MY dearest family. 

WOW I´m soo excited to tell you what happened this week. SO first things first, cambios (transfers). Yes we did have changes and my companion went to a place called Belloto. So my new companion is Hermana Huaman. Its sounds like Woman but with a Jamaican accent. Yes it so awesome haha!  I feel Jamaican every time I say her name.  She is from PERU!!  I love Peru! :) The people there are always always so so humble. She came here with Hermana Paz so she has a year in the mission this friday (same day I have 10 months).  She is amazing. I feel like  I´m learning so much from her and I feel like this will be one of my favorite changes, I´m really going to grow a lot during this change, I just feel it. There is something about her and I have already noticed a difference in my teaching and in my contacting. It´s less and less about the lessons and more and more about the people which I have really struggled with in the past. But now I just feel like it´s not even a lesson anymore, it´s listening to their needs and teaching exactly what they need to hear. 

My companion is 26 years old and we are besties already. She´s so funny and so short.  I guess it’s  true that big things come in small packages. She is such a spiritual giant and I love it. So you could say that I´m very happy with the change that happened.  I’m excited to see the miracles that are coming.

  

Wednesday was transfers, as well as my birthday. Hermana Comán made me breakfast and brought it to me in bed while I was doing my exercises.  That was really sweet. Then we went to transfers and I saw a lot of great friends who all wished me a happy birthday because Hermana Kahnlein came over and gave me a hug for my birthday. Then when we got home we went to work. We went to see our mission leader and then when we got to the house my companion wanted to buy some like chocolate brownie things. I didn't know what she was planning but when we got to the house she put 3 matches on one of the brownies and started to sing happy birthday to me in English (so cute when Latinos speak english). And that was my birthday!! 

Alright enough about the birthday. Thank you for the letter from Danika. She´s going to be such an amazing missionary. I´m so excited for her!!! I also loved the pictures from Halloween! So fun.  Hey mom, I don't need anything. I have everything that I need out here. Everything I have will last until the end of my mission. 

Sorry there isn’t much to tell about investigators this week. We literally couldn’t find any of them.   We do have a new girl that wants to get baptized. The only problem is that her parents are against her getting baptized. So we will have a lot of work to do there. I´ll let you know how it all goes with her!!  Thank you all for your amazing support and love.  I love you all my beautiful family. 

 Have a great week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Family!! 

What a wonderful week this was. :) First your questions. Mom release date? As in when I’m coming home?  I´ll be ending my mission and heading home the15th of July. Wow crazy. Let’s not talk about that yet!  I love the new music! I listen to it everyday. I really love the song Glorious and Do you have Room. Thanks again for sending that :)

This week was really good. We found a new family to teach!! they are a family of 4 and are awesome. The only problem is that the parents are not married. SO what do we do? Talk to them about the temple, and it worked! The next day (yesterday) the mom was talking to us on the way to church and told us she talked to her husband after we left and she wants to marry him in the temple and he said the same. SO they are going to get married civilly so they can be baptized as a family and then be sealed in a year. WOW!  The Lord is amazing. Such a miracle that that happened! They really are such an amazing family and I love them so much.  They are all going to come to church next week. 

Alright, next family. We got a reference the other day about another family that just moved to our area. They have received a lot of lessons and are married so they can be baptized but they just have to come to church. We passed by for them and taught them with our new Ward mission leader. They really want to come to church and promised us that they will come but in the moment they can’t because her husband works on Sunday and their 6 month old baby is really sick so they can’t leave. BUT they will attend I know it!  So we are very happy with them as well. 

We are working very hard with the Bishop and he really is getting better.  We feel more support and love from him and the ward.  He does some things and says some things that are very harsh and our investigators don't like it.  We have been pretty worried about it so yesterday we decided to go and talk with him about that and some other worries. Everything seemed to work out ok so I think when something happens, if we talk to him immediately afterwards it will work out so much better and help him a lot. 

This week was really amazing and we found a lot of families to teach FINALLY!!  We are so happy.  Also I don’t remember if I told you about an investigator in my other area named Guillermo?  Well my daughter sent me a photo of his baptism!!  SO HAPPY!  

Yesterday I was called on to give a talk at church.  I shared a few things written and it was amazing to feel the spirit just take over. I´m not kidding, you know how President Gottfredson got all red and firm when the spirit took over him, it was something like that (except I was not all red) but I could feel my whole body get so excited about missionary work and member missionaries. It was an incredible experience. I love my mission!

Well family that´s about it for this week. I hope you all have a great week and love Halloween. We are going to dress up this year as missionaries ;) haha.  I told that to one of our investigators and they just started laughing. This is probably the last week I have together with Hermana Comán so we are going to work SOO hard this week so she can finish strong here. 

I´m so happy and I love my Savior. I testify to you all the the second coming is so close. I PROMISE you that you do NOT want to be unprepared for that day.  IF YOU ARE NOT READY NOW, YOU WILL NOT BE READY LATER!!! I plead with you all, PLEAD, that you will prepare for that day. We don’t know when it will come and I want my family to be together forever.    

I love you my family. This is a wonderful and amazing time to be living in this world. There are so many things that are coming to pass and I can not wait for the day that the Savior will come. Be strong and be examples and a light of Christ at all times. I love you!

Until next week

love,

Hermana Tycksen 

My family!

