Hellos for the last time on the mission!!! 

I have been so focused in what I have to do and there are so many people and families that we are teaching that I don’t want to leave until they get baptized!!!! It’s so sad to think that I won't be here to see it. 

Well this week was very

very short. It all went by way too fast and I can’t believe this is the last week I have working as a missionary.  This week we had a lot that happened. We got the stand (I believe I sent you home a photo.  The stand has a question and we put it out for people to read).  Anyway, we have to use that in the morning and in the night (about 4-6) everyday, so it took up a lot of our time to go and teach investigatores. We started out this week with a FHE with the family that got baptized on Sunday and it went really well, they prepared everything. We also taught a family that is soooo perfect. We taught them the restoration and it went really well. The son had a few questions that we were able to answer and the mom said that maybe in one moment he´ll choose to be a member to the church and he said it could be that later on he´ll decide that. So we have another FHE with them today and we are going to go with two members that are awesome. I’m really excited for tonight. :) We´re going to focus on the Restoration again and watch a video.

We also had an intercambio (interchange) on Tuesday and I went to a little town called Olmué. It’s sooo cute. I went with Hermana Martinez that is from España and she´s actually from the mission that Brooke´s serving in.  We had a great time and we had a few FHE´s to do and also taught some great lessons. She´s really awesome and we laughed a lot together. Then on the fourth of july we went to see a referral of a member in Olmue named Pamela. SHE´S GOLDEN!!!!  Honestly the biggest miracle ever and she´s the reason I’m so sad to have to come home. We taught her the restoration and when we invited her to pray about Joseph Smith she said that she´s already done that.  She read the book of mormon that we gave her and decided to pray about it and to know if it’s true.  She´s going to come to church this Sunday with us and I’m really excited. She also has a daughter that we haven’t taught yet and lives with her dad. So there are 2 other people in the house that can be baptized!!!  We also have an appointment with her today and we´re excited to teach her and see how her prayers have gone. I feel so blessed here in Limache. I’ve seen some pretty amazing miracles and I love Limache!!!

On sunday we had church and I bore my testimony along with Hermana Agle. it was a great meeting and the spirit was very strong. We went to lunch and had to do the stand but then we went to go and see Yaritza and her mom Luz. They were there so that was good and we taught them as well the restoration. We taught the restoration a lot of times this week and it has been so amazing. I always feel the spirit but I really felt the spirit so strongly every time that we told the first vision. I love how strongly the spirit is whenever the first vision is said. OH I also forgot to say that this investigator of the other hermanas got baptized but we taught him a few times as well so it was really awesome to be there and see him get baptized.  His name is Gustavo and he´s 16 but honestly the best kid ever. It was a very exciting day and the spirit was soooo strong. I love baptisms!!! 

I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by but I’m so excited to keep going on in life and learning and progressing and I’m excited to be able to apply all the things I’ve learned in the mission to my daily life. I know that it will be different and there will be a lot of challenges but I know that the Lord will bless me to fulfill everything I need to do. I want you all to know how much I´ve changed and grown over this year and a half of my mission. I feel closer to my Savior, I know that He loves me and that He died for me so that I can be better and progress to become more like Him, and so that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father. I know that my Father in Heaven is there and that He hears and answers my prayers. I’ve seen it so many times up to the point that members have told me to not pray for specific trials or experiences to grow because my prayers are always answered haha. I also have grown to know even more profoundly that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet.  I testify that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know that they live. I know that they appeared to Joseph and that he was a prophet of God. I know that Thomas Monson is the prophet today and that Jesus Christ directs His church through our prophet. The book of mormon is the word of God. It is my favorite book in the whole world and I testify that if someone reads the book of mormon they will grow closer to God. The book of mormon is the best way to grow closer to our Father in Heaven as well as our Savior. Read it and study it everyday. Don't miss, PLEASE. I have come to know the importance of our callings in the church and I have become even more grateful for wonderful parents who have been my example my whole life of how to act in their callings. There were so many times that I never wanted to go with dad to do his home teaching but I understand now the importance in doing it and completing with the task. So thank you mom and dad for your great examples in always being faithful to your callings and doing your visiting teaching and home teaching even when it wasn’t easy and when you didn’t feel like doing it. I know that there were many people blessed by your faithfulness as well as me because I was able to learn from your examples.

I love you family!!! I cant wait to see you all in a little more than a week!!!  Since I´ll be getting home early in the day if it’s possible I would love to go to the Salt Lake Temple and take a family picture with my missionary tag still on. But if we can’t do that then that’s ok :) I love you all!!!  Thanks for all your support during my mission, I couldn’t have done it without you all. 

con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hello family!!

We had some pretty amazing spiritual moments this week. We went to see Oriana and Katy and we talked with them about the plan of salvation and also the gospel of Jesus Christ. We mixed the two lessons together to be able to teach them and commit them to be baptized. When we started talking about what we have to do in this life to get back to God, we talked about faith, repentance, baptism and when we started talking about baptism Katy said "mom i wanna get baptized!!" she is sooo amazing and so special. We talked a little bit more and it was a perfect lesson. I invited them to be baptized and when i said it, Oriana said Yes. We have faith, we repent so we are at that point right now to take the step and be baptized. So they accepted a date for the 15 of June to be baptized!! Oriana got sick this weekend and wasn’t able to come to church yesterday which was a huge bummer but I’m not worried about them because they will be fine. I’m so excited for them!! Katy was soooo happy.  When we went back to talk again of the plan of salvation and finish the lesson we had Katy tell us the lesson up to where we stopped and she remembered everything!!! We did the lesson with pictures we had found in Liahonas and we cut them out to make the plan of salvation. Pretty creative hahaha :) 

We have transfers this week. I’m not sure what will happen. My companion thinks that I´ll be leaving but I don’t feel like I will be. I know that whatever happens is for the best and what the Lord has in store for me and that is something that i have to learn. 

