Dalcahuino for life

29 Sep 2014

I love Dalcahue so much! 

Its been a really good week.  We are coming up out of a slump that we have been in ever since the 18 de septiembre.  But now we are really starting to go  to town.  

What happened this week......   Something funny that happened this week is that our group mission leader, Hno. Yuseff,  says that he wants to retire from being our leader, he says that now that there is a mission leader in Castro that we don't need him.  He got really emotional and said that this might be the last time that we come to his house.  As he is tearing up he goes into his kitchen and comes out with this bag of powdered milk, specially designed for old people.  He hands me the bag and says that its for us.  he then proceeds to give us detailed instructions on how to make it.  This was a sad experience, that is until Sunday when hno Yuseff comes back up to us and says that we will still be going to his house every week for correlation.  He said he wants the milk back.

We taught this guy through a window this week.  He said that the door didn't open, so we just starting shouting about the restoration so that he could hear.  He was an interesting guy,  we have a cita for Thursday.

We went out to go teach someone with Hector and all of the citas we had planned fell in the first 15 min.  So then hector and elder K really had to go to the bathroom.  We went looking for a bathroom.  Elder K did not make it to one.  He ended up peeing his pants a little.  Reminds me a lot of Mad-eye.  He has to go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.  So funny.

Well we have found a lot of really good people this week.  We are working with them so that they can become real progressing investigators.  I would say that that is the hardest part.  Every one the world will listen to us here, but very few will act on what we teach them.  

I love you guys a ton.  This has been a great week,  being is a missionary is the best.  I know that this message is true, i can see the change it has on the people who have accepted it.  

Love you a whole lot,

Elder Burup

(classic)

PS remember Victoria from the beginning of my mission?  she is working on her mission papers now!  

I got 15 min. again

22 Sep 2014

Well this was a terrible week.  I'm going to be very honest.  Absolutely terrible.  I found out so many terrible things and we were stuck in our house almost the whole week because of the 18 of September.  

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting.  first time here in Dalcahue.  I talked about why scripture study is so important and how it can really guide our life.

I love being here in dalcahue, i love meeting in our tiny little house, and i love the members here.  We found out this week that it may be my last week in the house.  Next week we go to Castro because we have branch conference, then we have general conference, and then we go to Castro every other fast Sunday and this next month we have to go in.   I have been having crazy fantasies in my head about me just flipping my little study table through the window and throwing my chair after it.  I really don't want that to have been my last Sunday there.  Only about half of the members were there.  Its the worst. 

Well some weeks are lame other weeks are great.  I guess it was just my turn for a bad one.  

Today we did a deep clean of the house.  President Obeso said that he is going to lift the ban on soccer once all of the houses in the whole mission are clean.  I don´t have very much faith in that, but i don't want to be the missionary who prevents it from happening.  

I guess that's it from me.  I love you guys lots.  I am going to send a better letter next week.  Be patient with me.

Love,

Elder Bolun

(5 year old child took a whack at it) 

Puerto Montt

15 Sep 2014

So I realized that last weeks letter was really lame.  This week will most likely be lammer.... Sorry.  

So I am in Puerto Montt right now. We left this morning at 8, and we have been eating american food in the huge mall here.  Im talking Bigmac combo, with a bbq  We are going to have a special conference with Elder Viñas.  Cant wait, it starts tomorrow at 9 and ends at 4.  All of the things that we had no idea that we were doing wrong will soon be made clear to me.  I am way excited.......

(a little later)

Gosh dang it!!!!! i did it again.

Anyways it will be good.  I hope that tomorrow i will be able to see Elder Watson, that would be awesome!  

Viviana came to church again this week!!!  She loved it again too.  During the week we have found the time where we can visit her.  She invites us to lunch with her every week now.  We bring the salad, we light the BBQ, she provides the meat.  We are really trying to get her boyfriend in church though.  This is the week. They said that they were going to close the shop and everything so that they could both come.  The baptismal font will need to be filled this coming October.

