Monday, January 25, 2010

January 25, 2010

Maaaaaaamacita,

Kudos for remembering to get on Sunday nights!

Oh hey, we've had some snow storms here as well...only they didn't have quite as much wind....and there was no snow....and it wasn't cold...and there wasn't a storm. So it's basically the same, right? :-p It continues to be hot here every day, and my new sector has a ton of hills - very different from Cabrero - so I'm getting my excercise in during the day. I think I'm dropping some weight as well.

You're all very lucky to live near a temple - TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! I haven't even seen a temple in about 5 months. When I get back I'm going to go once a week - so get into that habit so we can all go together!

Ok, updates from me:
This camio really has been a big change for me. I'm in the sector Lican Ray in Temuco (lots of hills), my companion Elder Tonumaipe'a doesn't speak a lot of spanish (he does speak english, but with an australian accent, and he is samoan), and I'm senior companion so I have more responsibility than I did before. On the bus down here I was pretty nervous - I wasn't really sure what was going to happen and stuff like that, but I've learned to confide in the Lord and trust that he'll help me and my companion along in his work. When I got here there weren't really many people that were progressing, but this last week we worked VERY hard and we've got a lot of great people that we're teaching now - some of them have baptismal dates. It's an interesting switch, going from junior to senior companion because the responsibility of the sector and obedience of the companionship falls on my shoulders. Elder Tonumaipe'a is great, though; we get along really well and we work really hard. His spanish is still rocky, but he's learning quick. Not that my spanish is perfect, but I speak and understand well enough to work efficiently in our sector.




Well, I'll write more details about the investigators that are progressing next week, but I'm going to attach some pictures of a family (well, part of the family) that we're teaching. It's a single mom with her three daughters Carla, Karen, and Karol - Carla was working so she's not in the picture.



Thank you very much for writing me - it's always nice to get some word from home! I love and miss you all very much!

-Trevor

PS. One of the photos has four missionary plaques - there are four missionaries living in our house, so Elder Moreno and Elder Bernal are from the other sector Quirihue.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

January 11, 2010

Querida Mamita,

It's so wierd to hear about the church actually having activities with the members! If we want to do anything here in Cabrero the missionaries have to do basically everything - including buying all the goodies and stuff, which we really don't have money to do. We had an activity the other week in which Freddy shared a spiritual thought, and then we watched Charly afterwards. The idea was that each person would bring something so that there would be food, but the only person who brought anything was Freddy (the rest of them were expecting that somebody else would bring something, but if everyone thinks that same thing...well, we have a ton of food, then, don't we? haha). I really miss ward choir too. Not so much singing in it, but hearing it. Listening to the branch sing is like hearing a devil chant haha - the person who starts the song starts way too low and then nobody sings the key anyway so it just sounds like a chant. If I could play piano better I would play during meetings. I should start practicing. I don't remember hearing or playing that song (he's referring to "How Can I Keep From Singing," which our choir sang last Sunday)...maybe you can record it on your next tape to me. Glad to know you liked my redneck-spanish accent! (on tape, for Joel) When I talk like that here nobody understands it - but I do get some good laughs out of it, so it's a good ice-breaker.

I don't think I'll have time to start a letter to everyone who gave me something for Christmas, so here's my thank you for everyone who did: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really appreciate it and will send you a letter next week thanking you personally!

President Swenson trusts us - we live exactly by the rules that the church has given us. So we don't have any extra bogus rules. We can watch movies, but only Disney and church movies. So we can't just watch whatever we want. Every rule that is in the mission manual, we obey. But he's an amazing mission president and trusts that we will obey the rules on our own without him having to hang over our shoulders. President Swenson will be going home about 2 weeks before I finish my mission, so I won't have very much time with a new mission president. I feel really lucky and blessed to have such an amazing mission president - and his wife is just as great.

Requests for Valentine's: REESES! I'm not sure what else to ask for, but I could always use some reeses. Maybe some of the other types of Reeses like fastbreak or the crunch kind or something? The other christmas package did get here, thank you very much for the shirt, photos, video, tape, and...flea collars? My zone laughed at me when I opened that haha. I told them that I'm going to put it under my matress so that I'll never have problems with fleas and then they were all jealous...hehe. But thank you very much for the package!

Well, my time is just about up so I should probably wrap this up and get some pictures sent. Just about the only updates for this week is that Freddy is going to get baptized at Salta del Laja this saturday and that I'll probably be leaving Cabrero next Tuesday. So I'll let you know next Monday where I'll be going. Thank you for the e-mail! I love and miss you all very much!

