March 29, 2017 - No I do not want to smoke with you

Hey everyone how are you doing? This past week was a week of a ton of walking, all of our appointments fell and no one seemed to be in their house, so it was contacting and walking in an effort to find more people. But, that is just how the mission is, the weeks that are difficult are the ones that make you humble and obedient. But, there were some great highlights of the week, including interviews with President Gwilliam yesterday!

Ok so we had some cool stories last week that happened while we were contacting. On Monday we were walking around trying to find a reference and we knocked on the wrong door and a Haitian guy answered the door. He spoke little Spanish but we pulled out our Haitian material and started to teach him the Restoration of the Gospel. He got a little smile on his face and told us to come back later this week, so we are really excited to see his progression! Yesterday Elder Gowers and I were out looking for a less active member in our ward, and we knocked on his door but we found out that he had moved, but we ended up talking to Ricardo, the older man who answered the door. We discussed Christ and Easter and His Resurrection, and he invited us back tomorrow, it was a powerful experience. We found a little problem with Nevel, he still wants to get baptized but he wants to wait until his wife gets here from Haiti so that they can get baptized at the same time, so we are continuing to teach and work with him in an effort to still have him be baptized soon! Overall things are going very good with the people we are teaching, and we are excited to see where things take us. 

This last week I had divisions as well with my district leader Elder Carney. He is a great guy, I actually met him my first day in the mission, so we had a good laugh about my first days here when I did not know where I was or what to say with the language, it was so weird to see the progress that I have made since then. Yesterday we also had interviews with President Gwilliam. It was great to be able and talk with him and discuss how we can better as missionaries and how we have the great responsibility to take this gospel to the world, and there is no greater trust than that in the world. 

This last week Elder Gowers and I also made a music video (hop this link works to view https://drive.google.com/a/myldsmail.net/file/d/0B8aUIdnz2aY7aDRUemR5Ui1aR28/view?usp=sharing), but let me explain. For our district meetings every week, someone gets assigned the special musical number with their companion. For those of you who know me, I do not sing well, but it is all good hahhaha. On Monday morning Elder Gowers and I woke up an hour and a half early to meet up with the Zone Leaders and hike a mountain in our zone. We went to the top, and right as the sun rose we sung the song and it was pretty awesome, one of the funnest things that I have done on the mission no lie.

Ok so funny story of the week. As we were walking around in the sun this week we walked by a pretty ghetto street in our sector. This one guy yelled at us if we wanted to go smoke with him because it was cool. We said no and then they just laughed and kept yelling at us for like 10 minutes to come smoke with them hahahhaa. Remember kids do not do drugs, they are not good for you.

Anyway this was a good week, a ton of work, but that is the way the mission should be. I hope you all have a good week, I pray for you all! Do not forget to write!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Ether 3

Obi Wan Tilghman

Star Wars P Day with the ultimate movie set up

Elder Carney

It was actually cold one day

A nice little ghetto farm

It was also Elder Gowers birthday on Saturday, and this was birthday breakfast, pancakes!

March 22, 2017 - Rogue One

Alright so as the title explains, yes this week for P Day we got permission to watch the new Star Wars movie, so that is what we did for a zone activity, and needless to say it was amazing. If any of you know me, I loved the movie. Ok so back to the important things about the mission and the things that matter about the salvation of people.

For the investigators, things are looking up for Elder Gowers and I. We have a Haitian investigator called Nevel that has a baptimal date in two weeks, and he is a complete stud. He loves the Gospel and learning more, he wants to read a ton of the Book of Mormon before he gets baptized, so we gave him a copy in Creole to read. We also have a ton of investigators who speak English. I do not know how but it seems like every person that we talk to about the Gospel always speaks English and asks if we can teach them about Christ, but in English. For example, the other night Elder Gowers and I dropped some youth off at their house in the night and thier neighbors were standing in the door. And what did they do? They started to talk to us in English, it turns out they have family who lives in Florida and they want to practice their grammar more. We went by and taught them the first time the Plan of Salvation, which was a little different because I am so used to teaching in Spanish, but it was awesome, the kids are really receptive and we hope to get them to come to church. There is also a lady we are teaching named Connie. She is study in highschool, but she had met some Elders before in the past, so she asked us to come by again. We have been teaching and testifying about the power of the Book of Mormon, and she has started to read! So as far as things go, they are looking up.

