Free refills

How can Alex run out of things to say? He says he is 98% out of things to say. Does anyone have anything to ask him? I came up with a few but apparently he needs more! I think the office has taken much of the spirituality out and put him on Workman mode. Not to say that this a bad thing and Alex does enjoy it, so it can't be bad. But I do miss the spiritual nature of his earlier letters. He will be in the office for a number of months and then back out onto the streets before he comes home. I hope he finds something to write home about!!!!

Chile has become to much of my life to really have anything to report. Same with the mission. I don't really remember what it's like to just waste days and weeks doing nothing and have no consequences. I only theoretically understand drive-through fast food and gas stations. It's all seeming pretty distant.

I got a bad sty! And I popped it this morning! And my left lymph node by my hyoid bone hurts.

That's it.

We haven't seen our investigators all this week, so there's not much to say. Yesterday we found some new people by knocking that were very good, though. I knocked (in reality, yelled at) a house with a forbidding black spikey fence. A lady appeared in the window and pointed to the left, saying what I thought was, "Your Mormon friends live in that house."

It turned out that she said "You have to go to the other side of the house - this side has no door."

So we did, somewhat excited that she'd bothered to even tell us. We talked to her about thirty seconds, then got in. Her daughter and son were also there, both about thirty. They had just been talking about how the mom needed to "look for God more in her life." It's a good time for missionaries. The two kids go to a non-denominational Christian group, which is missionary speak for "some previous knowledge, no previous commitment," i.e., good.

It was great to see this because we have really had a dry spell in our contacting efforts. But constant effort prevails.

Today's going to be fun, too. We are going out to lunch with a member family, Boris and Carol and their kids, Vicente and Renato. They are the biggest nerds in the universe, but are also one of the three indestructible go-to families for the ward. Boris is a programmer and accountant. He has a projector set up to play Call of Duty 5 and Resident Evil. (Myth about Chileans : they don't know about technology.) His house is full of circuit boards and Apple Computer Products. (He's a fellow Appleite.) Carol prefers Mortal Kombat.

(This brings me back to one of my biggest realizations on the mission. More on that later.)

Should be a fun lunch. Not only that, we are going to a restaurant that is one of three confirmed places in THIS COUNTRY that has free refills. Here's an excerpt from a conversation I had with my  fellow officeers:

Elder Spencer: "We should go to Mahmut."

Elder Crist: "Is that that place in the Mall Arauco?"

Elder Spencer: "The one that has free refills? Yes."

Elder Crist: "...Are we going there? Now??"

Elder Smart: "Wait... what food do they have there?"

Elder Crist: "FREE REFILLS!!!"

Elder Smart: "..."

You may have noticed how I feel about free refills. Apparently it's a burger place similar to Applebee's. But believe you me, that had me at the those first two glorious words.

Does it ever seem to you that I speak about retarded nonsense for 75% of my letters? I'm just warming down to the meaningful parts. Dad always told me to just write and not edit at first. I guess I don't ever edit, but I figure you'd rather have more than less.

This is a good time to purge some business.

I am pretty split up about staying at home just at first. I really do not have any money whatsoever, so that could help me out a little. I don't think I'll be doing too much dating at first, so that won't be a real issue.

(Are you sure the dates are right? Elder Jones the assistant is going to do his in like a week.)

I need a Physics 105 and Organic Chemistry. I'm pretty sure it was those that I needed absolutely for this first semester. I think I'll soon ask permission to look at it on PDay in Februaryish. I am pretty much into the third and fourth year classes now, which is not okay. I'm dizzying up a little thinking about it. I will definitely need a job, which will be hard coming out of the mission without having research time. I'd like a TA position, but I don't know if I can manage that this first semester. Probably not. It's okay. I know how to study, I know how to have God with me, I know how, especially now, to work on something tirelessly and not waste time getting distracted. I got amazing grades the last two or three months at college because I learned to study insanely well. I think it's going to be an instant replay of Dad's come-home story.

Questions. Please. I'm dying here.