My first week in Chile!

Sorry if this email has typos...the keyboard is different here. Haha! Lots to get used to, but I love it here so much. Hmmm. What else is there to say... This morning was awesome! Our district president (President Pinto) took us all on a hike in a place in Chiloe called Ahui. It´s a historic place where there was a battle fought. It´s right on the coast and it is sooo pretty! I will send some pictures. Not too shabby for my first Pday!

Right now we have one investigator (the one I was telling you about that has nothing, Vanesa) and she has a batismal date for May 29, but she has to marry her boyfriend who she is living with first. He´s not as receptive to missionaries, but she absolutely loves us. She is one of the people here that´s really hard for me to understand, but she is so patient with me and my Spanish. We laugh a lot, because we can´t really understand each other, but when it comes to important stuff about the Gospel, I think that we both are given the gift of tongues, because it becomes much easier She is so so kind. I love her so much!

That is one thing I have noticed here though, is that I understand what is necessary for me to understand. I understand with much clarity that, but the extra stuff, I have to work to understand. But I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for me. I feel like I am learning so much everyday. I love it. My "compi" is super buena. She is from Argentina, but she has studied English, so she is such a help to me! I love her tons. We laugh a lot. There are a lot of funny moments, when I don´t know how to say something in Spanish, so I describe it, and it winds up being completely ridiculous. It´s pretty funny sometimes! Oh good times.

Oh one thing that I didn´t talk about last night that´s new for me to get used to is besos. Haha. Everyone kisses everyone on the cheek here. Everyone. It´s definitely an adjustment, and it´s super awkward when men try to do it and in my broken Spanish I have to explain that I can´t because I´m a missionary...it can be pretty awkward then, but it´s always something I laugh about after! But yeah, I love it. It took awhile to remember to do it, but I think I´m getting the hang of it. :) Gosh, everyone is so nice here. It blows my mind. I was talking to Hna. Aponte about it and she was shocked that in the US you wouldn´t just give your address to a stranger you met on the street, and tell them what time you´re home and not home for a meeting. It´s way different, but I like it. They all just trust each other. It´s cool. (Don´t worry though, we´re still very careful about things)

I did get to teach once in English! There was an Australian that we contacted on the street. This part of Chile is a little bit touristy, so I was excited to talk to him in English. Also, they play English music here. It´s funny that everything is in Spanish, but sometimes when I walk into a store you can here Michael Buble-"Just haven´t met you yet"! Super funny. (Speaking of this song, Scott...look it up :) I thought of you).

Also, something else that is funny is there are Latin versions of people from back home. Por ejemplo: the daughter of one of our new converts is names Maria, and she’s about 4 years old. She reminds me exactly of a Chilean version of Audrey Sweeney. She was dancing around the house singing "Soy una princesa". She has long dark hair and she always flips it...oh man...so much is alike, except she speaks Spanish :) Super linda!