Dear All,
Holy crap! The mission field is REAL! So much has happened this week!
Getting out here, we went through some orientation for about 3 hours, then we were given our companion and shipped off to our first area. My sector is in Tacahuano, Sentinela. My trainer's name is Elder Pachner, who is from California and has been in the mission field for 20 months!
So yeah, more about the first day. We IMMEDIATELY got to work. There was no, "Hey, you're probably exhausted from your flight. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" But yeah, I'm not complaining. :)
So more about the area. The people aren't exactly poor, but the houses are basically just wood structures with metal sheeting on top. Most of the roads are dirt, the ones that aren't dirt aren't very level, and there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. It's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. :D
So some people we're teaching. There's Marcelo y Gladis, a mom and her 24 year-old son that is still living with her. They have really accepted the gospel and have kept most of the commitments we've given them. Elder Pachner said that the first time they visited them was before I got here, and they just had a really evil feeling presence in their house. You could tell there were just some bad spirits. In the second visit though, the house felt a lot more full of the spirit. You could tell the message shared with them the last visit did a lot for them.
Ruth and Diangely. Ruth is about 40 or so and Diangely is her 13 year-old daughter. They've been to church 5 times and their baptism was supposed to be this Saturday but she's having some doubts. Satan really does all he can.
So yeah, those are the only ones that are really progressing. In Church yesterday (we're in a Branch, not a ward) I got up and introduced myself to the ward which was fun, but I only talked for about 30 seconds. I really don't know much Spanish yet. ;)
Something that is pretty cool that I wanted to share. In my Patriarchal Blessing, it says that I have been blessed with a special talent for music and that this talent would be used to share the gospel with people. The people here don't really have much singing ability (there are a few select but not many) and so I've had the opportunity to sing for them! Just Friday night, I didn't have my 10 contacts yet so we jumped on a bus and I sang "I believe in Christ" (In Spanish, Creo en Cristo) and it was great!
That's what I want to talk about next. THE BUSES. You signal one down and it slams on its brakes for you, and as soon as you step foot in, the driver just puts the pedal to the metal! They don't care if you've just got in, they don't feel responsible for your safety. XD So yeah, I almost threw up after my first bus ride, but I've gotten better. :)
We've had people commit to baptism, but I don't really know... From what I've seen, people just try out different churches because they believe in all of them, and then they just drop the church they're going to to try out a different church. It's tough too because not many members have the dedication to help out the missionaries or befriend converts. Ruth is a good example. The doubts she's having is that she had a friend tell her that if she got baptized in our church that God would punish her, which is RIDICULOUS. I don't understand haha.
So yeah, the Spanish continues to progress. I can understand maybe 10% of what people are saying. (Chileans speak "bad" Spanish. Basically they just slur words together really hard, don't say their "s" sounds, and other times just leave out words altogether) It's going to be amazing when I understand these people. XD
I hope everything continues to go well with everyone else. Remember the words Nephi spoke, that the Lord does not command his servants to do something without preparing a way for that thing to be accomplished. (I can't remember it in English because the Spanish is interfering pretty bad. XD)
Con Amor,
Elder Spencer Layne Robertson
Holy crap! The mission field is REAL! So much has happened this week!
Getting out here, we went through some orientation for about 3 hours, then we were given our companion and shipped off to our first area. My sector is in Tacahuano, Sentinela. My trainer's name is Elder Pachner, who is from California and has been in the mission field for 20 months!
So yeah, more about the first day. We IMMEDIATELY got to work. There was no, "Hey, you're probably exhausted from your flight. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" But yeah, I'm not complaining. :)
So more about the area. The people aren't exactly poor, but the houses are basically just wood structures with metal sheeting on top. Most of the roads are dirt, the ones that aren't dirt aren't very level, and there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. It's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. :D
So some people we're teaching. There's Marcelo y Gladis, a mom and her 24 year-old son that is still living with her. They have really accepted the gospel and have kept most of the commitments we've given them. Elder Pachner said that the first time they visited them was before I got here, and they just had a really evil feeling presence in their house. You could tell there were just some bad spirits. In the second visit though, the house felt a lot more full of the spirit. You could tell the message shared with them the last visit did a lot for them.
Ruth and Diangely. Ruth is about 40 or so and Diangely is her 13 year-old daughter. They've been to church 5 times and their baptism was supposed to be this Saturday but she's having some doubts. Satan really does all he can.
So yeah, those are the only ones that are really progressing. In Church yesterday (we're in a Branch, not a ward) I got up and introduced myself to the ward which was fun, but I only talked for about 30 seconds. I really don't know much Spanish yet. ;)
Something that is pretty cool that I wanted to share. In my Patriarchal Blessing, it says that I have been blessed with a special talent for music and that this talent would be used to share the gospel with people. The people here don't really have much singing ability (there are a few select but not many) and so I've had the opportunity to sing for them! Just Friday night, I didn't have my 10 contacts yet so we jumped on a bus and I sang "I believe in Christ" (In Spanish, Creo en Cristo) and it was great!
That's what I want to talk about next. THE BUSES. You signal one down and it slams on its brakes for you, and as soon as you step foot in, the driver just puts the pedal to the metal! They don't care if you've just got in, they don't feel responsible for your safety. XD So yeah, I almost threw up after my first bus ride, but I've gotten better. :)
We've had people commit to baptism, but I don't really know... From what I've seen, people just try out different churches because they believe in all of them, and then they just drop the church they're going to to try out a different church. It's tough too because not many members have the dedication to help out the missionaries or befriend converts. Ruth is a good example. The doubts she's having is that she had a friend tell her that if she got baptized in our church that God would punish her, which is RIDICULOUS. I don't understand haha.
So yeah, the Spanish continues to progress. I can understand maybe 10% of what people are saying. (Chileans speak "bad" Spanish. Basically they just slur words together really hard, don't say their "s" sounds, and other times just leave out words altogether) It's going to be amazing when I understand these people. XD
I hope everything continues to go well with everyone else. Remember the words Nephi spoke, that the Lord does not command his servants to do something without preparing a way for that thing to be accomplished. (I can't remember it in English because the Spanish is interfering pretty bad. XD)
Con Amor,
Elder Spencer Layne Robertson