We also had a new thing that we are doing as a mission. Its a stand that has like two posters with questions on it. And we put the stand somewhere in the street and people walk by and read it and we contact them and try to get a direction to go to and teach them the answer to the question and if they don’t want that we just give them a card with a internet page that will teach them of the answer to the question. It’s pretty interesting and it’s actually kind of hard. But the point of it is that those who are chosen by the Lord will come to us and ask us questions and be willing to accept us in their house. We had 2 people that gave us their direction and that we could pass another day and one of them accepted a book of mormon. It was pretty interesting and we really saw a lot of success with that. Its amazing the things that the church is doing to get the word out to all the world about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So awesome and such an amazing time to be a missionary!!!! 

Well its sounds like you all had a great week. I’m so excited for lissa and for the new experiences she is going to have. missionary. Lissy I’m so proud of you with graduation. Dad I did get the chance to do BOM live and it was amazing. It was the best experience i could have had. 

Stay strong and keep working hard in all you do: Love you all!!!

con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hellos!!!!

Wow, WAY too much going on here this week! It’s been nuts. I’m sure you all know and have heard about the earthquakes going on.  First off, we didn’t feel the earthquake, we were coming to our house at 9:30 and there was a guy in a car going around warning everyone about it and that we might have to evacuate for the tsunami. For about 40 minutes we didn’t have contact with anyone. With the warning of tsunami, our cell phones were the first thing to go and we had zero contact for that time. When we finally did get in touch with our district leader we were informed that we didn’t have to leave our area and the next day we found out that the tsunami was about a 7 foot wave.  They made a lot more noise over it than needed. But it was a good experience because the whole mission learned a lot about what we need to do in an emergency. The ward members were trying to call us and inform us of what was going on, so don’t worry we were receiving help. The thing that they are saying is that this is nothing compared to what is coming. There was the earthquake of 8.3 and then right after one of 7.8, they are expecting one to be around 9 point something. If it gets that big, we will be affected by the earthquake and possibly the tsunami, but where our house is here it won’t get to us so we are safe. 

On Thursday we had zone conference with President!! It was AMAZING. Everything I needed to hear, they talked about. They didn’t do the zone conference big like they usually do, it was our small zone of 14 missionaries and so we had to talk a lot. We ended reading the book of Mormon for the first time this year (in three months) and it was incredible. I really have felt the love for my Savior grow even more. I have been so anxious to start again the book of Mormon for the second time this year. When I finish my mission i´ll have read the book of Mormon 3 times in Spanish and I have learned more in that time than in my whole life reading the book of Mormon. This time we are reading and marking for the following things: 1. prayer  2. all names of Christ and God  3. all the times that God or Christ talk to the people.  4. obedience  5. all references to satan (murmurings, murdering, disobedience, anger, hatred, etc). We just recently starting and are now at about 1 Nephi 9 and I have learned soooo much. I cannot believe how many times satan is in the scriptures. Not because he is something great to learn about, but President wants us to know and be able to realize the attacks and temptations of satan. I’m really excited to read the whole book of Mormon and get the power to know how satan thinks and acts to be able to make even better choices in my life. I invite you all to do the same.  President talked a lot about the earthquake and we were to do practices of what to do. The next morning there was an earthquake about 6:55 AM and it was just little, but our district leader called us to make sure we were ok and was practicing what he needs to do as a district leader in case of an emergency. So I felt safe to know he will be my district leader until I finish my mission.

As for conference, WOW!! I hope you all loved conference as much as I did!!! So incredible, I honestly love conference. President Monson, loved his talk. I loved what President Packer said. His was more of a testimony than a talk but it was incredible. I have such a love for President Packer and what I wouldn’t give to have even a little sliver of his knowledge. He knows so much. I also really loved the talk about Joseph Smith from Elder Corbridge. That he is either a prophet or a pretender, the church is true (all of it) or it’s not. There is no in-between. Everything is either all true or all wrong. LOVED that. I’m going to use that with my investigators. As for them... none of them came to church. We went looking for them and there was a lot of things that they had going on that they couldn’t come or they just didn’t want to, I’m not sure. We have found 6 new people to teach this week. They are great and really are miracles of how and when we found them. Such an amazing time to be a missionary. I can’t believe how fast the time goes by. I feel such an urgency to be prepared for the second coming. Everyone of the prophets said something even a little word or story of the second coming. Please be preparing for that day and remember the words of the prophets. Remember what President Monson said, We MUST study and re-read the words of conference. They are there for our understanding and study. 

I love you all my family. I hope you all have a great day!!! Do whats right, always and you will be happy :)

Love,

Hermana Tycksen

Hello family!!

