Monday, July 29, 2013

7/29/2013 Letter and Pictures!

Hey everyone so not a lot of time this week! Just keep on keeping on! I'm going to attach a picture. Its of what i wear every morning when I study. I woke up the other morning and it was 35 degrees inside our house, we had the heater on too. Its crazy! So this week a bunch of Menos Activos came to church that I reactivated! Not a baptism, but it was still way cool! We taught Pablo the Word of Wisdom, he and his family have problems with basically all of it. They said they would commit to live it to their best. A little progress, they are changing. Its way awesome! I think though if Pablo doesn't have a date for baptism next week we are done going by. We can't waste time like that. So many cool spiritual things happen every week here, we will just be knocking doors in apartment buildings or talking to people in the street and they end up needing help. People here are really cool too. I don't remember what it's like for everyone to speak English. I can't imagine it, it's hard to remember which is a good thing. The ward here is doing so much better it's awesome! They have five missionaries out so everyone is focusing and using them as motivation to help us, it's going pretty well. I hope all of you are doing well. This is my favorite time of year in the states! I love reading in the Book of Mormon and seeing all the prophecies and thinking wow, I'm fulfilling a bunch of these right now. It's awesome. Well I love you all!!! Ill do better next week! I'm old now so forgive me. haha

Elder Biesinger! 
An awesome star that is out every night

James comp Elder Skaggs with Pablo and his family

P-Day activity

Orion the Hunter?? You tell me.

Birthday breakfast, French toast with all the fixings

Enjoying breakfast

James Birthday Presents. Awesome stuff!

It's cold in the apartment, this is what he studies in.  He cut the fingers off so he could turn pages:)  Love the sign

James with his  ZL, the ZL returned home on the day this picture was taken.

Four Elders with an awesome couple from the ward.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

7/22/2013 letter

Oh yeah I'm almost 19 that's cool!! haha thanks for the Birthday wishes!!!!




On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 12:37 PM, James Biesinger <james.biesinger@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Two Months is Chile! I Consider my self Chilean now! I Decided I'm even gonna speak Spanish like them now (only the stuff that is missionary appropriate). So this week was even colder I don't remember what warmth is like! I came from the coldest winter in Utah in the last 20 years to here! What's Summer?! All Things are going pretty good I Think I might finally have a Baptism next week if all goes well! 

This week Pablo and Daniel didn't come to Church But we had a Noche de Hogar with them last night at a members house that was awesome. The drunk guy (Daniel) came to church again. It was my responsibility this time. But it was okay the funniest thing happened the day before. Saturday we had a youth conference in our building. All the youth in the stake came and eight of us missionaries taught them a but then we did divisions I took four youth out and we went and did contacts and visited people for an hour or so. It was awesome. When we came back it was the baptism of one of the youth that went out with us. It was the first baptism I have seen as a Missionary it was an experience I can't describe sometimes baptism might be taken too lightly. All the youth then had a testimony meeting. It was a great experience. What was funny was that Daniel the Drunk guy showed up to it somehow. We were outside taking a picture of the youth with Geovane (the baptism kid) in the middle. Well Daniel walked up and got right in front of the camera and posed it was hilarious. I then had to tell him to come back on Sunday because he couldn't be here at that time. It was cool. It seems like things are going well from the pictures! Love you all take care!

Love Elder Biesinger

7/15/2013 letter and pictures

Hello!

So I'm still in the same area! New comp he is the DL he has like a year in the mission, he is from Cali, His name is Elder Skaggs he is pretty cool his spanish is really good I think president told him to only speak spanish to me so its been different but its good we speak English sometimes but for the most part I am just learning! 

So this week was great it didn't rain and it was just way hot the whole time. Its like a Utah spring here. The Andes out in the distance are still so amazing to see I love it. So the drunk guy did come to church again and he was really smelly. 

Last week I told you how Pablo and Daniel went to church well Tuesday we had a lesson with them and Pablo said while at church he felt and now know that The Book of Mormon is true. This was amazing! What is even better is that yesterday at Church his whole family came!! Pablo 16 Daniel 11 Jerko 21 His mom Evelyn 40ish and his "Dad" Christian 38ish and even the baby brother Martin 10 months who was baptized catholic the day before! What! idk what it was still cool! The mom can have her crazy ideas her kids want to progress finally!

