I'm in The Field!! :)

Elder Bullock and Elder Shell

Ok so it has been a while since I have had the opportunity to email but I´m not gonna talk about my last week in the CCM because to much has happened here in the field.

Last Pictures from the CCM

So last Tuesday all of the North missionaries loaded up on the bus with our AP´s Elder Nelson and Elder Marin. They´re a lot of fun. I like them a lot. We went to the mission office and had learned a little bit about the mission.

We got our money cards and we ate some food and had interviews with the mission president! President Videla is a super awesome guy. I love him already. However, he doesn´t speak any English really so our interview was pretty short. So during lunch one of the Elders missed some of the powerpoint so he went to go look at it. Elder Marin still had the clicker so he just sat there and kept changing the slides on the guy. It was hilarious the poor guy thought the computer was freaking out. All of us that were in on it were cracking up at the look of confusion and frustration on his face. That afternoon after lunch we all gathered into the Chapel with the trainers.They began calling out all of the companionships and each time everyone cheered. I felt like I was at Hogwarts and it was the sorting hat. I was kind of nervous because I didn´t really want a Latino companion because I wanted to be able to speak a little English. Finally my name was called and my companions name was... ELDER BULLOCK.

He speaks English and is the district leader! I was so pumped. He´s awesome. He works really hard and we get a long great so this is gonna be a great transfer. Afterwards we went to our area Renca. Renca is the most flite (pronounced fly tay) or ghetto zone in the mission as a whole. Our area, however, isn´t to bad so no worries mom. By the way flite means gangster. That night we did some food shopping and I realized I left my money card at the office. So Elder Bullock spotted me some cash and then luckily I was able to get my card on Friday.

Alright so Wednesday was the first day of work. So we decided Tuesday night that we need to clean the ward list. We have 88 pages of membership records in the word and so we are going to visit all of the names in our sector and see who lives where. Hopefully in the process we will be able to find the less actives, make some contacts, and figure out who still lives in the ward. I´m excited to get working on this project because we will be able to be a lot more productive and teach more once it is done. So that day we didn´t get in contact with to many people unfortunately. We did a lot of walking and taught a couple of recent converts. The first one is Juan. He´s an older guy with a lot of faith. The rest of his family are inactive members so hopefully he can help them come back to church. The other recent converts were Patricio and Fallon. They have three kids. Brian whom I haven´t met but he´s the most recent convert. Elias is the second oldest and the youngest is Martin. He is a deaf and absolutely precious. I managed to play action figures with the little ones without looking because I was reading the scriptures with teh parents as well. Also on Wednesday I made my first contact Nancho! We set up an appointment with him to teach him on Sunday so that was exciting. We also taught Chano who is a inactive member. I was a little bit frustrated by the end of the day because I was not understanding a whole lot but by the end of the day I got to relax a little bit and show some of the children of the people we talked to some of my magic tricks and it was fun. The day ended pretty well.

So Thursday morning we met Enes who´s daughter is a member but didn´t live there anymore. WE got to talk to her for a sec and she said we could come teach some other time which was cool. Then she told us that her neighbor Maria could use some help. So we went over and talked with Maria and it turns out her son was baptized like 12 years ago and we got to teach her a quick restoration lesson and set up a return appointment! It was super cool. She said that if she comes to find that the church is true she will be baptized!! So that was cool because she was a new investigator, a reference, and a reference contacted all in like 15 minutes. So I had lunch at an investigators house that day. Let´s just say we get fed really well out here. It was like bottomless tacos and it was awesome. WE have lunch appointments everyone Thursday through Sunday with the other Elders in our ward Elder Prince and Elder Larson. After lunch we did not get a hold of anyone! It was super frustrating and I felt like we were getting anything done. I was really just hoping that we could do something. But then two cool things happened. As we are walking we see Patricio and Fallons dog Leon just running around quite a ways from home. So we decided to pick him up and get him home. When we got to there house no one was home so we just started to wait. Then elder Bullock noticed that one of the bars in the top of the fence is broken and we could angle it so that we could fit the dog through the fence. He told me to put my hands in the lower bracket of bars and he proceeded to stuff a reluctant weiner dog through the fence and drop him into my hands and  I brough it safely to the ground. It was like the coolest and most hilarious thing ever. It made me happy. Then right before dinner we were walking and saw a man pushing his car and steering at the same time with his daughter in the passengers seat. We asked if he needed help pushing and he said that would be great. So we started pushing and what we thought was gonnna be a few blocks turned out to be over a mile through the main streets of Renca. We were literally running through busy intersections (obeying traffic laws of course) with this car. At one of the stop lights the man said  "God put you in my path today." I was so pumped! When we finally got to where he needed to park we were out of our sector. He bought us some Fanta and we talked for a second. He told us about how his son had a compound fracture on his femure and he was coming back from the hospital. We were able to get his information and give it to the elders in that sector. I really hope he accepts the gospel because I can tell he really needs it in his life right now. That entire situation was no coincidence. I´m thankful that after a hard day that Heavenly Father answered the prayer and my heart and prompted us to go help Rodrigo. That was a great way to end the day.

