Week 89

Hola mama!

Haha, I don't know if you were trying, but shoot! That La Jolla trip made me so trunky! It seems like your favorite trip to La Jolla, and I wasn't there! What the crap?! Jaja but that's ok, y'all just have to make it up to me... somehow! And, Feliz Cumpleaños, Tía Lyn! Glad it was so memorable! I enjoyed your birthday by... basically doing the same thing I have done every day for the past 20 months haha! :D And I'm glad that Christiaan and Alex and Maecita could go too! It's always super great to be together as a family! Sounds like the best way to celebrate the fourth! Haha, I still remember when I opened my mission call and it said Antofagasta, and Paul sent a foto from Antofa saying, ''Oh yeah, great place!'' 

Well, this week has been pretty great. This cambio is flying by, I feel like it has just started, but I'm actually now in the last week. A few things have happened, nothing too big, just some good short stories. To answer some of your questions, I did make the salsa. And it turned out fantastic! Thanks again, Mom and Tío Larry! I made it for the fourth of July. I celebrated the American Holiday with mexican food.... the salsa turned out great, not too hot at all, though when I gave it to the Chileans, they all freaked out and ran for water. As I was making it, I dumped out the powder into a small bowl, and it turned into red hot dust that filled the room. All the missionaries with me all started coughing up a storm, and I with them. It was awful, and they all yelled at me asking why I was trying to kill them! It was fantastic! The candy was delicious, and yes, it may or may not have lasted a day or two... what can I say, the mission changed me! I actually shared my Starbursts with people! 

The 4th of July came and went, and I did almost nothing to celebrate it. I made Mexican salsa. It was kind of sad, but the next one will be great, I'm sure of it. The work is going a little slower here, because now all the kids are on their winter vacation. All of the converts here have gone away on vacation, so to answer that question, mom, no, Milan could not make it to church. He is in Calama. But I'm pretty sure he went to church there, we tried to put it all together for him with the missionaries there. But really we've been trying to just find new people. We found a very good family of less actives, who show a lot of promise. The mom's name is Margarita, I've met her and her son, Nicolas. They are fantastic people who stopped going to church for a reason that I don't know jaja. They love the church, and her dad was actually Branch president for a long time. So we talked to her for a bit, and she came to church Sunday with her son! It was fantastic! And then we went and talked to her mom and family, and they came to church too. Her dad is sick in bed with something like alzheimers, and he can't walk any more nor remember anything. But we took the sacrament to them on Sunday, and as we introduced ourselves and what we were doing, he got emotional, and started to cry, and it was a very special moment. He remembered what the santa cena was and took it with a lot of emotion. 

Thursday, we were about to go home for the night, and we found ourselves with an older man that my comp knew somehow. He wanted us to walk with him as he went back home, and we agreed. So we walked with him, and I was a little worried, because he looked really old! And the way home was really steep stairs, and lots of them! He looked like he was around 70, 75 years old. But as we went, we talked and talked, or rather, he talked and talked haha! He told us all about his life, what he had done, and what he had seen. He had seen a lot! He told us all the years and progression he saw in Chile, and so I asked, ''How old are you, anyways?'' 104!!!! The man's older than a century! I didn't believe him at first, but he pulled out his carnet, which is like the ID card in this country, and sure enough! June of 1914! He just finished 104 years! And he was walking pretty fast! He works in Torreblanca as some sort of janitor, and he walks his way there every day and back. Just so you know, he lives in Baquedano, which is on the other side of the valley. He goes down and back up every day twice a day! I just thought that was crazy. 

Our apartment is... interesting. When it was just two of us there, it was amazing! Perfect! It's kinda like a run down New York apartnemt. I think. Even though I've never been in one of those. That's just what it reminded me of. It's small and everything is in the same room. Except our bedroom. The kitchen, dining room, and studying room is all one thing. And it has a massive window in that room and we can watch everyone outside haha! I love it. But now there's four of us, and it's way too crowded. It gets really cold at night inside, or at least it did. It's not too cold here anymore. The vision is going great. 

But yeah! That's... kinda it! Hope y'all have a great week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid