Week 17

One thing that was cool this week is we had a family home evening with 2 famlies in the ward and it was super fun! We ate, played games, watched a short movie, and had a short lesson. Family home evenings are super fun in the mission because they`re usually a lot more fun than lessons. I`ll have to get the pictures from one of the moms!

We were invited to a birthday party of a 10 year old, (He really wanted us to come) so we went to go drop off a present, and they invited us in to have cake and stuff! There were like 3 parents and like 15 ten year olds, and then 2 american missonaries. It was extremely awkward. But hey, at least we got to watch them play minecraft, we got cake, and we got cookies so it wasn`t too bad! 

We are soooo busy in this sector. The members are giving us tons of references and we literally dont have time to do everything! Because other than the references, we are teaching like 5 less active families, we need to talk to people in the streets and knock houses, we are visiting members and we are teaching like 7 or 8 investigators so it`s super hard to fit everything in. At least we`re busy though, and the high amount of references must mean the ward members trust us, so that`s good! This area is super productive, and we have 2 investigators with a date for baptism. 

BUT, i might be moving sectors because we have changes in 2 weeks. I`ll know if i`m staying or going by saturday. I really want to stay because this sector is super good and we`re seeing a lot of miracles, but i also want to go to expereince another part of Chile! But i`m happy either way!

Also, this is a side note, but me and my companion had a war with 2 little 6-7 year old kids the other day. We walked by and they pretended to shoot us, so we ran away and hid, they chased us, we died, and then we became zombies so that was a highlight of my day! 

Anyways, time is short, talk to you all next week!

May the force be with you 

Elder Pollock

We went bowling again!

 

 

Hugeee completo (It`s like a hot, except it has avocado)

This is what our mamita makes for us everyday. (The picture with spaghetti) We eat at her house every day for lunch. She always makes us really good food! 

Week 16-Conference

We had conference this weekend and it was so awesome! We went to the stake center to watch it, and there was a room just for english missionaries to watch it in english. There was only 4 of us and we brought cookies and candy and it was a good time. It`s amazing how much you can get out of conference if you really pay attention and spirtually prepare for the messages.

Also, my parents sent me a package and i got it on sunday!! There was pez, laffy taffy, peanut butter, and a dog tazer, which are all rare finds down here in Chile. The dog tazer works super well (It emits sound). A dog tried to follow us, so i used it and he ran the opposite direction as fast as he could. I have a new toy to use now! And now we wont get attacked by dogs anymore haha.

Other than conference, this was the busiest week i`ve had so far. We literally ran from appointment to appointment to get there on time and not miss one. Not only are we teaching, we`re getting a workout too!

A couple days ago we visited a less active member named Elizabeth. her 18 year old daughter answered the door and said her mom wasn`t home so we would have to come back later. Little did they know, i could see through the crack in the door hinge and perfectly see her Mom sitting on the couch! We talked to the daughter for like 3 minutes and before we left i asked if her Mom was home again, and she said no again so when we were leaving and she was shutting the door, i said ¨bye Andrea!¨ (The daughter) and then ¨Bye Elizabeth¨ (The Mom) and their reaction was priceless. We might not speak spanish perfectly, but you can`t fool the missionaries! haha it was funny though and we`re going to visit them next week.

I`m grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and my testimony is growing exponentially. Until next week!

Peace

Elder Pollock

Week 15

This week went by super fast! We were busy this whole week with teaching appointments. We spent almost all of our time during the week in appointments and had no time for contacting in the street or knocking houses. It was fun because its fun to teach and teaching people who want to listen is always wayyy better than knocking doors. I`m lucky though because i have only got the door slammed in my face once! Haha

We had an activity at the stake center with about 20 missionaries and a bunch of investigators/people who don`t know much about the church on saturday. We split up into groups and had people teaching classes about different things like modern day prophets, general conference, family history, the book of mormon, church activities, church programs, etc. It was an awesome activity and it really helped to introduce people to the church!

About halfway through the activity, a superrr drunk guy wandered into the activity. He walked in, mumbled a bunch of nonsense, and then sat down in the chapel. He was in front of everyone and it was sooo funny because He was saying really random, funny things , then  he spit into his hands and fixed his hair, then he blew his nose in his hat, and he kept laughing at everything. It was a pretty hilarious experience. The investigators and everyone were laughing too. 

We didn`t want to forcefully kick the guy out, so one missionary went around the corner and called my phone, then i gave the phone to the drunk guy, and the missionary on the phone invited him to a party across the street and he got on his bike and left peacefully.

