I think I have become a sissy about the weather now. I am way too used to having hot days... everyday, instead of a lot of really cold weather every year. But I will get my fair share of cold weather when I get back in October. We'll see how I adjust.
I am not praying for a drought there, unless you pray for rain here. : )
That is good to hear that I got my acceptance into school for January. Let me know when they start registration so that I can start going with that.
Also, one thing I forgot to say was that this week I made curry...twice actually. It turned out really good. Minor problems...I though that I had found coconut milk, but it was actually coconut cream. I thought they changed the name here because it was the only one, but it was actually like coconut in a syrup. I threw it in anyway and it turned out good, but really sweet. I made some changes the second time, but I went a bit overboard with the salt. It was really good and I think I did pretty good for what I had to work with, but it wasn't the same as at home.
Anyways, I love you guys a ton and am looking forward to this transfer a lot.
Love Jord
Audio summary...
We received the cambios yesterday and I am leaving Calama. I'm to Copiapo. It is south. Antofagasta is about the middle of the mission, then it's about 5 hours down to Chanaral and 2 more hours down to Copiapo. So it will be about 12 hours on the bus - super fun time. I'm going to be in sector Copiapo and my companion is going to be Elder Gillespie which is super sweet. He is actaully from my group at the MTC so we already know each other - we're going to pound it out! I get to go as junior companion - it might not sound great, but I'm super happy. Being district leader isn't too bad, but it's not my favorite. I'll have responsibilities, but won't have to report numbers and stuff. I will just be able to focus on my investigators - that will be awesome!
It's possible I will be have 1 cambio after this or that I could pass 3 cambios in Copiapo, depending on the new president. This could be my last sector in the mission - crazy stuff! It might not be, but it could be.
My companion is staying here in calama and Elder Trolta from Peru will be his new companion. Elders Steiner and Galvez who have been here in the pension are also moving - their both going to Vianar, about 2 hours south of where I'm heading. The other 2 coming to Calama are Elder Paralta - born in Honduras, but lived in Canada since he was 3 years old and Elder Pope who has been both my District and Zone leader and was also an Assistant. They'll be good, strong missionaries here.
We had a crazy thing happen this week. The front and back doors in the pension are in a line - you come in the front and you can see the back. Sometimes the back door opens if you don't latch it well, but not right away - I'm not sure if it's the wind, but it could be 2 - 3 hours later. I came in the front door one day to go to the bathroom and the back door was open. I look down and lying on a blanket on the floor was a golden retriever puppy. He was ridiculously cute just lying there sleeping. We looked that night for the owner and couldn't find them and we couldn't just put it out on the street so we kept it in the pension. I'm sure it's against mission rules, but we couldn't just abandon it so we're looking for the owner. In the meantime he is so cute... but really stinky. He also bites alot when you play with him because he's a puppy and has really sharp teeth, but I love him. It actually makes it feel more like home in the pension - a bit more comfortable and relaxing. It's temporary, and I'm leaving, but it was kind of nice.
One of our current investigators is Aileen, who lives across the street from us. She's super good. She has wanted to go to church, but has had some conflicts. She has been reading her Book of Mormon, but we need to get her out to church. We finally caught up with her as we hadn't seen her in about 2 1/2 weeks - she works a ton! We asked if she had any questions about anything and she said yes, about a couple of things she had read. She asked if we had our book because she'd left her's at work. I said "yes" and gave her my Book of Mormon to refer to. She flipped to Mosiah and I just stared, thinking she couldn't be that far, but she asked a question, then went back to 1 or 2nd Nephi and then to Alma 6. I couldn't believe she was reading in Alma 6! I don't know what it's like for the missionaries back home, but when we give people a BoM to read here they often say yeah, they'd love to read it, but we go back 20 times and they haven't read. This has been my first investigator to read with this kind of dedication on her own. I told her that was awesome and she said she'd promised to read it and so she was. She also said she's been praying everyday to know if the book is true or not. I was just... wow! It hardly seemed real. It will be great for whoever baptizes her because she will be a convert for life - I know it. We say "studly" here. She's going to be studly! One downside to leaving... I'm so jealous.
Also this week the Armanas went to the market and this lady approached them and said her daughter had been to our church before, but she didn't want her to go to that one because it was too far away. She wanted them to go and visit her daughter so they're like... sure. They ended up not finding it because it was in our sector, so we checked it out, but the house didn't exist. We looked for about 45 minutes without any luck, but knew we had to find it and finally did. She said we could come back on Thursday so we did. We actually had one of the zone leaders with us and this was the first time we shared a lesson and we set a baptismal date for the 29th. It was like miracle that fell from the sky. I'm a little sad I'm leaving and won't be here to follow through with what's going on, but that how the mission goes. I kind of figured I was going to leave with the special cambio and such, but this is a really good sector. And... I'm pretty excited for my companion to be able to continue working here. It will be good for him.
