Hey Dad
Good questions this week......here's the answers-
Are your Zone and Mission conferences all in Spanish?
All conferences are done in Spanish. President always speaks in Spanish. The idea is that we are a Spanish speaking mission, therefore that is the language we use. If there are greenies that are there, and really don't understand, sometimes(one time that I can remember), a missionary will take a little group of new missionaries to the back of the Chapel and translate for them. That only happened during the Christmas activity which is when Elder Corbridge came and spoke for like 5 straight hours. Other than that, if a latin wants to learn English, it is up to him. Their are Elders, like a really really cool Chileno elder I know, who have mastered English here in the mission. He just asked his gringo companions to always speak in English to him when they are in the house, and on P-day. All latins are also provided with English language materials....few use them.
How are the Elders from your MTC group doing?
They are all doing good from my group. Some better than others with the language. Me and Demeyer from Roy, UT are the first 2 senior comps, but that doesn't mean anything
Elder Hall...Senior comp soon? Could be. Not sure.
Did you receive a package in the mail?
YES!!! I got moms package with a couple of ties and candy! THANKS MOM. The ties are sweeeeeetttt
How's your Spanish? Do you get feedback from members or missionaries?
Spanish is good. I dont have any problems. I am just trying to build a bigger vocabulary and get a better accent. I usually get good compliments though. Feedback? nah. I always ask for it but people never tell me. In my last sector with Elder Barlow and again here, some members always point out which of the 2 missionaries speaks better. Its really awkward.
Is Hometeaching happening in your sector?
Hometeaching? No. For the most part no. It is dependent on the ward though. My last ward....absolutely not. Here in Los Heroes they do it, but not everyone.
Any stigmas attached to the gringo elders ?
Resentment from members? Nah. Maybe a few, but not usually. The stigma is that gringos are ¨frio¨....which means they are cold and stiff and not as warm and friendly as latins. They always find out shortly after that it is in fact the opposite. Everything a chileno knows about gringos comes from american television, which they watch with subtitles or voice dubs. So when they see a guy driving the strip of Las Vegas, they assume that all of America is like that. Hence, all gringos are ¨rich¨
Are there any young men in your sector preparing to serve FT missions?
There are 4 that I know of that are preparing. None of them are really close though. There is 1 kid who is 19 but I dont know if he has any plans to serve.
What is an average # of contacts you make per week?
Contacts vary. Here we do a lot more than we did in Carlos Valdovinos. This week we did about 45. Thats pretty few. President just came out with an announcement that says the mission standard of excellence is 140 every week. The worldwide standard is 77. He is doing it because he doesn't feel that our mission was doing sufficient, because all the other missions in Chile have a standard of 140. To me its a little ridiculous. I kinda feel he changed it just because everyone else did. But, the idea is still the same. We need to do more contacts. Back when the standard of excellence was 77, nobody was getting it. Nobody was even getting close. Now that its 140, well you can imagine. If you have 5 appointments set for the day, the possibility of doing 20 contacts in between that time is non existent.
Are you allowed to teach English classes?
Yes we can teach English. I didn't really want to do it. But, right now we have 3 or more investigators that would like it, and a LOT of members that would like it. It drives me crazy that every week we get pestered by members to teach them English. I didn't come here to teach English. If the members do what you are supposed to be doing, and find us some investigators and come with us to teach them, then maybe we will teach English. I am thinking about starting classes and just telling the members they can only come if they bring a non member.
Okay I have answered them all. Say hi to Ian for me. I miss that little dude. I bet he is a riot now that he figured out how to talk. Enjoy planting the garden and mowing the lawn. I smelled freshly cut grass for the first time in 8 months the other day. It reminded me of you.
Hey Mom!
I literally have no time, so I just wanted to thank you for writing.
Yes. I am cold. but I still sweat in the middle of the day. We haven't been that busy teaching, because every stinkin' appointment we have falls through. We walk miles to the house and the people tell us they are busy or something. PSH. We are starting a big search this week for new investigators. But still we had some great lessons.
love
Elder Van Dyke
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