Monday, May 10,2010 First Week in Chile!!!

I AM IN CHILE!!!!!!! I love it, its so cool and everything is soooooo different. First of all, the air smells different. Kind of a mix between exhaust from the cars and burning trash, but then when an hombre walks in front of you all you can smell is cologne. Haha. It is awesome. We come home everynight and I smell like I was just at a bonfire all day. Don't be mad mom, but I just get right into bed all dirty and smelly anyways. I am in Constitution which is a town right by the ocean. It is the area in our mission that was hit the hardest by the earthyquake so a lot of buildings are just down and a ton are cracked. The chapel here is unsafe too. We meet for Sacrament Mtg and Relief Society in the cultural hall and the men all stand outside for Priesthood Mtg. The ward is awesome and the members are all so willing to help us out with lessons and welcoming investigators. Chileans are sooo nice and welcoming, and very very open. They have no problem teling us all their problems even if we are just contacting them in the street. Everyone wants to listen to us and we are alllways teaching. The problem is getting people to church. For some reason 10:00 am is like the crack of dawn to them and everytime we say that church starts then, they look at us like 'whhaaaat? That's so earlyyy!!' It's so funny. I wish I could speak Spanish already. That is the hardest thing for me so far because I want to help them and teach so much, but they just wouldn't understand me even if I tried speaking Spanish. We have an investigator named Natalie and she is soo cute. She is probably about my age and everytime we have gone to her house she brings out all the pamphlets and her Book of Mormon. She is so open and receptive but she is really afraid to commit. Last night we were teaching a lesson and my comp asked her to pray and she got all shy and embarrassed like everyone does here, and she said 'No'. So I tried my hardest in all the Spanish I knew to tell her that even though I don't know the language yet, people ask me to pray alllll the time, because I am a 'nuevita' and even if I don't know how to say things, God knows what's in my heart. Then she said "okay" and she prayed!!! It was such a good, sincere prayer from what I could understand. I got a little tear in my eye after that. It's just so cool to be working here where people are so receptive to religion. Everyone believes in Christ and He is a huuuge part of their lives. We were walking down a street last night and talked to this man who was washing his bus. Turns out his sister is a Mormon but he just always said 'no' to going to church and stuff because he just didn't want to. He accepted our invitation and is going to read the pamphlet we gave him and talk to his sister! There are a lot of experiences like that. It's just so surprising to me how open and willing everyone is here. I am already loving it, SO much to do. My poor feet by the end of the day are just swollen and achey but soon they will accostombrar to walking. Chileans don't walk into their own houses. They first stop and knock, it's kind of weird. When we get to a house we stand at the fence and yell "Alo", then they look out the window and say "pasale". My comp is usually the one doing the yelling. I don't ever know whose house we are at. Soon, I will get to know this city and be able to tell where we are but for now I am mostly just lost all day. There are dogs EVVVERYWHERE! The funniest thing to me is that soo many dogs here without their tails, but they still have their balls! Sorry if that is gross but it is one of my funny observations! You would think that with such a big dog problem here , if they are going to cut off anything it would be their testicles, not their tails! Haha Sorryy! Everyone has a dog for a pet, so it's just dogs all the time! Anyways, I really already love Chile! This city was hit by the tsunami so it is all muddy and the sidewalks are gone. We walk a ton in the street to avoid rubble but when we have to walk on the sidewalk there is a ton of broken glass and nails and stuff. It's really sad how many houses really did fall down. You can still see where the tile on the floors were, and room dividers/walls. The houses fell down but you can still see into where there used to be a bedroom, or a kitchen. Just piles and piles of rubble. There have been two tremors since I've been here, but not significant enough to cause any more damage. Heavenly Father is really helping me out mind and body wise. Pretty much my whole body hurts all the time but it hasn't slowed us down at all. It is a blessing for sure. Better go, but I love you all and I love Chile!!!