which we were going to "bring to pass much righteousness", we thought we had planned the perfect day, but come four O'clock on Tuesday God showed us a better way. And let me tell you, it was a lot better. Two of those lessons changed peoples lives forever. And they were two lessons we hadn't planned on having. 

LESSON 1: We called a recent convert and asked her how she was doing, her response, "Horrible" So we 'went to the rescue' We found out that the family was having a lot of problems especially related with their fourteen year old daughter who rarely listens to our message. Thanks to our constant companion we knew just what to do and we began asking Nicole (the fourteen year old) a few questions. To some up a long story, after I had asked a particular question she said she didn't want to answer, instead of responding immediately (like I do too often) I listened to the promptings of the spirit and I made eye contact with her and we sat there, and sat there, and sat there some more, until slowly tears filled her eyes and she began to talk and by the end the whole family was in tears. Well we put the needed goals and commitments and are making daily contact with them to make sure they are reading their scriptures everyday, and the change is incredible, now when they answer the phone they are all (the fourteen year old included) laughing and joyful. That is the joy of a missionary. seeing lives change.

LESSON 2: Hernan, a twenty year old who loves meeting with us, but has had some trouble keeping commitments. Well Tuesday we had a great lesson, in which we addressed one of his doubts, if God does exist. So we invited him in the moment (thanks to the promptings of our dear friend) to offer a prayer asking God if he does exist. Well about half way through the prayer the words coming out of his mouth stopped and we sat there, or kneeled there, for ten minutes in complete silence, Hernan with his head bowed. He is getting baptized the nineteenth. He is reading the book of mormon and arrived at church at 9:30, well before the majority of the members and the bishopric, Future missionary!!

We had a zone activity today, the activity, COOK OUT, chef? Yours truly. 

I love being a missionary, nothing beats it, sorry everyone else, but I tell it how it is. Love you all.

Elder Hutchins!!!