Category: Letters from Elder Ehrhart (Page 3 of 5)

Hey guys!It’s been another slow week but a great one! We had a couple lessons and were actually planning one investigators named Benjamin on Date! That’s about it haha. We did go from stage 1 to stage 2 for covid so that’s awesome! That pretty much means we’re still quarantined but it’s less hard to get arrested if the cops catch outside when you’re not supposed to be haha! Before I end this I want to share a scriptures I came across this week, it’s in Alma 32:27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. I love this scripture and everytime I read it it just testifies to me that even if your faith is the size of a mustard seed it is still worth so much in Gods eyes! I love y’all and I’ll talk to you soon!-Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Hey y’all, another week in quarantine Chile! Not alot happened this week, just alot of Spanish study haha! I bought a guitar!! So that’s been helping me pass the time in quarantine! I brought with me a couple games from the United States like Skull king, throw-throw Burrito, and Shock-tato and my Chilean roommates love them haha! We have been playing them alot! Something else kinda funny, If you know me you know I love Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce! So of course I had to bring a bottle of it with me to Chile to help me (adjust) to life here haha well I made the mistake of letting the other Elders try it and they all loved it! So everyday when I go to the fridge its lower and lower! I think they don’t think I’m noticing it but I guess they don’t know I have a 6th sense for BBQ sauce Haha! But all jokes aside I think I found me people here, not just because we share the love of Baby Ray’s but I really feel so much love for the people of Chile! As I was studying this week I was reading in 3 Nephi, I really love 3 Nephi not just because it has the single best part of the Book of Mormon by for (Jesus Christs comes) but its where my missionary scripture is! Its 3 Nephi 5:13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. Everytime I read this it just reminds me of why I’m serving a Mission! I know that I have been called of him to declare Everlasting life to all his children! I love you guys and I hope y’alls week has been great! I’ll talk to you soon!-Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Well the first real week in Chile is in the bag! Let me start by saying there is nothing you can tell a person to prepare them to leave the states! It’s just one big emotional rollercoaster! I’m serving in Antofagast central and it’s so crazy here! I’m learning so many new things everyday like how Chileans love early 2000’s pop songs from American, I’m not learning Spanish I’m learning Chilean! and if anyone asks say my favorite soccer team is Colo-Colo if I don’t wanna get attacked haha! I’m in an appartment with 3 other Elders all native to Chile so I’m definitely getting a lot of Spanish practice! All of Chile is in lockdown for COVID so the only time we can good outside is 2 hours in the morning for exercising and if we’re fast we can sneak across the road for a cold bottle of Inca Kola and the best Argentinean bread I have ever had in my life! Everyday is a new adventure here and I kinda feel like a puppy because more then half of the time they’ll all be talking in Spanish and I think I am following along and then they’ll all stand up and say ¿estas listo para ir? Hahaha! My Spanish is definitely coming very slowly! Something else that’s really cool is I get to teach English lessons every Wednesday and Saturday! Serving a mission is really one of the craziest things you will do in your life but it is by far the best decision I have ever made! I feel so much comfort everyday knowing that my Father in Heaven loves me and is watching over me all the time! I really do love it here and there is nothing I would rather do! While I was studying I came across a scriptures in 1 Nephi 9: 6 “But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.” I know he has a plan for all of us, even if the roads get rocky and it seems like it’s impossible He will bless and help use though anything! I love y’all and I’ll talk to you soon! -Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Let me start off by saying WOW, its been such a crazy couple of days!  Wednesday I got a call from the APs telling us that we need to be at the mission office at 9:30 to make sure all my bags are under 50 pounds so it’s about a 1.5. We had to get showered and get dressed quick! The morning of, I got a email saying that Chile has now made new regulations for new travelers, anytime someone gets off a plane in Chile they must be quarantined for 5 days in a hotel! So, I first fly to Santiago, quarantine there for 5 days, jump on a plane to Antofagasta and quarantine for another 5 days! Well, while we were driving our Tiwi unit (speed control) in our car stopped working and Rlder Ward got pulled over so that was a bummer! U am happy I wasn’t driving! We had four people including myself leaving the TKM going to Chile so that was really nice!When we all got to the office President and Sister Graham greeted us and they gave us our own little leaving the mission ceremony exactly what they do to the missionaries that finish their mission so that was really great! It feels like I have been in Tennessee for such a short time but in all actuality its almost been 9 months! They had us mark our favorite scriptures in this huge book of Mormon and sign our names and the time we’ve been in the TKM! After that we got to take a picture with President and sister Graham! They gave us our last meal in Tennessee and we picked 5 Guys burgers and it was definitely a great choice.  