Elder Nathan Hales: Nathan's Letter 9-5-11

Hola!

So I don´t have a whole lot of time, but here is a quick run down of what’s going on with me. Don´t worry about me, I’m doing super great. I am adjusting well, and it really isn´t that hard. I had a crazy trip, I didn’t sleep for like 44 hours. I had two plane rides, two bus rides (9 hours total), and a lot of waiting around. But I eventually made it here at three in the morning on Wednesday.

My trainer is Elder Yorgason, from Provo, Utah. I think I am probably the first person he has ever trained, but he is awesome. We are learning so much together. We are here in Coquimbo, Chile. We live in a place called Parte Alta. It is right underneath the hugest building that looks like a cross. I think it’s a church!

Cruz del Tercer Milenio (See google map link below to zoom in on its location)

We are working in a place called Llano. We had a confirmation yesterday which was awesome! It almost didn´t go through, because she had some doubts after the baptism, but we got her there, and now she is doing so great! Last night she gave us a reference and we went with her to go talk to this lady called Berta. Berta is an older lady who is really, really struggling. She has a lot of problems. However, we shared a great lesson, and I think she is really going to progress. The amazing thing, however, was that she definitely wouldn’t have listened to us without our friend Paola (the one who just got confirmed). Berta had seen some crazy anti-mormon stuff and she was a little spooked, but we worked through it. We also have a mother and a daughter that we have been teaching who just need to go to church before they get baptized. When I got here, there was a lot of confusion, and we spent a lot of time just weeding out people who were not receptive, but were still on our list. So it was kind of a cleansing week. But it’s all good, because this next week is going to be awesome!!

So Chile is pretty different from the United States. The people are wayyyy different. More friendly, but also willing to say what’s on their mind. Elder Yorgason is a big fan of knocking on doors, so we have been using that a lot in our effort to find people to teach. Some of the people have been SO funny. It’s obvious that they don´t want to listen to us, and they are too nice to slam the door. Haha so sometimes we take advantage of that to try and teach them the amazing message that we have.

Nathan's Apartment

My pension (apartment) is pretty small. My companion has 1 year (translation: he’s been out one year), and he said it’s the smallest he has had by far. Also, he said that he is in the poorest part of Chile that he has ever been in. But, there are so many people that are ready! We just need to find em, and then teach em, and then baptize em. Well, I have to go, but remember that what I am doing is right. It helps people like nothing else can, when nobody else can.

Ciao,

Elder Hales