To start out I have to tell you what just happened.... it was so funny.  So this lady walked into the internet place and she had a baby stroller and I kept hearing a dog whine, it didn’t really mean anything to me until my companion started laughing right next to me. I looked over at her and there is the stroller with a dog inside of it. I looked around at the lady to see if she had kids... nope! Her dog was her baby and she had strapped him into a stroller to take him shopping. SOOO FUNNY!!! I was dying laughing. 

I’m doing good. It’s getting cold here and we find spiders in our house all the time, I hate spiders. BUT yesterday we totally had the most amazing miracles happen.  WOOT WOOT!!  In the morning we got ready and we were studying and we needed to leave somewhat earlier and ended up leaving at 10:25 to go look for investigators. We went to look for Brandon and he was ready and came with us. 1st miracle. 2nd miracle is that my companion was saying Hermana we need to go get Jaun Raúl (a new convert that is 89 years old and can’t walk very fast or very much so you have to go in a car). I told her that we didn’t have anyone to come get us in a car and I didn’t want to go because we were going to be late to church. Well we ended up going to see if Jaun Raul was ready and we passed by. Yep he was sitting in a chair in the doorway waiting for us and when his daughter saw us she started yelling they came, they came!!! He got all excited, it was like seeing a little kid on Christmas and that tore me apart because I had not wanted to come. Then when we got him out the door I asked how we were going to get him to church, by walking or by car. and my comp said by car/taxi. Sundays and in the morning are almost impossible to find a taxi and especially one that is empty-just a side note. So we started waiting and calling people to come get us but no one could. 2 taxis passed by but other people took those.  I said to my companion no one is coming to get us?  She said no. Right then a taxi passed by and saw us and we flagged it down, it came over and it was empty. He helped us in the car and get to the church. When he got there it was 10:55, church starts at 11. I got tears in my eyes as he pulled up and helped us to the church.  When we walked in to church a member of another ward told us that someone was looking for us and she walks with a limp, the only person we know that walks with a limp is Monica. miracle 4, Monica and her daughter came to church for the first time!!!! We had 5 investigators in church yesterday and each one of them was a miracle that they were there. 

Brandon loved primary and wants to come next week. So does Monica. We didn’t have anything else happen yesterday because no one would answer the door or listen to us, but it didn’t matter because we had some really amazing miracles happen. My companion taught me to trust more and have more faith in God, I was doubting almost the whole time that something would happen, but she taught me to be more faithful. It was a really amazing experience I won’t forget. Well family i love you all. I’m happy. I’m doing good and I love my mission. Things are hard, but they are also so good that you forget the bad moments. Everything will work out for the best, I know that.  I love you all and hope you have a great week! Be safe and do what is right, in this there is safety and peace :) LOVE YOU!!

love,

hermana Tycksen

Hola!

This week all of our appointments fell through.  We have 4 investigators that we are really focusing on to come to church so that they can be baptized but... we have not been able to find them ALL week!! It’s terrible. We have 5 sundays this month and one down with a big fat zero investigators in church as of yesterday. So 4 weeks to really work my bum off and get people coming to church on a regular basis.  This week has been a week of learning for me. And I have learned a lot. Let me share these few things with you. :)

We got a little letter from the Area Presidency of Chile to all the mission presidents and we were asked to read it.  I have been trying to put everything I learned into practice, like talking to everyone that I see about baptism. So that’s my focus right now. I want to baptize. I am always thinking about it. It’s what I want to achieve.  I always wanted to baptize but I’m making it even more of my focus so that other people when we teach them, know that we want them to be baptized and if they don’t accept it and don’t want us to come back. it’s ok.  It’s the best way to find the people who are really going to put forth the effort to complete with baptism.

As of yesterday we´ve had some great success. We contacted this lady and she was really awesome and then started to talk about her family and we talked very briefly about the gospel and then asked if we could share more with her and she invited us in. We went in and started by singing her a hymn (I am a child of God) which she loved soo much that she started to cry. It was perfect to invite the spirit and totally set up the lesson. We talked about Faith, Repentance and Baptism briefly and she liked it so much she told her sons friends to come and listen to us (while we were still talking about faith). So one of the friends came to listen (he´s never been baptized). They were really great and really special so we are going to be passing by for them again this week. But the thing that got me was when we were finishing the lesson and we prayed we were preparing to leave and the lady asked us to sing I am a child of God again for her and her son’s friend. So we did and she thanked us and said she´ll be waiting for us to come back again on Thursday. Awesome!! :)

This week we had interchanges. I went with Hermana Isaacson from Orem and we went to her area. She´s companions with Hermana Paz so that was really fun to be able to see her as well.  We did a lot of contacting and almost all of the contacts we did were really great and they are going to be passing by for them again. I learned a lot from Hermana Isaacson. She was companions with one of the Hermanas from Mexico that was really amazing and she passed on a lot of great advice of how to do contacts and teaching, etc. So when we do the contacts we focus more on them than getting inside to teach them. We get to know them for like...2 min and then start to ask to share more with them. It works really well so that you can enter into the house and start to teach them. If someone comes up and just says we´re missionaries and we want to teach you a message about Christ, a lot of the time here and especially in our area they say they are Catholic or Christian and don’t need to hear a message of Christ because they already know Christ or are with Christ, etc. The point is to first get their confidence and then ask to share a message. To show concern for them first and their lives and then they feel ok to invite you inside.  If I just say we want to share a message, even though they are doing a lot of things to get ready for school or cooking or with kids, etc., it’s stressful, so instead of doing that I ask to come back another day when they are less occupied and they then feel respected and tell you the day and time you can come back. That was really long to explain that but it’s just something that I’m trying to put more in practice. 

