That is good to hear that the missionaries are having success on the homefront and that they are getting good help from the ward. You would think that we would be able to get a lot of help here because people don't really have schedules, but it goes the other way. People are never in there house when you make plans to arrive at a specific time. That being said, it is looking like we are going to have either 3 or 5 baptisms on the 28th which is cool. You mentioned that the missionaries there are teaching only the mom in one family, but that is super common. It is good when they get baptized if they can stay strong, but we are really making a push on teaching families in the mission because they stay stronger most of the time.
That's good to hear that Spencer's going away stuff went well. It sucks that he is still having some issues with his visa and stuff. I know the song you referred to that Savannah and Carissa sang at Spence's farewell (In the Hollow of thy Hand). There is a CD called The Return Missionary Soundtrack and it is on there, but in rock form. Elder Lopez played it in Tocopilla all the time. That being said, I had never really listened closely to the lyrics, but they are super good.
The visa paperwork here for us is as follows: You get a visitor's permit to the country for 3 months when you arrive. Within that time you have to get your solicitud de residencia (application for residence) which lasts for 4 months. This paper is the middle step while they process your visa, which usually takes 3 months. They send your visa which gets stamped in your passport and you have 30 days to register your visa, because the Centre of Investigation and the government aren't joint. Then you go back to the government where they take pictures and send for your carnet (book) which comes about three weeks later and is like a drivers license that you must carry all the time. Right now I am waiting on my visa and it should be ready by the end of the month.
I am going to be honest when I say that the P-days are kind of lame. All we do is play soccer and there are really no sightseeing opportunities except the Portada, which is a big rock in the sea with a hole through it.
I went for interviews with the President this week and asked him about using sky drive to upload photos and he said it was good, so once I figure it out (it is in Spanish), I will send you a load of pictures.
My current challenge in this sector is not that I don't meet people but that Elder Valle doesn't really tell me much about the people that we visit. So, I often have to figure out if the people are members, less active or investigators by what is being said, so I'm not contributing as much to the conversations. Also, the Latinos are super good at talking about anything for long periods. This is good if they are talking to you, but if they are talking to your Latino companion, then you pretty much can't say anything cause they dominate the conversation. However, I heard from a couple people that President Bruce is looking to transfer the mantel to the younger missionaries - it is sounding like most of my district, if not all, may become senior cmpanions. I feel really good about that because I feel like I need a challenge. As you know, I pretty much do just what I need to in order to succeed and I feel like I need some pressure to get me working harder.
Until next week,
Brother Jordan
