Week 34 - The Weather Just About Blew Me Away!

April 21, 2014

Hey!

This week has been interesting. It was my first Easter in a country filled with Catholics and Pentecostals….and well, I thought it would be a bit bigger or at the very least a bit crazier. I guess the most devoted evangelicos just can't beat the ads and movies of a commercialized American Easter. The weather on the other hand just about blew me away! My dad's advice "hang on there for the 60-90mph winds and the rain and snow and cold" became prophetic as winter finally hit the Antarctic. We still have sun but it doesn't come up before 8 am and sets long before 7 pm. But by the time June and July hit, it will rise at 10 am and set at 3-4 pm. We had snow Wednesday through Friday, but the heat from a sun unimpeded by a stupid little thing like the ozone melted it before it could pile up. I have to admit that I'm going to prefer the dark, to the blinding glare of a sun that just doesn't seem to do much. We finally started getting wind Thursday, probably about 60 mph gusts nothing strong enough to knock me over but enough to catch me off guard and push me around.

Monday we played basketball with the elders from our zone. It was interesting playing with the 6´7" giant of a zone leader named Elder Gubler. We then went to the mall with Elders Hullinger and Rivera and then grabbed some food. We came home changed and had a little contacting before we had an english/restauracion lesson with this really cool Chilean diver and SEAL. Amazing lesson and then afterwords they gave us once and some cake.

Tuesday, woke up exercised, showered, studied, etc and then went to the district meeting. We were way early again but Elder Rivera and Hullinger were there so we ended up writing with them. District meeting was all right. We then had lunch with Hermano Diaz our Lider Misional and then headed out to work. We went and picked up the bishop but our cita fell so we went to a pf family. We taught a short lesson and then asked to mother to read a short verse. This is when she picked up a ceramic vase, threw it at her older son, missed it and hit the younger. She then started screaming grabatos at the top of her lungs. The other son we were teaching un-phased said he would say the closing prayer. He did and we quietly slipped out and went contacting out in the snow.

Thursday was just a waste of a day it snowed and the wind knocked me around a bit.

Friday was amazing! I woke up, normal routine and we left out to do some contacts. We came back and had lunch with Hermana Norma, it was delicious fried chicken and pasta with fresh baked bread, empanaditas, rice pudding and some Chilean Mountain Dew. We then walked around for several hours until we had our cita with Vanessa a less active in the ward. It failed and so we went to Hermana Anna’s house to teach her grandson. After a good lesson she then asked us if we had anything to do that night. We replied no and she told us about her sister that lived in the campo. We hopped into a small red sedan and booked it up the dirt road into the mountains, it was a crazy drive but when we got there we see this amazing cabin with a gorgeous view over the ocean and the tundra below. Ya when she told us about her old sister that had a farm in the country I didn't think her old rich sister. We had an amazing lesson, Hermano Diaz is a great teacher and at the end she was crying as we handed her a Book of Mormon.

Other than that, not too much happened Saturday or Sunday.

Well I just want you all to know that I love you all! Have a great week I know I will.

Elder Washburn

Questions for Elder Washburn

Have you needed to wear your thermals yet? If so which ones do you like the best. Wool or synthetic?

         Nope not yet.

What is your ward like? How often do you have to speak or teach?

It’s ok. I've spoken once.

Do the members like the missionaries? Are they helpful?

         They are not very excited to work with the missionaries but we drag them along anyway.

What's your bishop or branch president like?

         The bishop is a pretty nice guy he just works a lot.

Who are your Zone Leaders?

         My zone leaders are Elder Quezada and... GUBLER!

Anything you need?

         Nope as always.

How do the Chileans celebrate Easter?

         It wasn't as big as I thought. I talked about it in my letter though.

What is your favorite sector that you've served in and why?

         I really miss Puerto Varas.  I was only there a cambio but I got really attached to the people and absolutely loved it.

What do you think the biggest obstacle is for Chileans to embrace the gospel?

I've been thinking about how many members are inactive. I think you need to find more active members who are like Blair. Just good people that are willing to give of their time to let their neighbors know how much they are loved and sometimes someone who is willing to tell things like they really are! Does your ward reach out to the community and each other? There is that talk by president Hinckley that talks about how every member needs a friend, a responsibility and nourishment from the good word of God.  I think a lot of these people feel like they were baptized and then abandoned.

Church attendance and tithing.  And ya, I feel the same way and there are a few like Hermano Diaz, our ward mission leader, but they work a ton and we just don't have enough of them. 

Week 33 - Mastercard Moment...

April 14, 2014

Hey guys!

