Travelin'

This Sunday\Monday me and my comp are traveling around the mission so Elder Ramón can visit his old areas before he leaves this Thursday. That being said, we don´t have much time and this will be a rather short email.

So my comp leaves this Thursday and I’m not really sure what’s going to happen. I could get a new comp in my same sector, or be in a group of three with the other elders in the house or I could go to a new place altogether and restart. But either way, wherever I go will be where I need to go.

I´m starting to really love Lota. Especially after traveling to other parts of Chile yesterday. We have an awesome branch, awesome investigadores and 4 other great missionaries in the sector. I really hope I can stay after elder Ramón leaves.

My Spanish is still bad. Way better than the beginning, but I still can´t understand what people say most of the time. And talking is even worse. But I’ll get there and it will just make me appreciate it more when I can talk to people. I´m also coming to realize that the Spanish language is sort of lazy. I love it. If you don´t like something you only have to say "Boooo" and it´s a sufficient response. Or if you can´t remember someone’s name, you just call them by what they are compared to the world. For example: youth, woman, missionary, mexican. It makes things easier. My comp is also teaching me how to write poetry in Spanish. I´m not going to write poems but I’m excited to write music in Spanish because it´s so much easier. In English, the only way to be more specific about things is by changing tone or putting emphasis on words but in Spanish you and short words here and there. This makes it super easy to match sylibles and rhyme and stuff.

I wish I could tell you about investigators and stuff but these past couple of weeks have been so scattered and we haven’t visited someone more than two times. And if you add to that not being able to speak the language, the days are pretty scattered. The keep telling me that the mission isn´t like this, which is good, but I also need to learn what the mission is like eventually. We also aren’t doing the 12-week training program that every new missionary is supposed to do. Which is another reason why I feel like things are pretty scattered. But all that being said, I have learned so much these past couple of weeks. Even if I went home now, I would be forever changed by this experience. I am also happier than I have ever been before.

Shoot I’m over time. Love you guys. Keep doing what’s right.

Paul

from Mexico to the past

The flight from Mexico to Chile must have gotten struck by radioactive lighting or something because when I arrived, it felt like New York in the 20`s/30`s. You know that classic scene of a bunch of people with ripped up clothes huddling over a fire outside their house. That is what it`s like here in Lota. The air is filled with the strong smell of burning coal and fireworks( don’t know why) and most of the houses were probably temporarily built but then used for a hundred years. Before I go further, I don`t want this to sound negative or anything because after the initial culture adjustment (i`m not calling it culture shock) I really love it here. The strange thing is, most of the houses here don`t look like they should have electricity, let alone people living in it, but everybody, and let me repeat, everybody has a nice TV. I have not gone into a single house without a TV. And it is always on. I think I talked about that in my previous letter but turning on the TV is just as important as the lights in the house.

Alright, the moment you have all been waiting for: the food of Chile. Por lo menos my area.

Step one, you usually eat a soup or a salad or bread to start the meal and you eat it until you are completely stuffed (because that is how much they give you) afterwards they bring out a big plate that is literally layered with about an inch thick of mashed potatoes or rice stuff then on top of that they give you a big piece of meat. If I were asked what the hardest part of the mission has been so far, it would be finishing the lunches. I usually reach my limit after a couple bites of the second course then I just put food in my mouth and hope that I will eventually be able to swallow. And I have come so close to throwing up many times. Like to the point where I am fighting back the gag reflex. The food here is absolutely delicious but there is just way too much. Because the lunches are so big, we don’t really eat breakfast or dinner. Every once in a while I´ll eat something before bed but other than that, it´s just lunch. and a lot of it.

My Spanish has gotten so much better since I first got here. The first couple of days it was like 5% to 95% that I understand. but now it´s a good 50 50. I am even talking in lessons about 40% of the time. Which is way better than only "buenas" and "chow."

Man, you could seriously write a book with the experiences I have had already. I just wish I had more time to talk about it all. To my district at the CCM: I love you guys and I hope all of you are having as much fun as I am. Also, I loved hearing from you.

Family: Thanks for the prayers and the support. I can´t wait for the day that we can skype.

Shoot, out of time. Alright till next week. Also, my come is going home next week so I don´t know where ill be. Also also, I put more stuff up on dropbox.

Love you guys!

Paul

week 1 in Chile

I don`t have a creative title, nor do I have much time so bear with me.

