August 30, 2017 - Go to the bathroom and go to teach

Ok so this week was an awesome week! So since I am with my new companion Elder Atkinson who does not know any Spanish, I have the chance to teach him what all of the weird phrases and things are down here, I will explain more at the end of the email. But as always, this week was amazing, I absolutely love the mission and the work that we do. 

Ok so we will focus on the people. Last week we had a lesson with a recent convert and his sister and we had planned to teach them about the Gospel of Christ and the doctrine that he taught. As soon as we sat down with them at the church to talk, we felt prompted to change. We had a lesson on the pure power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We testified that he is our Savior and Redemeer and that as missionaries we help others to make sacred covenants with Him in order to have more access to his atoning power in our lives. It was an amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong, in the end of the lesson the sister of the recent convert put her own baptismal date for the 14 of October. I testify and I know that we must listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Not only will we have the opporotunity to have our own lives blessed as we listen to the whisperings of the Spirit, we will have to chance to bless others in their journey on the quest for the truth. This is an eternal concept. To be able to hear the Spirit, we must do all in our power to act, listen and study in order to be able, in the precise moment, hear what He has to say. These moments are precious and the closer we draw to our Savior, the more in tune we become in order to better hear the impressions that we recieve every day. 

As well we are working hard with a list of some less active members in our ward. We have been teaching and helping them and their families to understand the Gospel and to learn to live it. Overall, the work is going great here in our ward!

So on Monday we had a really cool and funny experience for the week. We were doing contacts and we started talking to this man at his front gate about the Gospel. All of the sudden out of nowhere I got the urge to use the bathroom, so I asked if we could pass and use the bathroom. He looked at me a little funny and then let us in. We then ended up teaching him and we are going over again today because he loved what he heard. So long story short, God works in misterious was, sometimes in ways we never imagine. I was grateful we could teach that man, and as well I am grateful I went to the bathroom in his house, he had one of the nicest that I have seen in Chile, so that was a blessing for me. God works in misterious ways. 

So that is all! This has been a great week! I love the mission, my comapnion and I are working hard and sacaring the mugre every day, which makes us both feel good. I love you all, keep writing and have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Mormon 7

This is my favorite kid ever.  He likes to play Pokemon with me.

August 23, 2017 - Maestranza Mania

This place is a mad house! Ok so some crazy stuff happened this last week, and I do not mean crazy like I found peanut butter for super cheap in the street fair, I mean crazy as in people with knives and of course my mortal enemy, the dogs.

Ok lets start with the people. This last week was very good for us. Elder Atkinson and I are working very hard and we are really trying to find new people to teach, we are in the process of long, fun working days. We have a few people with baptismal dates right now, and all of them are Haitians. I know my emails all probably sound the same with me talking about the dogs and the Haitians, but honestly that describes my life right about now. I am learning some Creole and French and at the same time teaching my companion about the proper way to kick dogs while riding on the bike. Tecnique is everything. So our investigators Gilbert and Sterling are doing great, Sterling has been really sick for a while so they have not been able to come to church because they went to the hospital to get things checked out to make sure that she was ok. But, we are praying and hoping that they will come back to church and keep their baptismal date for this September. Yesterday we had a really cool experience. We were contacting in a park that is near a big church and we stopped a man as he was walking. It turns out that Pedro, that was his name, has a ton of belief in Jesus Christ and does not know what the true church is. We got talking and we were able to teach and testify of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was great to teach him, the Spirit was strong and we were able to get a teaching appointment with him this Saturday. 

Ok so the funny story. So a couple nights ago we were on the bikes and we rounded a corner to go down through a subway station and there were some guys yelling on the side of the road. They had knives in their hands and they were not yelling kind words at each other, so we hurried and got out of there real fast, I was not ready to meet my Maker. 

On Saturday as well we had a funny story. So Elder Atkinson is a little new to the mission and does not know yet about the terrible abominacion that we have down here called the dogs. So on Saturday we were walking in the street and there was a small white d-word on the side of the road. I kept on walking, but my companion bent down to look at it. I took that moment as a learning opporotunity and did not say anything, just so that he could learn from experience. My companion got almost down to touch it and the dog freaked out and started to chase him, my comp jumped about 7 feet off the ground and came running towards me. Lesson learned, welcome to Chile ahhahahahahahah!

I am loving the mission, I love every second of it. Today we went to the temple, and I love it, every time I go inside I learn more about the Spirit and I feel the truth of what we teach and preach. Love you, ahve a good week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

DyC 121: 41-43

I like pizza

Temple trip

View from the train station

It was a little cold, wow I just now realized I cannot talk a good picture, either that or I am not good looking, or both

August 16, 2017 - I am a Dad

Hey everyone this past week was great, we had a ton of great spriitual experiences that have really helped to build my own testimony. I am sorry if I say that like every week, but it is true, these kind of things happen all of the time. There of course were some ups and some downs, but overall we had a great time this last week. 

Ok so lets start off with the people. During these last few weeks we have been meeting with a less active emmber named Mauricio. He has started to come back to church and wants to come back in order to participate of all of the blessings that he has in store for him. We met with him yesterday and had a great lesson about the Priesthood and then later that night he texted us and thanked us for meeting with him and shared his testimony, it was awesome! We also have been teaching a less active member named Marion. Yesterday we had a great lesson agbout the Great Apostasy with her and her family, and for once her family paid attencion to us! They usually leave the room or ignore us while we are there, but yesterday they listened, asked questions and finally committed themselves to read and pray, so we were very happy!

Yeah so the title of the email. On Saturday I got a call from President Gwilliam to say I would be helping out a new missionary as his first companion. On the mission we say that your first companion is your dad, so I was able to be a dad! My comps name is Elder Atkinson and he is from Pleasant Grove, Utah, he is a great guy and I love him to death, we are going to have a great time!

Love you all, sorry that this email is short, I hope you are all well and that things are good this week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Juan 4

Elder Atkinson

Giant hot dogs

kelsch

August 9, 2017 - Thailand

Hello thank you all for tuning in this week to Elder Tilghmans mission emails. Ok so this week was good, bueno all of the weeks are good, but overall I felt this week Elder Alldredge and I were giving it our all in all that we were doing. It was funny, I talked about how last week was really good for us, this past week was a little bit rougher, I think the Lord was trying to teach me a humility lesson and let me tell you it definitely worked. But de verdad overall I really enjoyed the work this week. 

Ok so lets get into the people. So we have been teaching a young Haitian married couple named Gilbert and Sterling, and they are doing great, Sterling got sick this last week and went to the hospital for a checkup, and the whole time they called us letting us know the play by play. We are praying and fasting that they will feel the Spirit and be baptized! On Monday we had a miracle here in our sector. So we were out in the morning touching doors and going to visit some less active members we had never met before we we suddenly arrived at one house and talked to the wife of the family out front. We went by later that night to talk to the whole family and we had a great discussion about the church. The father and grandfather were old members and remembered the great times that they had and we invited them to pray and read teh scriptures to see if theis was the truth and the gospel and what they should do to come back. They accepted our invitacion and are trying to come back to the church, we are very excited for them. It was a powerful and very blessed conversation, once again I am grateful to have these kind of opporotuniteis here on the mission. Overall very pleased and happy with what is going on!

Ok so this last Monday was really cool. So usually for lunch here in our ward we go to a members house and eat chicken and rice and sometimes beans, but Monday was a change. We went to this members house and he had prepared for us a Thai lunch. We ate some noodles with chicken and shrimp and a peanut sauce, I think it was the fanciest meal I have ever eaten on my mission. My definition of fancy used to be a hamburger with ketchup, but Brother Salazar, the member, stepped up the game. Thai food was great. 

Ok so also funny story of the week. Last night we were on our bikes and we were going down a dark road. I could see up in the distance a couple a crazy dogs who were chasing people, so I mentally prepared myself for the fight of my life. But, we got there and the dogs were not there. We passed the corner and we saw them sitting down all calm next to a super old guy in the street. As we passed the old guy he looked at us yelled, and yelled at the dogs "ataquenlos" which means attack them. Needless to say I have never biked so fast in my entire life to get out of there. 

Anyway good week and it has been awesome here in the mission. Love the people, hate the dogs, all good.