I love you all and I hope you are all doing well and are happy :) stay strong and do what is right, always :)

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

HOOOOLA!!! 

Hellos to all :) This week is getting colder. Its starting to be close to autumn.  

We´ve been working really hard.  We have an investigator and he´s awesome. He´s the fiancé to a less active member who is reactivating. But he wants to be baptized. We are working really hard with him. We put a date to be baptized for the 1st of March, but then the next day he told us that he prayed and thought about it and felt like he needed to be prepared a little bit more. so we talked bout it and then taught the law of chastity and the word of wisdom and found out that he smokes. So that´s his big concern right now is that he wants to stop smoking and drinking tea so that he can be clean before and after his baptism. So he´s golden.  We are focusing a lot on him and the lessons are incredible that we have with him. They are always so spiritual and in two of the lessons we had with him this week he started to cry because he told us that we came in a time when he really needed to listen. He talks about how he feels different with us and that we bring a lot of peace when he’s listening to us. So he can recognize the spirit and we´ve helped him to recognize it as well as his answers. He knows the church is true and wants to be a member. So we´re really happy and excited for him. We just gotta put a date to be baptized and help him feel ready to do it. So please keep him in your prayers.

I read something today that was a letter to the Mission Presidents of Chile from the area presidency. They put in a letter of a mission president (that you all know, named elder Lawrence Corbridge who wrote the 4th missionary). He talked about how the missionaries should talk, think and dream of baptism. I realized that I have always thought that was my focus of wanting to baptize. But it really has not been because i haven’t focused on baptism with people in the beginning of the lesson. I have always focused on them coming to church and reading and praying before getting baptized. It’s been hard because the people don’t do their promises but it´s because they don’t understand why they would do them. If they understood baptism, then when they have a desire to be baptized they will have a desire to read and pray and go to church, etc. So I have made it my goal to really focus on that this week and for the rest of my mission and to help the people understand and want to be baptized so that they will then have the desire to read and pray and progress. 

Everything with my companion is good. We get along really well and we´re always laughing. I thought this would be a hard change but it's been great. I have learned a lot from her and I know that there is still a lot that I need to do to be better. I have grown up so much. I honestly think sooo much differently about so many things in the gospel and about life. I know that there is nothing better for a woman than to serve a mission. I now understand why it makes you a good mother as President Hinckley has said, it’s because your children will become your investigators and so you learn so many things of how to teach them and help them through their struggles. I’m so thankful for the time I have to serve a mission and for all of you that are supporting me so much. I feel the support. I know that the mission is hard, but it’s the best thing of my life thus far and the best thing for my life. I love you all so much and am always praying for each of you. 

There is always things we need to do to be better and more like our Savior. But I know that when we make the decision to be like Him, we will do the will of the Father, like the fourth missionary talks about. I love you!!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

Hello family!

We have some really awesome investigators which we are pushing with to see more and teach more often but as of right now they are only able to meet once a week so there isn’t too much progress yet. The hardest thing of this area is it’s FULL of Jehovah Witnesses and Aventistas. I have been studying the bible like none other and I still don’t feel like I know it all that well. One of the members we went to see yesterday was talking to us about his mission in Concepcion Chile and how many baptisms they had. I know the mission isn’t about numbers of baptisms but they had a ton, about 8-13 baptisms every week for companionships. He said that he didn’t waste time with people. If they didn’t want to follow Christ he didn’t want to waste time with them and keep passing wishing and hoping that they would change their minds. He said that if people only want to learn from you for your knowledge or because your friends that he stopped passing because it was wasting the time of the Lord in being there if they are not progressing. I know that seems harsh but it really hit me yesterday. When I got here to this area there are investigators that have been teaching for.... months and they still are not reading or going to church or praying and it’s time to stop passing for them. I think as missionaries we get in this mode of being afraid not to have investigators. We hold onto people hoping that they will change and we keep passing to have a lesson but also because we don’t want to be out in the street all day long without once entering a house to teach. It happens. Sometimes we want that security net of an investigator to pass by when you don’t know what else to do. But I’m in a moment of my mission where I have noticed in this area more than any other that I am to the point of wanting to teach people to get baptized and not just to teach them. There is a purpose and if they are not willing to be baptized and follow Christ then I can not plead and beg them to do it. 

We have this family that we are teaching, they´re Jews and they are sooo awesome. They are not married, just living together and have a kid. But the dad is looking for the way to Christ, we are not pushing him yet because he´s still opening up a bit but the mom is right there. I know that they have an answer but they just have not recognized it yet. They have not come to church yet but we will keep passing for them and I´ll let you know what happens. Ah, its just that there are a few people that are ready to be baptized but it’s problems that make it so they can’t yet. 

