I say Thanksgiving Week #1 because he only has one more to go before he comes home. Okay that is still long and it doesn't seem to be going very fast! But, only 1 more Thanksgiving without him. Yay!
I finally kind of am starting to understand where I am in Chile and stuff. This may get you close on google earth: Pablo Suarez, Los Cerrillos. Our chapel is on El Mirador, with a huge parking lot/mini-soccer field, and a green fence, if you can see it.
You'd find mostly about Chile, having lived in America, that people are more concerned for the well-being of others. People generally are very accepting even of missionaries that they don't like. You can ask for a glass of water from anyone, and they'll probably offer you juice or soda instead, even if they've turned you down before. Sometimes, though, they offer you agua con gas, that is, soda water... yeah, I'm not so much into that. You drink it either way. It's better if you put a drink mix in. In fact, actually good.
There are very few homeless people, actually. We always think they could get a job if they wanted to - here, they just do. People have awful jobs for ten hours a day, but they find that to be totally fine. They and a child or spouse will work full time and they think that's totally acceptable. The families usually take their grandparent-aged people in after they retire, and said person usually still performs some function, such as daycare for the kids or sometimes a grandpa-type person will have a small business. I've seen ones that sell woodcarvings and paintings. That kind of thing.
Pictures are interesting. Some of them just didn't load so whatever. I'm going to try this time.
I actually am kind of sick. I hope it has nothing to do with the fall. Speaking of showers, our propane tank ran out. So we had cold showers. They were fantastic, as we'd just played soccer with another zone, La Cisterna. If a little asthmatic.
I am finally buying enough stuff now. The chocolate milk by Soprole is fantastic. It's got fewer calories than the US, but is better. It's darker than you'd think. They also make a mousseish pudding cup that has chocolate in the bottom... very good. As you can see, if the pictures worked, is my first completo. It has bacon and barbeque sauce. You don't have to do guacamole ever. The place is called Dominó. It has nothing to do with pizza. They're about three bucks, and they sell juice they make in front of your face out of fruit. Ridiculous.
A mission is divided into cambios, which are six weeks, always. The next is before Christmas. A transfer could theoretically happen every cambio, but that's unheard of. Usually two at minimum with each companion. Furthermore, usually you stay in the same sector and zone for two companions. Nowdays, how President King does it, the newer you are, the faster you move around. You kind of solidify and take more time in each place as you get 'older'. It's not surprising to end up in your last area or job for seven and a half months or more. I secretly want to be an office elder because they do cool bank stuff most of the day and get really fast at business Spanish, not just gospel. We'll see. Often they are Elders with injuries or sicknesses - one there now can't poo. He just moved from being my zone leader because he's developed IBS over the mission. He's actually from Concepción, so he'll finish soon and go home to get it figured out. Ouch.
It's pretty ridiculous that you are cold right now. It's freaking hot here. We sweat all day. I have to bring water every day. It's freaking hot. We are out for about 5 hours of heat, and the rest is okay. My feet are pretty hammered, but it's been so much worse, you don't even know. I did get some kind of foot supports, and they help, but it doesn't help with the heat.
Before I forget, what do you do with this email? Do I need to include anything for the other readers?
We actually have to investigators now. We have a lady with a date this January. She was thinking of the temple and how pretty it was, and how she wanted to get inside of it when the missionaries first came over. What does that tell you? We've even had a new investigator cry when we told her about the possiblity of eternal families. All our sowing, as it were, is paying off, I think. We're up for a fantastic week.
I kind of know what you mean with languages. At the end of the day, you pretty much can figure it out and it sounds right, but the person-you-are-talking-to's mind was built in Spanish and some stuff just doesn't make sense. For example (this is very obscure one) in Spanish, present tense covers present progressive, meaning, I run also means I am running. You only say "I am running" if you are stressing that you are doing it at that moment. So when you want to say "Running is fun", it's not 'running', it's "run is fun." You'd think that wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is. They will not see your point until you say it 'run'.
But by and large, the languages are close. There isn't a word for 'to fart'. You actually say "I threw a fart". It makes it sound like some kind of weapon, which is funny. So now you want to know how to say "I farted." You´d say "Tiré un pedo." I suppose you may also be interested in the opposite: "¿Tiró un pedo?" Did you fart?
Honestly I must say the thing I am most interested in is V. That show is freaking sick. There are a couple things I have to do. I have to watch Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, drink a Mountain Dew (They don't have it here, even though they have almost everything else.), and watch the Vs that have come out since. We call these trunky pensamientos, or thoughts. The command is this from the President : No sea trunky. Don't be trunky.
All I really have to do for that is find some of their bread. Especially if it's just out of the oven. They sell it like that, by the way.
