Chip Eater

November 25, 2013

 Elder P's farewell party

 Elder P

 Hello family! Once again I would like to thank you all for your letters and pictures that you guys sent me. I can´t believe Utah won´t be going bowling again this year. Anyways that´s frustrating so I´ll just say that and leave it at that. This week has been decent. G and her grandma didn´t end up coming to church. I had mini-cambios here with Elder M in Yungay (he was here for 6 months a year ago) and we had an awesome lesson with them. They both told us that know the message is true. However, the grandma doesn´t want to get baptized because she was already baptized and was catholic. G knows she needs a baptism but also wants to see if she should be baptized with us or the catholics. We explained the authority and everything but she told us she was going to come to church that Sunday for sure. We weren´t able to get a hold of her and she was never home and didn´t end up coming to church. That sucks even more because church was really good. The stake presidency came from Chillan to give talks and we also had sacrament meeting in the new ¨chapel.¨ There´s a lot more space now and it should be good for the activites that we have. On Saturday, the leaders also came from Chillan to do divisions with us to look for the less activies and invite them to the conference. I ended up going with the Stake President. We went and visited some less actives and invited them. We also took some time to talk about Yungay and how it was progressing and the problems we had.  There is one other person that would be good to be the branch president. He is always willing to work and he is actually the secretary right now. He has been a member for a little bit more than a year right now. We have changes here on December 17th and I´m not sure if I´ll be going or I´ll be staying. We´ll have to wait and see. We´re trying to find some more less actives that we´ve never visited before to try and get them to come back. There are about 140 members here in Yungay total, but the attendance is about 35 now each week. I´m hoping with the new ¨chapel¨ more people will be more willing to come. In the other area, it was really uncomfortable and a little squished and the members had been complaining of that. Hna. S is active now. She was less active and we have gained her trust and gotten to know her really well. She calls all the time just to see how we´re doing haha. She called me yesterday crying saying she was in the hospital with her mom and that she didn´t feel well. Anyways later that night we went over to her house. It ended up she was diagnosed with depression. We talked a little bit about our purpose here on the Earth and what to do in times of trial. We then gave her a blessing and Hna. S started crying. It´s awesome to see her start coming back to church. She always asks me to bring a new Liahona over to her everytime we go to visit her. About that missionary that was planning to leave.. he ended up getting everything ready and he left on Wednesday. My companion and I gave him some ties because he didn´t have very many and he was definitely grateful. He doesn´t have a ton of support from his family so it was cool to see him have everything ready and take off. We had a party for him a few hours before he had to take the bus up to Santiago. I took a few pictures and I´ll see if I have time to send them to you guys.
      My hay fever has been killing me. I have to go buy some nasal spray at the pharmacy and take 2 zyrtecs per day for 2 weeks to see if that helps. I would love that new music by Marshall McDonald. Hopefully Jon or Jeremy can get that to me as soon as possible. By the way I GOT MY PACKAGE! I got it last week and now it´s just chilling in our house waiting until Christmas... or the 18th. If I end up getting transferred I´ll open it then like I have already told you guys. Thanks! There isn´t anything like Thanksgiving here... :( to be honest I thought Thanksgiving was this past week. Tell all the family that I love them and that I miss them. Tell them they´re in my daily prayers as well! Good luck to you on Black Friday. Jon, you better keep up that recently started tradition of Sports Authority every morning :) But seriously I love Black Friday.. wish I could help you guys out! Yes Mom, we pay 12 bucks a month to have people wash our clothes. It´s nice too... they fold it all up and iron our shirts. Now we still don´t have lunches here every day in Yungay which sucks really bad, but it´s all good. I really enjoyed all the pictures of Bella... that one with the ripped up ball hanging way low seriously made me laugh. She is so freaking cute and looks so clean/healthy. A little fat as well but I still love her! Well that´s pretty much it for this week... I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Teagan this past week and that I love and miss him. He is such a baller. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and eat a lot of turkey. Jeremy don´t choke again this year :P Good luck on Black Friday.. shop well and don´t get punched. Things aren´t what they seem that day. I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!!!!!

Don´t You Know Any Other Gosh Dang Tune?