This week there was an experience really, really hard that happened to me. We were contacting and we started talking to this guy who started to talk about how religion ruins people and how the people who are in religions are like the worst people in the world. Ya so right there I was wanting to leave but he kept talking and accusing us of not knowing things and would not let us say a word. He then started talking about how Christ was a terrible person. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I testified that Christ lives and that only through Him can we be saved, the man then got upset and started talking again and I cut him off to say bye and we left. We walked 2 steps and I started to cry, my whole body was shaking. It’s not that I was angry, I was hurt that someone could hate my Savior so much that they think He is a horrible person. It pained me to see someone deny the spirit of the truth they know. I think that’s also why parents suffer when their kids do things they should not. It’s because the parents know what they are doing and how great is the sin they are committing but can’t do anything for them, but pray. And that’s what I did. To be able to keep working I prayed for that man that one day he would have the chance to hear the gospel and that he can have a change of heart. 

Yesterday was a special broadcast for only Chile from some of the 70 and Elder Cook. It was about hastening the work and it was amazing. They also talked about the law of chastity. Something one of the 70 said was that in this life we have the power to create. God has given us the power to create life. So the reason we keep the law of chastity? Because we are learning to be obedient. God will give to those who live in the highest part of the celestial kingdom to be able to have children and create worlds. If we are not obedient and don’t learn to use the power of God correctly in this life, how can God TRUST us to use His power correctly?? HE CANT!! I have never heard someone say the law of chastity in that way, of looking at it for the eternities. We always talk about it for just this life, but I know what he said is true. Sometimes the truth cuts and it hurts but I know that if we don’t learn obedience in this life, what privileges will God trust us with? None. Trust is everything. I have finally learned that. If you don’t have the trust of your parents how can you expect to go do things when they don’t trust you? With God and each of us His children, if we don’t keep His commandments He can’t trust us with privileges He wants to give us. I never want to be in a situation where I feel like God does not trust me. I invite you all to ask yourself that question. Does God trust me? Am I being obedient by making good decisions? Is there something I’m doing to make it so God does not trust me? I know that we are all imperfect. I know that I’m not perfect and there are soooooo many things I need to do to better myself but I know that the commandments are there to protect us and so that God can freely bless us with all that He desires. We´re not perfect but if we never do self evaluations, we will never progress and change the things we are doIng wrong. 

I love you all my dear family. I want to be an eternal family but to make that happen everyone needs to put in their part and do their effort. I love you and pray for you each everyday. I testify that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. He lives and is at the head of His church. He guides us today through President Thomas S. Monson, who was called to be a prophet of God. I know the power of the Book of Mormon and what it does to peoples lives when they read it and study it. It’s changed my life personally. I’m a better person each day because of the things I learn in the Book of Mormon and when I try to apply it to my life. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen

PS. Guess who I found this weekend?? Hermana Castleton!!! 

This week we had some awesome experiences.  Here in La Serena there are a lot of people from different countries (USA, Brazil, etc). Well, we were looking for people to pass for and my companion said that in one of the streets we were at lived a family from the US and that they speak English. So we decided to go by for them and the mom came to the door, she didn't speak much Spanish and invited us in and then I started to talk to her in English. She started to freak out a bit and started asking where I'm from.  They are a family from Alaska living in Chile for the work of her husband. Her parents were there as well just visiting for a few weeks. But we decided to teach them because she and her parents are members. So we started to talk to them, well I started to teach them because my companion doesn't understand or speak anything of English. We were talking and one of the little girls came over (12 years old) and she started listening and I was thinking she was a member. Well it was literally the hardest lesson I have ever given because I was struggling for the words in English, I can't speak anymore in English. Anyway, I started to teach them about the temple and as I was teaching the spirit completely took over and I started talking and saying things (like topics) that to me didn't really make sense of why I was putting them together but I just kept talking and at one point started talking about the temple and a family eternal, the grandmother started to cry. The spirit took over me as well and I began to cry and testify to them of why I'm here in Chile preaching the gospel. We gave them a pass along card of the temple so that they can remember it, and the 12 year old started to ask questions because she was really interested. She then told us that she wants to come to church with us.  Amazing!!

Yesterday in sacrament was great. The youth all went to EFY and the Bishop asked them to talk in sacrament and bear their testimonies with the congregation. So they all started to bear their testimonies and the spirit was soooo strong. they were all so full of the spirit. I know that EFY was made to help strengthen the youth because I lived it but also because I have seen it in so many lives of the people here as they have come home after and have a light that just glows from them. It's incredible. Really when we put all we can into the gospel we can have that glow, its not just for moments or years (missionaries) but for all of us and we can all have it. 

Well family that's all I have for this week. It's been a pretty amazing week. The time just keeps going by sooo fast. my little Sami Sam is turning 3 this week, it's valentines day, I finish 13 months and it's the anniversary of my wonderful parents :) I hope you all enjoy this week and are able to feel of my love that I have for each one of you. Thank you for your examples and for your support in everything. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I love my life here in Chile serving the Lord. There is nothing better to be doing. I have so many wonderful memories and friends that will be with me for eternity. I love you all!! Until next week!

Con amor,

Hermana Tycksen :)

On Wednesday as you know we had cambios..... :( yes i left Quillota my beloved home. Hermana Huamán is training a newbie from Santiago so that is nice for her even though she really didn't want to train while she is dying (finishing her mission). But she will be great and do great things there. So where have I been sent to?? Drum Roll Please...... LA SERENA!!!! Woot woot!!!! Ya I know that doesn't mean anything to you guys but... look it up on google photos because it's amazingly beautiful.  I thought I would be in flat ground here but there are flat areas and areas with hills. The area that we have is HUGE.  I could be here like 9 months and still not have knocked everything. It's massive. Our area is also split into 2 because we have 2 other sister missionaries that are in our ward.  So our area consists of the ocean all the way up into the hills which is a good......hour or so walking from the ocean to the hills.

