Friday, October 30, 2009

A Bumpy Week

Hey familia, ¿Cómo están? ¿cómo le fue está semana? Enough of the Spanish back to English!!!!!!!
I will start this email with what happened last Monday night because well not to sugar coat it but I had to do some serious chastising and behavior correction . . .After planning Monday night I told my comp we had to talk about the day we had Basically I told him we both signed a paper saying we would follow every mission rule because those rules are our protection. I told him I am trying to obey with exactness because I know the Lord will bless me. When Pres. Chavez asks am I obeying with exactness I can say truthfully YES. It was hard for me to say this but I knew it had to be done.
It is a bummer that he is senior comp and I only have 4 months in the mission and have to be the grown up. I have heard the he has had trouble before. The week started off bad but it got better. I just get so mad but, my companion has been better. I still have to remind him at times.....maybe this is why I am his companion to help him be obedient.
Well anyway here is some big news to brighten the mood. I have a baptism this Saturday the 31st. I am excited her name is Alejandra, she is 12 years old and passed her interview on Sunday. Elder Palacio is baptizing her which is okay with me. She is super excited and ready. I am happy about that. The work is picking up a little bit here thanks to the assistants. We did a intercambio with them after interviews on Friday and they help boost our excitement and get the work moving along. We found 10 investigators this week and have 12 baptismal dates. I just have to be bolder and speak even if I don’t understand. My speaking is getting really good but understanding is moving slower than molasses on a cold day. Hopefully it will get better soon. I study and read everything Spanish I can get my hands on these days. Pamphlets, scriptures a lot and Preach my Gospel of course. I am surprised to say it but I love to read when it is the only thing you can do in your free time you start to like it a lot. All the missionaries are surprised when I say I only have 4 months in the mission since I speak so well, but then I tell them I can’t understand they just laugh. President Chavez in my interview said he could see the change in confidence and my language skills during my interview....he just said to be patient work hard and have faith. He is a great Mission President, I really admire him and his love for the work...and the fact that he can speak English very well...Hermana Chavez on the other hand thinks she can speak English but cannot.
I really enjoyed my package. I am afraid to eat the candy because I know I will eat them all because they will taste so good. I don’t want to put weight back on, but I will start on them this week. I have a bunch of pictures but can’t upload them from my camera; you all will have to wait a bit longer.
There are only 15 primary kids in my branch. We had the Primary program this Sunday. They all gave talks but only sang one song and none of them knew the words. I can’t remember what song it was though. It is hard enough for me to understand adults when they speak and kids are even harder. There are only 4 active young men and about 5 young women....small branch but our attendance is up to about 65 every Sunday which is good. One of our new converts that was baptized the before I got here, Nick Miguel is 12 years old and is getting the priesthood next Sunday and that is super cool. He is a great kid. Nick and his sister were baptized but their mom and dad cannot because they are not married. They cant get married because they don’t have residency in Chile yet (they are from Peru) so they have to wait 5 years....3 years more, they are basically Mormon already.
Well I am good. It is a battle everyday with my companion but he is my companion for a reason. This is the way the Lord wants it to be. Sometimes there isn’t an answer to all things. We just have to wait it out and look back at the end of the road. Hopefully when we get there we are a better and stronger person.
Time crawls by for me but I am trying to enjoy every long second of it. The more I focus on the work the more I will be blessed. We just have to push pull fight and struggle through stuff in life. It is all for our good.....it wouldn’t be called life if it was easy, but it sure makes it easier when we are doing what is right.
I hope you all are doing absolutely awesome and are nice and busy with your lives and callings. Have fun all work and no play well!.....it just is no fun. Got to work hard, study hard and best of all play hard. I love you all so much and miss you all a bunch too. Not a day goes by I don’t think about you all....even through this bipolar weather we are having hot one day cold the next then 3 days of rain, it cannot make up it’s mind of what season it is. I love you so much you are always in my thoughts and prayers. I pray that you all will have the gift and interpretation of tongues because one day in the far future I will speak and write in Spanish too.
cuidense, les vayan bien, The work of the Lord must go on and so must I.
Love Eric