It occurs to me you probably want to come see this someday. I need to write my email to President King. Do good stuff, okay? I think Grandma can email if she wants, by the way.
Speaking of writing... Here is the Mission Home address. All letters, packages, etc should be sent here. If you send a package, get some pictures of Jesus from the dollar store and put them all over the outside of the package. The thieves are superstitious so they won't(usually) bother with a package like that. Also put Missionary Supplies on the box.
Elder Alex Conrad Crist
Chile Santiago West Mission
Casilla de Correo 149
Chacabuco 166
Maipu
CHILE
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Week #2 in Maipu, Chile
My favorite Missionary looks just like every other missionary ever! Weirdly. I love to read his letters and encourage everyone to write to him! He would love it! To do so you can go onto dearelder.com and follow the questions. I think all you need to fill out is easy. If you go this way, he will get your mail within a week. Otherwise, it may take up to a month for him to get anything, and then he has to respond. So write!
Oh and the pictures he is describing, we didn't get. Hopefully we will sometime. No idea still who the "other" missionaries are and the cake sounds amazing but sorry, no picture!
You know what is really wierd about this place? They love American music. Right now that "I - can´t - wait- no-more I´m-yo o ours" Song is playing in this internet café type thing I´m in right now. I hear Lady Gaga and newish rock and pop all the time just walking around. They have a fair amount of their kind of music, you know, Rigatón, Mariachi, that sort of thing, but you´ll hear American as often as not. People know about many states, usually New York, California, Washington DC, maybe Texas. All the members know Utah. They call it the "fávrica," which is to say, "factory."
I am going to buy more food this week. It turns out I was roughly at half my budget last week. Bread is about two dollars per kilo. A person´s bread for a week is probably 250 pesos, or 50 cents. They have jam in bags that´s about a dollar that lasts for two weeks. It is one of the coolest things they have here - you can just squeeze it out of a corner. I have no idea why we don´t do that in the States. (That´s what we call it here. America can mean Canada too, so you say Estados Unidos, or usually just Estados) You want jam on bread, you just get bread and put it on, no sticky hands or knives required.
Before I forget, though, the address. You send it to that mission office one that´s in my packet and stuff. By the pouch system, which is actually a senior couple who drive stuff around all day, they get it to me. It´s way easy to do letters and stuff, especially dearelder ones. Nothing comes to the pension, as we move often. As for stuff I could use, mostly just ties and handkerchiefs. I can´t find either of them in our sector. There´s the Walmart-owned LIDER, but they have Walmart stuff, but less variety. There isn´t a food I can´t get here, but some stuff just doesn´t exist. Good shoe polish, for example, is extremely difficult to find, says an Elder I know. My big problem right now is finding foot supports or gel inserts. We walked through this mall all day for them and found nothing bigger than a size 11. I am going to call up to the medical advisor to see about it. I have a few blisters, which is, you know, crappy, but my feet feel bruised and the long bones hurt all day. That, with a wierd gastrointestinal attack yesterday, made for a fairly so-so Domingo.
We are in the middle of the city Maipú. We didn´t take the metro today, but we have a few times for meetings with the President. It´s like the DC one only it´s ten times the people in the same size of car, and the lines are several times longer. The buses go everywhere, and between them you can get anywhere. Things get pretty personal on the bus. You hold your bag in front of you so no one takes stuff, and usually you touch no less than two people just by standing. In the metro it can get mosh-pit, because people will almost tackle into the car to compress everyone so the door will close. Pretty ridiculous. I feel bad because I´m a big white guy who takes up a lot of space.
You have a beep (called bip, because "i" in Spanish is "ee") card that you scan to get on, and it charges some amount. If you use another system within 2 hours going the same general direction, it doesn´t cost extra, so you can get somewhere on just 500 pesos, which is normal. There are machines that let you recharge your bip card, but it´s easy to forget. Which is bad.
I actually would like a little colder weather. It's pretty hot here nowdays. It's up to 90 usually while we work. Right a 4 or 5 is the worst. It's bad enough that if you don't eat something salty you get all de-electrolyted and tired in an hour or so. It's worse after you have a gastrointestinal attack of some kind... wait, I think I said that. It all started when I discovered the best thing they have here.
They call it manjar. It's dulce de la leche, I think. We had a cake with it in the middle instead of frosting. Un-freaking-believable. It's like carmel but more creamy and less sugar. That's the philosophy with everthing here, actually. Less sugar, more cream. The milk tastes like a milkshake, but has about the same calores because they barely put any sugar into it.
