Dear family and friends, 2-18-13
Congrats
to Kendra, Meridith, Sister Jarvis, and Sister Getts for being awesome and
getting married or heading out on missions. It´s going to be a fantastic road.
To the wonderful K----n: I am well. as always... cough. I love South America
minus the “polgas”. These stinking things won’t stop biting me. I have a million bites…
I'm excited for I----c
[nephew]. Reading is a huge step in life. I wonder if he would enjoy reading in
the Book of Mormon........ haha . Sure
love ya'll. Congrats to my brother R----h on his graduation coming up. I wish I
could celebrate with him. I also hear
that praying before all your studies or basically anything you do will invite
the Lord and Spirit to help you... then you'll progress a lot faster... if
that's of any interest to ya.
I can't believe it's
already February either. The time goes by really fast. I realized a few days
ago that really we only have about 6 to 7 hours a day to work. The rest is
preparation. It's hardly any time. And it's sad that we feel that we haven't
been using the best of it. I know that's a view in our eyes and not Heavenly Father’s,
but at least we know we can do better. And
apparently the mission leader thinks so as well. In our Zone meeting, we learned that he has
set a Standard of Excellence that is rather... inspiring: 140 contacts a week,
15 new investigators every week, 5 people with a baptismal date and attending
church and progressing, and if we are to do all those things and are
successful, it will bring 1 baptism and confirmation a week. Quite frankly,
this is why we figured we haven't been giving our all. But It's not easy, this
work. But it's more than worth it. I get to look back every day at where I was and
know that it's further than I would have gone in a few months of trying. The
Lord is truly pushing and supporting his servants.
Crazy Chilean Stuff:
They love Mayo... which drives me nuts. They
put mayonnaise on a lot of random foods, like corn or potatoes. Sometimes they get mad if you don't, so you
have to at least take a tiny bit every once in a while.
Agua (water) doesn't
really mean agua... it means soda. You
ask "Can I get a small glass of water, please?" and then they come
out with a giant glass of soda, typically Sprite. Which also drives me
nuts, in a laughing, "ok, yeah I-should-have-remembered-by-now" kind
of way.
Here in Chile, the “hellos
and goodbyes” are (between Males): Handshake, Hug and pat the back twice,
Handshake. - - -(Between male and female): Cheek kiss. [Then] Entonces,
you need to be careful to keep a firm grip and a stiff arm so that the girls
don't come in for the cheek. In
Esperanza, we haven't had this, but the first time I did an interchange [serve
for a day with a different elder in a different sector], I got 2 cheek kisses
without warning. You should have seen our expressions of horror.
New stuff this week:
There's a lady who has been
attending church for the past long while or year or something and receiving
lessons in church, and no one apparently came to think much of it... but she
can be baptized... Oh!... eah. That huge blessing that she could have. So we need to set a fecha [an appointment] with
her.
Boldness and
courage... yes. That would help. No one is going to hurt you for sharing how
much the Gospel of someone they probably also believe in has blessed your life.
Yes, be peaceable when
it comes to religion. If you both start slinging mud, all you do is lose
ground...
Tell her not to lose
that 10 peso piece... It's worth 2 cents, and I KNOW that the U.S. has no 2-cent
pieces. I’m making her basically famous. [Hahahaha]
You ate at Sykes? Don't
they have live bands at Sykes? Is it
only where the older generation goes? I
want to play for them there one day...
Happy Late Valentines.
and the day before was my companion Elder H's birthday.
Did I ever mention
that I hate Duraznos? [peaches] The
members here keep on giving them to us, and somehow they keep ending up in
Elder H's backpack.
There's a member here
that Elder H fixed up her bathroom because he's a ‘beast’, and I played with
the kittens and got some nice scratches on me. It was pretty cool, and
definitely worth it. Thom and Ronnie--Super
awesome cats, they are.
I think I also decided
that I might not get a dog when I'm older. At some point yes, when the phrase "Perro
con Polgas" doesn't come to mind the instant I see a dog in the street. [translation: “dog with fleas’]
These stinking fleas
are eating me alive. I counted most of my bites. I stopped at 40. Please send the medicine I mentioned. It's not that they're high priced, but the
mission leaders told us we can't use our weekly allowance for convenience
things, and I view this as one of those...maybe…it 's more of a necessity.
I've used most everything I brought with me. The vitamins I take every
day, and the Ibuprofen, I don't think I'll ever run out of. I have 3 bottles, plus the first aid kit in
every sector's apartment.
The language is
better. I'm somewhat contributing to the lessons that are with members and
sharing my thoughts. And conversation is
kind of coming. I'm slow, but it's still
wonderfully entertaining to try to keep up.
Yes, I know I've been
writing my journal for them. [my future family]
They're some of the most important people, and I haven't even met them
here yet. I often write in my journal "I hope you're listening, because
this will help" and things like that.
Didn't you get one of
those leafs [that smell like lemons]? I
hope you opened and scanned the letters for [friends] C-----n and N-------e. I put stuff for you in there as well. Next time I'll write on the envelope if you
aren't supposed to read it or something. I'll ask Elder H if I don’t forget. So far I
only know of one tree and I don't know how to get there on my own.
So yeah, I love all of
you. Tomatoes are still gross, and pineapples
drive me crazy. Fruit is painful to my tongue, but healthy for the body.
I keep having to force myself...... but they do a good job here of
masking everything with stuff like chocolate syrup or ice cream... hmm.
Anyway. Time to down load a couple pictures.
Sure love ya'll.
Elder Cattron VI
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