Another rainy Memorial Day!‏

Well I am here in Chile on Memorial´s Day on a very rainy day! It´s nothing too new right? Anyways I´m glad your trip to Idaho was a success and filled with so much entertainment that you can´t even help yourself but jump for joy :) no but for reals I´m glad you guys enjoyed yourself! I enjoyed reading what Carter said when Julie asked him where I was.. I´m glad he still remembers me :) That´s too bad about Grandma.. I feel so bad. I don´t ever think I ever really said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa which makes me kind of sad.. but tell them that I love them! Well Grandpa since he knows who I am.. anyways I´m doing alright here in Linares! The new missionary came to live in our house and I was so excited to not be the worst at Spanish! However, I already told you last week what would happen because of my never-ending bad luck. A Latin from Guatemala... yes.. let´s all remember how I called this last week. There were 6 gringos that came and 2 Latins, so you would think my odds were pretty good of getting a gringo in my house right? Oh wait.. my name is Trenton :) haha so I´m still the worst at Spanish.. but I actually really like him. He´s really nice and pretty chill. Our house is so much better without that other elder. Even my companion was like.. wow you can tell such a difference with him gone. Also, Elder C is 10x better and nicer now.. I know the other elder got mad at him for speaking ANY English to me.. but we´re pretty good friends now that we can have some fun with American humor :)  Lately I´ve been incredibly hungry and starving. I eat and eat and eat but I´m never satisfied. The other day I had a big  meal from a member that the other missionaries had a hard time finishing, and I went home and ate 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Top Ramen. I was still hungry after.. and I´ve noticed I´ve gained quite a bit of weight already. Like almost unhealthy for how long I´ve been here. Okay onto my experiences this past week. There is this lady named Elia that we have been visiting and she is so awesome. She has all the desires to be baptized and keep the commandments but there´s one problem. Her husband gets drunk all the time and if she was baptized, would be sooo angry. We were there the other day and she just started crying, and started singing a song to us which I didn´t understand because of the Spanish and she was crying. It´s super sad but there´s nothing we can really do. We´ve been having a big problem with this Catholic lady that lives in an area in which we like to work. She hates us more than anything, and has made an effort to go door to door telling everyone to not listen to us. We were in the new converts house this past week (single mother that can´t take care of her kids) and guess who knocks on the door. The Catholic lady. She comes in and tells us we are complete garbage and how the mom (Claudia) needs to lock the door on us and not let us in. These past few days we have tried to visit Claudia, but she doesn´t answer her door or tells us she is always busy. Also, we have 2 awesome investigators named Evelyn and Martin. It is a 30 year old mom and her 11 year old son... they actually came to church yesterday too! The missionaries have been working with her for awhile, but she had to work every Sunday. Saturday, she called us and told us that she doesn´t have to work on Sunday anymore! How cool is that? While at church, Evelyn leaned over to my companion and asked him if it´s possible they could be baptized in a river. Sooooo that´s pretty cool so hopefully they keep progressing and they can be my first baptism! We were visiting them last night, and guess who knocks on the door?

The Catholic lady! Yeah what the heck I know.. we have no idea how she knew we were there. Luckily earlier, we had told Evelyn that this Catholic lady had been giving us problems so she knew. Anyways as soon as the Catholic lady walked in, you could tell the Spirit just immediately left the room. Both my companion and I got this weird feeling and we left soon after that. We went and contacted some less actives and they fed us once (Jeremy can tell you about that). I also said a small prayer that whatever the Catholic lady told Evelyn, that she wouldn´t believe it. After that Evelyn called us and told us that the Catholic lady had told her that we missionaries were garbage, we were a false church, and we were paid to be out here. However, Evelyn said, ¨I know that´s not true because at church today, I learned that you guys did this voluntarily.¨ How cool is that? She told us to come back and visit her and she would give us fries to eat. We went back and it was really good! The 11 year old loves me and is making an effort to learn some English while I´m there. We had a notebook and paper and everything and had a nice English lesson! In return he cut out a superhero for me to tape in my planner.. haha he´s a funny kid! Anyways last Tuesday we were supposed to have Family Night with this less active family. The mother´s name is Cintia and she loves the missionaries! She always feeds us and loves when we visit her. She called us that morning, and told us that her wallet had been stolen. She asked us for money, but the zone leaders told us that we weren´t able to give her any. She got super upset and told us that the other missionaries had given her money, but in ¨secret¨. We told her we couldn´t do that and she was mad. We went back Thursday or Friday night to see how she was doing and she was super short with us and told us she was busy. She said, Ï will find a way to feed my family tonight, I will.¨ She´s just trying to make us feel bad but to be honest I don´t think her wallet really got stolen. Maybe it did, but my gut feeling is it wasn´t. Anyways it sucks because she was going to teach me how to make their bread :( Anyways the Spanish is coming along okay.. I still can´t understand a ton of things which is super frustrating. I feel like I can say whatever I want, but the people speak SOOOOOO fast here. I think that´s what the hardest thing is for me right now.. it´s hard because I can´t teach as well when I don´t know what they´re saying. At times I get frustrated because I feel like some of my time is going to waste because I can´t teach or communicate as well as I´d like to. I know it takes a lot of time and patience so the Lord is definitely teaching me patience right now. I don´t have a whole lot more to report.. it was a decent week and I´m just hoping Evelyn and Martin will keep progressing! I´m also hoping I don´t get too fat and nothing is wrong there.. for reals tho if I sent a picture of me right now you would think I was Jon. Hahahaha freak I miss those jokes... Love you Donovan!!! :)  Again I´m glad you all enjoyed yourselves in Idaho (apart from Jeremy and Jon) and had a good week! Thank you all for writing me/pictures! Mom, I honestly don´t know why that lady called me haha but it´s whatever. Trevor good luck with your applications for a new job! Let me know what happens with that.. and Heather.. definitely send me the pictures of Brielle´s room! :) Brian, thanks again for the pictures, Dallin looks like he has a ton of hair and is HUGE! Anyways thanks for everything and I love you all!!!!!    

