7-13-10

I´ll probably just tell you what´s happened chronologically. The flight here was awesome! I love take offs. They´re like really awesome roller coasters, and the rush is amazing! I left at 11:30 on Monday, and got to concepcion at 11:15 tuesday. It was a long flight. I got my stuff, and met the mission president and his wife, before we left to the mission home. It was just me and one sister, because my comp. was still sick, and he´s still at the MTC. On the drive back, they showed me some of the damage the earthquake had done. not much. they have mostly been able to clean up. but there are still some ruins. I am not up in concepcion anymore, but I´ll get to that later. We had a little devotional with some of the other experienced missionaries, and after a while, I was able to meet my companion: elder Anthony Barajas. He´s from orem, so I totally lucked out with him. And he was on the swim team too! So I really lucked out. We took a bus at 7 to temuco, my sector. it was a 5-hour bus ride, and we talked the whole time. it was good. it´s winter here, so it´s always a toasty 35 degrees. never freezing, but always raining, except for the past few days. When I got here, I was sooooo depressed, I cannot convey it in words. the temperature was a huge factor it turns out. but I just wanted to go home, and leave the mission to other things. I don´t think anyone would have let me. I mean, my house is tiny...and short. And the bathroom has nothing but sub-freezing cement that always has a film of algae. we don´t have heaters in the house, and...you get the idea. That was my first impression at the end of a long day. Not to mention the people here love to mumble and not pronounce their S´s. Needless to say, I had a bad day. The next day was the worst so far. it rained all day, and I didn´t know anyone at my zone conference, where we were challenged to get 201 contacts by the end of sunday. normally we have to get 140 in a week. But the first week of every transfer is a week sanctifying the companionship where we work really hard. We didn´t get any that day, because of all the rain. But we walked in the freezing rain for 5 hours. that was a hoot. especially since my poncho wasn´t as waterproof as I wanted it to be. haha. That´s when my soul felt pushed to it´s limits. I had yet to see the sun in this horrible country. But the next day (my third day) the sun came out, and it changed everything. just seeing the sun was amazing to me. working out every morning is great. I mostly work my arms with dumbells, and do situps. I think it´s fun, and I´m totally gonna be ripped when I get home. haha. we prayed before leaving, and we were able to get about 25 contacts that day (it was still pretty cold, and everyone was still hiding inside). We contact inactive members, as well as random people on the streets. Really it´s just my comp. that contacts, ´cause I have no idea what they say. But whenever I do speak, everyone compliments me on my spanish. A lot of compliments. :) So I can speak, but I couldn´t understand them, so that´s still a problem. But we were able to get a bunch of contacts, and that was fun getting to know the area. getting to know the members is really fun too. At the end of that night, we met the millahual family. Actually, I met them. They´re really cool. Everyone´s a member (active) but the dad, and the 13-year old son. They have a daughter that´s 21, who is really nice. She´s really tight with my comp. and she´s the first person I´ve understood in this country. When we visit them, we pretty much just hang out with them. it´s awesome. the next day we got 64 contacts, and 9 referrals. it was a butt-kicking day, and my confidence was improving. we were able to drop our laundry off at a sister´s home. she´s cool too, even if she´s inactive. :) Pretty much, by now, I´ve got a hang of the city. The worst part is the cold. I´m able to follow a lot of conversations, and we´ve only taught one real lesson so far, and it was to some lady that invited us in right when we contacted her, but she didn´t come to church, and she is busy most of the other times, so our time that we knocked on her door was perfect. I gave her the copy of the book of mormon that we had been carrying around, and marked some scriptures about the afterlife for her because her grandpa had just died. I think i did the right thing. :) The people here are awesome, even if you´ve never met them before. I haven´t really been preaching the gospel as much as I had hoped, but I´m definitely doing work. My comp. says that since I´ve gotten here, the work has been really good in our sector. I´m a good luck charm! But my spanish is really awesome, if I do say so myself, and I´m pretty fluent. it´s awesome. Something really weird is the money and malls. There´s only one mall, but it´s super nice. like a wal-mart back home. Really similar. So similar, that I think I´m home until I get to the register, and realize the cashier isn´t speaking english, and I´m not handing her dollar bills. it´s unsettling. that´s when I cry a little on the inside, and realize how far away I am. it sucks sometimes. But the sun is helping. the city is a bunch of decaying houses, with a few really nice apartment buildings--like, 2. But it will just make me that much more excited when I return, I guess, for technology. I´ve had a lot of time to think. It´s definitely harder here than the MTC was, and I thought that it was hard there, when I first arrived. But it really prepared me for out here. just a lot of little things, and it kind of stood as a testimony of why I need to stay out here, all the more. The MTC was only hard, because I wasn´t with my family. I´d be out of my mind if I came here straight from my house. but my time there gave me experiences that have really helped me. one thing in particular is when Elder Holland (of course) said, "don´t leave here for your sake" or "how can we claim to be servants of him, and not knowing even a portion, fraction, or taste of the bitter cup that our master drank from". And I just thought "How dare I shrink from my bitter cup!" So I think I´ll get better. I think my language won´t be much of a problem in two more weeks. That´s pretty impressive, I think.
things are getting better, and I can´t wait to hear from you. Give me details! I love you all!

-Brig