How’s it going? Not much happened this week but luckily I promised I would fill you in on the last week.  Wednesday we woke up, I made breakfast and way too many tsunami jokes with the 4 other missionaries until they all filed out and headed to their own sectors and pensiones. We then got ready, studied and left for the Austral chapel for choir practice.  We got there about 20 minutes ahead of time so we waited awhile and talked to other missionaries who got there early too. Elder Rivera showed up and told me that everything was fine (he’s from Viña del Mar where the tsunami hit). We then ate lunch, which wasn't amazing but tan poco horrible and then came back home, studied, went out again and gave way too much juice with a crazy but active member. Then our cita fell with a menos activos so we came home planned and went to bed.

Thursday we bumped into and taught some crazy people. It almost should have counted as two lessons because we taught one family member and then the other walked in and we taught the restoration again. Absolutely crazy! It took almost an hour just to get through the first vision without them telling us about how they took their 140 old grandmother to church or how when they where in the Falkland War, that all the people eat their bread like we take the sacrament with little cups and everything!

Friday was fun yet very discouraging. We woke up studied and then went down to the Plaza de Armas to sing. When we got there we weren't alone, we couldn't help not to notice that we had a little old evangelico dude shouting repentance and random Isaiah quotes at the top of his lungs. After he was out of breath... I mean finished speaking, he came down to talk to all of the missionaries. He congratulated us for our service at such a young age and then tiropiso-ed joseph smith and told us that we best stop worshiping him to avoid la ira del señor... Elder Bustamente (sick name right?) wanted to kill the man but decided to bear his testimony instead, I haven't seen an evangelico shut his mouth so fast. Heck of a guy (the elder) he's still in training. We then invited the crazy old guy to sing with us. He agreed and our first song was the one about the first vision. The look on his face as he sung “Josè saw the God of love,” was priceless, definitely a mastercard moment... We then taught the crazy family that we met yesterday (once again not sure why) we found out that the mother was in a psych ward for 6 months, the son is on anti-psychotics.  Walking home after this lesson, Macarena's (our baptism for the 26th) parents stop in the middle of the road and get out to tell us that even though they're all practically active members that Macarena wasn't ready to be baptized and that they would tell us when she could start taking the lessons... that was a bit of a downer.

Saturday and Sunday were conference. I sat down with English speaking friends, ate Reeses pieces and York peppermint patties and watched 12 hours of English TV. I finished Sunday’s session feeling so trunky! After Sunday’s session we came home to work a bit. (Saturday we got home at 12 after priesthood session) We visited a less active and her boyfriend, she knows the church is true she's just flojo (relaxed attitude) and he’s an atheist and a bit more duro... great lesson though.

Monday we had a fun zone activity, emailed, and hit Abmagosh. I found a lot of delicious food that I didn't think existed here. Tuesday we walked 18.32 miles and only had 11 contacts.  We had some good ones but these were literally everyone on the street that day. You could say it was a bit nippy! The winter hasn't hit so it's usually in the 60's but the wind on Tuesday killed me, no crazy 100 mile stuff yet.

Wednesday was an intercambio. I was with Elder Johnson, the secretary not my mtc comp.  It was fun and we had an amazing lunch and a good lesson with a member. The lesson with member was with this return missionary named Oscar.  I'll have to write you about him some time.

Thursday nothing happened

Friday we had divisions.  I was with Elder Lopez from Mexico City. It was fun we just didn't get too much done.

Saturday we had our last interviews with the President.  I'm running out of time if you can't tell so I'll fill you in next week I love you all and Hope you have a heck of a week!

Elder Washburn 

Week 32 - Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and April Fool's

April 7, 2014

Hey guys!

It's been a great week, how are you all doing? The weeks been a little nuts with Tsunami scares and General Conference and everything else, but it was good one and I'm loving everything down here. 

Monday after I wrote you guys was pretty normal.  We walked around I looked for masks for Dad and Grant.  I found some really cool ones and some gaucho stuff for me. 

Afterwards, we met up with our district leader and took a bus out to Lider. Wow this one is big even for the US standards and more importantly they had Yorks peppermint patties and Reeses Pieces so that was delicious.  We came back and started work. Had a lesson/dinner with a member and then we tried to teach a husband of menos activo and were fed a bit more. We came home stuffed a bit before ten.