                            From Linares, Chile: TRENTON ¨TREMPIN¨ DANIEL NEILSON OUT!!!!

Living quarters...

My bed-bottom bunk

My study area

Kitchen

All geared up for a rainy day

This is what happens after riding a bike on a rainy day...

Living room

I had to duck to get to this house...

I had to share this couch for the night with Elder Hancock while attending a new missionary conference.

Hola familia! Estoy en Linares todavia!!!!‏

 May 20, 2013
Why hello everyone! Another week has come and gone here in Chile! Sounds like everyone is doing well and I´m glad to hear that. Getting ready to head to Idaho it sounds like.. without Jeremy and Jon? Of course they would find some way to get out of going to Idaho.. so lazy. :) Mom, that picture of that ¨thing¨ was pretty nasty but it doesn´t even compare to the slugs here! Yes, I´ve been told I´m in one of the nicer houses here.. which kinda sucks to think about haha. Anyways this week has been decent! We have quite a few investigators but one of them came to church. We had about 3 or 4 promise us on Saturday night that they were going to come but never answered their phone Sunday morning. It kind of sucks because then my companion is in the WORST mood ever the entire day and takes it out on everyone haha. There is a new convert here that we go visit quite often which isn´t my favorite thing to do. It´s that house that smells awful and has poop and pee everywhere. It is a single mother that has 4 kids. One girl is about 6, the other girl 3, a 2 year old boy, and a baby girl. I feel so bad because they are dirt poor and barely have anything. I went to go to the bathroom the other day and their bathroom was like flooded with 2 inches of water and the sink doesn´t work. The mom also hits the kids in the back of the head really hard if they do something wrong. Also, the 6 and 3 year old hit the 2 year old boy as hard as they can in the head if he is bugging them, and the mom doesn´t even care. The 2 year old boy had a diaper full of poop that was hanging soooo low.. which leads me to think he uses the same diaper for a week or so. The 3 year old girl loves me and won´t leave me alone when I go over there.. she thinks I´m so funny and always wants to play little games with me. I know she doesn´t get a lot of attention so I play with her as much as I can, but she´s always so dirty. She constantly has mud on her face and is wearing really dirty and ripped clothes. She told me that they don´t have soap so they use paper from a math book to shower or something like that. After we left her house the other night, the mother called us at around 11:00 at night and said her baby was throwing up. We had to ride all the way back to her house in the rain to give her money to take a taxi to the hospital. I feel super bad.. but I don´t understand why she has 4 kids if she can´t even support 1. Anyways Wednesday I went on a mini-change with Elder Scott from Florida. It was nice to be able to speak English to someone for a day! He has been out for 9 months or so, but he´s super quiet. Some of our visits were a little bit awkward but they turned out fine. The people have a really hard time understanding his Spanish so I taught quite a bit in our lessons. We taught a lady that had committed to baptism, but she told us that she had taken a bunch of pills the day before to try and kill herself. She seemed totally fine when we were there though so I don´t really know what happened. Last night we went and visited a less active lady and her non-member husband. They have 2 little boys about 5 years old and 3 year old. They loved me and didn´t want me to leave! Both my companions that I´ve had HATE kids. My first companion asked me one time why I talked to kids. Like okay sorry bro but I like kids and I always will! I miss my nephews so much :( Tell them I love them! Haha anyways they were super funny.. The couple like the church but they don´t want to get married so he can´t get baptized. We´re going to visit them again and see what we can do. The lady said that she has talked with a lot of new missionaries that come to Chile and was surprised at how much Spanish I knew already.. which kind of made me feel good! I still struggle to understand people some of the time.. it just depends on the person. Whether they use a lot of slang, or are just old, I don´t know. Anyways that´s pretty much this week. We are at the time of transfers.. and GUESS WHAT!? I am staying in Linares like we all knew! And so is Elder Layseca..haha however that missionary in my house from Uruguay is leaving. Elder Collins from Texas will be staying.. and he is going to be training! Let´s all hope it´s a gringo that he trains so I´m not the worst one at Spanish.. that will make me feel better :) He comes in on Wednesday so I´ll let you guys know whether he´s a gringo or not next week! But let´s all remember how bad my luck is so I guarantee it´ll be a Latin that already knows Spanish. This next transfer is going to only be 4 weeks, and the one after that will be 8 because of the new missionary president coming in. I can´t think of anything else that happened this week but can you guys make sure to refill my checking account at America First? I think I will be taking another 200 out next week just in case. It´s been difficult because they gave me extra the first month, and not very much this month. It´ll be easier when I start over next month and get the regular amount that I´m supposed to. Anyways thank you all for writing me and keeping me updated on everything!I really love reading your letters and! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures I sent last week. Mom, I honestly can´t remember where Peter is serving.. sorry! That´s cool to hear all about the mission calls.. sounds like everyone leaves in the next few months! I leave you with the infamous Tweety Bird´s Seeds of Wisdom started by the one and only Jeremy Neilson: Why are computer mouses called a ¨mouse¨? Like am I the only one that has never even thought I was touching an actual mouse while using the computer? I still just don´t get it.. anyways I love you all and I will talk to you all next week!!!!