Friday, October 23, 2009

"Super Chunky Peanut Butter. . . I have never seen anything so fine in my life"


Hey Family, How is everyone doing in the world of winter and snow and rain and all of that good stuff? les gustan mucho ¿no? Well I hope you are all well.
Signs of summer are here in Chile the days are hot and nights are cold but not so far away it will be hot alllll day.
I am becoming red skinned again and it is not the Chile diet it is that I walk about 6-7 miles a day. My clothes are huge and those sweatpants and sweatshirt you sent are even bigger! está bien.
It will keep me warm
I have put three notches in my belts, my suit is huge on me all the members laugh but whatever I am happy with loosing some weigh, I gained a bunch in the MTC.
For starters thank you so much for the package and all the goodies. I am sure to gain all the weight back now. The SUPER CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER it is a dream come true. I have never seen something so fine in my life. I had some for lunch on Sunday seeing as our lunch appointment fell through. It was revelation Mom thanks so much. I was so happy to get those packages it made my day.
I wish I could put up some more pictures but this computer doesn’t have a slot for my card so next week. We had a district activity today and we went to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have missed the surf and sand so much it was like being at home but not! All the beaches here are black sand so it is cool. We played football...two hand touch...and chilled took photos and stuff it was fun. I got burned even with sunscreen I need to buy some lotion because the spray doesn’t work that well on my face It was a fun day. The bus ride back was stuffed. We were in like a small push like those little ones Emily used to take to West Valley and there were 8 missionaries and about 30 Chileans, like peas in a pod we were.
Hey Mom about the music for my Christmas gift, I would like some holiday music too. Some good appropriate holiday Christmas music. It is going to be weird to have a hot Christmas but hopefully with some songs to remind me of snow and cold will keep me from sweating too much. I am going to have a Gringo Christmas in Chile.
I spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday about the Atonement...la expiacion....and it was a great talk. All the members were complimenting me on it and how well I speak and don’t have a Gringo accent but I slipped and said an English word and all the members have been laughing about it now, that is twice I have spoken Spanglish in a large group of people in my branch......verg Üensa...shame. I was bearing a very powerful testimony and it popped out but I quickly said the word in Spanish and went on.......so I can speak ok but I understand about 30% at most. I can understand the gist of conversations but if someone talks to me directly I am lost and they don’t understand when I tell them I don’t understand, they assume that because I speak well I can understand. But I am backwards usually missionaries can understand and not speak but I am completely the opposite. I can never do things the easy way huh....I am my fathers son!...love you Pops!
I am still having difficulties with my companion. He stretches the rules and I didn’t come on my mission to break rules. I signed saying I would follow every rule and he is causing that I can’t keep that promise. I put my foot down about money though he asked to borrow some and I said we get the same amount each month if he needs more he can call and ask the financer for more money. He was upset. At the end of the month I usually have a lot of money left over but that is because I spend it wisely and only buy what I need. We have had some head to head collisions, but I guess this is a learning experience.....how I long for the day when I get to choose my companion but it is yet two years away haha.I am doing well just that stupid stuff with my comp. I am living and not starving. I got a letter from Nick Gall and it was so good to see what he is up too. I miss him and Don a lot...and you all too. I sent Don a letter for his birthday I hope he got it. I wanted to send another today but idk if I will have time.
We had zone conference Wednesday in Talca and it was good. I understood a little more than my first one so that is good. President talked a lot about obedience and I was glad to not be uncomfortable because I know I try to follow every rule with complete exactness. A mission is not a time to be disobedient. I use every minute of my study time wisely and study in all my other free time. I figure the more time I put in the more I will get out. I love reading now....its the only thing do. Reading in Spanish is hard but I have a stack of pamphlets and church material in Spanish I am working my way through. I only use my English scriptures and "Preach My Gospel" if I really don’t understand something. I am trying to put all my focus in being more familiar with words I can use in my teaching.......one of my teachers in the MTC taught me this "Learning Spanish doesn’t fulfill my purpose as a missionary, I am learning Spanish so I can fulfill my purpose of bringing people unto Christ"That is always in my mind when I am studying. It is hard to have patience with the language but I know I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t do it...I need to do all I can do and then the lord will help me. Without our action and willingness the Lord can’t help us. I love you all so much and I hope all is well with you. Until next week, I hope I can put some photos up then.
Love you all so much.
Love, Eric

Friday, October 16, 2009

The Best Day of the Week!

