Finally cold enough for hot chocolate!

I cannot believe how slow the mail gets to Alex! We shipped two packages on the same day. Mostly just to split the cost and we had a few things to send, but he has only gotten one of those. Crazy! He got one after like three weeks and then nothing. We have sent another one but hopefully he will get the others too! Just in case anyone ever wants to send something. Expect 6-8 weeks for delivery but hope and pray for faster.
Oh, and sorry no pictures this time! I guess they have to remember things in the morning and if they don't, they just do without. Like converters and such. Oh well! Hopefully next time
Riley(Alex's cousin) will be going to the Vina Del Mar, Chile Mission in June. That is just North of Alex but covers a very large area up to Antofagasta. That will be exciting for them when they come home and can totally speak to each other and all of that fun stuff. I am totally excited for them both!
We love you Elder Crist!




Business things:

No packages after socks yet.
A missionary on his way to the office to go home said I´ll want like 17 garments in the winter because they don´t dry very fast when it´s raining. So like three or four more, MT (medium tall), maybe one click smaller on the waist.
ªªªªªªUmbrella. Important! I need a good one, smallish, and very American in quality. Chilean ones tend to rust. In May, it´s going to rain extremely hard in three day spurts, probably until October.
Two copies of the scripture master scripture stickers (there are 100 in total, in packs of 25, I´d imagine.)(Elder Silva would really like them because they´re really, really expensive here)

Viña del Mar? I talk to people at times who have just been there on vacation! Flip, Kip. I´m sure suddenly they´re going to "remember" me and start asking what stuff to do to get ready. I can use any attention, so I welcome it. It sufficeth me to say for now, until asked more, that Chile is bakán. That´s Chilean (not Spanish - Chilean) for "sick" or "dope." You do not understand cheese until you´ve taken down a cheese empanada off the street from a guy with 4 teeth. Not to scare anyone, but Chilean spanish is the second fastest spoken Spanish dialect in the world, so you have that to look forward to. Oh, and it someone asks you if you want "guatita", say NO.

No, but seriously, Viña is where everyone goes to party, because it´s just so dang pretty and climatically perfect. I´d imagine the mission reaches into the country, but mostly against the beach. That´s awesome. The cool thing is he´ll go through the main building with his mission president that I used just today. (Elder Silva needed to see the doctor) Bakán!

On the other side of "bakán," Brennan almost blew my face off. I turned to Elder Silva and told him, and he just started laughing. He said, "Fetch, man- only missed it by a year." Yeah, exactly. The thing is, it could have been so easily true, based on Utah standards, I didn´t even consider joking. It actually would have been a little late for Happy Valley.

On the topic Melipilla, we had a baptism. Elder Silva actually did it. It was a great service, and I´m sure that between her, and her mom who´s already baptized, they´ll be active forever. I wasn´t terribly involved in teaching her, but we´ve had some moments.

Our big investigator happening now is Carlos Vargas, a construction worker (I think). He´s probably the best investigator ever, for he is both prepared for the gospel, and studies the material independently and well. He gives us a ten-minute summary of what he´s read of the Book of Mormon and the pampflets each time.

I just hope he can find what he needs in the Gospel. He attempted suicide, but now has changed everything about him. But now his ex-wife, with the court behind her, is messing him over. He made one mistake, and now he can´t get away from her. She manipulates his feelings for her and the kids to get more money from him. It´s scary, and it´s hard to deal with for us because we´re not really here to give him "professional-level" council and assistance on this level of thing. I don´t know what to really do, but I think what we´re doing is helping him understand the purpose of all these things.

I met the most interesting man Sunday. The teacher of Gospel Principles (here I am again with Gospel Principles) is a doctor in this ward. He has a way of teaching and thinking that are pretty much mine, evolved to where I want them to be. I´ve started to realize a few of the ways I approached commandments were "apologistic", let´s say. For example, a lot of the time we make Word of Wisdom like a thing we´d do even if it wasn´t revealed. We discussed why the Lord has prohibited coffee. People think - "It must be for the caffeine. God is trying to say "Caffeine."" But, we are apologizing for the Lord´s commandments by taking out conclusions that we don´t have the authority to take. The commandment is for coffee. Coffee. Coffee. We try to make the commandments make sense to men, but that´s not what they´re designed to do. For example.

