Week of March 3

We got this letter from Ben a couple days ago. The first part is not included, it is lengthy apology to us for not being able to write more on March 11 when he emailed and for not being very detailed about the things he's doing. He divided events day by day, sort of, and we kind of mashed it together. All names have been deleted. These words are all his (except the green parts):

We played soccer as a zone Monday, obviously a typical p-day activity here. It's usually a good experience, but even with missionaries it sometimes gets out of hand. We went to the home of a family my companion reactivated and they fed us lunch and cake. It was fun, but we left later than we should have and only had time to teach one lesson, which is typical for a p-day. 

Monday night I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which turned out good, miraculously. I say miraculously because I have messed up brownies from a box several times in my life, but have successfully made cookies without measuring cups and without a temperature gauge on the oven. We have three choices - hot, hotter, and hottest. To measure I figure a cup is a little less than a quarter of a liter, mark a cup with that and split the liquid for a half cup, quarter cup, etc. So far it's been successful and it's really good to have American desserts again.

We got electricity back on Monday  after not having it for five days. It wasn't bad except that we couldn't iron our shirts. Luckily our hot water is gas operated. (Note: the electricity was off because the previous missionaries failed to forward the bills to the mission office - for three months!) I didn't get any mail at the district meeting this week.

We had lunch in an interesting part of town. I literally thought it was a junkyard, but in actuality it was a community of homemade shacks and fences made primarily of junk metal. There was nothing to be seen of concrete paths, everything was dirt. It was the poorest community I have seen in my life. I wanted to take pictures, but didn't feel comfortable. We could see light through the walls of the home that we ate in, but they had a huge TV, tablets, and one of the biggest sound systems I have ever seen. It's sad where some people put their values, especially when raising kids. 

My companion had a bad attitude a couple times this week I’m thinking it might be more effective to lead by example rather than discuss ways to improve. I have to be very tactful with him. He’s very needy, and this is hard for me because I don’t want to talk to him every minute. In truth, we don’t have anything in common apart from being missionaries, and I wouldn’t be his friend if I didn’t have to be. (This part was significantly edited as we thought it was mostly written to the family and not for publication.) 

I felt my first significant earthquake Wednesday night. Around 1:30 in the morning everything shook violently, I woke up, realized it was an earthquake, and went back to sleep. I thought maybe it was a dream but it was a magnitude 5.3. Pretty cool. 

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on the door this week and one of the other missionaries in out house accepted some literature which the zone leaders shredded. It actually made me pretty upset. He shouldn’t have accepted the literature in the first place, but how can we complain of persecution and that our literature is destroyed and turn around and do the same thing to another religion?  Other missionaries have questioned my faith because I defend other religions, especially Jehovah’s Witnesses. I often hear other missionaries spreading falsehoods about their doctrine, something else we complain that others do to us. I think it’s sick and I also think it’s sick that they question my testimony because I defend other religions from persecution. In my opinion, if they are preaching Christ as our Savior, they’re on my team. Even Joseph Smith helped to build a Catholic church. I wrote more in depth about this in my journal.

We have a really interesting situation. We have a girl that we invited to church, she has come twice, and has gone to mutual (youth activity), but she’s technically not an investigator because we haven’t taught her a formal lesson. Usually the problem is the other way around, we teach lessons but we can’t get them to come to church. We are hoping to be able to meet with her and her family next week. We also taught my favorite investigator. He is in the air force and we talk about the military a lot. We have become good friends and he has invited me to spend p-day with him, which would be really fun. He wants to be baptized and we have set a date for April 5. 

That’s all for this week. I’ll try to be better about writing you more often.

We did get email from Ben on Monday and he did tell us to share with the blog because he hasn't found the time to write letters. Transfers took place on Monday, they are about every six weeks when the new missionaries arrive from the MTC. Assigning trainers starts the dominoes falling anyway, so it's a good time to just make changes that are necessary. Since Ben was done with training it was time for him or his companion to move on, and he expected his companion to be transferred. His companion was transferred and became an assistant to the president (one of two highest ranking missionaries) and Ben was also transferred to a new area, back to his first zone (El Bosque, search it in Google Maps) but a different sector/neighborhood and much nicer apartment (the silver lining). Several of the missionaries he trained with were assigned as companions to each other, but he was assigned a senior missionary and was a little disappointed because he thought it would be fun to be with one of peers from the MTC, and because he hasn't lived anywhere longer than six weeks yet. In all likelihood he'll be at this place for a while.  His new companion is Elder Vildoso from Peru.