Tuesday was pretty good. We had district meeting which was ok and then had lunch with our lider misional (we don't have a mamita in this sector) Lunch was pretty good, we had fried chicken and french fries. It would have been a pretty normal meal if I hadn’t accidently chosen and eaten the espina with heart, liver, lungs and all. I was then favored to ry luche, a special type of purple algae that only grows in this part of Chile. It tasted like iron, nothing more. We then contacted a bit before coming back and having a noche de hogar with a menos active. It was fun, we played trenchito (the game we played in Villarrica with the funny clothes and trying to eat a chocolate bar with a knife and fork). We came home and everything was normal until 11 pm when we got a call from the zone leaders saying that a tsunami had hit Vina del Mar and that they were moving elders away from the coast to our home. Bad day to tell us this being April 1st and everything! We thought it was a joke until Elders Aedo, Borup, Gibelyou and Marsden came to our house. A bit dramatic seeing that Punta Arenas is kinda tsunami proof. But it made for a fun night!

Sorry guys that’s all I could get in this week. I'll have to fill you in next week.

Have a great week!

Elder Washburn

Week 31 - I will miss Puerto Varas...

March 31, 2014

Hey guys how are you doing?

This week has been kind of nuts yet at the same time there’s not much to write about. Punta Arenas is sick. I can't really describe it. The city itself is beautiful, all Spanish and British architecture all mixed up and thrown together in random places. My sector is awesome. We've got all of the houses while the other missionaries have centro, so we’re always getting a ton of references from them. Also mine is actually beautiful. We have the largest sector and it's got a river running through the middle of it. On an average day we walk about 12-15 miles but we've had a max of 18. I absolutely love it here! The members are great and there are so many prepared people it's gonna make the work easy.

Monday, I went souvenir hunting and didn't really find anything, we emailed and then went to the Papitos to make mushroom empanadas, they were delicious. Afterwards I packed and headed out to teach Ingrid one last time which was a bit sad, but I know she'll get baptized it's just a matter of time. We then contacted a bit and then taught/had once with Rafael, came home and packed some more.

Tuesday was sad. Woke up and got ready for district meeting and finished packing the bag that’s getting sent by land. Left for district meeting, it was really random and vague. The zone leader eventually took over. We then signed everyone’s journals and had Elder Campbell’s funeral (missionary’s farewell party before he heads home). Mamita came in just in time for his testimony and brought an apple strudel. I then left with my bag and Elder Jones to send my bag on to Punta Arenas. Afterwards we went straight to lunch, it was delicious as usual. Headed back home, studied and packed some more and left to teach Freddy with Hernan Cortes. Absolutely nothing happened. He's not changing at all and he's sure as heck not praying for an answer. I felt horrible in the beginning but something told me I had given my all when I left. Said goodbyes/taught a few people. Contacted until 9:00. We went to the fruteria, said goodbye one last time and caught a ride with Papito home and had once with everyone one last time. Wrote in the book of missionaries and they gave me a sick hat! Came home, finished packing and talked and burnt an old tie I found in Villarrica to celebrate my 6 months out in the mission.

Papito and his great family!

 

Me and Hermano Cortes

Wednesday was amazing. Woke up at 6, got ready and left. Dropped off Elder Campbell, Williams, and Muiba off at the bus station and took a micro to Puerto Montt. Got there and waited for two guys from my group to show up, Rivera and Gibleyou. So I talked to Elder Soto (Johnson’s trainer) and Elder Smithson (Wise’s MTC companion). Both are awesome people. Smithson talked to me about Chaiten, a tiny island sector 12 hours from the mainland.  He showed me a video of a normal service activity down there...tearing down an old house.  He was kicking down some dry wall and the first 3 went perfect but on the fourth he kicked and accidently pulled off a wall flip! Rivera and Gibelyou didn't show up so we left for the airport. I checked my bags, an 11 pound carry on and a 40 pound "personal item" filled with books. Not exactly sure how I pulled that off but I did. Hermano Paulson walked in with two brand new hermanas from the MTC and then Rivera and Gibelyou eventually showed up. Got through security without a hitch and then got on the plane. The flight was amazing! The take off was good and I really can't describe the view. It was… well… indescribable... First we saw the Andes which were.. well tall.  I know you won't believe me but I swear that those peaks were dead even with our wings. Then I was lucky enough to be on the right side to see Patagonia, which is another world, it really didn't look like we were on planet earth. There were razor sharp snow covered peaks with fast turquoise rivers cutting through them and then miles and miles of windswept plains, absolutely devoid of life as far as the eyes can see. I really can't do it justice. The turbulence, however, when we came down to land was insane! Bags were flying all over the plane and I thought we were going to start barrel rolling. We came in for a landing and I looked at my watch to find that we were coming in an hour ahead of schedule. I don't really want to think about how fast that tail wind was but with everything it was the softest landing ever, didn't feel a thing, amazing pilot. gtg love you all!

Elder Washburn