12-31-10

Monday:Our first task of the day was actually playing billiards at the mall. It was really fun, and reminded me of the months leading up to the mission when I played with Alan almost every night after work. Except that I wwas the worst out of all of us there today. We had lunch and went to buy my bus ticket for tomorrow. I`m set to go at 9:00. Then we went to write the family. My family bought another dog! A little "bear" pomeranian named Sophie. I wish they had sent photos. But things sound like they`re going really well for everyone. Devin has been growing and is excited for me to hear how deep his voice has gotten. He got his Patriarchal Blessing with some very special promises. Cassie, who promised me she wouldn`t cut her hair `til I get back, has her hair below her shoulders for the first time in forever. The rest of the day was spent saying goodbye. I had to cut some shorter than I would have liked. Robin wasn`t even home. We spent the most time with the Millahual`s. They gave me an orange tie, the same color as my hair. I didn`t feel as sad to go as I thought I`d be. I couldn`t figure out why. We passed by Robin and Bilha one more time. robin gave us a bleary goodbye. They werne`t too sad. Mostly, because I`ll probably get a sector pretty close again before the end of the mission. Bilha cried and said she and her daughter would miss me and never forget me. Then I felt horrible, like I hadn`t done enough. I`m gonna miss the mission! A year and a half seems too short. But I felt happy when I thought of more families I`d meet.

Tuesday: I hurried through the morning throwing last-minute things into my suitcases and utilizing Oversby`s superior weight-class skills to help me close them. We went to the terminal to see me off. Oversby picked me up off the ground, he hugged me so hard. Then I left my first sector. We drove for 3 hours before we got to Los Angeles. I got off during that stop to say hello to an Elder who I had been waiting a long time to see: Kevin Kemp, one of my best friends before the mission. We were going to take pictures, but after we took one with my camera my bus left and I had to leave him. :( But I`ll see him at conference tomorrow. :) My new comp. Jorge Orellana, seems cool. He`s very nice and helpful. So I can`t base my horrible transfer with Argueta on the language or anything. I found out he had to go back to the house and bring a pair of clothes to a sector closer to conference tomorrow--and that he didn`t have money to travel. So I paid for both of us to travel 6 more hours. 1/3 of my current money. We live in the Church, which is a mansion with the Church sign on it. Really roomy for 2 guys. We came 3 hours of the way back, wasting another 1/3 of my money and then we had to bribe a member to take us to our beds for the night that was another hour away. I also found out there aren`t any phones to call the family from, and now I don`t have money to even pay for it. I`ll use the rest tomorrow, just to get to the conference. I don`t know what I`ll do. (There was an Elder calvo who`s completely bald! (Calvo=bald in spanish))

Wednesday: We woke up to an incredibly hilarious situation. I was doing push-ups while waiting my turn in the shower, and my comp. got locked in a room. We couldn`t get him out for 40 min. Eventually, they removed the doorknob and then the door. Then someone got trappe din the bathroom when the lock suddenly jammed. So they took care of that one, too. We got to the bus one minute before they took off. We went the 3 hours to concepciòn, and the conference. During it, we had a really cool scripture study. Alma 36:22 is about Alma wanting and aching to be in the presence of God. But a few verses before that, it says that he was terrified of it. What changed? He found the joy of being loved by God, and being forgiven of sins. When he had faith that this love and joy could be his, he wanted it. But that comes only through our Savior who was born during this season (okay, not REALLY, but you know how it is). I spent almost all of conference with Elder Kemp. It was so good to talk about old times, and even things in the mission. The awesomeness of it almost blew my mind. President helped us out with the money situation, and we hit the road. I found out we can use gmail to call our families. I`ll have to try and reach them some way and let them know. I met Elder Elder tonight. He`s from Logan and really cool. We`re sleeping in Cañete tonight...on the floor.

Thursday: We woke up and every single one of the 10 Elders that were staying at that house had to poop diarrhea. I`ve never seen a group of more valiant and stronger men. We went to the Distrizona and I had a great time finally meeting some Elders from the North. I`ve been trapped in the south the whole time, so people all think I`m new, and are surprised to find I have almost 8 months. We talked about the people we`re helping, and I`m happy to know we have some baptisms coming up. I bought some powdered milk to live off of for the next week or so. We had lunch with the mamita and her vamily. It was soooo good, and we got sorbet for dessert. I was happy to find out that they have internet and offered their webcam services to me, for Christmas. I called home real quick, and Cassie picked up, but the computer didn`t have a microphone. So we`ll try tomorrow with my personal one. I slept for 2 hours on the floor (cement) last night. So I went around in silent, solemn meditation, even though some people would say I was barely awake. Believe me, I was meditating. We ended the night at the house of a recent convert. When we got home, we had fun with our ping pong table. time to sleep (finally)!