Crazy week!!!!

This week has been soooo crazy.  On Tuesday Elder Hancock ( from the MTC) and I left on a 3 hour bus ride to Concepcion for a new missionary conference. It was nice being able to talk to him because we´re really good friends now and we got everything out to each other. We arrived late at night, and when we got the house we were going to sleep in, we were told that our mattresses we were supposed to sleep in got stolen because the sister missionaries needed them more. Hahahaha of course! So me and Elder Hancock got to share a tiny L couch that had basically no cusion. The whole night our legs were just tangled with each other. It was awful hahaha. The next morning I got to meet up with all the new missionaries, including Elder Pachner and Elder Jensen from the MTC. It was so nice. Freak, I love Elder Jensen. I really feel like he is one of my best friends and we´ve only known each other since the MTC. But, he is most likely getting sent to the Rancagua mission. 2 areas of the Concepcion mission are getting moved to Rancagua when the new mission president comes in. The top 2 areas that is, and I´m one area away. The president still doesn´t know which missionaries will be going, and there´s a small chance that I might get changed there. If I do, I´ll make sure to get a picture with David Archuleta for you mom! That night I got to work in Concepcion with Elder Pepper, who went to Lone Peak. It is so much nicer than Linares, it´s crazy. We taught a few lessons, then I had the wonderful opportunity of sharing that great couch again with Elder Hancock for the night. I took a picture, but I don´t know if I´ll have time to send it. We had another day of conference the next day, where we got to eat Domino´s. Mmmmmm! Then as we were about to leave for the bus back to Linares, the zone leaders came up to me and told me that there had been an emergency transfer. I would be getting a new companion and trainer, and he was a native of Chile. He was from Antofogasta, and doesn´t know English. Elder Jensen busted out laughing when he heard this because he remembered how much bad luck I have. My new companion´s name is Elder Layseca, and it´s somewhat tough to communicate but we manage. I haven´t taken a picture with him yet, so I´ll get on that. We´re both relativey new to Linares, so we have to carry a map around with us everywhere we go. We do a ton of contacts, because we are trying to get more investigators obviously. Anyways, here is the crazy part. As me and Elder Hancock were getting off the bus and into the taxi, there were these 2 guys that were acting extremely funny. This guy kept closing Hancock´s taxi door he was getting into, and then I see him reach in his pocket and grab his camera, and try to run away. As Hancock grabbed him and told him in English to give him his camera back, the other guy pulled out 2 giant knives.Hancock was closer to them than me, and the guy put the butt of the knife on Hancock´s chest. Hancock backed away, and they took off with his camera. I felt so bad.. people are so stupid. It reminded me of when Trevor got a knife pulled on him when he was in New Joisey. Anyways I haven´t told you a whole lot about the other elders that I live with. Elder Rebollo is from Uruguay, and the other is from Texas. I went on a mini change with Rebollo like 2 weeks ago, and as I sat down to study Spanish like I always do, he was like what are you doing? I told him it´s my Spanish study time, and he got all mad. I told him the President told me in an interview that every day I have an hour to study every day for Spanish. He went off for like 15 minutes in Spanish about how prideful I was because he had been in the mission longer than me and he knew so much more than me. Turns out as I went to the conference and we went over our schedule, I was right. Then Elder Collins, is absolutely no help in Spanish. I´ll ask him questions like why is this word that way? Or stuff like that, and then he´ll be really short with me and explain it in Spanish. I´m like no bro, that´s not going to help. Then this morning, as I was getting in the shower, I had to light the heater thing with fire and turn it on. I asked him how to do it, and he pointed at the long directions in Spanish and said there´s the directions. They no duh bro I was asking you to explain how to do it in English because I can´t read those directions. It´s super frustrating but oh well. I love Tuesdays because I get to meet up with the other guys in my zone and they´re super helpful. One of the guys from Mountain View asked me who I lived with. I told him and he said, you live with those chumps? That sucks bro. Haha ugh my luck... can you believe it? Anyways yesterday was a really good day! We went to church, then after we went contacting for 2 hours before we had family home evening with some investigators. In 2 hours, we taught 5 lessons, with 5 new investigators. It was crazy, I swear every house we knocked on they let us in. I have to teach a lot during the lessons.. my companion will just look at me and then I have to take over. Sometimes I don´t even know where we´re at in the lesson but I just go for it. Then while in church a member came up to me and started talking to me. I pretty much had a full on conversation with him without really even trying. I guess he was just really easy to understand. People are obviously different when they talk. For example when old people talk, it´s nearly impossible to know what´s going on. While we visit the members, a ton of times they´re kid will pull out their English homework and ask for help. Most of the time it´s pronunciation. They have the hardest time with it it´s pretty funny. I never really thought of how hard English would be to learn. Anyways yesterday during out lessons, I just thought of how awesome it is to be able to just walk around and share the Gospel with everyone you see. You look at all the people and they just look so unhappy. It makes me feel bad that they have nothing to really live for. It sucks when people reject you and slam the door in your face because you know how much the Gospel can really help them. It´s crazy how much my mission has made me thankful for everything I have, and already strengthened my testimony. I´m so thankful for the Atonement and the ability it gives us to live with our families forever! Anyways, that´s really sad to hear about Tanner´s grandma. I got really sick to my stomach when I just read that.  I will be sure to write him an email and let him know I´m thinking of him. I love that kid so much! Okay just a few small things I want to let you guys know or a few random questions. I just went to the bank and I believe I withdrew 200 dollars from my checking account. I wasn´t sure if you guys had put any in savings, so I withdrew from checking just to be safe. Mom, I don´t think I packed my thermal garments... I might have to order some on the internet and have them sent to the mission home. I´ll have to see. Also, I will be able to Facetime on Mother´s Day.. how dope is that? The very first night that I was up with really bad stomach pain, I went downstairs to try and take some Tums. At nights, there are about 15 or 20 huge slugs that just come out of nowhere and chill on our kitchen floor. While walking in pain and complete darkness, I stepped on one in my socks! It exploded everywhere and my sock was soaked in slug guts. It´s no regular slug, they are GIANT. Like almost as big as my foot. Hahaha it´s nasty. Anyways the members here are super nice. They understand I don´t know a ton of Spanish so they help me! Sometimes they laugh at me but it´s all good :) Thanks so much Dad for the sports updates.. keep them coming! Also thanks to everyone else that wrote me.. it means a lot and I love you guys!  I love being able to share the Gospel with people who have problems that the Gospel can help them with. It´s a cool feeling knowing that I can help these people to be happier in their lives.  It´s been a really good week for me apart from the health problems!  :) so it´s all good! I am just trying to stay positive! Thank you guys for everything! Keep the Teagan quotes coming Robyn, I love them so much. I seriously was just laughing out loud in this public computer place as I read them. I love all of you so much and I´ll talk to you later!I leave you with Tweety Bird´s Seeds of Wisdom: Who do spiders think they are?  All they do is use people. Hey look I´m a spider, I live in your house and I don´t even pay rent! If you really think about it, spiders are such mooches. So ridiculous.