We haven't had a lesson this week, really. We contact about five hours a day, at least. I'm kind of starting to look for those days when we don't have to go out for the full time. I know that's a bad attitude to have, but it gets really, really long. I'm pretty much hot all day, only ending at night. There has never been AC for the common man, except in the chapel and certain rich-people stores. Sometime we'll go in just to be in. Last PDay we did that by going into a mall. It was like we went back to America. Same restaurants and brands of everything, just cheaper and less selection. Pizza Hut is really good here, actually. It's a little Latinized, which is to say, they put more vegetables, and the sauce is more cream, less sugar.
Let me see what pictures I have. Those crazy two are the others in my pension. Elder Silva is.. ethnic. And Elder Smith is a saxophonist from Texas. Figure it out.
That cake is the manjar cake. We got it for his one-year-in-mission.
That overpass you are seeing is over the big freeway in Maipu. It's like 70 feet above ground.
That street is the street we live on, and there are some pictures, I believe, of the inside. It's small. It's really, really small. The closet is ridiculous. Apparently it's one of the smallest in the mission, and I believe it. The only space you can be comfortable in is the bed, which is wierdly smashy... so whatever. The floor could have ringworm so we can't touch the ground, which is frustrating, especially when I fell in the shower, which was gross. The shower is really gross, but the way. Let me just say the Scouting program was invented for more reasons than to give boys patches. There's no way a person could deal with that level of grossness having lived in American Suburbs for his whole life.
But we have hope. We have a new investigator that wants to be baptized before she's even met us. She decided while talking to a member in our ward (her uncle) that our church is true. That works. I want to be a part of it, but I don't know how much I'll be able to say. We did a lesson for a preacher... no, really, and his family, and I sucked. There were like seven people watching, and I sucked. I couldn't remember how to say anything. I ended up giving the First Vision, having luckily memorized it, and at least a few of them want us to come back. The preacher is so-so with us, but he'll let us return. He was one of those ones that say "Glora, Amen" and stuff while you pray. It was way, way wierd. Then his wife prayed, but it was more like a revival speech. She was almost yelling by the end. Hno Maughan at the MTC said you'll see some stuff you'll never see in the States that will wierd you out so bad you can't even speak. There we go.
I have to admit, this really does seem like a long time. I've only been here for two weeks? What? But at the same time, it hasn't been that long. I don't know. I hear that after you can speak the language, the rest is sickeningly fast. Companions will go by like bunnies, they say.
Love,
Elder AC Crist
Oh and the pictures he is describing, we didn't get. Hopefully we will sometime. No idea still who the "other" missionaries are and the cake sounds amazing but sorry, no picture!
You know what is really wierd about this place? They love American music. Right now that "I - can´t - wait- no-more I´m-yo o ours" Song is playing in this internet café type thing I´m in right now. I hear Lady Gaga and newish rock and pop all the time just walking around. They have a fair amount of their kind of music, you know, Rigatón, Mariachi, that sort of thing, but you´ll hear American as often as not. People know about many states, usually New York, California, Washington DC, maybe Texas. All the members know Utah. They call it the "fávrica," which is to say, "factory."
I am going to buy more food this week. It turns out I was roughly at half my budget last week. Bread is about two dollars per kilo. A person´s bread for a week is probably 250 pesos, or 50 cents. They have jam in bags that´s about a dollar that lasts for two weeks. It is one of the coolest things they have here - you can just squeeze it out of a corner. I have no idea why we don´t do that in the States. (That´s what we call it here. America can mean Canada too, so you say Estados Unidos, or usually just Estados) You want jam on bread, you just get bread and put it on, no sticky hands or knives required.
Before I forget, though, the address. You send it to that mission office one that´s in my packet and stuff. By the pouch system, which is actually a senior couple who drive stuff around all day, they get it to me. It´s way easy to do letters and stuff, especially dearelder ones. Nothing comes to the pension, as we move often. As for stuff I could use, mostly just ties and handkerchiefs. I can´t find either of them in our sector. There´s the Walmart-owned LIDER, but they have Walmart stuff, but less variety. There isn´t a food I can´t get here, but some stuff just doesn´t exist. Good shoe polish, for example, is extremely difficult to find, says an Elder I know. My big problem right now is finding foot supports or gel inserts. We walked through this mall all day for them and found nothing bigger than a size 11. I am going to call up to the medical advisor to see about it. I have a few blisters, which is, you know, crappy, but my feet feel bruised and the long bones hurt all day. That, with a wierd gastrointestinal attack yesterday, made for a fairly so-so Domingo.
We are in the middle of the city Maipú. We didn´t take the metro today, but we have a few times for meetings with the President. It´s like the DC one only it´s ten times the people in the same size of car, and the lines are several times longer. The buses go everywhere, and between them you can get anywhere. Things get pretty personal on the bus. You hold your bag in front of you so no one takes stuff, and usually you touch no less than two people just by standing. In the metro it can get mosh-pit, because people will almost tackle into the car to compress everyone so the door will close. Pretty ridiculous. I feel bad because I´m a big white guy who takes up a lot of space.
