week #90 Chile Independance day! Lots of photos and some videos!

Hola como estamos?

Bueno me dijo que quería que escribiera un poco en Español entonces voy a hacerlo jaja. Bueno como ustedes pueden ver he tomado muchas fotos esta semana. Enserio esta semana ha sido uno de los mejores semanas de mi mision! Fue tan bakan!! Muchas cosas ha pasado esta semana y con no mucho tiempo para poder escribir todo pero voy a hacer mi mayor esfuerzo para poder escribir todo pero vamos a cambiar a Ingles ahora para que usteds pueden entender lo que paso esta semana!

Yeah back to English. Well this week was crazy good. So on Monday we ended up going bowling which was a ton of fun. Elder Kirk taught me how to spin the ball and throw some crazy spins to strike it. It was a ton of fun. Then on Tuesday I headed off to Tocopilla to go and do interviews there. They had 4 baptisms in Tocopilla so they had a good week. Also while I was there I took a lot of photos as well as you can see with the district there, Elder Taylor and Vicente and also the Sisters Cortes and Llanca. Also they have there in Tocopilla like a shrine of Alexis Sanchez who is a really popular soccer player that is from Tocopilla but its a pretty cool shrine that they got going on down there. Also I got those graffiti photos that you asked for! A lot of them. Ask and ye shall recieve. Then on Wednesday we had another comp exchange with Ascotan with Elder Kirk. I was with him all day working which was a lot of fun! He is a lot of fun to work with. Then the rest of the week we were just working running around helping out the zone as well. We are with 14 baptisms right now as a zone and we are working really well. Our goal this month is 16 baptisms as a zone and we are going to reach it si o si! But everything is going good. Also all weekend we´ve been going crazy doing stuff with the holidays going on right now for the independence of Chile which you can see a couple things that we did. The activity with the ward on Saturday. Also Gaspar got baptized which was really cool!! He is really cool and was really ready for it as well! We also have some other people that we are teaching. There is family of Columbians that we are teaching that are progressing a lot as well and hopefully they should get baptized soon as well. But we are in the last week of transfers so there is a possibility that I might get moved to finish the mission in my last sector but we´ll see what happens this week! Also Sunday we had interviews with President which was cool as well. We talked a little bit about a couple things but not a ton. Then today is the official independence day for Chile which has been a ton of fun. As a zone we went to a giant fair to look at things I also bought a couple things which are really cool. Couple gifts as well! Then we have been in the house with a member all day long eating and writing and they had up put on traditional Chile queca clothes for their national dance. But just all in all a really fun and solid week here in Chile. Probably one of the best weeks of my mission! Well I wish I had a little more time to write but I don´t! Hopefully you guys enjoy the pics and videos that I took this week. Quite a lot! Well love you guys a ton and hope you have a great week!!

Love

Elder Newkirk

week #89 - working in the Lords vineyard - Calama

Hey que tal todos? Enserio uno de estos voy a escribir en puro español, solamente para molestarles pero no lo voy a hacer hoy.

Bueno, this week was actually really good with everything that went down. Finally a tsunami is passing by here in Calama with baptisms! We were able to reach most of our goals this week with new investigators, lessons with member and baptism dates. It was a good week of work where we were just running all over the place like normal but also a good week in our sector. Only goal that didn´t happen is that Hamlet didn´t get baptized. He had his interview this week but he is just way too prideful and doesn´t want to change and it doesn´t make and sense. We´re going to drop him for a couple weeks to see if he changes or anything because he just doesn´t want to change at all. So that´s what happened with Hamlet this week. But this week si o si we are going to have a baptism! Finally! Its a kid that has came to church, his name is Gaspar. He´s a 14 year old that we found like a week ago just knocking on a door (by accident) and we found his family. We have been sharing with him because hardly his family are home but he´s gone to church twice now and has his baptism date for this Saturday. It was cool yesterday when we went to pick him up for church he asked us if he should go to church in a suit and was also asking about passing the sacrament lol. We told him that we can definitely help him out with that but first he has to get into the water! TA. So finally we have someone. We also have a couple of other really good investigators that we have found but they just need to get to church now and get baptized. So we´re going to work hard to get them to church this week so they can get baptized next week!