Then, they dropped us off at the airport! We had a flight from Knoxville to Houston which was like 3 hours and then we had to hurry to our next flight that was on the totally opposite side of the airport! They had us before going to the airport fill out about 6 papers with everything you could ever think of, covid test, passport, Visa, etc. Then we jumped on a plane for 10 hours to Santiago Chile! We land at 7:30 am and had to wait in immigration for 4 hours! Literally worst Disney land ride ever🤣 It was pretty dang confusing navigating, the Chileans speak super fast and super sloppy haha! People say Its like the country accent of Spanish so pretty Ironic I was in the south haha! After saying alot of Estoy sirviendo como misionero para mi iglesia.  ¿me puedes ayudar? And No entiendo I finally made it out of the airport with my 60 day Visa! Complete success in my book! We had no way of communicating if anyone was going to be there to greet us nor did we know what to do after the airport so we hopped on a bus and told the guy the address of the hotel! He dropped us off at this place called the City Express Hotel and we checked ourselves in and started our 5 day Quarantine! I’m in day 3 now so it’s pushing along and who would have thought I’d be in Chile for my second Conference of the mission! Pretty amazing! The days are pretty weird here, we can’t leave our rooms except to go in the hallway when they clean and they drop off food in the morning, midday, and late night and when I say late night I guess its normal to eat dinner at 10 a clock so that’s pretty cool! The food is very different here, they eat alot of pasta, bread, and mystery meats with funky side dishes haha! Its gonna take some adjusting but it has been such an amazing experience and I’m so excited to finish quarantine and start teaching the people of Chile! So that has been the whole run down of what’s happening! I love y’all and I’ll talk to you soon!-Elder EhrhartYou’ll see in my pics I had to bring one essential item😉Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Okay wow, its officially my last week in Tennessee! I’m having alot of mixed emotions and thoughts about the whole situation but I know that God loves me and that this is where he wants me to go! So this email might be kind of short but this week has been pretty crazy! So on Wednesday we got a call from our APs and they told us that we’re going to be getting a new guy to be replaced me but that we’re going to be in a treo until next week! We have a pretty tiny apartment and we only had 2 beds! We weren’t to sure what we were going to do but the Elders in Rogersville came in clutch and dropped us off a bed! So they tood us the new guy will be coming on Thursday after our Zone conference! So we have Zone Conference and when we got back the new Elder we just chilling in our house with Elder George, one of the Senior couples! So right now because our apartment is so small Elder Anderson the new guy, His room is the living room! Its definitely pretty packed right now but we’re making it work! Now to get into something alittle bit more spiritual haha! So when we had Zone Conference we talk alot the power of Member missionary work! And wow that is really just something so amazing! Before I came on my mission I had never really thought about the power of member missionary work but now being out here I can testify of it! In Preach My Gospel section 5 under “Missionary Work” is says “Members who share the gospel experience joy and have the Spirit of the Lord more abundantly. As we share the gospel, we appreciate how precious and meaningful it is to us, and we feel a greater love for God and others.” The very first words for MISSIONARY WORK is Members! Isn’t that just amazing! Something I feel we all forget is how much of a blessing it is to know the fullness of the gospel! Because we know this God wants all his Children to get that opportunity like us! I have such a strong testimony of this! When members find people to teach those people stay! A scriptures that has come to mind will I have been writing this is “Matthew 5: 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We must always remember to be that example so that when people see us they will want to make that change in their lives and come closer to our Savior! I hope y’all had a great week and the next time you’ll hear from me will be in South America! Love y’all -Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Hey y’all, Another great week! So something great that happened this week was Derrick is getting really close to being baptized! We had a great lesson with him about how much his Father in Heaven loves him! He told us a story about how when he was 14 he was in class one day and his eyes start really bothering him really badly! He when to an Eye Doctor and they told him that he has to get an MRI as soon as possible and they rushed him to the hospital! When they got to the hospital they found a cancerous brain tumor. They put him on chemo and told him that