A NEW COMPANION & PING PONG SHENANIGANS

April 25, 2017

So transfers came and my comp was called to serve somewhere else. The entire weekend I was praying hard to have an especially good companion because I knew he'd likely be my last one and the companion can make a big difference. I really wanted a comp that'd work hard and who'd help me finish the mission with a good taste in my mouth. 

I got my wish 100%! I'm with Elder Pardo now! He's Canadian but his dad was born in Chile. He has 6 months and I'm showing him how to be a DL. He's super nice and very chill. 

It's also good because I'll need a very good comp to get this sector in better shape. Yesterday, I had my first two lessons in creole without my old comp/creole teacher, though it went pretty well. 

We had some fun this p-day playing around-the-world ping pong and a new game called blow-pong.

Have a great week!

Elder Sierra

My new companion, Elder Pardo, and me.

Ping Pong Shenanigans

PUPPIES, A PREPARATORY PIZZA HUT AND OUR SECTOR'S A BIT BETTER 

April 18, 2018

Hey so this week went pretty well. The sector's getting a bit better and we had a good zone conference that gave us some ideas. We've been finding some nice investigators but it's hard to get some that progress. 

We do have some investigators that started to progress recently: Rene and Mykalea. They're both Haitian. Rene speaks a little Spanish but Mykaela doesn't speak any so we teach them mostly in Creole. Rene has had a pretty hard time, mainly because he found out he had cancer while he was here in Chile. It's a really big trial for him but he seems to be hanging in there. He also can't read so it just makes things tough. However, he had lots of problems with the Word of Wisdom and said he got an answer from God about it so he's stopped! They also agreed to get married in order to live the law of chastity. 

We got out of lunch right across the street from our chapel and saw two puppies in the churchyard. A neighbor told us some guys threw them onto our church property and left them there. In Chile, the Church properties are closed off with fences so the puppies stayed there. Seeing two puppies abandoned at the church moved the sister missionaries to take them home for the night! They then took them to church to ask the members to find a home for them. Eventually, the bishop and his family took them in until they find them a home. 

In other news, our Haitian convert, John, was ordained to the Priesthood and passed the sacrament last Sunday. That was pretty cool.

So, that's the news for this week. We worked hard and it passed pretty quickly. Have a good one everyone!

-Elder Sierra

Eating lunch at Pizza Hut last week. It's like a 'lesser' Pizza Hut. One could call it a 'preparatory Pizza Hut'. Someone who's not used to pizza could start there and then go on to the greater Pizza Hut. =)

My companion and me at the temple this week.

HAVE TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BUN IN THE TINIEST OF AREAS.

April 11, 2018

This week was a bit of a toughy although my companion finally started really feeling better and we were able to start working 100% again. Coming into the area things were looking good; there were a good deal of investigators, but we've been losing quite a few and have been having to drop some others. It's kind of been taking a toll on my companion's ánimo (energy, excitement) and I've been trying to help him out. My new area is a whopping .3 square miles! The small size makes things a bit discouraging for my comp since he's contacted just about every home in the area. We're going to see what we can do though; we've been trying to talk with members to get them to talk more with their friends and what not. 

We had interviews with President again on Monday and it was super chill cause I'm a little on my way out now and he knows I'm tranquilo. It was so funny because he was just like, "Well, there's not too much to talk about; you're going home soon anyways." And I just sat there like, kinda sniffling. However he did recognize that the ward I'm in has had some trouble in the past. 

We did recently find a Haitian that we thought we had lost contact with. He was excited to see us and said that he had started working so he had a different schedule. 

We saw a police car chase the other day! One car went zooming by cutting off cars through lanes of traffic and then a Police Charger flew by a few seconds later. 

Otherwise, I'm doing fine. We'll be seeing what happens. We're gonna have to think outside the bun on this one.

That's it. It's not too much cause not too much happened. 

Cultural note: Here in Chile we yell, "Alo" instead of knocking on the door because everybody uses little fences around their yard due to the delinquency here. You go up to the fence and yell (preferably with your diaphragm). Thanks to choir and voice lessons, I've got some pretty good 'alos'! But then, people don't actually walk out to their little fence or yell across the yard to respond.

It's the beginning of Fall here in Santiago. Have a great week!

-Elder Sierra

GRAND THEFT AUTO AND A NEW HAITIAN INVESTIGATOR

April 4, 2018

This week was very intense for all the stuff that happened! My companion got a painful lip infection, there was a delinquency holiday here in Chile on Thursday and then, we had the Easter General Conference over the weekend! 

On Sunday, the family that was giving us lunch got their car stolen on the way home from the stake center! Some people in a car blocked them off and pointed a gun at them and had them give up all their jewelry and money. They then went off with the car. The family had insurance, but it was a bit crazy because our ward is not too bad, so for people to be doing grand theft auto was a bit intense.  

Things in the area have been a bit slow since my companion has been having it rough. He was poorly diagnosed by a doctor in a random urgent care so he's been taking antibiotics for a viral infection. We saw a doctor at a much better clinic today and now he should be better within a few days. 

We did have a little miracle of the week, though. We went to find some Haitian investigators, but they weren't home so we started talking to the nice Haitian who answered the door and it turned out he'd been in Chile only 8 days, which is why we had never met him. We got to teach him the Restoration and he really liked it and accepted a baptismal date! That was Monday and to see how things were going we called him yesterday and he said he had read the chapter in the BoM we assigned him! He seems quite promising! 

Our recent convert, John, is doing great! He came to 4 of the 5 sessions of Conference and watched them in French. He loved it and has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot! He's already in 2 Nephi 26. I got to explain to him what priestcraft was.  

That's about it for this week! Have a good one!

-Elder Sierra