Well today is p-day one of the best days of the week...best day of the week mejor dicho....
It is Columbus Day and all of Chile celebrates it so there was only one internet place open. Chileans find all kinds of excuses to take a day off the whole country is shut down.
The most embarrassing thing happened yesterday....we forgot to change our clocks an hour ahead and so we were 45 minutes late to church. I was so embarrassed and one of our investigators wanted us to help with the baby blessing but we weren’t there. I am so messed up because it is spring here and fall at home, I think we are 5 hours apart now cause you guys fell back and we sprung forward an hour. I am writing this at about noon here so in CA it should be about 7am?
My new companion is Elder Palacio...I think I miss-spelled it last week this is correct though. He is from Argentinean. We have a hard time communicating because his English is bad and my understanding of Spanish is bad. He comes into my sector as senior companion and wants to start changing this whole place around. He hates walking and we do a lot of walking here, he always wants to take taxis and but they are expensive. In lessons he talks a lot and then will look at me at the end and expect me to know what is going on and say something. My teaching skills have gotten worst this week because I haven’t taught much. I will plan a lesson and we will go and then Elder Palacio will teach something different. The members say I don’t talk, I can talk well but when they talk to me I hear words but I have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t get many chances to talk because my companion talks a lot. I am just having a very hard time right now and feeling very alone. I am the only American in my sector. I am just really struggling and my District Leader loves Elder Palacio so it is hard to talk to him about it. I am hoping to get transferred at the end of this transfer. Sorry about complaining I just have been holding it in for this whole week. It is just going to be a tough transfer for me, very tough!
I have not gotten the second package but maybe this week because we have zone conference in Talca on Wednesday. Usually all the mail is there so I am hoping for it then. A bottle of contact solution lasts me I think a month or two . . . I will need more flea collars around Christmas but for now I am good.
Dad, about my apartment....there is a park out back with a basketball and soccer court (two in one) the park and apartment are on the same block. Our apartment is on the corner of Victoria and Arturo Prat. We are on the third floor.
We aren’t teaching very much, we have Kory and Edgar they live in the campo near Porongo. We are teaching a guy, Jorge Vega and a 9 yr old girl who is the daughter of a less active. We have other investigators are not progressing as much as we would like.
About the music...just an inexpensive CD player, some small speakers, and CDs of church music (MoTab, Eclipse, I have two of their CD’s) and some other. Send burnt CDs it would suck if the originals got lost or stolen. With the CD player I need rechargeable batteries and or the adapter power cord, batteries run out quick and are expensive here, It would be so much easier to do this on the phone, other churchy music, Eña, however it is spelled, EFY music. Just good uplifting appropriate music, I don’t need much I just miss music a lot!
I know this is long with my complaining but, really it is super hard and hard to deal with, I feel so alone at times. I love you all so much and hope all is well with you all. I know the Church is true. This work is hard and really frustrating but I am helping people. I love you all hope I answered your questions for this week.
It rained a bunch this weekend again but, I had my rain coat so it wasn’t too wet just my pants. I have lost about 15 KG, I barely recognize myself sometimes, I don’t know how much that is in lbs, had to put 2 notches in my belts. I love you all so much and can t wait to here from you all. Put some more pictures up on my photo bucket too. Talk to you next week, Love you all,
Love, Eric

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Pictures from Chile


After much technical wrangling, Eric was able to send us some
photos of his apartment,
the Elders and Hermanas in
his district, and of their
P-day trip to the Andes.

























































































Monday, October 5, 2009

A Temple in Concepcion, Chile!