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Moroni 8

August 2, 2017 - Wake Up Call

What a great week! This last week was really awesome Elder Alldredge and I are tearing it up here in our sector it is great! I have really seen the blessings of the Lord and the blessings of worker smarter and harder each day in the mission field. But yeah overall it was a killer week, sacamos la mugre, I have no idea how to say that in English, just plug it in to google translate. As always I love the work and what we do, but it makes it even better when we are able to see the fruits of our labors and to help other people change their lives. With that said, lets go and talk about the people.

Ok so we have a couple people to talk about this week. Gilbert and Sterling are a married Haitian couple that we have been teaching for about 2 weeks. This past week we invited them to be baptized and they said yes! They have a date for the beginning of September, and on top of that they want to have a party in the chapel for like a wedding shower, so we will see how that goes as well. I am super excited for them and looking forward to their baptismal date! This past week as well we went and taught Rafael and Paola. They are a young married couple who just moved into the ward and were being taught by other missionaries a few miles away. We went and talked with them about prayer and gaining a testimony, and the Spirit was very powerful. As we were teaching the Spirit testified of every word, and I felt power in each letter that we uttered. We shared the story of Enos and his example of prayer from the Book of Mormon, and then they as well committed to be baptized at the end of September! I am so happy for them. 

This past week as well we had a very cool lesson. We have another Haitian investgator named Gilbe. We went to go and teach him about the book of mormon, and he had invited his whole family of 6 to listen to us! That was not even the best part. We asked his cousin to start with a prayer, and what happened next was unexpected. She began to sing in French a hymn, and about 3 seconds in Elder Alldredge and I realized she was singing "How Great Thou Art" so we started to sing along in Spanish. The Spirit filled the room, and afterwards she gave the prayer and we were able to teach a very powerful lesson. I am so grateful to be a missionary.

Ok so as well I would like to explain the title of the email. This morning  at like 3 in the morning I was asleep in my bed all nice and warm with my blanket and pillow. All of the sudden the house began to shake and some stuff in the kitchen fell. Mother Nature woke us all up with a little tremor. It lasted for about 30 seconds, in the which we all woke up and then we had to make sure everyone was ok. It was all fine, and then we went back to sleep. It was a pretty sureal experience being woken up by an earthquake.

I am loving the mission and loving the work. I hope you are all doing good, You definitely have to come visit Chile one day, maybe not where I am at because it is the ghetto, but the people are hilarious, I love it. Love you all, do not forget to write!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Mateo 24:44-46

July 26, 2017 - Need for Speed

Hey everyone I hope you all had a good week, my week was great. Life is going as normal, and Elder Alldredge and I are having some reall success in our sector, which as always makes us happy to see that all of our efforts are paying off! From a baptism to some really cool new people, the work has been progressing in San Bernardo.

Ok so first things first with the gente. On Saturday Ernesto got baptized! It was a really awesome day and we were very happy for him and his decision to join the church. All saturday morning we went and cleaned the chapel and filled up the font to get ready, and then we had the baptismal service in the afternoon. It was crazy to see family from all different parts of Santiago show up and support Ernesto in his decision. I was asked to play the piano to start the ceremony, so yes Kaci and Conner, keep practicing because you will never know when someone needs you to play. During the baptism we had a great turnout from the ward members who came and supported, I think there were in total about 100 people there! And then on Sunday Ernesto was confirmed a member during sacrament meeting.

We have also had some good experiences this week in finding a ton of new people to teach. One of our Haitian investigators we have been teaching presented us the family of his friend to teach, and we got to teach the whole family about how we can have family relationships forever, it was awesome! Our goal now is to fix some dates for baptism with people so that they, like Ernesto can enter into Heavenly Fathers kingdom. I love being busy and having a ton to do!

Ok so cool story of the week. So we ride around on bikes which is really fun because we can get around the sector really fast if we need to. Anyway, we were going down a hill in our sector, and right by us sped a bus. It was really close to us, I thought we were goners for sure, but we survived. I enjoyed it though, it was like the kind of rush you get on a rollercoaster, so even though we almost died, it is all good. 

Overall I am loving the mission. Today we went to the temple for our free day and afterwards we went and ate at Carls Jr, the only one in Chile. I am so grateful to be here serving the Lord and helping HIm progress his work. Love you all, I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tilghman

Pslams 23