1st Week in Chile

Hola Everyone!

Well by now you have recieved the letter and picture that President King sent. I think? Well this has been the most eventful week of my entire life. I have traveled by every means imaginable. Planes, metro, colectivos, taxis, walking, bus, members cars, non members cars...you name it. But first you should know that I am in an area south of downtown Santiago. It is called San Joaquin. My sector is called Carlos Valdovino 1. (there are 2 carlos valdovinos). My pension is located at Mozart 225 and Haydn. Its like a 4 story apartment complex. Ghettoooo. But it already feels like home. It´s dirtier then the worst motel you´ve ever seen. Pics will explain. Pretty sure Im going to get cancer from the mold. its everywhere. My companion is named Elder Martinez. He was born in Guatamala and moved to Utah when he was 9. He speaks both fluent English and Spanish. What a HUGE blessing. He is great. I like to think of him as payoff for having dealt with some less than stellar comps in the MTC. Anyway our area is kind of in the middle as far as ghetto or nice goes. A mansion here is the equivalent of a town home in utah. The people are so nice its unbelievable. One thing I didnt prepare myself for was all the trash. Its everywhere. Streets, parks. EVERYWHERE. The other thing I didn´t think about is dogs. I see upwards of 150 stray dogs a day. They just wander the streets, lay in the middle of the street, poop everywhere. People hang their garbage on trees so the dogs can´t get it. And I haven´t seen a single dog that has been fixed. Apparently its not all the rage down here. Yes, I have been charged by dogs. No, I wasn´t bitten. You just pretend to pick up a rock and they will cheese it. But if he had come another 3 feet he wouldve met the toe of my eccos. The other thing I have quickly become accustomed to are drunks. They just wander and swing their bottles around. Shout bad things. The only thing more common then a drunk is a crazy drunk. It´s all fun though. The dust/pollution here is terrible. My body hasnt adjust so i´m always sneezing or coughing. I have been given drugs though by like 4 different people (members and non members). Thats how nice they are. Everyone here feeds you. Thats their way of showing there love. Every door you enter you are guaranteed at least a bebida-wether you want it or not. Often its some sort of fruit, pan, or other treat. I eat almuerzo(lunch and their biggest meal) with members everyday except pday. I have already had quite a variety. Arroz con pollo. Pastel de papas. steak with tatoes. The meat was so rare it left a big ole pool of blood on my plate. I ate it with a smile but was nervous for later that night. I have had completos like 4 or 5 times. The italiano is AMAZING. If you can go to the chilean deli and get one italiano, do it. Then again it might not be that authentic. I went grocery shopping my second day(and I´m going when I finish writing this). It was crazy. My mind wasn´t working because I hadnt slept in like 48 hours so I was a zombie. I bought leche unrefridgerated(in box....weird), zucaritas(frosted flakes) and all the essentials. I love the food here with the exception of tomatoes. Not my favorite. But other than that I have had some delicious stuff. Especially the fruit. Lemons grow right outside our window. Little apricot like things grow everywhere that we pick and eat while working. Oranges are yummy. This whole email is scatter brained and random but that is because I could tell you a million things. One thing I need to tell Matt Dorius is that I met a convert of Adam Allen. SOOOOO COOLL. They are a great family. If he wants to know their last name is Russ. They have pics of him because he is one of "their missionaries". We taught them last night about the importance of reading the scriptures. Despite having been members for years we just explained to the Mom the difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. That is one thing I have noticed down here. As a missionary, I probably know more about the Gospel then the bishop. It´s strange. Another thing I now fully understand is how big a problem inactivity is. Our ward has 800 members on the list. This week we set a record for attendance with 102. Usually its around 90. I take credit for the boost in numbers this week. Not that I did anything. The people just want to come see the giant gringo who they see wandering the streets. The inactivity is due to laziness, people moving, and bad missionaries in the past. In 1997 there was a TERRIBLE case of midnight baptisms. Ask around if you don´t know what that means. Other terrible things happened that caused numbers to be big but fake and inflated. Most of the people who got baptized in 1997 are nowhere to be found. Many just vaguely remember getting baptized. It´s sad. So thats where we come in. We spent a lot of our time this past week teaching members that aren´t active because they don´t know anything. Well I could go on and on and on about the new things I have experienced this week but i´ll sure share a few more. One-driving here is crazy. They go really fast and don´t brake til the last second. They also don´t have laws as far as I can tell. Strangely its not scary to drive in colectivos or any other method though. Metros are packed. Think of the busiest metro we got in back east and then double it. Its fun. and dirty. Sunday-yesterday was great. There is no one here who can play the piano, so the ward sings acapella. Its funny. Also, I had to present myself in front of the whole ward during sacrament meeting. That was fun. Chilenos lloooovveee a gringo. Funny words- Chileans have a ton of weird words. po, ca chi, bacan, yaaaaa(like canadians), and many more. At times I understand everything people say to me. Then when a flitee(gangsta) says something I hear jibberish. I have learned more in the past week about the language then the MTC could have ever taught me. Well I have only 15 more mintues and I need to attach pics to this. So-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! Its a big year for you! I hope Hawaii was a pretty good birthday present. I want to send you something but don´t know how. And it´d be expensive. I will eventually. Anyways I hope you have a great B-day.

I just remembered something! I still need to approve it with President King, but it should be okay. I want to have you guys send my slackline. It would be perfect for p days. I love futbol and all, but the latins who I serve with, along with all the niños will LOVE it. Kids are easily amused. So if I get the green light this week can you send it to me?

Well I can´t even begin to tell you how much I love this place. Thank you for being supportive and holding fast to the rod. Culture shock lasted all of 2 hours, and now I´m simply in love with these people. They are kind, understanding, willing to listen(sometimes), and love the Lord. One thing I testified of during my presentation to the ward was that this gospel is the same everywhere. It really is. Nothing has blessed my life more than knowing that there is a Heavenly Father that loves me and everyone other person on the face of this earth. We are so blessed to know he has a plan for us. I´m excited to hear from all of you and answer your questions.

-Charlie