So story of the week. Tomorrow is some weird national holiday for Chile founded on some catholic Saint. So no one really works this week so what does that mean? Everyone gets drunk! So yesterday we were trying to find some house numbers and a drunk guy walks passed and tells us just to leave people alone that they don't want us here I looked at him and said hello and asked him if he knew who lived here.(I was hoping he knew because we needed to know) He said no and then walked up to us. He then told us all these crazy ideas about us. We said well those are not true but we can tell you the truth and help you know the truth of all things if you have time later when you aren't busy. (he couldn't stand without stumbling) he was crazy drunk so we just asked if we could talk to him later but it was pointless after letting him ramble about out names and our age and all that we finally got to leave his presence. He walked up the hill a bit and asked a guy(who watched the whole drunk guy thing go down)  if he could tell us who we were looking for he said yeah let me help you out so he went inside got his daughter who lived there because he didn't and she helped us turned out the person we were looking for used to live in her house so we decided to talk to her instead. She loved it. She now has a book and is reading 3 Nephi 11 by the time we come back. It was great to see how Planning works to find the people we are supposed to find without knowing who they are.

Love you all!
Elder Biesinger



James and Elder Stringham

James and Elder Farnsworth

7/8/2013 letter

Hello!
Well Changes are called changes for a reason! Changes were Wednesday and Tuesday night President called us and talked to Stringham. Long story short Stringham is finishing his mission helping another Elder be obedient and stuff in another Zone and I am still here in my area. My comp now is Elder Farnsworth but he leaves this Friday to have an Operation back home in Florida. So yeah with who and where will Elder Biesinger be Friday night and for the rest of the change??? I don't know but here are my guesses! (You can all vote if you would like.) In a trio with the zone leaders or, the other side of my ward Elders or in another trio. Or with a new comp here in my area. Or finally In a new area with a new comp.. Either way it doesn't matter and I'm going to be fine just a weird situation that left me in charge of my area in the middle of my training! Its cool though i like it..

I finally have people progressing now! Daniel and Pablo came to church it was a miracle of the spirit fasting and prayer. I think Pablo might finally know the BOM is true. Daniel wants to be baptised on the 27th but we need to get his brother two so he can have support. Things are going they just need to feel the truthfulness of the gospel. 

I just remembered a funny story that wasn't to funny at the time. So Sunday at church i am bearing my testimony and all of a sudden i realize that the bum that walked in a few minutes earlier was yelling and going crazy. The next thing i know my comp is helping him into the hall well i didn't know what to do I'm in the middle of bearing my testimony trying to help my investigators and others feel the spirit and my comp is leaving and the rules are we cant do that so i look in the crowd and thank goodness Elder Garcia saw and he went out with my comp. Well after the meeting my companion Elder Farnswoth and Elder Gonzolas taught the gospel principals class while Garcia and I took care of the guy. The poor man smelled terribly of gasoline and was very dirty. he was drunk or schizophrenic sadly i think a bit of both. We spent the next to hours trying to calm  him down and teach him. he left a lot better. I saw him today walking around with a bible. hah i guess we will see what happens next week!

Well I love you all and I am so happy to be here doing this work I know it is the right thing and I am so glad to be here!

Love Elder Biesinger

7/1/2013 letter

Que tal! 
So yeah this week was more of the same! More people lying and not wanting to progress but its okay the blessings will always come! So funny story. People always lie here constantly. If you know how we knock doors we just yell alo! outside the fence well this week we were knocking doors (cuz we hardly get member references (working on that)) and we see someone look out the second level window right as one second later an 80 year old lady comes out she comes over and talks to us we ask if we can come teach her and she says well no I'm alone and I'm really busy. well she is sitting there saying this and we can still see someone up stairs looking at us so we ask well who is that up there looking at us and she says oh that was me I'm just really fast. I go down the stairs really fast. she just refused to tell the truth. Not that funny i know but at the time and in spanish it was way funny. Me and Stringham get along great! 
So I understand basically everything in spanish when i really focus which means i know realize that everyone talks about us haha. We stand out really bad but its okay. the only issue is people honestly think we are all kinds of things.. Men in Black, or spies, the CIA lots think we have guns. Basically unless you're a menos activo you have some crazy idea about who we are! 
People are really different here. There is not spirit of exploration or commitment so we are teaching different. We just leave if they haven't done their reading and other commitments it works because they love us coming over and it cuts them deep when we tell them we can't teach them until they do what we ask in order for them to progress. I hope it starts working. I am dying for progress. Part of the culture here is just straight soccer. I don't understand how they don't win every year everyone knows everything about it and everyone is good i think its because they are to lazy to work hard and practice. The Andie's are ginormous! I don't understand how they are not explored. I swear there has to be wildlife out there but no one knows. Don't get me wrong though i love Chile they do have a culture and i am taking everything good that i like from it for instance i bought my first knock off soccer Jersey today woo hoo. 
One of the best parts of the day is personal study of the scriptures and pmg. Other then that  its when investigators do something good. Like Estela she is a future investigator because we just contacted her and havent actually taught her yet but she missed an appointment so we were bummed but the next day we were walking and it was dark and we just hear someone yelling to get our attention we turn and i see this woman running at us and i realize who it is we walked to here and she apologized because she had to work on short notice and she set another appointment with us. she was carrying all of her school books with her and everything.  It was awesome to see that because no one does that here! I am praying she is as prepared as she seems.
Well all is well!!! I love to hear from people I hope all is well!! Love you!!
Love Elder Biesinger
P.S. Enjoy your 4th! Blow something up for me!! 

