The zone had a trip to a place called Altos de Petrohue, which is super pretty. It felt like high adventure (ideas for the priests and teachers next year :) 

Puerto Montt

Hi Everyone!

To be perfectly clear to those who asked, Thanksgiving is in no way celebrated in Chile. As soon as November started the stores all started to have Christmas decorations.

Oh... usually I write notes to remind me what to say, but this week I forgot.

Um....

Sacrament meeting yesterday was particularly powerful. I had been thinking about the Atonement a lot this week and how I need to connect what I teach to the Atonement more often.  http://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/03/missionary-work-and-the-atonement (read this,  it´s awesome and true).

Where was I... oh, ya. So I was thinking about the Atonement a lot this week, so the Sacrament was a bit more meaningful to me this week. As our understanding of the Atonement increases, our desire to share it also increases. When we come to Sacrament meeting and participate (after having prepared personally beforehand with penitent prayer), we are essentially coming unto Christ. When we participate in the Sacrament properly and worthily, we admit that we need Christ in our lives, that there is no other way or means whereby we can be happy.

I´m kinda rambly right now because there´s so much I learned this week about coming unto Christ. When we have faith in Him, we understand that we need to repent, TRULEY REPENT! That´s realizing what you did wrong, seeing where you failed to obey, recognizing the natural man within, and changing. You confess. You confess because it is how you become humble. By being completely honest, you open yourself and let the Lord do his work. Those who are prideful boast about the good they´ve done, they hide their faults. The humble seek not the approval of man before seeking the approval of God.

There is nothing more difficult to do than to repent, but there is nothing more rewarding. We need real faith to come unto Christ and repent, but when we do this, we are IMMEDIATELY blessed. How are we immediately blessed? When we pay tithing, we don’t immediately receive financial reimbursement, and when we don’t cheat on a math test, we might not receive the A+ we want, so how are we immediately blessed? WE CHANGE!  We open ourselves to Christ through our obedience and learn to overcome the natural man. The process is slow, happening little by little, but every good thing we do, every time we repent, we experience this change immediately. I testify that this is the way! This is the secret to happiness, only... it´s not a secret! There are 80,000 missionaries all over the world preaching this truth and there are 14,000,000 members who should be preaching it with matching boldness.

Sorry I didn´t share any big stories this week, but this has been on my mind a lot this week. It´s powerful when properly understood and acted upon.

I do have another photo to share. We took this photo while my companion and I were teaching a less active member a few weeks ago. He´s actually pretty active now and wants to serve a mission. He´s accompanied the missionaries 5 times this week :o We need more members who can do that.

Love y´all :D

-Elder Connor Christopherson