they don’t know if this will stop it from growing. After many prayers and miracles the tumor shrunk small enough to have brain surgery to get it removed! Such a blessing! After he shared his story he asked us if we had seen any miracles like that before, and I had the opportunity to share someone I look up to and has strengthened my testimony more than anyone! He is the bravest most amazing guy I know and his name is Ethan Ehrhart! For those of you who don’t know Ethan, he is my best buddy and one of the funniest guys I know! When he was born he was diagnosed with Sturge Weber Syndrome. Sturge Weber is when there is a portwine stain birthmark that covers the left or right side of a person’s face. It is on the left side of Ethans face. From this he has glaucoma in his left eye and a birthmark on the left hemisphere of his brain, which resulted in massive amounts of seizures! When he was 2 years old he had brain surgery and they removed almost half of his brain. Many people told us that there is no way a regular person would survive brain surgery of this quantity and especially a 2 year old baby! Well it’s a good thing Ethan isn’t a regular person like all of us! After his surgery he was completed seizure free and has been ever since! Because of his surgery Ethan is now living a completely normal life! He is in 8 grade this year and is completely killing it! Ethan is my biggest hero! I know that miracles really do happen in our lives! 2 Nephi 27:23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. As we have faith God will show us miracles! I thank my Father in Heaven everyday for putting Ethan in my life! Really to always stay faithful and remember that even in your hardest time our Father in Heaven is always with us! I’m so grateful for this! I love you all and I hope you guys had an amazing week! Talk to you later!Much love,Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Hey Ya’ll,Well it’s been another Crazy week! So this week I had calls with president on Wednesday. He asked me if the office missionaries called me… my comp has been having problems setting up his phone so they have been calling us alot! I told my President “yes, they called us” and he goes “okay, so you’ll be ready to Leave April 1st?” And when he saw my facial expression he goes “I guess they didn’t tell you about that haha” I definitely have many mixed emotions about this because I have really grown attached to Tennessee and the people but I know this is what the Lord needs me too do. I’m definitely gonna start studying my Spanish more haha. Well another pretty crazy story… we got a referral for this lady named Mary, we drove to her house and as we were driving there she literally referred herself again! So we hurry as fast as we could! She lives in a pretty nasty old trailer! She invited us in and told us what had been happening to her! She told us that some evil being was following her around and she couldn’t get rid of it! She thinks it’s a ghost that it has been telling her to do bad things! We could tell she wasn’t with it all the way and was definitely on some kind of drugs. She would give us like 30 seconds to talk we would try and say something before she cut us off and keeps talking! She told us that she was living with her mother and her kids but her mother has custody of her kids! She told us that her mother was an evil woman and that she thinks the bad spirits are from her. She wanted us to go to the mom’s house and bless it! Well, we got there before Mary and started talking to her mom. She told us that her daughter is schizophrenic. She is also addicted to opioids! The whole picture started to make sense! We ended up just praying with them and tried to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ the best we could but we ended up being there for about 3 and a half hours… oof. We made a return appointment so pray for us next time we go haha! I’ve had such an amazing experience here in Tennessee! There will definitely be a piece of my heart here forever! Also before I end this, thank y’all for the Birthday wishes! I’ll talk to you soon!Much Love,-Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Hey y’all,This week has just completed flown by! So here was a cool thing that happened this week. Thursday it was a crazy contacting day! So for those of you that don’t know what Gray dot contacting is, its people that have either told us they’re not interested or that we just couldn’t ever make contact with. So we spent the whole day from 11-9 going through our area book and making contact with tons of Gray dots! We came to this ladies house named Chasity. Our notes told us that missionaries came to her house 2 years ago but got no answer. So we went and knocked on her door, as she answered it I just had the strongest prompting that she needed us! Because I’m training I’m supposed to have Elder Ward do alot of talking to people so he can get comfortable with it. I was having him lead the conversation! When she opened the door we introduced ourselves and told her our purpose as missionaries! She seemed very hesitant. Elder Ward asked her if she would be available to have us come over and share a message with her and she told us that she wasn’t interested and started shutting the door. Then what I only could say was the spirit, I shoved my foot in her door and told her, “We have a message that I can promise to you