Finally a Normal Week (As normal as it gets, I guess)

First full week in Entre Lagos in the record books.  We have had lots of tiny miracles happen that are starting to lead to bigger and bigger miracles.  Quote of the week: "God is pretty good at being God." -Aidan Rich

Let´s start with a few crazy things and answering a few questions. Elder Petrovelli is fine and is still with Elder Perkins. They are now in Puerto Montt I believe. There are four new Elders in Rio Negro. Chileans know about Halloween, but it is pretty lame here. Mostly egging houses. We also watched our little guardian dog ´Gus´get hit by a bus while protecting us. Worst. Day. Of. My. Life. However, I built him a bed under a tree and we visit him and feed him daily. Such a good dog. And now for the rest of the week:

First off, it is so freaking hard to preach in an area you know absolutely nothing about where you are literally just dropped off with a list of names who are ¨a good idea to visit¨ and then just let loose to go find and teach them all. However, this is where the miracles start coming in. One of the guys in our ward drives us back and forth for lunch every day because it is so far to our mamita´s house. Out of no where he decides to introduce us to this less active family and one week later we are teaching their son who is not a member, is progressing rapidly, and already had a testimony of the Book of Mormon when we found him. Yeah. Miracle.

We also had another miracle Saturday that led to several more. The streets here are super confusing and the numbering is not in any order, so it has been almost impossible to find people. We were getting ready to leave the house as usual when all of the sudden Holt called for an audible in our plans. We canceled our first two goals for the day and headed for the cemetary. It was the national day of the dead and he figured we could go and talk to people about the plan of salvation as they mourn their dead family members. We didn´t have much luck and most people just yelled at us or gave us dirty looks for being their or sent the drunk guys to hassle us. (Their favorite thing. They think it is so funny)

We were about to leave when I all of the sudden had the urge to talk to this guy. He was huge, both ways, had long dreads, headphones, and looked so freaking scary and intimidating. I pointed him out to Holt who was hesitant as well, but we just figured God knew best and went for it. He smiled and hugged us as soon as we got to him and said ¨I was wondering when you would talk to me!¨ He has been good friends with all the missionaries and told us to come over about 4 days later. The next day we were walking around aimlessly trying to talk to people and find houses when we heard a whistle. It was Gustavo, who invited us into his house to meet his super sweet wife and daughter. We talked for a while and it turns out he knows all the people the previous missionaries were teaching and planning on teaching, where they live, and the plans the elders had for them. Yeah. Miracle.

He helped us find all of them and we now have a small teaching pool. He has also accepted to take us to his church, as he is not of our faith, so we can learn about and understand other religions. He is also letting us teach him and his only condition is we have to have a family home evening with him once a week to play ping pong, talk religion, play guitar, and watch the Chile games. All of which we have permission to do. Yeah. Miracle.

That is my challenge for all of us this week. Let us try to be more like Gustavo. Let us not look at people as Mormon and non-Mormon, black or white, good or bad. Let us instead look at everyone as brothers and sisters in Christ, united in the same pursuit: Eternal happiness through salvation. So if the Jehovah´s witnesses come by, invite them in. Love them and talk to them. Learn about them and understand them. If everyone was like Gustavo, who again IS NOT OF OUR FAITH yet IS HELPING THE MORMON MISSIONARIES to spread happiness, the world would be near perfect. No contention. No misunderstanding. No unhappiness. Let us be better as a whole.

I love you all. So very much. Each one of you.

Love,

Elder Rich

¨I may not be my brother´s keeper, but I am my brother´s brother.¨ 

-Elder Jeffery R. Holland

¨With all that we have heard, with all that we now have, with all righteousness, with all diligence, let us be better than before.¨ 

-President Thomas S. Monson

First view of Entre Lagos

We serve until we bleed.  That's just how it is.

Service project working in the garden.
(As Elder Rich's mother, I want you to know I sent that kid with work gloves!)

Some guy washing his car in the rain.  Only in Chile.

Three months in the field.  The St. George Temple just happened to be the temple on our calendar for this month.

It made me a little homesick...well maybe more than a little.

MonkeyBalls.  Chileans love their MonkeyBalls!

Gustavo and his wife.

We live with a member and this is her little baby boy.  He is so dang cute and always happy.  I made those little angel wings for him.

Elder Holt snagged a pic of my studying.

This is a huge slide that we found and tried out today.

There's no sense in waiting to try it out until it stops raining.  It never stops raining.

