W17: Another Week Another Dog

                     

Hey y'all hope you guys are doing good. Im chillin down here in Chile. Like Literally chillin....it is getting pretty cold. 

Last week we went to a members house in Castro with our entire zone of 16 missionaries; 8 sisters and 8 elders. They made us a traditional Chilean meal. It was like this pancake potato thing that they cook on a log while spinning over some charcoal. It was good but definitely a little strange. They had a pretty awesome house though! It was like this house built into a hill but the hill was all green with grass and it looked like it was straight out of a movie. Attached are some of the photos I took while there. It is really pretty down here when it is not raining. Also they had sheep in their backyard so I was able to get some pictures with the ovejas (sheep). 

Spanish is starting to get a little bit easier. I don't need to concentrate as much when I am listening in order to understand so I can actually put a little bit of effort into remembering what was said. I used to have to focus so much on what they were saying that I could only really pay attention in the moment. Like I would leave conversations and just have no idea what we talked about for 20 min. But now I can do both so that is kinda nice. I still need to work on future tense and not accidentally saying english words like "so". But other than that my Spanish is doing pretty good. 

This week I also did another intercambio with our zone leaders, Elder Lund. The Zone leaders are the elders on our island that are in charge of us. They make sure we are doing missionary work and not just sight seeing all day or sitting on busses to watch movies. We were able to have a pretty good day out in the rain. We were soaked when we got back. We took a picture of us in our rain gear after being outside for a couple hours. 

Funny story....this week Elder Hollingshead and I were walking back from a lunch with a member and this guy calls out to us from the other side of the street. It's our job to talk to people in the street so we call back to him. He then proceeds to ask us "Son un parte de el illuminati??!!" (Are you guys a part of the illuminati) He then starts making a triangle with his hands. We tell him no that we are missionaries but he doesn't really believe us. He puts up the triangle again and says we are a part of the illuminati. So now apparently people think we are apart of the illuminati? I mean it makes sense. Just two 6 foot something dudes walking down the street in all black in a pretty isolated part of southern Chile. Maybe thats like a protection from being robbed. 

Last week one of our members lost his brother fairly young. We went to his house to try and comfort him and he wasn't really having any of it. I was able to share John 15:33 that says "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

The scripture really seemed to help him. And it's a really fire scripture from John. We were able to tell him about how this life is going to be hard but that it will get better and that we can find comfort that eventually we will be able to move on and see everyone again. It was a pretty cool experience to be able to help someone feel some comfort. It was really sad.  

I leave you with a simple highlight of the week.  I got a new Yerba. Yerba is just the stuff you use to make mate. But I got this new flavor and its pretty good. I now have three flavors and I rotate through them. Mate took some time to grow on me but now I think its the greatest thing ever. Anyway enjoy some photos from the week and ill see you all next week. 

Peace 

- Elder McMillan 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NORTHGATE SWIM SENIOR DAY

Image
3/27/2024  Scott thought he would miss swim the most leaving before his senior year.  When I talked to him yesterday he said as much as it would have been cool to try to win an individual event at NCS, he doesn't miss it too much. He said Bailey helped because she said in the the long run it doesn't really matter if you win or not. It was really awesome that they included him in Senior Night. Diego was there to cheer on Mason and Daniel and we recruited him to be Scott.  His introduction at the meet.. "Introducing Scott McMillan who is e scorted tonight by God and his missionary companion. His f avorite stroke is anything 50 yards or less. He s tarted swimming in the womb.  His f avorite high school swim memories include Taco Tuesdays, counting for Mason, Being State Champ with his boys, sporting amazing mullets, garbage can ice baths, and of course being coached by legendary Coach Jeff Mellinger.  His p ost High School plans include taking a swimming sabbatical...
Read more

W3: 3/18/2024 - MEXICO CCM

Image
I've been on my mission for almost a month now. I think I'm almost 4% done. Low key most of the days feel the same but it's alright.  I wish I could talk more about Mexico City but really we call the MTC the "Carcel" (Jail). There are actually a striking number of similarities between the MTC and Jail.  1. Everyone wakes up and goes to sleep at the same time (630AM and 1030PM)  2. There is a dress code that is strictly observed. White Shirt and Tie is required  3. Three meals a day guaranteed in a cafeteria with really dull knives  4. A huge 20 foot wall that goes all around the campus with barbed wire at the top  5. Limited communication with the outside world  6. Opportunities to better your education (Spanish Class)  7. Scheduled gym time  It's really more for our safety but it is still a little weird sometimes. I really enjoy my Spanish class. Most of the time it just turns into us talking in Spanish. I can communicate pretty well wi...
Read more

W7: Quellon, Chileo Islands

Image
Hey all. This is me and my trainer, Elder Garlick.  He is a great trainer and super cool. I made it to Chile and I made it to my area. So now we are all standing on opposite sides of the earth. I guess if the earth was flat I would officially be on the other side. I was told it was a myth that the toilets swirl the other way so that's kinda a bummer.  Anyways I am in a town called Quellón. It is on an island and is about a 5.5 hour bus ride from Puerto Montt. It is a town full of salmon fisherman. I think it is one of the biggest salmon exporters in the world.  So a little about my travel and how I miraculously ended up in Chile. It started on Thursday morning (more like the middle of Wednesday night). At 2:15AM I woke up and with my 2 50lbs suitcases and with all of my worldly possessions I set off for the airport. It was the only time I had driven through Mexico City with no traffic and our driver was speeding through the city. My mind might have also been playing some ...
Read more