Wow! Chile! Elder Kelsch and Elder Fowles did everyone a major disservice by not describing the view of the Andes Mountains as we flew in. (or I did them a major disservice by not reading their first letters, haha.) It was unreal. For the 9 hours from Atlanta to Santiago, I was flanked on my left by Junior World Korean Futbol Team, had an angry Asian man (who yelled at me multiple times) in front of me, the Chilean lovebirds of the century to my right, and a crying baby behind me.
So from 10am-3pm, I had a great opportunity to reflect on my goals for the next 2 years. :) I didn´t know the food was free, either, so I didn´t eat anything on either plane hahaha. But at least now I might hold the record for the world´s WORST first flying experience ever!
As soon as we got off the plane, 4 of us were confronted by a man who asked us if we were Mormons. Excited to hear English, and excited to hear someone who sounded friendly, we all said yes! He responded with, "Oh, so you guys like believing in a false God?" and told us we were prideful and direspectful to Christ. I am so grateful for my mission prep teachers who prepared me for moments like this, and their words came to my mind as I struggled with what to say. "If you don't know what to say, testify!" We were flustered, and nobody said anything, so I just apologized for seeming prideful and said "I'm sorry if we've offended you. I'm not here to try to offend anyone, I´m here because I have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for all of us. I love my Savior, and am trying to show gratitude by teaching others about him."He wasn't converted or anything like that, but I know we all felt The Spirit and I felt good about what I said.
The CCM is awesome. I don't think Chileans have any issues with PDA, cause outside the temple couples just, er, express passionate feelings to each other all the time. It´s weird. Most people here are like 5 foot 5 or shorter. It´s kinda crazy!
My companion´s name is Elder Gehring. (Mom that is crazy that you saw this in a dream!) Yes, the same Hayden Gehring that I grew up with at Carol Rae Ranch Elementary! Haha bump up the number of Chip´s friends serving in Santiago Sur from 2 to 3! It´s fun being companions with him. While we´re definitely different in a lot of ways, I´m learning a lot and enjoying my time here. Dad, you and I are the only ones that he remembers, and he says all he remembers is you yelling at him for using his hands when he played soccer on our team, and that you´d always pay for the empty bottles you´d drink before you got to the register in the gas station.
My CCM President and his wife are President and Hermana Doll. They are truly inspired people. I especially enjoy getting to know Hermana Doll, she is always happy and I just really love getting to be around her. President Doll is soft spoken but seems to be very wise and humble. The food...well I´m learning to be creative :) It´s basically the same meal everyday, and with every meal there´s bread. The bread is kind of similar to a half slice (?) of French bread. So with every meal, I just hollow out the middle and put all my food in the bread and then eat in like an empanada. I don´t eat much for breakfast, the milk is a kind of strawberry flavor, the yogurt has a big lemon flevor, and the eggs and meat are kind of gross. But despite this, I love lunch and dinner every day. They have the CRAZIEST ice cream flavors, I don´t know what it is but it´s all variations of the same flavor, and it´s always presented in some new way, I don´t know how to explain. Buut it is delicious.
I workout every morning and night, right when I wake up and before I go to bed. We play futbol with most of the peop´le in the CCM in the mornings after breakfast. It´s sooo fun. Every basketball court has the hoops pushed to the side and has goals set up in their place. I think I´m starting to get the hang of it! If I get good enough, who knows, maybe I´ll try to walk on and play soccer somewhere ;)
The langauge is coming pretty quickly (s/o to Pinto Creek and RW RV) (these are the two places he worked before his mission where he spoke a ton of Spanish-ish) and I feel like I can understand mostly everything that´s going on. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go through the Santiago Temple! What an experience! Almost everyone is the Districts attending wore the headphones that translated everything in English, but I decided that I´d do my best to listen in Spanish and do everything else in Spanish as well. How can I pray for blessings (like the Gift of Tongues) and then not give Our Lord the opportunity to bless us with them? So, I tried my best to give God the chance to help me further my progressing Spanish, and while it definitely wasn´t perfect OR easy, I felt good in putting in every opportunity to learn this new language. It was a memorable experience. I have the opportunity to go again in a couple weeks, before I leave the CCM.
I´m kind of out of time, and I´m struggling figuring out the Spanish keyboard, so no pictures this week. Lo siento. I´m loving my time here, I´m loving the opportunity to consecrate all my efforts to the Savior. I love you all, and I hope we can all strive to better have The Spirit with us this week!
Les amo!
Elder Hixon
