It's Hot...
Hellew! How's everyone doing! Good? Great! I'm doing just fine and dandy down here on the other side of the world. Doing lots of work and teaching lots of people.
Elder Wallentine and I were doing some thinking the other day, about the Mission and Mission Experiences. We've always imagined ourselves as being these all-knowledgeable beings throughout the mission. Every passage of Scripture Memorized, Spiritual Experiences coming out of our nostrils, and Converting everything that moved. But we've rediscovered a truth that we've known all along... Conversion is a life-long process. We learn to love the Lord and to do His will, to rely more on Him, to depend on His mercy, kindness, and love. It's like, the Mission is two years of the Basics, and nothing advanced, deep, profound, or mysterious. It's all the basics, all the beginning steps, all the wonderful things that people (investigator and missionary alike) need to experience in order to return to live with God once more. It's like 2 years of Primary, with less pretty pictures nor songs. It's pretty intense as well. At least, I'm enjoying it.
Right now we're focusing on a family that Elder Wallentine found some three-odd months ago. They're really good people, and progressing amazingly. Recently, Jaimy, the 14 year old boy of the family, went on a young mens trip out to Casa Blanca, Chile, where the church has a couple hundred acres of land for campouts and stuff. He came back really spiritual, and it's been a lot easier teaching him. His 16 year old sister is a recent convert of about a month, and the parents are starting to come around as well. While it's kind of lame to not baptize the entire family at the same time, we have to baptize people when they're ready, as not to put off the day of their repentance.
Anywho, that's pretty much what's going on down here. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold whilst you can, because I sure miss it. It's been like 35 degrees Celsius here. I don't know what that converts to, but I feel like I'm burning up. I got some mean farmer tans going on.
e'horspool
P.S. - I talked to Gonzalo Sepúlveda, who was the companion with the Holt kid. He remembered his name. It was Garret Holt. It's a small, small world
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Looking up!
Hi howdy hey!
So this week was a blast. We had lots of work going on, lots of people to meet, and lots of stuff to learn. I learned that being "Pesado" has it's benefits, as people do what you say more! For the first time in the mission, I was able to get people up and out of bed and going to church, after all the whole "I'm tired!" and "I don't wanna go!" and all that other stuff that I used to toss at Mom when I didn't want to go to school. Yeah!
I got a lot of questions asking if it's harder in a richer area. More or less. It's like, knocking doors has little/no effect. Everyone lives like 100 feet away from their fence, so if they don't have a doorbell, no go. There's a heavy focus on the mission on trying to get into houses on contacts as well. Not terribly easy to get into someone's house through an intercom, but do-able I suppose. Anywho, things are looking up, there's almost too many things to do, and I'm loving life. I got to see a bunch of my old companions at a conference the mission had this last week, but I forgot batteries to my camera =(. Anywho, be good, be safe, read your scriptures and say your prayers!
e'horspool
So this week was a blast. We had lots of work going on, lots of people to meet, and lots of stuff to learn. I learned that being "Pesado" has it's benefits, as people do what you say more! For the first time in the mission, I was able to get people up and out of bed and going to church, after all the whole "I'm tired!" and "I don't wanna go!" and all that other stuff that I used to toss at Mom when I didn't want to go to school. Yeah!
I got a lot of questions asking if it's harder in a richer area. More or less. It's like, knocking doors has little/no effect. Everyone lives like 100 feet away from their fence, so if they don't have a doorbell, no go. There's a heavy focus on the mission on trying to get into houses on contacts as well. Not terribly easy to get into someone's house through an intercom, but do-able I suppose. Anywho, things are looking up, there's almost too many things to do, and I'm loving life. I got to see a bunch of my old companions at a conference the mission had this last week, but I forgot batteries to my camera =(. Anywho, be good, be safe, read your scriptures and say your prayers!
e'horspool
Monday, January 12, 2009
Casi la mitad !
It's Germain?
So, I got moved. Again. I'm now in:
Villa Norte Ward, Villa Alemana Oeste Stake
Villa Alemana, Valparaíso V Región
I'm back in the south! What fun! I've made a complete circle/tour of the mission. It's pretty neat. I've gotten to know most parts of the mission, something that most missionaries don't get to do. This new sector is quite a shock from the last three. It's got huge, huge houses. And everyone has pools, I'm kind of freaking out. We live in a 3 story apartment building, just the two of us. My companion is Elder Wallentine, from Logan, Utah. Hey! Here's some random small world story. I'm in the same room as Aaron Adams right now. We just happened to be in the same Cyber. Fun stuff. He's in a different Zone though, Just plain ol' Villa Alemana. There's a lot of people who speak English here. A lot of Germans too (go figure...). There's a recently released 70 as well, Sepúlveda is his last name. I'm not sure what quorum he was from. Anywho, there's a ton of work to be done, I'm going to be even busier, but that's good. I'm looking forward to all the work, finding lots of people, and going swimming. Be safe, study hard, and write me.
e'horspool
PS: I just ran into an Elder Wells, from Payson Utah. He says he knows Dixon Meat and all that, and has a buddy who works there. It's a small world after all!