Also here in the zone things are going a lot better as well. When President came down he talked a lot about what the zone needed to hear and now we are working well together as one now as a zone. Everyone is animated to work and everyone is now working together. There is a lot more unity in the zone. This last weekend we had 6 baptisms as a zone and this week coming up we should have 8 baptisms. Our goal for the zone this month is 16 baptisms and I know that si o si we are going to reach that goal this month and get even more! So things are going really well in the zone now. Last month was a little rough as a zone but now with Elder Jennings and a new mentality we are working well and hard here in Calama! President this week helped a lot with the animo(there really isn´t a word for this in English). They talked a lot about the charity of Christ. The assistants also came and talked a lot about the results and how we can do better to have better results, with verification and also the Spirit of Urgency which is just helping out all the people we can enter into the waters of baptism ASAP. We also did some good practices about how to have shorter lessons of just like 10-20 minutes to leave the spirit and get out of there! It was really good. But we were in and out of the conference preparing lunch and everything as well. We were in charge of everything and making sure that everything was working and that we had everything for the conference. But yeah the conference was really good.

Things are going really well with Elder Jennings. Having fun and also working real hard. We have been all over the zone just doing interviews and everything though. Like last week I mentioned about a couple of interviews that I had. They were really good. One of them was with a mom that I spent like 2 hours to try and help her to resolve her doubts and everything to help her to get baptized. One of the longest interviews that I have ever had. But I was able to resolve like all her doubts and at the end of the interview I finally found her real doubt is that she wants to get baptized with all her kids and one of them really doesnt care all that much which the church. So the missionaries are going to keep working with him so that the whole family can get baptized. Also had a couple interviews with other investigators that were really cool and really prepared and everything that got baptized this last weekend. Also tomorrow I have to head down to Tocopilla early tomorrow morning to stay the day over there to go and do interviews there. Just running around doing interviews! As a zone leader its not just our sector. The whole zone is our sector so we have to worry about everyone and go running around helping out everyone. Its sometimes a little stressful and a lot of responsability. Because if the zone isn´t doing good then everyone looks at us pretty much. A lot of responsability and pressure as zone leader but I have definitely learned a ton and it has been a lot of fun. The time also just goes flying by real fast!

Today should actually be pretty fun as well. We´re going to head out as a zone and go bowling! I havent been bowling in soooo long so it should be fun. They are normally closed on Monday´s(right on Pday) but today they´ll be open so we are going to go bowling! I´ll have to send some pics and videos of it next week!

Yeah now I´ll keep my eye out for some graffiti to get some more pics lol. There are a ton here!

Yeah Ive heard a little bit about my converts from other missionaries. There are a lot of them that are still pretty stong in the church with callings and everything. But there are also a couple of others that aren´t doing so hot either... But that´s how it is in the mission work. Cant judge the future of people but everyone has their agency as well which sometimes sucks lol.

Well stay safe over there! I have heard a lot of stuff from the news and everything here in Chile! But sounds like you guys are going well! Hopefully God will keep blessing you guys! I have definitely seen the blessings from here! Love you guys a ton! Hope you have a great week!!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pics from the conference here in Calama with President Ferreira

Pics from the conference here in Calama with President Ferreira

Pics from the conference here in Calama with President Ferreira

Pics with a couple of members kids that we were playing around with lol

Pics and video from the crazy wind that we´re getting here in Calama. Sand storms going on!

week #88 -- Preaching repentance and baptizing converts

Hey!

I´m going to have to write real fast this week! Tomorrow they changed the schedule for everything and now we have conference with President here in Calama tomorrow in the morning so we have to go and prepare everything for tomorrow! But everything is going good. We had some really solid investigators in church this Sunday but a lot of them were youth and we have to go and talk with the parents and also with President to be able to baptize them but a lot of them have a date for this 16th! Also we have been seeing a lot of progress with Hamlet this week and we have hopes that he can get baptized this Saturday. We have kinda been in a drought here but we are going to open up the Tsunami soon just ya wait! We´re actually going to bring a chick Hamlets age tonight to an appointment to animate him to get baptized this weekend! Hopefully it will work lol! It was a tip from our Bishop!

Conference this last Tuesday was good with President. He talked about having shorter lessons as missionaries because shorter lessons will help us be more productive and also have the level of spirtuality go up in the lessons as well! Also talked about the only thing we need to study as missionaries is the doctine of Christ and nothing else. After the mish we can study other things but right now the only thing that we need to focus on as missionaries is preaching repentence and baptizing converts! There were also some other stuff that they talked about and also Sister Ferriera but that´s pretty much what I remember and what I got out of a lot this conference. But tomorrow should also be a good conference with some more stuff that we should learn about. Also have interviews with President tomorrow which should be good! But when we go down for conferences in Antofa we go down in the morning at like 5am leaves our bus and get home at like 10pmish. but this time we had divisions with the asistents so we stayed there even later and got home at 1am the next day!

Sounds like you guys had fun on another one your trips! But sounds good! Looks like I´ll be getting home to Reno! But yeah after this transfer I´ve got 2 more! Pretty crazy how fast time fly's!!

Sorry for such a short letter this week but everything has been going on a little crazy. Also I´ve been like sick for the past couple weeks.... Also had a heart burn pretty strong last night at like 5am which also sucked lol. But still going strong will all the animo doing all I can in the zone to be able to baptize! Also had some pretty cool stories with some interviews that I did this week but honestly no time at all! Love you guys a ton!! Hope you have a great week!

 Theres a river here in the middle of the desert! I was in an comp exchange and after a service project we were close to the river so I thought I would take a pic.

 Theres a river here in the middle of the desert! I was in an comp exchange and after a service project we were close to the river so I thought I would take a pic.

 Theres a river here in the middle of the desert! I was in an comp exchange and after a service project we were close to the river so I thought I would take a pic.

Wierd lookin house

Pics with my paptios street lol!

Another pics with some weird grafiti. There are a ton all around!

week #87 -- Another week in Calama

Hola! Que tal? Bien o que?

Solid week this week! Not a ton happening. Just running around the zone trying to help out missionaries and their investigators so that they could get baptized this last week of August! On Tuesday my comp went down to Tocopilla to help out the missionaries there and I stayed here in Calama all day with Elder Recca from Hawaii! He is in a trio right now so I was able to rob him as my comp. He is a really cool dude! He has a ton of different stories and everything. He is a native from Hawaii, had to go hunt food and all that type of stuff. But he has a ton of different stories. Then also on Wednesday I went and worked with him in his sector to go and do some interviews for a couple investigatores. So he was my comp for like 2 days. But we actually got closer. Invited me to go to "the rock" when he gets home to teach me how to hunt and make bows and arrows and a ton of different stuff. I might just have to go when he gets back home lol! It was a lot of fun to work with him though! He is really excited and works really hard, he´s a little crazy but a lot of fun! I don´t think I´ll be able to send pics this week I don´t want to get a virus. We are in a sketchy ciber right now so I don´t think I´m going to connect my camera. There is even a sign that says that they aren´t responsible if you lose data and stuff like that.... I´ll have to send them next week or something! But I have quite a lot from this week! Then also on Thursday Elder Shelton(the assistant) came down to help out as well doing interviews and everything to help out the zone. Because as a zone we haven´t been doing so hot. We only had 5 baptisms as a zone this month of August! But we are going to kill it this September and everyone is going to baptize! Si o si! We are just going to keep working hard and go with all the fire this next month! Also like no one came to church this Sunday which was lame. We had quite a few people promise to come to church this Sunday but no one ended up going. We only had 1 person in church who was Ingrid who has been going to church since I found her that day in the street. We have a lot of really good families and everything that are really good but Satan is also working hard. We are just going to work harder and keep working with the families that we have and find even more that are ready for the Gospel! Next week we should be getting wet in the waters of baptism! Definitely been a while and we need to baptize si o si!! We should of had a baptism this weekend but the investigator(his name is Roger) that was going to go to church last week got stabbed through his arm into his stomach and right into his artery. He lost a ton of blood and was pretty bad. Saturday night...... Freaking Satan! But now he´s going to go back to Bolivia where he can get better medical help so bye investigator... So that´s whats been happening to us. But we are just going to keep going with faith and keep working hard. Just have to lose myself in the work until the end!

Yeah fighting here in Chile is just normal. There are a lot of drunks in the street. The other week I met a dude that lived in the States for a while that now is just a drunk here in Chile. He was talking with me in English and saying just a ton of swear words. That was fun. But there are definitely a ton of experiences with stuff like that, that happens all the time. But everyone here is chill with the missionaries. Also because I´m double their size. Speaking of fights yeah I heard about the fight between Mcgregor and Mayweather. It was pretty big down here too. I heard about it. I really wanted to watch it lol. Sounded like a good fight!!

We also got the water heater fixed this week! No more ice cold showers!! Thanks to the showers I got pretty sick this week as well. I´ve been sick all week with a cold. But its all good. I´m already used to being sick. It seems like I get sick every transfer!

Nope just another normal P-day. We went and shopped around downtown today. We found some really cool panchos made out of llama which were really cool. My comp bought one and I think I might get one next week as well. Definitely not something easy that you can get in the States.

Also tomorrow we head down to Antofagasta for leadership council! Should be fun! I like the leadership councils a lot. Definitely learn a lot from President everytime!!

Other than that just going to keep working strong and hard to find all the people I can and lead them into the waters of baptism!! Thanks for everything! Love you guys a ton!! Have an amazing week!!

Love
Elder Newkirk

week #86-- still working hard in Calama

Hey!

Another week down! Things went really well with Elder Jennings this week! He has definitely liven me up and we`ve been working hard here in Calama. Still haven`t seen a lot of fruits yet but soon we should be seeing some! Definitely have found soon really cool people this week! We found a lady that literally just got married last Friday and her husband is a less active member of the church, just by talking with her in the street! Also found another lady whos husband is also a member of the church less active that has been wanting to go back to church, he got baptized like 8 years ago in Bolivia and when he moved here like 2 years ago hasn`t gone to church but wants to go to church with all his family(wife isn`t a member). Also found another dude who is really cool that wanted to go to church and everything and even had a baptism date for this Saturday but Saturday night he cut his hand open and had to go to the hospital so he couldnt go to church. Stupid Satan. Also Hamlet didn`t get baptized this week. Tuesday we went to their house to invite him to have a baptism interview because he knows everything already. He told us that he was Catholic and didn`t want to change religion even though hes been coming to our church and isnt even going to the Catholic church. He says that he confirmed his faith and everything. Kinda weird... But we`re going to keep working hard with him so that he can get baptized thats for sure! Yesterday we also had a new family come to church as well. They are all from Bolivia. They are just a ton of young adults and the mom of a couple of them. None of them are married but we can change that jaja. We`re working though so that the mom can get baptized! She could even get baptized this week! But we`re just going to keep working hard to find the chosen people that the Lord is preparing!

As a zone right now we aren`t doing so hot either this month. In these 3 weeks as a zone we only have 3 baptisms which is pretty bad. Its been a while since Ive had problems baptizing but there is always things to learn and we`re just going to keep working hard and with animo! We`re going to work hard with the zone so that we can have more success and work a lot better. I know that the Lord expects a lot more from us! `

Sunday night was also pretty cool. We went around with the Bishop and visited a lot of converts and everyone. It was fun. Nice to be able to go around in a car and not have to walk everywhere. I really like the Bishop a lot here. Sometimes hes really hard with us but I really like him. Nice guy!

Also funny story for the week(well I dont know how funny it will be for you guys especially mom). But we were just walking along going down one street and just hear yelling coming from a house then all the sudden these 2 dude just come out fighting. There were just some giant ply wood on the ground and they picked it up and started to have a fight with just these 2 huge wooden sticks(I thought I was watching Star Wars live). But one of them missed real bad and hit the floor and his stick just went flying out of his hand and the other dude just started wackin him with the other stick. But then a huge group of people form the house just came out all shouting as well and everything. But it all ended up with the popo coming and stopping everything. (dont worry we were at a distance watching everything go down). That was a fun experience this week! Welcome to Chile! Drunks and Drug addicts!

Also our water heater broke this week and we have to wait until its fixed so weve been showering with ice cold water which has been fun! Literally the water here in Calama is soooo cold because its really cold here so it`s been fun hearing the screaming coming from the showers in the morning lol!

Elder Kirk also got his new comp. His name is Elder Christensen from North Carolina. Pretty cool kid, hes nice.

Sounds like a nice relaxing week that you guys had! Good luck with all the job stuff must suck to be in limbo!

Love ya guys a ton! Have a great week!!!

Love
Elder Newkirk

Pics:

Derpy Llama
Baptism of a good friend! Marcelo!