6/24/2013 letter

Well what a week!!! We had freezing temperatures, our clothes froze solid out on the line! I defeated the pulgas for now... i think they are just full... I got rocked by a small earthquake during my studies and then by the aftershock too. It is a weird feeling. I don't know how i feel about it it is bone chilling. However at the same time it is so awesome because people don't even care its just normal yet everyone talks about it. 
So First our investigators we dropped a bunch and are still teaching the best ones even though they have a hard time progressing Pablo is still the star he always reads we just have to help him feel why he needs this. I feel like the investigators that are prepared that we haven't found yet are being held back from us because we need to fix the ward first. The leaders of this ward don't do anything near what they should we need to get the ward on track before we can truly have converts that will stay active. As part of this we all talked on Sunday all four missionaries it was rough for me because we didn't find out till late Saturday night but we did well my spanish was good and i was understood. We cut the fetch out of the  members with the scriptures (to cut is to humble and teach I guess). If you saw the world wide conference members are supposed to be doing more so we showed them why. The problem is that the Bishop and the Mission Leader were not at church or the Conference and no one know why... There are a lot of problems to fix. There are some amazing members here. But at the same time i looked at the actual numbers 836 members of the church in this ward we had maybe 86 people at church Sunday. The upside Gricilda the poor old lady was at church thanks to some awesome members it was a great pick me up. 
Things are basically the same everyone yells hello and thinks they're funny some people yell at   us to back to America because they don't understand who we are when we tell them they are humbled. Most the time we just say hello to people they walk away until they are behind the door of their house or a safe place then they yell at us. No one has any ganas here. I want to find the people who are ready and have the ganas to work. 
The Doctrine of Christ is an amazing thing the Atonement is the healer of all and the word must be spread. 
I love you all and I love being here it is the greatest-
Elder Biesinger
P.S. Ganas means drive not balls hahah


6/18/2013 letter and pictures from the Zone Conference

Hey Everyone so Yeah today is Tuesday. Not Monday woah crazy I hope my mom didn't freak out do much yesterday when I didn't write! ha We had a Two Zone Mission conference yesterday With President and It was awesome It was a really good conference. We had to take like an hour micro bus ride up the mountain to get to it with a bunch of drunks talking about how we were white and have blond hair then talking about Joseph Smith and my companion told them about faith in Jesus Christ meanwhile I'm just holding on and trying to hear because the bus is so loud I can barely hear people talk that will take some getting used too!
Its still great here it keeps getting colder and they say August is the coldest wahoo. I'm getting better at Spanish when I can hear people I can understand usually at least 90 percent unless they really slur their words. I can normally have a conversation but it is hardly ever long or perfect but I'm getting there! 

Our Investigators as much as I love them some of then are killing me! Everyone is so lazy and non committal no one will complete their commitments so it is hard for them to progress we will probably drop a bunch this week which will be hard for me but if it feels right then its what we have to do. I feel like we also teach more less active lessons then anyone ever. Chile is 1 in 20 a baptized member and out of 7 to 10 members only one is active.. Thanks to the missionaries in the 80s who would just have baptism parties and anyone that showed up to play soccer or eat food got baptized. 

My favorite investigators because they progress very well are Franz and Pablo. Franz is the big German man and his attitude of get things done and very straight laced makes it feel more like America he and his family are amazing other then the wife who wont even come in the same room with us. Its sad. Pablo is the 15 year old brother of Daniel. Daniel and Evelyn have been talking with Missionaries for a year and a half Daniel is 11 his mom Evelyn is like 40. All of a sudden one day Pablo wanted to listen and share with us now he is way ahead and we are going to teach them tonight I feel like we will set a baptism date with him its awesome. 

Well other then that I just try to stay warm and not itchy from fleas or bit by dogs! 

I love you

Elder Biesinger

In my defense, I didn't freak out:) I was patient.   Lori





6/10/2013 letter and pictures

Hola everyone!