Next week I'll be writing from Copipo and will let you know what it's like there. My new companion, Elder Gillespie is from Utah - I can't recall which city. He's super cool and relaxed... most of the time. I think we'll get along really well. This will be the first time I've seen him since we left the MTC, which is a little weird.
I love you guys and will talk to you next week!
Jord
Some pictures...
Audio summary...
We received the cambios yesterday and I am leaving Calama. I'm to Copiapo. It is south. Antofagasta is about the middle of the mission, then it's about 5 hours down to Chanaral and 2 more hours down to Copiapo. So it will be about 12 hours on the bus - super fun time. I'm going to be in sector Copiapo and my companion is going to be Elder Gillespie which is super sweet. He is actaully from my group at the MTC so we already know each other - we're going to pound it out! I get to go as junior companion - it might not sound great, but I'm super happy. Being district leader isn't too bad, but it's not my favorite. I'll have responsibilities, but won't have to report numbers and stuff. I will just be able to focus on my investigators - that will be awesome!
It's possible I will be have 1 cambio after this or that I could pass 3 cambios in Copiapo, depending on the new president. This could be my last sector in the mission - crazy stuff! It might not be, but it could be.
My companion is staying here in calama and Elder Trolta from Peru will be his new companion. Elders Steiner and Galvez who have been here in the pension are also moving - their both going to Vianar, about 2 hours south of where I'm heading. The other 2 coming to Calama are Elder Paralta - born in Honduras, but lived in Canada since he was 3 years old and Elder Pope who has been both my District and Zone leader and was also an Assistant. They'll be good, strong missionaries here.
We had a crazy thing happen this week. The front and back doors in the pension are in a line - you come in the front and you can see the back. Sometimes the back door opens if you don't latch it well, but not right away - I'm not sure if it's the wind, but it could be 2 - 3 hours later. I came in the front door one day to go to the bathroom and the back door was open. I look down and lying on a blanket on the floor was a golden retriever puppy. He was ridiculously cute just lying there sleeping. We looked that night for the owner and couldn't find them and we couldn't just put it out on the street so we kept it in the pension. I'm sure it's against mission rules, but we couldn't just abandon it so we're looking for the owner. In the meantime he is so cute... but really stinky. He also bites alot when you play with him because he's a puppy and has really sharp teeth, but I love him. It actually makes it feel more like home in the pension - a bit more comfortable and relaxing. It's temporary, and I'm leaving, but it was kind of nice.
One of our current investigators is Aileen, who lives across the street from us. She's super good. She has wanted to go to church, but has had some conflicts. She has been reading her Book of Mormon, but we need to get her out to church. We finally caught up with her as we hadn't seen her in about 2 1/2 weeks - she works a ton! We asked if she had any questions about anything and she said yes, about a couple of things she had read. She asked if we had our book because she'd left her's at work. I said "yes" and gave her my Book of Mormon to refer to. She flipped to Mosiah and I just stared, thinking she couldn't be that far, but she asked a question, then went back to 1 or 2nd Nephi and then to Alma 6. I couldn't believe she was reading in Alma 6! I don't know what it's like for the missionaries back home, but when we give people a BoM to read here they often say yeah, they'd love to read it, but we go back 20 times and they haven't read. This has been my first investigator to read with this kind of dedication on her own. I told her that was awesome and she said she'd promised to read it and so she was. She also said she's been praying everyday to know if the book is true or not. I was just... wow! It hardly seemed real. It will be great for whoever baptizes her because she will be a convert for life - I know it. We say "studly" here. She's going to be studly! One downside to leaving... I'm so jealous.
Also this week the Armanas went to the market and this lady approached them and said her daughter had been to our church before, but she didn't want her to go to that one because it was too far away. She wanted them to go and visit her daughter so they're like... sure. They ended up not finding it because it was in our sector, so we checked it out, but the house didn't exist. We looked for about 45 minutes without any luck, but knew we had to find it and finally did. She said we could come back on Thursday so we did. We actually had one of the zone leaders with us and this was the first time we shared a lesson and we set a baptismal date for the 29th. It was like miracle that fell from the sky. I'm a little sad I'm leaving and won't be here to follow through with what's going on, but that how the mission goes. I kind of figured I was going to leave with the special cambio and such, but this is a really good sector. And... I'm pretty excited for my companion to be able to continue working here. It will be good for him.
Next week I'll be writing from Copipo and will let you know what it's like there. My new companion, Elder Gillespie is from Utah - I can't recall which city. He's super cool and relaxed... most of the time. I think we'll get along really well. This will be the first time I've seen him since we left the MTC, which is a little weird.
I love you guys and will talk to you next week!
Jord
Some pictures...
Jordan with Pres & Sister Bruce - they leave at the end of June
He's been an awesome mission president.
The golden retriever puppy - I love him
Sooo cute... but stinky too!
Getting together with our zone
Just hanging out
Me & Elder Galvez
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