THE CITY IS EXPENSIVE!

thanks for feeling me in, ur pretty much the only one that does, chelsea does to a little but not really about the family. so that is cool they got there gifts! hoped they liked it, i couldnt think of anything for kellon haha. man i have so many pictures to send home, im thinking about buying another usb and just sending it home for u guys but then i might have to get money out of my account again... man its so hard to live in the city, i dont really spened money at all and all of it is gone so far, and im not talking about personal im talking about my support, its the same for my comp, its cause we have to spend so much on little rides everywhere, kinda like taxi thing, its rediculeous so what were going to do is keep track adn them get money back frm the mission cause we spend WAY TO MUCH! well mom thanks for everything, dont worry i really stay focused now haha its way better like this! plus we stay so busy we dont really ever have time to think about home or anything really.
This week was so full of missionary work. from monday to sunday we were either teaching or interviewing or getting stuff ready for a baptism, we also went to a way way far away baptism on the farthest corner of our zone and so we had to spend the night at the closest elders apartment casue it was so early in the morning, thn i had to conduct it. it was nuts. our baptism was way awesome thought, there was 5 of them and they were all sooo ready for baptism, now we are going to try to work on getting there family to follow. Man time is flying so fast rihgt now! its nuts. i cant belive that a week just went by. man i have no idea what i could write. there was seriously a thousand diffrent things that happened this week. so this week i totally witnessed the reallity again the scripture, "WIckedness never was happiness"!!! man this week we should have had 6 people baptised but in the interview somthing came out that is called a special case and she just needs to talk to pres, Then i was SOOOOO happy to be able to teach her the process of repentance and the great feeling of being forgiven and how no matter how bad her sin was its could become as white as SNOW! man it was so aweosme, it just gave me a reassurance for myself as i was teaching it the reality of that, how no matter what ive done or anyone else, as long as its not killing on purpose or denying the holy ghost, i can be forgiven, doesnt mean its easy thought, like we read in mosiah about almas repenting experience, Nye untill death, and i totally saw that in her as i was teaching, she felt soooo bad, and it was the right kinda of feeling bad, it was that godly sorrow, not because she wasnt able to get baptised or any other reason, but that she just felt really really bad for what she had done. thats how it is suppose to be! ah it was awesome and i cant wait tell its over and she can feel that aweosme feeling of forgiveness!!!

FIRST WEEK IN SANTIAGO

So the new area is awesome, we still dont get a washer and dryer and stuff but we get a shower head and that is better then a bucket, and my new apartment doesnt have as many rats at all as my last one so we can actually leave our foot out side of the fridge and it wont be eatin by morning. ya im not sure about when i am going to come home... but i really really need to get my school started so ill have to talk with president pretty soon but that is still a while away :). man my new comp is BOMB, dont try to find his parents cause they dont even write to him, im sure they wont write to u. but he is a stud and we are doing really good in our area it is awesome. it was wierd changing from that training mood to someone else who can actually teach too, and really good, so it was hard at first but i love it now and we have talked about it and our teaching is aweosme now, right in sync and stuff so its great! the missionaries here are awesome, im already starting to love them. i miss my other onse but these are good exchanges and i cant wait to get cool with them all too. ya i got the package and i loved it! the only thing it was missing was pictures, maybe the most important :) joke but i want some when u can get me some, i also have a lot of pictures i want to send home... and ya i did spend some, i needed some extra cash to carry around.
i totally walked into a good teaching pool we are making it even bigger now too. this week we taught 40 poeple with member presnet. that is amazing haha its my all time record and my comps, it was just awesome, needless to say we didnt waist any time walking or whatever we were always teaching and its going to pay off! im just thankful for the oppurntunity im here and everything, im learning a ton and everything. i love it. well i hope everything is going good at home. love ya mom