You have a beep (called bip, because "i" in Spanish is "ee") card that you scan to get on, and it charges some amount. If you use another system within 2 hours going the same general direction, it doesn´t cost extra, so you can get somewhere on just 500 pesos, which is normal. There are machines that let you recharge your bip card, but it´s easy to forget. Which is bad.
I actually would like a little colder weather. It's pretty hot here nowdays. It's up to 90 usually while we work. Right a 4 or 5 is the worst. It's bad enough that if you don't eat something salty you get all de-electrolyted and tired in an hour or so. It's worse after you have a gastrointestinal attack of some kind... wait, I think I said that. It all started when I discovered the best thing they have here.
They call it manjar. It's dulce de la leche, I think. We had a cake with it in the middle instead of frosting. Un-freaking-believable. It's like carmel but more creamy and less sugar. That's the philosophy with everthing here, actually. Less sugar, more cream. The milk tastes like a milkshake, but has about the same calores because they barely put any sugar into it.
We haven't had a lesson this week, really. We contact about five hours a day, at least. I'm kind of starting to look for those days when we don't have to go out for the full time. I know that's a bad attitude to have, but it gets really, really long. I'm pretty much hot all day, only ending at night. There has never been AC for the common man, except in the chapel and certain rich-people stores. Sometime we'll go in just to be in. Last PDay we did that by going into a mall. It was like we went back to America. Same restaurants and brands of everything, just cheaper and less selection. Pizza Hut is really good here, actually. It's a little Latinized, which is to say, they put more vegetables, and the sauce is more cream, less sugar.
Let me see what pictures I have. Those crazy two are the others in my pension. Elder Silva is.. ethnic. And Elder Smith is a saxophonist from Texas. Figure it out.
That cake is the manjar cake. We got it for his one-year-in-mission.
That overpass you are seeing is over the big freeway in Maipu. It's like 70 feet above ground.
That street is the street we live on, and there are some pictures, I believe, of the inside. It's small. It's really, really small. The closet is ridiculous. Apparently it's one of the smallest in the mission, and I believe it. The only space you can be comfortable in is the bed, which is wierdly smashy... so whatever. The floor could have ringworm so we can't touch the ground, which is frustrating, especially when I fell in the shower, which was gross. The shower is really gross, but the way. Let me just say the Scouting program was invented for more reasons than to give boys patches. There's no way a person could deal with that level of grossness having lived in American Suburbs for his whole life.
But we have hope. We have a new investigator that wants to be baptized before she's even met us. She decided while talking to a member in our ward (her uncle) that our church is true. That works. I want to be a part of it, but I don't know how much I'll be able to say. We did a lesson for a preacher... no, really, and his family, and I sucked. There were like seven people watching, and I sucked. I couldn't remember how to say anything. I ended up giving the First Vision, having luckily memorized it, and at least a few of them want us to come back. The preacher is so-so with us, but he'll let us return. He was one of those ones that say "Glora, Amen" and stuff while you pray. It was way, way wierd. Then his wife prayed, but it was more like a revival speech. She was almost yelling by the end. Hno Maughan at the MTC said you'll see some stuff you'll never see in the States that will wierd you out so bad you can't even speak. There we go.
I have to admit, this really does seem like a long time. I've only been here for two weeks? What? But at the same time, it hasn't been that long. I don't know. I hear that after you can speak the language, the rest is sickeningly fast. Companions will go by like bunnies, they say.
Love,
Elder AC Crist
Monday, November 15, 2010
First week in Chile
I love that Alex gets to add a little more detail now. I think he will be able to make us feel like we are there after a few more weeks. Maybe it is the amount of time he gets as opposed to the MTC. I Love to get his letters and know he is where he is supposed to be.
What can I say about this week? I don't even know. It would take about as long to tell you everything as it did to experience it -- you can't really easily compress time down on the mission. New stuff happens all the time. All the time. (If I spell things weirdly, the keyboard here is much different.)
Let's see. We don't have a lot of investigators in our sector immediately right now, so we spend a lot of time looking. We contact for about three hours a day, usually more. A lot of talking in Castellano, essentially. (The dialect is different enough here that the locals don't call it Spanish) Basically they take most protruding ss and combine two different word endings, for example, if a person is asking me and Elder Mann how we are, he may say, rather than "¿cómo estás?", "¿cómo estái?" Needless to say, it´s rough on new speakers. We are not supposed to talk in the informal unless we are talking to toddlers, dogs, or inanimate objects, or in prayer, so we don´t have to worry about picking up that peculiarity.