Another week gone by... still living in Yungay! Thanks for the letters/pictures/videos once again. You guys are awesome. Anyways I wrote an outline of what I wanted to say in my letter but of course I forgot it back at the hut. I´ll see what I can do though. This week was a lot better than last week. Last week was so stressful for reals. But this week.. was decent. We are trying to work more through the members and do less contacts every week. I tried to make a list of all the member´s schedules and when they could go with us to appointments. Basically a couple of them told me at this point they don´t feel well enough spiritually to do it. Anyways that was a good sign (I knew it already) that they still needed a lot of help. Those comments were from some of the highest quality members here. Anyways we had G and her grandma in church on Sunday. We went to go pick them up from their house to walk with them to church but they were taking forever. We ended up getting their like 20 mins. early and I´m sure they felt super awkward walking in especially because the room is so small. The grandma doesn´t want to get baptized but she´s trying to support G, her 16 year old granddaughter. She was the only person in her family not baptized (the rest were baptized catholic, has 1 relative that´s mormon). She knows she needs to get baptized but we´re going to see because she´s a little lazy sometimes. We have an appointment with her tonight and we´re going to talk to her grandma about getting baptized too. We haven´t been able to get a hold of J M but we´re going to keep trying. We also had our English class which ended up going really well. 13 people came. I think I´ve told you about Hermana S and/or P before. They have 10 siblings as well, and about half of them are baptized and live here. The rest are all inactives, but we were working hard especially with these 2. They now have come 3 weeks in a row so that´s awesome. They seriously love us so much. They have a niece that´s not baptized that came to the English class. She loves us too and wants us to go to her house. She is 10 years old and wants a Book of Mormon. Her dad is inactive and her mom is catholic I think. I´m not sure if we´d be able to get permission because of the mom but we´re for sure going to try. Her name is S... and she´s way funny. The mission president called me this week because he wanted to talk about what´s going on here in Yungay. Apparently he´s knows all about the branch's challenges so he wanted to get my view of things.  We have the conference here next Sunday and the leaders from the stake will be coming. Also, they have been fixing up this warehouse thing next to the church to use as our meetinghouse. It will finally be finished and there is going to be a lot more space (still not the biggest thing in the world). The branch trip to the temple was cancelled because we only had 7 members from the ward that wanted to go. We had to invite a different branch to try and fill the bus, but they had 15 people that wanted to go and it would have cost each member about 50 bucks to make the trip. It ended up being too expensive so the president cancelled the trip. The few members that were planning on going were disappointed but what can you do.. the members just don´t have the desire to go.  The zone leaders called me the other day because they also know how Yungay isn´t doing too well.. he reminded me that that´s why I´m there. The Lord trusts me right now and that´s what I´m in Yungay. I feel bad because the branch really is going downhill.. I´m doing all I can to help the members and support the branch president, but obviously I can´t do it alone. We are trying to be creative to help all the members out. I have not gotten my package yet.. I will be sure to wait until Christmas. We have tranfers the 17th or 18th (your wedding anniversary.. maybe it´s the 19th I can´t remember.. I´m ugly)... so if I end up getting transferred that day I´d probably open it that day. It would be too hard to haul it around just to wait one more week.  As for the Christmas CD from Marshall McDonald.. I want that music. I listen to his Christmas Oranges CD all the time even way before Christmas was close... and I would love his new music. Maybe you could have Jon or Jeremy send all the songs through email as .mp3 individually or however many you can fit so I can put them on my flashdrive. That would be awesome.
I can´t believe the news about Kelvin. I read Heather´s letter first and she was like I´m sure you´ve heard about Kelvin.. I was like no? Haha I read my friend´s email first, then my bro´s/sisters email, then Dad´s, then Mom´s. Just for the future :) but wow that´s unbelievable. Stacy has been through more than enough trials already in her life.. and now this. It´s going to be tough for Kelvin because like you guys said, he won´t really know what´s going on or why he´s so sick. That makes me sick to my stomach. They will definitely be in my prayers. There´s this lady in our ward (she´s basically like my 3rd mom.. after Mother Teresa and Big Lor) that always asks us to pray for her because the Lord always listens to missionaries prayers :) But for reals I will be praying for their family. Mom, Ron lived in Idaho right? I didn´t know he was that old... freak time flew. I honestly can´t even remember him... I´m a horrible relative. Someone told me that was this huge hurricane in some country and that a bunch of people died but I had no idea where.. but I guess it was in the Phillipines? That´s crazy. Freak I never have any idea what´s going on in the world.. I guess that´s sometimes good but freak I feel left out :( haha. By the way I freaking miss my puppy. Tell Bella I love her, give her a big kiss, and send me some more pics if possible :) Brielle is so cute.. Heather I loved that video of her..  I can´t wait to talk to her on Skype! Big Lor.... I definitely did get your letter. It was definitely a surprise so thank you very much. I love hearing about my 2nd mom and how my 2nd house is doing. I honestly think of you like my Mom.. (probably why it was so hard for me to say goodbye to you) but thanks for everything!  
Thanks for the updates with Utah Football. Sounds like they played Oregon pretty tough there for a good part of the game but the offense couldn´t keep up with Oregon´s. That doesn´t sound like good news about Travis Wilson.. we have the worst luck with our quarterbacks. Keep me updated.
 Anyways I love you all and thanks for everything. Thanks for all your prayers and your letters. Mondays are the best because I love reading everyone´s letters and seeing pictures of my nephews/niece. I´ll talk to you guys all next week!

