Week 10

Baptism of Mario and Andrea! It was an awesome experience. Mario didn´t believe in God at all when he first got the lessons, and the family was really struggling, but now they always seem so happy and they´re an aweomse family. We visit them once a day because they love learning more about the gospel.

One thing that was funny is the hot water didnt´work for the baptismal font, so my companion and I spent 4 hours transporting water with buckets from the sink that had hot water in the church! Haha it was a mess, but the water wasn´t cold and everything else went smoothly!

Another thing that´s funny is that we met like 3 anti-Americans this week. One guy was riding his bike past us, stopped, turned around, and asked if i was from North America. He went on for 10 minutes about how Obama is the devil and we are his angels, and that the United States is trying to take over the world. After he stopped talking, i told him,"I´m from North America, but i´m from Canada dude not the United States." And he apologized and was really embarrased and got on his bike and left hahaha i feel bad for lying but it was sooooooo funny. 

Talk to you next week!

xoxoxoxoxo

Elder Pollock

Week 9

Last night while we were walking around we met 3 seperate drunk people! haha it was crazy, the first lady was really mean and she called me a baby (ow my feelings) and the next guy was super nice and was actually pretty receptive to be taught about the gospel, and the next guy could barely walk let alone speak... It was interesting to say the least!

On friday we met a guy who thought that since the mormon church started in The United States, and since we have missionaries everywhere, that we are spies. It was so funny, my companion is from the Dominican Republic and i told the guy i was from Canada, but he still insisted that we were American Spies. When we were walking away, i touched my hand to my head and started talking to myself so it looks like i had a secret microphone or something. We haven´t seen that guy again but i want to!

Also on Friday night, we had the wedding of Mario and Andrea! They want to get baptized, but since they were living in the same house and not married, they had to get married first. So they got married and their baptism is this saturday! The wedding reception was pretty cool, and pretty similar to American wedding receptions, except after the bride threw the boquet of flowers, the guy threw his tie and whoever caught the tie had to do this wierd chilean dance with the girl who caught the flower. Needless to say, I caught the tie... It was ok though because i caught it at first but then a 16 year old kid stole it from my hands in the moment luckily.

The city I´m in, Valdivia, is known for it´s pollution. It´s SO BAD here. Everyone uses wood fire stoves to heat their houses, so in the morning and night when we´re walking around it burns our eyes and our throats and it´s hard to see a lot of times. Hopefully it´s not too bad for our bodies because we have no way to avoid it for now. Hopefully my next area isn´t so polluted.

Other than the pollution, everything´s going well down here in Chile! And today is officailly my 2 month mark so 22 months to go! The time is actually going by really fast.

Peace out Bros

Elder Pollock

Week 8

I never realized how good we have it back in the United States! So many people here are poor and don´t have the opportunity for education because they don´t have enough money/have to work instead of go to school. Also, the parks, streets, sidewalks, parking lots, are super dirty and unorganized, unlike Maple Valley where most are clean, well kept and organized. Chileans would think four corners is the nicest/richest place ever because of how clean it is.

The people here are nice though and all the members always feed us. We have dinner with members 4-5 times a week and it´s awesome.

The thing about Chile is food is expensive to buy for them, so if someone cooks for you, you need to eat it all. Yesterday we were at a members house for dinner and she gave us soup, bread, and sopapillas. After i ate all of it i was so full. Apparently that was the appetizer... After that brought out a huge plate with mashed potatoes, steak, corn, and other stuff. THEN she brought out a dessert and more bread. Hahah i felt bad because i couldn´t eat it all but it was so much. My companion had no problem eating his though haha. Apparently he´s gained 25 pounds in 10 months being in Chile. I´ve lost 5 since leaving the U.S. so i´m doing good. hopefully i´m not fat when i come back!

3 of our investigators accepted baptism this week! The baptisms are scheduled for August 22nd and September 6th. That´ll be awesome. 2 of the investigators, Mario and Andrea, have been having the discussions for about 6 months and they finally have a testimony and are ready to be baptized. They have 2 kids but they are young. 3 and 4.

The other Investiagtor, Danillo, is only 16 and he´s had some problems in his life but he´s is super awesome and who are we to judge?

