12-9

hello everybody. This week was really good. We worked really hard this week. We've been teaching a lot of lessons. I feel a lot better about my Spanish this week and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable teaching. We found an investigator this week that is super prepared for the Gospel. We taught him about the Restoration and the book of Mormon and his mind was blown. The spirit was super strong and I'm super exited to teach him this week. I'm feeling good about this week. Elder Ronco has been in Quirihue for six months and is probably leaving next week and we really want to leave the sector strong! 

Dad- I started eating a ton of food. I'm sick of being so skinny so I just eat a ton of eggs every morning. I think I ate 36 this week. But you should give me some ideas on how to make them.

Dad- I don't know what else you want to hear about life in Chile. You need to be a little more specific but I'm exited to talk to you guys. I'm pretty sure Chilean Spanish is horrible and they say a lot of weird things so it will be funny to talk to Tyler.

Love you guys! Merry Christmas!!!

12-16

I just finished my 3rd cambio! I get a new companion tomorrow and I will be training a new missionary!!! My mind is blown. I thought I was still the new kid. I'm a little worried because my Spanish isn't the greatest but I'm super exited and I'll be traveling to Concepcion tomorrow morning to pick him up.

Me and Elder Ronco had a good week this week. We found a lot of people and have two people with baptismal dates. Church this Sunday was at our house. The presidency wasn't able to come so we got to run the meeting. We had a good assistance and a good meeting other than none of our investigators were able to come. And I don't know if I told you but Maria isn't getting baptized. Her daughters and aunt talked her out of it. It was a huge bummer but what can you do.

I got my package! Its waiting for me in the office and I'll be picking it up tomorrow! I love the tree you sent me. We have tons of presents under it from the other Elders and it is starting to feel a little bit like Christmas.

About skype. Right now I have no idea. We have a couple members that we can go to but I'll find out the details this week and let you know. Love you guys!

Elder Roberts

1. Doing some service and Chopping some wood!

2. Biggest spider i have ever seen. I almost peed my pants. I hate spiders more than anything in the world and our house is infested.

3. My district

We found a little lizard running around our house

11/26

Hi family,

This week was alright. We did a lot of traveling this week. I added up about 12 hours of bus rides and I think my head is going to explode. We did a lot of tracting this week again. I'm pretty sure I've knocked on every door in Quirihue. The heat is killing me but we are still working hard. We have one progressing investigator named Maria. She's doing awesome. She drinks a ton of coffee so we taught her about the word of wisdom the other day. She said for some reason she didn't have the desire to drink coffee for about 4 days before we taught the word of wisdom. So we are super exited about that and she has a date set for Baptism for the 14th of December. We had church in Coelemu on Sunday. Only 4 members from Quirihue came. We're doing our best but they just won't come to Church. I think they are making a decision at the end of the year to shut it down or not. I'm getting super skinny! I think I weigh around 150 pounds. Last week we had a little bowl of pasta for 4 days in a row and I almost died. I just went to the store and bought a ton of food because I definitely need to put some weight back on. I'm watching myself wither away and it is killing me. Sorry, I don't have much time today. But please tell Grandpa Clark HAPPY BIRTHDAY last week!I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas!

12/2

This week went by really fast but it was good. Maria is still doing good. She has some doubts still but she came to church and we are still planning and the 14th for her baptism. We found a less active that hasn't been to church for about ten years. We've been teaching her and she's came to church the last 2 weeks. This week we finally got the members from Coelemu to come with us and visit the members again and we had a lot better attendance of about 18. That's really good compared to last time when we had 6. It was fast and testimony meeting and I got the chance to share my testimony. The spirit was there and I think it was a really good experience for the investigator.

I have another Dog story. So usually your supposed to wait outside of the gate and yell for people to come outside but we always just walk in and knock on the door. So we walked into a gate to knock on the door and as I was knocking on the door I saw two of the biggest, most angry dogs I have ever seen running at us. I just put my hands in the air and seriously was expecting to get bit. My companion started yelling at them and then they tried to bite his leg but got his sling bag hanging over. He then opened the gate and I took a giant leap to the side walk. I've never been so scared in my life but it was a definitely testimony building experience because I knew it was because we were being watched over that we didn't get bit.