Food. Everything is very different. Milk is in a box, and is cheaper. Flavored milk is much more common and is very, very good. The chocolate milk tastes like a shake, but has about thirty or forty less calories somehow. It´s just not so homogenized and watery. They have these cool little stores called almacéns that are basically what convience stores are to cars to pedestrians. You can´t go more than a few blocks without seeing one, usually it´s just in front of the house of the owner. They have different themes, but you can always find certain things. You can always find glass bottle coke in a few sizes. By the way, the coke here is much better. They use unpurified cane sugar and don´t use as much coloring.
Oh, and the bread. Everything made of flour is incredible here. My favorite is either the hallulla or marraqueta. The first is like a big flaky english muffin that´s the size of a hamburger bun, and the other is a small loaf characteristically divided into four pieces (as if cut with a cross) that you can use for hot dogs, jam, eggs, or whatever. They have pretty much everything we have. It´s as expensive or less, never more. Some stuff is ridiculously cheap -- glass coke bottles are like maybe 150 or 200 pesos, which is about 40 cents. You don´t keep the bottle, usually. You pay 350 or 450 and get the rest back when you give back the bottle, unless you want to hang onto it. It´s the same way for these three-liter bottles of soda. You pay the deposit, like 300, with the actual price 500. You only pay 500 again when you take the bottle back to any other place. You can get your 300 if you´re moving or something and you give it back permanently. Good idea.
Pretty much everyone has a few bottles of juice and one thing of some soda, usually a coke product, and even people who want nothing to do with you will bring you a glass of whichever if it looks hot outside - you might not even ask. Older people tend to like soda water, or as we call it, agua con gas. So we avoid asking it from them. You want a person with kids, because they have the good juices and don´t have ecco, which is a gross coffee substitute a lot of people like that is okay with the church.
In conclusion, this is not guatemala. It´s hot, but in the way that provo is hot. It´s not humid or dry, and everyone has nice plants you can stand under. No one rejects you really hard. They always say something like "Ah, no, estoy preocupado." We get good investigators all the time and those who need to hear it recognize it quickly. We´ve given five or so copies of the Book of Mormon this week, and we have several "nuevo"s.
I did get sunburned like crazy the first three days, but then I was tan and put on sunscreen. I got a blister on my heel on the side for some reason, but it´s going away. We walk at least those ten miles, I guarantee that. Our working sector is a mile and a half from our pension (that is what they´re called), and we usually do it at least twice a day, there and back. And we have three main neighborhoods, all about that far from each other, so when we cross, that´s another mile or so. We have three areas, Santa Adela, atrás de Lider, and mas atrás de Lider. The second two are made up and just mean behind Lider (basically Wal-Mart) and further behind Lider. Santa Adela is the nicest, but we have had more success in atrás de Lider. We have six or so good shots at baptism going right now.
It occurs to me you don´t know much about Elder Mann. Elder Mann is from California and has about a year. He´s been in this area for the last three changes, so he really knows the people and area. He is relatively a ground-pounding animal. We walk fast, contact a lot, and don´t leave until the time is really over. He speaks and understands everything people say. It´s pretty ridiculous. The other two in our pension are Elder Smith of Texas with 13 months, and Elder Silva, a Chilean native from Concepción, who has about five months. They have the close sector, and we have the far sector, which means we work more in areas they haven´t been worked very much. Elder Mann split the sectors, which were one until recently, so that we would have more contacting and tocando puertas (knocking doors) so I could learn faster. Nice. Not. I know I need it but it´s not my favorite. I can usually do a whole contact by myself, but if the person talks back really at all, I´m poked. They say generally that I´m doing well but I still am bouncing between a quarter and a half understanding, unless the person is being really "flaite".
(Oh, see, those are the classic words for ghettoness and richness. Ghetto is "flaite". It can be an adjective, like how El Espejo is "flaite", or a noun, meaning general gangster. The opposite, kind of rich, maybe snobby, is "quico". It´s said kweekoh and fly-tay. You can´t use quico as a noun, but many neighborhoods are referred to in this way.)
I need to leave to the store relatively soon, partially to buy a cord to send you pictures. We´ll see how much more Elder Mann will let me do.
This stuff is hard, by they way. The days are freaking long and I´m tired and hungry almost always. But I can say we still do it.
Love
Elder AC Crist.
What can I say about this week? I don't even know. It would take about as long to tell you everything as it did to experience it -- you can't really easily compress time down on the mission. New stuff happens all the time. All the time. (If I spell things weirdly, the keyboard here is much different.)
Let's see. We don't have a lot of investigators in our sector immediately right now, so we spend a lot of time looking. We contact for about three hours a day, usually more. A lot of talking in Castellano, essentially. (The dialect is different enough here that the locals don't call it Spanish) Basically they take most protruding ss and combine two different word endings, for example, if a person is asking me and Elder Mann how we are, he may say, rather than "¿cómo estás?", "¿cómo estái?" Needless to say, it´s rough on new speakers. We are not supposed to talk in the informal unless we are talking to toddlers, dogs, or inanimate objects, or in prayer, so we don´t have to worry about picking up that peculiarity.