I´m so amazed at what happened this week. We really have seen some miracles happen here and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a part of it. I really feel the strength of your prayers. I don’t know how to explain it other than I am so much stronger as a missionary and as a person. I have especially been feeling it today. Alyssa, I´m so happy that you had such a great dance and that it was so fun for you. I'm so proud of you Alyssa and the example you are to me. You really are amazing.

This week we had some really amazing things happen as well as some really crazy things happen. So first to start off the week... Remember our recent convert?  Everything has been good until last Sunday when we went by the house and he was acting really weird. Come to find out he had a dream about me. First I need to explain. The mom had a dream about her husband and when he came into her life she realized he was the one she was going to marry. He thinks the same thing is going to happen for him. He had a dream about me and decided on Sunday to talk to his mom after we left. On Tuesday we went over there to eat almuerzo and the mom was asking to see my CTR ring and then when I went to the bathroom, she told my companion that her son had a dream and that he wants to marry me and come find me when my mission is over. My companion told me that when we left and immediately we called the President. We explained the situation and then he told us that we couldn’t talk to them or go to their house while I´m here. DO NOT worry please, its more just hilarious. It´s completely harmless and funny.

We found another family who are so golden. They are a family of 4 and are so special. We have only taught them once and we are going back tomorrow to teach them. We are going to see miracles with them I know it. :)  There were so many things that happened as well that were incredible experiences but I don’t have time to tell you. I love you my beautiful family. I´m so happy here and have never been happier in my whole life. I´m just so full of joy today. Oh crazy thing, I completed 9 months in the mission this week.... WHAT?? Where did those 9 months go? I have no idea. But I realized today that I’m really proud and happy with who I am, and who I’m becoming. I finally feel like I’m becoming the missionary I always wanted to be and that just brings me such joy. Obviously everyday is a struggle and some days are really hard.  But as a missionary and as a person I just feel... Happy and that God is happy with me. 

Dad I wanted to thank you for asking me to study the sacrament prayer this last week.  I really learned so much and it changed everything for me. When I took the sacrament yesterday I had a thought come into my head that said, "I’m clean". It was a very special moment for me to have the opportunity to understand the Sacrament more than ever before. Thank you.

Well my family I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do for me. Mom I’m going to make chocolate chip cookies today for my companion and I’ll let you know how they turn out. Lets pray they are good. Also thanks for teaching me how to clean. I wont go into details but I thought the bathroom was being cleaned each week until I noticed the bathtub... I don’t think it has been cleaned in years. So gross. Anyway, I love you all!! Keep staying strong and close to the Lord and He will ALWAYS bless you. Even when you feel like you don’t deserve His blessings, He loves you so much that He blesses you anyway. :) 

Love always,

Hermana Tycksen

PS hope you like the picture, hehe 9 months!! 

Hello family! 

Interviews with president were great! I really love interviews with him because he is such a great man and I feel like I receive great advice and help from him with things that I need. I did receive something from the assistants as well.... MY PACKAGE!! I was totally in shock when I saw it there for me!

We had a zone meeting which was great, I really love meetings :) But the only thing that is kind of a bummer is that we aren’t allowed to use backpacks anymore, we have to use a side bag from now on.  We have time to get money and pay for another bag.

This week we have been really happy but just haven’t had really any success. Our goal for baptisms this month is 3 and we didn’t have any investigators who can be baptized by the end of the month come to church yesterday.  The district leaders are a little stressed out but we just need to keep working harder everyday. I feel like I’m working hard but i know there is still so much more that I can do and so much more of my energy that I can give. Please pray for me that I can find the determination inside to work at my full potential. I love you so much my beautiful family, thank you for all of your support and love for me. I´m so happy to be out here serving a mission and to be here in Chile. There isn’t anything else I want to be doing.   

Something really awesome I studied this week is that if we are Representatives of Christ we need to love the people like Christ loves them. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us. Our president said "are you willing to give your life for your investigators and new converts" as I thought about that I realized that I’m not. I love them but not in the same way the Lord loves them and I’ve been really trying to focus more on loving the people no matter what they say or do to us. I just have to be humble and love them. It’s probably the hardest thing ever to try and not have a singe bad thought about someone who gets mad at us for coming to their house but it’s so worth the struggle because I feel the love of God more fully in my life. 

Keep working hard family and know that I love you and pray for you always! Until next week!

con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hello my beautiful family!

Wow!!! Conference was amazing!  I started taking a lot of notes then one of the talks said that we should listen and write the things that the spirit tells us because that is when we learn more. So I decided in the second session to take more notes about what the spirit was telling me. It ended up being very inspiring as I received revelation for our investigators and things they might need to hear. I wrote their names next to the things that I was writing so I would remember why I wrote that specific thing.  We got to watch the Relief Society meeting on saturday morning. We had 3 investigators in conference but the problem is that all 3 can’t be baptized for a while because of moral issues.  But I’m just glad that they could come and gain a stronger testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I can't really say I had a favorite talk because they were all amazing. But I did realize that in the first session they were talking A LOT about preparing and repenting. I know that no one knows when the second coming is but I have been feeling more and more since the last conference in April and again this conference that the 12 are just pleading with us to prepare because it´s closer than we think. I feel that so strongly. There is such an urgency to get members doing missionary work. 