So I just decided that i am going to try and start sending home something that i have learned throughout the week. This week i learned two things.  1.  When your away from the US  for more than a year you start to day dream about McDonald's, then when you finally get it you realize that it is still just a regular bigmac, there is no difference.  I thought it would be something so much better.  If anything it was worse than in the US.  You can apply that to all of the things in the world.  Your mind can make anything look so good, but when you actually get it, you find out that it is just a small, fake cheese covered, pre-made burger.  2.  I learned that i want to live in Chiloé.  I could live here so easily.  I would buy a motorcycle and just go to town on all of the coastal roads that they have here.  The people are the greatest, almost every house we go to, we get offered some sort of food.  That is a requirement here.  if you have guests, feed them.  It really is a miracle that i haven't gotten fat. Its probably too early to tell  but I actually think that i will be able to still fit into my purple plaid jacket when i get back.  

Thats about t for the week.  I am going to really try hard the next week and write you all a great personal letter.  We will see.

Love all bunches,

Elder Brown

(it says it on my ticket)

Dang!

8 Sep 2014

What a week. A really good week.... but i am so dang pooped.   This might just be another really lame letter.  I guess we´ll see what comes out.....

Somehow i accidentally just sent that... my bad.....

Dang! Computers are the worst. ANYWAYS....  This week we have really been focussing on Viviana, the lady that came to church this last week.  This week she was unable to attend... Daylights savings killed it for everyone.  But we have had some really good lessons with her and her family.  We finnaly got to teach her the restoration.  She loves the church!!!  Last week when she came she said that she felt an amazing spirit come over her and that it made her want to cry.  She said, when we invited her to be baptized and she said that she and her boyfriend have been looking for a religion for the past 3 years and that they made a deal that they would both do it together.  So she didn't want to make the decision to be baptized until he came to church for the first time.  Its alright though because her boyfriend is also reading in the book of mormon, that he downloaded from the internet on his own, and has also promised that he will be in church this next week.  He is also progressing lots.

This week we had intercambios with the zoneleaders.  It was a whole lot better than the last ones we had.  I got to go with Elder Jauragui again, but this time in my sector.  Dalcahue is the best.

The lame thing that is starting to happen here is that the members are starting to get animated about the fact that we still aren't a branch.  Yesterday in Priesthood we basically just had a huge disagreement on who is in charge of what and how we aren't allowed to have our own activities yet because we have to have them in Castro.  I am a little tired of it.  We need to Be a branch already. 

We found a place big enough for the new church... but its the second floor of the Casino.  We´ll keep looking.

Thats basically it.  

Love you guys,

Elder Burup

15 Min

1 Sep 2014

We have been running around like crazy people to try and find a computer in this dinky town. There are 3 places where you can go and all of them are having problems.  So now we finally found a place and i only have 15 minutes to write.   

Well.....  I don't really remember what i did this week now.  This Sunday a new investigator came to Church and loved it.  She stayed all 3 hours!  that is a total miracle.  We played it smart.  Sunday we didn't have sacramental cups so we ended up finishing with sacrament meeting while a member drove to Castro to get some.  So during the investigators class, we talked all about the sacrament and got her really excited to try it out.  It worked.  I love it when investigators come to church.  It builds them up so quick.  

So the Mad-Eye mad it home safely.  That is good news.  The picture was really weird to look at.  You guys all look so different.  Whitney looks like the skinniest person i have ever seen.  Jessica´s hair looks good. And McKenzie's nose looks really straight.   

Well that's about all i have time for.  Thanks for the emails.

Love lots,

Elder SteamBoatWhillie

I dicided to send pictures early in the day and print off all of my emails so that i can have more time to write in the afternoon.  Smart, right?

pics

1. Pan con Chicharon and avacado

2. Chicken Burger with lots and lots of avacado

3. The sign that took me 2 hours to make.

Dalcahue City

This has been a great week.  Lots of lessons with some real new, real fresh investigators.  We have had lots happen this week so I'm not really sure where to start.  

The beginning of this week was really nerve wracking for me.  We had Zone Conference with Presidente and Hermana Obeso on Tuesday, and the morning of we get a call from the AP´s telling us that they are going to do divisions in our sector.  That really put the pressure for us to have a good day of work.  We had good plans though so i wasn't too worried.  Me and Elder K (That's his new name now) went out with them as soon as the conference ended.  We had an awesome day!  Elder K invited 3 new people to be baptized and they all accepted! so cool.  and i got to go to the Fam. Jimenez and teach an awesome, soul stirring lesson there.  Eric, is really starting to progress he is starting to recognize the spirit more and more.  So that was our divisions with the AP´s.