Food. Everything is very different. Milk is in a box, and is cheaper. Flavored milk is much more common and is very, very good. The chocolate milk tastes like a shake, but has about thirty or forty less calories somehow. It´s just not so homogenized and watery. They have these cool little stores called almacéns that are basically what convience stores are to cars to pedestrians. You can´t go more than a few blocks without seeing one, usually it´s just in front of the house of the owner. They have different themes, but you can always find certain things. You can always find glass bottle coke in a few sizes. By the way, the coke here is much better. They use unpurified cane sugar and don´t use as much coloring.
Oh, and the bread. Everything made of flour is incredible here. My favorite is either the hallulla or marraqueta. The first is like a big flaky english muffin that´s the size of a hamburger bun, and the other is a small loaf characteristically divided into four pieces (as if cut with a cross) that you can use for hot dogs, jam, eggs, or whatever. They have pretty much everything we have. It´s as expensive or less, never more. Some stuff is ridiculously cheap -- glass coke bottles are like maybe 150 or 200 pesos, which is about 40 cents. You don´t keep the bottle, usually. You pay 350 or 450 and get the rest back when you give back the bottle, unless you want to hang onto it. It´s the same way for these three-liter bottles of soda. You pay the deposit, like 300, with the actual price 500. You only pay 500 again when you take the bottle back to any other place. You can get your 300 if you´re moving or something and you give it back permanently. Good idea.
Pretty much everyone has a few bottles of juice and one thing of some soda, usually a coke product, and even people who want nothing to do with you will bring you a glass of whichever if it looks hot outside - you might not even ask. Older people tend to like soda water, or as we call it, agua con gas. So we avoid asking it from them. You want a person with kids, because they have the good juices and don´t have ecco, which is a gross coffee substitute a lot of people like that is okay with the church.
In conclusion, this is not guatemala. It´s hot, but in the way that provo is hot. It´s not humid or dry, and everyone has nice plants you can stand under. No one rejects you really hard. They always say something like "Ah, no, estoy preocupado." We get good investigators all the time and those who need to hear it recognize it quickly. We´ve given five or so copies of the Book of Mormon this week, and we have several "nuevo"s.
I did get sunburned like crazy the first three days, but then I was tan and put on sunscreen. I got a blister on my heel on the side for some reason, but it´s going away. We walk at least those ten miles, I guarantee that. Our working sector is a mile and a half from our pension (that is what they´re called), and we usually do it at least twice a day, there and back. And we have three main neighborhoods, all about that far from each other, so when we cross, that´s another mile or so. We have three areas, Santa Adela, atrás de Lider, and mas atrás de Lider. The second two are made up and just mean behind Lider (basically Wal-Mart) and further behind Lider. Santa Adela is the nicest, but we have had more success in atrás de Lider. We have six or so good shots at baptism going right now.
It occurs to me you don´t know much about Elder Mann. Elder Mann is from California and has about a year. He´s been in this area for the last three changes, so he really knows the people and area. He is relatively a ground-pounding animal. We walk fast, contact a lot, and don´t leave until the time is really over. He speaks and understands everything people say. It´s pretty ridiculous. The other two in our pension are Elder Smith of Texas with 13 months, and Elder Silva, a Chilean native from Concepción, who has about five months. They have the close sector, and we have the far sector, which means we work more in areas they haven´t been worked very much. Elder Mann split the sectors, which were one until recently, so that we would have more contacting and tocando puertas (knocking doors) so I could learn faster. Nice. Not. I know I need it but it´s not my favorite. I can usually do a whole contact by myself, but if the person talks back really at all, I´m poked. They say generally that I´m doing well but I still am bouncing between a quarter and a half understanding, unless the person is being really "flaite".
(Oh, see, those are the classic words for ghettoness and richness. Ghetto is "flaite". It can be an adjective, like how El Espejo is "flaite", or a noun, meaning general gangster. The opposite, kind of rich, maybe snobby, is "quico". It´s said kweekoh and fly-tay. You can´t use quico as a noun, but many neighborhoods are referred to in this way.)
I need to leave to the store relatively soon, partially to buy a cord to send you pictures. We´ll see how much more Elder Mann will let me do.
This stuff is hard, by they way. The days are freaking long and I´m tired and hungry almost always. But I can say we still do it.
Love
Elder AC Crist.
Monday, November 8, 2010
He has flown the coop!