Mom I was thinking the same thing when Elder Christofferson talked!!  I know that women have an important role to play. 

It just makes me feel so blessed to be a woman. There is such a respect for women in the church and I think that girls don’t understand that.  Some really don’t know who they are and whose they are. One of the sisters said that if we understand that we would all act differently, and more like the Savior. I also LOVED the Relief Society meeting!!! WOW those women are amazing. I loved how they talked about covenants. They are the only way that we can get back to God because it shows our willingness to lose ourselves for Him. I know and I testify to you my lovely family, that if we do not live our covenants we will be held accountable in that one on one interview with Jesus Christ. DO NOT procrastinate Repentance. I´ve seen it a million times out here and there is a horrible feeling for people who do not keep their covenants. 

Ok so this week we had some amazing things happen. We have had some amazing miracles and I´m so blessed to still be with my companion because she teaches me so much.  George and Kemberly are doing well. We talked with the family a lot and then one day they fixed whatever was wrong and are doing a lot better.  Yesterday we decided to go contact an old contact named Valesca.  When we got to her house a girl answered the door and when to get Valesca, she let us in and we found out that the other girl was a roommate. So what do we do? Teach them both of course! :) They are awesome and so prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel. We have to wait a week to teach them because they will not be here this week. But they both are studying in college and I totally can relate to them because of all the stress that exams, homework etc. bring from classes. So we promised them peace and help in their studies if they will pray and read the book of mormon. So they accepted and it was a really awesome lesson.

As for the letters yes they are here I just don’t have them yet because our zone leaders still have them. I´m not really sure when I will get them but I´m thinking sometime this week. I´ve learned so much this week while working. There are so many things that I need to do to improve myself. But I was looking back at who I was before the mission and not that that person was bad but it’s just the fact of all the things I’ve learned and felt that I know that I will not return home the same person. 

Thanks for all the updates on whats been going on at home!  The time is flying by so fast I can’t believe a year ago this past weekend I made the decision to go on a mission. I´m so happy and it feels more and more normal to be here. I´ve never been happier in my whole life than serving the Lord and I have such a determination to serve Him well and worthy and with all my heart, might, mind and strength. It’s not easy and I fall short a lot, but I know and I honestly feel that He is proud of me and the work that I´m doing out here. I love you my family! I pray for you always. Please be safe and keep close to the Lord. Something one of the speakers said is to love God more than your own parents, we love our parents a ton, so that just means we have to love God and serve God more than anyone or anything else in this world and we will receive more happiness than we can imagine. It´s not easy obviously, but nothing this good comes for free, it always come at a price. Sooo my invitation this week is to think about each of your lives, because they are all different no matter how close we may be, and think about if you really are serving and loving God with all your might. If not I invite you to think of how you can change that and how you can improve, because you will be more happy and more close to the Savior than ever before and you will be ready when the day comes that He can welcome you into the kingdom of God as a faithful servant of His. I love you all! Be safe! Have a great week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

p.s. we had a district activity today and played soccer.... Lyss I think you would be proud of me to know that I´ve now learned how to play soccer like a latin. I might just take you when I get home with my latin soccer skills ;) hahaha Love you!!!

HOLA!!

This week we did a lot of contacting but it was a very big test of faith because we didn’t have ANY success with finding new people to teach. We started out fine in the beginning of the week but on Wednesday we had about 40 contacts and only one book of mormon and zero new people. It was a very hard day because everyone we talked to didn’t want anything to do with us no matter what we said or tried. They all seemed very... angry. So we cried a lot on Wednesday night and Thursday.  On Friday we ended up finding 4 new people to teach this week so was a great blessing :) We are going to fast tomorrow and again on Thursday so that we can have the spirit with us to find new people to teach. 

We found Kimberly and she is awesome. Her mom is less active.  She wants to be baptized so we talked about it and told her that she can be baptized in 3 weeks, she then came to church with her mom yesterday!! So we are doing some really great things with her. I know she wants to be baptized and she seems to really know a lot of the gospel, but I want to make sure she knows what she is doing and not only doing this because her mom is a member or for some other reason like because she thinks the church is pretty.  So we will be going there today to teach her and we will find out a little more about what she feels about the church and talk to her about the lessons. There is a problem that she has a boyfriend and we will need to teach her about living the law of chastity and she isn't living the word of wisdom. So there are a few things we need to work with before she can be baptized. 

I´m trying to stay positive and work hard. There is still so much work I have to do with improving myself. I still feel like I have so much to learn and so much to grow. It’s frustrating sometimes.  I´ve been reading a lot lately in Jesus the Christ. 

I´m serious if you haven't read that, READ IT! So amazing and I´m learning soo much about Christ and His life. He is such a perfect example of missionary work and I´m studying how patient he is with the people and the love He has for them. I realized that if I´m a representative of Christ I need to be like Him in every moment. Not only when we are in a lesson or when we are in the street but also when we are with the members or when we are in the house. I´ve known that the whole time but I really know now how important it is to always be a representative of Him in all times. 

Well that´s basically all we have for this week but I´ll write more next week because I want to give time to write letters for birthdays :) I love you all so much and I´m so proud of you all. Keep working hard and keep doing the things to bring you closer to Christ. When you do that you will always find happiness :)

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

p.s I was in a small earthquake last week. It was at about 3AM and my companion said she was really scared but the whole time i just felt peace. It was a really cool experience and so cool to say that I´ve now been in an earthquake (even if it was a small one).  Don’t worry about anything! Love you all!!

