Sam's Second Week in Chile

Whats up people!

Ugh what a great day. I have been feeling pretty down and it was so nice to read all your letters. Dad: moral of the flooding story is listen to your wife. lol. Michael I am so happy you got the job. I just seemed like the better one from the get go. Nonprofit system, better chance for a job after. Haha--this is hard to write, the computer is saying all of my words are wrong because they are in English not Spanish. Speaking of Spanish! Holy Cow I don't speak it and it sucks! I have been so frustrated this last week to the point of thinking multiple times if I even want to be here, if the
Church is even true, or if I even care enough about any of it to want to be here. Ugh-Satan is bad bad bad. Anyways we had interchanges with the ZL´s on Wednesday because Elder Powner is the DL, so I went a worked with Elder Kimball for the afternoon and evening, and boy, was he what I needed. Elder Kimball is like 20 almost 21 and he goes home in 3 months. He basically just helped me realize that my Spanish isn't that bad-it’s actually really good; better than most at my level. He helped me gain the confidence I needed to speak Spanish and use it with people. While being with him I learned for myself that God knows I don't speak Spanish. He didn't just dump me here to mosey around and hopefully learn it in 4 months and then be of use to Him. He wants me to use what I can now. Elder Kimball said the strongest thing I have is my testimony and the new missionaries have the strongest testimonies of all. So he told me to use it!. Although this helped me, yesterday after church I was once again feeling down because people say things and I don't know what they are saying. When we came back home to study I was once again feeling those feelings of wanting to go home and do something more fun or something like that, but my companion helped me realize something I already knew but that this was the situation I needed to do it. That thing was stop focusing on myself. I kept worrying about how I was ever going to learn Spanish or how I was going to be able to do this for 2 years. He said I just need to have faith and focus on other people. He said that only by focusing on other people and not focusing on myself would I learn the language and really start to enjoy my mission. I applied this principle by immediately going and praying and giving thanks for 20 things in my life. After the prayer I felt a lot better and my focus and outlook on the mission has been better ever since. I am still worried about Spanish, how could I not be, but I know that as I continue to have a desire to learn and trust that, with the help of Heavenly Father I can do all things, I will be speaking Spanish like a pro. 

I loved your letters. Crazy to read about the Boston thing. I had not heard anything about it so it was nice. Dad it would be so cool if you owned an original copy of the BOM. Sell your shelby and get it. Just kidding but maybe something to think about. Dad I dont even know how you do your life its so busy maybe ill know some day. Mom, you too. Your lives are just crazy but hey your doing it right because your lives are filled with busy good things that build up each other, the Kingdom of God or those in it. Dad good luck on your talk! I know how you feel as a missionary your personal study is just for lessons you will teach later. Dad, zone conference was cool but it was in Spanish. The topic was testimony and I like what was said. I hate it because I always want to make comments or ask questions but I don't have the words. Mom, so cool to hear school is going well. How exciting with the institute teaching. I don't think you will have trouble finding a job with all this religion teaching experience.

Anne and Michael! you got the Job! I am so happy and excited for you guys. I just loved how it all kind of worked out. Lots of nerve racking changes going on for you guys but they are all exciting things. Good things happen when we choose the right. 

Mary! I can't wait to hear where you are going. I am excited if it is state side English-speaking and to hear how your first week is. I am jealous that you will have the possibility to serve in 2 missions! I don't know if you know this but when you get recalled they actually send your thing back to the missionary department and they pray about it again. That’s what I’ve heard crazy right. Don't quote me on it though because I don't know. I am so jealous they changed the rules for the MTC. They told us they weren't going too ugh, but I am also happy because now you have more time to write people!