                                                                                                    Trempin OUT!!!!

THE ADVENTURE HAS BEGUN!

Hello family! How is everything going? After an incredibly long flight, I have arrived in Chile! And guess what? It is NUTS! No matter how much I was told, I wouldn´t have been ready. Haha major culture shock. My first area is Linares, which is about 3 hours away from Concepcion. We first got there and traveled to the mission home which was about 10 minutes away from the airport. We met our mission president and wife, and they are super nice! Then we went to a church nearby, and ate and had a small testimony meeting. Us new missionaries had to go up and bear their testimonies in Spanish. Then after, we received our new companions/trainers.There were 2 possible white trainers from Utah I think, then two latins. Of course I got a Latin! My luck... but at least he knows English. Well most of it. He doesn´t know a lot of words. Like yesterday, he said it hurts when he drinks saliva. He meant swallow hahaha... I always have to tell him the right words. He grew up in Mexico, and then lived in Arizona for a short period of time. He´s pretty big... he´s like 250 pounds. And he snores so loud. It´s actually really frustrating because I can barely sleep at night. I live with 2 other elders.. Elder Rebollo and Elder Collins. Rebollo is from Uruguay and Collins is from Texas. Oh and by the way I don´t understand ANYTHING. Hahaha they definitely weren´t teaching me this Spanish in the MTC.  All 3 of them think it´s hilarious that I don´t understand them, so they just talk really fast and then laugh at me. It sucks because I feel so alone sometimes but it´s all good! My companion asked me yesterday if I take a long time to email.. I said yes. He was like why? I said because I send my family long emails and I email my friends. Then he said oh.. well we´re going to be quick because I don´t have any friends to email. I was like umm sorry but no. (Sorry no quotation marks or whatever I don´t know where everything is at on this keyboard) Anyways back to the culture shock. It´s crazy! There´s so many stray dogs running around, tiny and disgusting houses, and just weird stuff! Like you already know, the milk isn´t refrigerated. So nasty, but it´s whatever. When I first walked into my house, I was so shocked. It was tiny, spider webs everywhere, and just plain disgusting. I was like are you freaking kidding me? Linares is a biking area! When I first met my trainer he just started laughing because he told me how awful my bike is. I got to our house and shortly after we took of on our bikes.. WOW! I sat on my seat and I felt like I was sitting on a metal bar. The pedals were all loose and torn apart. Haha but since then we have fixed it up! You´re not allowed to ride bikes on the sidewalks here, so I have to ride on the small streets right next to the cars. I have almost gotten hit by cars like 4 times already but it´s okay Mom I¨ll be alright! :) The ward members here are really nice! They understand that I don´t speak Spanish yet which is really nice. A bunch of them try to talk to me in English but that just doesn´t work out haha. It´s so funny.. I ride around on my bike and so many people shout, ¨Hello. What. Is. Your. Name?¨ People always try to speak English to me! My 2nd day here my comp. had a baptism interview and I went on splits with a zone leader. He was from Paraguay or something and didn´t know English. We went contacting and as he shouted to a house for them to come out, his phone rang! As they came out, he left me all alone! I was like wow... haha so I started talking to them and introduced us and told them why we were here. Thankfully after he spoke back in a language I don´t know, the zone leader came back. He just laughed afterwards because I told him I needed help. The food here is definitely different. The second day, a member fed us a weird type of egg, hot dogs, and pasta. The 3rd day was some weird squash crap. After I choked all of it down, they asked me if I liked it. However, I thought they asked if I wanted more.. haha I responded ¨no¨. The 3 other elders were like yes yes yes! I was like oh yeah I did like it! Haha it was embarrassing. Mom you said you saw lots of mountains and waterfalls in the picture... ummm I don´t think you´re looking at Linares. It is actually really ugly. Apparently it´s the poorest area in my mission... of course hahaha. Oh and it gets sooooo cold in the mornings here. There´s no heat in the houses, so I sleep with shorts on, then my long pajamas, and a jacket. In the morning I am just shivering the whole time I study. Apparently it´s supposed to get a lot worse here in a month or so! We´ll see how that goes. We had church on Sunday and it was alright! Obviously I didn´t understand everything but it´s all good! I can understand a lot just not everything. Chileans speak super fast here.. a lot of the time my companion will repeat to me what they just said to me just a little slower, and I understand everything. Anyways I had to get up and introduce myself and share my testimony. I think I did pretty well! Then after we just talked to members and stuff.. a lot of the time I have no idea where my companion and I are going.. I just follow him all the time. I´ll ask him but he usually just keeps riding his bike. Like thanks trainer you´re awesome! He´s not a huge help with Spanish.. the other day I asked him if he´s taught English classes yet. He said no because he hates teaching people languages. I was like oh okay, well that explains a lot. It´s all good tho! I haven´t seen my friend Peter yet, but I think I will on the 1st of next month. His trainer is in my mission right now, and he is our zone leader. He is white and is super nice. Of course Peter got him as a trainer and I get someone that doesn´t like to help people with languages!  So I have a question, I get super hungry at night because we don´t eat dinner here. I´m not sure how much money lasts for how long yet, so I´m wondering how much it costs to withdraw money from the checking account at America First? Like if I go to an ATM here and withdraw money, how much is the international charge? Can someone please let me know..I want to buy some treats but I don´t want to withdraw money yet if it´s going to be super expensive. Anyways yesterday we went to go visit a new convert. Her house was soooo nasty. I can´t even explain it. We got inside and I had to hide my gagging. It smelled so bad. The 2 year old kid kept hitting me and pulling my hair. Did the mom care? Nope! Afterwards, my companion said there´s always pee everywhere and also poop from her kids. I didn´t see it but I don´t doubt it because that´s exactly what it smelled like. I always feel so nasty coming out of people´s houses because they don´t take care of it. Oh and mom, yes I do have hot showers thankfully. Like Jeremy knows, we have to buy like a propane tank to heat the water up. The bathroom is absolutely disgusting tho. Spider webs everywhere, and just stains of every kind everywhere. Hahaha I can´t even explain it. I´m just glad the members are super nice to me! They laugh because they know how fast Chileans speak and they wonder how anyone ever learns Spanish here. It´s really hard to adjust but it will just take time! I know everyone has told me give me time to learn the language, but usually how long do you guys think it´ll take? It´s so frustrating not knowing what´s going on! We have taught quite a few lessons but obviously my companion does it all right now. I help out with the contacts but when we get in he teaches the lessons. He looks over at me sometimes and I just shake my head like I don´t know what´s going on. Hahaha like I said it´s super frustrating. Anyways I can´t think of anything else to say besides it´s pretty crazy and definitely an adventure!  I´m going to try and send a few pictures that I have taken here and see if these computers work better than the MTC ones!  And sorry if this letter is confusing with punctuation or misspelled words, I haven´t gotten use to these computers. Every word on here has a red line under it because it´s in English! Anyways thanks for the letters and I love you guys so much! Until next week... Trempin out!!!!