I got my package! It made my day. I love the Christmas tree, its perfect for my desk. The stockings are awesome. Sorry I couldn't resist eating almost all the candy on the top. Most of the presents were ripped open so that kind ruined the surprise. But I taped them back up so its alright. It does not feel like Christmas at all. It makes me sad because its not as big here. but I still have my Christmas music to bring the Christmas spirit.Tell Grandpa Roberts HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Thursday for me! I'm sad I won't be there. You need to let me know how they are doing and give me their emails. Love you guys! 

 played some basketball today and never felt so out of shape in my life. We played a less active that's a personal trainer. We told him if we win he has to come to church and we won of course.

We found some cool super rare eggs at a members house.

It's getting hot!

This week was alright. We did a lot of traveling this week. I added up about 12 hours of bus rides and I think my head is going to explode. We did a lot of tracting this week again. I'm pretty sure I've knocked on every door in Quirihue. The heat is killing me but we are still working hard. We have one progressing investigator named Maria. She's doing awesome. She drinks a ton of coffee so we taught her about the word of wisdom the other day. She said for some reason she didn't have the desire to drink coffee for about 4 days before we taught the word of wisdom. So we are super exited about that and she has a date set for Baptism for the 14th of December. We had church in Coelemu on Sunday. Only 4 members from Quirihue came. We're doing our best but they just won't come to Church. I think they are making a decision at the end of the year to shut it down or not. I'm getting super skinny! I think I weigh around 150 pounds. Last week we had a little bowl of pasta for 4 days in a row and I almost died. I just went to the store and bought a ton of food because I definitely need to put some weight back on. I'm watching myself wither away and it is killing me. Sorry, I don't have much time today. I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas!

I Love you guys!

Pray for the members!

Still loving Quirihue! Its getting super hot now! Walking and tracting in the sun for hours makes me so tired but we had an awesome week this week. We found more investigators than we've ever found before. We've still been working with the members a lot. We were really trying to get a lot of people to church this week because president Arrington who is thinking of closing down Quirihue was coming to attend Church with us! Sadly we had the worst attendance we have ever had. We had 6 members and 5 investigators. I don't know what to do with the members but we did have a good turn out with our investigators! And in that picture I sent you last week most of those people are from  Coelemu. We're working hard though and trying to be exactly obedient and I still have faith in Quirihue! Please pray for the members. I feel like every one of them is going through really hard times right now.

I'm so happy you sent my package! I'm so exited for Christmas. I just bought a Christmas tie that plays music for a dollar and a half so I'm exited to wear it. We went to Concepcion today. I saw my "father" Elder Jorge getting ready to head to the airport to go home. It was a sad day! We had the greatest time. He lives pretty close to Parker though so I told him to go say hi. The fleas are attacking again. My left thigh is dotted with about 30 bites and who knows how many more. Well that's about it in Quirihue. Thanks for the pictures. I love seeing everyone! love you guys!

Elder Roberts

PS Mommy I'm doing awesome!!! how are you doing? I love you mom!!! Im exited to talk to you in a little over a month! Seriously, I cant wait! In the picture -look at the tie. It's my tie of the tiger

 These are some of the crazy hills I tracted with Elder Rhodes

This is church at our house 2 weeks ago 

We played soccer with some kids in our ward

This week went alright. We're still working with the members a lot. We've really been working on a few less actives that have the priesthood because right now the missionaries are the only active priesthood holders. I think we are making progress with them. We are starting to do a lot of family nights and more activities to get the members involved. We had a great turn out at an activity night on Friday and I think we are finally starting to make some progress. We had a mini cambio this week. I went down to Tome with our zone leader Elder Rhodes. I lived with him in Concepcion so were awesome friends. Tome is amazing! All it is is giant hills. My legs have never been so tired. It is also right next to the Beach. I was basically tracting houses on the beach. And then in the morning, I went on an awesome run along the beach. I felt like I was on vacation. Mom, Happy Birthday!!!!! I celebrated for a second in my room. I wish I could have been there to eat some crab. I really miss crab right now. It is a mission rule that we can't eat shell fish because it will destroy our stomach. But anyways love you mom!!! That's crazy that Parker is in Argentina. You need to send me his pictures. So football is over? did they make it to the play-offs? I don't know if you gave me all the details. Well I love you guys!!!

Time is flying by!