Hola Familia,
Well first off if you were here outside the room we were watching conference in you would have thought we were watching a football game because when President Monson announced the temple in Concepcion we all flew out of our seats and were cheering so loud we missed the one that was announced after. There was high fiving and everything. The sad thing is we were more excited and happy than most members. There were only about 10 at the session that heard it. Conference here means nothing to most of the members. They missed out. But, some of the members we told about had heart attacks they were so happy. It was a good sight to see. Some people just don´t realized how much of a blessing the temple really is....but they will learn, and hopefully not miss out on the blessings there. I think it is awesome! Too bad it won´t be built till after I am gone. But its all good my mission is getting a temple!!!!!! That is pretty much the biggest news of the week for me.
Conference was great wasn´t it. It is sad to say this so late in my life, when you really listen with your heart to the words that are spoken it really hits you. You can receive revelation and answers. I enjoyed every session, they were all amazing. I really liked the priesthood session...they hit the nail on the head for what men need to hear. As I was sitting there I was thinking about the few investigators we have and how the talks we heard could help them and build their faith. We only had 2 attend at least 1 session but they really enjoyed it. I know they spirit bore witness to them, as it did me.I really liked President Eyring’s talk in the Saturday am session where he talked about families and how the choices of every member of the family helps determine the future. I couldn´t help but think about family members who have fallen away, and how possibly we will not be able to live with them for eternity. That is why it is so important that we do not give up on any of our loved ones because we want to see them and live with them in happiness for eternity. We just can´t lose hope that those we love that are lost, will find there way back. We just need to bear testimony of the truthfulness of these things and tell them we love them.
Love seemed to be a big topic along with service. I really enjoyed President Monson’s talk about service. It was just a great conference, it flew by though. Seems like just 10 min ago I was sitting in the chapelo watching the first session. I hope you all enjoyed it to.
Well this week was good...slow but good. I worked a lot this week getting appointments for next we so my new companion and I wouldn´t just be contacting as usual.
The weather was good this week until yesterday. All the sudden the heavens opened and it rained like no mañana.....yeah we both got soaked to the bone within the first 5 min. I had to use my jacket from Mr Mac and well it doesn´t work that well so I got pretty wet and quick. But all is well. I went first thing this morning and bought a rain jacket that is impermeable, so i am good now. My shoes got wet but they dried out pretty good last night. We went to pick up our laundry last night and it was raining even harder so we ran home, good thing it was only about a four block run.
Picture This. . . ."Imagine 2 Mormon Missionaries Greengos, with 2 very large laundry bags and scripture bags....now add lots of rain wind a steep hill, a road that is now the Rio Grande....ready...have that picture in your minds. Imagine one of the missionaries with suit pants big enough that the don´t stay up and had to put 2 notches in his belt and one very seasoned missionary who leaves in 2 days …got it...okay now imagine these 2 running though the rain down a very steep hill with their clean laundry, crossing the Rio Grande....whoooo! but alas they made it home safe and sound,wet but that is okay. The scriptures cameras and clean clothes were dry."It was fun, not!
I love you all and hope all is well. I want to hear what is up with you all. Thanks Em for setting the photo bucket up I hope to upload some pics today but we will see if I have time and if my memory card works. I and going to buy a pen drive to try and speed it up hopefully. We will see I hope I can get some up for you all. My new comp is a ARGENTINAN !!!!!!!!!! his name is Elder Palación, It means palace. I will meet him tomorrow and get to work. This mean English is pretty much out the window. He will probably understand a little bit but not much. Hopefully this will help my Spanish and even more my understanding. I love you all and I know that this is the Lords work. Its not the easiest work I will tell you that but it is the best. At times I get very discouraged, but that is just the lack of my faith...its something I am working on. We must have faith without it even God can´t help us. I love you all so much. Tell everyone hi for me and that I say hola. Love you all so much......you are in my prayers and thoughts, till next week
choa, les vayan bien!!!!!!!
Love Eric
P.S. Congrats Tyler your city is getting a temple exciting no? I am waiting for the announcement of San Jose, California