Family!!

WOW a lot has been happening here. This week was really, really hard. I´ve been taken from my sweet home of Miramar and I am now in Troncal, Quillota.  I have not cried yet in this area but my heart aches of not being with my investigators or with my branch family in Miramar. I wasn’t moved with my daughter and I´m now moving on to my 6th companion. It´s so hard to switch companions every 6 weeks. I get soo close to my companions and then I have to start all over again with a new one. 

On Monday morning we got Hermana Nichols, who´s companion finished her mission, she was with us for about 2 days or so. We had a great time together and we worked really hard. We went to see Hernan who is still struggling with smoking but we set a goal to keep working with him on getting rid of the habit. I told my companion to send me pictures when he is baptized in 2 weeks. I´m so sad that I can’t be there but I know that being there is not the thing that is important. I´m so proud of the work that I did there in that branch because I feel that I gave it my all and that I really was an instrument there in changing lives. Even if it was not in the way of baptisms, I know that there were lives that were changed for the better. 

We went to see some of the members to say goodbye and get pictures because I had the feeling that I would be leaving.  I wanted to make sure that I had some of them before I left.  A lot of them were not home and that was a bummer but when I talked with President Gallegos he told us that we will never forget the branch there or the members and then told me that in the end of my mission his house is open for me to come and visit as well as after my mission when I come back to visit.  He told me that his house is my house. That meant a lot to me and I really do miss the love that was there. 

We got changed and my new companion is Hermana Comán. She is from Argentina and is really great. She just finished her training and so this is our first time leaving earlier because we don’t have the same amount of time to study anymore. It´s been good, but she also doesn’t know where she is going in the area and has a lot of concerns about areas that are dangerous or dogs that she says will bite you. I keep trying to explain to her what to do with the dogs but there are a few things that seem to be a little problem that we need to work out.  We have a lot of work to do together to get used to how the other teaches so we will be working more on that this week. 

This area is so pretty. I feel so close to home here because it´s a big town but feels small.  We are also really close to the mountains that surround us. I´m so blessed to be here because I know that this change would have been really, really hard if I didn’t have a little something to comfort me (the mountains). I´m always looking at the mountains and admiring them because it´s been about 6 months since I´ve been close to the mountains. This area is all flat, so I won’t be walking hills anymore. But it’s green and pretty hot here. 

The people here are really nice and welcoming. They seem to have a lot of time so we find a lot of contacts each day.  We have not had any real success with finding new investigators. I feel the love of the Savior so strongly here, I have this peace with me all the time. 

Mom thanks for the part of Landon’s letter! He is such an amazing missionary, I just know it! I´m so proud of all of you with the healthy eating! That is so awesome! but I’m kinda still wanting to come home to a puff daddy, it might freak me out to come home to a skinny daddy.  Well family please keep me in your prayers. We really need some major help here and we need miracles. I love you all so much and I´m so happy to be here. I did a little self evaluation of who I was before the mission and who I am now, and I can honestly say I’m not the same person. I´m different now, but it´s in the way the Lord wants. I´m changing into the person He wants me to be and that brings me so much joy. 

Well fam, until next week!!

con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hola mi famillia!

This week we didn’t have a baptism. It´s been a very... stressful week. The elders had 2 baptisms this week and we almost had 2 but there were some things that happened that we need another couple weeks. So for Hernan he is doing awesome and he is now only smoking 4 cigarettes a day!!!! WOOT WOOT!!  We are sooo happy for him and he really is progressing. He smoked 4 yesterday and today is the day he needs to get rid of them ALL so we will be calling him to check up on that. He needs 7 days of living the word of wisdom before he can receive an interview for baptism.  We will be passing for him continually to teach him the other commandments and prepare him for baptism. He is doing good though!! As for the other baptism... his name is Guillermo. He´s the fiancé to the daughter of the branch president. I feel like he is ready. He has completely changed his life around and is progressing but when he went into his interview he didn’t pass so we will be passing by for him over the next 2 weeks and teaching him a little bit more about testimonies and the book of mormon and the importance of reading it everyday or as much as he possibly can.  In 2 more weeks he can and will be baptized. I know it. 

Well we had two activities this week. One just for missionary work and the other was for the married adults in the ward as well as investigators. So the missionary work went really, really well. My companion and I planned basically the whole thing and we played the chubby bunny game with marshmallows which was really fun. We showed a mormon message about repentance and then talked about the atonement with them. They all really loved it (we had 2 investigators there and one of them brought their friend who also lives in our area and we will be passing for her as well to teach her). The activity for the married couples was good, we went with the family Martinez who we were teaching a while back. In the beginning of the night they were talking about marriage and the blessings from it.  One of the less active members and his girlfriend (the elders investigator) were there. He got up and started to talk and he asked her to marry him! haha!! SO awesome. Everyone was like screaming because not everyone knew that this was all planned for him to ask her to marry him. 

It´s been a bit of a crazy week with all that has been going on but we are working hard and we are happy.   As for the octopus yes it really is an octopus (the member said they usually don't cut off the head yet but it´s an octopus). its been a pretty interesting experience to be here eating all this food, and where its coming up on summer here I´m thinking the fruit is going to be pretty interesting as well. 