My companion is Hermana Sarria. She's from Columbia and 21 years old.  She doesn't talk much but she is fun. Our house is terrible. the worst house of all throughout my whole mission.  We shower everyday with freezing cold water, have an ant infestation in our beds, clothes, food, bathroom, everything you can imagine. My companion thinks I'm nuts because I bought a spray to kill them and I have been going crazy every time I see a bunch of them I go get the spray and kill them all. The spout of the shower head comes out in a little stream of water and the rest of it is mist. Hahaha just try imagining washing your body as well as your hair in mist. It does not work too well plus it's cold water so your freezing as you stay in there for a good hour to clean yourself. This is going to be an experience of my mission I'm never going to forget and probably never going to want to live again.

I feel soo blessed to be here in this area and I have been hoping my whole mission to come to La Serena. I love my mission so much and I'm so blessed to be here serving the Lord. I didn't realize how much I have grown as a missionary in these last few changes than I have right now because of not being with Hermana Huaman. I love her so much and I'm so thankful for her and her example for me. It was a really hard goodbye because that was the last time we will be able to see each other before she leaves to go home to Peru.  I realized that she really is my best friend and that I'm so thankful for her love and support of me. It's been really hard to be away from her, but I know that I'm in this area for a reason and I know that I will continue to grow soo much in this area and with my companion.

I love you all so much and I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family that supports me in all that I do. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can change and we can become and do better in our lives. Through the Atonement of Christ I have been able to make these changes and I have been able to grow through the process. It's been soooo hard but it's been so worth it. I don't feel like I am the same person and I am sure you will all realize it when I come home. Keep staying strong in the gospel. A scripture I found the other day talks about God gives us trials so that we learn patience and Faith -Mosiah 24. God wants us to change and become more like HIM. He is perfect and He knows what and who we can become.  I love this gospel and I love this work of salvation. There is nothing better or more joyous in this life than to find your brothers and sisters and help them to find Christ. I love you! Have a great week. 

Hello family!!

Thank you for letting me know about stake conference! I bet it was amazing. I wish I could have heard that song. I miss the music more than anything because the people here don’t have choirs or a piano to accompany, but you can still feel the spirit through the message of the hymns. I really love what Brother Miller said and I agree with it 100%. When we do what we are supposed to and when we make right choices we are constantly receiving more strength and are becoming more and more of who our Heavenly Father wants us to be. 

So this week. We haven't been able to see or talk to Olga so I´ll let you know about her next week. We did have an amazing experience. We were coming back from a lesson with Claudia and we decided to go to our investigator Maria. But on the way to her house we passed by a house of members active and inactive. We stopped and I felt that we should try and find the sister of one of our members active to teach her and know her a little more. So we knocked and the mom let us in (also inactive). We started to talk to her and she told us that her daughter wasn’t home and I felt sad because I had felt we needed to be there for her.  Within a few minutes we heard a car and the mom said that her daughter and husband were home. They came in and we started to get to know them a little bit more and we talked of a lot of things that had really nothing to do with the church. The daughter started talking about her room and how she loves the Jonas Brothers and then asked us if we wanted to see her room. We went in and it was just us 3 talking and she kept saying things like oh that photo was when I was mormon. Oh that was when I was mormon. And finally I said you’re still a mormon!! We then started to talk about everything that was going on in her life . We talked A LOT. But we were all talking as though we were best friends for YEARS. It really was amazing and we invited her to church with us on Sunday and she said no and then we said one more thing (I don’t remember what we said) and she thought for a minute and then said if I go to church with you guys on Sunday can I sit with you?  So we told her yes. And she said ok I´ll go to church with you. We went to search for her yesterday and seriously it was amazing. It was a complete miracle that we got her to go to church, truly by the spirit. I honestly know that God put us in that path so that we could talk to her and help her to go to church . The grandma and brother thanked us a million times and both told us that we are their little angels because it´s been a miracle they have been waiting for for some years now. But the biggest surprise as well was that when we got to the church yesterday and went to sit down, the mom walked in and sat with her mom and son.  It honestly was one of the best sacrament meetings because we helped answer someones prayers. 

Another experience that I want to share is what happened during an interchange with Hermana Mori. She came to my area and we went teaching a lot of people. During the morning we were teaching and one of our members called but we couldn’t answer in the moment. When we tried calling back she didn’t answer and I just forgot she had called. We went on with the day and about 5:30 Hermana Mori needed to use the bathroom so she asked for us to find the nearest member. I thought of Paula (the member that called) and we went over to her house. We came just as they had finished watching the tree of life video and invited us in.  As we started talking to them they told us they are without money for about a month and they don’t know what they´re going to do.  We talked a lot of the importance of family and of the plan of salvation. She had soo many questions.  We were there when she needed us.

We don’t have many investigators right now. We are trying to find new people to teach because all of those we have are not progressing and are living with someone and are not married so they can’t be baptized until they get married or they separate. So Please pray for us that we can find new people to teach this week. 

