Well, this week  been very great! I finally got the packages you guys sent me for Easter, right in time for my birthday. Since we get the packages from home in the same system that they deliver all the things to the missionaries, PBM (para bautizar más or to baptize more in english), I didn't just get my package that day. My companion took one look at our home and basically said älright, we got to change everything here."He asked for a ton of things this PBM round, so it almost felt like christmas. The older couple that drives the van saw my comp and I, and said ÿeah, half of this car is for you guys."I didn't even care about half the things in the house that he ordered. Like a toilet seat. We had one for the 2nd bathroom (for this house we have 2, it's nice) but it was broken and stuck under the sink. I guess it's just a testament to my willingness to live in filth. I don't make new filth, I have made myself be organized with my clothes, desk, and food and whatnot, but I came to the house and the toilet seat was already ripped off. I just didn't care enough to fix it on my own. My new comp is better than me in that regard. He also asked for a vacuum (I just used a broom), blankets (I don't know why, we have like 5, but they are too dirty apparently), and lots of pass out cards. That one we actually did need.

But anyway, that wasn't the favorite bit of PBM I had today. Instead, it was the packages from the family. I'm grateful for the family chart of Nana and Val. I finally have them all organized and straight in my mind. I don't know where I got the 9 kids of Nana number, but that is soo off. Whoops.

The candy is amazing. There is a candy shop in the nearest mall that sells some imported candy, but it is super expensive and out of my budget range. Plus, they only have Mike and Ikes, and not my favortie Hi-chews. I made sure this time around to make it last for a while instead of eating it all at once. The peeps though, I am sorry to say, have already gone to the endless pit of my stomach, though.

The flag, photos, stickers, and calendar of Oregon were great to have. I finally have something to show the latinos that come by and ask from which part of California where I'm from. My current comp, elder Olaiz, was pretty surprised about how Oregon has a 2 sided flag. I now have it hanging above my bed, but you can bet that I am not letting anyone write on it like other missionaries do. It's too precious to me to let that happen to it.

but, the best thing that I got that way was the ties from the family, and the notes you guys sent me. I did read them all in the right order, being Mom, Keegan, Aiden, and Dad. Why? because mom's is the most spiritually related, then Keegan talking about how great he is, then Aiden mentioning how he is better and that Keegan isn't the favorite son, and ending with dad mentioning the other parts of life going down back home. Also Aiden, the talk mentioning the Cheerios and Diapers, and later telling Dad to get there on time was none other than Elder Holland himself. I liked that talk too. I am super happy to have you guys as my family, there really could be none better than you all. 

Anyway, on with the week. This week we have had quite a few appointments with P__, and he is progressing really nicely. He esaily could be in the waters of baptism in 3 weeks. I would say 2 but there is a conference that get in the way of it all. Sadly, though, he is willing to stop drinking beer and wine, but he doesn't want to stop drinking his morning tea and coffee. We're still working on that, but he doesn't really have a reason aside from that to not be baptized, and has real intention to read the book (being already in 1 Nephi 14, the chapter that talks about how there are only 2 churches in the world- the church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil. 

The other baptism, B_____, will have to wait nearly 3 weeks to be confirmed because this week is conference, then his dad has custody for a week. That's kind of bad, but I'm sure he'll do alright. He is an amazing kid, just like Keegan in some ways.

Anyway, Dad asked for a list for the report- here it is

October 9 to Nov 19, CCM with Elder McDaniel from American Fork, Utah, in Mexico

November 20 to February 10, with Elder Lewis from Mapleton, Utah, my trainer, in Barrio Carrión

Febraury 11 to March 24, with Elder Cuenca form Ecuador, in Barrio Carrión

March 25 to May 5, with Elder Untch from Kansas City, Missouri, in Barrio Conchalí 10

May 6 to June 16 or more, with Elder Olaiz from Argentina, in Barrio Conchalí 10.

Hopefully that's what you wanted. As for a list of facts, I guess here come some:

I have learned enough basic creole to teach the lessons, and to contact. My favorite words and phrases are (and google translate may help with pronounciation here)

Nou se misyonè legliz Jezikri pou sen dènye jou yo, ak nou genyen mensaj konsèynan levanjil la. Ekse ou gen anpil lafwa? Anfom, zanmi'm. máp anprann kreyòl pou liv yo. liv la ki m prefere se liv mòmon an, yon lòt temwayaj konsènan jezikri. Liv mòmon an te ekriti pou anpil pwofet yo, ak m konnen ki liv mòmon an se verite. Eske nou kapab vini lakay'w pou ensenye'w? Náp we, zanmi.

