Hace frio!

Hola!

It's hard to believe that I have already been in Chile for 3 weeks! Everything is going really well of course. This week it has been really cold in the mornings, and there has been ice on all the grass and stuff. Luckily it warms up in the day, but I am not used to this coldness, especially in July! I am well equipped with my sweatshirt, gloves, and Chile hat/scarve though.

Sorry if I gave anyone a heart attack with my incident from last week.. On Friday the in-house CCM doctor took out my stitches, and the scar looks really good actually. It is not very big or noticeable, so I have enough of an injury to show off, but not enough to look too bad. I am really glad that everything is ok with that, and that I'm safe. I've been treading a little more carefully since then. And on Monday I can finally start playing soccer in the mornings again!(I did play kickball on Saturday morning because I figured that was enough of a non-contact sport to be okay, and everyone plays kickball on Saturday mornings at the CCM.)

Classes and stuff are going really well. This week we got all new teachers. In the mornings we have Hermana Jimenez, who is the nicest person ever. She can understand English but can't speak it well, and she challenged us to speak only Spanish in her class, which has been helpful. I am starting to read from the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in Spanish, which really helps with the language. Reading in Spanish is really interesting because I have to think more about what I am reading, and even though I've read the Book of Mormon in english, it is like reading a whole new book. Anyway, Hermana Jimenez served her mission in Buenos Aires. Our afternoon teacher is Hermana Alegria. She is also awesome, and likes to have fun in class. She served her mission in Brazil, so she speaks Spanish, Portugeuse, and English very well. Our night teacher is Hermano Pino, who is such a cool guy. When he was 16 and 17, he was on the Chilean national soccer teams and he knows all the current Chilean soccer players! He decided he wanted to serve a mission and got his call to Peru to leave in July of that year. In June he got a call from the Chile coach to go play in a soccer tournament in Spain (He was #10 for Chile) in August, but he knew he had to go serve his mission, and declined. He served his full mission (and has a lot of cool stories) and hasn't gone back to soccer because he wants to be able to give his time to the Church and be a faithful member, and do things like work at the CCM. That is a pretty incredible story, and he is such a great guy.

So with our new teachers, we have three new practice investigators. In the morning we have Priscila, who has a very sick grandpa and a bad relationship with her mom. The first lesson she was wondering why she really needed to attend a church. In the next lesson we brought up the Book of Mormon and talked about the Holy Ghost, and it was really powerful. She was so interested and was asking us when she could go to church. We are going to commit her to baptism in the next lesson for sure. Our investigator in the afternoon, Paloma, is also great. Her aunt died 2 months ago, so we taught about the Plan of Salvation and she was interested. Next time we will talk about the Book of Mormon. Our night investigator is not so easy. His name is Gabriel, and he is an atheist, and not very receptive. I know he has a problem we can help him with, but we haven't found it yet. All these investigators are just practice, but they are based on real people on teachers taught on their missions. The Spirit has been strong in our lessons, and I can't wait to teach this to real people.

In Hermano Pino's class we sometimes teach some of the Latino missionaries and they teach us. It is really great to meet these other missionaries from all over South America and talk with them. They are always very impressed with my ability to understand and speak. I really enjoy speaking Spanish, and I love talking to people with it. 

My district is great, we are all getting along really well and find fun ways to entertain ourselves. During all the breaks we all play with a hackey-sack and juggle it around between each other, and we've actually gotten pretty good at it. 

Also, yesterday we went to the Temple again. It is always great to go there, and the Santiago Temple is very beautiful, especially the celestial room.

I am starting to get tired of the food in the CCM. Every single lunch and dinner we have meat, rice, vegetables, potatoes, and bread. I really wish I could have some mac n cheese or a baked potato or something. Today for P-day we are going to go to Lider and stock up on snacks and better food. I am also going to get a haircut today.

Anyway, life is good! It is great to be a missionary.

Love, Elder Richards