Ok more facts about Chile. Villa Alemana is pretty but also ugly. Viña is amazing and lush and green but Villa Alemana is like a desert. It doesn’t rain here is just mists or something like that. Because it is a desert (basically) here it gets hot during the day and cold at night. Actually the days are fine mostly but the nights are freezing. We usually walk everywhere which is totally fine because our area just isn't that big. We do have to take the bus to zone things though which is always fun. They drive very fast in Chile and the buses drive even faster. If you are riding a bus here and there isn't and open seat it can get pretty interesting. Chile has large supermarkets but every street also has a corner store. One they go to every day the other once a week. The only stores I see are food stores so I don't know where people buy the stuff they need besides that. Oh they also have Walmart-type stores so probably there. We have everything in our ward. Poor, middle class, and maybe rich I don't know. Like I said we have a part in our area that is por Alla! or in other words way out there. It has dirt roads, little shacks, dogs, the works. The people that live out there are obviously very poor. We also have very nice suburb type places in our area. The members there have jobs in the city doing things that a middle calls or upper middle class family would do. The houses are very small here and every family usually only has one car. They mostly use buses and the metro here to get to the city. We are teaching a man named Antonio and his son who is 8. Antonio is married but his wife is Catholic, maybe the only person in Villa Alemana who says they are Catholic and actually goes to church. They have another son and he joined for our lesson but he wasn't there this last time. They came to Church this sunday which was awesome! basically with Antonio and his son they know its all true and they have been taught everything so we just have to point to the font. We are also teaching Roxanna and Hugo. Roxanna was sick yesterday so they weren't able to come to church but we visited Hugo last night (Roxanna was sleeping) and taught him. I felt like our lessons with Hugo were too simple and easy. Our homework assignment for them to read for next time, I felt, was also too mushy and easy. Because I felt like we weren't making progress with him I just flat out invited him to be baptized. My companion freaked out and gave me a high five under the table. He accepted and then i invited him to maker the goal of the 5 of May or something like that to be his date of baptism. He said he was nervous about baptism because what would he do if he sinned after he had been baptized, so next lesson we will teach him about repentance (BAM!). He knows its all true but Satan has a strong hold on him and Roxanna. We will see if they are willing to give some things up. We work a lot with the menos activos here (less actives) during one of our meetings with a menos activo named Ingrid, I just flat out asked her where her fire was. I told her in my broken Spanish that obviously she had known the Church was true when she was baptized, so why doesn't she feel the same way now. At the end of the lesson she told us that she wanted to get her fire back so we were like YEAH! She couldn't come to Church yesterday because she was out of town but we will see for next week. So I have about an hour and a half to write you guys every week. 15 min of that are taken up by writing my president. I can also write friends, basically anyone outside of the mission, but have to ask for permission for people inside the mission (like investigators) 

 Alright well my time is up. Love you guys. Talk to you next week. 

Love,

Elder Cropper

First Letter From Viña

Letter From Sam

......wow......ok WHATS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Cow this is like the craziest thing I have ever done! Ok so I don't even know where to begin. By the way I am in the middle of nowhere with a keyboard that doesn't work too well so if i am missing a letter chill out. So let’s begin at the airport. We were late getting to our flight because of the infamous Elder Roberts or something like that. He just didn't show up so we left like 45 min. late to the airport. We got to SLC and it was confusing because we had showed up so late that half of us were locked out of the system (I was not which was nice) we got to the get where we were chewed out by all the flight attendants for being late I don't even know. The flights were good. We arrived in Atlanta and I had a chance to talk to Mom and Dad. If you want more info about my time in the Atlanta airport ask Mom and Dad. After I hung up the phone with Mom and Dad I walked over and got on the plane. We switched around some seats so I ended up sitting next to people in my district which was fun. I was nervous on the flight over but I did sleep a little. I was very nervous because the Church had given us things to memorize when we went though customs We were supposed memorize the phrase saying who we are, and a phrase saying how long we would be in Chile. We were not supposed to say 2 years! We were supposed to say that we would be in Chile for 90 days until we could get a religious visa. We got off the plan and I was like aghhhh! We went and paid our tax thing for being Americans and entering Chile, then after we went to customs. The guys basically spoke English to me and was very nice so it didn't matter. We got out of customs found our bags (Mine were BOTH there which was lucky because one girl had neither of her bags) We then went through more security and then out into the airport area where our president would be waiting. Sadly he was not there. It turns out our flight had arrived like crazy early so we waited. I of course, being the way I am, decided to grab Elder Huntsman and catch the other 30 missionaries that would be coming out in spurts and tell them where to go (we were the fist to come out of security). After a while of doing that President Kahnlien showed up with his wife and two assistants. He is very tall like at least 6 foot 7 or something like that. The assistants gave us some passalong cards and told us while we were waiting to go hand them out. We were all nervous and everyone didn't want to do it so they just got in a circle and stated talking. Elder Seamons and I however decided to do as they asked and go find someone. I was super nervous because I don't speak Spanish. Well, I didn't speak Spanish. Elder Seamons was from the Intermediate class so he had better Spanish than me so he initiated the conversation with someone. He said a lot in the one contact we did but I did explain a little bit about the Book of Mormon. We gave him a passalong card and we got his number. We were proud of ourselves that we did that. Once everyone was ready we took a quick picture in the airport and then went to the bus. It was hot outside and I was in my jacket. The Elders helped load the bus which wasn't easy because we ran out of room so some of the suitcases had to go on seats. I was sweating a lot when I got on the bus. 