So this week was good I realized that this is an even weirder place than ever but i just love Chile even more! You never know what's going to happen! I have been nipped at by countless dogs (anyone want to send me some kyan pepper that would fix em) ha there are like cows and horses and donkeys that just roam the streets constantly. I Love seeing the Andy's they are so big and straight up probably because of all the Earth quakes! Its still cold and most days are pretty foggy! but its okay I'd rather be cold than hot!

So this week no rain and the water line didn't break either so all is well with water! But there were like three tremors my companion feels them way faster than me. One was big enough and loud enough it woke me up. I guess they happen all the time and I want one to happen big enough to hear and feel before it stops haha. All the members tell us that the buildings are build for earthquakes but that's a solid lie. Ill send you pictures when I can of some good solid Chilean construction in makes me laugh its so great haha. They like add on to houses but only on the second level so there are just rooms chilling up on stilts everywhere ha. 

We have some more investigators and like 10 citas (appointments) with future investigators this week. Yorka now has a baptismal date for the 6 of July idk if i said this but they have to go to church 3 times before. We have a investigator who is a German Chilean so that makes him the biggest Chilean here ha. His name is Franz he has 3 sons who are all baptized they were all active until someone stepped out of like and offended him. He likes everything very much in order and not lazy i think that is his problem and the reason he is not baptized is because the Chilean people are very lazy and none committal. He can see some church leaders acting that way and he doesn't like it. His wife is a Jehovah witness we haven't talked to her yet but my companion is excited to he is very good at cutting and then rebuilding them into the true gospel its great he is a great friend and teacher! 

Everyone tells me that i need to wear a coat but in the middle of the day it is just to hot it is not winter here but its winter to them idk what to call it. It is so humid it is just weird but its fun. We went to Vina today he had to do an interview with pres. is is a lot like the bay area I guess always foggy in winter. There is a road that runs along the ocean and on the interior part its normal dirty Chile but on the beach side it looks like the nicest beach ever perfect sand side walk and everything there is no one there though because it is so cold but it was cool to see finally! I hope you can understand and decipher my letters with all of my spelling and grammar errors. well I love you all!!! take care!

I love Chile and I love This work. 

Love Elder Biesinger

P.s. just a little about my Spanish its getting better but i have to learn casagano spanish is what all the natives call it haha they think it is more fancy people are so funny and great here.


Wow, what a pizza!

6/3/2013 Letter

Hola!!

So yeah it rained all day last Monday all through the night and all day Tuesday they cancelled school and the streets were legitimate rivers but people still drive crazy. I'm convinced that a Chilean colectivo (like a taxi but different look it up hahah) driver would be the best nascar driver ever. Other then that i have now experienced pulgas or fleas in English they suck but are no match for the shower mwahah. 

We have four investigators now Daniel is 11 he lives with his family his mom has a convive, a live in boyfriend, so we cant baptize here because it is a mess but Daniel is very accepting and progressing

Valentina is 9 and her dad is a dead drunk her mom and grandparents are members but haven't been in 26 years we are reactivating them and hopefully starting Valentina on the right path

Jaime is like 40 lives in Las Tomas with his mom and wife and like 5 other random family members he is a smoker but that's nothing the gospel can't fix. I am excited to teach him for the second time this week.

Jorka is 50 years old she has a mother who is dying and when we went to bless her she was very out of it. I don't know what to think but she told us we were angels and had wings it was very hard to get out of the room she wouldn't let us leave in was sad. Jorka is an alcoholic so palabra de sabidudria is what we will teach and all other things of course.

Spanish is still really rough I'm getting better at listening and understanding to i can contribute more. My companion is great and a very great missionary and trainer. We have a good time.  

We did some some service this week to a house that got flooded we had actually knocked the house two days previous and got rejected hard. Then on Saturday a member asked if we would come help his neighbor so we did and sure enough there was the man that rejected us. I worked hard shoveling mud and water out of his backyard he wouldn't face us but we are going back this week and I hope his heart it softened. He and his family need our message.

My calves are getting bug from walking so many hills and I am in much better shape then when I left home so its a nice bonus. I love this weird country the food is great even though a lot of things are drenched in lemon. well anyways I love you all!! Until next week

Love Elder Biesinger

That is one huge pie your Mamacita made you

got to love the sunglasses, he got them there

5/27/2013 First letter from Chile and pictures




Well here I am in the weirdest place in the world! Its awesome                                                          though!!