Also, in the class, the question of why the Egyptian that Joseph Smith translated isn´t available to the public, but is rather stored by BYU came up. He explained a lot of stuff about the translation, why it would be difficult, and why people would mess it up, etc, but then he stopped. He said, "Look. You know why it is, really? Let´s go to Habbukuk." Habbukuk? What the heck is Habbukuk? In the first part, Habbukuk is asking God what the heck is up with the world. Then, chapter 2, verse 4. Look at what it says about faith.

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith .

That is why.

I feel pretty lame up against Randy´s thoughts. There´s that, though.

Oh, something funny. I´ve been teaching Elder Silva the ABCs. He now says "ema-ho-pee" like Abby did. Haha.

Love and stuff,
Elder A. Conrad Crist
(It looks more "Quorum of the Seventy" that way, don´t you think?)

Someone tell Grandma I can finally drink that hot cocoa because now it´s really cold in the morning.

(I´d just like to add that what they´re teaching you pretty much comes out of chapter ten and eleven of Preach My Gospel, if you want to get a jump on it.)

I´ll have to explain to you my version 4.1 marking system sometime. It´s awesome, and not complicated. Sufficeth to say, marking it makes it stick in your head better.

All I can say for now about music, without thinking over a few days, is SOUNDTRACKS that don´t have words. Gladiator´s is freaking amazing, for example. I´ll get back to you on that.

It's a whole new culture shock!

There has to be a way a mother can shield her children from the hardness and desperation of life. But I would never do it because of the little bits of hope and humanity and love from people in those situations. I have a few more pictures from Alex that show the 2nd-3rd worldness of where he is now. It really is very humbling. Yay for Elder Silva as well. Alex really liked and now likes him again. As the pictures show, he looks happy and good and truly like a missionary! Ok just to explain the photos. First is a picture of the front room in Milipellia. 2. Alex and Hna Campino's kitty 3. Hills in town of Milipellia 4. Studying scriptures with Pablo from Mirador 5. Flaites 6. Members house!?


I got sent to the campo. A one-hour bus ride out of Santiago later, I´m in a town called Melipilla. It reminds me of Moab, kind of. There are 90,000 people in the town and the surrounding farm/vineyard/minery type areas. There´s a middle of the city, like where I am. But if you walk a few minutes in whichever direction, you are getting into the fields and farms again. In stark, ridiculous contrast to the place I was in before, I am now responsible for 1/4 of the mission Santiago Chile West in area. That is not a joke. Our sector, Silva Chavez, is half the city, all the way out to rural communities up to a half our´s bus ride away.

All that crazyness is dampened by one thing only - Elder Silva is my companion. You may or may not remember him, but he was in my pension when I got to Chile. I know him pretty well already. But he knows no English, so if I speak English, I´m talking to myself here in Melipilla. Even so, it´s been fine, actually. My only problem these days is when I teach, I sum up things too fast and can´t think of more to say. I don´t know what the deal with that is. I don´t know if you´d know anything about that.

The work here is not as hard as it was in a perservering-through-tedium way, but it is much more demanding physically. It´s a very good thing (probably planned by the Lord) that I walked a lot in Mirador. Now we walk a lot farther, especially when the buses don´t arrive for no reason. This is a very second-to-third world area. Most people have cell phones with 20 or 30 minutes every two weeks, and have never heard of text messaging. A lot of them do not have running water, especially outside the city. It´s a whole new culture shock.

However, the people here are nicer. Way nicer. You know how those stereotypical country people are. They really are like that. They absolutely will not allow you to leave their houses hungry or tired. The food is very calorie dense because people here - including us - have a lot of physical work to do - which means it tastes better. They do a lot of homemade french fries, eggs, and rice. Also, toasted barley coffee-substitute (which we can drink, and I really like). And the biggest grapes I´ve ever seen... green ones like baby carrots and purple ones that would barely fit through your fingers if you made a hole with the thumb and forefinger.

