Elder Porter in Chile

Yes, this week just flew by. Highlights 6 intercambios (exchanges with other elders) to do interviews in many different parts of Antofagasta.  Result: The ward had 7 baptisms this weekend!  It was lit!  Elders San Martin and Cachiguango are really good missionaries and it is a pleasure to share the ward with them and learn from them. RAIN !  It drizzled last night waking me up at 2:30 with a wet bed.  Being as it never rains, the tin roofs are put on top of the houses with very little thought to what angle they slope towards, which in this case, happened to be right above my bed.  Still slept good though! My comp got bit by a big dog so I have felt a little wary while walking this week. We got to eat lunch with our amigos today and it was really great to get to sit down and really get to know them better.   We just keep working here in the field of the Lord.  Really excited and grateful for the experiences I have had and f...

Well, the thing is that the weeks just pass by so quickly that I really honestly don't remember a whole lot.  Something cool this week is that we have a new schedule where we eat lunch at 1 instead of 2 and we do practices and study from 2-3 and then idioma ( language study) from 3-330.  It makes everything flow a lot smoother and I like it.  We found 56 new investigators this week. but only 2 came to church :(  Thats the hardest part to get people to fulfill on their commitments.  But it is part of the fun.     I also am now able to write a little bit more in my journal.  I had an interview with Presidente this week and it was really good.  Elder Baines is super good, and we get along well. We decided to hike the anchor today for preparation day.  You can't really see it in any of the photos. It's like the Y of Antofagasta but it really only took like 30 minutes to get up there.  

part of new area We had a really cool week last week and found a lot of people.  We brought 7 to church yesterday so I was able to leave Elder Burton with a lot of work.  With it being Consejo de Liderazgo on Thursday, the district leaders are invited, so actually the guy I am replacing here is staying until Thursday and we'll be in a trio. Well, cambios have passed by again which means I am entering the 4th quarter of the   mission.  All the sisters from my group go home today and tomorrow so it's a new phase of the mission. I also got transfer calls on Friday and now I will be writing y'all from Antofagasta.  It's not as pretty as Iquique but a lot bigger!   My sector, from what I can see, is  hills and  tomas( shanty towns or slums )  so that should be exciting.   I will miss Iquique and the people there. I will be finishing the training of Elder Baines  who is from elder Bur...

Feliz Navidad! Christmas felt like forever ago, but it was really great.  Ate some turkey, chicken, potatoes, and rice and did some gift exchanges. Shout out to Elder Burton for the sweet shark socks that I will be wearing on  Pday . Also got some candy and cologne, but the best part was just being able to get out and see and visit other people.  We made some brownies and were able to pass those around to some people. So this week was really a different type of week.  We had a really great time at the Christmas conference for missionaries.  The zones from Arica came so we had about 60 missionaries and a lot of fun.  The best part was that the office had asked all the families to make a short video and so while we were all eating our lunch, they showed a reel of a lot of families.  Some were really funny and others more heartfelt.  It was a really cool thing to see my fam up there.  Obviously we also had the Skype call today and tha...