Baptisms and Barbecue

Bennett:

 FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was fun! I almost fell in the river but i jumped off the log just in time! I was soaked up to my knees but I didn't swim!  It was funny but, scary at the same time. This week was very low key with the teaching. The river keeps rising every day and my area gets more and more flooded and muddy. I'm forced to walk through straight mud now. 

My comp and I are great. We will be baptizing 6 people this month. We found a less active member named Karina. Her husband isn't a member but will be very soon, along with the rest of her family. He is called Robby. He will get married this next week and baptized the next. We are super happy for this family. As for the zone, looks like we will be the highest baptizing zone in the mission this month!!!!!! PUCHANA!!!!!!! I also finally figured what is a punchana....its a small animalito of the jungle that's like the guinea pig! PUNCHANA!

Lots of new things to be happening, we will finish with 23-25 baptisms this month.  The zone is super happy. They are most likely gonna change me this next transfer...I'll be very very sad if they do...this has been one of the most rewarding parts of my mission to have applied all that I have learned and use it all so much.. I'll leave the area baptizing close to 20 people with 2 whole familias. It's been a killer good time here!!

LOVE Y'ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jackson:
Hey guys!!! The sun was out all week! I was just waiting for it to rain and rain and rain but instead the wind blew and the sun stayed out all week!!! La Union has a beautiful center plaza and the weather was so nice that everyone was in the plaza all week! So we did a ton of contacts there! 

We didn't get to see Vicente this week; but he is going to get baptized in two weeks!! We also put another two investigators with fecha!! Hermana Moscoso and her daughter Luz! They are the wife and daughter of Nelson, a recently activated member! They are getting married next week! I will be the male witness at the official ceremony in front of the judge! In Chile you have to get married in front of an official judge! You have to bring a female witness and a male witness!! They also wanted me to conduct the ring ceremony, but I think that I'm going to defer to the Branch President on that one! Although sometimes I am referred to in popular Chilean nomenclature  as the "Love Guru" hahaha. 

We ate a ton of native foods this week because of the Semana Santa or "Easters" (Mexican priest voice from Nacho Libre) here in Chile!! Also, because our mamita is mapuche! She feeds us native food almost everyday, or she will serve us pasta and throw merken on there (which is a native spice of the Mapuche) and call it a Mapuche dish!! She tried to convince us that empanadas and pizza were invented by the Mapuche hahaha She is like the old guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, every word has a Greek root, and the Mapuche invented everything!! We drank a ton of Chicha! Which is pretty much just apple juice that they leave underground for a little while!! After a few days it starts to ferment and turn into apple beer! So, you have to be careful when they offer you chicha! Sometimes they have given me chicha and I've taken a swig only to realize that its pure alcohol haha We also drank Mudai! Which is an almost fermented drink from the local Mapuche culture!! 

Most of the people here in La Union are Mapuche or German, there are not too many Chileans! So, I am head and shoulders taller than anyone else! One day we were in the grocery store and I was just dribbling a basketball that I found while my companion was shopping, just passing it between my legs while I was walking, nothing big!! All of sudden we hear this little 5 year old kid say "WOOOOWWWWWW" Like the kid from The Incredibles haha I guess he had never seen anyone dribble a basketball before!!

We finally saw Carolina today! Maybe she snuck back into Chile from Argentina like Sherlock Holmes did on a little pony hahaha But,  she came to church! She should get baptized in a few weeks! We couldn't get to Miguel's house this week, but we called him almost everyday!! He is doing fine! We had 7 in the church this week, that's a pretty big number for this mission!! We worked our butts off all week to get there so we celebrated with barbecue at President's house today!!! My days are pretty full here, time is flying by!! Pray for warm weather for me!! Love and miss you guys!!

Boas and Blessings

Bennett:
FAMILYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week was a great week! We had a baptism and it was a great service. Lendy Huancas was baptized after her brothers two weeks ago. We also had the leadership council of the mission last week it was a interesting meeting. 

Zona Punchana was openly praised by the work and improvement we have had!!! IT WAS AWESOME! We were super happy. I've been here as zone leader for 2 changes with a different companion every change but I've stayed and they went. I've been helping a ton to all the district leaders and missionaries constantly. I started off as zone leader with a bunch of new missionaries who didn't know how to work very well but, now we are a raging baptizing MACHINEEEEEEEEEEEE.  We might be the highest baptizing zone in the mission this month!!! We are super excited. 
Right now in my area there are 5 more people getting baptized in short time. Brother Roby being the most outstanding, he was found on a contact activity and is now getting married and going to church and going to be baptized on his birthday the 24 of April. We are very happy for him. He did all the changes to his life, we just taught him how and it was LEGIT!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The river keeps rising, its getting nuts now that my area only has two dry streets and the rest are being flooded by the river. We have also seen lots of crazy animals that the people have as pets, the craziest being badgers and owls and LARGE BOAS! Today we are going to Quistococha, I went there when I was in Venecia it'll be fun to go back and visit!

LOVE YALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I love to get pictures from other missionaries! Thanks Hobbs family1

Jackson:
Hey guys!! 
This week felt like forever! It wasn't until yesterday that I realized why! Because of general conference we didn't take the Sacrament or go to church!! Sundays are always a great refresher for me! To be able to take the Sacrament, listen to the talks, and see all of the members doing the same things!! Conference is awesome, but the Sacrament is an energy boost for me every week that I absolutely need!!! 

