EMAIL FROM JUSTIN YAYAYAYAYA

This week was good! It hasnt stopped rainning since I last talked to yall (except for today the sun is out) but its so good! The rain here literally pours! like We sometimes gotta dig a little deeper and push through the rain and wind, which the wind is way strong here haha! Hahah it pretty funny sometimes, I love it!

I forgot what day it was but someday this week all of our citas got cancelled and we didnt get into 1 house! Not one!!!! Everyone we talked to and every door we knocked all said it was too cold and rainy outside and it was rainning too hard to talk!

That was a lot of water that day, it just straight up poured non stop! (Im sending pic of me and elder cleverly just sitting in the puring rain) what i realized is theres no such thing as something being waterproof, cause its just not true. Come here and you will see! We put all of our stuff in bags and then put them in our bacpacks! that same day where we were walking down the street and it was pouring rain, I just started laughing cause i was just thinking, Dang this is it right here!, but we never got upset or down and we kept working hard! Next couple of days were way good, we found a couple new investigators, two were old investigators in the area book from like 2010, but theyre named Jose and Carmen! and the other day we went and stopped by and the read a little of the Book of Mormon and and the plan of salvation pamphelet! and they said it is true and the believe i! so now we just gotta get them to church! That is the biggest thing here, getting people to church, it is difficult because everyone is working like 7 to 9 hereª plus when it is really bad weather here it is tough to get to church for people cause no one has cars so everyone is just walking!

Sunday we had stake conference and so a 70 came and spoke which was way good! our mission president and his wife came down and spoke to and its really good! hahh sometimes i have this moment and i am sitting there listening to the person talk and i am just like wow!......This is a different language. Still learning spanish everyday here! I hve a long way to go but it is good! i learn more each day!

also this week we knocked this one door and this ldy answered and she was kinda laughing and about to slam the door and she told us she was apart of a different faith, then we just asked...... Hey would you like to be with your family for eternity! and she sat there for like a minute and didnt say anything and then asked us if it was possible....... then we talked on her doorstep about the plan of salvation for like 15 min! it was so cool, the spirit works and i saw it there in that instance! now we have a return appointment! 

The weeks here are just a day i feel like, so much happens in one day its tough to remmeber it all (Dont worry mommy im writing in my journal everyday) but it is so awesome!

Everything is great here! im learning a lot and having fun! We work realy hard and are obdeient and we are blessed for that, sure there are some tough days but thats life! The great thing about life and the mission is tomorrow theres always a chance to do better!

i love you all and hope you are all doing well and are everyone is into the swing of things with school starting back up! I love you all!!!!! 

Love Elder Wertner

Happy Monday

Whats up Everyone!

Another week in Chile has gone bye!!!!!

Ok i feel like i need to explain Chile a little better. The food is way good here, here breakfast isnt really a thing but the lunches are huge and its like a three course meal, its sooooooo good!!1 then dinner is caled "Once" and its just usually a bunch of bread and stuff and sandwhiches. Way good! I didnt talk about fleas much cause they werent really bad, but its starting to not be as cold so the fleas are coming out (Mommmmyyyy dont worry ill be alright) im just itching everywhere, but im kinda use to them from the tennessee bed bugs but these are a litle more intense, but i am fine! Its not like they hurt or anything hahaha! 

Oh i dont know if i said this in the last email but also here we have to cut wood everymorning, there is no such thing as in door heating here, everyone in every house just uses fire to heat up the house. Cutting wood is a pretty good workout though so it is good in the morning, but those mornings where we dont have fire....... We study in our sleeping bags and we can see our breathe! Hahaha its pretty funny, getting out of bed is the worst but once we are out of bed we are wide awake thats forsure. oh als we have bunk beds (reminds me of the good ole days before jake left on his mission and i slept on the top bunk cause thats kinda how it is now) but its good stuff! When it rains here it just straightup poors!!!!! You get all different kinds of rain here, light rain, heavy rain, the rain that hurts, just it all...... It reminds me of forest gump when he is talking about all different kinds of rain, hahahah its so how it is1 But this clutch rain jacket my loving parents got me is awsome!