Hannah Morris went on a mission!!!?? I didn't even know about that! where did she get called to go? I have not heard anything about that! That´s so great for her, I know she will be a great missionary.  One of the sisters in our zone will be working with us for the next 3 days until transfers. I´m not sure if I´ll be leaving or not.  I´m doing good and we are starting from scratch basically because we had to get rid of all our investigators because they are not progressing. So we are in the process of finding but they are really really hard to find right now, I´m not really sure why. We are trying to do all we can but I know that we can work harder and we are trying to be 100% obedient in all that we do.  We are working hard and giving it our all. I know that there are days that we can work harder but I’m feeling like we are doing what the Lord expects of us and the miracles will come. 

Thank you for your letters and your support with everything. I love you all so much and I’m always praying for you. I´m doing well here in Chile. It´s starting to feel more like home here and more normal. I realized something the other day that one of the members I was not able to understand last transfer I´m now able to understand. I’m speaking fluent spanish!! :) There are obviously a LOT of the things I don’t understand and don’t know how to say but I´m speaking to people and that is the coolest and biggest blessing ever. I´m so thankful for all the latin companions I´ve been able to have because I know that has helped me so much. I love this work and I´m so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here and serve these people and to see that their lives are changing and they are closer to the Savior as well as more happy. 

I love you all. Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hola family!!!

Wow ok so this week was great. There is so much to tell and so little time. Well to start off, Anais never came to church... but we found this guy named Hernan. AH!! he came to church on sunday and is preparing to be baptized! He has all of the lessons but the commandments and he doesn’t have any problems, he understands it all. Finally, I needed someone who is just ready to take that step and we are working hard with him to get him ready for an interview this week with our district leader! 

Alyssa, I’m glad you got to go to efy.  Be happy for the experience, the kids here have to work really, really hard to be able to go because they don’t have the money. They have to pay about 120 dollars which is a lot to send your child to go do something for 5 days. The whole ward pitches in and does bake sells and tries to raise the money for each of the youth to be able to go. It´s awesome. 

Hermana Stott and I got to have an interchange together!! Wow seriously like the best 24 hours ever hahaha.  We laughed so hard all day and she was saying that 5 years ago she would have never thought we would be having lunch together in Chile.  It was so fun to be working with her and I loved every minute of it. She told me that she is going to try and do another one with me sometime soon, I´m hoping that will work out. We worked really hard and she really is such an amazing missionary and example. I had a pretty cool experience with her that when we were teaching Hernan, all of the sudden I had this feeling that I was teaching Hernan with Sara. It was literally the most unexpected feeling ever, but I literally felt like Ashley was Sara teaching with me, that she was my companion for that day teaching with me. I told ashley about it as well. 

We also went to teach a less active member and ended up teaching her and her aunt. Her aunt told us that it was exactly what she needed to hear. I was talking to Hermana Stott afterwards about it and she said that she didn’t even feel the spirit very strong and the sister started to cry and we were both a little stunned.  But when she told us that she needed what we came to share, we talked about how great that is and amazing that we are able to be here and have those kinds of experiences. That we can teach the people for the things that they need to hear, and even though we didn’t feel the same spirit as her, it´s not about us.  We are here to teach and listen.  Ashley told me that her bishop here in the mission said that the reason we came to learn spanish is not because we need to be able to teach the people but because we need to be able to understand them and listen to them. We are just a guide and to bring the spirit. Yes, we teach the lessons but we listen to their problems and apply the gospel to it. They have the responsibility to teach themselves and burry themselves deeper into the gospel, thats why it´s important that they keep their promises and do their reading and praying and going to church.

Hermana Baldeon is doing good, we have a lot of great moments together and we talk a lot. Oh Elder Salvidar and his wife came to the pension the other day and they told us that he likes me best so he chose me to be the person to do the experiment with heated blankets. Everyone is freezing at night and so we are doing an experiment and it´s totally working, I was so glad that he chose us to do the experiment. Also oh!!! I totally forgot to tell you that we had our interviews with President this week!  He came to the pension in the night around 8:00 with his assistants and Elder Salvidar and had inspections and interviews. It went really well and he is such an amazing President. I really am so thankful for him. He told me thanks for what I´m doing here and he knows that we will have miracles in this area. As a man of God I know that he can receive that revelation for us and this area and I´m excited to see the miracles happen here. 

Also, we have an activity de zone today and I´m really excited. We get to play volleyball, watch 17 miracles and then eat ice cream. 3 of my favorite things so I´m excited to do that today. 

How is Landon doing?? I heard about the accident in Spain and I was worried a little bit because Landon and Brooke are both there and I didn’t know where it was only that it was in Spain. So I´m glad to hear that they are ok. That’s amazing about that Elder. He really was protected by the Lord in the train accident. 

Well family I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week! Work hard and I´ll talk to you next week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hola Familia!

Thank you for the letters and for the picture. We worked hard this week and my companion is still learning the mission and I´m still learning to be patient with her. We really get along so well so I´m so thankful for her everyday. There are just a few issues with that she will get tired in the night or really cold and beg and plead with me to come home early. It´s a temptation for me every time because I´m feeling the same things but somehow I find the strength to say no and tell her we will not be going home early. She gets a little upset but I don’t want to be disobedient. 

