Week 27 & 28

I didn`t have time last week to write a letter so this is both weeks in one!

For Christmas we did a TON of things! We had a Christmas Reunion with the Mission where we had super good food, candy, dessert, we performed super funny plays/skits that we`ve been practicing as zones, we played secret Santa, and afterwards we went to the central plaza of Puerto Montt and sung Christmas carols, In Spanish and English! Haha it was a super fun day and it was also awesome to catch up with some old friends from the mission! I even ran into a girl I knew from BYU Provo who was in my English class! Allyson Smoot!

Besides the Mission Christmas party, we had a branch Christmas party with our small branch in Calbuco. My companion and I did ANOTHER skit/play thing haha. 

Last p-day, we had permission to watch the movie Elf with like 14 other missionaries and so we did that! We watched it with the voices in Spanish, and it`s awesome because I understood almost all of it! I`m surprised how fast I learned Spanish. I can`t speak it as good as I can understand it, but I'm getting there! I can understand 90-95% of the conversations in Spanish now.

We spent Christmas eve with a family who was recently converted, and they bought us matching ties, a picture frame with a picture of us at the branch Christmas party, and some other stuff! We also ate dinner at their house and had a good time there! 

For Christmas Day, we took a boat to another island like 30 minutes away to spend the day over there with some other members and their family. The island was super small and it reminded me of the TV series LOST! haha but it was so pretty over there. 

The day after Christmas, I got to Skype my family! It was awesome to get to talk to them over Skype, because I have only written them by email for the past 6 months. I`m excited for next time on Mothers day!

Anyways, that`s all the fun stuff we did over these two weeks with the Christmas Holiday, but we also did a ton of work too and focused on the true meaning of Christmas. During this month of December, we had tons of success in the mission work. we had investigators in the church every Sunday, we had about 5 investigators at the Christmas party, we taught lots of lessons and met a lot of cool people that are interested in the church. 

I love this time of the year because families are together, having a good time, and it`s a perfect time of the year, especially with new years coming up, to make goals and change your life for the better. I have a ton of new year resolutions so i have my work laid out for me in 2015!

Stay classy,

Elder Pollock

Week 26

Hey this week i got my Christmas package from my Family! It was so awesome and refreshing to have some American candy like pez, laffy taffy, lindor truffles, tootsies rolls, etc. Also, we didn`t have any christmas decorations in our house, but now we do! I also pictures, music, ties, seattle sounders soccer jersey, missionary stuff, etc! It was a super great present! I have all this stuff in our living room right now haha

This week we taught a lot of people, and i have a lot of hope for one family of 3 in particular. The daughter just turned 8 and wants to be bpatized, and the dad isn`t a member, but the Mom is. We have been teaching the Dad, and he`s going to be thinking about getting baptized with his daughter! I think we started teaching them at the perfect time, because they are definitely a faimly ready for the gospel. It`s really fun to teach them too, because we have to adapt our teaching style to an 8 year old level!

Our branch here in Calbuco is super tiny. We have about 30 active members! My companion is the first counselor of the branch and i`m the secretary, so i get to do all the fun tithing stuff... Hahah but it`s way different being in such a small branch. There`s positives and negatives, but it`s pretty cool because everyone knows everyone, and all the members are super nice!

I hope you all have an awesome Christmas! 

If anyone has any questions about the church, the book of mormon, or why i`m here in Chile for 2 years, shoot me an Email! Jordan.pollock@myldsmail.net

Elder Pollock

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Week 25

I ran out of time this week to write a big mass email because this computer i´m using sucks! haha but to be breif, i changed zones to Calbuco, which is an island and it´s super sick! I´m sure you guys already saw the photos. I took a bus from Valdivia to Osorno, Osorno to Puerto Montt, and Puerto Montt to Calbuco. Like 6 hours of traveling in total.

The good thing is that there´s not much to tell this week anyways because my companion was super sick for the past week! He slept all day and didn´t eat barely anything. Luckily, he´s all better now and we were able to do stuff this sunday. It was fun to have a sick companion because i got to read a lot and sleep a lot too haha. It was a nice break.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the photos!

Have an awesome Christmas!

Elder Pollock

This is the view we have everyday! It´s awesome

 

 

We are on an island named Calbuco. I circled it on the map

Week 24

Changes! My companion is staying here in Valdivia, but I'm going to Calbuco! Calbuco is apparently a small island and a small town south of Valdivia. I`m super excited because I've heard it`s super pretty down there! Also, Elder Gonzalez is going to be my companion and this is going to be his last 6 weeks in the mission! He`s from Santiago and only speaks Spanish so my Spanish is definitely going to improve a lot faster because I'll be forced to speak it all the time. I`m super excited!

After all this time of being in Chile and speaking Spanish, I realized MY DREAMS ARE IN SPANISH!! It`s so funny. I never thought that would happen ha-ha.

On another note, we did like 12 or 13 hours of service this week. We helped some members paint their house, which took like 7 hours, then we helped people haul a bunch of firewood for about 3 hours and then helped an old lady with her yard for a couple hours. It`s always fun to give service like that here in the mission because it`s a nice change in the routine.

This week we taught a lot of people, and I'm super sad to be leaving Valdivia because we have a lot of investigators that I believe are going to be baptized soon. We have Peter and Aly, Benjamin and Nicole, Victor, Ximena, Daniella, Sebastian, Francisco, Javier, Heladio, and more. A lottt of investigators. It`s ok though, i hope there will be even more people waitng for me in Calbuco!

This week for p-day, we hiked a small mountain by our house, it was pretty relaxing because that`s what i always used to do back home, Hiking! Also, there area was almost the same as Seattle so it felt exactly like home. Here`s a couple pictures from that hike and more!

Everything`s great down here in Chile, thanks for your support everyone! I`m glad to be down here sharing the gospel and the Book of Mormon because i know it`s true and can help everyone. 

Byeeee

Elder Pollock




They don`t sell milk by the gallon here, it sucks! It comes in boxes and tastes weird.

 Also, here`s the coke section of the grocery store. Chileans love their coke. Seriously though, they drink it like every day