There were actually already people on the bus about 15 or so. All of them were natives so I thought they were our trainer but then I realized that they were actually missionaries reporting to the mission that day from the Santiago MTC. I sat in the back and talked with them which was fun. They taught us some Spanish and we taught them some English. The trip from santiago to Viña is about 2 hours. One we got to Viña it was crazy. They stopped the bus on this mountain and we were able to take pictures of the whole city and coast. Super cool. They then took us to the famous Viña flower clock where we took a picture which is on the blog. the blog is http://misionvinadelmar.blogspot.com/. This is the cool part. They then took all 30 of us and asked us who wanted to go do some missionary work. I raised my hand along with a few others and they called us to the front. They then divided us into companionships (I got paired with one of the natives from the Santiago MTC) gave us book of Mormons with the mission home address and said go find it and don't come home until you've given that book away!!!!  Crazy right. So anyways, they dropped people off in other parts of the city (now we know actually parts of the city closer to the mission home). But my temporary companion and I just left right from the flower clock. It was hard to communicate but we were able to do it. We found an old woman taking her groceries home and we decided to help her and teach her about the Book of Mormon. My companion talked a lot but I said some things too. We ended up getting her address and giving her the Book of Mormon. We asked from directions a lot after that but we were eventually able to find the mission home. We then had pizza for lunch which was good. After lunch we had a ton of business things to do. Some of us stayed to be interviewed by the president, others were interviewed by the nurse, and others went to the consulate to sign some stuff. We all had to do all three, it just depended which order we did it in. I interviewed with president first which was fun. He said I had a powerful testimony which I liked. I just told him about my life so he could get to know me. After that I met with the nurse Sister Hugie. She is older and is from Utah. After I had finished filling out a bunch of papers and doing all the interviews I went with a group to the consulate to sign some things. Once we had all finished in my group of six they told us to gather our stuff put it in the van and they would take us to an apartment for the night. We slept in the nicest apartment (pension) in the mission that night . It’s the apartment some of the office Elders stay in. It was actually a pretty nice apartment. In my group there was a mix of native elders and English elders so we had fun hanging out and getting to know each other. They don't have dinner here but at around 9 the Office Elders came back with snacks for everyone which was awesome.

The next day we had orientation at the institute building in Viña which was cool but not to crazy so I don't need to say much about it. Now for the fun stuff! Right after orientation (which went like all day) around 5 we had transfers. They had all the new missionaries sit on the stand and they called transfers one by one. My Companion is Elder Powner! He is 20 years old (one month younger then me his birthday is in March). I serve in the Las Americas Ward in the (I think) Villa Alemena Oeaste stake. I think it’s that stake because that’s the name of my zone. We are about an hour or so, maybe 45 min., east of Viña Del Mar. We took the Metro to get here which was cool. Our ward has about 100 active members and they are really glad we are here. They completely white-washed this area which means they took out the old elders and put in new ones. The plus side is the ward is happy because they feel better but us then the old Elders. but the downside is that we don't know the area so these last few days have been focused on that. If you want to know where I live go to Google maps a type in Las Americas, Villa Alemana, Chile. My ward basically covers all those nice little houses and then way out there in the boonies. Scroll in on the (A) a little more and look for that green streak going through my area. That’s a creek and a couple blocks below that is a road with train tracks next to it. If you can zoom up on the M of the train station for Las Americas but not to far to the bottom left you might be able to see a big supermarket it’s called Unimarc. RIght next to it and I mean right next to it is the chapel we meet in. I would tell you where I live but it would take to long and I don't have much time. We live in what would be considered a house here. It actually is pretty nice but just a little dirty so were excited to clean it today. Mondays ae our P-days. Tuesdays are zone coordination that Elder Powner has to go to because he is DL. Wednesday is usually District meeting but this Wednesday is Zone conference. Thursdays are normal and so are Fridays. Saturdays we usually have service in the mornings and Sundays we have Church. Lots of people say my Spanish is very good. They say they can understand what I am saying which I guess is a really big deal. They also say I understand a lot of what they are saying which makes me feel good. This is my companion’s first time training but from what he has said about his experience being trained I am doing a thousand times better which makes me feel good. I am doing well so don't worry about me. I left my camera charger in the MTC so unless they send it to me which I don’t think they will I might need a new camera. I can’t really do anything about the issue here so that’s on you guys. If you want to know where to mail letters or packages scroll back to my Facebook history with all the address. If you can’t find it then maybe you can call the mission or the church and they can give it to you guys. Love YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Cropper

Message From Chile

Hello!

We are glad to have Elder Cropper here in the mission safe and sound!

Elder Boss

Secretario Ejecutivo

Misión Chile Viña del Mar

4 Norte 1112 | 68 31 53 32

Elder Cropper On His Way to Chile!