This week we had a lesson with Anaís which was really good. She is awesome but she is having problems with doing the things we were asking her. We had a really, really awesome lesson on Repentance and just focused on explaining it the best we could to help her. She had some questions which we explained and in the end of the lesson we asked if we could kneel and have a prayer that she would offer. She finally (first time we could kneel) said yes and offered the first prayer ever out loud. It was short but I was so happy because I knew that if she would not pray in front of us, she wasn’t praying on her own. We were happy about that. We committed her to come to church and she told us yes but that we couldn’t come get her because her sisters would get mad, they don’t really want anything to do with us right now. But then she didn't come!!! AH!  So frustrating. We are trying to do everything we can for her and she wants to be baptized and KNOWS she can’t be baptized if she doesn’t come to church and then she doesn’t come. It´s been a constant struggle with her but I know that she can do it and overcome the temptations of satan not to come to church.

Last monday I was in the store shopping for food and I ran into Hermana Stott and another sister from my district in the MTC! They are companions!! They are also the sisters that do interchanges with us so we have interchanges this friday. Hermana Stott will be coming to my area and we will work together for 24 hours and then change back, but I´m so excited to work with her. It’s so funny that we are both here in the same mission and could be companions one day.

We had an activity of the Branch on Saturday of Sweets. And I made chocolate chip cookies and brownies. It ended up being really good and there was a ton of sweets that we all ate. It was really awesome and we had a joyful time there with the members and investigators. We actually ate a lot and when we went home I felt a little sick because of too many sweets in one night. Oh, so yesterday we had a branch conference which was awesome! They had a choir (of members) which was good (the people here really can’t sing and sometimes it’s really funny). But they sang a song about love and as I was sitting there looking at each of the sisters in the choir singing and I felt an overwhelming love for each of them as well as for each of the members and investigators here in this area. I started to cry and I had a thought come to me that I will be leaving this area in this next change. I’m not sure if that will happen that I leave but I know that at sometime I will be leaving this area because I have been here 4 months now which is a decent amount of time to be in an area. But I just really love these people so much. It’s such a tender mercy to feel the love of the Lord for His children here in Chile. It breaks my heart when there are people that we find that don’t believe in anything. They don’t believe in God because of all the wickedness and sadness in this life and they say how could there be a God that loves us with all this stuff happening. A loving God wouldn’t let children suffer and it´s so awful that they can’t believe that God loves us. But I have learned it really is how you look at life. If you look at all the evil and sadness of this life, obviously you could start thinking how there couldn´t be a God but if you look at all the amazing and happy things there is no way there could not be a God that loves us.

Family, I love you so much and I pray for you each every night. I hope that you have been having a great summer and enjoy the rest of what is left. It´s been really, really cold here but we are doing good. I´ve been using my sleeping bag at night now because it´s so cold . 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week! Keep working hard!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hola Familia! 

We got to go to the conference last night. We got to listen to it in English which was awesome! Wow!!!! I loved every minute of that! It was so powerful and so special. I had a name in my head the whole time that would not leave me until I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget. I need you guys to go see Martina that lives down the street from us. She´s the cute little mexican lady that lives across from the Schow´s. I´m not sure why I had that name in my head but I´m pretty sure she isn’t a member and you guys know the missionaries now that are in the area and I know she loves our family. She needs to be invited to come to church and so I’ve had the prompting to invite you guys to go and invite her to things of the church and to neighborhood activities and things like that. She needs to feel the love of the ward and I´m inviting you guys to be the missionaries and bring her to church. Then reference her to the missionaries so that they can come and teach her and her husband as well. I know there aren’t very many non-members that live near us but I invite you to look for the less active members as well. GET INVOLVED!!! This isn´t just for me this is for everyone and I´ve really seen that in my mission. There is such a need for members to get involved and to start doing the work of the Lord. It isn´t enough anymore to be thinking of someone and only be nice to them, we need to start acting. Every ward and every stake needs to be involved. I know there might be a thought of oh but ya we live in utah and everyone is mormon in Utah. I promise you that if you look for the people who are less active in the ward or stake and also those you can bring into the fold by inviting them to activities and church that you will find them. The Lord will not let us fail when we are doing His work -Elder Anderson. That broadcast last night got me into a motivation to work harder than I’ve ever worked on my mission and to use the members like crazy until they are working just as hard as the missionaries because this is a work of the Lord and it´s a time when EVERYONE is needed in this. Not just the missionaries. I´m so excited when I can return home and be able to still be a missionary because I can still do my part as a member of the church to find those who are prepared for the gospel. Look for ways to invite people over to the house for games or for a neighborhood activity. It will change lives and you will find the prepared children of God.  