I'm already on my third Cambio! Its crazy how fast time is flying. I'm still companions with Elder Ronco and staying in Quirihue so there's no changes. I finally finished my 12 week training so I should be ready to train other missionaries. I don't know about that but by December half of the entire mission will have been out on their mission only since August or later so this mission is super young! There's been a few kids training right after 12 weeks, so there's a good chance I'll have to train somebody within these next few cambios. This week was good. We've been teaching a lot of lessons and found a lot of new investigators. Church was at our house this week and we had 5 people committed to come to church on Saturday night and nobody came! It really is so frustrating. And then we only had 12 members from Quirihue at church. We're really going to have to start working with the members a lot now. The Stake Presidency came to our church this week and we got to have a little meeting with them. They want to change the focus here on reactivating and finding people that can lead the church here. Other than nobody coming to church, I really am loving it here. I'm learning so much. My Spanish is getting a lot better. It is still not that great but I was able to teach Priesthood class on Sunday. I don't know how much they understood but I felt pretty good about it. We also had the opportunity to do some service this morning. We helped an investigator milk cows. I now know why farmers have giant forearms. It was also disgusting and I hated it but I guess it was a cool experience and hopefully we can get them interested in the gospel. We've had English class for the last 5 weeks and nobody ever shows up, but this week we had someone show up! It was awesome to finally teach some English. We've been passing around a ton of fliers and I think we're going to have more people this week. Halloween was basically the same here except there's no king size candy bars so I was a little disappointed. I'm super excited to hear about Parker! Let me know what he said in the airport. Did he speak any Spanish to you guys? And how's the cold weather? Its getting super hot here and I love it. Love you guys!

We had interviews with the President this week. It went really good. President Arrington is a great guy. He talked about how Quirehue is struggling and we really need a Branch President here. He said "if you need a Branch President,  then baptize one." So we're praying really hard to find a Branch President! I really do think things are picking up in Quirehue. We had church in Coelemu and we had about ten people from Quiriehue there, which is pretty good because it is so hard to get our members to travel all the way there. We had one investigator in Church! Her name is Jenifer and she's 21. We found her family last week and we've had some really good lessons with them. They all committed to prepare for Baptism. They were a little hesitant but I think it is good because they really have a desire to learn more and find out the truth. We were teaching them about the Holy Ghost the other night and all the sudden the mom stopped and said, "I feel something good right now, and I feel like this when you guys come over." It is was awesome to see the power of the Holy Ghost and I'm really confident in this family. We had an activity night on Friday. We had about 10 people there and 3 non members. We always play games at the end so I decided we should play our family's favorite game ooga booga look. It turns out that nobody gets into it like we do and they all thought it was the dumbest game ever. So that was a bust. You definitely need to send me a list of all your games because we are running out.

We had to travel to Concepcion twice this week for my Carnet. Everything worked out great except I'm completely out of money. I think I spent half of my 200 dollars a month on buses so I've been eating oatmeal for the last week. Tell grandma thanks for the family update. I got the chance to read the whole thing because of all the bus rides and I love to see how everyone is doing. Tell Zach congrats and Tell David I'm sorry about his face.

I'm super exited about Parker! I thought for sure he was stuck there in Utah forever. I hear it is a little like Chile, so he's going to love it in Argentina. I still can't believe Max and Ryan shot a dear. Definitely send me some jerky! And have you sent that package yet? Well I love you  guys!

Elder Roberts

PS Elder Dabel made us a pulpet from the wood in the backyard. Here is a picture

Awesome week!

This week was awesome. We worked with the members a lot this week. On Saturday we had some members from Coelemu come down to help us visit all the less actives and then we had an activity at our house after. It turned out really good. We had a good amount of people at the activity and even more at Church. Church was at our house this week and we filled it up! I think we had 22 members from Quirihue, so we're making progress.

We found some awesome investigators this week. We found a family who is really interested. I was really disappointed we couldn't`t get them to church but I'm exited to teach them this week. We found an old lady that wanted to get baptized but her daughter won't let us in the house anymore to teach her so that was a bummer. 

But I'm feeling confident about this week. We're going to really try and work with the members. We started giving assignments for home teaching this week, so I'm excited to see how that goes. That's about it here in Quirihue. I`ll answer some of your questions dad. The typical day for me is wake up, work out, eat and be ready by 9, personal study till 10, companionship study till 12 and then we leave the house. Lunch is at 1:30 and that's the main meal of the day. Then we have language study from 3 to 4, leave for the night and be home between 10 to 10:30. Our branch president isn`t that great, so we need to inspire him. I don't know him very well yet but the Elders that have been here for a while aren`t a fan. He is not that much help, but we will change that. But we did just get a mission leader! He`s an awesome guy and I'm excited to work with him.

I'm starting to get fat. I hate it. The members feed us a ton of food. I actually have to eat healthy now and I`ve gone running a few times. Have you talked to Doctor Toronto yet? I really want to know if I should be doing anything else. Well I love you guys!