I dont know if i said this last week but we are in a house with two other elders so its pretty cool, theyre great guys! Friday we gave a lesson to this family and the spirit was so strong, one of the best times i have had (no dahl not as good as priest quroum but close) but it was so awesome, but it didnt workout. I have had doors slammed on me so many times and people actually like run away from us and just get rejected by people. it was sad cause we bore our testimonies and the spirit was so strong its like we could touch it. The point i am getting at is sometimes we just think our life is soooooo tough and we just wish the days away or just think no one can know what we are going through. but i want you to remmeber someone who went through it all, Jesus Christ our savior! He went through a lot more then any of us can ever imagine! I want you all to go look up this video "the Atonement and missionary Work" It is one of the bst videos i have seen! Remember who is always right beside you and can be your best friend, he wont forget about you so dont foget about him!!! and dont say you dont have time to watch the video or youll get to it later, i have heard that excuses a lot and its not true! Make time for the things that really matter!!

Here in chile there is a lot of reactivation to be done, a lot of inactive members to help. We had an awesome lesson last night with one of them and we talked about temples and families forever, the spirit was so strong it was crazy!!! everyone was crying and they made it their goal to come back to church and focus on the temple! I saw them one of my first days here and in 2 weeks they have already come so far it was awesome!! You have no idea how much joy it brought and still brings me! 

The other day on saturday i am pretty sure (The days all become one, time goes bye faster on the mission..... now i know what Jake, and big mike were talking about) But we taught 4 lessons and got 5 new investigators, which is tough to do but the lord blessed us and put those people in our path!

I am on a mission to help and teach the poeple of chile and right now Martinez De Rosas about the restored Gospel of Jesus christ, I am not here to teach those poele who are not ready and just want to argue, We have been called to teach people who are prepared for us. 

Oh also something funny was the school hre starts at like 2 and gets out at like 5 hahahahahahah! so funny! But chile is awesome! i love it, funny becaue here they all listen to mostly american music but i am pretty sure they have no idea what theyre saying hahaa!

i love chile its awesome, the mission is tough but i recieve so much happiness and joy from what i was doing. I wouldnt want to be anywhere else!

I love you all, Keep the faith!!

Love

 Elder Wertner

First Week in Chile!

Hey everyone wow i have so much to tell you! Chile is straight up beautiful! I am going to try and send you all a bunch of pictures so i hope they eventually go through! I am in Valdivia and my sector is Martinez De rosas and that is our ward. My companion is Elder Cleverly, hes awsome and he is from california. We work really hard together and are always just constantly working! We walk about 15-20 miles a day! I am so tired when we get home that when i go to sleep i just wake up because times already up and its already the morning.Also here it is very very very cold and im pretty north too, it is freezing and when it rains it can be pretty bad but it is awesome. At night im so physically and mentally tired but my spirit is stronger and feels awesome! 

Here there is a lot of reactivation that we do, a lot of inactive members and so we are trying to get a lot of them back to church. Our ward is about 35-40 people theyre all really awesome people! Yesterday i went up and bore my testimony and introduced myself! I will tell you guys what, the spanish is different and they talk super fast but i am learning, it is tough but the lord blesses me and i am very thanful for that. 

Also i had a really cool experience, it was one of the best i have had. I had my first baptism invitation!! Her name is Irma and her daughter is named elizabet and is a less active. The spirit was super strong in the lesson and we asked her if she thought the book of mormon are true and joseph smith was a tru prophet and she said yes! Then i asked her if she would be baptized and she said...... YES!!! Wow it was awesome..... Her baptismal date is for the 19th of september! It was so exciting and the spirit was so strong. It was so strong her daughter was crying and stuff it was crazy, the cool thing was i understood most of it and i know that was the gift of tongues and the Lord helping me!! How awesome this work is! We now have two people with baptism dates and hopefully 3 after tonight! 

HAHA wow there are so many cats and dogs everywhere here all around the streets, just laying around flea infested probably like million no joke! The mission is really ups and downs and i am really starting to see that! Every moment is like a roller coaster ride, it is crazy!! Its so good though! 