Here are some more pictures from last week's letter:

South America's tallest building (in Santiago)

Local flora

A pack of neighborhood dogs

Ready to play soccer (courtesy Sr. Leavitt, the only lady in the picture)

We received this letter dated Jan. 27 (it included an SD card with pictures some of which are here, we'll post more later):

A two-foot long compleato (loaded hot dog)

On Monday 1/13 we had a meeting for all of the missionaries getting transferred in the mission office in San Bernardo.  After some words from President and Sister Cook, a slideshow was presented with all the changes.  I have been transferred to the La Bandera Zone, Poeta Neruda Ward with a new companion, Elder Mateus of Columbia in another whitewash [area new to both missionaries].   Elder Mateus is small, not taller than 5’6” or heavier than 130 pounds but he walks amazingly fast.  From the beginning I heard over and over that he is among the hardest workers in the mission and now, after seeing him in action myself, I can testify of that truth.  He is a machine and I am grateful for his example.

Whitewashes are hard.  We start with nothing apart from an outdated list of members with their addresses and a map.  This time we didn’t even have desks, chairs, or a place to put our clothes in the beginning, we only had beds. We are in a very small house with two other missionaries, Elder Burt (from Massachusetts)  who was in the training center with me and Elder Bezerra from Brazil.  They are both great guys and great missionaries.  The house consists of two rooms and a kitchen and a bathroom.  The two rooms are each the size of a large bedroom in the States and the kitchen is about the size of an average bathroom.  In fact, our bathroom is bigger than the kitchen.

Elder Matheus and I spend every day walking from lunchtime to bed time.  It’s hot, and we’re always in dress clothes.  Our feet always hurt, and some days we face rejection after rejection. But we try to follow the example of the great missionary Paul who wrote “Of the Jews five times I received forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weakness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness…If I must needs glory, I will glory in the things which concern my infirmities.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27, 30)  As a missionary, Paul suffered and endured far beyond what I have endured in the same calling, and probably beyond what I will ever endure, and yet he chose to glory in the affliction.  Not only that, but he said “If I must needs glory,” which seems to express that he didn’t want glory.  His desire to not glory is not because his afflictions were wearing him down, it is a result of his humility.  This is the reason I believe that if he had to glory, he would choose to glory in the things which concern his infirmities.  Our trials and infirmities are valuable opportunities to develop attributes such as faith, hope, patience, and humility – key attributes of Jesus Christ our Savior. I believe Paul recognized that truth and truly found joy in the fact that through his infirmities he became more like Jesus Christ.  I hope we can all do the same.

Elder Mateus and I have done a lot of work. Hopefully next week I will be able to write about some successes.  Until then, exito.

Different day, different compleatos

We don't always eat compleatos

Don't bother me, I'm studying

Surprise Picture (stalking is a good thing)

OK, I (Dad) admit I am a stalker. I read other missionary blogs. This week while looking at Sr. Leavitt's blog, I was fortunate enough to come across a picture of Ben! Here it is (Since Ben hasn't sent pictures, thank you Sr. Leavitt):

 

Ben is the rather chubby one front row right. We blew it up, it's really him.

 So while I'm here, we have emailed Ben the last two weeks. Last week he went to the zoo (apparently with his zone, another missionary has pictures). This week we had asked him about food, specifically milk. Fresh milk is hard to come by in the city, but they have a shelf stable non-refrigerated version that comes in a carton similar to the way we might buy broth.

The milk does taste a little weird.  I don't buy it ever.  I usually eat oatmeal with yogurt in the morning because yogurt is really cheap.  I haven't seen beef hot dogs yet which is a disappointment.  They are all pork, chicken or turkey, but mostly chicken or turkey.  Their spaghetti sauce tastes weird too but I don't know why.  And they don't really have salad dressing.  They usually use lemon juice and oil.

First blog letter

We received this letter postmarked 1/14.  Readers are aware of some of the events described.
 