On Tuesday (4/8/2013) Elder Cropper was greeted at the Atlanta airport by his brother-in-law, Michael Johnson who just happened to be in Atlanta for a job interview. There were 30 missionaries who left Salt Lake City for Chile on this day. Elder Cropper arrived in Chile the next morning.

Sam's Last Letter From the MTC

Hello!

I am good. This week was like an 8 or a 9. Actually I don't really know what number to put to it because it was just a good week. Thank you all for your letters. I should have brought your letters with me so I could comment about things you guys wrote about or asked me but I didn't bring them, so I will try my best. Easter in the MTC was fun. We had a special Easter Morning Devotional. We all were banking on an apostle coming but guess what! no apostle came....... it was the presiding bishop and seriously people I thought there was going to be a riot. When the doors opened up and the non apostle walked in everyone was just silent....and disapointed (can't spell that word). We then came back and had district meeting. Sister Nichols gave the lesson and it was on the atonement. She did amazing! I told her afterwards that she did every good teaching practice known to man in her lesson. In the lesson people in my district gave really powerful testimonies of Christ and how He's our elder brother. I felt a little left out because I was feeling and I still kind of feel that my testimony of Christ isn't as strong as theirs. I recognize the need for a savior and that I couldn't be clean without his sacrifice, but I don't start crying when I think about him. I don't know I probably shouldn't compare myself to the others. I said a prayer before the testimony meeting that day that I would be able to know how to have a stronger testimony of this topic. During the testimony meeting I had the prompting come to me to share my testimony just like everyone else and Heavenly Father would show to me as I shared my testimony how strong my belief in Christ really is. I was stupid and felt like I had nothing to contribute to the meeting and so I actually didn't end up bearing my testimony (stupid I know spare me the chastisement) Later that night and the normal Sunday devotional Sheri Dew came and spoke to use. I don't know if you guys like Sister Sheri Dew or not but her talk was insane. The lady is like an animal. The talk she gave was completely different from the talk the presiding bishop gave. I mean I took like 3 pages of notes. One thing I really like was that she said she learned in her 20's to ask God to teach her how the spirit speaks to her. I really liked this thought so I have started doing this myself. Promptings from the spirit have been on mu mind lately because I'm gonna receive promptings to go teach this person or go knock on this door and I want to be able to know when it is a prompting. I think I am getting better about recognizing these promptings like the one i had in testimony meeting. I guess i need to better work on acting on those promptings and not out right ignoring them like i sis on Sunday in the meeting. After the devotional on Sunday we have the chance to go to different rooms and watch a church movie for an hour or so. I stayed in the big gym hall where we have devo and watched the character of Christ which was a talk given by Elder Bednar on Christmas day at the MTC 2 years ago or so. IT WAS INSANE! His talk was crazy! I have never seen a general authority call it like it is so much in my whole entire 20 years of existence. He talked about putting off the natural man and becoming more like Christ. He says that we do this by focusing on other people. This last week I have tried doing this and prayed for opportunities in which I would be able to do this. I don't really know how I'm doing but if I had to guess probably not very well. I had the chance to host again this week which was cool. It was really hot and just a normal hosting day so I'm not going to write much about it. Yesterday was in field orientation. IFO is when they take up the whole day teaching all the departing missionaries how to work with the ward and members in the field. I really enjoyed these meetings because of the teachers. At the end of the meeting the teacher who was giving us the summary of what we had learned and stuff like that told us that were going to be nervous talking to the first 100 people no matter what (he went to Mexico by the way) so we could either drag it out and talk to 1 person for 100 days or talk to those 100 people our first day. I really liked this thought because I'm gonna be in Chile next week not knowing anything that people are saying. Basically its gonna be uncomfortable and nerve racking for the first few weeks and then its just the same thing every day. In IFO we watched another video by Bednar (it was shorter) in which we told a story of two missionaries in his ward when he was at Harvard or Duke or where ever they were. He said the missionaries came over one Saturday morning, talked with them for a bit, played with there 2 kids, ate breakfast with them, and then after it was all over having been there for an hour and 15 min asked if they had any people they knew they could teach. Elder Bednar said he told them that for them they had no one to teach because they were not obedient missionaries. He told them that there visit should have gone more like this. You come to our house ask if you can share a short message, we would go get our children and make this an important moment for them. after finishing the short message you would then ask me who I would like to pray, He said I would call on one of you and you should give a short powerful prayers. After the message and the prayer you would then ask us if we had any people you could teach. He then told the Elders to get out of his home. The story of course has a happy ending. 3 weeks later the Elders knock on there door and do exactly those things Elder Bednar told them they should have done at the first visit. The point he was making was that we have to act in such a way that the members will trust us, Elder Bednar's tells it like it is! BAM! anyways time to go. Next week ill be writing you guys from CHILE! wish me luck!

Elder Cropper