I love it here!

September 16, 2013



"Legit" Waterfall Villarrica, Chile September 16, 2013 10:30 A.M.

Mom,


I want to start off by telling you that I love it here. I would easily live in Villarrica or Pucòn my entire life. It’s a dream come true here; the most beautiful place in the entire world. It is an Outdoorsman's paradise here. There are volcanoes. There are mountains to climb. There is a lot to see. There is rafting…and hiking. We are up in the woods here. There are caves. There is a lake. There is the beach. It is all just wonderful here. Today we went hiking to see some freaking legit waterfalls. Oh man. I sent you a video in Drop box so that you could experience it. Ahh... I really like it here.


I wish I had four hours to write and tell you about everything that we have done in the last week. It was pretty busy. Not your typical week. First off, the 10th and 11th we could only visit members. We couldn't go out and work like normal because September 11th marked the 40 year anniversary of when the military took over the government in Chile. So every year there are a lot of terrorist acts and riots and stuff. So we stayed in the house most of the day and went to visit the members at night. That was different. I felt really uneasy sitting in the house. We just watched church movies and stuff.


We also went to do a ton of service this week! A ton. It was great. We went and did some tornado clean up in Villarrica. That was fun. Also, we went out to the campo with the Mamita to help her. She takes care of some cabins out there, and we went to mow the lawn!!!!!!!!!! Oh goodness. I had never been so happy in such a long time! Being able to mow the lawn made my whole life. I felt.... at home for the first time in almost ten months. It was a very beautiful experience. I just mowed and mowed for like four hours, and I sang and.... It was just wonderful. I loved it. Also, while I was mowing I did a lot of good thinking. I always liked mowing the lawn for that reason. All of my good ideas come to me while I am showering and mowing the lawn.


On Saturday, we went to Curarrehue with the District Villarrica (the equivalent of a stake service project).  It was great. 6 missionaries and 6 members. We got on a bus and went out into the middle of nowhere.  We helped a member of the church plow the earth?  Picar Tierra.  It was great. He raises wild boars!!!! Can you imagine that? I made a video talking to the wild boars as well. We ate disco, which is a way of cooking meat on a giant flying saucer looking thing.


Later on Saturday, we went to an investigators house and made empanadas. They were really good! I ate way too many that day. She is the one who speaks English. We taught her a lesson as well. She is progressing, which is very good. She is such a nice lady (don’t worry mom, we watch out for snakes here in the mission. By snakes, I mean women who are looking for... something more with the missionaries. She isn’t a snake.)


On Sunday... they always keep us nice and busy. Basically we have to do everything here. We have another calling. We are still in charge of the Young Men. We teach them every week. We are also the Sunday school teachers. And...My companion is the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency and I am the second counselor. So we have to do all of the tithing.  We also conduct all of the meetings and stuff. So... we are busy. Always a lot to do.


We are having some success with the investigators that we have. The girl I was telling you about last week that wants to get baptized? She is progressing a ton! So much! It is really awesome.  She reads everything that we assign her to read. So that is sweet. We have 8 investigators that are reading the Book of Mormon. That is legit; because people who read the Book of Mormon AND gain a testimony AND then get baptized STAY in the church. They don’t go inactive right away like the rest.


I hope you are doing well. I am glad that you went to Megan's farewell. She is really awesome, isn’t she? Her dad is probably the most friendly and nice person that I have ever met. He is super cool.


Hey.... this week we won’t be working like normal again because of the 18th of Septiembre. That is like the Independence Day here in Chile. It is a party that lasts the whole week pretty much. Everyone gets drunk, so we can’t be out at night and we can’t contact people. But we can visit members!


Hey... Have a good week. The package... I can’t think of anything else that you could send. Whatever you would like to send, I will be happy to receive it. I am doing fine on money. I am tempted to buy things sometimes... but I remind myself that I don’t need it.


Have a good week!  You are the best Mother ever, I hope you know. Be happy. Stay healthy. Tell Adrienne that I wrote her a letter for her birthday, but I haven’t sent it yet.


Did I mention that we went to a waterfall? Tell me if the video worked or not. Deal?


Elder Warren

Good Week!

Hot Dog Dinner With The Hermana's

September 2, 2013



Mother!

Hey, I want to start off by telling you that I am sorry that the email last week got deleted. It was really a work of literature. I wrote for 45 minutes and then... It got deleted. I am so bummed about that.


I will start by explaining the new rules to you. I used to have 45 minutes on the internet to email you and my mission president. I still have that 45 minutes to email you and the mission president, but I also have an additional 15 minutes to email friends. What a blessing. I can now really keep in touch with my boys who are out there serving the Lord. I sent them a group email last week with a picture and they all responded, except for Nate. So sweet!! I really have some great friends. I owe a lot to them and their example to me.


Next I will clear up your doubt about where I am. Haha. I am still in Villarrica, Chile. The branch I am in is Volcan Branch. There are two branches in Villarrica, Volcan and Ancahual. Within the two branches, there are 4 sectores or four sets of missionaries. 4 Elderes y 4 Hermana’s. I am in Volcan 2.  I am still with Elder Aburto for another cambio. The water heater has been fixed! So…no worries. I am no longer showering with cold water.