Sam's new haircut!

Hi family! how's it going? This week was alright. Our Branch isn't doing that great. We had Church in Coelemu this week which is like 40 minutes on a bus and only had 2 members from Quiriehue there. The stake President said they were talking about closing Quiriehue again! So this week we are getting the Presidency and some members of Coelemu to come down and this Saturday they will visit all the members and less actives with us and then we are having a big activity after. Hopefully this will bring some excitement down here!Juan was suppose to get baptized this Saturday but that didn't work out. We taught him the law of tithing and he didn't like it at all. We haven't been able to get ahold of him since, so things aren't looking good for him. We did find some great investigators this week so hopefully soon I can have some good news for you! We are doing a lot of tracting. We get into a lot of houses and teach a lot of lessons but everyone here just doesn't want to change. My Spanish is improving a lot but is still not that great. I really hope I can get a native companion next so I can speak it more! My companion is great though and we are really trying hard. Today we went to the beach again! It was awesome. It is getting pretty hot here so it is probably the last time we can go till next winter. We went to an old train tunnel and it was pretty cool. I'll send you some pictures. Sorry I always try to send a bunch of pictures but our computers are super slow and I run out of time.  I Love you guys!

Power Outage. Reading by candlelight!

Watching Conference!

This week was long week and not very much happened. Conference was awesome! We had a sweet set up at our house with a big screen and a projector. I just read the sub titles because we had to watch it in Spanish and I didn't understand a thing! We only had 1 investigator there which was kind of a bummer, but Juan is doing awesome and is planning on getting baptized this Saturday. It's been super hard to find people. We have no help from the members and so many of our plans fall through because nobody has cell phones so its really hard to confirm appointments. We do a ton of walking and tracting. I want a bike so bad! Well that's about it this week. This week wasn't that great- we're going to work hard this week and I'm confident that we'll find more people this week.

I'm so sad about grandma Bliss. President Arrington's wife called me the next day and told me the news. It sounds like you guys had an amazing last few moments with her and I wish I could have been there more than anything. Sorry my letters are getting super short but I don't have much time today. I basically went on a road trip to Concepcion this morning for my visa. Love you guys!

Watching conference!

Hola! 

Not a ton happened this week. It is a lot different here that in Concepcion. The people are a lot nicer and we get into more houses. It is crazy how small it is here and how everyone knows each other. We found a lot of people last week so I'm feeling good about this week, but we only have one progressing investigator right now. His name is Juan and he`s a cave man. He lives by himself and he's the nicest and happiest guy ever but he can't remember a thing. We spent two lessons on teaching him how to pray. He finally got it at the end of the second lesson and I've never seen anyone so happy. We do a lot of tracting here. Its hard to get referrals because there are not very many members here and they are no help at all. Everyone is super lazy here and they never keep commitments. We even have two return missionaries here that are both inactive so we are gonna be doing a lot of reactivating this week. We take a ton of buses. We have to take an hour and a half bus ride just to get to our district meeting. We have church in a town called Collemue every other week and that's about 40 minutes away. It also takes a lot of money too because we have to pay for our investigators. It is a fun adventure though and I love it here. Its starting to warm up so that's super nice. It is still freezing at night. I sleep with 4 blankets. I haven't had any fleas here so that's been super nice.

Tell max and Ryan HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm still working on that package that I said I would send in the MTC. But seriously- I'm going to soon. I'm so sad about Grandma Bliss! I've been dreading that email for the last 4 weeks. Tell her to just hold on for just a little under two years. I'm seriously dying. Tell her I love her and I wish I could be there more than anything. I'm praying for her every day. I think about her all the time and I wish I could just call her and talk to her one more time on the phone. Tell her I love her! love all you guys!

Crazy week this week!!! So this week was a huge holiday called Dieziocho. It is like as big as Christmas here. It was really hard to make appointments this week because its an all week party so we did a lot of knocking doors and ate a ton of empenandas. On Wednesday I went on a mini cambio with Elder Hamton. We are both new and don't know spanish very well so I was a little nervous. It was diezioche so we didn´t get into very many houses but we were able to give a few lessons and it went awesome. 