Lettuce Napkins

Training a new companion!

 Two redheads in a little hut...

Hello family and friends.. I am still here in wonderful and awesome Yungay. Well, it´s more like yeah Í´m still here in Yungay. Anyways sounds like Utah sure choked in the 4th quarter. Freaking Utah. Anyways this past week was.. well stressful. Haha but anyways... we are not still working with G, Mom. Her grandparents are still talking to her but I think she´s just scared of the baptismal interview. We actually found a new investigator the other day and he could be pretty good.  We are going to pass by in a couple days when he can and see what we can do. Sunday was super stressful as it always is here in Yungay. The branch president was in Concepción to have a big meeting with Elder Holland which I heard was pretty good. I had to conduct and preside (by the way I felt super weird taking the sacrament first). I also had to teach the gospel doctrines class. Some stake people came from Chillan and we had to have a small meeting with the stake mission leader.  Anyways with all that stuff going on and training I have been super stressed and haven´t eaten anything the past 3 days. I´m hungry, but everytime I try to eat, I just can´t. I´ve felt like I need to throw up during those 3 days and of course have those migraines which definitely aren´t anything new. Anyways I am praying a lot so that I can have some help here, eat some food, and overall just feel better.
     Anyways thanks for all the pictures, videos, and updates.  Today we went to a zone activity in Chillan with 3 other zones. I saw R. S., another kid that went to Jordan and recently got here. I also got to see Elder H. Freak I love that kid... we had some good times there in the MTC hahaha. I did get to play basketball with some good players (one that will be playing at SUU. The hoops are like 9 feet tall with really skinny rims and no nets. And the backboards and disgustingly hideous. Anyways we are trying hard to find more people to teach. G wasn´t able to come to church because she had family over at her house.  Most of the work here honestly is helping the members. I feel like they need a lot of help. Only about 8 of them will be going to the temple on the 15th. There should definitely be a lot more but I mean what can you do. We are also working hard with the less actives and one has basically been reactivated. Hermana S she is awesome. She used to be president of the primary but she went inactive. She calls us almost every day just to see how we´re doing and when the next time is that we´re going to visit her. She always asks me what kind of dessert I want to eat when we go to her house. She really is so nice and she is starting to get back to going to church. She has been 2 weeks in a row now and stays the full 3 hours.
         I can´t think of a whole lot more to say... just pray for me please as I´ve been super stressed and (not that this is new) but haven´t felt that great. Eating for 3 days can´t be good but I honestly try as hard as I can but I just can´t. Thanks for all your letters and all the support at home. Tell my nephews/niece that I love them. Tell Teags good job for practicing reading.. and tell Carter boy that I can´t wait to go on some more bear hunts with him. ¨We´re going on a bear hunt, gonna catch a big one, we´re not scared! Uh oh, a deep dark cave! Can´t go over it can´t go under it, we gotta go through it!¨ Haha he´s so freaking funny oh my gosh. Sorry this letter is all over the place again I really need to start writing stuff down that I want to tell you guys. I always forget the stuff that happens to me during the week and everytime after I write I remember something I wanted to tell you guys. But thanks for everything and I love you all!

