A veces, yo pienso que yo quiero escribir todo mi correo en español, solo para ver si yo puedo, o si ustedes pueden entender. (Sometimes, I think I want to write all my mail in Spanish, just to see if I can, or if you can understand.) But nah, too much work haha! ;) But anyways, once again, super jealous of all the fun things y'all are doing stateside! I'm sure Ashlyn's birthday will be super fun! And, since I won't be able to say it on the actual day, Happy Birthday Ashlyn!!! I love you! And miss you! Email me!!! But yeah, that sounds real fun to be able to go up to Caelan's graduation! Kinda sad I'm gonna miss it, but oh well, así es la vida (this is life).
I'm actually having trouble thinking about what to write! I know there are several things, but my mind is chanta, and I'm having trouble remembering. I guess I'll start with my investigators. They are all going steadily onward. We still haven't had any baptisms, and here in this mission, that is really a big bummer. Especially when everyone else is having several, and they are looking at us like, what the heck are you guys doing? Why aren't you baptizing? There have legit been people asking that, as if we're not working our rears off all day, every day. But oh well, I am convinced that when we baptize, which we will, these people will remain active aferwards. That is the biggest problem I find here, and it really bothers me a lot. The mood of this mission is so much 'baptism baptism baptism', that everyone is striving for that, and almost abandoning their investigators afterwards. I learned that the average amount of members in every branch here is around 600 to 800. Do you know the average asistencia (attendance)? 60 to 70. I think that's a problem. It really bothers me. The leaders tell me that it is not our responsibility to keep them active. We of course can't abandon them, but it's hard. Every single training we have here is centered on baptism. Our investigators only need to assist (attend) one time, and receive most of the lessons. Then they need an entrevista (interview), and after that, they're 'ready for baptism'. There has never been a training on retention, or anything like that. We are trained to set a date with the people here in the very first contact. Elder McKinlay told me that in his other cambios, he did that a lot. And not a single person who accepted a date during a contact was ever baptized. We had an ataque de zona (zone attack) in our zone, and all the missionaries in Alto Hospicio came to Pozo. They straight contacted for three hours. By the end, we had 18 dates for baptism, and half were for 8 days from then. We tried to contact them, but couldn't get a hold of a single one. Which was depressing. There was even people who we called, and right when we told them who we were on the phone, they hung up. I don't know, I'm just super confused about the way we do the work here when I don't feel it's very succesful. But yeah, it doesn't matter what I feel, I know that. It is not my mission, it is the Lord's. Presidente recieves revelation for the mission, and this is how he's telling us to work, so oh well.
Other than that, things are going very smoothly! We have two new families investigators, one in Pozo, one in Pica. They are both super great! I love them! We were actually in Pica with this family, but the wife wasn't home. We were talking with the husband, Daniel, and ended up taking a tour of his yard. Their house is right in the middle of an orchard, which is his work. He cares for the grounds and the trees. There are several different types: mango, pomegranite, orange, lime, whatever! They even have grape vines! And he jumped on the idea of a tour. I think he's proud of what he's done there. And he should be! It was so great, and so well-kept! And while we were walking around, he handed us whatever fruit he found that was read for eating! We had a bunch of grapes, some pomegranites, and a ton of mangos... I was so happy haha! And then he gave us some bags with other fruit to take home! It was so awesome!
We didn't end up teaching, because we wanted to teach with the family, and it's hard for him without his wife, Feliza, there with him, it's hard for him to understand. Especially us gringos. But they are progressing well. The other family we met last night. They are here in Pozo, and are super humble. They are fighting to find work, and struggling to pay for food to be on the table. But they were super receptive to us, and willing to listen! Which is all we need! We gave the lesson on the Restoration, and the husband, Roman, had a little bit of trouble with the idea of Prophets. He has been warned his whole life of false prophets, and so he was wary. But we explained to him everything, and worked with it, and he accepted! They have a date, but this time it feels different. I feel good about this family.
We didn't end up teaching, because we wanted to teach with the family, and it's hard for him without his wife, Feliza, there with him, it's hard for him to understand. Especially us gringos. But they are progressing well. The other family we met last night. They are here in Pozo, and are super humble. They are fighting to find work, and struggling to pay for food to be on the table. But they were super receptive to us, and willing to listen! Which is all we need! We gave the lesson on the Restoration, and the husband, Roman, had a little bit of trouble with the idea of Prophets. He has been warned his whole life of false prophets, and so he was wary. But we explained to him everything, and worked with it, and he accepted! They have a date, but this time it feels different. I feel good about this family.
We also had some service this week. We went to a little town, more like a collection of less than 20 houses, and helped build. The members told us we'd be building a roof.... The members lied... haha we ended up tearing down an entire house, and rebuilt it from the scraps. As if I didn't have enough trouble with spanish before! Haha this was a nightmare! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Everyone was yelling, and telling me to do something different... I'm pretty sure I was completely useless, but hey, I was there, right?!
Haha today we played soccer, ecause presidente is in town. It was all of the missionaries in Iquique and Alto Hospicio. It was so fun, because we got to use a real court with almost-real grass! Turns out, Presidente Ferreira is one boss fútbol player! He was moving the ball around like noone's business! I went up against him once... I got schooled. Completely. Haha I'm so gringo...
Haha today we played soccer, ecause presidente is in town. It was all of the missionaries in Iquique and Alto Hospicio. It was so fun, because we got to use a real court with almost-real grass! Turns out, Presidente Ferreira is one boss fútbol player! He was moving the ball around like noone's business! I went up against him once... I got schooled. Completely. Haha I'm so gringo...
But yeah, that's my week. I'm adjusting to the Chilean life, I think. My spanish is coming along, getting better every day! There are very little pauses now of me thinking what I need to say, but I'm sure I still sound way stupid when I talk haha! The camera I love, simply because it actually works haha! It's another Nikon, cool-pix, 24 megapixel, or something around there. Haha I don't know what my comp had, but I hope I don't get it. Our baño was sufficiently destroyed.
But anyways, thanks for the email! I miss you all!
Les amo a todos,
Elder Schmid
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