I finished my first Cambio and that morning I was told that I am leaving to Quirihue!!! I was super surprised because thats a really short time to be in an area. I was a little disapointed beause me and Elder Jorge were having the greatest time. He was an awesome companion, so that was a sad day. So I traveled about an hour and a half to Quirihue. Quirihue is literally in the middle of nowhere! Its completly different than Concepcion. There are chickens and cows everywhere and of course a million dogs. Its super quiet, I dont think anything ever goes on here but it is awesome for missionary work because missionaries have only been here for a couple months now. Most of these people haven't seen missionaries. We have church at our house. We had about 20 members there on sunday. The missionaries here do everything. We teach seminary, gospel principles, priestood, and speak almost every Sunday. Its crazy, I definitely need to get better at spanish. My companion is Elder Ronco. He's 22 and he´s from the United States but he's Mexican and already knew spanish. He's an awesome missionary and is really good at teaching me spanish. There are four missionaries living in the house. Elder Gonzales only speaks spanish and his companion Elder Dabell just came from the Mexico MTC and knows no spanish. 

My laundry gets done in one day now so I don't know if I need all those garments but if you already sent them its fine. Have you guys seen Parker yet!? Why is it taking so long? Have a great week!

It's getting warmer!

This week started out with a ton of rain! I put on all my new rain gear and then I found out that the big Mr. Mac coat is like a sponge! And my other windbreaker jacket got destroyed and I was drenched! It is a good thing that was probably the last of the rain this year but I definitely need some new stuff for next winter. It`s getting a lot warmer now and I'm super excited for the nice weather. We had a zone conference on Thursday and it was awesome! I do see Hermana Heslop sometimes. She's super nice and just got here a little before me. She is great!  In the meeting we talked a lot about the power of the Book of Mormon. So this week we started using the Book of Mormon  a lot more and it was amazing how powerful the Book of Mormon is! We found so many people because of it. I was able to give 3 blessings this week. I almost wet my pants every time because it is so hard to do in spanish. But they all went great. I think my spanish has improved a lot this week. For the first time I understood almost all of the talks in church on Sunday. It was great but if were talking about anything else but the gospel,  I am still pretty lost. Thank you for sending me a package!!! I might need some stuff though. We give our laundry to a member in our ward and she takes a whole week to do it. I have to wear all of my stuff 2 or 3 times every week so maybe some more garments and socks would be nice. The first week I didn't know how long it took for her to do my laundry so I gave her all of my clothes and I was stuck with the same clothes for 4 days. I smelled horrible! Sorry I haven`t sent you pictures of my apartment, I'll make sure to do that next week. It's not bad at all. I think it is one of the nicer apartments in the mission. There's one big room where we all sleep and then two study rooms. It is pretty cold all of the time. We have a tiny electric heater that works pretty well I guess. We don't have a working stove which is kind of a bummer so I just make oatmeal and cereal for breakfast and ramen for once. They don't have dinner here they just call it once, and its just a little meal. My hamstring is doing awesome. I've been doing the band stretches pretty consistently. It still hurts a little when I sit down for a long time but it is doing great. This morning we played soccer with our stake. I've never felt so uncoordinated in my life. They're all amazing and I got destroyed. It wasn't fun at all. They're also super good at ping pong. Well thats about it this week. I saw in Parker's letter something about the BYU game! Let me know what happened! Love you guys! Tell Grandma Bliss that I am praying for her. She looks great! Tell her I love her and miss her like crazy!!!

It's been a month in Chile!

Familia!!! I can't believe it's already been a month! Time is flying by. My companion is hilarious. It's funny how my companions just get weirder and weirder after a few weeks. We worked really hard this week and I'm so tired! I fall asleep if I sit down for more than 3 minutes but I feel great when I'm moving around. This week went really good. We've been teaching a family of 4 since I've been here. Their mom is a recent convert and the father and two daughters aren't members. The Dad, Omar thinks he's being rushed into things so we've been focusing on his daughter who is 21. She's been to church three times and were hoping she wants to get baptized this month. This week at church was a little disappointing. On Saturday night we had five people committed to go to church and nobody came! Everyone is super lazy here. My spanish is still horrible and sometimes I feel like its even getting worse. But it is getting better. Yesterday I met a family that speaks english for the first time. It was awesome to actually be able to talk to someone. Thanks for the tips on the fleas! I kind of just gave up on trying to get rid of them. Everyone says you just get used to it but im definitely going to try that oil trick so I'll let you know how it goes. Sorry you only got one of my pictures, I sent you like 5 so I don't know what happened. I feel horrible about Grandma Bliss! Tell her I love her and miss her like crazy. Love you guys!

I have fleas!