Ok I’m going to do this like I did with my first week in the MTC.

Traveling to Chile:

Was easy, fast, and sleepy. I slept on the first leg of 10 hours and it felt like only an hour or so. Then the 5 hour layover went fast because we had to leave the airport and then go back through security for some reason. But I can`t complain becase it was something to do.

My area: The city of Lota. It`s on the shore and about an hour south of Concepcion. It`s also really really hilly. Sometimes it`s almost too steep for cars. I have never worn so many layers in my life as well. It`s cold and going inside gives no relief because the houses are like something I would build in the backyard. But we made ours comfy. The mornings are probably the coldest. I wear all my sweaters and a coat with my 3 thick wool blankets and taking all that off to take a shower is a trial every morning. Summer is coming though and apparently it gets a lot warmer.

The language:

It`s different. The first appointment I went to I didn`t understand a single word. not even a si or a bien. They speak ridiculously fast as well. Which wouldn’t be that bad if the finished their words. But I’m learning and I’m started to play a bigger roll in our lessons. A very small roll but I am playing it.

People: are awesome. They are all nice and pretty funny which is a good environment to be in when you don`t know the language. And being a gringo isn`t that bad here either. Only youth and people on drugs yell at us. And they all yell random fraces such as "i`ll pay for that" or "goodbye" and they have a good time. And the worst they have done is shot me with a BB gun. 

Alright I really have to go. I`m writing on Thursday because today is 18, a big holiday in Chile, like unto Christmas. I will tell you all about it on Monday, my actual pday. Oh also, my companions name is elder ramòn and he’s from Spain and speaks about as much English as I speak Spanish. He is a really cool guy though and I’m really blessed to have him as a trainer. I also didn`t have time to read any of the emails so don’t feel offended if I didn’t respond.

All right, till Monday. Love you guys

Paul




flight stuff

Alright, my flight to Chile leaves at like 9:30 pm on monday. The flight to Santiago is about 10 hours. I also have a 5 hour layover in Santiago. Which i´m totally ready for with my 200 pesos for airport food. then from Santiago it´s only an hour long flight to concepcion. alright thats it. Wish me luck!

Paul

11 more days

11 more days hasta la campa. I´m not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, it is going to be awesome in Chile and we will be more free to do what we want and we´ll be teaching actual investigators. But on the other hand, I can still barely squeeze out enough Spanish to have a conversation with Mexicans but Chileans talk ridiculously fast. Right now I don´t feel ready at all but from what I hear, the last week completely changes that. I´m excited to be at the point and I can already feel myself getting there. This week went as usual. Lots of studying, lots of teaching, lots of uncomfortable situations and lots of new Spanish vocabulary. I am proud to say that I can now, with enough thinking, conjugate almost any verb into the future, preterit, imperfect, command and conditional form.

Everyday we play soccer. There are about 3 or 4 other teams (made up of districts) that play against us. It´s indoor soccer and we switch which team is on either when someone makes a goal or after four minutes. Two of the teams are made up of Latinos. And in case you don´t know, every Latino can play soccer as if that is all he does. That isn´t a blanket statement either. Every single Latino that we have played against is better that any gringo here. But that doesn´t stop us from trying and it just makes us better. After playing with the Latinos for a while, we will play a gringo team and destroy them. I´m not very good at all, but I´m definitely getting better. Last Pday we were playing a game and one of the elders in our district went in for a header but missed the ball and got someones elbow instead. It doesn´t sound that bad but he was bleeding like none other. He went into the Doctor and they didn´t have much so they poured water on his head (because they had nothing anti bacterial) then proceeded to give him two stitches without numbing. They took it out and re did it because they didn´t do it right. He´s fine now but it´s just a funny story.

I´ve been saying that our district is the best, but this week we got proof of that. Some of the teachers have been asking us to give pep talks to other districts. We also have people who constantly tell us that they wish they were put with us.

Tomorrow we are having Christmas. We are building a Christmas tree out of palm leaves and we are doing a secret Santa and we are going to sing Christmas songs instead of hymns all day. I´m not sure where the idea came from but i´m excited.

Alright, that's all for now. till next week!

Elder Thompson

a murder of parrots

a sad bus top

The sisters all took this pose in front of the temple so I thought I would join them.

Chile

Navidad

Our Christmas tree

Add caption

The District

too much time on the computer