Arauco 1 of 5

This is one of the five email I have left. I keep finding different ways to count down.

Arauco is awesome. We haven't gone a day without pouring rain but it is still beautiful. It's right on the beach and you can hear the ocean in some parts. All the street signs are made of wood and there are a lot of dirt roads and forresty areas. I met the ward on saturday and there are some awesome student age return missionaries in the branch which makes a big difference. The branch president is a young guy as well who served in new york so he speaks really black english. 

My comp is Elder Oliveira from Brazil. He is super cool. This week we had a baptism right away. His name is Leandro and he was part of a recently activated familily. Next step is to get them all to the temple...in a year. Also, Sergio from my last sector got baptized! 

As cheesy as it sounds, the closer I get to the end, the more it doesn't seem like it will actually come. There is a lot of work to do here in Arauco and even though I am a distracted person, I haven't had very much time to think about how the time is running out. We are getting all the members excited about working me to death this last transfer and my comp and I are going everything we can. We even started standing up in the buses, presenting ourselves and passing out passalong cards every time we have to travel. Which is like at least twice a day. This week went by way too fast but I blame it on the fact that we lost 3 days to conferences, transfers etc.

Today for pday we went to an embarrassingly cheesy Jesus themed Churrasco restaurant where all the tables had bibles and as you came in, the greeter gave you a piece of paper with a scripture and said "god bless you." We also went to an antique Mapuche store. I bought an indio picaro and a stone replica of the heads on easter island.

Till next week!

Cambios

So it looks like i'm leaving los Angeles this cambio. I'm headed to Arauco to be with a black Brazilian. I left behind most of my stuff and i'm only taking what I will need for the next month and 15 days. Today we are going to have a pizza party with our bishops familiy and say good bye to some ward members and usual cambio stuff.

This past week we had some awesome lessons and found some good people. When we were knocking doors this 40 guy forced us into his house and right as we got in it just reeked of weed. He sat us down and explained to us how a month ago he got out of prison after 10 years because of drug trafficking and shooting a couple people. Yep, That's only 10 years in Chile. So he started showing all his scars from prison. That included taking his pants all the way off. We listened to him talk angrily about the world and the system and whatever then left as quickly possible. 

That's basically all that's happened this week. To make up for a short email i'm going to send some pictures.

Winter like a light switch

Looks like this week some one flipped the switch into winter because it just got super cold. And it looks like it's here to stay this time. 

Like usual this week was pretty tough but rewarding. There were a couple days where we just contacted all day without getting into a single house which is pretty frustrating. But at the same time we are teaching some of the most impressive people I have ever met in my mission.

It looks like I am probably leaving this cambio so this whole week will be focused on getting my child ready to lead the sector by himself which I know he will do well.

On a trunky note, I've decided that I want to work as a lot tec at a car dealership. So keep your eyes pealed for car dealerships that are close to the house.

That's about it for the week. Sorry that my letters are getting pretty short, I will be sending some pictures hopefully next week.

Antuco round two

Today for pday we went to the volcano Antuco. This time we didn't have the convenience to go in our own car so going in a bus took up our whole pday. Long story short, I have tons of pictures but not any time to send them today.

This week was sort of tough because all of our really good investigators decided to wait a while before making a decision. So we are back to finding news again. This week should be good though because we have a lot of cool new people to visit.

That basically it for the week. It's possible that I get transfered out of this sector in two weeks which would be exciting because after a while things in the same area get pretty mundane. But, what ever happens happens, the work is the same.

Alright, times up. Talk to you next week!

Skyped

Well, yesterday we did skype so there's nothing new to talk about. But it was awesome to see you all. Really, every time we do skype I realize more and more how much I love you all and how grateful I am for your support and love. I am more than excited to be home for a couple months and do a bunch of fun stuff together. But we also have our work cut out for us for these next couple months so there wont be much time to dwell on it. 

Talk to yall next week!

Rainy day baptism

On Saturday Olga got baptized. We found her about three months ago and we had an awesome couple of lessons with her but after that we kind of lost contact. She was always sick, she had a ton of family problems, and she was trying to start a business. We didn't know but she had kept reading the book of mormon. She said that it gave her such a peace that she couldn't even go a day without reading it.