I had such a strong feeling last night that the second coming is near. It´s coming and we need to be prepared and doing all we possibly can to bring as many people we can into the fold. If we don’t do our part in this work we will be held accountable because we were blessed with the gospel and didn’t share it with others. Raise the bar for the members in the ward and start the rescue for our ward and stake. I love you all.  I´m so lucky to call you my family and my parents. I know this is the only true church of our Lord and Savior. I know that He lives and is guiding this work. I know how important this work is to Him and He is calling and pleading with every member of the church to get involved in the rescue. Everyone is needed to accomplish this. It´s too big of a work to only be done by the 70,000 missionaries. We need all 14 million members to be doing missionary work and when that happens the work of the Lord really will penetrate the hearts of everyone in every land. It will fulfill the revelation that the gospel of Jesus Christ will move forward until it has filled the whole Earth. I know that you can’t be tracting like we do as missionaries but you can be looking for the people who are ready for the gospel or who need to be rescued and you can find someone or help someone everyday. FIND THEM! They are important and as members of the church it´s our duty to not let them go inactive. 

We had to go to the doctor a few times to get my companion a x-ray of her foot. We have to go back today to get the information about her foot and decide from there what needs to be done. Her foot is doing a lot better so it depends on what the doctor says, she might be able to stay in the area for more time. I´m actually ok with that because we are finally getting a long soo much better and have so much we can do here together. I think it would be really nice to have her here for another transfer. Which is another thing, we have transfers in a week. CRAZY!! I cant believe that I´ve been in the mission for 6 months in a couple weeks!! it feels like just yesterday that I came here and was with hermana Paz getting my training. It´s been such an amazing journey so far and I´ve really felt the difference this has made in my life thus far. I´m so excited for what´s still ahead of me in my mission and I know it´s going to be hard because it literally seems that every transfer is harder and harder and harder but I know that the Lord is preparing me now for those experiences because He knows that I can handle them when the time comes. It´s hard to think like that all the time especially when the moments come but I know that He is always with us. I love you my family and I´m so proud of the things you are doing. Just remember to be a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places. You are His children and You are His servants in this mighty work. I hope you are all doing well and having a great summer. Just remember your little Emi freezing in the cold here in Chile hahaha ;) na just kidding I´m fine here. :) It sounds like you all had a great week! Keep working hard and being the amazing family you are!! I love you!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

This week was great! We worked really really hard. We didn’t have any new investigators in church so we have to wait for those investigators to be baptized the following month. As for Nicholas he is doing awesome. He is progressing super fast and we went to teach him last night. He told us that he believes it. He´s just still got some work to do on his part of really really reading the book of mormon but he wants to. After we taught him, he said that he wants to try and come to church this sunday!  We are really excited about that. I know he will be baptized, he is so ready that it´s just going to happen, I know it. Also Maria is progressing as well. We just need to see her everyday because we need to work hard at getting her to church. Her mom is really sick so this is the problem of why she does not come. But I know that if she comes to church she will find the peace she needs about her mom´s health. The family Martinez, are doing great. We have an appointment with them this Tuesday and we are excited because we have a plan of accion with them to invite them to baptism with a return missionary being there as well. 

Mom thanks for the scripture, I really love those scriptures and I really needed those this morning.  This week we had intercambios and I went to another area to work with someone else for a day. I was with Hermana Pendleton. She is from Utah and we actually came here together so it was really nice and fun to work together for the whole day. We learned a lot from each other and we worked really hard.  On friday we had a zone conference. It was awesome. I saw Hermana Paz and we talked a lot and then we just had basically 5 hours of straight learning and spiritualness. It was seriously so nice. I loved every minute of it because we learn sooo much during that time. We talked a lot about the spirit and the importance of the spirit in the work of the Lord and in our lives.

Bre thanks for writing me! I really love hearing about my sammy and my michael they are just too cute. It’s so good to hear that things are going well for you and that sammy is adjusting well.  That´s great for bryce!! I´m happy for him! You guys are so awesome. I love you both so much!!

Daddy!!!! HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! I´m sending you a letter today so just make sure to look for it. Sorry it wasn’t there for your special day but I thought about you all day yesterday. Everyone kept asking if we got to call home for fathers day as well, it´s really sad that we can’t but just know that I love you dad! You are such an amazing father and husband.

I love you all!! Remember that this life is soo short and we need to work hard everyday to do and be our best selves. I promise when you are doing the things of the Lord, you will find happiness. I love being here in Chile, i love seeing all the change that are going on around me. I´m so grateful to be apart of this great work here in Chile. I love you! Keep being great and working hard. Until next week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hola Familia! 

Well this week was hard but good at the same time.  I really learned that there isn’t anything better for the feelings of hurt or sadness than working hard and putting all your effort and thoughts into the work of the Lord. This helped me soo much!!

We found a nuevo named Nicholas. He is awesome. He is 21 and really wants to know more about the gospel. When we found him the first thing he said was teach me everything about your church, I want to know everything about your church. So we taught him the first lesson and the Sabbath day and then told him we needed to come back another day because it´s impossible to teach it all in one night. So he agreed and then we left. It was so awesome. We ended up teaching him again last night about the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom. He told us he didn’t have any problems with the word of wisdom and accepted to live the word of wisdom. He also accepted the invitation to pray to see if this is true and if it is to be baptized! We are really happy about that. We just need to work really hard with getting him to attend church 3 sundays and to be baptized. He told us that he wants to do the things the Lord commands and to be on the right path. I know that he will receive an answer that this is true. We also taught our investigator Maria. She is progressing so fast but she just hasn’t come to church yet. That seems to be the biggest problem here is that people don’t want to come to church.  We taught her and invited her to be baptized which she accepted. It was awesome. She also told us something that is really amazing. She told us that the elders always knocked on her door and that she didn’t want anything to do with them. But the day that we knocked she was getting ready to leave and didn’t want to talk to anyone and that when she opened the door she thought we were angels and let us in without thinking of anything else. Well then she told us about a dream she had about 20 years ago. She said that she had a dream about 2 young girls that were so happy and when she opened up the door to us that one day she realized that we were the 2 girls she had from her dream 20 years ago.  It´s really amazing how the Lord prepares people for us to come and find them. I know that she is a really special daughter of God and we really love her so much. She really loves when we come to teach her because she said she has a different feeling in her home that she loves and always wants. Her home feels more happy and peaceful when we come than any other time during the week. She wants to be baptized but she just needs to come to church!! 

