Justin will be spending the next two years serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He will be serving in the Chile, Osorno mission and teaching the people of Osorno the gospel. He will spend two months in Mexico City at the Missionary Training Center learning Spanish and being trained as a missionary. In mid August he will leave Mexico and head to Chile. We will be using this blog to post weekly emails and pictures from Justin and to keep you all updated on Justin's adventures in Chile!

Monday, May 2, 2016

Well good week....... very good week!!!
Where should I start with yall............
Alright will first ill tell you the good news and then after ill tell yall the good news. (you know its a good week when all you got is good news)
OKay!! so this past week we found such a sweet investigator!!!!
Hes abut 26 and he built his own house because it was cheaper so he could study, we taught him the first lesson and he played guitar for us too and it was sweet.
We taught the first lesson and it went so well, he had a lot of sweet questions and we had a lot of sweet answers and then we asked him to read the book of Mormon, pray and be baptized the 28th. He said yes, yes and yes.
We called him the next day and he had read the first 5 chapters in first Nephi, he told us that if he did get an answer why would he not listen to Heavenly Father and get baptized, If we keep asking and asking in prayer we have to do what the the Lord tells. Well he is a sweet investigator and we just talked to him and we are gonna have a Noche de Hogar with him and this family from the ward tonight! Hope all goes well, I think it will, so that's sweet!
Then wanna hear something way cool as well, Our investigators Maria ines and Paulina, yeah well we had stake conference (Which was way awesome, a lot of awesome speakers.... temple president from santiago, Presidente obeso and a 70, so sweet)
Well after conference they both had their baptism interviews and passed.... they'll be getting baptized This Saturday at 8pm...... IM SO STOKED!!!!! THIS is so awesome, we found them knocking doors like 7-8 weeks ago and now they're getting baptized, how crazy is that!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED! The Lord really blesses those who do his work and do what they're suppose to! Soo stoked and happy!
Well we ate lunch with some members and The mom who is getting baptized came with us to eat cause she was already friends with these members before we even found her, well we asked who she wanted to baptize her and we were so excited and happy to hear when she said she would like the member in our ward to do the baptism, he has helped us a lot and I know it really, really, really means a lot to him and his family. We were very happy to have that happen!
Yall, no lie I am so happy, I love the mission and I love meeting people who have literally never heard abut this gospel before and when they do, they do everything they're suppose to. This gosple changes lives, it is changing these peoples lives I am just meeting and it is changing mine everyday. I have never felt so much joy, I love it. I honestly love how I can be an instrument in the hands of the Lord!
I love yall and ill talk to yall this sunday (MOTHERS DAY WOOHOOOO)
PEace,
Elder Wertner:)
    

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Right now i am writing you from some jank Ciber in osorno chile that is playing "Im not gonna write youn a love song" So you can tell its gonna be a really good week. 
Yall this past week was so sweet!!!!! We saw so many blessings and keep seeing blessings, 
Well where to start, ill start with the bad news, one of our really cool investigators that was really progressing and really we saw so many miracles in his life, he dropped us, but hopefully he will realize what he had and how much joy he got from it and will one day come back and the future missionaries will knock his door.
So we found some new people, we found a new family that arent active and moved from more of the south and they want to come back to church and they are awesome and their son isnt baptized but now he has a baptism date and we have plans to baptize him and get their family back, that will be super awesome!
Then mariainez and paulinna are so awesome still and are really progressing, they really are investigators of gold. But whenever they hear something about the church or someone trys to bash it or something, they just come to us and ask us about it and what those people, usually its such lies and myths its unbelievable its way funny! But its awesome they are doing that, So their baptism is scheduled for 7th de may so thats the date that we should all have marked on our calendars, we are feeling really good about it and my comp and i are really happy!
We have had a lot of lessons this week, the Lord has been blessing us so much and it has been a really fast good week! Just is getting freaking cold out here, winter is the worst, but its not that bad cause we have wood!
But im good, oh also sunday i gave a talk, giving talks are always fun! Hope all of you are well!
I love you guys and miss you tons, The church is true! Christ is our savior and he wants The best for us, hes always walking by our side there to help us, we gotta do our part tho!
Love you tons fam!
Peace Out yall!!!
Elder Wertner
    