I don`t have much else to say this week other than we didn`t get attacked by a dog this week! Haha below i included a few photos of some of the stores around here. There are a lot of flea markets but there are also a lot of stores just like in the United States. One thing that`s really wierd, is that when you go to the grocery store someone bags your groceries and you HAVE to tip them otherwise it`s really rude. 

Until Next Week

Elder Pollock

Week 14

This week was crazy!

Insted of having july 4, Chileans have September 15-22 for their independence day, but it lasts for a week! Haha we went to parties on the 18th and the 20th so that was fun. There was food, dancing, chilean games, soccer, singing, etc. On the 19th we stayed in the house all day because the missionaries in Chile aren`t allowed to leve the house during the 19th because everyone is drunk and it`s kind of dangerous to be in the streets i guess. It`s been  a fun week though!

My companion and i were visiting a house, and there was a huge dog in their backyard who was barking at us. We thought the dog was enclosed in the backyrd, so we entered their front gate, i was in front, and the dog charged us. Apparently it wasn`t enclosed! Haha i was right in front of the dog, but he didn`t care about me and he ran right past me and attacked my companion. My companion got bit a couple times in the arm and leg and it was pretty scary but it all worked out, he`s fine now! We laughed about it all night because we don`t know why the dog didn`t attack me haha. Here`s a picture of the bite on his leg. 

Another cool thing is we had mcdonalds for lunch today! I had an oreo mcflurry with manjar (A caramel sauce that`s super popular here in Chile).

Other than that, we didn`t do much this week because of all the festivities. Everyone here was either out of town, drunk, or partying! Haha anyways, talk to you all next week!

Stay Fresh

Elder Pollock

Independence Day

My companion got bit by a dog!

McDonalds in Chile!

These chocolates are super good!
 

Week 13

There wasn`t anything too crazy that happended this week. Just studying the language, reading the scriptures, learning the lessons, teaching investigators and talking to people!

I got a new companion though, its awesome to have a change so i`m enjoying that.

The weather here is getting better! It`s been sunny for the past couple of days. Spring is just starting down here in Chile. It`s weird because december is the hottest month of the year, definitely not going to have a white christmas!

Thanks for all your emails and support! See you in... a long time!

Peace

Elder Pollock

Week 12

Baptism of Benjamin! Benjamin is the son of two members who were recently baptized, like 3 months ago. His parents didn`t want to make the decision to be baptized for him, so after about 3 months of us and the sister missionaries teaching him, he finally decided to be baptized! Also, his dad got to baptize him which was cool.

Funny story. On wednesday morning i dumped a pan of full of water down our sink and i heard a huge splash. I thought our sink broke, so i looked everywhere for where the splash sound came from. I couldn`t find it so i turned on the water and i kept hearing the same splashing sound! After the sink was on for like a minute the neighbors that live below us ran up the stairs and asked us to turn off the water because the pipe broke right above their bed and it was getting everything soaked! 

We have exchanges this week and my companion is leaving, so i`m going to have a new companion this week!

Everything`s awesome down here, if you guys ever have any questions feel free to email me!

Peace outttt

Elder Pollock

Week 11

It`s already Septmber! Time really does fly by when you`re on a mission. We didn`t run into any Anti-Americans this week so that`s kind of a bummer!

I do have a cool story though. One of our investigators, Danilo, was going to be baptized a week or 2 ago, but then didn`t. Apparently an Evangelico Pastor (His entire family is Evangelico) visited his family and the pastor said God talked to him the night before and God said that If Danilo left the church, his dad was going to Hell. Danilo, along with his entire family, believed it. Danilo told us about it and said he`s not going to take the lessons anymore. We didn`t see him for a week and we weren`t going to visit him anymore, but we still prayed for him to know the truth of the Book of Mormon.

This wednesday, about a week after this incident, we went to the church building for a meeting, and Danilo was waiting outside the doors! Apparently he had been waiting for a couple hours. He said he didn`t have our number, but he knew if he waited long enough at the church he would find us.

He told us how he had been praying and reading the Book of Mormon every morning and night, and that he knows it is true. He told us he is ready to be baptized and he wants to keep taking the lessons! It was a super cool experience and we are still working on a date for his baptism, but i imagine it will be in the next couple of weeks!

Anyways, that`s enough excitment for one week, Todo Bien Aca in Chile!

May the Force be with you

Elder Pollock