So, I got moved. Again. I'm now in:
Villa Norte Ward, Villa Alemana Oeste Stake
Villa Alemana, Valparaíso V Región
I'm back in the south! What fun! I've made a complete circle/tour of the mission. It's pretty neat. I've gotten to know most parts of the mission, something that most missionaries don't get to do. This new sector is quite a shock from the last three. It's got huge, huge houses. And everyone has pools, I'm kind of freaking out. We live in a 3 story apartment building, just the two of us. My companion is Elder Wallentine, from Logan, Utah. Hey! Here's some random small world story. I'm in the same room as Aaron Adams right now. We just happened to be in the same Cyber. Fun stuff. He's in a different Zone though, Just plain ol' Villa Alemana. There's a lot of people who speak English here. A lot of Germans too (go figure...). There's a recently released 70 as well, Sepúlveda is his last name. I'm not sure what quorum he was from. Anywho, there's a ton of work to be done, I'm going to be even busier, but that's good. I'm looking forward to all the work, finding lots of people, and going swimming. Be safe, study hard, and write me.
e'horspool
PS: I just ran into an Elder Wells, from Payson Utah. He says he knows Dixon Meat and all that, and has a buddy who works there. It's a small world after all!
Yay Pictures!
I decided to dust off the camera as of late
Looking towards the Future - Me and Elder Villagra, possibly the greatest thing to come out of Argentina. My Zone Leader for the last 18 weeks. Mission Ended : 5th of January, 2009
The Zone - The Zone of Ovalle! Missing from picture : Elder Remy
Fuegos Artificiales: A firework that went off some 100 yards away from our pention. There was ash all up ons our backyard the morning after. Chile = Number 2 in world for Fireworks on Newyears.
Monday, January 5, 2009
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
¡Felicidades!
Hi everybody! Happy New Year! Weee. My new year was a blast. We got to stay out at a members house till 11 and eat some Asado. Mmm.... Carne Asado.... Plus, they launched Fireworks directly over the house. It was sweet.
Anywho, this week was mildly interesting. Let me start with the previous week:
So the 28th of December a random guy sat next to me during the Priesthood meeting. He looked sort of familiar, but I took him for a member from another branch and didn't think anything of it. At the end of the meeting, President Barraza went up to talk to him and introduced me to him as an investigator. It turns out he was this weird man that Elder Page and I met from the middle of November. When we met him, Page and I both felt that we needed to leave his house and just invite him to church, which we promptly did. He kind of has a slight mental problem. Well, I suppose that it just wasn't his time to talk to us. After he came to church the first time, we set up an appointment with him and went to his house the following Saturday (two days ago). He, his sister, and his mother were there, and we shared the message of the Restoration. The sister (Francia, her name) ate it up. Tomás (the man) somehow already knew everything, and accepted all the commitments right away. The mom is súper evangelical and mildly disrupted the lesson every now and then. Unfortunately, Francia lives in Andacollo and the church ain't terrible strong over there (Something interesting about Andacollo, it's where the Chilean Virgin showed up. It's a small town about an hour northeast of Ovalle). But Tomás came to church again yesterday. He's pretty awesome. He gave his testimony in front of the church, but because he's a little special not too many people understood him. A good man, Tomás.
Well that's where we're at right now. We got changes today, so we'll see if I stay in Ovalle, or if they ship me off to some other part. I gots butterflies in my stummy.
e'horspool
Hi everybody! Happy New Year! Weee. My new year was a blast. We got to stay out at a members house till 11 and eat some Asado. Mmm.... Carne Asado.... Plus, they launched Fireworks directly over the house. It was sweet.
Anywho, this week was mildly interesting. Let me start with the previous week:
So the 28th of December a random guy sat next to me during the Priesthood meeting. He looked sort of familiar, but I took him for a member from another branch and didn't think anything of it. At the end of the meeting, President Barraza went up to talk to him and introduced me to him as an investigator. It turns out he was this weird man that Elder Page and I met from the middle of November. When we met him, Page and I both felt that we needed to leave his house and just invite him to church, which we promptly did. He kind of has a slight mental problem. Well, I suppose that it just wasn't his time to talk to us. After he came to church the first time, we set up an appointment with him and went to his house the following Saturday (two days ago). He, his sister, and his mother were there, and we shared the message of the Restoration. The sister (Francia, her name) ate it up. Tomás (the man) somehow already knew everything, and accepted all the commitments right away. The mom is súper evangelical and mildly disrupted the lesson every now and then. Unfortunately, Francia lives in Andacollo and the church ain't terrible strong over there (Something interesting about Andacollo, it's where the Chilean Virgin showed up. It's a small town about an hour northeast of Ovalle). But Tomás came to church again yesterday. He's pretty awesome. He gave his testimony in front of the church, but because he's a little special not too many people understood him. A good man, Tomás.
Well that's where we're at right now. We got changes today, so we'll see if I stay in Ovalle, or if they ship me off to some other part. I gots butterflies in my stummy.
e'horspool
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