W18: The Coldest 4th
Forget everything I said about it being cold here before. It snowed for like 5 seconds on Wednesday which means it is officially winter. I am not even in the cold part of Chile. Pretty much it was low 40s high 30s with rain and wind and 100% humidity. The weather app said it felt like 30 degrees one night which isn't bad if you are inside but is cold when you have to stay outside knocking doors for hours. Each day is 3 layer type of day. I generally wear some sort of wool sweater, a heavier jacket and a waterproof shell for all the rain. Essentials to not suffer. Sometimes a beanie and some gloves are necessities. On the bright side, its equivalent to like middle of January in the States which means warmer weather is coming.
Officially the coldest 4th of July I've ever experienced which was strange. As for the 4th of July, we had to finish our day early because there were some extremist groups in Chile that don't like the USA so the missionaries all had to finish the day at 6PM. So we went back to the house to study and do some facebook work. We tried to grill up some steaks for our freedom day but I can't really cook so it didn't turn out great. Being the humble missionaries we are becoming, we blamed it on the cuts of meat and not on our cooking abilities. As far as I'm concerned I am a very good cook but can't afford to buy a decent cut of meat.
Other than that, it was a pretty solid week. We are able to teach some great people. We were able to have interviews with our mission president on Saturday who's a super cool guy. Once a transfer (every 6 weeks) we have to opportunity to talk to our Mission President one on one and ask him questions about whatever we want. I asked him about how I could get better at asking questions to get to know people. Even harder when it's in a different language. He said to listen to them. Super simple. It made me realize a lot of the time as we try to get to know people we tend to talk a lot instead of just listening which a lot of people just need someone to do for them. He reminded me that as we try and truly get to know people, listening is the most important part. That's just what I learned from my Mission President and it was actually super fire advice.
We had huge chicken sandwiches for lunch when we were having our interviews. I finished mine, then our Mission President offered me the rest of his sandwich because he wasn't going to eat it. I was like nah because I wasn't about to take our president's sandwich but then he insisted so I caved and took the sandwich. I ended up eating it for Sunday lunch and it was really good. I'm really glad I took him up on his offer. Absolute fire sandwich from President Gervic. I am sure it made him feel good knowing he provided a fire lunch for a missionary who apparently doesn't know how to cook. Maybe my companion told him about our steak and he just felt bad.
I am expanding my horizons on Mate. I now have 4 yerbas. Yerbas are the stuff you put in the Mate (the cup) to make Yerba Mate (The drink). My newest flavor is called "Piprore Listo para Terere con limon y mentol" It's pretty good but its real strong. It's just lemon and mint with too much caffeine. The package claims that for every 50g of Yerba it has 223mg of caffeine. I think I'll only drink it for really rough days. And the serving size is about 50g. I justify that I don't drink it everyday. Exciting news, I bought a new toothbrush to ensure the mate doesn't stain my teeth. It's the little things.
Love you all! Elder McMillan
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