Monday, April 18, 2016

Good Week….. Went byeeeeee so fast its kinda unreal how fast the last couple weeks have been going bye, its pretty dang crazy, life kinda just passes ya bye. First off Fleas have been killing me lately, I am so allergic to these things, it would’ve been a joke to say this when I was a younger and think  “One day I will be infested with fleas” never quite imagined that, but here we are hahah, im just trying to learn how not to scratch. Its funny though cause only the gringos get the fleas, all the Chileans don’t have fleas at all. So i´ve just trying to be as Chilean as possible and maybe ill get rid of the fleas one day. But it’s all good, nothing too bad.
Ill tell you what tho, its like my comp and I run the streets around here….. Everyone runs when they see us. Nahhh but today has been a tougher week, it rained literally everyday this past week and all of our appointments fell so that’s not the most fun, so we just walked the streets, knocked doors in the pouring rain and tried to find some people. ¨We are looking that’s forsure, I know for a fact there are people prepared and Heavenly Father is preparing people right now as we speak. Its like in Alma (Alma Chapter 8 I’m pretty sure) When Alma is  preaching to a city and he’s rejected and doesn’t find anyone who wants to hear the good word and he leaves the city and then an angel appears to him and tells him to go back and he does and he finds Amulek who was totally prepared by the Lord and then Amulek helped Alma out and left with him to preach the gospel. Pretty sweet! So forsure there are people prepared! We just gotta find them and listen to the spirit!!
Okay so we knocked like every door this week, but sunday was all worth it. Icalled mariainez and paulinna saturday night (Our Investigators) and was just reminding them for church ya know and was like we are gonna call you sunday at 9 to help you get up and everything like that and she likes it doesnt matter we are going anyways! Sweet so they showed up, on time too, and stayed all three hours! They both loved it and paulinna loved young womens and is gonna go to mutual thursday! SWEEET!
Then we went bye their house sunday evening with two members who they have actually known for a decent amount of time. They came with us and we taught the word of wisdom, im not gonna try and jinx this but they totally just gave up everything they mightve had a problem with before just like that! And the memebrs we were with are so funny, they were making jokes like yeah "we better start filling up the faunt now" and, "you know if you have more sins you have to stay under water longer" and how me and my comp cant be switched areas yet cause we gtta baptize them first and they just laugh and say yes and they will be baptized the 7th of may. The date had to change a little bit cause of certain stuff but we prayed about it and its totally meant to be and they are really excited and said yes right away when we asked them this. So happy and it was awesome to hear them tell us after they went to church and they were just like "what you guys believe is not anything close to what all the other people say about the mromons and your religion and how you worship Joseph Smith andhave a rug where you walk on Jesus face when you come to church" we just laughed it is good to hear that and see they are understanding a lot more now!
Very very stoked! dont are that the whole time were just walking and knocking doors cause if these are the poeple who are prepared in this time for right now, im way excited, cause they lord is really blessing all of us!
this week is cambios so it will be a lot of working and running around and all the new people come, should be fun!
Love you All!
Peace
Elder Wertner

Monday, April 11, 2016

Whats up yall!!!
(For the subject if yall didnt know my comp is from pleasanton california and thats where i was born) (same hospital as my hitta too)
Well this week has been good, it literally flew bye!!!! Went by real quick! I cant believe i have a decent chunk of time in the mission.... weird, its like high school when you get to junior year and you feel like youve been here forever but also have a good cunk to go.... so its a good deal.
I gotta tell you about those investigators we found like a month ago theyre awesome, sad thing is they wont be baptized this april because you have to come to church at least 3 times and they missed church this past sunday cause they kinda slept in/sick.... but it works out cause i know it was meant to be cause they need more time to progress and learn more.
We went by their house last night and they were just like i knew you guys would come and she was telling her daughter didnt i tell you they were going to come! hahaha so we did and we taught them the imoprtance of prayer, reading the scriptures and going to church. They all incorprate and without one the rest wont work. Its so true, we pray but how are we going to get an answer? Reading the scriptures is where you find revelation and going to church is the acting, so many different ways! It reminds me of what my dad always says when i have an off shooting game (that rarely happened by the way) But he always told me we gotta go back to the basics, Once we went back to the basics and started shooting 5 foot set shots eventually we were able to hit the 30 foot jump shots! The basics in this case are Praying, reading the scriptures and going to church, if you want to feel the holy ghost in your life and do the right things, start with these things! This gospel is the same, it has never changed, it is always the same things, they are so simple, these "simple things" will take you farther than you ever thought was possible! I have realized you cant just be succesful right away, it is not part of Heavenly father plan, its all about learning and growing and maybe and hopefully the succes will come later and if not, just keep trying!
Chile is cool, i swear the dogs here have gotten more mean and have been trying to kill me even more but besides that its all good its just getting cold! We are looking to find the good people who wanna hear the good word..... nothing cooler than seeing prepared to hear the gospel and there are a decent amount who are sadly not and i hope one day they accept it! But nothing we can do, only we can do the best we can! Lord will do the rest! I love you all!
Peace
Elder Wertner:)


    


Friday, April 8, 2016

Hey good week!
First off i just wanna say i love you all and i am truly blessed to be in the position i am in with the family i have, i love you guys!
This week was special...... working side of it was good we are looking for a lot of epople, sometimes poeple wanna here the good word and other times not really, thats just life. i hope those who dont want to hear it one day will be ready to hear the gospel, it is for everyone!
We have truly been blessed this past weeked to listen to our prophet and our apostles and leaders! Whoever you are or wherever you are say what you want, i dont really care.... these are men called by God to lead us and help us a long the way! so cool to have questions  specifically answered, it was like a one on one interview, i pray and ask heavenly father and he gives me a specific answer through his servants! we are blessed, my face was glued to the TV like i was watching the NBA finals or final 4 or something but i was more into it! Nothing better, ill tell you what we are blessed!
I love you all! thanks for all you do, chile is going well, i love it here and i love the people and i love the gospel!
Much love and have a great week!
Elder Wertner