My first impression of Chile was in the airplane right as we touched the ground. I thought we had hit some terrible turbulence because it was so foggy i couldn't see the run way out the window then I realized we had landed. It was freezing! The flight was very long. I either tried to sleep studied filled out papers so I could get in the country or talked to people. Either way it blew. I was so glad to land here!
The first day we drove into Vina and it was cool on the bus they gave us some food and it was just a basic ham and cheese but it was amazing!! the bread is to die for i haven't been eating to much of it because I would get fat! We stopped at the top of Vina and got out and looked at the view and talked with president Kenline is how you pronounce it. He and his wife are awesome! He speaks English but only uses Spanish. He also knows German so its cool I like him! Day one we just had an interview and then went to a pension (apartment) and got to relax the next day we had orientation and it was all in Spanish it was miserable. There were only seven greengos that come in our group and 25 Latins from the Santiago mtc. I understood enough to know what was going on but that's it.
That night we met our trainers. My trainers name is Elder Stringham he is from Arizona and he is awesome. He has been here for like 21 months so I will kill him after he is done training me. He still works very hard even though he is leaving soon he is a great leader and example. He has been a zone leader most his time here and now is the DL. my first area is in a town called Quilpue our sector is called Anibal pinto (B) we are opening this area so we hardly have any info on it. Its awesome though. Elder Stringham was born in this zone in Quilpue centro and he will die here so its cool for him. I love it here its way weird though.
We have a couple of investigators all ready and lots of hopeful future. We have been knocking doors even though you don't knock. you just walk up to the house and yell ALO!! Ever house has like a zombie proof fence the roads are normally in the bottom of like the little hills and the houses are up on the side of the hill its crazy. We live up on a hill here in Quilpue on a road called Antonio Varas if you want to google earth it. Here in Chile they just build on the same land a family just keeps building a house one higher and higher on the hills. we live in a house that is the second one up we live behind Hermana Marleca Flores and her family she is the nicest lady ever she feeds us way to much and the food is good! a lot just normal like in America. Our pension is way nice but it gets freezing at nice. because they don't know how to build air tight houses here! There is daylight coming in through all the doors and windows but its still cool.
There are millions of dogs here. Every house has at least one or two alot of the time more inside their fence and then there are like six stray dogs outside every house. Some are mean and some are nice. There are a few dogs at houses that will call killer because they want to eat us. But is you bend down like you are grabbing a rock the back off and even better it you just turn and run at them the run away. The crazy thing is that the moment one dog starts howling the whole country starts howling there are so many dogs that it just spreads like fire. At first it was hard to fall asleep because they are always making Noise.
There is so much I could talk about but we will save some for later. One thing that hit me hard was we were knocking or ALOing doors and we were in an area of our sector called La Tomars it basically means to take. Its just a dirt field where it is basically legal to squat. Welcome to poverty James was just going through my head. We knocked a door and a little voice come and said who's there in Spanish obviously. After like 10 minutes of waiting this little old almost blind women let us through the gate. She had been baptised 40 years ago. She lives with here kids now in this tomar and it is freezing in it. All here kids had left here to go drink so we had a lesson and gave her a blessing i wanted to just give her the biggest hug it was so sad. Her kids came back some of them drunk but still very nice just obnoxious. We promised to come back she was so sad it is just a different world there. We are going to get her back to church I hope! It was a huge testimony builder that I belong here but it was still sad.
Here in Chile they don't speak Spanish so when I can communicate I will let you know! haha its rough. But i am doing okay!!
Oh yeah I forgot about the book of Mormon placing. So basically everyone got a Latin companion but me and Elder Lemley. So we thought we were hosed: They were nice and dropped us off last because we were the only companionship that didn't have a native speaker. we were dropped off with four other sisters. We walked off placed the Libro and were the first ones to the house it was funny how lucky we got. Yes we were dropped off close but the sisters dropped off with us were the last ones back hahah
Well I love you all!! I love Chile and I love Padre Celestial and his son.
Love Elder Biesinger
 PS  It is freezing here too fyi. not so much during the day but like today is my first Chilean rain and it has been pouring all day and it is freezing!!!! So glad I brought all the warm clothes!!! Also our heater broke so we have to buy a new one today but there are just cheap little things. My theory is that Chile used to be part of America then all the dogs in America ran to Chile and it fell down here to south America and got south Americanized

James and Elder Stringham










First sign that he made it safely to Chile, Vina Del Mar

Panic mom search internet for signs that her son made it safely, finds a Mision Vina del Mar blog and sees her son,                                                  AWESOME!!!
Can you find him? He is 4th from the right. Wow that is a lot of girls!