Part of people being nicer is that we get people to teach more. We actually have four or five baptisms coming down the line within this next six weeks already. It´s pretty crazy, really. It´s so much easier here. Our leadership is all new, all newly trained, and they´re all ready to work.

I didn´t count myself as a Spanish speaker until a few days ago. If someone asked me, I´d now say yes. The higher level stuff is the most interesting. Joking is a totally new game in a different language. But now I can actually get to know people, and get into their problems. Elder Silva said the other day that we´re really not just missionaries. We´re also psychologists. That´s absolutely true. I can figure most people out pretty fast now, just because I´ve had so many tries. It helps you see how custom-made every person´s life is better them. I can testify to that, usually. When I´m not getting smashed. (Ether 12:7) But the ´smashed´ is something that helps too. (Ether 12:27)

Hopefully the pictures explain it too.

I´ll work on the shirt. There´s some pretty cool stuff in this town.

Cuídense,
Elder Alex C Crist

Japan Crisis

It is kind of hard to have stuff going on in the world and not even be able to talk to Alex about it. I miss his insight and intellect. And I am sorry but short little letters just don't seem to cut it. I am grateful for pictures however. He looks happy and well and time just keeps on ticking! No matter what.



It was kind of funny, actually, when I saw the earthquake the first time on a TV in an investigator´s house. I said "I actually have a friend doing the mission there," to which our sarcastic member friend said "Ya, no." - "Now, no." But then I thought about it. 9.2 is pretty hard, I believe. You read the email. They are pretty shaken up from everything. Randy is so inspirational now. Our sarcastic friend said now he´ll probably have an easier time. It´s kind of funny that things that can kill the body make people look for God. Like Jesus said, fear not those things that can kill the body, but can do nothing to the spirit. Fear he who can kill the spirit.

Well, this is week six of my third change, and we got transfer calls last night and... I´m gone. I am leaving tomorrow to some new place. I am missing the baptism of Mónica, which makes me crazy, but I am one of her official missionaries, so I get to visit her at the end of my mission. Yes!

She almost had an interview with President King on Satuday, but it couldn´t happen, so it´ll now be Thursday, baptised next Sunday. Elder Smith is staying here, and he will be training a new white guy. What a great start to a mission for that noob cake. I contacted without getting into a house for 6 days! (No complaints; good experience)

I´m afriad I´m running to go visit people. I did get some pictures for you, though. That´s Pablo, by the way. He´s Joey, basically. We got him into a great Seminary too, so we needn´t fear. We say at times that we get to take credit for all the people he baptizes on his mission in some four years.

Packing is kind of sad. Chile, yea, even missionary work is Mirador for me. I could be going a bus away, or a bus away (that takes two hours) I didn´t realize that I was a part of this ward until I starting leaving. I have real friends I want to hang out with forever. What happens if that happens everywhere? Too much friends. I´m glad for facebook after, I guess.

I need to go. Tengo que irme.
Me alegro que parecen bien. Esfuércense para hacer lo mejor posible. Nunca se olviden de quienes son, o lo que pueden llegar a ser.
Que les vaya bien,
Élder Alex C Crist

If you ever have questions, that makes it easier to focus. What have I written that you liked?

I´m still writing in my journal. I finished a book. Do you have any tips on what is interesting and what isn´t? Also, someone pitched me the idea of doing recorded audio or video interviews of the missionary upon returning in supplement. Just so you remember.

More socks, same idea

Have any thoughts about scripture marking?

Maybe print off the emails I send and your replies. Or just make sure you keep them. I guarantee someone will want to read it. Reading Dad´s was very cool.
- Show quoted text -

Been here six months. Just saying!

I love my son! I love the work he is doing and I love that he is learning so much. I bet he could go up against anyone in a scripture battle and be able to hold his own. I am so impressed how much the missionaries get to know and love the people wherever they are serving. I am pleased that it is going as fast as it is too. I know I will look back and think it was no time at all but there are days that I still think he has been gone forever. I miss him and I love him. Still no pictures and that is a bummer! I need to get a picture of him soon or I just might think he is avoiding sending me one for some reason!