Monday, March 21, 2016

Hey whats up fam!!!
Writing a lot earlier today because we are gonna grill some hamburgers with two other elders, so thats why:)
Hey but everything has been good, honestly no complaints (Even if i did i wouldnt tell yall) But this week went byeeeee sooooo fast! I lay in my non-flea infested bed at night and am just like shooooot that day went bye quick!
I gotta tell ya what our ward is sweet! I love this ward here in Ovejeria! Its such an awesome ward with memebers who really care about the missionaries and you just get this good feeling when you walk in and it just feels like a family! Just like collierville 1 ward!!
But we had a sweet noche de hogar with that new family we found i told yall about last week, it was way good! Its awesome to see and hear when you bear testimony about the restoration and a prophet called of God and The book of mormon! And they agree! nd they believe it as well, then we leave it to them to really get that spiritual witness of the gospel!
We recieev that spiritual witness through the scriptures and praying, prayer with real intent is forreal! It really works!!!
Also i gotta tell yall about our Ward mission Leader, this guy is awesome! Hes been blind for like 4 years from an accident he had, but he is probably one of the happiest and funniest people to be around that i have met! It is so awesome to see when someone who could just be such a debby downer and just so depressed because something is wrong, but instead is just so happy! Great teastment to me and this guy has the best memory ever! Hermana Orlando!! He is awesome!
Well its been a good week, we still dont have wood or any form of heat but thanks to that sleeping bag my old man gave me im doing alright! hahaha, I love yall!
Working hard and trying my bestest! Chile is awesome, i love it! The people are awesome! So cool to see some people who dont have as much, give all their time to others!
I hope you all rememebr Jesus Christ lives, If youre having problems or doubts, Dont forget and just remember, Christ Lives and he loves us! Because of him we can live again, With him and our families forever! Something that brings me so much joy to know.
I love you all! Keep ballin!
Ill send pics ina  bit!
Elder WertneršŸ˜˜

Monday, March 14, 2016

First off its starting to get way cold in the mornings, like way cold and we dont have fire wood or any type of heating so that would be a good idea to look into that!
But its been good, this past week it was fun cause we had the newer people come in, always fun seeing them and all there animo and how excited they are and everything like that! Also there was a guy who came in and he was like " i know i have seen you from somewhere" and he remmebered he was in my EFY group from Santa barbra.... crazy!
This week has been good, first off we just got done eating some pichanga!!! best thing on the planet, but also this new sector and ward is awesome i love it! First off we have the sickest investigador ever, this guy is awesome his name is rodolfo, he likes making english nicknames for the gringos so mine is "towerman" or "tall man" this guy is awesome, hes gotta get divoriced and married but hes all for it and we are working through the process, its actually sometimes tough to teach him because he always is just like yes ill pay tithing, yes ill fast tomorrow, yes ill get divoriced and married, ill quit stuff ive been doing my whole life! He understands that is what he needs to do and understands its what God wants of us and him and he does it! He is very grateful to have us and is just a stud, also he went to church with us and we had stake conference and it was actually kinds cool, everyone in chile hyas their stake conference and they did a brodcast from Salt lake for all the stakes in chile and President Nelson got up and i thought he was just making a joke at first in spanish.... then he gave a 20 minute talk in spanish! Who even knows if he knows spanish he probably was just that intune with the spirit!!! Buyt it was sweet and rodolfo is legit and is so ready to be baptized, ill be way stoked when we get all that figured out so he can just be baptized!
Also we were doing contacts yesterday and we had a super sweet contact where we contacted this house in the back and this lady came oout and her daughte whos like our age and we didnt have anytime to react cause she pulled us in and kissed us before it was too late, so there was that, surprisly i havent been kissed that much here even those its the custom im always pretty good at avoiding it! But besides that i was awesome contact, those two know a mormon family in the ward and only had good things to say and where asking nothing but awesome questions and then we set upa family home evening with them and the family they know. So we went by the family ofthe wards house to tell them that and all this and the lady we just contacted called her (shes the president of the Soc- Soc) and told her how excited she was and hey were tlaking about how her daughter and seminary and all this stuff!!!!! So sweet, it was one of the best contacts ive had in the mish and it was awesome!!!!! im so stoked, i have the best feeling about this family and the church is perfect for them. Its so true you never know who is watching you, thankful for this family in our ward who was always living their beliefs and a lot of people have and will recieve blessings because of their example!!!
I love you all! The church is true!!!
ill send pics later!!!!!
Elder Wertne
Besitos:)