W8: Truckin in Quellon

Hellooooooo 

OK what's going on you guys....I'm back with another email. This was my first full week in the field and it has been a ot of walking around trying to find people to talk to. 

We didn't really know a lot of people in the area since we were both new. The only way to try and get to know them was to walk to their houses and try and get to know them. And because I live in a place that rains all the time, that means walking in the rain a lot!  Like it rains everyday. So a lot of my days are spent walking around in the rain trying to find people to teach about Jesus. 

The rain would be worse but I wear a waterproof coat every time I leave the house with at least 3 layers, my waterproof boots and waterproof backpack.  We don't use an umbrella and usually stay pretty dry. My pocket size scriptures sometimes get wet when I take them out of my pocket so I dry them when I get home. If anything the extra layers just make me look a lot more buff so I'm hoping I won't get mugged. It's not that dangerous here but there's always a chance. A lot of the time people don't answer their doors but sometimes they do and it's nice when we get to sit down in the warm houses (everyone heats their house with wood stoves).

I had to give a talk in church yesterday in Spanish so it was a little stressful. I got the job done though and I think I delivered a fire talk. I attached it to this email so if you want to hear what my Spanish is like you can listen to a little bit of it. I talked a lot about baptism and how we can be better disciples of Christ. I also had to play the piano in church so I just whipped out some good hymns I already knew and I was able to clutch up for the branch. 

Me and my companion went out to knock the door of a member this week and his mom came out and started yelling at us. She went on to say some pretty nasty things to us in Spanish. We just said that we had a lunch to get to and that we are going to leave. She then said if we come back she will beat us soooo we are probably not going back to that house. But then we met her son later that day as we were walking in the streets and he was actually super nice and wants to take english lessons from us. Kinda strange how that played out. 

It takes a lot of brain power to listen in Spanish. I can understand most things which is nice.  My mind wanders during church because it takes so much effort to listen. So by the end of the day just trying to listen and walking around all day makes me tired.  I treated myself to a nice box of cereal one day.  It is good.  We ran out of money because we had to buy a faucet to fix out leaky faucet and had to buy gas for our apartment which was expensive.  We are waiting to get reimbursed by the mission office for those since they cover those expenses so we have money again.  

I finished my journal this week so now I get to write in a new one. It has lots of memories from the past year. I am reading a biography of Gordon B. Hinckley.  He was one of only 500 missionaries who served during the depression.  His dad and brother worked and sacrificed a lot so he could afford to go on a mission.  He probably couldn't afford to treat himself to a box of cereal. 

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week. I appreciate all you emails it's just a little hard for me to respond because I have to type these out on my phone. So sorry if I couldn't write to you today!  I am waiting for my little keyboard that will make it easier. It is stuck in customs in Santiago. Just know I am thinking about you guys and love you all. Hope my keyboard makes it out of Santiago soon which will then get sent to my mission home which will stay there until it makes it to me.

Sending love from the edge of the world. 

- Elder McMillan 

1. bottom of our apartment building.  We go up the stairs to get to our apartment. 
2. pic of the outside of our apartment from the internet. 
3. video of the rain but the video didn't upload.  
5-6. Quellon 
Still working on uploading my talk....sigh!  Maybe next week. 



                    





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