It is kind of un real being out here right now, being on a mission and everything its just unreal hahahaha. I know everyone is starting back up school, I think today? but i hope it is awesome! Tear it up yall and have fun! Oh yeah the food is real good here, we had this thing called a completo that is a hot dog with a bunch of meats wow it was so good, it had all these toppings..... DAD you would just love it!!!!! But food is way good here!!!

Chile is awesome and i am having a good time and learning a lot, i am a greeny and there is a lot of work to do, it is definitley really hard at times but then i remmeber all of you and i especially remmeber the savior and his example!!! 

I love you all and miss you like crazy! Treat all the missionaries good wwhenever you see them, just imagineif that was me? Would you let them in? would you offer them something to eat?

I hope you all are well and i know you are doing awesome things!!!

Love you all 

Love Elder Wertner

P.S. If you want to send letters or packages send it to the mission home, i would love some candy:)

Love you ALLLLLL!!!!!!!

Elder Wertner has made it to Chile!

Elder Wertner made it to Chile yesterday! He was able to call us for a few minutes during a layover in Santiago on his way from Mexico to Osorno! He sounded so great! He is doing so awesome and kept saying how much he loves the mission and being a missionary! He said he's been praying for everyone and is so happy! We just love our missionary so much!! 

He got to Osorno last night and his mission president gave him and the other elders time to write their families a letter and then his mission president emailed it to us!

We're not sure yet when his new P-Day (preparation) will be! Thanks so much for beings so supportive of Justin!

Last full week in the MTC

**Justin leaves the MTC this Monday and heads for CHILE!

You can send him a last minute package or letter today or tomorrow and he will get it before he leaves using 

http://www.missionarypackagemx.com/

Just click on the upper right link that says Mexico MTC and all you need is his name :)

We've been able to send a couple packages and he's received them all!

Well first off let me just say how much i love my family, I have been truly blessed with a wonderful family and I am just so grateful for them! Me and my sister brookie have always been best friends whether it was playing bball 1 on 1 since i can remember or her being my best and really only friend and taking good care of me when we moved to tennessee and i did not have really any friends! She really is my best friend............ AND NOW SHE IS ENGAGED!!!!!! S/O TO BROOKE AND MICHAEL! I am so excited for you both! I wish i could be there but i know yall are going to have the best time ever and i am just so happy!!!!

Okay so pretty much same old same old here but this will be last time i write you guys from Mexico, because monday at 1030pm i leave for chile!!! its about an 8 1/2 hour flight to santiago and then we have about like a 6 hour layover and then we fly to OPsorno which is about 1 1/2 hours away. So during the layover i dont know if i will be able to call or not but i will try!!! so if i do call it will be like 8 or 9 am chile time, but if i cant dont be sad mommy and dad!!!! but i will try my best so just be ready tuesday morning! I am pretty sure it is 2 hours ahead of yall so probably like 7 amyour time, i will try! not forsure tho! 

This week we watched a live devotional from Russell M. Neilson whos new president of the quorom of the 12! it was very good its so awesome to hear apostles speak!!! I love it! There is a really good quote i heard in one of our devotionals and i have heard it a couple times before..... "You dont recieve your answer for your prayers until after the trial of your faith" I love this quote it is so true, sometimes in life i feel like we just want want want and we think when we pray we should just get the answer right away! But thats not how it works, we are on this earth to be tested, and through prayer heavenly Father helps us but we are here to be tested, he gives us trials that he knows we can overcome and that are necessary for not just yourself but others! We have to remmeber it is isnt about us sometimes but it is about serving others and then after that our testimony will grow and i know that we will become better people in when we are serving others!

Tuesday was our last pizza night and thats sad, hahahahaha but i ate 8 slices so i ended on a good note! We had TRC again and that went really well, everytime we do TRC it just makes me even more excited for being out in chile and everyday i get the opportunity to teach people about something i love so so so much!!! And they have no idea about it! 

