Letter from 9/28/15

Yay!!! Baptism!!!
We had the baptism of Hermana Ana Maria this last Saturday and it was so amazing!!!!! We got everything all prepped up for the other Elders (because it was their baptism) and were so excited to help her get to this point in her life. Then Elder Yson asked last week if I could baptize her. I guess she had said she didn´t care who did it and that Elder Yson should pick. It was the coolest experience ever!! She was so happy there standing in the water and we couldn´t stop smiling afterward! I love white!!!

We had a super busy week this week. We received a new investigator named Enriquez and he loves the church! He came to church this last week and he loved the classes and especially Sacrament Meeting. We have plans this week to teach Rosa, Catalina, Enriquez, and Edit! Yay!

Funny moment this week:

Elder Haynes was in the bathroom for like 15 minutes after eating something that didn´t settle well with his stomach. So we went and grabbed his bungie cord and tied it around the door handle to the kitchen sink. We took a video of him trying to get out and then when he tried jumping out the window the other way we ran outside and pushed him back in before he could climb out! hahaha it was hilarious.

I love you all and pray for you every day! Hope things are going well and I will talk to you next week!

 

Letter from 9/21/15

Thank you so much for the love and support! you are so amazing and I thank you so much for your prayers! I have gotten a lot of support this week and i feel that this week will be a lot better.

This last week was Chile´s Independence day and it was insane!!! I had meat coming out my ears! I love the culture here and all the people! they just want to enjoy life and have fun with their families. We went to a huge parade in the morning and watched all the bands and schools perform. Then we went to Hermana Pobletes home where we became obese. Then we headed back home to die, and after went to a huge fair by the bomberos where we played a bunch of games, had some mote con huesillo, saw a bunch of drunk people, and bought some sweet gifts. That night when we still had time, elder Yson had a brilliant idea. there are these beautiful cookies here called FRACS and they are just so fantastic. Though Elder Yson thought it would be better to deep fry them, because come on everything is better deep fried, cierto? So we bought 40 fracs and deep fried them. Now dont judge us quite yet and say that we are so fat to eat 40 fracs by ourselves. We took them around to our neighbors houses and had them try a bunch. We ended up getting more mote con huesillo, more empanadas, and 14 contactos in about 20 min. Behold, the power of FRACS!!!! T´was so beautiful. So yeah that´s how the 18th went. And I have already decided that we are going to celebrate it back at home every year from now on.

The rest of the week was great. We had an ataque de zona and had some sweet lessons in L.A. We had a great activity with the members on saturday with games, sports, and tons of food. We prefromed some hymns to the ward on elder Ysons ukulele and watched the ward dance the cueca. I just love this country so much!!

So Catalina is not doing so good right now and I think we are going to back off for a little bit. She doesn´t want to talk to anyone right now and she is not doing great with her family. We don´t have anyone progressing right now but we have a ton of faith and are working super hard to get more lessons with people. Also the baptism is going to happen this week instead. So please pray for Ana Maria this week to prepare for her baptism.

Letter from 9/15/15

We have an investigator named Catalina and she is an interesting case. She has a very hard time believing that there is a God and that you can feel the spirit if you pray. We have been teaching her for a while and she has not felt anything. Well this last week Elder Boyer went with Elder Haynes and had a great lesson with her. She was totally overcome by the spirit!!! woo! It was pretty amazing and we are going to talk to her more today about it!

We have a baptism for Hermana Ana Maria this Saturday and we are so stoked! It´s not our baptism, it´s the other Elders in the house baptism but it´s still going to be super amazing!!!

 

We have been pretty slow with everything else and it has been a pretty rough week as far as contacting, and meeting all of our goals. This week we made a goal to be more persistent and to really hit it hard on all of our metas! I am excited to get going and just tear it up!

 

This week is the greatest week of all weeks in Chile......DIESIOCHO!!!!!!! Chile Independence day....so basically we are gonna get super fat....which will be great!! We are going to have a bunch of asados and fiestas with the members and then we will have leftovers for probably the whole rest of the week following...wooo!!!

 

The rest of the week has been pretty quiet and yet crazy. I still can´t speak the language, still don't understand anyone...it´s great but I love it all no matter what. 

New Address!! Please write... :)

Elder Callister
Mision Chile Concepción Sur
Castellon 1063, Casilla 3560
Concepción, Biobio Chile

Letter from 9/7/15

Hey yáll! 

This week has been super-fast and has been a ton of work! We are working super hard, speaking a lot of Spanish! I don´t have a lot of time to do anything else except on p day.

Sorry for the short message on Tuesday. My comp, Elder Haynes is great! The work is progressing and we are contacting a lot of people. He is from Florida and has been out for about 14 months. He has served in quite a few areas around here and has been here in Laja for about 2 months. 

The area is so sick! It is so stinkin ghetto! The people are super awesome too! All the terrain is like Seattle, super steep and really small. It looks a lot like Idaho in some ways. Not sure if I told you but we went to the top of Laja at the top of the cellphone towers. It was so beautiful! Just green hills and beautiful scenery for miles! It was awesome! Today we went to Antuco, this super huge volcano! Though we kind of ran into a blizzard instead of nice sunshine....I’ll send pics!

The ward is so cool! I got to present myself in testimony meeting yesterday and I got to know a lot more people through church and through almuerzo (lunch) too! Oh yeah, we don’t have dinners here only a small breakfast, almuerzo and then they take dinner at the end of the day at like 9. It’s weird and I am always hungry...but I am still alive.

THE FOOD IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! I feel so fat after almuerzo but then of course am starving like an hour later....but it´s all well! We have tons of chicken, meat, empanadas, rice, papas, vegies, and tons and TONS of PAN!!! By far (sorry mom) the best I have ever had in my life!

I love you all! And hope you are doing amazing! Please also could you keep Hermana Marta in your prayers? She is a recent convert and is going through some tough times. Her daughter is dying from a hemorrhage in her brain and she lost her husband about 4 months ago too...it´s not good. Please keep her in your prayers... i love you and take care!!!

Elder Callister