Beautiful Lake Puyehue

All Dogs Go to Heaven

It is crazy to think I have been here for so long! Almost two months. It went so fast and I feel like I just started my mission yesterday. There is so much to do and never enough time. This week I did not have any angel visitations but a lot of really cool smaller things happened.

Last Tuesday after we were done emailing we taught the family of our mamita and her husband is not a member. He is friendly enough but is kind of a manly man and enjoys tormenting me in Spanish and asking hard questions about the gospel. It is kind of fun but hard. I was teaching mamita and her son Seba who is about to serve a mission about families when the husband asked a couple hard questions about faith. I began to answer as best I could in Spanish but he kept throwing it back at me and I lacked the Spanish and confidence to answer. I was intimidated. Finally I just flat out asked, What do you want? What do you want from me? Do you really want faith? Do you want to be happy? DO you even care? I was very rough and put my foot down. Everything went quiet then he asked me some genuine questions and I bore testimony of faith. Elder Holt didn´t say much as he is trying to help me learn Spanish by letting me struggle through stuff and when we left he stopped me. He said many missionaries have tried to teach him but no one had ever just snapped and taught him like that. He usually cracks missionaries not the other way around. I really want to keep teaching him.

We had a counsel the next two days in the next city so we had to stay at our zone leaders house. I slept in the most ghetto bed in the most ghetto one room apartment ever. I had a million flea bites when I woke up. Fun. When we finally got to come home after hours of meetings, we just collapsed in the apartment for an hour of study. Elder Holt was reading something powerful out of an old conference talk and had just finished a very powerful sentence when an earthquake hit. It was so funny because he said, ¨Baptism¨ and the whole house shook. I laughed so hard for so long my gut hurt. Elder Holt happens to be a prophet.

We also have a new investigator. Her name is Tamara and I am teaching her English. She has been studying English for three years and it originally started with her wanting to talk to gringos to get some help. We taught her the restoration in English in one lesson, read from the scriptures in English the next, and we have another lesson with her in about an hour. She is of a different religion and wasn’t looking for another one but every lesson she listens intently and soaks in every word. The Spirit is always so strong.

We have had lots of other lessons with other investigators, members, and less actives also but there is just too much to write.

I have gotten so many questions about Chile that I figured I would answer a few. It rains. ALL THE TIME. I chop wood, A LOT. Elder Holt is 19 and tons of fun. He is an awesome trainer and very, very patient and has a strong testimony. There are dogs everywhere and just as many drunk people. Some hate white people and Mormons and especially those who are both so we have had some fun experiences there. There are lots of people, especially people of other faiths, who don’t like us but lots and lots of people who are kind and very open about their religion.

A little more on being white here. The drunks are the same as the dogs in that some are good and some are bad. I have been chased by dogs a couple of times and kicked an angry German Shepard twice. Angry drunks are easier. If they come over to cuss you out, you just lean sideways. They know they are drunk and think they are the ones sideways and try to correct themselves and just fall over and pass out. There are also barachos (drunks guys) who come hug us and express their respect for us and our purpose. 

Yet, for the most part people leave me alone for three reasons:

1. We are white and of Christ. A lot of people are intimidated by us because we are white and the fact that they know we have Jesus on our side makes them not want to harm us in case they bring down the wrath of God.

2. I am bigger. Standard rule of thumb. If they are bigger, leave them alone. Elder Holt is like 6 foot 4. Two months of working out hard, 2 inches, and lots of good hearty food later I am 15 pounds bigger and also bigger than 99% of Chile. Most of the missionaries too. People walk around us which makes contacting a little difficult sometimes.

3. This reason is the coolest to me. Remember how I said there are good dogs and bad dogs? The mean ones chase and bite. But there are dogs who some how know we are missionaries. They follow us, usually at a small distance, and protect us. We always have at least one or two dogs behind us or right next to us at a time. They will bark at other people and be fighting, but when we walk by they get really quiet and fall into place. They don’t do anything unless someone yells something or a drunk comes towards us or someone gives us a dirty look then they growl and bark at those people. Crazy cool right? God has promised to protect us and apparently this is the way.

All in all, I love being a missionary. It is so much fun and I am learning so much. I am excited to see what the rest of my time here has. I am already a different person and I look forward to more change for the better. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Rich

Papito. Who I am finally getting through to with jokes and stuff like stealing his hat.

My protector

Missionary bodyguards

Ghetto apartment

Complimentary fleas included!