Monday, March 8, 2010

March 8, 2010

Dear Mommmmmmmmy,

Ok, I'll start off by putting all your doubts and worries to rest:

Here in Temuco we have had water and electricity since Sunday. They turned it back on, and we had heard that they were going to turn it off again but they never did. So we haven't had too many problems in the regard. We were without water for about a day and half, but we had bottles and buckets of water in the house, so we were fine. It was a bit interesting trying to bathe, though, haha. But yeah, we're all good in that regard. As far as all the looting and stuff goes, I've been thinking the same thing - it's so dumb that people will rob and loot their own country right after a catastrophe. Something kind of humorous, though, is that now the people who stole TVs and washers and microwaves and stuff like that, are just leaving it on the basketball-soccer courts so that the police can pick them up and return them to the stores. They think that that cleans their slate and they'll get off free, but their neighbors are reporting them to the police and they're getting arrested. For a few days after the earthquake not a single big supermarket was open, so we couldn't go there, but the little negocios around the city and suburbs were still functioning (because they don't use computers for their money) so we were ok as far as food goes.

President Swenson called you, eh? That's cool. I'll be sure to pass the word on to him that you're sorry you missed his call.

Weather is starting to cool down a little bit here for us. It's actually been a bit rainy for the past few days. The under-ground pipe system isn't too great here in Chile, so when it rains a lot the streets start collecting a lot of water and some even turn into mini rivers. So that provides opportunities to play splash-your-companion hehe. It's pretty fun stuff.

Tell Cami that counting out the rhythms and stuff like that will SKYROCKET her ability to sight-read and play with other people. I remember in high school Doctor Fulmer always had us start the day in jazz band counting out rhythms together, and we played much better than we would have had we not done that. It's a very good habit to think about the time in your head while playing - prevents a lot of dumb mistakes. The sign of a true musician is someone who can play without having to tap your foot - you just feel the time naturally. Something that we all have to work on, right?

Alrighty, time for the list of things from this week:

1. Is there any chance you could send me one of those whistles that like destroys dog-ears? I really want one so that I can walk down a street blowing it and not have to listen to a billion dogs barking at me. There are 2 especially that live near us that I wouldn't mind punching right in the face, haha. But I think making them suffer from a whistle would be much better. One of our investigators, Robin, has a sound on his phone that does something similar, but I don't think it's as affective.

2. The other day we were knocking some doors talking to people, and we got to this one house and started to yell ''Halo!' (that's usually what you have to do here unless the house has a doorbell or if they don't have a gate out front). Nobody came to answer the door after about 3 shouts, and then out of nowhere...I dropped my pen and it bounced inside of the fence. So we shouted again, saying that I had dropped my pen. Nobody came...but we looked up at the window...and I saw an arm in a gap in the curtains. I walked a little further down the sidewalk and looked a little closer at the window...there was an old man with his face pressed against the window glaring at us! It was one of the creepiest things ever! Hahaha, and at the same time it's kind of funny. So I yelled, ''¡Hola Caballero! Se me cayó mi lapiz, ¿podría buscármela?'' He came out of the house, grabbed my pen off the ground (I thought he was going to throw it at me), but he handed it to me and then walked very quickly back into the house. The end. :)

3. One of the mornings this week we went to buy some more gas, because nobody likes taking cold showers, right? There's a place to buy gas right by our house, but they didn't have any. Just so happens that there were two men there looking for gas as well. They said they would take us to another place where there was gas, so we hopped into the truck (I didn't want to, but Elder Bernal - Elder Moreno's companion - had already jumped into the truck so I did as well) and drove to the other place. They bought their gas, and while we were waiting to get ours, they drove off hahaha. I asked them to wait for us but they said that we were taking too long. So Elder Bernal and I carred the gas together back to the house, which wasn't very enjoyable because he's a lot shorter than I am. So there's a fun, little story for you hehe.

4. We found a lady the other week named Veronica, who had shared with missionaries years ago, and her son-in-law is an inactive member. She doesn't have a Bible, but she's had a Book of Mormon for years and reads it every night before she goes to bed. When we asked her if she believed that it was true she said, ''Yes. These things really happened.'' She now had a baptismal date for the 27th of this month. The Lord really does prepare his children. We just show up, show them the way, and help them to come unto Christ.

Well, that's just about it for this week. Thanks for the letter! It's always good to hear how the family is doing. I'll keep you updated on the things that are going on down here. As far as earthquakes go, there was one in Concepción the other day (I'm pretty sure it was just a big aftershock), and there was one in the north this last week, but we're just getting small aftershocks here every once in awhile. Usually a few times a day, but nothing strong. Somebody said that there's a volcano nearby that might go off, but I haven't heard anything more on that. If it does I want to get pictures of the eruption :) We're pretty far away from the actual volcano, but I'm sure we'd be able to see the eruption on the horizon if it were big enough. No need to worry though, we're doing a-ok down here. The Lord protects those that serve him. I love you all very much and pray for you always! Be safe and make good choices!





Love,
Trevor

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