Sept 20 2010

Im down here in Concepcion and there are barely anyone in the streets and everything is closed pretty much! It is the 200th year anniversary for Chile and so its a four day weekend for a lot of people. So, the work as been a little slow lately but we are still keeping busy working!

We have been eating a whole lot of empanadas. Its fried bread with meat and onions and atleast one olive inside. They are pretty good but just like anything, too much of a good thing turns out to be a bad thing! So, I think I have had enough empanadas for awhile. There is this one game that they play here. The older men are big on it but anyone can play. What there is, is a square of dirt with wood around it and small heavy disks. The point of the game is to throw the disks as close to a line of string going through the middle of the dirt. You stand about 30 feet away or more and see who gets closest! It doesnt sound like the most amazing and fun filled game in the world but its actually a lot of fun when people get into it.

We went to the ward party and they danced "quaka". Im not sure how you spell it but for the most part eveything in Spanish is said how its spelled! But anyway, this dance is the national dance. Of course missionaries cant dance but we had a lot of fun watching. Again, I love this ward so much. Ive learned so much from them and they are amazing to the missionaries that come through there.

I was reading in 2 Nephi 2 the other day and that chapter is packed with doctrine and amazing scriptures of agency and the necessity of the fall of Adam and Eve. I have a lot of it highlighted but there was one verse that wasnt. I looked at it saying that I was going to apply it in some way because its one of the only ones I hadnt marked or had notes for. It is verse 19 and it says that "fueron echados del jardin de Eden, para cultivar la tierra." (Only have my Spanish scriptures right now!) But it pretty much says that Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden to till the Earth. I thought about it for a second and realized something. "To till the Earth" means to work and that really is our purpose here on Earth. We are to work to learn and to become like Our Heavenly Father, who is a perfect a ressurrected being. We have to work for our families so that we can have a place of learning. We have to work to study about the world around us. And we can work in many different manners. So, relaxing with our family and friends is not bad at all in any way, in fact that is what Our Heavenly Father wants us to do- to enjoy our family and friends! But, after we have done that, we should take it as time that we used to rest from our labors and we should have more desire to work hard the next day. So, two of our main purposes here on Earth is to gain a body and to learn to be like God, which requires much work.

Ill attach a few pictures! I love yall!

Elder Gregory

(Ill do the pictures later when Im on a computer in my sector.)