Yogurt

I said a while back that I was making my own yogurt but this week I made it almost every day and it´s turning out really good. Plus, it can be used for anything. Fruit smoothies, mixed with milk, used as conditioner, or eaten plain. 

I also finally got my hands on an appropriate yoga video. I kind of don´t like it but I know I need it.

This week was spent doing the normal everyday tasks. We organized and made an inventory of our storage space. Now it´s probably the cleanest it´s been in years. We had a little time on Wednesday to work in our sector so we taught an English class, did a couple chapel tours, and knocked some doors. Some times I forget how fun it is to meet and work with a ton of different people. During the English class however, there was an old women who was probably 75 years old who would not stop yelling out random words in English then acting very self-impressed as if everyone else in the room felt the same. After class she came up to shake our hands and after an uncomfortable amount of time she got way too close and said "I am coming back next time for sure" as she winked. We are going to let the Hermanas take this next class. 

That´s about it for the week. At least from what I remember. Today for pday we are going to go shopping down town to use up the rest of our time.

Love you all!

Elder Thompson

Seventy

This week Elder Zeballos from the first quorum of the seventy came to our mission for a series of conferences. The first conference was on Monday so we headed down to Temuco Sunday night and got there pretty late. After a restless night on hardwood floor we got up early to set stuff up. The actual conference was amazing. Hermana Zeballos was a very talented speaker as well. During the conference she wanted to explain something but wanted an apple to do it so we were told to find an apple. We hurried out to find a street vendor that sells apples without bruises or gashes and eventually found one and it didn´t have seeds which was the main idea. But she figured it out. 

That whole process of getting up early, staying up late, and sleeping in weird places continued until the last conference on Thursday that was held in our home town of San Pedro. I was informed the night before that I had to perform a musical number so Elder Durochet, the harmonica professional,  and I threw something together and I don´t think it turned out too bad. We finally got to the office at like 7 that afternoon absolutely exhausted and with a mountain of work on our desks. 

Friday was supposed to be the catch-up day but that morning we got Hermana Bluth´s new iphone in the mail and the day was spent running around Concepción figuring out how to get new sim cards for both President and Hermana Bluth´s phones with the same phone number. Finally that night we had it all done and we ran the new phones to the mission house and had a very relaxing 45 minute break while we ate cheesecake and set up their new iphones. It was an interesting process considering the quality difference between apple products and the Chilean phone service company "Movistar."

As fun as it is here, I think I am still loosing hair because of the stress.

I´ve been reading "Jesus the Christ" but this time using the bible, google maps, and "Bible Videos" as a reference. I recommend doing it like that.

Also, I can´t remember if I already told you guys about it but there is a speech about a study that was done that considered the differences between societies that donate/do charitable things VS those that don´t. The study was done to prove that you don´t gain anything by giving but no matter how many different ways the study was done, they only found the opposite results. In fact, it was so far in the other direction that on average for every 1 part that we give, we get 3 parts back. Families that give $100 earn $300 more yearly. Then it talks about why that is. The speech is called "Why Giving Matters." I would also recommend it.

Love you all. The church is true. And there is a lot to learn.

Elder Thompson

Photos from Elder Thompson

The Hermanos locked their keys in their apartment so we broke the window

Volcan Llaina

Cambios

This was my first transfer in the office. I can easily say it was the most exhausting experience in my mission. On Sunday it was pretty chill making preparations then at 10ish at night we had to drive people from the bus terminal to different houses in Concepcion to sleep. We ended up getting home at like 12. 

The next morning, the people who were going home had to be interviewed which lasted all day with the exception of lunch and other meetings. All the while we had to figure out flight problems, luggage stuff, and all the little things that always go wrong. We finally got everyone interviewed and drove them to the hotel in like 50 trips. We went to sleep at like 1 am.

On Tuesday we got up at 4 am to load up all the luggage in the tour bus we rented. Then sent off the 30 missionaries that were going home. That was a pretty weird moment. This group had almost all my friends from the mission so it was sad to see them go. After they walked though security we just stood there for a while feeling weird but after an hour the new group of 30 missionaries came in. It was fun to see them come out looking confused and scared. We took them to the office and did more interviews between lunch and trainings. We again took them to the hotel to sleep.

On Wednesday we got up early again to set up everything. That morning the news met their trainers and they all went to their sectors and we all went to the office around 3pm. When we got there we were all falling asleep. I tried to sit down at the computer to get some work done and I couldn´t keep my head up. so we decided to clean up the place instead.

I still kind of feel the effects but tomorrow we have to travel to the southern most zone of the mission so I will be for sure sleeping in the car. 

Church is true! and the mission is exhausting!

Elder Thompson

P.s Our mission president and his wife have a blog. If you´re interested its called locoinchile@blogspot.com

Simon and Garfunkel

We got the news this Sunday that there was going to be a ward talent show. Now talent shows here are the subject of many missionary horror stories because what usually happens is it´s done open mike style and no one with talents shows up. So a missionary or someone else with enough self confidence (whether it´s deserved or not) goes up and tells jokes or does something to pass time. So when we heard talent show we prepared for the worst. Half way through the week we decided to do something as the four office missionaries. We obviously chose to sing/play the sound of silence with me on guitar, 2 singers, a bucket played as a drum and a shaker made out of a coke can and rice. We practiced it a couple times with the little time we have and just went for it. We got to the chapel and it was filled. They had it all decked out with cool lighting sound equipment decorations and everything. Even President Bluth and his wife came. So after a couple people sang the usual Chilean love songs it was our turn. To our surprise we just blew them all away. I´m still not sure how it turned out so well but after the first line, everybody was trying to quickly take out their cameras and record it. It was so good that president high fived us as we came off the stage. We are considering it a miracle because when we practiced it, it barely sounded better than Chuck Norris jokes in Spanish.

I compulsively bought a chirimoya today. It´s a fruit the size of a grapefruit but it costs like 3 dollars. Are they also expensive in the states? do they exist in the states? I need to decide if I want to take advantage of it while I´m here or if I should just wait. 

This Tuesday are transfers. Normally you just take your stuff on a bus somewhere and meet up with your comp then bus it to your new sector but now we have to make that all happen. Plus send off the people who are going home and receive the new people. So for us, the craziness will go from Sunday till Wednesday. We actually print out a bunch of hour by hour schedules for the oficinistas titled "la locura" or the craziness. Wish us luck!

While waiting for a bus I watched as someone ran down the street while cops chased after him guns drawn. As they turned the corned we heard gun shots. Some one told me that the cops will sometimes use rubber bullets, so there is still hope for him.

I received a lot of pictures/videos of Washington today and can I say that it´s still more beautiful than anything I’ve seen here. And Chile can get really pretty.

Saludos,

Elder Thompson