Tweety Bird´s Seeds of Wisdom! Why are Starbursts called Starbursts? I mean if you really think about it and look at one.. they aren´t even shaped like a star. Even if you looked at it for 24 hours straight, it doesn´t burst. It´s a square, and it just sits there. Even when you put it in your mouth it doesn´t burst. What´s up with that? I have always wondered this.. am I the only one? I love you all and take care!

Me and my bike!

 

Half of our house

 

My companion-Elder Arroyo

 

A dog I saw with a bottom of a coke bottle for a muzzle! Haha I felt so bad..

Less than a week left here in the CCM!

• April 2, 2013

Hello everyone! How is good old Sandy? I am doing pretty well here considering it is P-Day! I am writing this at 5:30 in the morning once again, so let's hope I can focus :) That's sad to hear about Grandpa! Hopefully he can get better quickly! Last week I put Grandma on the prayer role, so I'll make sure to get both of them on it again when I go today! It's my last time going to the temple for 2 years.. so crazy! I'm so excited to get to Chile. I know I'll probably get really homesick when I get there, but I'm super excited to do something other than sit in class and listen to those girls ask question after question after question. The district 2 weeks behind learned Present Subjunctive the same day as us. They only have 2 hermanas in their district. That's the case with everyone, but of course not mine! You guys probably think I am exaggerating how bad it is.. but I'm not. Our teachers have talked to just the elders, and how they feel bad for us. They have written President Dittmar (Branch President) multiple times expressing their concern. It's not so much 2 of the hermanas, but the other 4.. oh my gosh. Hermana Bell & Mergenthaler are so dope! We always talk to them about it and they feel the same way. Bell is the one from Alta and M is the 21 year old from Montana. The other day while learning an important Spanish concept, our teacher let us have a water break. Heading back, we walk into one of the girls just crying. Guess what the elders have to do? Sit out in the hall for 40 minutes while she sits there and cries to the teacher.. during our Spanish class! Ugh I was so mad. We seriously almost just left and went back to our residence. This isn't the only time that's happened.. it's happened multiple times. One girl here has received about 12 blessings (no exaggeration)  because she gets this feeling that something isn't right at home and just starts crying and freaking out. Every day. Sorry it's just so frustrating because us elders could know so much more Spanish! Our day teacher took us aside one time and told us how we are better teachers than the hermanas. It made me feel pretty good! 2 of the girls started crying last week because they had a hard time teaching one of our teachers (progressive investigator). They were wondering how my companion and I had committed him to baptism already and they couldn't even get him to grasp the concept of Joseph Smith. We took like a half hour out of our language study to talk to them about what they could do better. It's just frustrating and I'm ready to be in Chile. Which brings me to my next thing that people have asked me about.. am I ready for the language in Chile? Hahaha probably not.. I can understand everything when people here talk.. but I know it'll be much different in Chile. They have a lot of slang words I here, and they speak really fast. I know it'll just take time while I'm there! I've been talking to Peter Morgan (the one in my mission) and he said he could possibly be training when I get there. Hopefully I see him or he's my companion that would be sweet! Very small chance but it's all good. Dad, I haven't heard anything from Gleason yet. I'll write Jay and ask for his email. I don't know anything about a picture the MTC took. Was it a set up one with a bunch of missionaries looking at the camera or did it just look like me in the background? Either way I'm pretty sure it's not me. I can't believe you guys already forgot what I looked like.. wow.. :) So Easter was really good here! We had our morning devotional at about 8 am and I was excited because I had front row and I got to pass the sacrament! But wait.. Trenton's bad luck kicks in again! We didn't have a Quorum of the 12 come.. it was Bishop Gerald Causse from the Presiding Bishopric. As disappointed as I was he still did a great job. I guess Elder Holland assigned him to come that day to speak to us. The kid that said the opening prayer in it is heading to DJ Teaskie's mission! The day before I got here, they had a Quorum of the 12 speak, and I will bet you anything another one will come on April 9! Hahahaha my luck ;) Gym is pretty much the best thing here! I love playing basketball with everyone in my zone. The 3 point record is 17 in a row here. Guess what? I got 21 in a row! But wait.. as we were all trying to break it.. the gym person just happened to be looking away as I broke it. So they won't count it.. even though I had about 6 people watching and rebounding for me. Wait a minute Trevor, what was that about all my good luck? Haha it's all good I'll break it this week! I tried again yesterday but I only got 9. I've been trying to break it with some guys in my zone.. speaking of which.. the district a week ahead of us just left! I really got so close to them and it sucks that they're gone now. They had 6 guys in their district, but