First Email From Chile

HOLA!

Okay, so everything here is new to me. It smells and feels like camping. EVERYTHING is in Spanish, everyone speaks Spanish, I don´t understand most a lot of what they say (although it´s getting better) I´m pretty sure they don´t understand a lot of what I say, My companion is from Panama so she does´t speak English... My life is almost opposite what it used to be... and I couldn't feel more at home! I LOVE IT HERE! I love the people! They are soooo sweet! And they are all patient with me and tell me how great my Spanish is (liars ha ha) and believe it or not, I´m one of the taller people here! Ha ha! That´s new! :) They also tell me that I´m going to get fat. Ha ha. It seems like they´re determined on making it happen. They´re funny here. My companion is AWESOME! She´s from Panama and she is such a sweetheart! And we are actually able to communicate okay. :) She speaks really clear Spanish and oh my gosh, there never was a better missionary. You should see the way she teaches! She´s so awesome! She´s a great example for me to learn from! I love her! In our house we have a wood furnace. :) Last night we took video of me chopping the wood and making the fire. ha ha! Or at least me trying and Hermana Valdez laughing at me and then saying "se que puede!" I know you can do it. Ha ha! It´s pretty cold here but we just layer up and we´re fine. :) Oh man, I have so many things I want to tell you about but I don´t know if I have time here but I´ll write it in a letter. I´m not sure how the mail works yet but I´ll send one off as soon as i can.
There are dogs EVERYWHERE! Ha ha and they are ALWAYS barking! Bobby would HATE it here! ha ha there was this one dog that was chasing another one... around a corner... ha ha! Yep, his back legs slipped from under him and he skidded around the corner rather than running. ha ha! Just like Riley. Ha ha. I thought dad would get a kick out of that. And there are cats here too. I saw one cat that was as big as Charley. Crazy! Oh, and a lot of the dogs here act like Charley. :) Tail between their legs... always looking like they are in trouble. :)
We are teaching a girl named Yeni (Jenny) Who has a baptismal date set for next Saturday. Yay! We are teaching a few other people too, I´m still trying to get a grip on where they are exactly. They are all great people. There is one guy that we are teaching later today named José that I´m looking forward to teaching. We knocked on his door and he didn't have time right then but he was eager to hear more so we´re going back today. When I said I was from America he said he´s been to San Fransisco. :) He was really excited about it too. Ha ha! We taught the first lesson the other night. The Lord loosened my tongue and it was a great lesson. I was able to do the opening, the closing, and also share the first vision. They actually understood me and they were listening to every word. It was SO cool! I was able to look into their eyes while I shared it and you could see that they were feeling it. Oh my gosh! This is totally where I belong! I love teaching the gospel and feeling that spirit constantly! It´s great! And the language will come slowly but surely. I understand more every day and´I´m able to speak a little better too.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND DALLIN!!!

Hayley?! Following the tradition of the Family huh? Ha ha. Your first accident. (Hopefully your last) How do you feel? Scary huh! I hate that feeling. But it sounds like everything worked out well.
I loved the story about Dallin and Bryan's video and how the crowd loves then so much! It´s no surprise! I totally want to see that video! It sounds hilarious!
Lets see... my first thoughts on entering Chile? Something like this... "What? I´m in Chile?" Ha ha. I think I was really tired and really in shock ha ha. Sometimes I still son´t believe it. Okay, so i´m in a little Internet shop and every single song that they have played has been in English. They had... what´s their name? Thompson? No se. Also, Kelly Clarkson Ace of base. ha ha! There was a man wearing a shirt the other night that said, "Got Jesus?" I´m pretty sure he had no idea what it said. But i found it funny because when we tried to contact him we barely said hola before he was like "No no no. Soy Catholico." ha ha okay, "Got Jesus?" Actually yes we do. And We´d like to share with you... No no no, Soy Catholico. Ha ha. Oh well.
The bread here is FABULOUS! I love it! I haven´t eaten anything here that I didn't like.. okay, I lied. Yesterday we had lunch at a members house and she gave us herbal tea... not my favorite. but I drank it. :) It made me think of Maxine Grimm. Didn't she give us that once?
The people here talk so fast! It´s nuts! Church was interesting. I liked it though. It was testimony meeting and it was really cool to hear all the members bear their testimony. :) The spirit was so strong. They had me bear my testimony first. The people here have a really hard time saying my name. Ha ha! one brother finally decided just to call me Hermana Burn. ha ha.
Our Mamita (the one who washes our clothes and feeds us lunch) Is not a member. Her live in boyfriend is not active but they say they are getting married in December so we´re hoping that they are not lying. They have two kids who are adorable. They told me to sing for them the other night so I sang How Great Thou Art. Our Mamita fell in love with it and kept humming it and marked it in her hymnbook. She is so cute. We had family night last night with an incredible family. Two of there kids gave lessons which were great. They have a great spirit in their home. They are a special Family!
We have an investigator Sebastian who wants to get baptized but his mom is inactive so we have to get her to Church before he can be baptized. She´s awesome and I think she´ll come around. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them the other day. (my favorite) And I was able to share my testimony about the atonement. I told about how when Christ heals the leper the leper says "I am clean. I am Clean" And I said that we can also become Clean and whole through our faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement. It was a good lesson. My companion is such a good teacher.
The biggest meal here is lunch. Our mamita makes that for us. At home we have other food to make in the morning and night. Just simple stuff like turkey sandwiches (we have a microwave but no toaster oven) :) And I have Spongebob Squarepants Coco puffs. Ha ha! (Bob Esponja) Also, the other day I had Flan. Ha ha! I thought of Hayley.
Well, I´d better go but I love you! Can you forward this to Morgan? I´m only allowed to email you guys. :) I LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chow

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