I think he wants to change and he´s really receptive of the gospel.

We have about 75 members in the los encinos Ward and they are all super charitable and really nice. Anytime we ask them for help or to attend a lesson with us they say yes. They are really into spreading the gospel and helping the missionairies. They don´t have much, but they give a lot.

 

Talk to you all next week!

Elder Pollock

 

               

We went bowling for P-day last week and we had abarbeque this week!



 

View from my house

 

 

 

 

 

Our super nice house haha

 

 

The Kitchen

 
 

The currency here is huge!

Week 7-I'm in Chile!

The plane ride from mexico to Santiago was like 8.5 hours. It was pretty cool because everyone had their own media player on the plane and we got to watch movies and stuff. I didn´t watch movies because the missionary next to me was really against watching movies, even though we were allowed and all the other missionaries were! haha i was content with listening to tons of music and sleeping so i didn´t care too much.

Apparently the last mission president allowed the missionaries to watch Frozen and other disney movies so that´s awesome!

It is always raining here. I don´t mind the rain, but it rains sideways because it´s so windy here and there´s no way to avoid getting soaked! It´s the middle of winter here so it´s pretty cold. Probably around 30-40 degrees everyday.

We have a mamita who cooks Lunch for us everyday. That´s nice because she feeds us A TON. She´s the wife of the bishop.

My companion and I have 8 investigators, and we just found 2 more this week so we have 10 now. It´s pretty cool because we don´t have to knock doors very much since we´re so busy with lessons. Knocking doors sucks! haha it´s hard to find people that way and a lot of people don´t want you to bother them, but everyone is really friendly nonetheless. If you shake someone´s hand in the street they will usually stop and talk to you for like 5 minutes to be nice. We have probably taught like 15 lessons already and we have a couple baptisms set up for later dates!

I´m in the area Valdivia Calle Calle, Los encinos. It´s a really poor city. At least compared to America. The nicest houses here are as big and nice as the master bathroom in my house. A lot of houses are built as normal houses, but split into 3 or 4 apartments.

We live in the same house as a member family, but it´s not connected on the inside. That´s normal here. We live upstairs and they´re downstairs.

EVERYONE here uses a wood fireplace to heat their houses, or a propane heater. We start a fire every morning and evening because it gets pretty cold in the house. To use the shower, you have to turn on this propane water heater before you take a shower, it´s really wierd.

I just withdrew $60,000 from my bank account. $60,000 chilean pesos, that is. Haha the exchange rate is about 550 pesos to 1 USD so $60,000 is really like $120 something US dollars.

I have never slept better in my life than i have here! We wake up at 7;00 and go to bed at 11;00, but we´re so busy that by the end of the day when i get in bed i fall asleep immidiately.

The people here speak WAY TOO FAST. I understand about 15% percent of our lessons. The people here are surprised at how well i speak for how little i understand. It´s just because they speak SO FAST HERE. haha my companion´s first language is spanish and he said he had trouble understanding Chilean spanish for a while.

I was asked to bear my testimony this week and that went well. I have to trouble speaking spanish, it´s just hard to understand what people are saying.

Also, i don´t have my camera with my so no pictures this week.

Too much stuff happend this week to write today so i´ll write more next week! Later daaaaawgs

Elder Pollock

The view during the flight.



President Rodrigo Obeso and Sister Obeso



Our Zone and President Rodrigo Obeso and Sister Obeso

Letter from a Missionary Mom

This is an e-mail I received from a Mom today. Such a gift and brought me to tears. We haven't heard from Jordan since he arrived in Chile, so this was so awesome! She also sent a couple of photos.

Ronda Pollock  (Jordan's Mom)

Hi! My name is Laurel Zortman and I am in Chile to pick up my daughter who
finished her mission this week. My husband and I were on the same plane from
Santiago to Osorno as your son.  His first area is in Valdivia and we were able
to see him at church and hear him bear his testimony. He did a great job on his
testimony and always has that handsome smile on!  My daughter said his Spanish
is great!
Have a great day! I hope these pictures will give you comfort and a smile
(probably a tear or two as well, but hopefully happy ones!). 
Take care,
Laurel Z