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