We had another really lousy Sunday....  Not only did no investigators come, but we were 15 minutes late.  We had to go searching for our clothes.  The members take turns washing our clothes here ( so nice), and this week it was the Yuseff´s turn.  They live on an island right in front of Dalcahue.  So this Sunday they called us to tell us that we needed to cross on the ferry so that we could go and pick up the clothes.  So we left the chapel, after staring the fire, to go look for our stuff.  They end up crossing, but they forget to tell us!  So while we are crossing we see them in the ferry going in the opposite direction.  So we had to wait for the ferry to do the whole loop and then we were already about five minutes late when we got back to Dalcahue, so we flat out sprint to the chapel.  We get in right before the Sacrament begins and we can't stop huffing and puffing until it ends.  So that was something fun.  

Today we have had lots of fun.  We went to Castro to play some Soccer and then we came back and we made some more KING KONG burgers, these ones were chicken though, so i feel lots healthier.  I bought some avocados, chipotle sauce, eggs, lettuce, and tomato to put on top.  One of the best things i have ever eaten in  my  life.  I  was  really  proud  of myself.

I learned how to knit this week.   

Me and Elder K were thinking about The Lord of the Rings this week and we discovered an awesome symbolism of what the Ring of Power really means.  The Ring is Temptation.  Sauron is the Devil.  The devil uses temptation as his tool to wreck havoc among the children of men, the same way that Sauron uses the ring as a tool to destroy middle earth.  The ring is always so hard to get rid of, just like temptation and sin. In the end Frodo can´t give it up on his own, after along time of sin it almost impossible for us to get out on our own.  Golumn is necessary for us to be free..... wait that doesn't work.  Well, i'll do some more work on the theory and get back to you guys in a couple weeks.

I love you guys so much.  This is the True Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he and God, our father, love us so much.  I know that that's true.

Have a great week! and remember to call Madi Mad-Eye lots for me.

Love,

Elder Burup

PS Mom i still haven't gotten the most recent letter. I just got one from Jessica that was dated for the 23 of March.  I think it might have gone to Punta Arenas right when i left there.  

From the island of CHILOÉ

I'm going to start by saying that the curse of the Mad-Eye has passed.  Nothing to worry about.  It has really amazed me at how good my health has been.  Especially when you consider my diet.  I eat cereal every morning, normally the kind that is filled with Manjar and chocolate.  Then we eat with the mamita who feeds us chicken and rice, or beans ( the latter is really starting to hammer my bowels).  Then we don't eat for the rest of the day, besides maybe a little once, if someone is feeling really nice, which normally consists of bread and butter, tea/coffee/juice/soda, cookies, and pie. And then i go to sleep, and do it all again the next day.  So it s a real miracle that i am alive, let alone healthy.  Being a missionary is the best.

This has been a good week.  We have had lots of work and lots of hard days, but we ended really strong.   We ended up finding a new family.  Which is great news.  The mom is the one we made contact with at first. she owns a librería and works every day besides Sunday ( great day not to work).  But we had a really good conversation with them about how they want to be baptized, so we are going to teach the whole restoration with them next Sunday.  They committed to go to church too.  

This Sunday was a little rough.  Fam Jimenez said that they couldn't come, and 3 other investigators, that we had committed, also bailed at the last minute.  But this week the district president came to our humble casa capilla to tell us that we are going to start having the third hour of church!  lots and lots of progress!  He also said that he doesn't know when we are going to be made a branch but he thinks it should be here soon.  I need to see this place become a branch.  At the end of church we had lunch with everyone in the house.  Everyone brought a little and we all had lunch together.  This is going to become a regular thing now.  

Today we haven't done much.  I took a whack at cutting my companions hair.... turned out alright.  Then we bought our food for the week, and then we made a gigantic hamburger.  The package said King Kong hamburger, it weighed about 3/4 lbs.  soooo goooood.  

I love being a missionary so much.  Testifying of the restored gospel is the most fun thing you can ever do.  Have fun greeting MAD-EYE in the airport, and remember how great your son, who is living down at the bottom of the world, on a little island, surrounded my witchcraft and potatoes and fungus and mold, and how he still gets to enjoy being a messenger of God for another year!  Love it so much. 

Love you guys bunches!

Elder Brown

(They´re getting really close)