Well, it's a little slow, because we're starting from scratch, but my companion's really great. He's not trunky, actually he's working very hard, so we are having success, which is great. We still get lost every day and we don't know very many people, but it's going well. 

 

The area is about like Idaho. There's not much here but people and animals.

 

It looks like Elder Beeson, one of the other missionaries in the branch, had been asking for more missionaries for quite some time. In fact, the mission had been renting out a new house for three months for the new missionaries that were going to be coming at some point. President Essig, out of the blue, showed up in church the day before changes and the branch president asked for more missionaries, at which point president changed everything, and we were sent. So nobody knew we were coming. The house didn't even have everything it needed, we studied on the floor for several days.  We tricked a lot of people into thinking I was Bolivian, and my companion Chilean, so that was fun.

 

Before church yesterday we got a phone call from the zone leaders, so we went to the broadcast. I think I only saw one person I knew. Looks like John will be using texts, iPads, computers, and Facebook....I don't think they'll be getting to my mission until after I'm gone...
Elder Garrett

Unexpected Changes

 

Well... on Saturday we received our normal changes. They told me I was going to be in another sector in Renca and Elder Cuadros was going to stay in Vivaceta. So I packed up my bags, said goodbye to everyone, and we went to the mission office today. When we got there, I was informed that my change had been changed. In fact they were surprised that I didn't know. I guess President had tried to call us last night... but I think he was calling our old number that doesn't work anymore...

So instead of going to Renca... I've been sent to Batuco with Elder Flores, from Honduras. He has even more time in the mission than Elder Cuadros, haha. We are opening a new sector in Batuco, a branch quite a ways away from Santiago. We're in the country (kind of) and will be using bikes. I think I'm destined to spend the mission on a bike... that's okay with me.

I ended up spending hours in the office waiting on our new cell phone and random things like that. Elder Kelson is the new assistant, so I saw him for the first time since Renca... actually he drove us with another elder out to Batuco because we had no idea how to get there. In the end... nobody had keys when we got there (great planning), so we're going to have to spend the night with the other elders in Batuco. It's really cold here.

I'm going to try to send some pictures that we took. So I guess that's about it. We got here late... which is why I didn't write earlier in the day.

Elder Garrett

La Gripe

 

Last week Elder Cuadros convinced me to eat a chili pepper. I thought I was going to throw it up. It was really weird... it gave me a bad case of the hiccups... and I couldn't stop them. Because he is Peruvian, he thought it was hilarious watching me, because he says they're not spicy. 

We worked really hard this week and we did intercambios with our district leader. They have a McDonalds in their sector, so on our way back to our sector we stopped there for lunch. That was the first time I've eaten McDonalds in Chile. 

 

Time flies really fast. One month from tomorrow I will complete one year in the mission. That's pretty crazy. 

 

Well, it looks like I caught the flu, and I'm not feeling very well, so I think I'm just going to stop there and head home.

 

Elder Garrett  

Papas a la Huancaina

 

This week was a little bit tough in the way of teaching lessons, plus we were not at full speed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, due to Elder Cuadros having the flu, and all the rain we got this week. However, with much prayer we selected a new sector to focus on. An ex bishop gave us several referrals, and committed himself to help us out. We've been able to visit several other members in that sector and we were very blessed in the way of referrals.

In that sector we came across Juana, who called out to us to ask the hour. We sat down beside her and started talking to her. She is a sweet little old lady who seems to be very sad. She asked us to come back another day, and when we came back, she told us she'd prayed for help from God, and she felt like we were little angels sent from God to help her out. She said she feels better when we are with her. In her prayer she thanked God for sending us to her and recognized that we were the answer to her prayer. I think she thanked us about a hundred times. It's good to know that God sends us to answer prayers. 

When Elder Cuadros was starting to feel better, we decided to make some Peruvian food. It was delicious.  Papas a la Huancaina. He said this week he'll teach me some more dishes. They jokingly say that the best food in Chile is from Peru. Haha.   

Chao

Elder Garrett

Elder Cuadros making Peruvian food

Papas a la Huan Caina and Inca Cola

It only rains down here... but in the Andes, there is snow