Getting Lost

Well on Monday I spent the night in Santiago. Then on Tuesday we went to the office and waited outside in the sun for about an hour because they didn't want our trainees to see us. That was kind of lame because it's really hot right now. But then finally they let us in and we sat down in the chapel. Elder Verón and Elder Riches are also training. We were companions here in Los Andes one year ago, so we were really excited to see that we are all trainers now.

Elder Veron, Elder Riches and I with our trainees
 

They asked me to play the piano and everyone stood up and we sang "Called to Serve" as the new missionaries came in. Because I was playing, I didn't really get to see them, but the ones that I saw looked really nervous and uncomfortable. Then President and Hermana Essig gave some speeches in a mix of Spanish and English. At one point, President forgot to translate into English, so the new gringos just kind of missed out on half of the story.... but I guess they should just get used to that since they're not going to understand anything for a while.

 

And then at the end, President announced who was going to be with who. My companion is Elder Preciado, from California. He just found out this week that his last name is a word in Spanish. His dad is Mexican so he kind of looks Latino. 

 

Yo y Elder Preciado con los Essig

He slept basically the whole way to Los Andes, which is not a surprise because of the flight. He was originally going to Argentina so he didn't do the MTC here like all the others. But he was reassigned to our mission.

 

When we got off the bus in Los Andes, I thought to myself, "I know where I am, but I don't know where our house is or how to get there." I said a little prayer along the lines of "Please help me, I have no idea where to go and I don't want to carry all his luggage all over Los Andes looking for the house."   About a minute after, a car pulled over and asked if I needed help. I showed them the map and the address but they didn't have any idea. Another truck pulled over and I yelled to my companion "Talk to him."  The poor guy looked really nervous. "Ask him what is name is," I said, because I thought for sure he was a member. And then my companion says "He says his name is 'Bishop' " That made me laugh. We put the luggage in his truck and it turns out that he's the bishop of our ward. He took us to our house and then took us to San Felipe to pick up my luggage. So that was a wonderful answer to my frantic prayer.

 

Since we didn't know anyone, or even where we were, we got lost several times the first couple of days... but everything's under control now. I'm riding around on Brother Memmott's bike, which is a little small for me, until my new bike comes on Tuesday. We should be having a baptism this weekend, so we are very excited.

 

We went to Santiago on Thursday for the mission tour. A seventy from Argentina spoke. They served us stuffed chicken and rice with peanuts and raisins. The next day, everyone was sick.  My companion woke up twice to go to the bathroom... luckily I slept well. We called president and he basically told us that the whole mission was also sick.

Anyway I hope you're enjoying the cold and the snow, because all of the snow in the mountains here melted several weeks ago and it is really hot right now. 

 

Elder Garrett (Viva Chile y su gente)