I got to be way good friends with 3 of them. One of them went to Orem, one lives in Idaho, and the other close to Vegas! I will try and send pictures possibly. I guess you saw the pictures, but I was able to host Kayla on Wednesday! It was pretty cool.. I haven't seen her since which is really strange. If she's learning Spanish I should see her quite often. I have seen and talked to Madi Bernson quite a bit! She was Tanner's age and one of Tanner's good friends. I've also talked to one of my friends Jaxon Jefferson! I think he was supposed to go straight to the Peru MTC but for some reason that didn't work out. We planned to get a picture last night but I went to his residence and couldn't find him. Also on Wednesday, I was able to host this kid that was from Idaho. He drove a big SUV down and jammed like 15 people in it. He had such a hard time saying goodbye to his family, especially his nephews. It definitely made me tear up as I can easily relate to him. I have seen him around and asked him how he's doing now and he's doing pretty well! So the other day I was going a little crazy because I hadn't listen to music in awhile. I was on the computer for some language study, and I figured out how to pull up some EFY music! It was nice to listen to all the songs I love. I really like the song "Hold on, the Light Will Come." I listened to that over and over and it applies to everything here! I love it so much.. so dope. Anyways on Sunday, we were able to have a testimony meeting in the afternoon. I got up and bore my testimony in Spanish! There's also this French Guy in our zone that hardly speaks any English. I have no idea how he is learning Spanish when he doesn't even know English, but it's all good. He even got up to bear his testimony and he did a really great job! It's crazy how fast he is learning everything. Sunday night we had another devotional. I can't remember her name, but the CEO of Deseret Book came and spoke to us.
 So since I leave within a week, I better give you guys some details so I can call you guys!!! I'm so excited to talk to everyone it will be so nice. I miss everyone so much.. it's hard having such an awesome family because you miss them that much more! I love Monday after dinner because I get to read everyone's letters. Everyone gives me crap because I get so many Dear Elders that day. Thank you all so much.. like really. Anyways I will leave here on April 8th at 7:05 in the morning and arrive in L.A. at 7:55 am. Who is coming to see me at the airport? :) Haha then I leave L.A. at 1:45 pm and arrive in Santiago at 7:00 am on the 9th. I don't know how the time zone changes work but whatever. Then I leave Santiago at 8:45 am on the 9th and arrive in Concepcion at 9:55. I don't know what the situation will be with people having to work or what not.. but I figured calling from L.A. when I have that layover would work best. I'm not sure all the details yet as they haven't told us much, but I'm guessing I'll get to email one more time before I take off here to give you the final details. I'm not sure tho.. so if you don't get an email don't freak out! Can everyone let me know what their plan is? Is everyone going to be at Mom & Dad's or do I need to call everyone individually? Please let me know in a Dear Elder as soon as possible so I can maybe write a written letter home to make sure we have everything set up. I'm so excited to talk to everyone! Robyn, I laughed so hard when I read about Teagan controlling his own heart, and his snot on his shirt! Hahahaha yeah I can just picture the whole thing in my head perfectly. I love getting the notes from them.. they're always so funny and make me laugh!  That's awesome that Carter has that book memorized! Even my note.. what a baller :) I don't even remember what I wrote.. but that kid is so smart! Oh my gosh I just love my nephews so much. Hermana Bell & Mergenthaler wanted to see my photo album but I had forgotten to bring it that day. I pulled out my debit card and all the girls wanted to see them! They thought they were so cute! They all had to know their names and their ages, and which ones were brothers. Why do I have the coolest nephews in the world? Mom, thanks for the package by the way.. I loved it! The Dr. Pepper was amazing.. I always crave it so thank you so much! I can't think of much more to say, I'm just thankful for all you guys do for me! It's crazy how much a mission can make you be so much more thankful for everything, especially your family. Like I said, please let me know as soon as possible about what your guys' plan is for when I call home. I will most likely call from L.A. in between when I get there and 1:45. I think that is California time but I really don't know for sure. I know everyone can't wait around all day so let me know when you guys would like me to try and call home. A week from today, I will be in Chile! How crazy is that? Anyways I leave you all with Tweety's Seeds of Wisdom: Be careful in the shower. Never ignore some left behind garments. There's always that ever so slight chance that a creepy looking  kid will open your curtain, WALK INTO your shower, and grab his garments he forgot. I love you all family and I'll talk to guys on the phone next week! :)                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           TREMPIN OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Happy soon Birthday to Robyn and Brinley! I love you guys so much!