Well i have had so much fun here and i have made some good friends and there are some awesome people, The MTC has been good and i feel like i have learned a lot but i still have a lot to learn!!! i am so unbelieveably stoked to be serving the people of chile!!! Next time yall talk to me i will be on a different continent! How crazy is that? I just cant wait!! I love my district and it is kinda sad that elder Asay, Elder Rollins, Hermana barney and Arave are all going to the states so i wont really get to talk to them for like 2 years but i wish they were going to Chile! But its all good, I have been truly blessed and i am thankful for my time here! I love you all and pray for you all everyday!

Yo se que la iglesia es verdad y yo se que mediante jesucristo y la expiacion my familia puede por eturnidad! yo estoy muy agradecido por la oppurnidad servir un mision! yo amor ustedes!!!!

Love you all! keep the faith and never give up!!!!

Love Elder Wertner

Hey this pic was taken about 30 seconds ago so talk about a live update! Yall are all basically here with me;)

Week #4!

Hey Fam and friends! 

Another week has gone by i cant believe it but it has already! It has been good here at the MTC, besides the fact that i feel like i have been here for like 6 months..... hahahaha! Also mom, nana and alyssa dont worry, but i was sick on Sunday and monday! I had a really bad stomach virus, me and elder griffin got it pretty bad for a day or two, it started on sunday night and then all monday me and elder griffin just laid in bed, well and also about 150 other people at the MTC did as well, and there was some people who had it a lot worse. Being sick was the worst here tho, there was nothing to do we just laid there and slept and talked about how our stomachs hurt, but no worries we are all better now:)

Here at the MTC we have been dooing a lot of the same stuff, classes, classes, and some classes but we are learning a lot and i feel like my testimony has grown a lot and spanish is getting better everyday! I say my prayers in spanish without even really thinking and when i go to bed at night its just a bunch of phrases and words just run through my head, which is good..... I feel like i am getting better everyday, I am truly being blessed by the LORD and by all of your prayers so thanks so much Y'all. HEY also i ran into gubernick, yeah i knew he was from IRVINE cause that name isnt to common, but he is serving in Mexico and wow guys no one told me but i guess his dad served in Osorno Chile! who knew? thats awesome!

We had another great sunday here, sunday night i started feeling sick but before we watched meet the mormons and it was awesome, hahahha it was kinda like a real movie so we were all super stoked! It was awesome, it is a really good movie and that song by David Archuleta that was playing was some fire!! Also the director of all the MTC came and spoke to us, he showed us all the different MTC around the world and it was really cool. It made me realize just how nice this one is! The mexico MTC is supper nice and its pretty big so i am glad i am here!

I told all of yall about TRC where we teach like real life people who come in on wednesday, they were both members from mexico CITY but it was still so awesome, my sentences started to flow a lot better without translating as much and it was awesome, the spirit was so strong! I loved it! 

Not having my phone is kinda awesome, it is so so so awesome to be walking home at night or in the day just walking around and being able to see all the beautiful things that have been created on this earth. The moon is so beautiful at night and i just love it! Also on tuesday i think it was, thye sun was just like blasting threw the clouds and it was one of the most beautiful things I have seen! So my challenge for yall this week is to put your phone aside, put whatever it is aside and enjoy the beauty it is so awesome! Also I just got a haircut! they cut it shorter and it feels nice, hahahhaha they dont even ask us the way we want it, they just do it the same for everyone! 

This week I have really been thinking how grateful I am for the examples in my life! My dad is a stud and is one of my biggest role models, my cousins are all studs! my sisters mom aunts and uncles and my friends are so good to me!! I was really thinking about my Brother and how i grateful I am for his example, he has always been a great guy to me and a great example of someone i want to be like when i am older so thanks Jakey poo!!! 

Everything is good here though, there isnt much to say cause it all is kinda the same stuff, but we are working hard and having a good time! My district is awesome so it is going well, I am very blessed to be in this district! Kinda sad though that only half of us from our district are going to chile, but it is all still good!!

I say this every week but i pray for you each individually every day! I am so thankful for all of your support! I love you all and miss you guys!!! Thanks for being the best!

