Are you ready for the best news ever? This year, and probably forever, we are going to be permitted to use Skype. Not only audio - video. All the cibers (intenet cafes) including the one I´m in have cameras... so yeah. Skype. It´s happening. I´ll have to show you how big my pants are.
Therefore, you will need my name. elder.crist. That´s it. Just type that in and it will find me. Furthermore, it will be free, besides the money to use the computer, which will be about 1.60. Win. We don´t really get to decide when to do it, as it will be next week. I´m really sorry about this, but I´m going to talk to my companion and we´re going to decide when and you´ll have to figure it out. Sorry. Use my computer probably, skype works best on it.
The thing you´ll find with Chilean food is anything made for an occasion is good. Desserts are amazing. Party stuff, like empanadas, completos, pizzas, all very good. Normal food is pretty much a choice between three things : Chicken leg with rice, porrotos, which is a kind of bean soup that is really bland, and pana, which is like "meat surprise", essentially. It could be pancreas, heart, kidney, or liver. Occasionaly they give you queso de cabeza, cheese of head, which is ground-up tongue and brain together. It is the worst thing they have here, bar none. They always have salad drenched in oil and lemon juice, which is not terribly good either. The only things you can depend upon are the drink, which is either soda or juice, and the bread, which is always good here. Always. Certain ward members make their own professionally - needless to say, I stopped buying it at the market. And tomatoes. They love tomatoes pure and raw. You can always find those too. Juice is a strong point of the stuff we get. I went to the completo place in the mall and got some pineapple juice they make with a grinder in front of the store. They add nothing to it, and it totally has awesome pulp, but it´s just good.
There are actually ads for Tron on the buses we take. It does look pretty cool. (I do remember the original) It sounds like one of those movies that Jake and I would like. I´ve already started a "trunky list" at the back of my journal, so I´ll be sure to add it.
I will probably get the stuff you sent on Wednesday at meeting. The stuff goes to the mission HQ and it gets to us over a week or so. I´m sure I´ll be getting it, in fact. Exciting. Hope it didn´t cost too much... oh, what do I care- it´s a package!
The doctors said the thing I got was probably from stick deodorant... so I am now using cool Chilean spray deodorant. It works just fine, actually. The stick kind gives certain people ingrown hairs, especially if you put it on and then put a shirt on right after without letting it sink in or something... whatever.
(my companion just said we´re going to call at 1530 Chilean time. I belive that´s 1130 there. Just be ready. elder.crist, okay? We kind of got screwed with the announcement coming out so late. If it fails, I´ll just call, but I imagine you´ll be able to do that.)
Cambios (changes) was Sunday, and we are... doing nothing. Usually you stay with your dad (trainer) for two cambios, then you leave, and he probably stays, maybe not. That´s how they call it here. Your brothers had the same trainer, your son is the Elder you trained, and so forth. Therefore, it´s very rare to meet your grandpa, but it happens from time to time. The only time I saw the MTC guys was at the "greenie meeting" a month ago, and one Elder who ended up in my zone, who I see every week. It´s way fun to meet them and talk about their areas. My companion from the MTC (the sane one) is in the most flaite area of the mission. They have a crack corner, a weed corner, etc. They get threatened all the time but nothing happens. They actually can´t go into half their area without a local. That reminds me of a story... just a second.
We were walking home one night along the highway (imagine this - it´s very loud) under an overpass. We contact this guy who is walking next to us. He was a member, but he went inactive because he didn´t believe in the Word of Wisdom. We asked him why, and he said because when Noah got off the ark, God said to him he could eat anything he could see. We tried to get his address but he didn´t let us. We started walking away, me having heard nothing, and Elder Mann says "Yeah, I´m Noah. The first thing I thought of when I got off the boat : I´m gonna go make a bong." I had no idea why he said that, so it made me laugh so hard I tripped on a rock.
But other than that, we actually do have investigators. Our best right now is a lady who lives out in the boonies of our sector. She lives in this house with a half-metal roof with her kids and husband. She has this tiny little garden of carrots in her front yard, which is mostly cement other wise. There are really only three rooms: the front with the tv, the bedroom for everyone, and the laundry/dump room. The kids sleep outside when it´s hot to save space, to give you an idea. We got in the first time, and it went really well. She had a lot of faith already in God - she said that she´s gone hungry before, but since she´s had her kids, she can feel God´s love because she never lacks food for them.
Another investigator we have you may want to hear about as well. I think I may have met one of the people most similar to Granny in the entire world. She accepts the Gospel readily, even to the point that it seems she knows it already. She hasn´t been able to set a date for baptism yet. You´d suspect the classic problems : fear, inabilty to commit to coming to church, etc. She can´t because she is too busy organizing a community-wide Christmas program for kids who don´t have enough money to do Christmas, complete with a meal and presents. She lives day-to-day almost failing at times, for she can only work on donations - she has no money to speak of. People are touched by her just enough to contribute, and the program looks to be coming off resoundingly well. What´s more, she has a bent coccyx that gives her serious pain, and a compressed siadic nerve, and diagnosed fibromyalgia, but she doesn´t stop for a moment.
When you see a person who is not a member of the Church, you need to realize something. Or a member. There´s a lot of judgment along with missionaries who don´t complete the mission. The thing is, though, all people are doing the best they can with what they´ve been given. I´d like you to reread John 9 if you find yourself thinking otherwise. They are just trying to utilize the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The time really gets away from me on these things. Peace.
Love,
Elder AC Crist
No comments:
Post a Comment