July 15, 2013

Audio Summary...
We just got back from shopping. Last week we made hamburgers, which were awesome. This week we're going to make cheese empanadas... and we bought a lot of cheese. Usually when you go for cheese empanadas they're not very full of cheese and thought we'd get a ton of cheese and solve that problem. So... we bought 1 1/2 kilos. That's going to be fun!

The 2 zones here hooked up today to play soccer. We went but I didn't play because it's not my thing. Elder Hernandez, my companion when we were in Arica couldn't play because he really messed up his knee, so we hung out and talked. That was good.

We had our first conference and interviews with the new mission president. He did the conference in 2 parts. He talked, then did one zone's interviews, we switched for interviews and then did another conference bit. It was good... we got to know him a bit, but he definitely isn't as high energy as President Bruce, not surprisingly. I made a point of going into it with an open mind to be fair, as they would obviously be different. I have really enjoyed my interviews, but this one only took 2-3 minutes and seemed generic so it was a bit of a let down. The next one should be better as it will be my final interview and there should be a number of things to talk about.

Last Monday we went to Caldera - 1 hour to the West, on the coast, for a zone attack. I got to work with Elder Hernandez for 1/2 a day, my old companion, so that was cool!

We had a couple strange/good lunch experiences this week. On Saturday we went to Maria Aria's (sp?) and she cooked the best Chilean food I've had in my whole mission. It was a soup with veggies, beans and some other stuff she mentioned that I wasn't familiar with - it was amazing! I wanted a 2nd bowl and that never happens. Then she gave us fish and rice - it was also super good. I was really impressed! We also had lunch with one of the members who owns a huge restaurant and we went there. We went with him and his wife, his daughter and her husband and child and their son. It was a little awkward, but the food was good.

We had a really good meeting with our ward mission leader on Saturday and then he didn't show up for church on Sunday, so that was a little disappointing. Anyway, he teaches the Gospel Principles lesson so I had to give it at the last minute, but that was fun. I actually really enjoy teaching that class because the lessons are simple concepts and for many in the class it's new information. I taught a lesson on the priesthood. I could totally do that as a calling when I get home. 

We found a family this week but we can't teach them until August because they are going on vacation for 2 weeks. It's a mother and her 3 children. One of the sons was home with his sister and a friend - he let us in to share a message. His buddy is also dating one of his sisters and is a member, although we think he is less active, but he's still a member and did bear his testimony - impromptu lesson with a member present - cool! Then his mom showed up as we were finishing up and looked a little shocked and surprised. We started talking to her and she said this was the first time missionaries had been in her house so we should feel special. We talked to her for awhile about some random stuff and put her at ease and she gave us a return appointment. That was pretty cool.

There's a lady in our ward, Susanna, who has 3 daughter, 2 living with her, and a son, also living with her. She's the one we helped move the other week. She's got quite a bold personality and is quite interesting. We dropped by to share a message but she was in her house dress, doing chores and cleaning, but she invited us in anyway. She talked to us about a bunch of random things and it was a bit awkward so we asked if we should come back later..  she said sure and gave us a tube of Oreos as we left. It was a bit odd, but we went back about 3 hours later and had a good lesson, so that worked out alright.

We still haven't got that couple to set a date to get married yet. We're working on them and plan to pass by this week. Hopefully soon.

We're going to try and focus more on knocking on doors this week and not as much on less actives - we'll see what happens.

That's about it for this week. Love you guys...
Caio!