Before I start saying anything much, I´d like to point out that as of today, I have been in the mission for six months. Just saying.

This week was cool except one thing. While we were preparing Mónica for her baptismal interview, we discovered something. This something was rather large. Over a few hours, it came out that there´s some stuff in her past that means she has to have an interview with President King. So when we went to the interview, we sat outside the room anxiously for almost an hour. Then she came out, apparently having cried a little. We now await that interview with the President. We went over to her house immediately after and talked some, but then, the next day, she didn´t come to church, and wasn´t home at all that day. This happened before I was working with her when she couldn´t quit smoking before her first interview. She became afraid of what we were going to say or do when we arrived.

I am very grateful that I can tell her that what happened doesn´t matter with the Atonement. I do not know any other comfort she could possibly recieve. I always think of that story from the New Testament when a bunch of Jews bring an adulteress to Jesus to see if He´ll deny the law, or approve of a stoning, either one conflicting His position. Jesus says something like, "Let he that is without sin cast the first stone." Every Jew left. Then Jesus says, "Where are thine accusers? Hath anyone condemned thee?" She says, "No, man, Lord." Then the important part : "Neither have I condemned thee. Go, and sin no more."

My teacher in the MTC said that it´s as if we have a "sin account". We can´t pay back anything that is charged to it, or, at least, not enough to ever come back even to zero. Christ´s account is infinite. He has an unlimited amount of "credit." When we accept him, we get our number, plus infinity. How much is that? You could be at $-998,547,569,985,655,858,658.25. What would that even matter?

On the other hand, we´ve finally been able to get Pablo to read the Book of Mormon every day by himself. He´s kind of a Joey personality, if you will, but he is doing it anyway. It did take a few weeks to get here, though, believe me. We actually had to threaten him with corporal punishment a few times.

I read something really interesting in a Liahona the other day that has to do with that I think may be of value to you. Someone asked Elder Bednar, I think, at what point do we let kids have their agency to say, not go to church. He asked, "How hard is Satan going to try to win?" Well, I´d imagine he´d do anything to win, including fighting every day on every front to lead anyone "carefully down to Hell." That should be about as hard as we try in reverse, more or less. I recommend finding that and reading it. I couldn´t tell you where it came from, besides that it was in a Spanish Liahona.

As for mail, I´m sickened that that letter I sent AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHANGE just arrived. I am trying to write stuff to people, but you´d be appalled at how little time I have in a day for that stuff. Then Pday comes and I can get a half a letter out between things we´re doing. What can I say? My first journal is done. I could send it home, I suppose. I don´t know if I´d still want it here or now. Advise me, please.

Cameras are expensive here, perhaps 20% or more in extra money due to importing. The Ipad here costs 450,000 pesos - more than $900, for example. As for the Ipod thing... you´re probably right. There´s a ton of more stuff I´d want, actually. I´d want Josh Groban, for example. (Elder Smith has some on his Ipod that´s very good.) If we were to do that, I´d need to take some time to put together "requests" so I don´t sit here and think and waste the time.

But, I did get that package on wednesday. The socks are amazing. I´ve been trying to wear them until they absolutely stink too bad to wear. And the pens too. I´m using one now instead of my lame Chilean Bic that I hate.

Also, just randomly, I´ve been doing an advanced study of the scriptures and I have discovered I don´t have any idea how to mark them. I´ve been kind of making it up as I go. Do you have any thoughts? There are scripture mastery stickers I´d like to put in my Spanish scriptures. Please look into that. I don´t know if you´ve ever been into marking at all. I find that I remember the things better when I mark them, and also, when you look at them again, you can understand a lot easier.

Thanks for everything, including being who you are. I love you.
Elder AC Crist

Tell Abby she has to bring the wine bag to Annie. (inside joke)

Also, are there more Dragonball Z things? (I believe he is talking about some funny mocking cartoon)