Me quedo en Yungay!‏

Hola familia how´s everything going? Sorry I´m writing a little late today. We had a zone activity in Chillan and also I had a bunch of letters to read through so thanks!  From my title, I´m sure you can tell that I will be staying here in Yungay! My companion, Elder C, will be leaving to Concepción to most likely finish his mission there.  Okay so I thought this was a little weird after reading Jon and Mom´s email about leadership and stuff like that but I have some news for all you all. I will be training this transfer!  I will meet my companion tomorrow in Concepción. I´m excited but also a little nervous. We´ll see how everything goes. By the way I had to give the District Class 2 weeks ago and I had 2 sister missionaries come up to me after and they told me I´d definitely be training this next transfer. It was a little weird but anyways I´m excited. I might have to sleep in Chillán tonight in order to be in Concepción tomorrow around lunchtime, but we´re not sure yet. By the way, guess who our next assistant to the president is? My good friend PM! Remember him? I was in the talent show in 9th with him and he always led the student section during the basketball games. How dope is that? He went from district leader, to zone leader, to assistant all in 3 or 4 changes. Crazy. Anyways he called me today and we talked for a little. I´ll be seeing him in Conce to pick up my new companion tomorrow. Our investigator G is 14 years old, and her grandma is still working with her little by little to help her. Maybe this transfer we will be able to get her baptized. We also found a girl named G, who had 17 years old. She started crying because all of her family had been baptized (Catholic) but her no. She was really emotional and she really wants to be baptized. She was with her boyfriend Sunday morning so she didn´t come to church which was pretty disappointing. We will continue to work with her and I´ll keep you guys updated.
       I enjoyed all the pictures that I received of Halloween. The kids looked awesome and especially the picture of Dallin walking on the sidewalk surprised me. So different. Freak. That story about Hayden was awesome. I know I might sound like less of a man but as I read that story and looked at the picture Bri sent me I definitely teared up haha. I love you Hayden.. you´re such a baller!  Congratulations to Jon on his new calling!  Haha let me know how that goes.
    Mom, I was actually wondering the other day what day I received my mission call. I think it was around a year ago or so.. I can´t remember for sure.
    Dad, yes Yungay is really small. I feel like I have basically knocked on every door in our sector. We actually found G in the sector of the hermanas (shhhhhhhh) :) Sounds like the Jazz are going to have a rough season this year. Did they sign any good players from other teams or what? I heard they lost our big players but nobody told me if they signed anybody else. Good luck to Utah next week against the Sun Devils. The past 2 years against Arizona St. were horrendous haha let me know what happens.
    As for the package Mom, I can´t think of anything I really need. Maybe some tubes of chapstick with SPF? We played soccer today in the activity and yeah I definitely got burnt haha. Also, I opened up my garments today from the MTC that I bought and wow they are totally different than my others. I know I ordered the exact same ones but the ones they gave me are definitely different and I don´t like them. By the way it´s soooooooooo hot during the day now like wow. I got out of the shower today and immediately started sweating. That water bottle you sent me will be of good use now.. thanks!
    Anyways I can´t think of anything more to tell you guys. Should be interesting training here in Yungay.. hopefully we can find that one person that God has been preparing for us. I´ll let you guys know about my new companion next week and how the work continues to go here in Yungay. Pretty soon we´ll be talking on Skype on Christmas... that´s crazy! Definitely excited to see all your guys faces.. especially my nephews and my awesome niece que no conozco todavía :( But I love you all and I hope you guys all enjoy this letter and I answered all your questions! Mom, I don´t know, but if you could maybe order me a couple more garments of the same type we bought back at home through store.lds.org and have them sent to the mission office I wouldn´t be too incredibly upset with you. Also I hope you remembered those socks because wow I definitely need some more. Thanks for all your letters and the support back at home and I´ll talk to you guys next week!