Me Importa

Gunnar
August 19, 2013
Angamos, Chile (Elder Said)

Me Importa

So not a lot to say this week. Said and I have been working hard but still are not seeing very many results. We have a number of references that we have to contact this week and we have plans to have members come with us to every single one of the lessons so that should be good. This week we have Zone Conference with Elder Viñas of the Seventy so that should be really cool. President thanked me this week for my great leadership and told me that the results will come, patience is a Christlike attribute. 

(The seventy is a regional leadership position within the church; so a pretty important speaker. Zone conference is when several zones of missionaries get together for training and speakers, like 50-75 missionaries.)

President has told me that he will be taking one of the companionships out of Angamos this transfer but he has not told me which companionship. I talked to Elder Congelton and he told me it is most likely the other elders but it could be the sisters. My sector is basically safe but he said it is not for sure that I am staying. I really hope I stay. I have the opportunity to do something so great here, so awesome, so incredible but it is going to take time and I really hope that he does not take me out before that time comes. Honestly if President were to give me the option of going up as a ZL of staying in Angamos I would choose to stay in Angamos. 

(Elder Congleton was in Tocopilla the same time as Gunnar, and now serves in the Mission Home office. He also served in Angamos at one time. Anyways Gunnar and him are good friends. But if you read what Gunnar is saying it could be the other Elders that are moving, but it also could be the Sisters, but then again it could even be him. Essentially he knows nothing but that never stops anybody from guessing. A ZL would be a leadership position, but I am guessing he doesn’t need to worry about it.) 


In other news Hermana ** is completely stressing out. She is a Sister Training leader, a leadership position. The other day we had an appointment, the six of us in Angamos and Congleton, to visit some of Congleton’s converts and eat completos. We were there for about an hour and a half and Hermana ** was super jittery the whole time. Afterward (I heard this story second hand) she started yelling at her companion about how they did not have time for that, about all of the appointments that they have. Her companion was on the verge of tears asking Hermana ** what she could do to help her. This is when she started running around with her hands in the air and yelling in the street that she felt so disobedient and unworthy to be a missionary. All of this because of an hour and a half dinner appointment.


(Everyone reacts under stress their own way I guess. And we are all allowed a bad day. The general rule for a dinner appointment is an hour, but that is loosely held to – anotherwords it is situational.)


Duct tape is very useful and the knife . . . well you never know. I have never used the rope, but who knows? I really cannot comment on what to bring to Concepcion because it is sooooooooooo much different from Antofagasta. It is a completely different world. I have a good friend in Concepcion right now, Elder Shumway. Also a young man from this ward here in Angamos recently left for there, Elder Villarroel. 


(So these are responses to some specific questions I put forth. When he packed for his mission I threw in some things that I would have liked to have when I was serving 25 years ago. So he is using the roll of duct tape and the multi-tool I included but not the paracord (as we call it in the business, the MacGyver bundle). Also a good friend of mine from my Indiana days; her son just opened his mission call this week for the Chile Concepcion mission so I was asking if anything would be helpful. I was speaking generically and Gunnar did his usual and took it literally. So while there are many similarities between Northern and Central Chile, he was unable to bridge that gap of several hundred miles and notice any of them. So while they are indeed different, thay are a lot more similar than say Antofagasta is to Poland – where her older son is currently serving. That is so Gunnar.)


For my birthday I found a woman that makes the leather scripture cases. They are expensive ($45 a piece) but they are very well done. I also had to buy a new triple combination in Spanish and some underwear online. I also bought myself the electric toothbrush that I wanted. So I kind of got weird here for my birthday but the I really like what I got. 


(We told Gunnar to see if he could find what he wanted for his birthday there as the cost of mailing is expensive, the postal service is unreliable, and they have a mail strike on right now. So he got himself some covers for his scriptures, some underwear, and an electric toothbrush. Who says Mormon 20 year olds don’t know how to party? A triple combination is what we call our other scriptures. We use the Bible like anyone else – Old and New Testaments, but we also have three other books that are usually under the same binding – the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. You can also get them all bound together and it is cleverly referred to as a “Quad” in Mormon parlance. Anyways if anyone wants a copy of any of those books just let me know and you can have one.)




Really scary about Mom, but very happy that everything is alright. 


(Lisa recently found a lump that was biopsied and diagnosed as benign.)


And no my companion does not know how to fight haha. 


(Elder Said is from a city in Brazil that is world renowned for their jujitsu skills; but I guess not Elder Said.)



Love,
Elder Peters