Whoa... this was a crazy week, and an even crazier day! I don't really know where to begin, even...
Well, I'll start by saying, this is hard work haha! But at the same time, it is a very enjoyable work! Mi papíto and I live outside of our sector, so just to get to the first houses is a twenty minute walk away! Which kinda blows, but oh well! We didn't hesitate at all to dive right into regular missionary work! Every morning is several hours of various studying (personal, comp, language, all of it). For the first couple of days, I had meetings in the morning, one for weekly planning, and the next was a zone training meeting. These were nice, though I didn't realize at the time, because it was a slight rest from the day to day work that usually goes on. After these, we have lunch. So one thing you gotta know about Chile is that their meals are all jacked up, muy extraño. They don't have dinner!!! Like, what?! Instead, they have a very large lunch, like your dinners, and then no more meals the rest of the day... I'm not sure if I can go 2 years with no dinner haha! It's alright though, because their lunches are super good. Just yesterday, we were eating with an older couple in our ward, and I couldn't finish! There was so much food! They were a lot richer than most of the people here, and so they could afford it. It was just plate after plate! And just when I thought I could eat no more, she handed each of us a quarter of a watermelon, and a spoon... I think I felt my stomach explode inside of me. Haha, but it was good food.
Elder Crabtree is taking over making citas (appointments) and contacting people. He has been here for a month and a half, and so he knows his way around (sort of. Haha he gets lost sometimes). But I really just follow him around and do what he does. He's been introducing me to various people in the ward, and letting me meet them. We start walking around and doing stuff at around 4:00 and finish at 10:30. We need to be home by 10:30, though, and the Hermanas need to be home by 9:30. Apparently it gets a little dangerous at night o.o... When we get to one of our appointments, I have to mentally prepare myself everytime for the massive amount of spanish that's headed my way... my spanish sucks. I thought I was doing alright coming out of the CCM. I was wrong. These people, they don't speak Spanish. They speak Chilean. There is such a big difference, I'm coming to realize. Everything is so much faster than in Mexico! And then they have their own words and slang, and a different accent! Chileans speak spanish in a slurred sort of way. Everything is melded together, and they cut ends off words, but the biggest thing is, they don't pronounce their s's!!! It's SO confusing to listen to! I don't even have a vague idea of what everyone is talking about during lessons... Crabtree is going ham with his Spanish, because he's been here for 22 months, and I'm just sitting there like Elder Calhoun. "That ain't the language they taught me in the MTC..." Haha it's actually awful, and I hate it entirely, but oh well. It'll come eventually... Maybe... Hopefully...
Another thing you need to know about this mission is that it's a baptising mission. It is reccomended and taught that we should invite to baptism in the first lesson, or even the first conversation on the street! It's insane! So our first new investigators, since I got here, are the Carvajals, Mery and her niños. Our first lesson with them was on Friday or something, and by the end of the lesson they had a baptismal date! El 17 de Diciembre! Whaaaaaaaaat?! Haha I would like to say it's because of my insane skills as a missionary, but it's actually because people are just so receptive here! Mi papíto was telling me of times where he'd walk up to people on the street, and by the end of the conversation, they were a new investigator with a baptismal date! It's so crazy! But I was super excited for them. The carvajals are super awesome! We brought them to church with us yesterday, and they seemed to enjoy it! And come to find out, it was one of the niño's birthday! And what more, he was turning 8! Haha I feel another baptism coming! ;)
Things are going solid with mi compañero. We are actually super similar, same personalities and whatnot, which is cool. "Bacan", I guess, is what the Chilenos say for "cool" or "awesome" or "dope". I may say it alot in the coming emails haha! But we talk a lot between citas and walking around, and he's super funny.
The area I am serving in is sweet! It's really poor, but not like in Christiaan's mission. I'll just have to show you pictures. All the houses are super close together, with the walls on each side of the house being the wall for the next house too. Every house has a gate maybe ten feet in front of their door and all the gates connect to eachother. So when we get to house, we knock on the gate, and we shout until they come out. That's how we get their attention haha! It's kinda fun, but also kinda strange! They are also all different colors. There are orange casas, blue casas, green casas... every color! Our area is made up of what here the call "La Tortuga", which is a big hill with tons of houses on it, between a half and a full square mile in diameter, and a little of the city below. It really sucks to climb La Tortuga to get to houses haha, especially when we've walked so far already to get there! I better have super thighs by the end of these six months! Oh, and by the way, it sounds like we are in each sector for around 6 months. So at least these people will know the sound of my voice eventually!
To answer your question, we don't have a place set in stone where I'm gonna skype you from, but we have a few possibilities, so I'm sure when the time comes we'll have one. We just use a members computer, so we're scoping out the rich families with the best internet haha!
So the packages and letters work like this. If you want to send something, you send it to this address:
Casilla de Correo 70
Antofagasta, Chile
Chile
Once it gets there, they distribute it to the zone leaders once a month, who then bring it back to you. I'm lucky, because I live with the zone leaders haha! So basically, if you sent something today, I would have it in my hands the second week of January.
But it sounds like you all had a nice week! And what?! A new TV?! I can't believe it. The second I leave... ugh. But I'm curious to see what the whole setup looks like. I know the entertainment system we had when I left would definitely not fit a TV that big! But I'm glad you're all enjoying life! I loved seeing all the pictures! I love you all, and miss you!
Los amo a todos!
Elder Schmid
No comments:
Post a Comment