8-25-13

Hola!!! I made it through my second week! I seriously love it here. My zone is awesome. There are 2 other kids from Alta in my zone. One of them is Ryan Jensen, who I ran track with, so that is pretty cool. And I just talked to Danny Ainge's son who's also in my district. I've learned a ton from my companion and I'm starting to be able to understand a little bit of whats going on. We had a two day missionary training this week. It was awesome! I got to see my MTC district again. It was super weird seeing all of them again. I heard you talked to Elder Watson's mom. He's doing awesome. We did a lot of teaching this week. It is so hard teaching in spanish and I get lost a lot during the lessons because they talk so fast. I'm learning a ton though and I can understand a lot more. The dogs here are crazy. I was scared for my life a couple times this week. A few days ago we were walking home at night and 5 dogs started running at us. I´ve never seen dogs so angry before. Me and my companion just started throwing rocks like crazy and that scared them away. I went two weeks without getting flees and I woke up this morning and I think I got bit like 30 times. Its horrible! They're definitely worse than mosquitoes. The food here is actually pretty normal and it's super good for the most part. Yesterday for lunch a member gave us plain slices of tomatoes covered in mayo. My two least favorite things in the world. I almost threw up but I managed to scarf it down. I don't know if you've sent me any mail but I guess it takes a super long time to get here. The post office is on strike right now so we have no idea when we can get our mail. Still send me stuff though because I`ll get it eventually! I'm super jealous of your park city vacation. That sounds like heaven. Let me know how your scavenger hunt for Parker goes! Thats hilarious. I love you guys!!!!

Elder Roberts

9-1-13

Beach Day today!!! I just got back from playing football on the beach! I didn't think I would be able to go to the beach so I was super exited. It was awesome and I have some cool pictures! I realized I didn't give you guys very much information on where I am and what it is like here so I'll try and answer all of your questions. The weather here is usually really nice during the day and super cold at night. I used my down sleeping bag for a little bit but it was too hot so I'm just using the comforter and I sleep great. I'm literally being eaten alive by fleas! I've only seen one flee but somehow I have a million bites. 

they're like mosquitos but 100 times worse and the don't go away. I spray my bed like crazy every night with bug spray but it doesn't seem to do any thing so if anyone has some tips that would be great! Other than the fleas, it's awesome here! I seriously love every second of it. Its getting super frustrating not being able to understand very much but I can definitely notice the improvement every week. Right now I am in Concepcion, Leguna Redonda and thats all I know. I can get the address for you if you want. This week we have two people committed to baptism! Daniela- who's mom is a member but nobody else in her family. We've been working a lot with their family. Their dad Omar is a little stubborn but I think he`ll get baptized eventually. We found another girl this week named Korina. She accepted baptism the first visit and was super exited to come to church! It was awesome! My companion says that almost never happens. Max and Ryan sound like they're doing awesome! Tell jaxson not to worry about the plays too much and just do his best. When I was his age I had no idea what was going on all the time and I don't think I figured out how the plays worked until after gremlins. The mail isn't on strike anymore so all the mail will be coming soon if you sent any! Love you guys!!!

Elder Roberts

My first week in Chile!

Sam with President and Hermana Arrington

Elder Warburton, Avila, Roberts, Maxfield, &

This week has been an adventure. It´s so much fun to finally be in the field and teach real people! My companion is Elder Jorge from Argentina, Buenos Aires! He´s almost 22 so he´s almost 4 years older than me! It is crazy but I've learned so much from him. We live in a small apartment with one other companionship. Elder Rhodes and Elder Lake from my CCM district. I'm learning Spanish so much faster now but I still can't really understand anyone here. They talk ridiculously fast and they don't finish a lot of their words or pronounce a lot of their S´s. We pretty much talk to everyone we see on the street. Elder Jorge makes me talk to everyone and is really pushing me to learn Spanish. We were teaching an investigator the other day and one of her kids was sick so Elder Jorge offered to give her a blessing. She said yes and then he told them I was going to give the blessing. I almost peed my pants but he helped me through the first part and then I gave her a blessing in Spanish. I don't really know if it made sense but the spirit was there and it was an awesome experience. Most of the people here are really nice but I'm surprised how many crazy people there are. Part of our sector is a little crazy. everyone there is on drugs and there was a shooting there a couple nights ago. But for the most part its a safe place. I can't believe how many dogs there are! I learned yesterday not to mess with them. I jumped at one and then all the sudden there are five dogs chasing me. I was horrified! One of the new kids got bit yesterday and had to go get rabies shots. I haven't seen any flees yet and I'm hoping it stays that way. We have lunch with the members everyday. The big meal here is lunch, we don't really eat dinner. They feed us so much food! Usually it is mashed potatoes and chicken. I was a little disappointed there isn't any tacos or hot sauce here but the food is still great. I love the weather here! After being in Mexico the cold feels amazing. Some days its super cold and some days its gets really warm. Its almost spring though so it is getting warmer. Church yesterday was great! The members are the nicest people ever and I'm getting to know them really good. Sacrament meeting was awesome even though I had no idea what was going on. And then I got to introduce myself and and share my testimony. We are only a few miles away from the ocean. I can see it from the top of the hill where our church is at. It is an awesome area and I'm loving it here! 