p.s.s. Can someone give me Cole Morgan's email address? Thank you

ONLINE COORDINATOR!

• Hola my wonderful family!‏

Hey dudes! How's it going back in good old Sandy? From the letters I've been reading it seems pretty good! Here in my least favorite part of Utah in Provo it's going pretty well. Apparently last week my email seemed down.. I didn't think it was! I was actually extremely happy because it was P-Day. I was just tired.. the same as right now. We like to get up really early, do our laundry, get our emails sent, and then go back and take a nap! It's 5:30 am so my letter will probably be all over the place like last time :) Sorry about that! I had a list of stuff I wanted to tell everyone but I left it in my classroom last night. So I quickly made a new one so hopefully I can remember everything. First of all, I just want to say how crazy it is how much I've learned here while being in the MTC! It's been 4 weeks and I can't believe how much I've learned.  So I wasn't always the smartest with Book of Mormon stories so guess what I did? I went to the bookstore and bought a book with pictures in it! Haha Tanner told me that helped him so I had to give it a try. I read through the whole thing and it's helped so much! Yesterday in class I had to tell the story of Zeezrom. I would've been screwed if I hadn't read my little kids book.. :) The people in my district had fun making fun of me for reading it.. haha it's all good though! I had an interview with my teacher the other night and he said how cool it was that I showed the initiative to want to learn more about the Book of Mormon.Do you guys want to hear an embarrassing story? I got a new "assignment", not a calling. Haha Elder Jensen and Hancock got called to be our zone leaders, my companion is the new district leader, and for me... ONLINE COORDINATOR! Hahahahahahahaha pretty sure since I was the only one left they just had to make something up so I didn't feel bad. Apparently, I have to help the new districts log into TALL, which is a program on the computer to help teach us Spanish. I even had to stand up in Sacrament meeting for it.. our new zone leaders stand up, our new district leader stand up, and now our online coordinator! Hahaha the guys in my zone have a lot of fun with it.. I love the district that got here a week before us! I'm way cool with all of them and we always play dunk ball when we get back to the residence. It kind of sucks that they leave for Mexico this Monday. Last week on Tuesday, we went early to go do choir. We got there about 10 minutes early and it was already full! What a joke.. way too many missionaries here. We are probably going to try again today. Guess what? I get to be here in the MTC for Easter and for general conference? Not going to lie that's pretty cool! On Sunday, my district has been asked to pass the sacrament at an MTC wide sacrament meeting. Apparently, it will be the largest sacrament meeting in church history. I don't know if that's true but that's what we've been told. There will be an apostle there, and after either passing or blessing the sacrament, I get front row! I'm pretty excited about that.. we have no idea who the speaker will be. Unfortunately last week, it wasn't Holland. I'll let you guys know who comes to speak to us on Sunday though! The Spanish is still coming along! It'll be a lot of hard work, and the biggest problem I have right now is just remembering all the conjugations. I'm one of the better ones in my district, but my teacher said we are the fastest progressing district he has had. He said you guys are definitely ready for the field. Now I know I'll get there and have no idea what's going on, but oh well! On Sunday we were able to go to a devotional and then it was movie night. We weren't able to make it into the actualy devotional because it was full. We had to go to one of the 5 overflow rooms. It was still good however. Afterwards we went to the gym and watched a movie about Christ coming, his atonement, and the resurrection. I felt the Spirit super strong while watching it. The girls in my district, uggggggggh. I was talking to Elder Hancock the other day and I guess our teacher has had so many complaints in his reviews to the Branch President. Seriously I don't know how to explain her but oh my gosh she makes me want to bang my head into 2 stop signs, kick a cat, and punch my kneecap. Yes you read that right. I really only like 2 of the girls in my district. Hermana Bell and Hermana Mergenthaler. Bell is the cute from Alta in Weston Farnsworth's ward. Mergenthaler is the one from Montana who is 21 years old. They are heading to Argentina but they haven't received their visas. A guy is supposed to come and take their fingerprints, but he hasn't yet. At this point, it will be too late. They won't even be able to leave the state until he comes. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with a visa! Elder Jensen and I were talking to them yesterday at lunch and they feel the same away about all the other girls. It is unbelievable how many questions the other girls can ask one after the other, making it so incredibly hard to learn. Jensen and I always joke about how we would be fluent in Spanish if it wasn't for them. Also we've had to give like 10 blessings already. Not trying to be rude, but they'll sneeze and ask us for a blessing. I know it's a good opportunity for us to exercise our priesthood, but I feel like they ask us just for fun. Also last week, we were with our teacher and we had to go down 2 floors. I can't remember if I already told you guys this story.. anyways our teacher took us to the elevator so we could get there quicker. 