This week we get no letter from Alex but WE got a phone call! Actually, let me back up one day and say that I went down to the Temple and sat around and waited (about 1 1/2 hours). I was about to give up when I saw another group of missionaries coming and I saw him. I still recognized the way he walks. I wonder if I would ever forget it actually. We surprised him and I think he was a little shell shocked. He didn't really know what to say or even do. He kept asking some of the others what he should do. He walked away from us at first but came back. There was some random missionary there that was a nark. Alex told us today that he really thought he was going to report him to the authorities. Whatever!! I attend that Temple too. It is not just for missionaries on Sunday. Besides, if anyone was going to get into trouble it would be me since he had no idea that we were going to show up. It is a bad thing to live less than a mile from the MTC. I seriously thought I would see him a few times. I never once in 9 weeks saw him. I had to go just to get a glimpse. I would have been fine just being able to see him from afar. I would like to report that he looks great! He had a whole bunch of guys around him and they were all speaking in Spanish! Totally cool.
On the phone he said that he is nervous and excited but more apprehensive than anything else. I think he nailed that. He gets in at 7:25am and they get to do a whole day of work before they get to rest. Hopefully the airline is generous in blankets and pillows and comfort. The only sleep they will get is in the air. Apparently they want them to get right to work and not be able to sit around and hang out. "We aren't on vacation. We have something we want to share" Direct quote.
Many of you know that Alex is very picky when it comes to food. He says he is way exctied to eat some of the meatcakes, fruit compotes, and bread. All of the things the Country does not have to import is cheap. So I think he will eat pretty well. He does love plain fruit and most non-white bread. I would not say he is very adventurous in what he eats though. Maybe he will be a changed man when he gets back.
The only thing that has me worried is that he said he thinks it will be too long. 22 months is long and he said he could be graduated and off to Medical School by then. But, he may change his tune once he gets on a roll. Brian said he thought the same thing when he was on his mission and it turned out pretty short. We can hope but I think it is long as well! And I have no message to share. Well, nothing like him. Maybe a few short lectures on eating right and sleeping in!!
Well, that is all I have to report. Alex is where he needs to be doing what he needs to do and I will miss him every second he is gone.
On the phone he said that he is nervous and excited but more apprehensive than anything else. I think he nailed that. He gets in at 7:25am and they get to do a whole day of work before they get to rest. Hopefully the airline is generous in blankets and pillows and comfort. The only sleep they will get is in the air. Apparently they want them to get right to work and not be able to sit around and hang out. "We aren't on vacation. We have something we want to share" Direct quote.
Many of you know that Alex is very picky when it comes to food. He says he is way exctied to eat some of the meatcakes, fruit compotes, and bread. All of the things the Country does not have to import is cheap. So I think he will eat pretty well. He does love plain fruit and most non-white bread. I would not say he is very adventurous in what he eats though. Maybe he will be a changed man when he gets back.
The only thing that has me worried is that he said he thinks it will be too long. 22 months is long and he said he could be graduated and off to Medical School by then. But, he may change his tune once he gets on a roll. Brian said he thought the same thing when he was on his mission and it turned out pretty short. We can hope but I think it is long as well! And I have no message to share. Well, nothing like him. Maybe a few short lectures on eating right and sleeping in!!
Well, that is all I have to report. Alex is where he needs to be doing what he needs to do and I will miss him every second he is gone.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
1 More week at the MTC!
How's the computer? Have you encountered any problems with it? I'm not really going to give advice or whatever, but are there passwords or small issues?
This weeks has been nuts. More nuts than ever/usual. Elder Allen was sent home Friday last. Saturday I was in a trio with my good friends Elderes Madsen y Clark. The Branch Presidency came over to our class on Sunday before Priesthood and thanked me for what I did for Elder Allen, which I didn't get; I thought I was the most incorrectly placed person in the MTC for him. The branch president said there aren't many missionaries that could have stayed around him that long and remained productive and not snapped. Several missionaries had said that before, but I only believe leadership. (Haha.) But then he asked me to be a Zone Leader with my original companion, Elder Hassler, and the companion of one of the Elderes who was sent home. That's six districts of about eight that I'm helping to manage now. I went immediately to where we have Priesthood and taught the ordinance of Baptism to the assembled Elderes with those two others.
I don't feel like I'm where my first Zone Leaders where when I arrived. They were the best speakers I had heard beside teachers until that time. They had everything figured out, including some very important 'secrets of the pros', such as how to avoid the stingy lunch workers, the importance of shower flip-flops, and how to remove collar stain. Thing is, though, we're doing the same things they were, including teaching lessons in Spanish to random pretend investigators, not only to those who want the normal lesson, but to those who have problems that make us change our plans. There are times where the words will come out as fast as I say them in English and it's really just plain amazing. I've learned every major grammar principle in Spanish in two months. No one just does that. I haven't said an English word intentionally (besides in the temple) for several days. I can tell stories (using the infamous dual past tenses Spanish has) and ask legitimate questions. I can pray and bless the sacrament. I can even sing. One of my new favorite hymns is a Spanish-exclusive one called "Placentero nos es trabajar," meaning something like "To work, to us, is comforting." That's the key. You don't feel bad at the MTC until you stop working. I've had a drop-off in letters, but I don't care. At first I was all about world updates and stuff, things I'd miss out on. But there's really not much. I thought it was ridiculous that we could only study from the four missionary books, the Standard Works, church publications, and General Conference. What else is there, though?