We spent a lot of time this week working on the spreadsheet and the number system for the mission!! We finished it all! But I've picked up a few other projects on the way so my days are packed right now!! I love it though!!

Juan was supposed to be baptized this week, but we had to move his baptism a little farther ahead because he isn't married!! He and his "wife" didn't even realize that they weren't married!! LOL. We asked them for their documents to write down their information and it showed that they weren't married! When we asked them about it, they thought they were married! We asked them if they ever went to the registro civil to get married and they said that they don't remember if they did! But, It isn't going to be a problem!! They should be married next weekend and after that he should get baptized real soon!!! Carolina is stuck in Argentina, I guess she was here illegally, the last thing we heard was that she is trying to cross the border illegally. It's the last thing we've heard because we told the members we don't want to here how she comes back, but that we will just be here waiting to teach here when she gets home!! 

 Miguel is doing awesome!! He is super analytical and we always somehow end up talking about politics and Paula Dean recipes!! But, He is getting along super well!! We also picked up some new investigators this week! Natasha and Yanni! They are from Germany and are teaching German in a local German private school!! They are 19 and 22! We met them in a local square here in La Union! They actually came up to us and started talking! They speak English, and are learning Spanish, so we teach half in Spanish and half in English! Its a trip to teach in English! Ive only ever done it in Spanish!! 

I don't know if I've mentioned Vicente, but he is the 8 year old son of a family that we reactivated, he is going to get baptized this next week!! This week in the Ensign there was an article about studying your patriarchal blessing!! I took mine out and did some of the exercises!! I had no idea that my tribe is the most blessed of all tribes! Its also interesting to see how the meaning changes as we grow and experience new things!! Go read your blessing! 

Also, this week I had to hand grind a brick of unprocessed molasses to make brown sugar!! But it was so worth it!! I hope everyone is doing well!! Keep being cool, and keep out of Syria!! Love you guys!!

Pink Dolphins and Spreadsheets

Bennett:

This week was so choice! We got to watch all of the sessions of general conference!!!!!! I loved President Nelson's talk and I've already started marking all the scriptures about Christ.

This week in these last few days we have had a torrential downpour of rain. My whole area is even more flooded and the water is about 7 feet deep and 15 feet deep in some parts AND ALLLLL THE ANIMALS OF THE RIVER ARE OUT. LOTS OF WATER VIPERS AND LOTS OF ELECTRIC EELS!! I've seen so many its surprising. Also, we saw those pink river dolphins out in the distance on Thursday evening! This area is so nuts! The water is starting to come up really close the church building and you can see it out the back of the chapel windows!!
We have 6 people with a baptismal date and there are 15 in all so, we make up the most part
of the whole zone. Being zone leader is fun.....I'm the oldest missionary in the whole zone with 6 months of the second oldest so, it's interesting being like the old seasoned missionary and everyone else has like a little more than a year. The bridges are getting a bit more crappy and my comp weighs around 200 and he has already broken 2 bridges and fallen in once..... let's hope the best for me that I don't fall in where the eels are!!! ahhahahah! LOVE YALLLLLLL







Jackson:

 Hey guys!! This week was so flipping awesome!! I love my new sector and my comp is an absolute machine!! We have been working our butts off this week!! We were gone almost everyday doing something and we still got so much done!! 
To start out the week we had zone conference!! I had my last zone conference two weeks ago, but because I moved zones the schedule is different!! My interview with the president was great as well!! Then we had District meeting the next day, then we had zone council! And then I went to Osorno to start building the new numbers collecting services for the missionaries!! I am making a new spreadsheet system for all of the mission! Before, they were writing down the numbers down by hand!! Now, all of the District Leaders and Zone Leaders will be inputting the numbers with their phones and an automated spreadsheet will appear for all of us office elders!! I don't care how nerdy it sounds, EXCEL IS THE BEST!! You can do anything with excel!! These new spreadsheets are going to help out the mission a ton!!  And we will finally see all of the numbers for the mission for the first time! 
Our two investigators are doing great! We only got to see Carolina once because she went to Argentina for vacation! But, she went with a family in our branch so they did family prayers and and read the scriptures every day! And also watched all of the conference sessions!! Juan found work, which was a huge blessing for his family and him!! We met with him once and he told us that he sees the direct relation between his coming unto Christ, and his families situation improving!! It's awesome that he already can see the blessings of his baptism that is coming up!! We also put Miguel with a date for the 13th of May!! He is the husband of a recent member, Benigna! Her parents got sick and she moved north to take care of them, she only comes to visit Miguel once a month! In her absence he started to feel the need to learn more about Christ! He wants to surprise her, be baptized, and meet her at the Santiago temple to do baptisms for the dead!! 
Conference was awesome! I loved Elder Holland's and Sabin's talks! Also Elder Christofferson's talk struck me strongly! In that calling that we have as watchmen on the towers, we need to do first in the assigned way of the Lord and after that we need to do it by "singing our own song" as described by Elder Holland!! Elder Sabin's talk was hilarious! But it was also a great reminder to make sure that we are making the correct "U turns" when necessary! We need to be very alert of what our ideas of "success" is! As very clearly pointed out in the first story of his talk when his grand daughter told him that she scored three goals! Although she scored three goals, they might have been for the other team!! Everything is going great here in Chile! It's getting colder everyday!! I finally have a Brazilian in my zone so I'm talking Portuguese at last!! Love you guys!!