The Hardest Thing for Me or Us in Each Area of My Church Mission

    I had five sectors that I was assigned to and lived in during my two year mission for  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Concepcion, Chile, in the early 1990s. I later lived in another city two years later as a student, and still later in one of my former cities as a married man with two small children. 

    I thought about diffculties that I had in my third area, shared them with some church members today, and then I thought that maybe I had a hardest trial in each of my five wards or branches. Sure. Let's try.

    Mulchen - January to May 1990. I definitely was struggling with the language and some of the culture. But my three companions were pretty decent, the congregation was pretty sweet, the town was cool, the teaching and baptizing was good. I had some harsh stomach issues a few times, which might have been the worst for me. I cried when I said goodbye to Marecelo Munoz, but things like that do not define the hardest part. That farewell was a bittersweet interchange.

    I guess looking at some of the challenging economic circumstances of some Chileans could be considered hard. Also, meeting so many people who had joined that faith that no longer did. Or, like the girl of our ward who got pregnant by some guy, very out of wedlock. Stuff like that. Normal disappointments and heartbreaks of life.

    Pedro de Valdivia - Concepcion (the big city) May to November 1990. I got sick and I had to go the hospital. I lost a month of my missionary time. It was painful at times, while other times quite lonely and frustrating. That was my main difficult thing. I was tempted to watch movies on my preparation days. I had to serve with a missionary who was not stable, made crazy decisions, and did not like North Americans. He pulled a dumb prank on me once, which made me mad, but we survived the one month, 12 days.

    Santa Juana - November 1990 to April 1991. Ahh, finding and developing a local branch president. It was not to happen then. Santibanez, Chavez, Quinones. It would be Christian Seguel a more than a decade later. In my time, Bagley, a missionary and last month full time elder, sent a letter to Sister Oriana (Orellana), as I recall, and it set off a domino fall among the strong families of the branch. We could not bear to lose them, but we did. I did. I felt like the Lord let them go back to their beginnings, the evangelical pastor that had led Sister de Santibanez. Our dream of Jaime Parra never worked out.

    I spoke of this time while reflecting on Job today, and the suffererings and challenges that we bear. With brothers and sisters of my past. Sweet community. Sister Call led the way. Her own questions. Like Sister Egerer. Or Brother Miller. We all pass trials and sorrows.

    It was not loss of life for me, but it felt like spiritual deaths. But I told my class t oday, we will be okay and it will all work out. Elizabeth and Juan Guillermo Medina. We will be all right. I love you forever, as the Lord loved us first. Eduardo, Oscar, Candida, and the little ones, too. All of you Santa Juaninos.

    Eduviges, Mario, Jonathan, Jovita, her little one, the Buenos, Leonor Guzman, Sister Pinto, and the whole town. A blip in the time continuum. We shall overcome and reunite. Like Elder Petersen loved them before me, and many after us.

    A hard time, a time to face our issues with faith and activity and dedication. I struggled a bit with my American companions, too. I started to feel a bit of resentment towards my own countrymen. Not great. But I would sleep in some mnings and I maintained my health, which after Pedro de Valdivia was huge.

    Angol - April to July to 1991. Not too many hard things here. Getting to the zone leader meetings and getting released without knowing. My comp switching up appointments too much.

    Yeah, as I just told my wife: that first meeting at the President's apartment in my old ward, maybe they told me to go and when and I blitzed it? I was transitioning to the new area, so it still falls under the Santa Juana time. But then Elder Houston and I showed up late, and that was not cool...

    I would so love to know if anyone really told me to go to that first Zone Leader meeting...

    Coihueco - July to October 1991. Finishing the mission, having a companion at the end, last two months, that could be problematic. I think he must have died around 2014. If he is alive, or anyone knows of Juan Azua (Becerra?), please let me know.

    There.