Hey yall. Chile is playing a soccer game in the world cup right now so its crazy around here. There are people just walking around with Chile flags and wearing Chile hats and tons of shops are closed. Chile hasnt made it to the world cup for a lot of years so its a huge deal. Its raining and its cold so its really different from the nice summer in Utah I was in last week!
Im still not really in the routine for a day in the field yet but things are becoming more familiar. I got to meet the ward yesterday and I gave a short introduction and shared my testimony. It was only like a minute long but thats all they asked me to be up there for. The ward is extremely friendly and they give a lot of support to the missionaries. My companion, Elder Davis, said that this ward is so strong as for a ward here in the Concepcion area. They give us a lot of references so thats so awesome to not have to knock on doors all day.
I never realized how little Spanish I knew until I got here! Its really humbling. For now, all I can really do is share my testimony about what Elder Davis teaches in lessons. Spanish isnt something Ill just learn in a week or two, its going to take some time. Having faith, listening hard, studying hard, and not being afraid of making a fool out of myself sometimes is all I can do now! A few people tease me a little bit about not knowing the language but its no big deal cause overall, everybody is really patient.
I havent been a witness to any amazing miracles as far as investigators and others coming unto Christ yet because its only been a few days but Ive already seen one that happend to me personally!-
We are blessed to be able to eat at a members home each day for lunch. Here in Chile, or for maybe all of South America, they have a small breakfast, small dinner, but their lunches are huge! Im not a huge eater so I knew it would be tough for me to finish the whole meal, beacuase you finish all of the food they give you to show respect. If you dont, they sort of get the idea that you didnt like it. The first day, we had a lunch at a members home that was really good. They gave us so much food it seemed like and I was stuffed to the max but after we walked out Elder Davis told me that we just had a smaller lunch compared to others. I was so stressed on how I was going to eat all of the food the next day again becuase that meal kept me full for a day! We got to the house the next day and I was just having faith that somehow Id finish all of it. We walked in to the house and ther was a pizza on the table that they gave us to take back to the house to have for lunch because they were busy that day and couldnt cook a meal. I was sooo relieved! The next day, members just brought us lunch because their house was torn up from the earthquake and again, I was able to just eat however much I wanted and didnt have to worry about finishing all of it! Elder Davis told me that its extremely rare for members to not have a full meal ready for us and that hes never had it happen twice in a row! The Lord blessed me big time. Now, hes blessed me with the ablility to eat all the food they give me! The past couple days Ive had no problem with finishing the meal.
The less actives and investigators that we are teaching are really friendly. Our top investigator, Micheal, is still praying to know if he should be baptized and still hasnt recieved an answer. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about that and if he finds it to be true, then he knows he should be baptized. The other investigators havent been progressing too much so we are going to be knocking on a lot of doors and trying to think of ways to find other new investigators. My sector is called Chiguyante (Chee-way-yan-te) and my area, ward, and stake is called Chiguyante also. Its about 20 minutes from Concepcion. (Chile almost just scored so its going crazy!)
An overview of the day real quick is like this-
7-Wake up and excersise
7 30- Breakfast and get ready
8 30- Personal study
9 30- Companion study
10 30- Language study
11- Go to work!
1 30- Lunch and Personal time
3 30- Back to work!
10-Plan for the next day
10 30- Personal
11- Go to bed
Everything is really cleaned up from the earthquake. There is on building down here in downtown that is really torn up but overall, they have done an amazing job cleaning up. We helped a member in the ward last Saturday with their house but they have done a whole lot of work on it already and it looks good.
Thats all I can really think of to share right now. Im going to try to leave a couple pictures that I took and hopefully it works.
Elder Gregory
Fam- Yall can send me emails on here cause I have like and hour to write emails. Its Fam only though. I get hand mail like once a week if I go to the office to get it. I miss yall a lot and every time I see a baby I think of my nieces!
Im still not really in the routine for a day in the field yet but things are becoming more familiar. I got to meet the ward yesterday and I gave a short introduction and shared my testimony. It was only like a minute long but thats all they asked me to be up there for. The ward is extremely friendly and they give a lot of support to the missionaries. My companion, Elder Davis, said that this ward is so strong as for a ward here in the Concepcion area. They give us a lot of references so thats so awesome to not have to knock on doors all day.
I never realized how little Spanish I knew until I got here! Its really humbling. For now, all I can really do is share my testimony about what Elder Davis teaches in lessons. Spanish isnt something Ill just learn in a week or two, its going to take some time. Having faith, listening hard, studying hard, and not being afraid of making a fool out of myself sometimes is all I can do now! A few people tease me a little bit about not knowing the language but its no big deal cause overall, everybody is really patient.
I havent been a witness to any amazing miracles as far as investigators and others coming unto Christ yet because its only been a few days but Ive already seen one that happend to me personally!-
We are blessed to be able to eat at a members home each day for lunch. Here in Chile, or for maybe all of South America, they have a small breakfast, small dinner, but their lunches are huge! Im not a huge eater so I knew it would be tough for me to finish the whole meal, beacuase you finish all of the food they give you to show respect. If you dont, they sort of get the idea that you didnt like it. The first day, we had a lunch at a members home that was really good. They gave us so much food it seemed like and I was stuffed to the max but after we walked out Elder Davis told me that we just had a smaller lunch compared to others. I was so stressed on how I was going to eat all of the food the next day again becuase that meal kept me full for a day! We got to the house the next day and I was just having faith that somehow Id finish all of it. We walked in to the house and ther was a pizza on the table that they gave us to take back to the house to have for lunch because they were busy that day and couldnt cook a meal. I was sooo relieved! The next day, members just brought us lunch because their house was torn up from the earthquake and again, I was able to just eat however much I wanted and didnt have to worry about finishing all of it! Elder Davis told me that its extremely rare for members to not have a full meal ready for us and that hes never had it happen twice in a row! The Lord blessed me big time. Now, hes blessed me with the ablility to eat all the food they give me! The past couple days Ive had no problem with finishing the meal.
The less actives and investigators that we are teaching are really friendly. Our top investigator, Micheal, is still praying to know if he should be baptized and still hasnt recieved an answer. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about that and if he finds it to be true, then he knows he should be baptized. The other investigators havent been progressing too much so we are going to be knocking on a lot of doors and trying to think of ways to find other new investigators. My sector is called Chiguyante (Chee-way-yan-te) and my area, ward, and stake is called Chiguyante also. Its about 20 minutes from Concepcion. (Chile almost just scored so its going crazy!)
An overview of the day real quick is like this-
7-Wake up and excersise
7 30- Breakfast and get ready
8 30- Personal study
9 30- Companion study
10 30- Language study
11- Go to work!
1 30- Lunch and Personal time
3 30- Back to work!
10-Plan for the next day
10 30- Personal
11- Go to bed
Everything is really cleaned up from the earthquake. There is on building down here in downtown that is really torn up but overall, they have done an amazing job cleaning up. We helped a member in the ward last Saturday with their house but they have done a whole lot of work on it already and it looks good.
Thats all I can really think of to share right now. Im going to try to leave a couple pictures that I took and hopefully it works.
Elder Gregory
Fam- Yall can send me emails on here cause I have like and hour to write emails. Its Fam only though. I get hand mail like once a week if I go to the office to get it. I miss yall a lot and every time I see a baby I think of my nieces!