"Dios es mas grande - Que tu problema"


Pepsi-drunk

Elder Rodriguez putting a cat to sleep



-Trevor

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

January 4, 2010

Hey howdy hey!

Sounds like you all had a pretty good Christmas! I'm sure that everyone is very jealous of your extra time away from school, though, haha. Funny you should say that the Vincent family got hit hard with some sort of a flu-bug, because I got sick, too! I think there was a little time-delay for me because it had to travel all the way down here, but I got sick on the 30th (threw up once), slept alllll day the 31st, felt a bit better on the 1st, and then recovered on the 2nd. It was kind of a bummer to be sick for the holiday, but we had to be in our house by 11pm that night anyway so it's not like I missed anything. I actually rather enjoyed sleeping...ok, maybe it was the only thing I wanted to do, but still :)

I'm glad you like the book! I'm not really sure what it looks like or what all is in it because I did my part from a few thousand miles away, but that's ok. You can send me pictures of you and dad enjoying it or something ;-) I really like the in-the-family-from-the-heart gifts like that. It really means a lot to those that recieve them. I did send out the box of stuff to you all from me again, so let me know if it gets there. Hopefully it won't show back up at the mission office in Concepción again. Cross your fingers!

Well, we had yet another interesting encounter with a boracho (drunk) the other day - this one wasn't violent. So we were standing in the street talking to some people when out of nowhere this drunk guys shows up, and gives us a good ol' army salute (foot stomp and all!). If that weren't funny enough, he started telling us about a ''dream'' that he had. So in this dream he supposedly saw Jesus...and he only said one thing to him (Jesus to this guy): ''¡Pan, pan! Vino, vino!'' Which means ''Bread, bread! Wine, wine!'' So that just added on to me wanting to laugh. Elder Rodriguez and I did our best to hold it in. Anyway, so we told him that his army commander was waiting for him further down the road and he went off to find him. But before he walked away I told him that Jesus never said ''¡Pan, pan! ¡Vino, vino!''; but rather he said ''¡Pan, pan! ¡Jugo, jugo!'' Which is ''Bread, bread! Juice, juice!'' So he walked away saying that. We still get a good laugh out of this guy every once in awhile - he's a regular drunk around here in Cabrero. Oh! And then to add on to the funniness, we asked the people if they knew this guy and they all said yes, and then they said ''Allí viene su hermano.'' There comes his brother! And his brother was plastered as well hahaha. Good times.

Alright, now for the REALLY cool news for this week. If all goes as planned, I'm going to baptize Freddy at Salta del Laja! Right below the waterfall! Well, not right below it, but in a calm pool of water below the waterfall with the waterfall in the background. It's going to be like one of those pictures you see on the wall in the MTC - we're all really excited about it. Especially Freddy. That will be next Saturday, so I'll be sure to send photos. Hopefully all goes well and we can do it!

Well, I think that's about it for this week. Thank you for getting a letter to me! It always makes my day to hear from you. I'm going to get some pictures sent now. I love and miss you very much!




-Trevor

Friday, January 1, 2010

December 28, 2009

Let's see, what's happened here in the past few days. I'll just do my little bullet list thingy and send some pictures:

1. Freddy gave me the coolest Christmas present ever on the 24th. We were having a mini party with their family, and while they were opening their presents Freddy and Carmen Gloria had me sit down after which they handed me a small present that had a folded up piece of paper inside. As I unfolded it there was a message that said, ''Elder Vincent...this 16 of January I would like you to help me with a very important step I'm going to take in my life...would you like to baptize me?'' He's been going to church for over a year and is finally going to get baptized this coming month :)

2. This last sunday Carmen Gloria's daughter had us watch the Hannah Montana movie in 3D. Hannah Montana! Yeah! It was...interesting haha. Freddy put on the 3D glasses and put his face right up to the screen and said, ''Ah yeah, now I can see how it's bigger!'' And then the image changed to a close-up of Hannah and he jumped back and screamed hahaha. Good times.



3. An old lady attacked me this morning! Not violently, but she was hugging me around the waste (she was a short old lady) and wouldn't let go! She was saying stuff like, ''¡Aahhhh, mi gringo lindo! ¡Precioso gringo!'' She even told Elder Rodriguez to give me his sweater because I'm skinnier than he is (it's a bit rainy today). It was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life...AH! We're certain that she was drunk. So if you don't want to hug random gringos, don't get drunk.


Well, I don't really have much else to say for this week. It was really great to talk to you all on Friday, I hope you all had a great Christmas. I'm going to get some of these pictures I took this last week sent now. Have a happy new year! I love you all very much!





-Trevor