That doesn't mean I'm not interested in what you (this is a plural 'you') (by the way, in Spanish, there is a plural 'you' and it's rather handy) are doing. That stuff is just downright fun to hear about. Nothing is too small to write about. I would be more ridiculous with the details if I had time. I have thirty minutes. It's kind of not very much.
This is about one-twelfth of my mission done - oh, wait, hold that thought We got our travel plans! We leave sometime in the morning next monday, the eighth. What does that mean? That means my next email to you (plural) will be from Santiago, Chile, following an approximately 12 hour flight. We go to Ft. Worth/Dallas first, then that's it. I need you to make sure there's a sufficient (>150 or 200 dollars) amount in there for emergencies, as a side note. We be there drinking milk out of bags and using p'days in less than a week! Sound dizzying to you? More for me, I promise.
So, yeah - one-twelfth done. That doesn't sound like the time that's passed. I've grown up about a year, I think, since I came in. I have to shave every day now, for real, which is proof.
What can I say? No more geographical comfort. Be ready for a call monday, I think.
Vayan con Dios.
Love and stuff,
Elder A Conrad Crist
This weeks has been nuts. More nuts than ever/usual. Elder Allen was sent home Friday last. Saturday I was in a trio with my good friends Elderes Madsen y Clark. The Branch Presidency came over to our class on Sunday before Priesthood and thanked me for what I did for Elder Allen, which I didn't get; I thought I was the most incorrectly placed person in the MTC for him. The branch president said there aren't many missionaries that could have stayed around him that long and remained productive and not snapped. Several missionaries had said that before, but I only believe leadership. (Haha.) But then he asked me to be a Zone Leader with my original companion, Elder Hassler, and the companion of one of the Elderes who was sent home. That's six districts of about eight that I'm helping to manage now. I went immediately to where we have Priesthood and taught the ordinance of Baptism to the assembled Elderes with those two others.
I don't feel like I'm where my first Zone Leaders where when I arrived. They were the best speakers I had heard beside teachers until that time. They had everything figured out, including some very important 'secrets of the pros', such as how to avoid the stingy lunch workers, the importance of shower flip-flops, and how to remove collar stain. Thing is, though, we're doing the same things they were, including teaching lessons in Spanish to random pretend investigators, not only to those who want the normal lesson, but to those who have problems that make us change our plans. There are times where the words will come out as fast as I say them in English and it's really just plain amazing. I've learned every major grammar principle in Spanish in two months. No one just does that. I haven't said an English word intentionally (besides in the temple) for several days. I can tell stories (using the infamous dual past tenses Spanish has) and ask legitimate questions. I can pray and bless the sacrament. I can even sing. One of my new favorite hymns is a Spanish-exclusive one called "Placentero nos es trabajar," meaning something like "To work, to us, is comforting." That's the key. You don't feel bad at the MTC until you stop working. I've had a drop-off in letters, but I don't care. At first I was all about world updates and stuff, things I'd miss out on. But there's really not much. I thought it was ridiculous that we could only study from the four missionary books, the Standard Works, church publications, and General Conference. What else is there, though?
That doesn't mean I'm not interested in what you (this is a plural 'you') (by the way, in Spanish, there is a plural 'you' and it's rather handy) are doing. That stuff is just downright fun to hear about. Nothing is too small to write about. I would be more ridiculous with the details if I had time. I have thirty minutes. It's kind of not very much.
This is about one-twelfth of my mission done - oh, wait, hold that thought We got our travel plans! We leave sometime in the morning next monday, the eighth. What does that mean? That means my next email to you (plural) will be from Santiago, Chile, following an approximately 12 hour flight. We go to Ft. Worth/Dallas first, then that's it. I need you to make sure there's a sufficient (>150 or 200 dollars) amount in there for emergencies, as a side note. We be there drinking milk out of bags and using p'days in less than a week! Sound dizzying to you? More for me, I promise.
So, yeah - one-twelfth done. That doesn't sound like the time that's passed. I've grown up about a year, I think, since I came in. I have to shave every day now, for real, which is proof.
What can I say? No more geographical comfort. Be ready for a call monday, I think.
Vayan con Dios.
Love and stuff,
Elder A Conrad Crist
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