Last week in the Mexico City MTC

Hi everyone! This weeks here feel like days! I can´t believe how fast it has gone by. This is our last P- day here 

Hi everyone! This weeks here feel like days! I can´t believe how fast it has gone by. This is our last P- day here so I think next time I´ll write you is in Chile! It is so crazy that I'm leaving next week! I think we are either leaving Monday or Tuesday, but we don't know yet. My package gets here Monday, so I'm a little worried that I wont get it! Will they send it to Chile if I don't get it? Things around here are pretty much the same. We do the same thing every day. I can't believe how much our lessons have improved! Spanish is coming along great. I probably won't feel that way in Chile next week but it will be an adventure. I hear the Chileans talk super fast and are the hardest to understand, so we´ll see how it goes! My hamstring feels a lot better. I think Dr. Toronto wanted me to email him by now so if you could give me his email that would be great! Well I miss you guys like crazy! Good luck with football Max and Ryan! I cant wait to here about it! I love your guys!!!

I can play piano!

Awesome week this week! The weeks go by so fast now! I feel like i just wrote you yesterday so I don't have too much to say. I'm still having an awesome time! I'm really surprised with how much free personal study we have. We only have class for about 4 hours a day and the rest is pretty much personal study which is awesome! My Spanish has gotten so much better this week! everything is starting to come together! Our lessons are improving a ton! I feel like I can almost say whatever I want to tell the investigator but I probably just sound like a child. My companion is awesome! He was a little shy at first but now that I´ve gotten to know him really well he´s hilarious and we get along awesome. One of the hermanas in my district is teaching me how to play the piano! I actually got the hang of it really fast and i  can already play a song! The food isn´t as good as it used to be and everyone is getting sick! haven´t gotten sick yet but my companion was sick yesterday morning and then he felt all better that evening so hopefully i don't catch anything! I love seeing all my friends here! More people that I know come every week and we're getting more tonight. We don't get to go to the temple this week so we have all day to do whatever we want. Sorry there is not really anything exiting going on but I did hear some talk of Elder Holland coming so hopefully he comes soon! Well I love you guys!

Loving It!

I can’t believe it has already been 3 weeks! It went by so fast!  My testimony grows so much every day! I never knew I could learn so much in 3 weeks. When I’m teaching a lesson in Spanish words start coming to me right at the right time! It is so cool what you can do when you have the spirit with you! Once a week we get to go teach volunteer investigators. Some of them aren't even LDS so its really cool and makes me super excited to leave! Robert, Jeff, and Keaton all got here on Tuesday! I love seeing them here, I feel like I’m at home! And thank you for the candy and the shoes that was a life saver!  I´ve been eating candy like crazy! The store is so cheap! Most of the candy is one peso so that’s what most of my 100 pesos a week goes to! We still play sand volleyball every day! I’m getting pretty good. On p-day we play for like 2 or 3 hours. We went to the temple again today! It was awesome except that I still have no idea what is going on because it is all in Spanish. I love driving through Mexico though, And I think we might get to leave the MTC one more time before we leave. I just got my first hair cut! I was super scared. She didn´t even ask me what I wanted and just went for it but it actually ended up really good. This week my teacher is getting really serious with HIS, so no more English! It is really hard but its crazy how much it helps. I've made a ton of friends here and my district is awesome! I'll send you some more pictures! Thanks for the update on everything! I love you guys!!!!

A picture of a desk from Sam!

Hola!!!!! 