Not very many people showed up to the baptism because it was raining but it was still a cool experience.

On friday another ward asked me to play the guitar for their talent show. So another elder and I played some jack Johnson and some death cab. It didn't sound very good at all but it saved their talent show because the only other person with a talent was someone who cited poetry.

This sunday is mothers day. Which means it's my final skype sesh. We are probably going to do it at like 7:00 pm my time.

Well, i'll see you all in a couple days

Hot again

Once again, it got hot. Los Angeles just can't quite make it into winter. 

This week was pretty fruitful. We started it out by working with a couple frustrating people who are too lazy to get what they want. With some people we show them what they can get and they develop a real desire to get it but the natural man pushes them back on to the couch and they "can't" get back up. The sad part is, as sad as their story is, there is nothing else we can do to help these people.

So, after working with a lot of people like that, we found some awesome families. Like 4 families that were really excited to hear this message. And it's those moments that give us patience to work with the other people because once they act, they'll feel the same way.

A couple weeks ago we heard that an 19 year old kid got in a motor cycle accident. A couple days later we heard that he died so we went to go visit his family and there he was sitting on the couch. We talked with him and he says he doesn't remember anything from before the accident. He barely recognized his parents. I mentioned that I thought I heard that he died and that I was relieved to see him and his family freaked out. They started making a bunch of excuses like "you must have heard of someone else" or "people die all the time, but not you honey." Then they all looked really uncomfortable. I don't really know whats going on there but I never know what to expect down here.

Besides that, not much happened. Olga going to be baptized on saturday! She is pretty happy about it. Today for pday we are going to try a new Sushi delivery place. 

Love you guys!

Freezing rain and shoulder pain

This tuesday we decided to "get ripped" as a house so we got up early and worked out hard. Our bodies were just dead for the rest of the day but the worst part was waking up at 3 in the morning with my shoulder twice it's normal size and it feeling like I will never be able to use it again. The next day we had a conference so I talked to President, who is a surgeon, and he just said I have to wait it out. So, now it looks like I'm ripped, on one side.

This week it also got super cold and rainy. I loved it. There is nothing quite as satisfying as sitting in front of a fire after an exhausting day.

On saturday, Elder Oaks came to Santiago and some of the missions in Chile were invited to participate through skype. It was an awesome conference. Exactly what we needed. We taught a lesson to Olga right afterwards using some of the principles we learned and she committed herself to get baptized on may 2. Sunday was her birthday, she was sick, all her family was over, and it was raining and she still walked/took a bus to church.

This week I got the souls of my shoes fixed. I had to carry them around all day and when we taught a crazy evangelical prophet, I left them in his house. I called him later and he said he didn't have them. So the next day I some how got his wife to accidentally say that he stole them and was wearing them, and in some round about way I got them back and invited him to repent. "By their fruits, you shall know them."

T-3

This week was another week.

We found a bunch of cool people all of which were families. All of our good progressing investigators are sick, have weird family problems or something that impedes them from letting us pass by so this week we spent a lot of time looking for new people.

On Tuesday I had to do a baptismal interview way off in the Forest. So we walked for basically an hour on a dirt trail to get to the ladies house and then we walked back. My shoes are just about to give out but they can make it for another few months.

Speaking of that, I officially have 3 months left in the mission. As cheesy as it sounds, I didn't ever think I would ever get to this point. And now that I'm here, it's a lot different than I thought it would be but it's good.

Well, talk to you next week!

Last conference

This was my last conference in the mission. As well, it was the last conference of like half our zone so we went hard on buying snacks and things. As always, it almost didn't work but right on time we got the TV working and it was an awesome experience.

I feel like the more I learn, the more I can learn. Every conference I have gotten more and more out of the talks and every time I study I can learn more and more within that small hour of study time. 

This week one of the elders in our house was sick and I pulled the short stick so I had to stay back with him for two days so I spent most of this week sitting down. Sometimes I complain about walking so much but this week I started to miss using my legs.

For Pday today we traveled to Concepción to eat lunch with President Bluth. We had a goal of baptisms for our zone and we were promised that if we got the goal, president would give us lunch. So we got our goal and he gave us lunch and it was delicious.

That's about it this week. Here are some pictures: