Tuesday: Today was a really good day. I don`t know why, I just feel good. We got up and went to our Distrizona meeting. I love all the goofy elders here. We talked about our investigators and other things that will happen. Not particularly exciting. We left early so we could do a little grocery shopping before our appointment with Nestor at 1. We got it all done, but Elder Barajas realized he only had $6,00 pesos ($12) left for the month. I only have about $20,000 ($40) left. Because of the travel and food costs things are going to be tight. I`ll probably have to use my own account this month. We went and taught Nestor the plan of salvation. That`s always my favorite lesson to teach, because it`s so full of hope and pure knowledge. And whenever we teach pure doctrine, we are teaching Christ and inviting his spirit in the lesson. And this lesson was packed with it. Nestor was on the edge of his seat as we illustrated the journey he would complete one day. We asked inspired questions and he replied with surprisingly profound answers. This guy has been to almost every church here in chile, and he KNOWS when something sounds right. And he told us today that he`s talked to missionaries of those churches. But ever since the missionaries came, he`s been "interested" for the first time by any of the others. He`s so in tune with his feelings, and just has this knack to discern truth subconsciously. It`s unreal. We tried to put a date with him for september, but he said two weeks felt too soon. He told us that he for sure wanted to get baptized, but he was waiting for a certainty. He did say he`ll get baptized in october. I told him to pray tonight, aloud, for the feeling of peace and certainty, and that his Heavenly FAther will help him press forward. We came home, and I bought us lunchy because Elder Barajas doesn`t have money. We visited Hna. Sonia tonight. Ernesto is in the Hospital with some blood problem. I think he had another heart attack too. Her granddaughter was there too. When we got there we asked Sonia how she was. She said "bad." We offered to help with something. She said, "no." Then Elder Barajas offered to make her bread. She got really excited and said, "you know how?" He replied yes, but in english he told me not really. When I started hleping, she asked if I had before. I said no, and she told me I seemed like I had done it for years. PWN`d!

Wednesday: We got up this morning, and hustled off to our special training conference. I notice, now, as I go to these meetings I recognize the other Elders and they recognize me. It may not seem like anything big, but it gives me a sense of familiarity and afety. We said our hellos and sat down to begin. President gave us two items of warning: The first was to earn the respect of the members. Don`t dawdle at their homes like friends. We`re representatives of christ, and have to work hard. The second was flirting. He said he received a letter from a mom of a daughter with whom an elder had been courting. She had pictures of them hugging and everything. President said, "And where was his companion?" That`s just weird to me. I`m not attracted to latinas, so I`m safe. I`ve told Elder Barajas before that I`m lucky I got sent to a country where I`m not tempted by girls. The assisstants went through the august statistics. As a mission, we had 100 baptisms exactly. We received other training before we had an activity. It was a mix of scripture master (from preach my gospel), 3-legged race, and musical chairs. The assisstants would read a scripture while we stood in the middle, and when we found that same scripture in our books we`d run (hop, really) to our chairs. There were always less chairs than people, so you get the idea. Tonight, we were suddenly called to help the brothers with something. It was a rehearsal to practice dancing the cueca: the national dance of Chile. But it made me angry because they refused to teach us. They turned on the music and told us to all dance together. Of course it looked horrible, and they kenw it. When I asked for help, they told me to look at my neighbor. So I had to do the whole thing looking at some guy`s incredibly complicated footwork, and try to copy him AFTERWARD, instead of us being in sync. That`s one thing more about who I am: I hate looking stupid. The dance isn`t hard. I could do it if it was explained. But they wouldn`t After the training today, and having failed so badly at dancing, I wanted to go teach Papà Joel, `cause it was something I thought I could WIN at. But I realized, with a shamed heart, that I was having proudk unchristlike thoughts. So I cried on the inside and repented and asked for the spirit that I lost. It came. But we still stayed away from Joel.

Thursday: During contacts we ran into a drunk guy. He started talking to us and we soon realized he was talking AT us. He did so for 15-20 minutes before we tried to go. He started getting offended and said god would give him time. We said that we`re not god and we had other appointments. We went to Lider to get me a new "bicentennial" mug (`cause Elder Barajas broke my other one.=. And we had to go across the street, or copies of a paper. While there, we met a lady who told us, for SOME reason, that she was trying to quit smoking. We gave her some info, got her address, and are going to give her to the sister missionaries. (for a contact, we weeded out thorns for a lady. When we left, we gave her a pass-along card of christ. she took it and said, "oh! so this is Josph smith?" We told her, "No that`s Jesus."

Friday: Today was a really great day. Tomorrow is the 18th of September, the independance day of Chile. Won`t have to work tomorrow, because Pres. said we could have our p-day then and work on monday. I think it`s `cause the whole country will be drunk. Not an exaggeration. Not a lot happened today, actually. Just a LOT of walking. we actually got up late today. We did some studying before we got ready and headed out to lunch. We ate with the Bishop`s family. We spent the majority of the afternoon going to people`s houses to tell them about the Ward activity that would start at 5. We didn`t have minutes on our phone. A lot of people didn`t come, but we accompanied Hna. Sonia. Her husband, Ernest, is still in the Hospital but her sister from Santiago is visiting, as well as her granddaughter, who are both non-members. The activity was a great success! Lots of people were there! Even Robin and Bilha managed to bring Bilha`s mom. Chile really knows how to party. The flag was hanging up, and mini ones were strewn all around the little cultural hall. It just looed so festive. I played ping pong for a while (the churches don`t here don`t have basketball hoops, they have ping pong tables), before the dances started. The dances are different here. They tell a story. The national dance of Chile is about the man chasing the girl and getting rejected until she accepts him. They have another one where the men dance around the flag. Elder Barajas and I had to do it with another guy. I thought I messed up, but I got about 5 compliments on my "zapatillo"--a stoping part of the dance. The compliments were all specifically that. After we walked home, we realized we had left the keys in the Chapel. So we walked all the way back. (This morning, I put on a song that I like, and Barajas doesn`t--but we both dance to. So I danced in one room (the one with the ipod) and he danced on the other side of the hall, above the stairs. I turned around, and heard him throw something down. I went to get it and asked what it was. He said, "I don`t know, but you`re locke dout now." And he locked me out, and changed the song.)

Saturday: Today was the 18th of september, the independance day of Chile. It was also our day off (for reasons unknown). We enjoyed sleeping in without feeling guilty. Then we kinda just laid around the house for a while. That was something that was nice. Something I haven`t done in a while. We headed to the MIllahual`s first. Elder Barajas told me that if a house isn`t decorated, the police will give them a ticket. They just need something little...even a sticker. In the short space between their house and ours, we counted seven houses without decorations. Busted! When we came over in our pday clothes, everybody`s eyes bulged and they said we looked weird. Fernanda, especially, kept bugging me and saying I was really skinny and almost anorexic. We helped prepare the food. Fernanda said she had to teach me how to wash the chives right (she did exactly the same thing), but when we started peeling the hard-boiled eggs, I was going 3x faster than anyone else. We helped prepare emenadas filled with beef, olives, cheese, and egg. mmmm. We relaxed for a while, and I told them I wanted to return after the mission. They said they`d let me stay there. Sweet. We went to Cristina and Pedro-s next, just for a little while. We got to watch "Brother Bear" too. We ate some meat and various salads. For dessert, they served us juice. Barajas looked apprehensive, but didn`t say anything as I drank. It was good, but in addition to juice, it had a mediciney taste. I asked Elder Barajas if it was alright to drink. He never answered me, but had a pained expression. He didn`t say anything , so I took another sip. THEN he told me it had wine in it. I was really mad he hadn`t warned me. But I found out afterward that when I was asking was when he had taken his own sip and didn`t know whether to spit out and offend them, or swallow and sin. We both repented immediately. It irked me because Pedro told us he wanted to baptize Cristina. Unless he talks to the Bishop, he can`t. I don`t think he`s repentant. He`s already a member, just inactive. I felt proud when Cristina and her mom didn`t drink. It was just Pedro. I feel sad for him. But I felt happy when we got to Robin and Bilha`s, and they asked us to bless their daughter with Health. And we know Robin`s going to have the Melquisidec priesthood in a year. They`re going to do baptisms for the dead next month!

Sunday: today was the day after the national Holiday where everyone gets drunk. So the streets were almost completely dead. We walked to church with Robin, and I was grateful for his friendship `cause he`s just so cool. I had an interesting moment of self-reflection. Elder Barajas always has been able to provide for himself, and as a result, he`s able to withstand harder challenges taht come into his life. I can SURVIVE with my life. NOthing`s ever been too hard for me. Not that any of that is credited to me. I`ve never really pushed myself in anything. And spiritually speaking, I haven`t hgone near anything that would give me the resistance I needed to strengthen my muscles and exercise agency. All of this came to me when Elder Barajas asked me, "Why don`t you ever waalk in the mud?" In response, I replied, "The grass is always cleaner." To me, it sounded like some cheesy line my seminary teacher would use, or something an apostle would say in an analogy, so I made contrasts. And really, if we stay away from the filthy mud in our lives, not only will our spiritual shoes stay clean, but we`ll be able to enjoy the beauty of the beautiful green grass of the gospel. If we repel swearing, drugs, friends who are bad influences, and anything bad, nothing will surround us but clean happiness. Alan told me about king Josea who threw out all the idols from the temple, and the word of god was the only thing that`s left. We can literally do that with our lives! Everyone at my work would always make fun or tease me because I had never lived out of Utah, and I was sheltered. I would always feel a little hurt because they implied weakness. It wasn`t! I was sheltered and strengthened in the Gospel, and surrounded by people of the same religion. My mockers were LDSA too, so I don`t know why they were complaining about their "clean" surroundings. I`m thankful I could have been raised in the gospel. Pedro talked to the Bishop, and after church we did a few visits. Nothing too big. Then we ended the night with our weekly sopaipillas with Robin and Bilha.