 

5/16/2013 letter and pictures Last one from the MTC

Hello!
So This will be my last big email before I leave the MTC things are going so fast I hardly can even realize I have been here 5 weeks yet at the same time I feel like I have been here my whole life! So yes I have my travel plans I have to report to the Travel office here in the MTC ready to depart at 10:00 Am Monday morning the 20th of May. We will drive to the Salt Lake Airport and our Flight leaves at one. There are seven people in my travel group going to Vina I have been assigned travel leader. I am sure there will be other missionary's from other  missions on our flight. Our plane leaves SLC at 10 am and lands in Santiago Chile Tuesday May 21st at 8:15 am. I believe that that means 8:15 Chilean time so that makes the flight just over 15 hours. That's a long time to be on an airplane. I had wanted a lay over but oh well at least I get there fast. One of my companions Elder Durrant is going to the Conception Chile mission he has to report Monday morning at 4 am (6 hours before us) he then flies to LAX where he has a lay over and then he flies to Santiago where he has another layover of 12 hours for a 50 minute flight to Conception he has like 30 hours of travel. So it sounds fun but idk if they let us sleep or we are not supposed to anyway.
So our first week here Elder Scott came and spoke to us and this Tuesday our last week here Elder Nelson came and spoke to us it was really cool some Missionaries never get an Apostle we have had two! He talked a lot about just missionary work and how the ancestors of our investigators know the truth and are praying for us to find and help them. I learned a lot this week as well Just to name a few things I studied the Doctrine of Election which made me feel pretty special but I also more fully realize what my purpose is here. Studied even more into the Atonement. And of course all of those things that my two mach investigators were i need of. I learned that yes the lessons in PMG contain everything that they need but also the Baptismal interview questions are a great way to help focus a lesson and help you know how to follow the spirit. Galatians 5:22 (I am still bad at spelling fyi) has become a great scripture to use in a lesson. I am learning how the spirit talks and how it can guide me. It has been great.
Spanish is coming along. I feel like it is slow still but this week I had the opportunity to talk with a Sister during a lesson that before I came into the MTC I could not understand at all but during the lesson I could understand and I could try to respond which I think I did okay I just felt bad because it was so rocky. It was still awesome. I also was able to bear most of my testimony in spanish.
So the first day in Vina right as we fly in they take our bags and leave us in the town center with a book of Mormon and I believe an address we then have to place the B.O.M. and share a short lesson then ask for directions to get to the mission home. I am so excited but also very nervous for the Chilean accent and speech is very different than here. The speak with sloppy Castagano (spelled wrong) as one of my teachers says. So Here we go!!!
My Zone and district are great I really love it Even Elder Ainge and I get along great when I wear a Utah shirt and he is in his BYU shirt haha Ill get a picture but yeah I love it here and I am so happy to be here I hope everyone is doing well! Be safe and take care!!!

Love Elder Biesinger




Monday, July 22, 2013

5/9/2013 letter and pictures

Hola!
11 Days left in the MTC! It is moving fast I love it and I am excited and pretty nervous to go to Chile but so so ready to Invite people to come unto Cristo. The spanish is slowly getting better I don't know how much it matters because everyone says spanish in Chile is completely different but what an adventure! This week we had a devotional by Chad Lewis a ByU tight end and he played for the Eagles his talk was great it was like a Missionary pregame talk it got my blood pumping but the spirit was so present at the same time it was quite the experience to have. I took me back to high school Doing our pregame prayer and pregame routine. Its game time and its time to get going I am so excited I had such a great experience in class the other day as well with one of the ZRT zone resource teachers he has taught us some stuff that makes me understand my purpose and the purpose of the atonement way more. It is too deep and to complicated for most of the investigators who we basically will have to teach like an eight year old which will be great! But It was awesome D&C 88 and 84 and a few others talk about Who God is and what it means to be a God. It humbled me and motivated me so much that I have been like a blood hound lately I feel like. I feel different I hope its not weird different I just feel really good. We got another new zone this week four elders and four hermanas one is a wrestler from Bonnie lake in Washington who we actually would wrestle every year at the Rumble it was cool to make that connection because the Elder Wrestled Britian Carter so yeah awesome. Another one of the Elders is Danny Ainges son none of us have mentioned it to him even though we all know. That is not what he is here for so there is no reason to bring it up yet until its gym time then we will have a good time and laugh a little. He came off a little full of himself at first but he ended up being a great guy. Being in a trio is something different its almost easier during lessons but hard at the same time I  enjoy it because i like Elder Durrant a lot and I am glad i get to get closer to him before we go to different missions in Chile. Elder Lemley is great and I we get along super well sometimes he is really quiet and hard on himself but its nothing we cant handle. I love getting letters and I am going to try harder to answer questions when they are asked because I feel like there is so much to say and share!! Life is great and the Gospel is amazing with out it we could never know how to live to return to live with our God. I love being here and I love you all. Be safe!
Love Elder Biesinger
James with Jake Varney



5/2/2013 Letter and Pictures!

Hola todos!
Week three is now over basically!! I leave May 20 early in the morning for Chile I don't have to get a visa here in the states they just stamp it when I show up its pretty much the best because everyone else has to fight the Visa process Elder Varney has not got his visa yet so he has been reassigned to New Hampshire he is excited to go. The MTC is so full of spiritual experiences it is basically impossible to ever be sad or down. I would share all those but there isn't enough time in the world.A cool one this week is that a substitute teacher taught us that all things come through the spirit everything. And our goal for people is to give them that so basically we are giving them everything I know it sounds simple but the way it felt and the way he explained it was far from. I'm a Zone Leader now so its more work but I enjoy it its not bad. My district lost a lot this week we lost all three of our teachers and Elder Hess and Hermana Medina it was really hard for us elders to say goodbye to Hess he is going to do great it was just sad. He is being phased to the Peru MTC. So his companion Elder Durrant is now in a trio with me and Elder Lemley which so far is great! I like elder Durant a lot he is from Holladay and went to cottonwood high school it sucks though too because he is in a different mission then me.. I think it would be cool to see him after the misson. Elder Lemley and I are still doing great now. We finally met our branch president he was in Tonga visiting his mission after being gone 42 years President Johnson is a great guy and I like him. Our new teachers I don't know to well yet Hermano Rassmenson (I butchered that spelling and a lot of spelling in this whole email please bear with me) is pretty cool and so far he is my favorite. Hermano Lowe is cool just kind of quiet so I'm not sure yet. And we met our other teacher yesterday Hermano Call who actually served in San Diego got back in July and knows Andy Biesinger so that was kinda cool also the lady that cut my hair used to live next that Biesinger family So that was cool too. Elder Creason is The Elder from Canada who we are related too come to find out his great grandma is Audrey Biesinger who we went to her 80 birthday party 10 years ago if my mom and dad remember that. and yes she is still alive 90 years old 5 weeks ago i think. Umm what else oh yeah here in like the "middle" of the mtc there is this pine tree and at first I saw all these people smelling it thinking "wow what city newbies like really they have never smelled a pine tree before that is ridiculous" well one day someone was like lets smell it to see what all the hype is. IT SMELLS LIKE CREAM SODA!!!!!! So yeah its was awesome. As we were walking passed it the next day some kid was laughing because it looked ridiculous when people are smelling the tree but Elder Durrant was like hey go smell it then laugh. The Elder goes and smells it and freaks out yelling IT SMELLS LIKE CREAM SODA so yeah that is the cream soda tree. Also we finally got a new district this week. One of them is from Canada it is 7 elders two wrestlers they are cool they will be a great addition to our zone. The Wrestlers are from Snow canyon and Arizona there is also a big Bingham football player. He is Samoan. There are so many wrestlers here and its cool because even the box elder wrestlers we are all on the same team now. Umm yeah so idk what else to write I'm a little bit over time haha thank you for the letters. Well I love you all!
Love Elder Biesinger




4/24/2013 letter

Hey everyone!!
I am doing well! Lets see this week I learned some more Spanish, Studied the gospel and doctrine, learned some more spanish, studied a little more. Oh yeah and i wore the same tie twice. Way awesome. HAHAH no Really it is the same thing every day. Without my amazing teacher and district this would be a repetitive dream. I told you about Hermano Rowley, This week we met Hermano Thatcher he is a great guy!! Married working on a music major has a great love for the mtc the gospel and us. Another one of my teachers is Hermano Griffin. One of his best friends and roommates is Chase from my art 1010 class that i looked up to a lot he is the one that told me to read the Greatest Salesman in the World. So its awesome to have his good buddy here with me. He served in Argentina and has that accent I have to be careful because sometimes i pic it up on accident. All me teachers are amazing and I could not be more happy with them. I see friends from High School every day. Elder Varneys class is two doors down so I see him alot and it is great. My friend Elder Benhoff comes into day as well as Gibson I'm excited to see them. I hope all is well sorry For everything being so short. They are cracking down on the email time..... Thank you all for the letters getting mail is awesome when I see my name hahah. So until next weeks episode of letters from Elder Biesinger work hard and pray harder. ;)
I love you all
Elder Biesinger


James First Letter from the MTC 4/17/2013

Hola!!

    So I am doing very well. So far I have been loving it here. Let me fill you in on my week. Day one: I walked in and I don't remember much. It was a insane day. they gave me more papers and books then I know what to do with. I honestly don't remember what happened that day.