So the funny story of the week. Because of all of the Haitians that Elder Gowers and I know and have been teaching, we have been starting to pick up a little bit of French. But, the Chilean people have also been starting to pick up some French as well. Everyday we walk by some kids doing some drugs, and the other day they asked us "como ca va" which means how are you doing in French. They thought we would not know French, but we did, so we turned around and started to talk to them in French, and they did not understand a word we said, and then they started laughing and said we were cool, so that was our funny story of the day.

Overall and as usual I am loving the mission, it is the best decision of my life. Even though it may be hard, it is the best place to find yourself and your Creator, all while helping His kids at the same time, no other better thing to do. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Lucas 3

Soccer

Zone Service in the ghetto like normal!

Noche de Hogar

Elder Gowers

March 15, 2017 - Dude the Dog

This week was great, the progress we are seeing in our sector is amazing and the things we have been able to accomplish with the help of the Lord are unreal. This week was also really great because a ton of unexpected things happened, so that shook up our routine for Elder Gowers and I in terms of what we did a little bit. 

Ok so as with always, lets start with the people. So a new thing that our mission has implemented is that every ward has a list of all the members in their ward, whether they be active or not. We have been asked by our President to go and visit all of these people and share a message with them from our bishop with an emphasis to get these peeople to come back to the church, and try and find new investigators from these sources of less actives. So it has been awesome, we have found a ton of people who are members but do not go to the church and we have been able to teach them and their families, all while having the Spirit present so that it touches their heart. But, that being said there are always the people who for some reason hate us missionaries and who do not want to talk to us. Yesterday we were going through thelist finding these people and we knocked on the door, a man opened it and was smiling, saw us, frowned and without saying a word closed the door shut. So that was funny. I guess my name is just too hard to pronounce, so he just figured he would save time by slamming the door shut hahahha. But these people are great, and I love working and serving with them, it makes my life exciting.

Ok so funny moment of the week. ON Saturday Elder Gowers and I went to the city center to go and do some paperwork for the mission so that I can be legal here in Chile. On our way back we got off the bus and started walking back towards our sector. but on the way back Dude (who is basically the mission pet dog) found us and followed us around all day in the sun, he would not leave us alone. Usually this dog just stays by the misson office, but it decided to spend the day with Elder Gowers and I, the problem is that all of the other dogs hate this dog. So as we were walking around during the day, hordes of dogs would come up to us and Dude barking their heads off and trying to pick fights, so we could not really do many contacts in the street because we were more worried about our heads getting taken off by the dirty street dogs. So, that was a fun Saturday, definitely something I never thought I would be doing in my mission, avoiding dogs who want to pick a fight with our friend. Eventually we called the office in the night and they came and took Dude back closer to the office, so that was our experience for the day. 

As always I am loving the mission and the things that I am doing here, I would not rather be doing anything else with my time. I am excited to see how we can complete the Lords work and keep teaching his children about Repentance and salvation. I love you all and I hope you have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Tilghman

John 14

March 8, 2017 - "Do you speak English?"

Hey guys what is up how are things going, how is everyone? Things are hot and what not here in Santiago, but as usual it is life like normal with the crazy people, dogs and food. This last week there were not many new things that happened in terms of our sector, we are still finding and teaching people and trying to get them to come to church, but the things we do in our house with the other Elders with live with changed a lot, for the better.

Ok as usual lets start with the people. So this week was awesome with our investigators, we really focused on getting people to come to church because everyone down here in our mission has this really big fear about the Mormons. They all think we work for the CIA so they do not want to come to church, I know it is weird. But we have really been trying to get people to come to church so they can continue to progress, and this week was the best week I have had on my mission with investigators at church, I believe we had 7, so it was pretty awesome I was happy! Elder Gowers and I have started using a list we got from the mission with all of the members in our ward on it, active or not, to start finding new people to teach and see if we can teach them. It has led to some great visits with people and some lessons taught to people ready to hear the gospel. As well we have contacted some great people in the street this week, people who are pastors of other churches, some more Haitians and the occasional drunk guy, so that awesome led to some friendly and funny encounters. Elder Gowers and I are seeing a ton of potential in our sector and we are excited to see where we can go from here, it all depends on us working hard and keeping our minds set and fixed on our goals. 