This has been the best experience of my whole life. And I really feel such a love for the people here in Chile.  I never want to leave Quillota. I love it here so much!! 

Well family I love you all soo much!  Please stay safe and do the things that the spirit tells you to do. It´s the only way to keep yourselves out of danger and out of satan´s traps. I love you!!! until next week!

con amor,  Hermana Tycksen

This week was hard. It started out good and then got harder about Friday through Sunday.  Patience is what I need to learn from this I think :) Ok so we did have interviews with President. That is what I want to focus on most today so I´ll leave it for last. 

This week we went to find Mauricio that is a new investigator that is so awesome... but he was no where to be found. We couldn’t find him at all this week. So that was a huge bummer. But we´ll just keep working this week to find him. Olga (I think of Ashley too) is doing good. She´s been really sick because she´s old but she is reading and has so many questions. She does not believe she has faith and so we are really trying to teach her and help her to recognize the spirit and that she has faith. She´s so amazing I really love her so much. She´s so special and it breaks my heart when she says she can’t come to church because of her health. I know she has bad health but I know that she can be baptized as well and it’s what I want most for her is to be able to do this special ordinance in this life. We went to her house twice this week and while we were there we actually started teaching 2 of her friends. They had a lot of questions as well but it was a really amazing lesson. I love going over to her house because literally I know she´s 80 years old, but she is hilarious!!!! We die of laughter every time we go over there and she loves it when we come because she says that we give her peace and she feels happier. She really is so special. I know that she is a very special daughter of God.

Ok Ignacio is doing great. He got sick and couldn’t come to church yesterday but Claudia is coming regularly which is awesome. She´s now friends with one of the less actives we reactivated named Paula. They are so awesome. Paula is the sister of Ignacio so we have connections everywhere now and it’s great. 

Alright. So interviews!! This was the best interview yet. I always am afraid to talk to President. Not because I have things to confess but because it’s President and he makes me nervous haha.  I know he loves us so much but still it’s intimidating.  He came and my companion went first into interviews and I helped the assistants with the things about the house.   Then I went in and we prayed and then started to talk about my mission and how I’m doing. I told him that I’m happy and that I feel like this is the best I’ve been in my whole mission and that I’ve grown more in these last 3 months than I have my whole mission and he asked me why and I said that my companion has helped me do a lot of changing. He then said that Hermana Huaman and I are a companionship of power. He said that we are both very special spirits. That really made me feel so good because even though I work hard I still have moments when something happens and I feel like I’m not doing all I can, so it was really nice to hear that he is really happy with the work Hermana Huaman and I are doing. He even talked to our district leader about us. But then he said something that really hit me. He told me that if I give it my all in the last 6 months of my mission and am diligent in all things that the Lord will bless me with all the things in my patriarchal blessing. I know that was revelation from God. If I work my hardest and am diligent the Lord will bless me to where all my patriarchal blessing will come to pass. Amazing.

i started talking about how I don’t want to lose a second of my time here in my last 6 months. And then he said hermana your glowing. I really feel like I’ve changed so much in these last few months and I’m so thankful to my Heavenly Father that I´m able to make these changes in my life. I know that I´m a better person. I still make mistakes, I still have moments where I want to be lazy but I know that through the Atonement of Christ I can be made perfect and I can always have the chance to do better. 

So basically interviews were amazing. I cannot believe that I´m at 1 year in the mission already. Its unbelievable. I feel like my body is finally getting to where I can’t give any more but somehow God gives me the strength to keep going. I´ve never been so tired, so exhausted, so happy in my whole life. It´s the weirdest feeling to be so tired and want to give up but then to be so happy that you can keep going. God blesses His missionaries so much. 

I love you all so much my dear family. I miss you but I´m so happy to be here in Chile in this time of my life. I have too many amazing experiences and so many amazing friends that will be friends into the eternities. Work hard and be happy. I love you! until next week!  

Hermana Tycksen

Hellos to my beautiful and favorite family!!! 

This week was good!!  But there are always things that are hard about the week, this week was that satan really was working on me to not want to go out and work. It was a struggle everyday to get up and do my exercises but I pushed through and finally came Sunday and I really felt the strength from taking the Sacrament. I love to be able to take the sacrament and to receive the strength I need for this week to push through and be obedient in all things. I realized that out in the mission we think that everything in our family and home will be perfect because we are serving the Lord but really I think that it’s only a matter of time until something happens that Satan does to try and destroy us as missionaries and have the feelings of wanting to come home.

I know that satan is real and I know he has power. But it’s like you said, mom, that when we do the small things we have more strength than we realize. I testify to you all that the power of the scriptures, prayer, fasting and going to church will SAVE YOU.  I´ve seen it in my mission. The little things are so important because if you can’t do the little things how can you do the big things such as the word of wisdom? We can’t.  At some point in time if we don’t do the little things, Satan will work so hard that we fall even deeper into his traps. One of the members (the RS president who works in the jail) told us one thing that really hit me about a young girl that wanted to kill herself and she told this young girl that if she did that she would not be running away from her problems, she would only give satan the power to have her feel the pain and guilt of her problems for eternity, that really freaked me out. I do not want satan to have power over me. There are always trials but the power of the Atonement is a million times more powerful than anything satan can do to us. The Atonement is what saves us. There is always hope.

