week #5

I will not say much and just let you get to the letter. Pray for him to get over the infections that plague his life. I know they make him miserable and not very effective as a missionary. It brings him down because he can't seem to do much. Darn it! So here you go...


I did a mail to dad about the details, but it sufficeth me to say that they certainly did, and I saw the doctor. I could probably use some of that wash stuff. As for not working, it could be a few days before I can go at all. Fetch. I would work inside in a second, and the President said that could very well happen because I know computer stuff, but I have to be good enough at Spanish first.

The call can be 24, 25, or 26th. Whenever. It's an hour long. I don't know how to do google voice with it. Maybe look into it? I could maybe have you call from voice to a member's phone. I don't know. Is there a way to call collect on google voice? I don't know. I can always get a phone card, but that's rather expensive. And the coin phones are hard core shank. Basically you just do it however you want. Some crooked "chueco" missionaries will call every day or for like 3 hours, and no one ever finds out. In conclusion, a lot of freedom there. Whenever is better. Remember the time difference.

I still haven't been homesick except for when they were working on my infections. I just thought about mountain dews and doing stuff that's fun that you don't have to do.

Turns out the reason I couldn't do pull ups was that I had too much weight. I don't know what I've lost, but I can do double the exercises now. From walking very briskly all day, I actually am pretty conditioned. We play soccer and I run around the whole time and never get sideaches or out of breath. It's really suprising because it doesn't seem like I've done that much exercise, but I have. We truly walk ten miles a day very easily. Every part of our area is a mile apart or more, so if we have a different appointment, we do a mile. This could happen hourly. You do the math.

We did actually have a baptismal date the other day. But then the lady, an older community organizer, bailed. She is putting together an enormous Christmas program for kids who don't have Christmas, with food and presents and all. It's a pretty good excuse, since she did say she wanted to start up again after. But losing a date is awful. We've really been having a lot of disappointments this change - Elder Mann says it's the worst he's ever seen in terms of people suddenly turning us down or stopping the discussions. We've just now found a couple of people that are refered to here as "los escogidos" - the chosen. You know it when you see it. People who have questions that fit the Church perfectly, like "Why are there so many chuches?" or "Why do priests get paid/never get married?" You show them the Book of Mormon and they often accept it before you ever enter their house. We have two right now. One's an older lady with a daughter who converted recently (having any family whatsoever in the Church is fantastic) who had the first question. The other is a single man with an autistic son with the second. He didn't believe the Catholic Church had authority because people vote on the Pope and stuff like that. Elder Mann and I just waited for him to look away to do a fist bump.

I may be shorter than Jake, but you should see the people here. On the metro today I could see the eye-level exit ("salida") signs at the very back of the train 100 feet away; not a single person was tall enough to block my view. I have seen probably 20 people up close who where heavier or taller than me. I am a very large person here. I don't fit in most seats. It's really kind of funny. I routinely accidentaly move couches when I stand up and my knees usually sick out in the air because of the lowness of them.

They do have a metro here. It's a lot like the DC one, except with people pushing into the car to let the door close. It's kind of dark and it smells like cave. Even so, people sell ice cream bars and play saxophones on the trains for money. You'd think it'd become annoying - and it does at first, but you actually wish there was one when there isn't. We actually heard a really cool tribalish singer/drum player on the bendy-bus (Oh, did I mention there are bendy-buses here?). They actually have a deal with the bus company to not pay every time they get on the bus, but rather pay a commission or something. You really think it's going to be annoying, but sometimes you actually do want a cold pear or a ice cream bar, and it's not at all expensive. They sell creamies (different in name only)(called "Como Mono" [which is wordplay, because como can mean "like" or "I eat". It's banana flavor, so it's "I eat like a monkey" ie, a banana. You get it, I think.])

The first picture is one of the four of us in our pension. I don't remember if I've told you about them before. Elder Silva is the native. He's a firefighter, actually. He is learning english, which is huge in Chile. Speaking English is a guaranteed good job anywhere. You can translate instuction manuals and other such things, teach in school, be a live translator for tv shows or conferences, or whatever. Elder Smith is a very white guy from Texas. I think he did a bunch of school in history already. I belive he likes history in the proximity of Joseph Smith and the Civil War, which means he's a good authority on anything about the beginning of the Church. They work immediately around the pension, and we work 15 minutes away.

