Tough Week

 

McKay and His Sweet Mamita, Rosita

March 18, 2013

Hola,

Hey! How are you doing, mama? I hope things are going well for you. You sounded pretty wiped out in your email. Hopefully you, Adrienne, and Kashayla have all recovered from the big week last week. That is so awesome that Adrienne and the baby are doing well! I was thinking about them last week. I told anyone who would listen that my sister was having a baby. It is kind of a weird thought that I won´t meet the baby until she is almost two years old. That makes it feel like I will be here for a really long time.


We had another tough week here in Llanquihue. People pretty much hate us. They have been very rude to us lately. It is sometimes a real struggle to find any love in my heart for these people when they are all so rude to us. I don´t really know why they don´t like us. We always stop and offer to help people chop their firewood and things like that. They usually yell at us and tell us to go away. People see us coming and they immediately cross the street or pull out their phones and start ¨talking¨ to someone. All of the niños yell swear words at us in English. The other day they started following us and throwing rocks at us. We had some... interesting people offer us some marijuana the other day. The borrachos (drunkards) are always harassing us and asking us if we believe that Joseph Smith will save us. On two different occasions, some of our fliete (gangster) "friends" pulled out their switch blades on us. Haha. That one probably scares you to death. Don´t worry mama, I smiled at them and offered to teach them about the Book of Mormon. They laughed and put their knives away. They are jovenes (teenagers) that are just looking to have fun and mess with the missionaries. They really aren´t anything to worry about. I am at least a foot taller than all of them. Haha. I always smile at them and am friendly with them, but Elder Brindley is really scared of them. To make matters worse, all of the people who were looking promising last week pretty much don´t want anything to do with us anymore. All of our teaching appointments fell through. We probably are walking 15 miles a day now because we pretty much knock doors from 3-9:30 because we don´t have people to teach. And to top it all off, the dogs have definitely been more aggressive with us lately. They always try to bite us. I am more afraid of the dogs than I am of the flietes. The dogs hunt in packs. I witnessed a pack of dogs catch a cat and rip it to shreds. I also saw a pack of dogs catch a puppy and start eating it. Elder Brindley and I went over and threw rocks at the dogs to try and save the puppy. They had ripped off one of its ears and one of its legs. The dogs, of course, proceeded to chase us. Good thing I played baseball for a few years, because I definitely got them good with some of the rocks.


Even though last week was super tough, I am still pressing on. I am doing what I am supposed to and working really hard to try and be a good missionary. Last week was the hardest week in Chile so far. Seriously, nothing went right at all. But it is okay. This is a learning experience. I talked with my zone leaders on the phone and they gave me some good advice. They told me that I will look back and be grateful for these cambios acá en Llanquihue. They said that if I can make it through this, I can make it through anything. I am learning how to rebuild a sector, which is the hardest thing to do here. So… I am grateful. And I am happy to be here. I am learning a ton and progressing a lot. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. I don´t know if what I am doing has blessed anyone else´s life yet, but it has definitely blessed my life; tremendously.


The picture is of me with Mamita! I told her that my Mamá wanted to meet her. She told me to send her love to you and to say that she is taking care of you beautiful baby. (Mamita Rosita is very intrigued by the way that I look. She is always telling me how beautiful I am. Haha. I think it is because I look super different from everyone here because of my height and my skin color. I stick out quite a bit.)


Anyway, gotta run!


Elder Warren


Makayla-- your letters are in the mail! I wish you luck with the whole BYU thing. You can do it! Keep a positive attitude. Attitude and effort is everything! I love you!