well what can i say about this week?... well i am finally getting settled in and stuff and starting to get everything down so that is nice! our work this week was awesome. we just taught and taught and taught, which is how it is suppose to be so its been awesome! man i dont even know what to write, all we did was teach.... i guess one thing i kinda got enlightened on that i could share about that is really important is about our priorities LOL. so this week i met and taught a lot of knew people here that arent really in to religion. they all love god, and know he is true and there all some what religious but most of the time its just untill there... and while we are teaching them about this truth and what that really is and how we can bring it to them, all i can see over and over again is just a lac of interest. everyone wants to think there good, they want to think that they just need to not kill and do really bad things and god wil have mercy on them and all i can do is get so frustrate and feel sooooo sad for these kind of people. i remeber reading in the bible, not going to lie, i cant remeber, but it said we should always be trying really hard to always increase our status. even as members at church, i ofter ask my self if i have repented of all my sins and if i were called to the judgment seet at this moment if i would be saved, i love this thought, lots of time when things like this pop in our minds we try to chace it away as fast as posible cause thoughts like that can be scary, or somtimes its just easy not to think about those things because the current concerns we are facing right now seem more important at the times being and easly distract our attention. But these kinds of questions are the onse we ALWAYS need to be asking ourselfs. i love chanpet 5 of alma, how alma asked all these questions to the people he was teaching and just made him think. i asked this to a women this week and it blew me away how easy the blew it off, she doesnt want to have to thnk about that, to stressful. i guess the only message i want to share with u at home is we always need to be asking ourselvs these questions, the ones that are not easy to dwell on but the ones in the over all long run will save and help us the most. while pondering if we notice there might be something keeping us from obtaining our full potential, change, immediately haha, even for me. being a missionary u are always thinking of these things and u still make little mistakes but i always pray for Gods help to over come my weakneses and i can honestly i am trying my best and in the end that is the most important. i know jesus already payed for all our sins, he already suffered for them and to not use that pain and suffering which cause jesus himslef to sweat blood from every pore would just be foolish! its payed for, Gods merciful hands are always stretched out to us, he wants to help us and we just have to be humble and accept and live his plan throught faith in Jesus christ which leads to our repentance. i love u and i want to be with u forever. take 10 min out of life and step back, reevaluate yourself and see what things are keeping u back from ur full potential of becoming a God or godess and quickly fix it. i love ya all. take care...

SANTIAGO ZONE LEADER

ELDER RINER AND ELDER HAYCOCK ARE THE NEW LEADERS FOR THE SANTIAGO ZONE

THE NEW COUPLE MISSIONARIES IN CHARGE OF HOUSING! YEAH!!!! THEY ARE REALLY NEEDED!

THE BREESES HELP IN THE OFFICE AND THE LARSONS ARE THE MEDICAL MISSIONARIES. SOO HAPPY TO HAVE THEM! THEY ARE HELPING COLTON WITH HIS INGROWN TOENAILS.

Well this week was a pretty cool week. so i have pretty much known for a while now that i was moving, and even where i was moving, but it was still hard to hear it last tuesday at my last district meeting when they called out all the names of the people moving. my last district meeting was awesome and i am going to miss all those guys, but hardman took my spot, so the work will go on :). so tuesday and wednesday we said good bye to everyone and taught a lot too. man it was SOOOOO sad. it was a really really good experience too. i didnt relise how much i loved some of these people and how close i had gotten to them untill i had to say good bye. ill just tell about one, aderacion. ive told u about her before, man i LOVE this woman. but my last day she was going to a funeral later that night so i had to say goodbye on my way to a csp. so i went by her house and i just wanted like a little good bye and stuff and then just leave. so i went there and she was just telling me how sad it was i had to leave and stuff, but we were being cool, then she gave us snakcs, and she brought out the book of morman we gave her and made me write in it, AHHHH! so i just wrote a sweet little note for her in it and i got up and i was like, "sister, we have to go..." and then we just exchanged take cares and stuff and it was sad, but then i started to walk away and as i started walkin off she followed me out of the gate and then i just hear this, " Take care elder riner." in like the SADDEst voice ever, i looked back and she was balling, and i just turned and put my head down ballin too, i LOVE THIS WOMAN, i couldnt even control myself, it was soooo hard. i guess she also yelled something like "Maybe ill go to america" but jackson just told me that i didnt hear it. and that was the last thing i saw of her. i was just thinking how hard it was, how i had to do all i could to love these people and then in one day leavn them with little hope of ever seeing them again. i was so thankful that opurtunity though and i relised how much god has helped me really really grow a love for these people, the whole day was just like that. hard! it was like saying good bye to my family all over again when i had to leave home.. it was aweosme! even jackson took me leaving pretty hard. i love that guy and he has a GOOD start with his mission, im way proud of that stud! then thursday i got to talk with everyone, it was soooo sweet seeing everyone one, then i got my knew comp, elder haycock. and now i am here in the city of santiago, its one of the biggest cities in my mission. its way way sick. ive already gotten settled right in and met all the peopple and everything its aweosme! the mission carries on and i am already falling in love with these knew people i am meeting in my knew area. there is a ton of potential, the branch is legit and is about to become a ward! sweet. man, its just been like a long stressful week. im really glad im all settled in with my knew stuff and im ready to work as hard as i can her for this branch. my comp is way way legit and it will be a awesome cycle.
Man i took a lot of pictures but i dont have a think to send them home on... if u get me that i will send these pics home., i have a lot of them too. alright i love ya all. c ya~

