Im replacing one of my friends from the MTC and he left a lot of really good investigators. The ward is great and really friendly. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and it was a lot of testimonies of people saying bye to a future elder who is leaving tomorrow for his mission! He lives right down the street from us and he is a really good person with a smile always on his face. Its awesome to have a good, LDS family a few houses away from where we live. I introduced myself in sacrament and I could just remember 6 months ago when I arrived in Chile and how petrified I was to do it in my first ward! Its nice to have a fresh start and bring what I learned from my last sector and apply it to my new sector.
My companion is awesome. He doesnt know any English so its spanish all day, everyday. I have probably learned more spanish in this past week than I had learned in the six weeks before. Its all about filling up my agenda each day with words that I hear that I have to look up the meaning to once we get to the house, asking my companion questions, having him correct me, and my grammer book! Im starting to break out of that missionary vocabulary and be able to speak about other topics and it feels great! My companion is really patient with me and he cracks me up. Hes really friendly with everybody and can find something to talk about with everyone and make them laugh. Its hard to explain why, but its different living with a latino but like I said, I enjoy it! For example, Ive been snoring lately a little bit so in the middle of the night I got a few wacks with a pillow! I asked him what was up in the morning and apoligized for snoring and he just laughed about it and wasnt mad at all. It cracks me up how forward he is and how easy going and forgiving he is too.
The sector that I am in is a little ¨flite¨ as they say here. (That is a name for the gangsters here and it comes from the kind of shoe, nike flights!) I really havent seen too much but its known throughout the mission as one of the more dangerous sectors, I guess. We saw a fight outside the church one day with a guy with a 2 by 4, wacking someone who was curled up in a ball against a fence. They got up and the guy getting beat up ran away but its really nothing to be worried about because they dont mess with us at all. The Lord promised us safety as long as we are worthy and follow the guidance of the Spirit so there is nothing to worry about even for a second!
If I havent showed it, I really am enjoying my new sector! Im learning a lot and I feel like we are doing some really good work.
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
