December 28, 2016 - Im Dreaming of a Rainy Christmaaaaas.

Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas this year was a blast, and it was definetley different than all of my other holidays at my house hahahhaa. This past week has been filled with great times and fun moments in remembering the birth of our Savior and also being able to appreciate His power and influence in our lives.

Ok so this past week was filled with mission and ward parties all week. Last Friday we had a party as a mission down in the mission office with all of the Elderes and Hermanas, so that meant that I got to see my old companion Elder Jones! It was great to catch up with him and talk with him, as well as some of the other friends I have made around the mission that I do not get to see very often. The party was great, we had a talent show, and then we had a present exchange, and we wrapped it all up with a Christmas devotional where we told the Christmas story with songs and scriptures. Overall it was awesome, and I cannot wait to do it all again next year! On Saturday we had dinner with a member family from our ward, and I loved it because this family is like my favorite people here in the ward, so it was good to relax with them and eat some cake. On Sunday we only had one hour of church, and the men from our ward sang a Christmas song, so Elder Topalda and I joined them too! And of course, later in the afternoon I got to talk with my family which was awesome, and also a little weird because I think my brothers voice dropped. 

Overall I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be here in Santiago. During the last month of December I have really thought a lot about Christ and how when we do the things that draw us nearer to Him, we recieve more of his love and light in our lives, and we start to change. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and His birth. It is because of him that I can be saved from my sins and the the opporotunity to live with my family forever in a state of peace and joy with my Father in Heaven. I hope you are all doing good and that all of you had a Merry Christmas! Next time I write it will be January, so I will see you all next year! 

Love,

Elder Tilghman

3 Nefi 17

Burned a tie for the 6 month mark

The Elderes from the CCM!

Christmas Eve Dinner!

Elder Jones! We played water dodgeball today as part of one of his last P Days in the mission, he leaves in two weeks!

This little kid kills me, his name is Moroni

December 21, 2016 - Head, shoulders, knees and toes

Buena mis cabrooooooos! This week was actually a really weird week for us, there was a ton of unexpected things that happen, but it all turned out good in the end. 

Ok so this week was a little rough with our investigators. Our investigator who was going to get baptized (Rodolfo) told us he did not feel prepared and ready, and he got cold feet an hour before his baptism. We had a talk with him and talk through his situation and then said a prayer to find out if he should get baptized or not, and afterwards he told us that he did not feel ready, but that he still wants to get baptized, but that he just has to do some more to prepare himself, so we pushed his date back three weeks. Right now we also have about 8 Haitian investigators who all have interest in the church, and they are all super awesome and want to learn more. But they are sometimes hard to find because their phones will not work, or they are stuck at work for a longer amount of time than normal. So this past week, we did not get to meet with any of them because of their weird schedules, but they all still have desires to serve and follow Christ and are still coming to the church. All in all things are still good and things are still progressing, it just hurts when you love people so much and want the best for them, but it does not happen, but we just have to keep working. Overall this past week was a testimony builder to me that we as missionaries have to be prepared for any situation and we have to accept Gods will in our lives too. 

So the interesting thing of the week was that Elder Topalda had some pain in his knee and we had to go to the mission doctor last Thursday to get it looked at. The doctor sat him down and for almost three hours just massaged his knee. But this is not the nice kind of massage, this massage was rubbing an elbow super hard and fast on Elder Topaldas knee, I felt so bad because he was in a ton of pain, but afterwards, he was all good. Now I just know if I ever have pain in my knee I do not want to go the mission doctor hahahaha.

But as always, I am loving the mission, I honestly do not know what Disney is thinking when they say that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, because they are wrong, the happiest place on Earth is Santiago, Chile. I hope you all are doing good, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Lucas 2

December 14, 2016 - These dogs are not nice

Hey everyone so this past week was a pretty normal week of work and heat, but I loved it. This week felt a little bit different because our schedule was thrown off because we had to go to the hospital because Elder Topaldas knee was bugging him, but overall it was a great week. 

The thing that really marked me this week was the power of studies coupled with the chance to always open your mouth and talk to people. This week we had the opporotunity to travel a lot for various meetings and for trips to and from the hospital, so while we were in the bus and the subway I got the opporotunity to talk with people on our way to places. It is amazing how trusting people are with the missionaries once they know that our intenciones are good and that we have a message that can really help them. Having the chance to get to talk with people about their lives and how the gospel can bless them was great this past week, and it really stood as a testimony to me that we have to be witnesses of Christ in all times, in all things and in all places because people are always looking at our examples. This week we also spent a good amount of time contacting people in the street in our sector so that we can try and find more people to teach who want to hear the message about this gospel. It was long, hard work out in the sun, but in the end we saw our fruits as we now have some new investigators! The thing that I learned this week from all of the contacting we had done is that no matter who you are or what trials you may have in your life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always there to help you learn and grow.

The funny story this week happened yesterday as we were walking through a park. Elder Topalda and I were walking and all of a sudden one of the thousands of dogs in the street freaked out and ran after us. We stayed calm and just hoped it went away, but it was still barking at us. Finally it ran at Elder Topalda bit his pants (just the clothes not the skin) ripped a hole in them and then ran away all tranquilo. In the moment it was pretty freaky, but now looking back on it, we just laugh.

So, overall things are picking up in our sector, we have new people to teach, and our ward and the members are awesome. I love this church and everything that it has to offer us and all of the blessings it promises. My companion has a hole in his pants, we eat a ton of icecream, and the sun is hot, but other than that things are normal down in Santiago. I love you and hope you all have a good week, take care!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Mormon 7

Our house Christmas Tree, and of course the AYSO soccer jersey

We did divisions with the CCM again, and this is Elder Hansen

Mom I always told you one day I would put my shoes on the counter, well I did it and took a picture, but then your voiced echoed in my head, so I went and put them back in my closet

December 7, 2016 - We would love to eat food with you

Life is awesome! The days go by so fast I feel stressed out that we do not have enough time in the day to get everything accomplished that we want to get done. But, I will take busy days over slow days any day of the week. The mission had a change this last week, but I am still with Elder Topalda in the same sector, which means I will be in this ward for the first six months of my mission! I would not have it any other way, I love the members, investigators, less actives and all of the random dogs that live in our sector, and I would not change it for the world.

This week overall was a good week. Elder Topalda and I have been working hard to find and teach more investigators, or people who have never heard about the Gospel and would like to learn more. That means almost everday we are passing by references from members or other missionaries and we are doing a lot of contacting, in the street, on the bus or in the Metro. I honestly love it because we get to talk to so many different people from so many different walks of life everyday, and it is amazing to see how the Gospel can help each one of them in their lives, even though they are all different. This week in church we got a new bishop, our old bishop (Bishop Jara) was released and his brother in law was called as the new bishop (Bishop Villaroel). I will definently miss Jara, but I am excited to work with Villaroel because we have a lot to do to help him as he makes this transition. 

On Friday we had divisions with our District Leaders, so I left Parque Combarbalá and went over a few wards to Brisas. During the day we were doing some contacting and we knocked on a door and we talked to a teenager who came to talk with us. Later his mom came out and we started to talk and during the middle of our discussion she stopped us and asked if we would like to come by in three days to have dinner with their family. I looked at Elder Guitierrez in shock because that never happens, and then we said yes and fixed a time to come back. That moment for me was a miracle that we were able to find this family and have them be so receptive to the gospel.

I am doing great, loving everyday out in the heat! There is no other place in the world that I would rather be right now, and I know that Heavenly Father needs me to help with this work for his children. I hope you all are good, love you!

Love,

Elder Tilghman