It’s really amazing to me to see all of these miracles each week. Sometimes I think oh I don’t have that missionary revelation of having a burning feeling or a voice saying where to go and what door to knock, but it’s always just a little wonder in my head of like oh why not knock this street or this house and it´s weird cause I just do it. I don’t really think a second time about it, the thought just comes and I think oh why not and we do it and then it ends up being that we find someone who is so ready for the gospel. That happened another time this week as well. we went to go finish knocking a street (where we found Nicholas) and then ended up finding this woman named Daniela. She asked who we were and we told her and started asking her about if she had religion and she said actually I´ve been thinking a lot about mormonism. Obviously we were shocked and didn’t really say anything for a minute and then she was like come in!  We went in and found that she is a less active member but her husband isn’t a member. So we are excited to teach her because she wants to return to church. She was also talking about her family and said that she had family that lived higher up than us (in the elders in our branch´s area). The last name sounded familiar to me so I asked her if she had relatives in a street in our area. She said yes and then I asked about a girl  Hermana Castleton and I used to teach before she moved to the elders area. She was like... oh ya that´s my little sister!  She´s the only one that is not a member but she is really receptive to the gospel. I ended up calling the elders that night to tell them about it and that they needed to find her in their area. It was an awesome experience!! 

We also taught the family Martinez this week about the word or wisdom and fasting. They accepted them both without a problem! They are progressing so fast and we expect the put a date with them this week. The mom (Jacqueline) said to the elders in lunch yesterday that she knows she will be baptized because she loves the church and all the things we teach and offer. All we need to do is get her to accept a date to be baptized!! 

My companion has a problem with her Achilles tendon in her foot that when she walks uphill or upstairs it hurts her A LOT. We end up having to walk super slow and it´s a problem. Well we are going to Viña today to get her some boots for her foot and if they don’t help her with walking uphill then she will be transferred out of the area for health reasons. We are hoping they work. She has a week from today to get her foot feeling better and if not, then in two weeks we have transfers (well basically 2 weeks). We have been getting along a lot better which is awesome!  We really are trying to help each other with everything even though there still are days that we are frustrated with each other or with ourselves. We are doing a lot better in our companionship. Also she snores SOOO loud. I´m not kidding I sleep with ear plugs in and the fan on and I can still hear her snoring so I have not been sleeping very good at night. I wake up every night for at least an hour and I just lay there and cry because I´m so tired but can’t sleep because of her snoring. I finally talked to one of the elders who gave me an idea of listening to music while I sleep. So last night I put the speakers under my pillow and slept that way. It was the first time all week that I have slept all through the night. Everyone has been saying things to me about me being tired because my right eye is all red. I´m hoping that goes away soon because I’m thinking it´s because I´m not getting enough sleep at night. 

This week we had a night of salads. I made the salad with the berries and almonds. I couldn’t figure out how to sugar them so that failed. and then I couldn’t find the vinaigrette (I added some chicken) but in the end no one really ate it or liked it. People here don’t have berries very often and so when they saw it they thought it looked good and said that to me but then no one really wanted to try it. So that was kinda sad but it´s fine.

I´ve been praying for you all every prayer. I know that this week has been hard on all of us. But I know that the Lord loves each one of us. I know He is always with us and he can help us in all of our afflictions. There is a scripture (cant remember where) that says that if we do all that we can and trust in the Lord, He will strengthen us and carry the heavy burdens that we have in this life. He doesn’t take our burdens away but He will give us the strength we need to be able to carry these burdens. Pray everyday for the Lord to bless you with His love and with strength to be able to go about everyday to deal with the burdens of everyday life. This life is not easy and we all knew that but we still chose to come here and experience all that this life has to offer. People aren´t perfect but the gospel of Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ are perfect. The plan of Salvation is Perfect. There isn’t a single flaw in this plan of life. We just need to endure and push forward with all of our effort and I know that if we do that and do all we can in this life that God wants He will make up the rest for all of our shortcomings. I love you all and I pray for you each and everyday. I miss you but I´m working hard and I´m loving every minute here, I know there are a lot of days here and moments here that are so hard but I know that I´m growing in the process. I´m not perfect in teaching or finding or actually at being a missionary. But I know that there are things that I can do perfectly like being obedient in all of the rules and serving my companion and the people here and being happy, etc. I love this gospel with all of my heart and I´m so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here on my mission and to serve all of the people here and to help them come closer to Christ. I know that this is true, with every part of my soul I know its true.

I love you, Keep working hard and be happy. Remember that when life becomes to hard to stand, Kneel. Until next week!

Hermana Tycksen