October 1, 2012

 

Dear Family and friends :)

Hey mother could you send me a family picture please :)

Ken - Happy Birthday :)

Laura - Happy Birthday :) Cream cheese with a tiny bit of soy sauce on crackers is something you might want to try :)

This week was definatly an interesting one :P But first off,

Cultural Note(s):

In Chile they have their own dialect of course with ¨po¨ as a word Americans would say is equal with the ¨eh¨ of Canadians :P They end every other sentance with po. Also they don't pronouce thier s´s every well so ¨no¨ and ¨nos¨ sound the same which compleatly changes the meaning of the sentance :P

Dogs have dreadlocks here! It's pretty funny I saw one that reminded me of Jack Sparrow :) Also they have horse drawn trailors :P I have yet to get a picture of one but they crack me up.

Because of the amount of earthquakes in Chile, almost none of the houses have basements. Also for the same reason it's dangerous to have a water heater with a storage of hot water; so they have a ¨heat as you go¨ system that works pretty darn well:) as long as you keep the water pressure pretty low :P

But the funniest cultural note that I saw this week is that the beginning of talks don't change even if it's in a different language :P ¨Brothers and sisters, I´m greatful for the opportunity to speak with you today; but I´m nerveous, so please bear with me. Today I´m going to speak about ...¨ - even in other languages people do that - haha.

Okay some stuff that happened this week :) and then the good stuff that happend this week :P

So this week supposedly I slept talked in Spanish to my companion :P I guess that's a good sign for the language :) We had a FHE with a recent convert family who invited their neighbors. It was really awesome because up until that point when I was there testifying of the blessing that I have seeen in my life from FHE I hadn´t realized how much of a blessing it was :) So thank you Mother and Father for the good example and all the good experiences and blessings.

On to the good stuff! :)

So this week I had two exchanges: one with an elder in my district and another with the zone leaders (because my companion is the district leader). While with the zone leader we were litterally just walking up this hill to our next apointment when we heard this voice. It said, ¨We are sick of heart here.¨ We looked over and saw this old lady, who was so short we didn´t even notice her as we were walking. She is a midget and is literally just over 3 feet tall. We talked to her about Jesus Christ and that through him, his atonement, and baptisim we can be healed of all the pains of our heart. She attended church yesterday and has a baptisimal date set :)

This week I also had the opportunity to be an instrament in the Lord's hands to bring about a minor miricle for a woman :) My companion and I were on our way to our next apointment when we turn a corner and this lady points at me from across the street. We wave, and she walks up to me crying and says, speaking in English, ¨Can you give me a blessing?¨ Of course we say yes. She is from Chile but she attended BYU, where she met her husband, and now lives in Idaho. She was visiting her parents and they had some family trouble. She left her parent's house, got lost, took a bus to try and get back, got even more lost and then she prayed. After she prayed she continued walking for a block and then we came around the corner. We walked and talked with her to our next apointment (that fell through), but we had arranged for the ward mission leader to meet us at the atointment. He met us there, and then we went back to his house, two blocks away, and gave her a blessing. The ward mission leader was able to explain how to get back to where she needed to go and got her on the right bus.

SO excited for General Conference!!!

All is well,

Elder Hall

P.S. Elder Oaks is coming to speek to us this month!!! WOOOOH :)