November 26, 2012

Just so that you guys are aware the cambios (transfers) for this 6 week period are next Monday so I will be able to say something about them in my next email because I should know Saturday night. De los quatro misioneros aqui en Los Industriales (Yo, Elder Hernández, Elder Galovich y Elder Alvial), sabemos que se va Elder Alvial porque él está terminando la misión y probablamente se va mí compañero porque ya tiene casi quatro meses y medio. (Translation??: Of the four missionaries here in Los Industrial (Me, Hernandez Elder, Elder Galovich and Elder Alvial), we think that Elder Alvial will probably be my companion because he has almost four months and is ending his mission.)

I just fell over in my chair and it was really funny. Sitting in the ciber with 4 missionaries and a couple old dudes and I fell backwards off my chair. SPECIAL.

I am starting to realize that I really really really miss movies and television.

I am really happy to hear that you guys are going out with the missionaries to help teach and getting to know the new people better. That is something that is really lacking here in the north of Chile. Elder Heràndez says that his best guess is that the church here in the North is about 10 years behind what it is in the south. We are statistically the best mission in Chile, but the church here really is not as strong as it could be. When you can find someone that can go with you to the appointments and become friends with the people investigating the church it really becomes a lot easier for the missionaries to teach them. It really allows the investigators to integrate themselves into the church easier and adjust to the lifestyle that goes with it.

I had my first opportunity to do baptismal interviews this week. Within my district there were 3 baptisms that were planned. I had to go and do the interviews for those baptisms. It was a really good experience, but it's a bit hard because they just kind of tell you ``Oh, you are a district leader now, figure it out.`` We had some bad luck though with the baptisms though. One of them was all ready to go and the lady never showed up for it, so we have to see what happened this week. That really sucked for those Elders. The other two went good and according to plan more or less, but then there was a mix up on Sunday and only one of them got confirmed. That made one of the missionaries really angry because it means that the baptism doesn't count for this month. It had already happened so there wasn't really anything to do about it, but it was frustrating. The other confirmation happened, but they got the name wrong and had to do it again afterwards. Fun times!

If I am here for the next transfer I will be here in Arica until January 14, so that will include Christmas and New Years which I hear is also a pretty big deal.

Wow how foreign...one mission over (geographically - Courtney's call to Vancouver, Canada mission). Just jokes. That is super cool, wherever you go. I am actually a little jealous because she will be going to a place where the church is stable and the members know what is going on. She probably won't have to deal with the frustrations of wanting to do things, but not being able to because they aren't being done or they don't know about them, or you realize there isn't even a ward mission leader. Que bendiciòn. (What a blessing)

I really like that quote, I wrote it down in my planner. ("We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."  - Aristotle)

I figured that I should probably protect my eyes so I bought glasses that have about 60% protection against the UV rays. That should help and they let me relax my eyes instead of always squinting.

Well that is about it.

Love you guys,

Jord