will change your life forever!” And then she opened her door and told us to come in! We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she told us alittle bit of her back story and how she has really been struggling. Wonderfully if God really loves her and has been trying to find closure! She told us that there is no way that God could ever forgive her because she has been doubting and blaming him her whole life. We told her that no matter what we do Our Father in Heaven will forgive us no matter what! I then read to her in Mosiah 27:29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.” As I finished, she started bawling her eyes out! She told us that she knows God brought us to her house that day and that this really will change her life forever! It was such a great and emotional experience to witness that light of Christ come back into someone’s life! We set up a time to meet with her again this week on Thursday and she told us that she wants to start watching our Church Services! If there is anything I can tell testify to y’all it would be to always act on promptings you get from the spirit! If I wouldn’t have followed that prompting, who know what would have happened to Chasity! It is such a blessing and tool to have the gift of the Holy Ghost with us all that time! Please always act on your spiritual promptings because you never know if there is someone waiting for you to change their live because of it! I love y’all and I’ll talk to you soon! Much love,Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

Hey y’all, It’s been a crazy week! So on Wednesday we had our transfers. They never told me who my companion was! So I was in the dark up until I picked him up at transfers! When I got there, my Mission President came to me and told me that I’m kinda in a weird situation, he told me that I’m going to be training a new missionary but he has technically been out a year! I was so confused about what was going on, how could I be training a new missionary but he has been out a year! well… it turns out he was called to Guatemala a year ago! He was in the MTC in Guatemala for 3 weeks and got super sick! The doctors there had no clue at all what to do with his case and told him that he had Cancer!Imagine that, being away from all your family and getting diagnosed with Cancer! Well 3 days after telling him that he had cancer…they called him again and said that he actually doesn’t have cancer but they had no clue what is wrong with him! His mission president then came to him in the hospital and told him that he wasn’t getting better and they were gonna put him on the next flight to America! When he got to America they took him to the hospital and they diagnosed him with Lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease effecting all of his immune system. Basically, his white blood cells attack his immune system! This all happened last year in February, and then… everyone got sent home for Corona! He was called to serve as a service missionary and applied 3 times to get assigned to a state side mission but every request got denied! In a last final effort to come out in the field he put one more request in expecting nothing to happen. He got a call 2 days later that he was going to be leaving in 4 days to the Tennessee Knoxville mission! Now we get to me! I finally got to meet him, his name is Elder Ward and he is super awesome! We had to change alot of the food in our house to fit for him but it’s all good! I definitely feel really blessed to get this opportunity to serve with him! Something funny that people always say on the mission when you train a new missionary it called your (son) so everyone always makes jokes that my son is older then me. Its pretty great haha! This is one of the first times this has happened in our mission! I definitely feel, I have some pretty big shoes to fill but I’m so grateful for this opportunity! Now I’ll tell you a blessing that I had this week, We had a lesson with Derrick on Friday! He is one of our investigators that is on date! In our lesson we taught him the plan of salvation! The spirit was so strong during the whole thing! We talked alot about the spirit world and as we did we saw Derrick just light up! He hopped up so fast and told us that he needed to write down everything we were talking about! We talked to him how even in the spirit world there is missionaries teaching all the Spirits about our Savior Jesus Christ and his Gospel like we’re doing on earth! He then told us that he knows that’s true and that he feels so grateful to get to know Gods plan on Earth so that when he goes to the Spirit world he’ll be one of those Spirit missionaries! I read to him in 1 Peter 4:6 “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” I then felt really prompted to bear my testimony to him! When I opened my mouth it wasn’t my words that came out but it was the Spirit testifying to him that what I said was true! I can testify to y’all how amazing it is to get to know the truth and how much of a blessing it is to get to share that true to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people! I have such a strong testimony of missionary work! I encourage y’all to pray every night and ask for missionary opportunities! I love you and I’ll talk to you soon! -Elder EhrhartSent via the Samsung Galaxy S10e, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone