This week was pretty good. Yesterday we had Stake Conference and for this conference we got to listen to the President of the 12 Apostoles who gave a transmission to all of Chile. It was super cool because he gave his talk to us in Spanish, it didn´t have to be translated like other talks. I had no idea that he knew Spanish like he does haha. He talked about the importances of the commandments and especially tithing and temples. It was a really good talk for the people of Chile.
About the baptism, we should know this week if it is going to happen on the 26th or not. She doesn´t know whether she wants to be baptized or not. She is 14 but a lot of her family are members who just became active again in the church. The funny thing about people in Chile is when we meet them, and this is what happened with this family too, is we don´t know if they are members of the church or not. When Elder Villegas and the companion before me started teaching this family they had no clue that they were members. In the second lesson they asked them to be baptized but they responded that they were already members of the church. It happens a lot here, there are a ton of less actives. The statistic here in Chile is every 1 in 10 members are active. But yeah she is a part of this family but doesn´t know if she wants to be baptized or not. She likes the church and has attended a lot with her family but doesn´t know, but I think that she will. But yeah that´s the update on the baptism.
Yes, I got my haircut from Sebastian, he did a great job! I was actually surprised because he didn´t use fancy equipment or anything. But I am super picky about my hair I know, but he did good. He told me this week that he wants to open his own barber shop in California near the Warriors stadium and whenever the Warrior´s play he would close up shop and go to the game haha. But first he has to finish high school. He left high school after the first year and is going back but during the night. He is honestly the best, he also comes with us at times which is awesome!
I got my Valentines package finally haha. I honestly don´t think it takes that long but it honestly just depends. Elder Villegas told me that one of his old companions received a package for Halloween in December so I honestly think that it just depends.
Haha you guys are already thinking about the Skype in May, you guys are more trunkee than I am! Trunkee is when a missionary misses home or thinks about home a lot or about the future of leaving the mission or anything.
My shoes have definitely taken a beating, I´ve just been wear the slip on shoes pretty much all the time. I use the other shoes when I go to church or to conferences or anything nicer when I have to wear a suit because these shoes are a lot more clean and not beat up like my other ones.
Our church building isn´t big but it is nice and works well for everyone. It is definitely a lot smaller than the home ward, but the Stake building is actually really nice and more like the home ward.
For teaching actually lessons we usually get around 15 lessons a week. But is honestly depends on the week and if people want to hear from us or not. We talk to a lot of different people in the streets but it really isn´t an actual lesson.
The question about my Spanish again... Haha. No spanish is definitely getting a lot easier. I still have a hard time understanding some of the people here though. There are some people who actually pronounce their words and I can understand the concept of what they are saying, not all of the words but the concept. But there are others who don´t pronounce anything and I can´t understand, I might be able to pick out a few words here or there but I have no clue what they are trying to say. I´m getting a lot more confident in speaking Spanish now though, I can get my point across mas o menos. But once I start to understand what everyone is saying it will get a lot easier from there. I definitely know that at points that I have the gift of tongues, there is absolutely no other way that I would be able to learn Spanish this fast. I took 3 years of Spanish through school and remember nothing of it. I have learned probably 100x more Spanish in 2 1/2 months than I did in 3 years of Spanish in school. It is really crazy!
So one thing that I learned for myself last night is that our sector is pretty dangerous especially in the night time. My companion has told me that our sector is pretty dangerous but I never believed him because I hadn´t seen anything really dangerous. But last night right outside out house someone got robbed. The guy who got robbed was in a wheelchair. The robber knocked him out of his wheelchair and robbed him. This happened during our planning for the next day and we heard a lot of shouting going on outside. It was pretty crazy. Also Elder Villegas told me that on new years there was a huge fight outside with columbians and chileans with knives at like 5 am. So yeah out area is a little dangerous but it´s fun! Don´t worry about me!
Love you guys so much!
Love
Elder Newkirk
This is the only photo that I have to send this week. Next week I think that we are going on a hike that I will get some really cool pictures of Antofagasta! So next week I should have some more to send. But this is a pirate ship that we found today, they do tours in it! I really wish that we could be able to do it but it´s a rule not to get in boats or to swim or whatever the rule is. But the pirate ship is super cool!
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