Ok so this week. Yesterday Iganacio was confirmed a member of the church!!! YAY!!! it was so awesome. he´s really amazing. I have such love for him and he really is such a pure young kid. It’s such a joy to be around him because he is literally so innocent and pure. Yesterday was an amazing day because after lunch we went to do contacts with one of the converts that is preparing for his mission next month. We contacted this one guy that’s apparently friends with the grandparents of our convert. We started talking about God and about His creations and the man had sooo many questions. We talked a lot and used lots of scriptures and it was amazing to see the change in this man. He went from kinda not believing us to wanting us to come back again to answer all of his questions. I´m so excited to teach him because he´s so amazing and he has so much knowledge. We also found this old lady named Olga. She is amazing. She does all the homework we give her and she really wants to have more faith. she said she doesn’t believe the Book of Mormon but when we talked about how we can have more faith there was something that happened, I don’t remember what was said exactly but she then said, ok you convinced me and now she believes a little bit more in the Book of Mormon. There really are so many miracles that are happening everyday here. I love my mission and I love my life as a missionary.

OH HAPPY NEW YEAR!! totally forgot that that was this week haha. For new years... it was a little bit sad. We went to my favorite families house, the family Alfaro. and we had a BBQ but not an american BBQ. There was steak and chicken and pig. It was so huge we couldn’t eat all the meat. Then we did toasts and we had to be in the house at 11. They threw fireworks in the cities next to us but in Quillota they didn’t do anything. So for an hour and a half we sat there and played games and listened to church music. At 12:30 we went to bed. Luckily there wasn’t any parties going on next door. I think everyone went to the coast because they do something very famous that they shoot fireworks on the water in all of viña, valpo, con con, and reñaca. Its like 4 huge cities where you can see all the fireworks along the coast. If you get the chance look it up on google, cause I´ve heard its amazing. 

I still haven’t received your package but we have interviews with president this Friday so I should be getting it then. I love you all so much. Mom I´m going to need your help when I get home to keep me in the routine of studying because I don’t want to lose my studying habits.  I know that they are going to have to change with returning home because I’m not going to have 3 hours to study everyday. But I would really love to study with you in the mornings. You can be my companion :) Its going to be a hard adjustment so I´m going to need some help adjusting, Maybe Alyssa can help and do it with with us. :)  

I love you all so much my sweet family. Stay strong and stay together. Real life really is like the mission because you shouldn’t ever be alone. That’s why visiting teachers and the one for guys (I don't remember the name of it) are in pairs. The work of the Lord is perfect. "Do what is right, let the consequence follow." Always think "would I do this if Christ or my parents were here?"

Con todo mi amor, Hermana Tycksen

Dearest Family!!

Wow this week. I have learned so much this week. I don't think I´ve ever been happier in my whole life. I thought I would be sad to be away from home for Christmas but I´m 100% fine. I´m actually more nervous to call home than anything else.  This week we talked with Claudia and..... her boyfriend has permission to baptize her, she´s talked to her parents and we are preparing the baptism for Sunday!! YAY!!!  She´s so awesome.  We also have Ignacio that is preparing to be baptized the 29th (which happens to be his moms birthday and she was really excited about that).  We are working hard and really focused with the two of them. I can't even tell you how fast the time goes and how fast the work of the Lord is. We have to put everyday full of our energy and we don't have enough time. The beginning of the week is usually more quick than the end because we don't have many appointments in the weekend because people are really busy with family. 

We had a member of the 70 come and talk to us for Christmas and wow it was amazing. President Kahnlein also spoke and he told us that he wants to get things changing for next year and that he wants to focus more in the Book of Mormon SO.... We as a mission are going to be reading the book of Mormon 4 times next year. Every three months we need to finish the Book of Mormon. I´ll return home in the beginning of the 3rd time reading it as a mission, so I´m going to finish the challenge this next year even though I´ll be home. I´m so excited!! I´m almost done with the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I have become like mom, I have too many things I want to read and things I want do but the study time we have just does not seem sufficient.  

There is this family that we are teaching just the children first because the parents are not wanting to listen to us as of right now but told us that maybe in the future they would listen. The kids are amazing.  I think I told you about them once before. When we go over there they take out their notebooks and take notes. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and they each have started to mark it and read it and they write down the words they don't know and then ask us the next time. They are adorable (Alexander has 12 years and Camila has 11). They came to an activity of the ward the other day and it was awesome. They were really nervous at first but then they really warmed up and we played games and I can't even begin to explain the love that I have for these two little kids. They are amazing and so special. I know that when they are members they will do great things in their lives. They are very, very special.

I love you all so much. I´m doing well and I´m so happy.  I love Christmas and I feel so privileged to be a missionary at this time. I feel like there is nothing more important for me right now than to bring the message of the Savior to the world. I love my mission, I love my investigators and more importantly I love my Savior. He has saved me in my life and He will continue to save me through everything that I do wrong in my life,  if I repent. I love my Heavenly Father, He is perfect. He is my Father and He loves me. He knows what I need in this life and He knows what I´m going through. I love you my family. Be safe this holiday season and know that I´m thinking and praying for you always. Remember the challenge to bring a less active or a non member to church before Christmas!! You all still have 10 days!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!! I love you!!  

Love Hermana Tycksen