Talca, Paris, and Londres

Hola!

The title of my e'mail comes from a bus company here named Talca, Paris, and Londres (London), and I thought it was clever. This week we did a lot of traveling, and it was a very different week!

On Wednesday we went to Talca for Zone Conference. Presidente and Hermana Warne were there and the main theme of the conference was making and keeping goals. This is so important. As missionaries we are always setting goals, but sometimes it is hard to remember them and focus your efforts there. Afterwards we had a great gringo lunch of meatloaf and mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes are actually very Chilean, and called pure (like pureè) here).

On Wednesday night we took a bus to Rancagua for a New Missionary Conference on Thursday. Rancagua is about two hours away, and it was nice to go on a little road trip. We stayed overnight at the assistants house, with about 15 other elders. We have a Noche de Hogar with everyone, and very good milkshakes (which makes me want to buy a blender for our house). They have a bed room with like 10 bunk beds for missionaries who need to stay over night.

The New Missionary Conference on Thursday was great. Presidente Warne taught about how we need the Spìrit with us all the time, especially when we teach. One really good Scripture about that is DyC 42:14. At the conference we also had a nice gringo lunch of taco salad. The best part of the conference was seeing all the other missionaries that came in my group from the CCM. It was inspiring to see all of them doing so well and progressing so much.

Today our traveling continued as we went to Constitucion for Pday (Conti for short). The zone rented a bus. Conti is on the coast and about 1.5 hours away. We were able to go to a beach and a pier and other cool sights. No swimming of course (it´s freezing anyway...), but it was a really awesome time. I will include some pictures.

This week I feel like my Spanish has improved a lot. I am even thinking a lot  in Spanish now, which is really weird (and sometimes tiring). But I am feeling a lot more comfortable talking to people and starting to be myself more in Spanish.

Also this week we had to spend a lot of time at home with the water heater repairman and the senior missionary couple in charge of the homes. Luckily, our water heater finally got fixed on Saturday night! It was a rough time without it, but I am super glad to have it back. The Eberhards also helped us out with new curtains, pillows, and a closet rod. 

Anyway, it was not a normal week and a lot of time was away from the normal work. But things are still going well. Two of our investigators with baptisms are still progressing really well, and I hope they continue to do so.

Miss you all! Have a great week!

- Elder Richards