That baked good is an empanada. I finally got one, and that was it. It was a nepolitano, which means it had pizza ingredients in it. Fantastic. Like nothing the states has. It's like the best bread you can imagine for an empanada, with legit, thick slices of meat in it. They cook them in broiling oven things while you wait and give them to you hot enough to melt plastic. I mentioned the good chocolate milk, but that is it. Soprole. It has no sugar really, but it's dark and just awesome. It's utterly fantastic also. That's the trend in Chile. The normal people food is pretty so-so. I ate freaking pancreas the other day! It actually wasn't any worse than the meat-meat, but the meat-meat was pretty bad anyway. They just boil it usually, no seasoning or anything. When you see them get out the barbeque though, that is an exciting thing. Things made for occassions are very, very good. Restaurants are extremely good and rather cheap. Desserts almost of all kinds are also just better than the States. They sell layered ice cream in sleeves, much like those dairy queen cakes, but they have twenty kinds. Of course, this ice cream follows the "more cream, less sugar" philosophy. It's so creamed out that it doesn't ever get hard in the freezer. It will always be scoopable. People here have discovered how great cold stuff is recently, and now most people have a legit cold fridge. It's always great to see people come out of the kitchen with a condensing Coke bottle for lunch. It's often the best part of the meal, unfortunately. They operate on a bottle-exchange system, and when you get them, they are already cold enough. The only reason we don't buy them is there's no room in the fridge.

I'm trying to be more focused with these things. I need to read some of Randy's letters again. He had it figured out. What did he do?

Also, I have confirmed that Grandma can email me. Or any family. Just saying.

Elder AC Crist

busy week

Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner but we can blame the flu! I hate being sick especially this close to Christmas. The highlight of my week is obviously the letters that I get from my skinny son. I think I will have to send him some money for new clothes...already. I was under the impression that most missionaries gain weight on their missions, not lose it. We'll see if he finds some delicious treat to fill him back out.

That´s interesting that you talk about Jesus is the Americas, firstly, because that´s where I am, and secondly, because that is more often than not what we give to investigators to read the first time we leave them a Book of Mormon. The answer is always the same when we ask them how they felt when they read it - "Me sentí... paz. Tranquilidad." (I felt... peace, tranquility.) They have the same feelings you do. Jesus becomes a real, real person for them, and knowing he surely exists is what leads them to listen to us again.

I don´t know if you´ve ever read Jesus the Christ, but I´d consider it once you feel like you get the scriptures more or less. It´s not that hard of a book, or, at least, isn´t as hard as people say it is. I´ve read to about page 500 since I arrived, and I know every whit why we can read it and we cannot even read the Gospel Principles manual (true). It´s a fantastic way to get to know the Lord.

You don´t have sunshine. You should take some of mine. It´s about 90 degrees right now. There´s also an ozone hole over Chile, which means you burn in about thirty minutes of direct sun. Needless to say I´m tanner, and I use a lot of sunscreen. We are out in it about 8 hours a day, occasionally less, usually walking outdoors, which explains why I´ve made a new hole in my belt and in three weeks I now will need a new one today or tomorrow. My pants are vaguely looking wierd now because I have to pull the slack around to make it not bunch up in the front. Fetch.

I´m happy to hear that you´re doing the music stuff. Of all the stuff I did, it was the most memorable and fun. The choir trips I went on were the most fun things I did all year. I did caroling with some friends independenly of school yearly until we actually developed a reputation and received requests to go to certain places, like the hospital and such. People crying, especially around this time of year is not too uncommon when music is involved.

Here are some pictures to make you understand a little more. THAT is the shower. Scary, isn´t it? It is two feet wide, ie, you couldn´t step any more than your two feet already in the shower. The paint comes off the ceiling randomly and it routinely will stop being hot. Did I tell you about the way we get the heater to work? We have to turn on all the sinks until it turns the heater on. Whatever. Then it will go out. Why? No reason.

I´m finding those really good foods now. I had a completo, finally, that had bacon and barbeque sauce. Fantastic. It´s not exactly a fransc hot dog, but still. Also, they have a little pudding cup (of which there is a picture) called Manjarate which is a mousse with solid chocolate in it... also fantastic. I think I sent it. Hang on.

Guess it didn´t. Here they are. They gay out a lot and I have to do stuff.

But yeah. I don´t have much to say. Have any questions about stuff? There´s so much stuff here I don´t even know where to begin. We kind of got screwed on time today, as you may have noticed. I got some candy bars. I´m not hungry that much anymore. Not dead. Not injured. I have like three infections though. Pray and stuff. I need to go.

Que le vaya bien
Elder AC Crist

Thanksgiving Week #1

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

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

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.

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.

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