I'm so stoked for Wednesday!

ALRIGHTY!

So! im so stoked for wednesday! i Get to talk to my family after almost 5 months! is that crazy for anyone else? I still dont feel like that much time has passed... its just cruising by. but thats ok! as long as there is progress! and i believe there is!

This week was a good week! we are finding new people, having sucessful lessons, talking to lots of people, and working hard! 

My favorite part of this week was actually yesterday in a sector attack! we all got split and put with a young man from the stake, and apart from the fact that the guy i was with was sweet, we had some good sucess! we had a really short time but we had a good lesson with a menos activo then went to go try to find people for a bit. we knocked a few doors and then came to almost the end of the street and knocked one, and the lady next door answered us... so we just pretended it was on purpose and asked if we could talk to her and she gave us 5 minutes but we shared a little about Christ and she seemed really interested, and kept talking to her daughter who is studying a lot about churches right now! I just felt like it was guided a lot for the spirit, it was sweet.

We have been working hard to find new people to teach, and we had a sweet activity on friday where the whole ward sang according to organization and there were lots and lots of less active in active and investigators there as well. we talked to all sorts of people and hopefully will be able to contact more of them this weekend or next or something. its difficult with christmas and new years haha. but thats ok! we will make it work!

here are a few more pictures as well, my sector, my comp. some lights. yep :) love you guys lots!

See ya!

Elder Gold

9 Days!!!!

Hey fam! 

9 Days!!!!!

Yea, im pretty stoked for that. i should be calling around noon thirty or 1. around there.

Im just movin right a long here! just like every week! the language just keeps moving and moving. im finally to the point where i can have a conversation with investigators or members and actually talk to them, not just smile and nod or reply on my comp. that makes things a lot easier! Its funny how different christmas is here, there are barely any people who decorate, and you can barely tell the difference most of the time. christmas isnt really their priority as much here, but thats ok. we have lots of invitations to come over so we will be well taken care of haha.

Its crazy to be getting a new comp but really fun at the same time. there are lots and lots of new things to learn and he is very very different from Elder Villavicencio. Elder Villa was largely silent and he just kindof did his thing, but Elder Rodas talks lots and lots. we have lots of good times. its way fun to do contacts with him because he just tells these random stories as he gets reminded of things and its very funny. i will send a picture of him.

Oh, also. the photos are the Vargas kids. and the Trash pic... the trash was in paro (ummm stop? nobody was working, what is that called? strike?) so there were these HUGE mountains of trash just sitting around everywhere. finally they got that figured out, but now there are just tons of flies all over the place and its kinda gross. worse in the poor houses because they cant close everything so easily. so they just get mobbed.

oh and one picture of my district.

So yep! its strange to be away from you right now but im having a good time! feeling happy with life and everything! just working and growing and learning and all that crazy stuff that is the mission.

love you all!

Elder Gold

New companion - Elder Rodas

 I'm guessing these are other elders in the house....

Lago Chungara..and LOADS of photos/videos!

Whew! so! im finally here! ummm yea! so we went to lago Chungara! everybody told us it was the highest lake ever. buuutttt apparently that was false ahahaa. but it was still crazy high. we went up in a crammed little jeep with a memeber and her 2 year old. the problem up there is there isnt much air so it makes it really difficult to breath and lots of people get really nacious. we drove for about 4 hours up to the lake on these switch backs with thousand foot or more falls... it was a little sketchy. and the roads were awful and full of pot holes, plus its an intercontinental highway so there were tons and tons of semis on these tiny roads with hairpin switchbacks... yep. thats all. when we were about 3 minutes from the top the two year old finally hit his wall and spewed all over my leg which was fun. but we kinda just tried to forget about it becuase there wasnt much we could do so far from people and such. 

The lake was Beautiful. seriously. its got a few volvanoes in the back ground and everything. seriously it was amazing. with flamingos and other birds and some llamas too. but again with that whole lock of oxygen thing it made it really difficult to walk much. Elder Knowles and i struggled a lot! we could walk like 20 steps then we just had to sit where we were so we didnt fall over. but it was fun stuff! it just took lots and lots of time.

Then the next week we had cambios. they said they were gonna call on saturday night, but they never called so it was a pretty restless night and they finally called at 830 on sunday morning. Elder Villa left me. its crazy. we had all sorts of attention from the ward and ate ttoooooooonnnnnnnssssssss. but it was good. Elder Villa kinda struggled with the time thing though... so we busted it out the door after visiting tons of members on monday and he BARELY made it on the bus... and he left a TON of stuff hahaha. including his name tag! but we can send it to him for free so all is well. then i waited with Elder Knowles and his comp until tuesday morning when mine arrived. i was a little nervous and it felt a little crazy! but he arrived! Elder Rodas from Argentina is freaking hilarious, i love our group right now. he makes the work a lot more fun and he is totally set to work like crazy. im excited to spend the next few weeks with him! i also have a bunch of videos from the vargas family. so i hope you enjoy all of that. I love you all tons and im crazy excited to get to call home on christmas! thank you!