We are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we have a message about the gospel. Do you have a lot of faith? Awesome, my friend. I'm learning Creole by books. My favorite is the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon was written by a lot of prophets, and I know the Book of Mormon is true. Can we come to your house and teach you? See you later, friend.

I like creole, not because it's a complex language (to be honest, it's the complete opposite), but because it is just a lot of fun to speak. It's a mix of French, Spanish, and English, with some words from Africa thrown in as well. Plus, it's a real easy language to learn.

Anyway, the call on Sunday was great. I loved how Keegan just kept on making faces the whole time at the camara, hoping that I'd make one back. I did like 3 times. If you guys want to call me, just call when I'm online. It'll change from time to time, but I think Olaiz and I are planning on doing it at around 1:30 our time, so he can call his family in Argentina, while I call yáll. If the computer I'm using has skype, I'll try to use it if that's what you want, otherwise I would prefer to use Google Hangouts, it sets up just as easy and is intergrated into the church email service.Additionally, it can work with multiple computers in a multicall, so when Ian's in Utah all 3 of us can be in the same video chat.

Also, Ian, the reason the call was a little early is because Chile implemented daylight savings this year, and if I had called at 6 or 6:30 your time, it would have been 10:30 my time, which is after curfew. Speaking of Daylight Savings in this country, the cell phones here are having issues with it, and they change back and forth between 2 hour times every 3 days or so. It also doesn't help that the chilean peoplee are kind of late to everything, so it gets to the point where people arrive to things one and a half hours late and they act like it's normal. We go knocking on doors at 1pm and people say Ï'm just getting up, why are you out so early?"

So dad served in the branch El Roble, so I'll guess I'll have to start looking into the books to see where it's limits were and who were the leaders at that time. I'm sure there's a record of it SOMEWHERE, but I don't know perfectly where it might be.

Actually, speaking of American Brands here in Chile, there are quite a few. You have the standard McDonald's, but also Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Domino's Pizza, KFC, Subway,you name it. BUT, there is one difference. Only 1 of the restaurants have the US standard free refill. That is, the Carl's Jr, in 2 of the 5 malls I know of in the mission, though maybe a 3rd will come soon. So, of course, the gringos sometimes go to Plaza de Armas or my old sector just to get that free refill. Also, the idea of a public, free bathroom really doesn't exist here. Instead, you either have to pay 500 pesos (or like a dollar) or hold it to the house. Only 2 of the malls have free public bathrooms, and they are like hidden WAY in the back so no one finds them.

A recent law chile passed is that supermarkets can no longer giv e you bags for free anymore. If you want a bag, you have to pay for each one. So, as money-savvy missionaries, we bring reusable bags, and if we need plastic bags for the trash, we go to the feria (like a farmer's market but bigger and it sells all kinds of stuff. Think of the street market in Indiana Jones mixed with a garage sale). There, the good sellers usually still give you a bag, so we buy fruits and what not, for the bag just as much as for the fruit itself.

Also, because the Chilean peso is so poor, they no longer accept the 1 peso and 5 peso coins as legal tender. the 10 peso coin is the smallest unit from now on. So, everyone just kind of threw their 1 and 5 coins into the street, and I collect them if I find them. The change is pretty  recent, so there's still plenty to find. The coins themselves are smaller than my finger nail, and the 10 is about the size of a nickel.

I had a fun adventure with cooking with spaghetti. as I was putting in the salt into the broth (and looking back I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do that), the bag ripped and a LOT of salt came in. But, the spaghetti turned out alright, it wasn't to bad, so that was great. I have learned a couple of receipes here in the mission, but I still need to learn how to make sopaipillas, a native dish here. Well, it's techncally a native dish, but in reality it's just fried dough made of a pumpkin-like fruit? here and flour. It's actually really good with mayonaise.

This last week elder Olaiz and I did a lot of contacting. We've found quite a few people that seem interested in the gospel, so now we just need to get those first few appointments where we get through the door and actually teach them. At the very least, I can see that my contacting abilities have gotten better.

Anyway, that's all that I can really think of at the current time, I'll see if there is more I can share next week.

Love you! XOXOXOX

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'll be in zone conference, but I'l make sure to treat myself.