December 4, 2012

Dear Friends and family :)

Cultural Notes:

Now that it's summer here (in December... I know it's weird), a lot of the guys walk around in Swim shorts all day long even if they aren´t going to go to the beach. It's kinda silly, but it reminds me of what the movies portray California to be like :P Christmas just wont be the same without snow or cold :P

Here in Chile I´ve noticed that children don´t leave the house and live on their own as early as in the US. Here nobody lives on campus at the universities - almost all are still at home. And a lot of the couples with children still live in the house of one of their parents for a few years before leaving. Also, when they do leave it's usually in the same city - even just down the street.

Community service has to be approved by the mission president so we usually just do service for members. Usually it's just manual labor for elderly members (or elderly neighbors of members) or handicapped members. For example. this last week we did a deep clean of a patio/yard for a member who is a quadraparaligec (sp?) We had to clear out the 2 foot weeds and gather all the junk accumulated over the years and throw it away.

Yes, I did take a leave of absence for my mission and I filled out the paperwork and everything. I did everything according to my knowledge to fill out the paperwork and turn it in. I don´t know how you can check on that. I would just call and ask, if I haven´t turned in all the paperwork necessary... Oh well, it's kinda too late now. But email me next week if you need information from me.

No, we didn´t watch the devotional [1st Presidency Christmas Devotional] We were working :P As far as skyping for Christmas, I still don't know the rules for that or a joint call either. I should find out next Wednesday :P I´ll be sure to tell you as soon as I know :)

I´m staying in Villa Allemana for another transfer and Elder Lastra is staying my companion too :P So no Change here - haha. I hope we don´t fall into a routine. Already, in only 3 months, I´ve eaten with all the active members of the ward for lunch more than once and I´ve visited most of the less actives and in-actives. I know the area and streets better than most of the members :P Change is good, change is an opportunity to better yourself. The hard thing in this life is to change yourself when your surroundings don´t. I hope I´m learning what I need to. I´m not sure if I can verbalize what I'm learning. I can only act and do what I´m learning. I like what I read this week in the dictionary in the back of the Book of Mormon. Faith is the result of righteousness. Our actions are our faith :)

With that said, I ask you all ... Do you have Faith?

All is well :)

Elder Hall