3 of the girls got so butthurt because missionaries aren't supposed to use the elevator. My teacher was like wow are you serious? Haha it's so annoying. I know I'll definitely miss some parts of the MTC and should be careful what I wish for, but I have a feeling once I'm adjusted to the culture I'll like Chile a lot more. I want to actually help real people instead of these progressive investigators that my teachers play! The lessons are getting a little easier now.. they were super stressful at first because I had to find out how to say everything. I now know a lot more so I can outline it in English and translate as I go. I still say a lot of words wrong but that's okay! I've only been here 4 weeks :) Last night we were able to do TRC's. That's where members come and volunteer, and it's like a hometeaching visit. We had to teach these 2 girls for 40 minutes in Spanish. We taught her about revelation through the Book of Mormon. One was a native from Peru (actually pretty cute), and the other was in her 4th year of learning Spanish. The one from Peru actually helped us quite a bit so it was pretty cool. Last week at TRC's was awful! We had a middle aged man from Peru that spoke sooooo fast. And he pretty much talked the whole time. He wouldn't even let us teach him! It was good though because we got to see how fast people will talk once we get to Chile! That's one part I'm not excited for haha.  Last Tuesday I was able to go the the temple and do initiatories. It was the first time I was able to go back and do those. We quickly got done with our first set, so we did 2!  It took a while because I had a guy that was training. Let me know how working at the temple goes! That will be pretty cool for you guys. While I've been here, I've memorized the purpose of a missionary and the first vision in Spanish! Our teacher challenged us to do it, and I did it! I had them both memorized within the first week. People in our district are still struggling to memorize them. I don't know how to change this computer to a Spanish keyboard, so the words will be wrong and have no accent marks or whatever. So don't think I'm that retarded! Here is the first vision: Vi una columna de luz, mas brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza. Y esta luz gradualmente descendio hasta descansar sobre mi. Al reposar sobre mi la luz, vi en el aire arriba de mi a dos Personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripcion. Uno de ellos me hablo, llamandome por mi nombre y dijo, senalando al otro, este es mi hijo amado: Escuchalo! This is so powerful when you recite it during one of your lessons! Anyways hopefully I got that all right or I'm going to look like an idiot :) So on Wednesday I get to host! Elder Hancock's twin is coming in that day, so he's going to try and pick him up. Kayla comes in at 1:30.. hmm I'll try and be out there and see if I can talk to her. Obviously I can't host her but it would be cool to see her. Jeremy, Elder Jensen had an extra bracket for me so I filled it out the other day. I was mad because I heard about Georgetown losing before I had a chane to fill it out. I still put them going to the Sweet 16 though. That's crazy a 15 seed beat them! I also heard the 15 seed advanced to the Sweet 16. Wow that's so sick. You can still send me a bracket and I'll fill it out and send it back so you can see how well I did! I had Gonzaga in the championship and I heard they lost too. March Madness is so crazy! I definitely do miss watching that.. it was one of my favorite parts of the year. The Jazz sound like they're doing horrible. I wonder what players will be leaving after this year. Dad, you said Schulz was playing pretty well. Is he doing better than Wilson? And what have you heard about Brandon Cox? I'm glad Dennis Erickson promised a faster paced offense. I think that will help a lot. Ugh, I'm going to miss football so much. Like seriously. Mom, you can send my package whenever. I can't really think of anything specific I really need. An Easter package would be great. Thanks so much I love you! Maybe another package or 2 of those mints we like. If the shoes are too big of a hassle, don't worry about them. I'm only here for 2 weeks and I'll be sending them back. It's totally up to you! Those pringes were so good.. I don't think they have the sour cream & onion ones in the bookstore though :( I  ordered 2 Chile shirts from the bookstore. I will be sending one back that you guys can see and just hold onto for when I get back. I've heard from some people that Grandma is doing better, and from some others that she hasn't been. Hopefully she will be okay and recover from that fall! Let me know what she is going to be doing after the care center depending on the Medicare or whatever. Heather, I loved the pictures of the baby! The 3D one was awesome. Those are my kind of ultrasounds. Good luck with sleeping! I know I wouldn't be able to get any sleep if my belly was gigantic ;) I laughed when I read the story about Carter and the cave! I can totally see him pretending to go on a bear hunt and going into the cave. Tip toe, tip toe, tip toe! Hahaha so funny. I'm glad he likes his book and remembers me :) 2 nights ago I had a dream that we all went to Trevor & Heather's house for some reason. I saw Teagan, picked him up, and he said quietly "I miss you." It made me so sad! Then he proceeded to get mad at me for leaving him, but oh well! I woke up right after that and I was so sad. Funny how dreams can do that to you. Anyways I should probably go so I can send you guys some pictures! I took quite a few yesterday so hopefully they will send. Did they work last time? Nobody let me know so I will try the same thing I did last week. Thank you guys for all the letters and everything that you guys do for me! I seriously have the best family and I love you guys so much! And now I leave you with Tweety Bird's Seeds of Wisdom: Does anybody else get frustrated while eating Pringles? The whole time I'm eating them, I'm just so concerned about my hand fitting inside the can to grab some more Pringles. Has anyone ever thought about making a can like a deodorant stick? The bottom should have a twisting mechanism to push the chips to the top of the can. If anyone would like to write a letter to Pringles Incorporated and share with them this wonderful and thoughtful idea, it would be much appreciated. If they like the idea so much as to incorporate it into their cans, please share your millions of dollars you receive from the company with me because this was my wondeful insight to the world. Hasta luego familia!