The blog of me: April 26, 2010

*the lights are dim, the fog machines are on....*

*people start chattering....but then they don't...because they don't exist...*

*know why???....because this is just a letter from Elder Vincent....and it's not a cool concert....*

*the crowd goes wild!*

Haha...hope that was as fun for you as it was for me. Thanks for the letter this week! It's always a joy to hear from you mama :). Be sure to take care of that arm of yours - wouldn't want it to fall off or nuthin like that! I assume it's that tendonitis stuff kicking in...what a bummer. But you'll be just fine, playing all those gigs and stuff - the Lord will provide a way to help you keep doing what you love. I remember I had pains like the for a few days a month or two before the mission - you gave me that arm band thingy, which I actually found the other day in my luggage. I haven't used it yet, but good to know that it's there. Maybe I'll use it to suffocate some fleas...haha. I put the dog collars you gave me under my matress and put the bed cover on as well and they still manage to get through. I'm not getting it as bad as Elder Hall is though haha, they seem to like how he tastes better than I do. Probably because he's fresh gringo meat and I've been Chileanized...could be, right?

So you're having your share of painful music experiences too, eh? Every Sunday is torture for me. Nobody plays the piano, and the lady that ''directs'' the music always starts the song WAY too low, so sometimes it sounds like a chant hahaha. Yesterday we sang the most energy-drained version of Called to Serve that I've ever heard in my life. I've decided I'm going to talk to Bishop Dote about me going up to the piano before every song and giving the starting pitch so that it's not so terrible. I would practice the piano so that I could play during the meetings, but sadly I really don't have time to do that. Bleh. I really should have taken advantage of that before the mission. *Note to parents* DON'T LET YOUR KIDS QUIT PIANO EVEN IF THEY REALLY WANT TO - IT WILL HELP THEM SO MUCH LATER ON IN LIFE. I'll have to spend some time when I get back getting better at playing piano.

I'm glad to hear that you've been getting a regular temple time back into your schedule - I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss the temple. It was so nice to be able to go once a week in the MTC, and now I haven't even SEEN a temple (other than pictures, because I have pictures of every temple in the world hehe) in about 8 months. Yessir, I have now been in Chile for just about 8 months. That means 10 months in the mission (in about 2 more weeks)! Crazy! But yeah, definitely take advantage of having so many temples so close to home, and get the whole family involved. I think it would be cool to have the whole family go one night to do some baptisms or something.

We actually did have a small quake the other night. I heard that in Concepción it was a 6.2, but here in Temuco it was only about a 4.9 I think. So it did wake me up, but it was nothing compared to the first one (here Temuco the first one was almost an 8). Nothing too big, and certainly nothing to worry about. Just a little shake to help rock us to sleep, hehe.

It's still kind of weird for me to think about having another niece or nephew...probably because I'm so far out of the physical loop down here haha. Elder Hall just showed me pictures of his new nephew, so I'll look forward to getting similar pictures in October!

As for shoe size - I don't actually have my Eccos on at this moment..but I'm pretty sure that they were a size 12. I have been using the Dockers I brought on Sundays now, but I'm not sure if I'm going to continue doing that because they kind of hurt my feet. I don't remember when I got them but I know that they're years old...and kind of small for my feet. Some money on the card so that I can buy some sweaters and stuff like that for winter would be appreciated. Are you still monitoring the money I have in my account? I try not to use it very much. I bought a jacket a few weeks ago for p-days because smart ol' me forgot to bring one. I didn't bring any long-sleeve shirts either (that aren't white shirts, anyway). Should have thought of that, right? Haha. Something I would like now that I think of it would be an American flag :). I think I've mentioned that before - not one of the huge ones, just one that's kind of poster-sizedish. If you can, anyway. I'll be getting a Chilean flag at some point as well. If you can't find a dog whistle that's legit don't worry about it - wouldn't want you paying to send a plastic piece of garbage that doesn't work all the way down here haha. I have learned how to whistle really loud with my fingers as well (great things you learn on the mission ;-) ), but that doesn't realy hurt the dogs' ears, just gets their attention. I want to figure out how to do it how dad does, though...with no fingers! Can't really think of anything other than that at the moment...just throw in some little surprises :). I've been thinking about finally getting a guitar for my birthday. I've heard I can get a pretty good one for about 20-30,000 pesos ($40-$60) so I'll go check out what there is today.

Things have been going really well for Elder Hall and I in the last two weeks. We've been finding a lot of great people to teach and so far have had a great time doing it. The brother of the two girls that got baptized a few weeks ago is going to get baptized on my birthday, so that's going to be really cool. The Lord has been helping us out so much here in this sector - when I got here there hadn't been baptisms for months and months, but we've brought the sector back to life and we're having a great time here.

Well, that's just about it for this week. I'll get some pictures attached and get this sent off. I hope you're all doing well - I'll look forward to hearing more next week! Love and miss you tons!

Love,
Trevor

PS. Not too many pictures this week, I kind of got lazy. But I hope you enjoy them! Elder Smith is Elder Kester's second son, so I have a brother! And Elder Hall is my son, so he's Elder Kester's grandson, and Elder Smith's nephew. The family tree is growing!