GRANDMA MCGARY

So this week was pretty good. I think I wana right about the power of
the book of morman this week cause I had a sweet experience. So we
have this one less active guy that we found. I LOVE this guy, he is
such a stud, pretty much he was baptized when he was a kid and didn’t
really go to church and now he is married and has a little kid. So we
have gotten him back to church and stuff and at the same time were
trying to get his wife to join the church. Turns out she is pretty set
in her ways and when we asked her to be baptized in this church she
was sooooo turned off and wouldn’t face us anymore or anything, it was
a bummer, so pretty much her husband was bummed and I felt bad, he was
doing really good, and he knew the church was true so he really wanted
to for his wife. All we could really do was teach the BoM to her and
try to get her to read and find out if it was all true, so we got her
one time to kinda sit in a lesson, by luck, and we taught the BoM to
her. It was a good lesson, very clear, either the book is true and
EVERYTHING else is true, or its not and EVERYTHING else is not. So we
laid that out for her and let her find out for herself, after that we
didn’t get to teach her, but found out she was reading the BoM little
by little, pretty soon she started to sit in on the lessons but she
is so shy we wouldn’t direct it to her in any way, in fear of her
running off again, so we just let her be and let her listen. Pretty
soon she started coming to church and we started including her in
lessons. So again I got up the courage and talked to her about
baptism. I didn’t force it on her I just told her when she is ready we
would really like to help her out here. I wasn’t sure how she felt
about it until yesterday, her husband went to church on his little
bike and he comes up to elder Jackson and was like” im kinda happy, my
wife wants to get baptized now…” WOW I was so happy, so yesterday I
went to her house and I was talking to her about it, and I told her
how we were going to get the husband the priesthood and he was going
to baptize her, MAN it was soooo awesome, they were way excited for it
and I also gave her a date, unfortunately I will no longer be here to
see it but I know it will happen and im so excited her them! But it
wasn’t because me and my comp are awesome missionaries, it wasn’t
because of one lesson that just blew her mind and she felt the holly
ghost, it was all because she took a few mintues out of her day and
she read the BOOK! This book has a power, I felt it was a kid in
family scripture study, I never prayed to know if jospeh was a prophet
and got and answer, I didn’t even pray to know if this church is true,
but I remember as a little kid, way little, not even understanding the
words I was reading, I rememeber reading the book morman and the holly
ghost just beating me with a hammer telling me it was true and that I
needed to always use it as I grew up and it would solve all my
problems. Im so greatful for this book and the effect its had in my
own personal life, and even more, the effect it has made in the lives
I have seen it change. I know god prepared this book for no one else
except this, our generation and I am so thankful for that. I know its
true and that anyone who reads it will get personal revelation, from
god, through the spirit, that it is true. I love you all, I hope u
will use this gift from god and read it daily. I know it will have a
huge impact on your lives like its had on mine.


COLTON'S RESPONSE TO THE NEWS THAT GRANDMA McGARY HAD PASSED AWAY: When i left
on my mission i really thought i was going to be able to see her
again. guess not, ill just have to wait till the next life. so was she
crying or anything, i think i would be a little scared to die. in
those last moments is were ur testimony would defianlty get tried...
so cool. man its cool we know edsactly where she is right now, spirit
world, and it says that for everyone that lived a good life and
repented, its paradise and there we just get to rest. she totally
lived a good life and her test is over, how lucky is that. man really
puts everything in perspective. thats funny, cause this week i talked
at a funeral in front of a BUNCH of people. i used grandma as my
referance, i told them that i had a grandma that was close to dieing
and that i had probably already seen her for the last time in this
earlthy state, but then i told them i dont have to worry cause i know
if i live and do whats right that i would surly see her in the next
life and that was last tuesday, which would have been wednesday for u
guys, it was way comforting to bear that testimony too cause i could
just feel that it was true. it was so crazy, i taught the whole plan
of salvation starting from death to the 3 kingdoms