This week was also nice because I got a couple of phone calls from old investigators in my last ward in Parque Combarbala asking about how I was and how they are continuing to recieve the missionaries and they are continuing to progress, so it was awesome they are doing great. 

Ok so funny story of the week, on Monday we were doing some contacting on a busy street, we were literally stopping everyone and shaking their hands and just started to talk to them, it would stink to do it in English, but in Spanish it is super easy hahahah. I started to talk to this one guys and I asked him how he was, where he was going all of that stuff and then he looked at me and asked if I spoke English. I pointed to my last name and asked him if "Tilghman" sounded like a Spanish name, and then he told me it was the whitest name he had ever seen, so that was pretty funny we both started laughing at that. We started to talk and I was able to teach him a little bit in English about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he then invited us back to teach him later this week, in English, so I am pretty excited.

Things are going great, we played some tennis for PDay today and I got burned so that is the only bad thing that is happening right now hahahaha. I love the mission, the people, the work and I love you guys. Do not forget to write, and my email is weird so sometimes I do not get the emails you send me, do not get offended, it is just super weird, so I do not know what to tell you hahahah. Say your prayers, see you next week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

James 2:17 and 18

My man Sael, broke his feet but he can still read the Book of Mormon

My other main man, Marcelo

We painted a ladies house

Manchester United is obviously the better team (sorry Gowers)

Elder Lesuer, new guy in the house

Some buildings from Santiago

Juice

March 1, 2017 - The Rains came down and the water got shut off

So just like my email title says this week, we had some heavy rain in the mountains this past weekend, and because of that, the entire city of Santiago for 2 days! We were ok because we had stored water in the house so that we could drink and wash the dishes, but we had no water to be able to shower with, so that was a fun adventure for a couple of days this week. We got water back yesterday, so we are all good now, we just ran out of gas, so we have to shower with cold water, but hey you win some you lose some am I right?

So this last week was great, a ton of weird stuff happened to Elder Gowers and I, but it is all good, nothing happened to us, but I have a ton of stories to tell.

But first as always lets talk about the work and the people, the two important things. So this past week we have still been working to find new people to teach, and it has been awesome to knock on peoples doors and have them be ready to accept the gospel and be ready to change. For example we contacted a house and a lady answered the door and was imediately super friendly with us and wanted to talk to us. She had listened to the Elderes about a year ago, so we were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and help her with her family issues in her life, it is amazing to feel and be a part of the Gospel experience. This week we also found a new less active family with an investigator daughter as we were contacting as well. We went and taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we invited the daughter to mutual last night and she came! So overall this has been another great week of inviting people to change their lives for the better and to come unto Christ. 

So this week was interesting for Elder Gowers and I. This week is the changes in the mission, but Elder Gowers and I will be together for another change, so that means another six weeks for sure here in Condell. And our funny story of the week happened on Saturday. We were in the street and we stopped to talk to a man in a bus stop, he was just wasted, but he wanted to talk to us about the Mormons and would not let us leave, he would just get mad, so we stopped and appeased him for a few minutes. As we were talking to him his friend walked by and said that we spoke lies and we were possessed by devils. Later that afternoon we found that same friend in the street again and we said hola and asked him how he was and he continued walking, leaned over close to me ear and just started gnashing his teeth and barking, and then he left, so that was the fun drunk guy story of the week!

On Saturday we went to a less actives house, and our neighbor Juan Carlos and uprooted some trees for him, and the whole zone came to help us take the trees out, so that was awesome, and tonight we are going with our district to help a member build his business so that he can start working again.

Overall as always I love the mission and I love what I am doing, no matter the things that happen to us in our lives, the one thing that will never change is the Love that Christ has for each and every one of us! I love you and hope you are all taking care!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Doctrina y Convenios 76

Elder Anderson, the best ZL ever

Taking out the trees

Noche de hogar with the Aps and Alfaro and Neddo

Elder Magadan left this change