Last Monday (1/6), my companion and I received some bad news.  He went to the city to get his foot x-rayed and it turns out it was fractured in two places.  He has to rest for a month minimum.  The news was a little humbling because I thought he was being a baby the whole time.  This is just another testament that no one can understand another’s pain.  Even if we have had similar experiences as others, the way feelings are manifested within others is unknown to us, and my even be incomprehensible to us.  We have only one friend who has lived on the earth who can truly understand our feelings – Jesus Christ, who “suffered the pains of all men, yea the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21)  He suffered the pains of all, each in their unique way.  It is no wonder that this suffering caused Jesus Christ “even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit” and would that he might not drink of that bitter cup and shrink. (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18)  I hope we can all find the humility and consolation in this sacrifice; humility that we might find it in ourselves to worship the Almighty God who suffered beyond comprehension that we may be saved, with broken hearts and contrite spirits; and consolation, that we may be comforted when we are at our very lowest by the knowledge that we have a friend who truly understands.

We spent our time inside studying and cleaning.  I wasn’t surprised to get the call from President Cook on Friday 1/10 that I was getting transferred.  Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me where because he wanted us to stay focused. I will find out where I am going the day I leave, Monday 1/13.

I feel like my first six weeks in the mission field were more for my benefit than the benefit of anyone else because I spent the first few weeks finding people to teach and the last few weeks inside studying because of my companion’s foot.  I’m excited to meet my new companion and begin my adventures in a new area next week.

Ben didn't say a bunch this week. He has a church issued debit card and he has his own debit card and we noticed that he takes money out from an ATM  monthly and asked him why he does it that way and if it was safe to carry around cash. Cash was his Christmas present via his account as well.  He said he does as few ATM transactions as possible to avoid fees for multiple transactions. The church card is Bank of America, which doesn't charge a fee but the bank owner of the ATM does. Likewise his personal debit card from a local bank here doesn't charge a fee, so he does minimize the fees. He usually pays a $1 or $2 ATM fee plus 1% exchange fee. From talking to other missionary parents, he's doing pretty well in that respect as fees can easily be $10 per transaction. His words regarding safety of his money: 

I always carry money in the Kanga Pouch.  In reality, we are pretty safe from getting pick-pocketed here.  I still carry my wallet with a copy of my passport and I've never had a problem and I haven't met a missionary that has been pick-pocketed but I would rather play it safe.

We had asked us to tell us about people he was teaching:

We don't really have investigators yet but we do have inactive members that are progressing. A reactivation is equal to a baptism.  In both instances, we are helping others on the path to salvation.

Last week Ben told us he hadn't received any letters from us in three weeks.  We do write to him every week. We also sent him a package because he needed contacts and we had to wait for the new flex spending year. The package included a box of brownie mix and some M&Ms:

Oh and can you send me recipes for cookies and brownies from scratch? I had a zone conference on Thursday so I got my package (and six letters!!!!) on that day. We made the brownies and remembered how superior desserts from the United States are so we want to try and bake some.

The most recent letter he got was three weeks ago, so some of those letters were from late November. The postal system there is not the greatest, but we're also not sure some of the hold up might not have been from the mission office.  His former companion (recuperating in the office) said he gathered stuff for Ben.

We're hoping to start getting Ben's own updates for the blog and pictures soon. We'll post as soon as we do.

As Ben said last week, he intends to send future blog posts via regular mail. That will delay things significantly, but we are very willing to share the things that aren't private that he sends us in email.  Stuff he sends us seems to make it here faster than stuff we send him.  He hasn't received a letter from us for three weeks, even though we write him weekly. He only gets mail once a week because items are mailed to the office and they distribute it at weekly zone meetings. 

Ben mentioned that it rained there this week, only the second time it has rained since he got there.  The other time was during the night.  He also said his house is smaller than his old one (which we thought was pretty small as it was). 

Regarding last week's surprise transfer we had asked him how it worked logistically:

I got the call on Friday, but I didn't find out where I was going until Monday.  President doesn't want us to be distracted.  Everyone getting transferred took their luggage to the office.  I took it via taxi.  It looks like transfers will always be on Mondays. I guess that means we won't take time out of proselyting.

We asked about his new companion:

My companion is Elder Mateus from Colombia.  He is great.  He works like a machine and we study better and plan better than I did before.  I work really hard with him.  He has a really good attitude as well.  He is always happy.  I like him a lot.  I really like my roommates too.  Elder Bert from Massachusetts who was in the MTC with me and a Brazilian.  They are both good fun loving guys who work hard.