Elder Gold

The city workers were on strike...

This is one of the moments when we lost air hahaha. had to sit down. 

I'm now just a junior comp and not a trainee

Hey family! again... i have almost no time... sorry!!! this week there were cambios, Elder Villavicencio and another Elder in my house left. it feels so wierd! my companion, Elder Rodas from guatemala, will be getting here tomorrow early in the morning, and Elder Knowles companion just arrived, Elder Lopez also from guatemala. so im chillin with them tonight, but i finished training! nuts! im now just a junior comp and not a trainee. this weekend we visited tons of people and they all cried. it was way hard for Villa too. ah, sometimes when cambios come you kindof want to leave and get a change, go to a new city, all of that, but its gonna be really hard to leave people here! there are lots of people that im already super attatched too and im probably gonna be here for a good 3 months more. blegh. spanish really is just moving along. it just keeps coming, im super blessed with it. and crazy excited to talk to you all on Christmas! whew! isnt it crazy how fast time goes?!?!?! yea, but now i have to go. Love you all tons! i promise i will get back to righting decent emails haha.

Elder Gold

A very brief news brief from Henry

Alrighty! so this week we went to Lago Chungará (lake chungara) which is the highest lake in the entire world! pretty cool! i have lots of pictures and stuff but sadly i dont have time this week! sorry! the trip was reeeaally long! Its crazy to experience christmas time while dying of heat! i love you all tons! sorry i cant write more, but i will next week. OH YEA! i also end my training this week... crazy! so im just a super new missionary but not just a trainee! and its more than likely that my companion is leaving me, because he has like 7 months in this secor, he was born (as a missionary) here too!

Big news here in Arica

My Family! I love you guys tons!

Big news here in Arica. its been kind of an interesting week! this week in Chile was Elections, sooo looooots of politics, lots of lots! there is so much political crap here. papers, posters, calenders, cards, signs, letter. whatever else. just thrown every where. they just throw there name out as much as they can! So this sunday was Election day and it is illegal to have any large gathering on that day. so the church got special permision to have church for 1 hour only in the mornng, we combined with the other ward in the chapel we are in and had 1 hour of church and then we werent allowed to go out proselyting until after 5. so we went and made like 2 visits then had a meeting with the president at night. It is so awesome to get to hear from the president, he has so much spirit with him! we just had like a Q and A session with all of the missionaries in Arica. I feel a renewed fire, im glad he came!

But thats totally skipping the story! ummmm, on tuesday we had a good day, taught a lesson to the vargas family to try and help out hermano Heber. who still just doesnt feel that ready, but the president gave us some advice on that too. and we taught dariella both tuesday and wednesday. reading the book of mormon lots with her. the other Elders keep telling us that she isnt even progressing that its not gonna happen, but that was part of this weeks lesson for me, from the president and everything. i need to learn to stop caring about what the other elders are saying, and just keep going with what i know is right. just move on with faith and effort and let my paths be directed.

This thursday night/ friday something big went down here. A maniac just shot some people. for no reason. so we got a call at like 6 in the morning saying that we were to stay in te pension until further notice. then at 11 they let us know that we could go out until 5. so we hurried up and left so we could get some good time in. before 5 knowing that we had to be back early. so we went and did! and at like 430 they called and said we were good for the rest of the day. the people were caught and all was well. so we prepared ourselves for kind of a really long day working and went to another house. then at like 515 when we were about to go, they called again and said that something happens and we had to either get to the pension or camp out in a members house... so we stayed here with this member... said a prayer, she made us food. we chilled watched soccer and chatted until 8 30 when we had to go straight home. it was interesting! then the next day was just normal... we just have to keep being careful... most of the stuff happened at like 2 in the morning when we are very very safe in our nice warm beds. and for the most part Arica is like incredibly safe. they kept telling us how much this never ever happens here. but there it is. the adventure of this week. not nearly as bad as whats going down in the phillipines, we dont here a ton... but still thats just crazy! so much damage!

Family. I love you. Lets remember how blessed we all are. that there are always gonna be ups and downs. but we just need to keep up a good attitude. thank you so much!

Elder Gold

i made some pancakes! in a blender! and forgot the eggs.... oops. but thats ok. and also the pans here are old and bad... thats why they look like bananas hahaha :) also! im on some arthritis medicine/horse pills. its fantastic. :)