Friday I got my money card and we had a 10 hour long new missionary orientation. It was really informative and I learned a lot but it was super super long. When we finally got back to our sector it was time for dinner, and then that night all we got to do was go visit a few homes where no one was there and then I went and met the ward mission leader. It was a necessary but kind of boring day.

Saturday we did some more list cleaning in the morning and we got some contacts that we can visit this week so that was good. After that we went to lunch with some inactives. It took forever for the food to get out and we didnpt leave to probably 3. From 3:15 to 4:15 we had language study and then we finally got back out to work. We went and talked to Maria and Alejandro. Maria is a member and Alejandro is a recent convert who has dimensia. He was having a rougher day so we just talked with Maria. We were there for forever though but it was ok because I´m sure she needed the company. Before dinner we stopped by to say hi to Patricio at his parents house. Martin and Elias were playing fifa. Everytime Martin dribbled the ball out of bounds he got all excited and started jumping around. He´s awesome! Patricio was on the phone for a while so it was a short visit. He also gave us some coke and Elder Bullock quickly chugged both of our glasses because he knows I don´t like soda and he´s a champ like that. The thing is the people don´t ask if you want soda they just give it to you. That night after dinner we had Mission coordination. It was cool and we got a sense of what was going on in the ward. After that it was time to head home. On the way home this guy stopped us and I could immediately tell that he was on something. He was constantly fidgeting and I found out later he told my companion that he was on the leftovers of cocaine... they call it "pastavaste." The thing was he had a legitimate problem. His nephew had just died of cancer and wanted to know why bad things happen to good people. I wish with all my heart that we could have effectively shared the gospel with him but we couldn´t because he was on cloud 9 somewhere. We tried to make an appointment for another day but he just said bye. It was funny in a way but really sad at the same time because he needs the gospel.

Alright yesterday we had church. I introduced myself and bore a quick testimony in sacrament meeting. After church we were able to stand in on a blessing for a lady in the ward that was having some respiratory issues. That afternoon we taught my first contact Nancho about the Book of Mormon and set up another appointment! He´s a new investigator. We also got some solid contacts that afternoon. One of the less solid contacts was this old drunk guy. He asked what he believed and while Elder Bullock talked to him I talked to his grandson ALL BY MYSELF. I talked to him about why we are called elder and explained what we do as missionaries. When we went to say goodbye the grandpa shook my hand and then touched his head to my hand. He also rubbed our heads. It was pretty much hilarious. Needless to say after we got home we washed our hands and hair thoroughly at dinner time. It seems like we talked to a lot of drunk people yesterday... And now we are up to present!

I love my companion and our sector. It´s a little rough around the edges but the people here are so good and everyone will talk with you atleast for a little while. The quote for this week is "Sometimes a single phrase of testimony can set events in motion that affect someone´s life for eternity" President Uchtdorf. Love you guys!

Elder Shell

Last P-day at the CCM!

So after p-hours last week Elder Gale said I had a ton of mail! I went and got the key so I could get my mail from the box. Sure enough I had 3 birthday cards from my Family and I was super stoked! I seriously have the best family ever. Tuesday was the last day with all of our teachers which kind of stunk because Hermano Spolman and Hermana Cabrera are awesome.