This week has been awesome! It gets better every day here. Its crazy- it has been two weeks already! The first few days were super slow but now its flying by. It is really weird- I love to study and read now! I love the Book of Mormon and I wish I read it 100 times before I came. I'm super exited for Jeff and Robert to come tonight! But 

there´s going to be so many people here! There was already a ton of kids that came last week and I think there are a lot more coming tonight. Almost all of the missionaries here are going back to the states except for the missionaries going to Chile. And there are a lot of people going to Utah! One of my friends, Elder Poulsen is going to the Draper Sandy area so if you see him say hi! We got two new Mexican roommates last week and they speak no English. They're awesome except that we just found out why our dorm smells so bad. They put all their toilet paper in the garbage instead of the toilet. We're gonna have to have a talk with them tonight.

The Spanish is coming along great! We have a couple investigators and we teach them about every day. It is so hard to teach in Spanish! We also teach the Mexicans in our dorm at night which helps a lot! Every Sunday every missionary has to prepare a talk in Spanish and then they call up random people during the meeting to speak. I got lucky and didn't have to speak this week but that means I'll probably be speaking next week!

My new favorite sport is volleyball! We play every day and I dominate the net! My hamstring is getting better but its not 100%. I haven't really done anything to hurt it so I'm hoping it will start feeling better in a week or two.

I really want to weigh myself because I think I´ve gained some weight. My pants are getting really tight on the waste. I'm loving the food. I feel like we're always eating and I'm gonna be a marshmallow after six weeks but I would still love snacks! I get really hungry at night. And for some reason I cant get any money out of the ATM with my card? and I don't know if I know the pin to the new card you gave me. We get 120 pesos a week but it would be really nice to have a little more money.

The rain here is insane! I've never seen rain like this before. It rains super hard for about an hour and then it clears up and it is super nice. I love my shoes! They do awesome in the rain, I've stepped in a ton of huge puddles so thanks for the extra pair! We don't ever get to leave the MTC except when we go to the temple so that's kind of a bummer but we get to go one more time! I love driving through Mexico City but I see so many taco stands and they won't let us outside of the temple grounds!

Thanks for the update on all the farewell talks! I wish I could have been there but I bet they were awesome. I hope you guys are having a good summer. Tell me more about it! Sounds like the poopy garbage can cleaning went good! I bet the back yard smells horrible. Tell Jaxson and Dillon Hi!!! And tell Tyler to write me so that I have his email. I love you Mommy and Dad and all the bros!!!!!! I'll send you some pictures that I didn't have time to send last week!

Love,

Sam

 

Sam's first letter

Hola Familia!!!!!! 

I miss you guys so much!!! You guys are making me jealous - I want to go boating so bad! The MTC is awesome! The first few days my teeth hurt and they were probably the longest days of my life, but I'm loving it now! And my teeth are fine! There are only about 70 of us here right now but we are supposed to get a bunch more tonight and 800 more missionaries within a few weeks. My companion is Elder Watson from Holladay. He's awesome and we are getting along great. And he has a twin sister! I've met a lot of twins. I think they are splitting up the twins on purpose. Elder Enright in my room is also going to Chile and he has a twin brother going to Argentina! I'm learning a ton of spanish! I feel like im cramming a thousand words a day in my head and my brain hurts. On the third day we had to give a thirty minute lesson to a fake investigator in spanish! It was really rough and i dont know if any of if made sense but we got through it! There is a kid in my district that is exactly like Elder Calhoon on the best two years. Its hillarious! The food is great! The first few days it wasn´t even all the way set up yet so we got warmed up hot dogs and some other gross Mexican food but every meal is delicous now! I think i've gainged a little weight too! We get an hour of free time every day and then were studying the rest of the time. Basketball is the greatest! I've been playing the last few days but my hamstring still hurts so I think im gonna have to lay off for a few weeks, which really stinks because there's not really anything else to do. We went to the temple today!!! It was awesome except that the whole thing was in spanish and I had no idea what was going on. The drivers here are crazy! I saw my life flash before my eyes when our bus driver went right into and intersection and three cars had to slam on their brakes. But it was super nice to get out of the MTC for a little bit. I think we get to go to the temple one more time.

How is Parker doing!!!? I haven't got an email from him. Tell him to write me! Let me know what else is going on!!! And you can send packages! Snacks would be the greatest! We have dinner at 6 and by the time I go to bed I'm starving! The weather here is perfect! It's always about 75 degrees and a little cloudy with no sun and a little bit of rain every night! I love it. Do you think you could return those shoes and get some more eccos? They're the most comfortable shoes ever. I only get your dear elders once a week. We get one hour so I'm running out of time! I hope this wasn't too short! I´ll try and do better next week! Well I love you guys and miss you more than ever!!!!!