Love Elder Wertner

I am gonna try and attach a video of me dunking i hiope it wokrs this time, if it doesnt weel ill show yall in 2 years but i was putting it threw my legs! So i still got it hahaha:)

Me and Elder Griffin after we got fresh chops!

I love you guys! All of you, i really do and heavenly father does as well!

 

 

Whats up Yall!!!!

So i dont know where to start, The MTC is a lot of the same stuff, it is a lot of repetition. But Today was another good week it went by fast though i am not going to lie!

So Sundays are so awesome here the spirit is so strong and this Sunday we got to watch the movie the restoration! It was so awesome seeing those pioneers, talk about people who had faith am I right? Everything they went through, not just joesph smith but everyone of those pioneers who died for what they believe and left everything behind it was just crazy!

It is so funny here because every wednesday we get a new group of like 50 elders and sisters! Its really cool and they all seem so young, I feel so much older since i have been here for 3 weeks, hahahha not really but its so cool seeing everyone come! 

It rains a ton here it feels super super good! I love the rain and i know i have to start liking it even more since i am about to go to chilE and it only rains there. We had a guy from OSORNO in our dorm and he would talk to us everynight about Osorno! He told us it is freezing and rains a ton but there are a lot of penguins! Also this week he told showed us a 20,000 peso bill, which is worth just about 40 dollars in the US, which is just kinda unreal! Its funny how here we get the news about things that happen so much later hahaha like US and soccer and all of this stuff! Tuesday we had a great devotional from a member of the seventy and before that it was pizza night, i hypw pizza night up! It reminds me of the last night before i left how mom hooked the fam up with a veggie pizza and we lit some fireworks, hahahaha so fun! thanks for keeping me healthy! 

Oh and they made a new comedor so we can go in, thats like a new dinning hall and its really nice! Food is the same but pretty good and the Milk is super good and cold! wow nothing is better than cold milk. Oh yeah, we also were talking to the elder from chile and he said yeah you eat like a 3 course meal for lunch but then for dinner and breakfast you eat cereal, and they dont refrigerate your milk, but you can always find the good in all of that stuff, like the frosted flakes still taste the same with warm milk, you just have to look for the positive!

We get taught spanish and how to teach people for 4 hours in the morning and then we have lunch and we got to this online Spanish thing called TALL, hahahaha we love making jokes about tall cause the thing like sings to us its kinda weird lol, and then we have study time and gym time. Then we eat dinner and have another 4 hours of learning Spanish and how to teach and then we get back to our dorm by 930-945. and we have to be in bed by 1030 and wake up by 630! thats what the schedules like! Oh yesterday we had TRC again and it was awesome, thats what i was talking about how members or non members or less active people come and we teach them. It is so awesome and the spirit is there! Oh also friday we always have like a "45 min service project" and they keep this place really really clean and a lot of people work here so this past week they had us take brooms and sweep the walls, hahahahha it was very funny! I wish you could all see it! 

Me and elder Thomas gave a lesson a couple days ago it was the best one yet, We were really talking in spanish and the investigator said how well we did and how he knew the spirit was blessing us. Without the spirit i would not be able to do this! I am very blessed. Spanish is going well i get better everyday, im not saying im some pro i mean i have a tough time still but it keeps getting and i know it is all of you guys prayers! so please keep praying for me! I am constanly praying for each one of you and if your thinking right now that you think i am not then you probably wrong cause i spend a lot of time on my knees praying here, it is the best way to get close to our heavenly father and it is so awesome the ways he blesses us all individually! Some of the pics i am going to send are from the roof, we got up there and took some really good pics, but shhhhh dont tell anyone!! 

Well I love you guys! All of you, i really do and heavenly father does as well! he has blessed our lives so much, we need to make sure we are constantly on our knees thanking him! 

Keep the faith Yáll

Love Elder Wertner

 

Here are some different pics of mexico and yesterday morning we woke up with an awesome sunset! it was so beautiful! oh also here is a pic of me and my district I love these people! theyre my best friends! so many great memories learning, studying, spiritual moments, jokes! just so many fun times

og and sorry about the basketball video ill try and figure it out and send one next week! we play ball every couple of days and the J is still here hahaha! Love yall