We found out Wednesday morning that we got to keep on of our teachers. That´s right folks we get Hermana Cariola for all six weeks. It still stinks to lose the other teachers though. And Wednesday I kind of got the hang of preterite vs imperfect for talking in past tense which is kind of a big deal. In the afternoon we met our first new teacher Hermano Torres. He´s pretty cool but he talks so dang fast. Do to this fact I think my brain got overloaded and I got really tired super fast. Of course he notices this and decides me to have me help him teach a lesson. But hey it woke me up and I didn´t do to bad! That night we met our crazy lady nazi teacher Hermana Arfaro. Don´t get me wrong though I like here she´s just really intense. She speaks ridiculously fast! And we asked her to slow down a little and holy cow it was like a sling shot. She slowed way down for like two seconds and then all the sudden she was talking faster than she was earlier. Even though I was a little overwhelmed I felt like Wednesday was a good day for me.

Thursday was fun because it was Hermano Rhoads b-day. In the morning I just randomly decided to read about inspired questions which turned out to be a prompting of the spirit because Hermana Arfaro that night taught us about asking spiritual background questions. I learned so much about asking questions and it was awesome. On Wednesday we also taught our new investigators! Hermano torres´s investigator is named Ruperto. Our appointment with him was kind of crazy. He told us about how his mom just died and on top of that he used to be really reach. We´re talking three mansions in Miami rich. He was out here in Chile for his moms funeral and he got sued and lost everything... So now he´s stuck in Chile without a job. Definitely one of the most unique investigators yet.

I had a cool personal study on Friday about listening. In the scriptures it often says "Neither take ye though beforehand what ye shall say." I always though this meant not to prepare anything and rely on the Spirit but as I read it this time I learned something new. To me what it is saying is when you are teaching a lesson LISTEN! Don´t think about what you are going to say next. If you listen well then the Holy Ghost will guide your response. Later that day we watched a talk by Elder Bednar. In it he said "If you are trying to be a good boy or girl you will be guided by the Spirit whether you know it or not." I know that to be true. As I am 100% obedient out here I do things for no reason and then later that week I find out why. That night we taught Marjory for the second time and focused on Spiritual background questions. It went sooo much better than the first lesson so I´m really glad we were able to apply what we learned.

So Saturday morning kickball was the stuff. Hermana Doll asked us to help her change up the rules to make it more fun. I had a ton of fun playing so that was a good way to start the day. That night at dinner we had to ask 10 people to read the Book of Mormon. Hermano Inostroza played hard to get and helped me realize I need to get a lot better about promising specific blessings. We also practiced with some of the other districts that night but it wasn´t our best lesson. We were really struggling to focus that night. At the end of the night we decided just to have a district three chat. It was amazing! I´d say that the theme of our chat was "just hold on" and faith. It was a super spiritual experience for me and a lot of things that people shared was really what I needed to hear even though it didn´t seem to me that I was struggling a whole lot. Cause really I´m not having a tough time out here so far! That night district prayer was something special. I don´t want to ever forget how strong the spirit was in that room.

Sunday was pretty awesome. It was a fast and testimony meeting and I was able to share my testimony for the second time in the MTC. In Sunday School or district reunion we had an awesome lesson about having the courage to defend your faith but also having the courage to walk away. We also had a cool session about Ammon and how we need to listen, observe, and discern in all of our lessons like he did. Oh and all of our classes were in Spanish this Sunday so that´s fun! That night I got to sing twice during FHE. We´ve been practicing with district 2 to sing the first prayer to the tune of come though fount in Spanish. Well the other night Hermana Doll heard Hermana Rhoads and I singing "a Childs prayer" at the piano back in the dorms just for fun before all the other districts returned. She asked us if we would sing it together for one of the FHE´s. We assumed it would be next Sunday... So at FHE we sang with our district and district 2 and it went really well! And then I looked like the Jolly Jump up show cause I had to go back up there two seconds later. We sang "A Childs prayer" in English because we didn't have time to learn the spanish version. It´s been a long time since I have sung a duet and it felt really good. Hermana Rhoads has a killer voice. She reminds me of my cousin Gabi a little (not quite on that level but close). So Gabi better be ready to sing with me when I get back for old times sake. That night we had a fun time teaching the Latinos English. We taught our Elder a bunch of extra phrases to use like "hashtag instragram straight flexin" and "summon your eagle powers." During the game at the end every time he won his round against another Latino in translating a phrase from Spanish to English he would turn around and say whatever we had taught him and it was hilarious!

So this email is really long and Monday and yesterday were pretty much normal days. Yesterday I got to go to the Temple and I´m just newly motivated and ready to go. I love the temple! I love it out here and I love you guys! The quote for this week is "Stand for something or you´ll fall for anything." Think about it :)

Love,
Elder Shell