Friday: Part of me doesn`t want to write tonight. I feel down and a little bit sad. It`s not anything horribly strong or impedin, but it feels like something`s rotting in the back of my mind, and the potent fumes are ogging up the rest of my thoughts. I don`t want my focus to go to those things `cause I`ll realize how far away from home I am, after just losing my only friends in Chile, in a city I don`t know, on Chrismas Eve. Yeah. Best to stay away from THAT train of thought. This is probably not something I could have handled at the beginning of my mission, and one for which my Heavenly FAther strengthened me. We got up and did our exercises which included push-ups, sit-ups, and ping pong. we cleaned up the house for the Branch activity...Fernanda just called me and wished me a merry christmas. I feel better now. they called in the middle of Elder Orellana`s prayer, right after he asked Heavenly Father to help me feel better. That was interesting. We had a delicious lunch and then I tried to call the family, using gmail. The microphone didn`t work at first, and when it finally did, my family didn`t answer the phone. I did a few test calls and Alan was the first one that worked! It was so good to hear from him and the fam. We had dinner with the Olivares family. The mamà, Jaueline, is so nice. She noticed I was down, and talked with me. We left before they opened presents.

Saturday: Today was an interesting and very special day. We started out with calls to our families. Elder Orellana`s called first, while he was in the shower. they all screamed, "Feliz Navidad, hijo!" and I had to tell them (shamelessly) that I wasn`t their son, and that he was busy. But I got to talk to mine after that. I revelled in it, hanging onto every word. I spoke to mama and Daddy first. They wanted to make sure I was doing alright, and I got to tell them a little about what Chile`s like. they told me how much they loved me. then they went to pass the phone to CAssie and Devin. I told Daddy I wanted to talk to him last, because I didn`t want to say goodbye yet. It had caught me off-guard, I only got a half-hour with them. I spoke with Devin and Cassie and told them how proud i was of them. It felt like I was right there, at home with them. They said goodbye, and I never got to say goodbye to Daddy. I felt suddenly very alone. So I did what any smart Elder would do: I set out to make someone`s life better .We did contacts and offered to do service. One man was kind enough to let us dig a firepit for him and his family I got to lose my thoughts in the simple work of diggin ga four-foot hole. An old lady was nice enough to yell, "go back to your families and leave mine alone." That stung, but I just moved onto the next house. At night, we played ping pong to 100, and I won.

Sunday: Today was my first Sunday in the Tirùa branch. About 10 people showed up--3 of them adults. But it was an interesting experience. I got to bless the Sacrament for the first time in 2 years. we ran out of Sacrament cups, and had to use 1 glass for everyone. It only took half of the glass for all the members in the city. Dang. In the Sunday School class, we learned about Spiritual gifts--I have had this lesson 6 times in the past 3 months. It`s getting old. But Elder Orellana pointed out the gifts can be used outside of th gospel. I realized three gifts that define me: Knowledge, learning, and love. I have always enjoyed having knowledge. Whether it was knowing the schedule for the day or a funnyt joke. Learning has alays come easily and quickly to me. Learning and memorizing just holds a simple joy for me. And love. Love, I`ve discovered, is the biggest part of me. It has never been a question. I enjoy loving others for a reason that remains unknown to me. I have wanted nothing more than to be loved and accepted by a special someone ever since I saw little kid cartoons with "happily ever afters." But I`ve found my Heavenly Father who loves me and will give me my own "happily ever after" in due time. And I can`t wait. (I think that the mission is like a really slow time machine. Everybody will be different. And so will technology. *excited hyperventilation*)

Monday: We woke up today and slept in/ lay in bed until about noon. We didn`t have breakfast or lunch... or dinner. The most I could do was a bit of warm ecco/milk. But that goes away after abou an hour or two. We couldn`t go write the familyt because we`re saving our money, and going to cañete tomorrow anyway, so we`ll just write tomorrow. So, to make up for that, we worked in the afternoon like we normally would have tomorow. We talked with a lot of people, but no one was really interested...yet. I don`t know what it is, bu tI feel kind of down. Maybe it`s the small village, or the reluctant people, or the nightmares I`ve been having of my family recently, or maybe even the stupid one-week starvation. But whatever the cause, I`m hitting a rough patch. I thought about the Savior, and how he helped people according to their faith. He literally wouldn`t be able to help the, unless they did their part first. So I mentally hiked up my britches and kept moving forward. I thought of Cassie and all of my other friends and wrote a few letters. I felt better after that. I loved talking to my family. It made me feel like I was home. But it ended, and I was on th other side of the world. I havne`t cried yet, but it`s coming.