March 27, 2012

Mis Padres,

I am definitely learning to have more patience here in the mission. I was a little (lot) impatient before my mission with children in...well really any situation where they weren't peaceful. But that is why I am here; to teach and learn, and I feel obligated to say baptize.

It is kind of amazing to me that I have been in Chile for almost 3 months and that before the end of this transfer I will have been in the mission for 6 months. Almost 1 quarter of my mission already. I feel like I have only been here for like, a week and a half, when I look back on it. 

We had 93 people in Tocopilla this Sunday at church, but February is the big vacation month in Chile. Our attendance in February was a lot like yours was over Spring Break. Vacations and pretty much the whole branch went to Santiago to the temple.

I was trying to hold off saying this in my e-mail for as long as a could, but I have so much to say about it and I'm losing time. We had the baptism for Brunilda (age 92) this week and she was pretty much a champion. Also, we had transfers this week and... I am no longer in Tocopilla. I was transfered to the zone La Portada in Antofagasta, into the sector Gabriela Minstral. Elder Revi is still in Tocopilla and should be getting his new trainee today from Antofagasta. I am now with my new companion Elder Valle from  Lima Peru. He is super good so far as I can tell.

The sector is really small compared to Tocopilla. Elder Revi said that Gabriela Minstral is one of the smallest in the mission, if not the smallest, and Tocopilla is one of the biggest, so... big change.

I cried like a little baby when I gave my going away testimony at church on Sunday and it was super hard to say goodbye to the people there. But, I am excited to be serving in a new area and with a new companion to learn more from here. 

We went to visit some of the people who were really good to me during my time in Tocopilla. Well, everyone was really to me, but I didn't have time for that. We visited May-ling (she gave me a towel that I really don't have room for), Rafa and Brunilda (my converts) and one family that is particularly awesome.

I am running out of time here and I want to send some pictures so I'm going to cut this off here. I'm sure you will have questions that I can't think of, so fire away.

love,

Jord

Tocopilla, Chile

Elder McCaskill's first baptism - Rafa

Visit before leaving Tocopilla for his new assignment - Rafa, his mother & grandma

Jordan and Brunilda (92 yrs old) - a champion