Day two: Thursday I was called as district leader. I love my district. There are 9 on us one of the Hermanas (sisters) Didn't show up so we have three in a companionship. Hermana Boyed is from Seattle area Washington she is about 5' 10" and 125 pounds. She works hard and is a lot of fun. She is serving in Vina. Hermana Lyons is from Reno and reminds me of Angie Biesinger, she is great! She is serving in Conception Chile. Hermana Medina is from (the LA area). She is Latin American and is very confident. She is serving in Quito Ecuador. Elder Bond is one of the greatest guys he is From north Ogden and is a great guy. He is athletic and has a great spirit about him. Serving in Vina also he is in my residence room. His companion Elder Fotheringham from holiday is the hardest one to figure out he is quiet but very confident kinda cocky. He is nice and we all get along though. Serving in Vina. Elder Hess is from Henderson Nevada but only lived there for 6 months before that he was in Wisconsin. (I can't spell my brain is to boggled form espanol). Elder Hess is very smart he is very good at math and chemistry he tutored an advanced calculus class as a freshman, and yet he also is an athletic and hard working guy. Serving in Quito Ecuador.(If he gets his Visa) Which is sad for us Vina Del mars.  His Companion Elder Durrant is awesome. He is a basketball player from cottonwood. He reminds me exactly of Josh Searle in everything. His looks and everything he does and says. He really has a strong testimony and I will miss having him around because he will be serving in Conception. My Companion Elder Lemley like i mentioned Before is Becky Nelsons little brother. He has the same red hair and everything. He is a Lacrosse player from Orem and the nicest guy you will ever meet. We get along well and have not had any problems. He is somewhat quiet and gets down on himself but I and the rest of the district pick him back up and everything is fine. We are really coming together as a district as a whole. But basically Thursday was just a bunch more orientation.

Day Three: Friday we taught our first role play investigator we didn't know him but it turns out he is one of our teachers Hermano Thatcher and sometime this week will be in class with us. The lesson was very hard. We hardly knew any spanish and it was very rocky but we shared what we thought we wanted and could. I could feel the spirit a lot in me as i was speaking a language i didn't know. It was an awesome experience. Our other assigned teacher is Hermano Rowely and I love him. He is a great guy. He is Latin American and is the greatest teacher. He sincerely loves the gospel and is truly converted. Friday we also had gym and is was a huge relief. I wish i could include every detail about everything but there is just to much that happens when you wake up at 5:45 and go to bed at 10:30.

Day four: Saturday was just a normal class day. We have class from 7 - 7:45 then breakfast until 8:35 then back to class for study and language till 11:25 when we either have planning sessions a TALL program computer lab or just personal study. At 12:25 we eat lunch. And no Jake I have not tried the orange Juice because luckily my zone warned me. But the food is either amazing or not that good. But esta bien. (its all good). After lunch I pick up Mail everyday as district leader. then we go to class or teach our investigators. Do personal study and language study. Until dinner at 5:25. After dinner I pick up mail again everyday. So yes i love getting mail being that I have to get everyone twice a day. The depending on the day we have class or gym until 9:30 10:15 is personal quiet time and then bed at 10:30. I'll send a picture of my schedule next week its pretty intense. 

Day Five: Sunday was awesome i had a super great and spiritual day which was exactly what i needed we had a very up lifting devotional and then watched a filmed talk of Elder Bendar called the Character of Christ. it was amazing and that is when I really started loving it. 

Day six: Monday was just another class day that was just normal nothing that i want to waste time on. haha sorry. But i did get close to the Elders in my Zone that day it was good!

Day Seven: Tuesday which was yesterday was amazing. It started off just a normal day but the Devotional was Elder Richard G. Scott. He came and talked to us about prayer and I left feeling like a giant. He blessed us that we would learn our language and told us that Heavenly father sent us here to succeed and not to fail. It reminded me of the Greatest salesman. We then had a devotional as a district and we really are a family now. I love it here. 

Today has been great we went to the temple did a session then had a celestial temple breakfast. The food there dominates the food here. I don't have a lot of time left but i Love all of you ill right you tonight. 

Love Elder Biesinger

Dropping him off at the MTC April 10, 2013

     April 10, 2013.  Dropping James off at the Provo MTC

        Hardest Day Ever...You're happy, but very sad!

Chile, Vina Del Mar, here he comes!

Walking the Provo Temple grounds before we drop him off at the MTC
James and Ashley
James and his Dad, Chris
James and his Mom, Lori


This kids! Joe, Josh, James, Ashley, Jake...got to love them

Saying Goodbye at the MTC

Off he goes!
 This is where your heart aches. You are so happy they have chosen
to serve, and so sad that you are leaving them.  Hard thing to do.
I called his name to see him look back one more time.