Elder Aidan Rich : Independence Day Proves Constraining

This week was a little slower than usual due to lots of traveling for meetings and holidays. We had a zone council Monday which required us to go into Osorno so we didn`t get a whole lot done that day besides a family home evening that night.

Tuesday, Elder Viñas of the Quorum of the Seventy visited and talked to us. It was all in Spanish so I understood pretty much none of it, but I still enjoyed it and felt the Spirit. He also cracked down on us which is always fun.

September 18th is the day of Chilean Independence which is a crazy celebration and there are Mormon-hating drunks all over the streets so we couldn`t go contacting or proselyting. We could go to members’ houses and to places we had set appointments. There were a lot of things yelled our way en route to people’s houses and the parts I could understand were pretty brutal. Deep breaths, self control.

That night Elder Holt got really sick so we just went to bed. The 19th is the same deal as the 18th as it is like the after party so we couldn`t go outside. Either way both Elder Holt and I were pretty sick. He had insanely bad abdominal cramps and I had the freaking flu, again. Elder Holt and I napped on the floor in front of the fire and after about an hour of that I couldn`t take it anymore. I don`t know why but I just had to do something. Anything. So I spent the next two and a half hours chopping wood, stacking all of it, cleaning the kitchen, making crepes for our little branch party the next day, and finally just did pushups to fight off the boredom.

I didn`t necessarily have a big spiritual experience but it just doesn`t feel right to ever be relaxing here in the field. I feel better and more in tune when I am actively doing something.

The reason the work was slow is all of our investigators were recently baptized so we don`t have any more, and we couldn`t contact due to meetings and drunk people so we had lots of family home evenings and did the reteaching for the recently baptized. I guess `slow` isn`t the right word there was just nothing new going on. However, I love our members so much and it doesn`t bother me to visit and share messages and get to know them better. The Spirit was very strong this week.

Yesterday I got to go eat lunch with the best cook in all of Rio Negro, Hermana Arriaza, who lives in the Campo (country) about 25 minutes from town with her family. It was soooo good, and after words we got to herd sheep and catch lambs. Ridiculously hard. Ridiculously fun.

I love everyone so much. I also love this beautiful place I get to call home. The people are really nice and for the most part, people are either respectful enough or intimidated enough to leave us alone. Keep in touch and always remember to send LOTS of pictures. I love them.

With much love,

Elder Rich