To tell you about our little trip to Argentina last week:  It was awesome! We went with the Elderes de Pucon, Villarrica, y Panguipulli. We went with a group of 15 people in total? Something like that. We crossed over to the line that separates Argentina y Chile! There was a ton of snow. We split up between the line (we were up in the mountains) and we had the most awesome snowball fight across the border of the two countries! It was easily one of the sweetest days ever!


This last week was really good. We actually have people to teach, which is really awesome. That makes me very happy. We are teaching several really good families. We have one family that is progressing a ton. They have come to church 4 times now!! How sweet is that? They have made friends with people in the branch. They are awesome. They always feed us when we go over there. His name is Marcelo, the lumber jack. The dude is sweet. He is already planning for me and Elder Aburto to come and stay with him and his family after the mission, and he is going to take us to all of the tourist attractions that are around here. He is great. They aren´t quite to the point of baptism yet. Marcelo wants to be really sure about what he is doing. But he told us when he gets to that point; he wants to be baptized in Lago Villarrica. We are definitely going ask permission to baptize him in the lake. Wouldn´t that be sweet!?


We also have been working a lot with a woman. She is really cool. Her husband was the Branch President, but she is not a member. In fact, she used to be anti-Mormon. She wouldn´t even let missionaries in her house. Well, that is all changing. She lives in the sector of the Hermana’s, but we went over there to plan an English class. She is a professor of English here in the university. I teach the English class every Saturday to help her students. But she and I get along well. She always invites us over. We went over there the first time with the Hermana’s, and we ended up helping in the lesson. For the last 3 weeks we have been going over there and I have been helping her prepare to take an international certification test for English. If she passes, she will get a scholarship to study in England. So I read all of her essays and help her correct them. Slowly we have been gaining her confidence. So the other day she asked if we would come over and help her with that, and then share something afterwards. So we did. We got a copy of the Book of Mormon in ingles and we gave it to her. She committed to read it. What a miracle! The sister missionaries have invited her to read the Book of Mormon like 10 times, and she always says no. But she said yes! And then Saturday she called me in the morning and she had been reading it! She actually read the chapter! The entire thing and she wants us to come back and talk to her about it. Her husband is so happy with us and for what we are doing for her. It is incredible to see the changes that she is making.


The other really cool thing here in the sector is that we are like... the cool kids. We seriously are friends with everyone. People are always greeting us and giving us hugs. (That is what the men do here: handshake, hug, and handshake.)  We have friends that hook us up with things. There are a lot of men who make things out of wood that we are friends with. Juanito is going to make us baseball bats on his lathe. We have a cake lady. We have an empanada lady. We just have a lot of good friends here. It is kind of funny. It is like the people think that it is cool to be friends with the missionaries in this sector.


I am happy, just to let you know. I am learning a lot. I am under 200 pounds :) and things are going well. Some days are still tough; Haha. Tough to be away from my mama. But I will say this:  The more time I spend away from home the more I realize that you taught me VERY well; manners, hygiene, kindness, cleanliness, responsibility. You taught me well. Job well done. I didn´t always do what you taught me when I was living at home, but I learned something. So thank you!

Sometimes I feel a little stressed about what will happen after the mission. I try not to think about it, but the people we talk with every single day always ask:  What are you going to do after the mission? What are you going to study? How are you going to pay for it?  Haha... those are all really good questions. I know I will study after the mission, but I don´t really know what I will study. Or how I will pay for it. Haha. But it will all work out... I hope.


In other news, I have decided that one day I am going to buy a guitar, learn to play it, go to the nursing home, and sing hymns in Spanish and sing to the old people. That is what I plan on doing in my life.


Hey, have an excellent week. Be happy. Read your scriptures. Ask Brett about when he plans on doing his home teaching this month. Make him do it. Home teaching practically doesn´t exist here, and that is why 90 % of all members of the church in Chile are not active. (I am not even making that statistic up!!)


I hope your back starts feeling better. You are in my prayers

.
Elder Warren


P.s. Thank you for the email address of Megan. I will send her something!

FYI:  I don't think that the Post Office is on strike anymore.

Argentina!

August 26, 2013

Mother.


I am sending emails like this because.... I can now. The rules have changed.  Also…I wrote you a beautiful email, but accidently erased it. But I am alive and well.


This week was a very good week. I will be staying here in Volcan. Which is good news. We have some good investigators that are progressing a lot. A family has now come to church 3 times, so that is really good news.


This is us...at Villarrica national park.

Sorry that I am sending emails like this. It is much faster. Much faster for now. I am so mad that my super long and really good email got erased. But here is another photo with my bald head.


Don’t send the package yet! The postal service is still on strike here so... hold off. And you can put the photos of Christ in the package.


Hey... this week on the blog you can just post something that says I am doing well and that we went to Argentina. How legit is that?  So just upload the photos and tell the world I am doing well.