New Years Eve I think , but he just sent it now

Hola y buenas tardes a todos!

Hola y buenas tardes a todos! This has been quite the week, but nothing too unusual just some fun times! Starting with Last Sunday, the End of the world (part one). Yes, thats right! The world was supposed to end last sunday, I dont know if you all knew that, but its true! Here is Chile we were suppossed to have a record breakign 11.0 earthquake that was basically suppossed to destroy the world (says some scientist in Brazil) and then I put two and two together and bingo! En Los estados Unidos (the US) they say the world will end with the wnter solstice and this was the winter solstice (sp?) for the southern half of the world! But as you can obviously see I am alive, and so are you (really, its true!) so I guess the world didnt come to an end, but there was some pretty worried people! haha Then we had some good lessons this week too! Orlando was being a little stubborn and we were about to leave him, but we wanted to have one more lesson, and it just went too good! haha He tried to pull out that he didnt need to be baptized just yet, cause jesus was baptized at 32 years old. and we didnt understand cause we were baptized at 8 years old until my companion, Elder Alarcón whipped out his conversion story, and well he was baptized 5 years ago, and that changed the mood of the whole lesson! It was awesome! So then we asked him if he would prepare to be baptized and we put a new goal for him to work for! woo hoo! Now we gottta do everything in our part to help him get there! But it was great! Then I got a few calls about some more water being cut. A señor couple apparently have us paying for everything but I dont have anything here on record for them, and so I called Elder Castillo and he gave me some advice and helped and now I think that everything is squared away. at least I hope that it is! Then we had lunch the other day and Elder Young and I went to get some ice cream and when we got back there was another guy sat at our table. So we started talking with him. He had NO idea we were mormon missionaries, but he knew we were missionaries. So we started talking with him, but he was still trying to learn the spanish, so we talked in english! haha he is from Canada and is here doing missionary work as a Jehova´s Witness with his wife and we had a really good talk with him and shared a little! It was really cool! and he was very down to earth which was what I liked, and it just turned out pretty good! I also finally got my first rain in Chile! (after 9 months!) and it started yesterday and is still going! Woo! I was pretty happy! Oh and one last thing, last night as we were going home (we were in a trio because Elder Greer had to go to the hospital) there was a homeless guy sleeping in the rain on a park bench. So we went to the office and warmed up a cup of noodles and brought it to him. He was very grateful and said that he was looking for work. So we referred him to the "recursos de empleo". He had had a accident with a train and had his pinky and his thumb left on his left hand. How hard would that be! and then we went home. What a great week! I felt like I feltthe spirit a lot more this week, maybe just cause we had soem more lessons, idk! But I liked it! haha Well I am signing out, time to go play in the rain! Chao! Elder Marvin =D

Hello hello hello, 1,2,3, 1,2,3,. haha Ok, just a nice greeting that I hear every now and again! haha They speak rgeat english here, eh? haha Well this week was going all kinds of calm with a few speed bumps but all is well now. *trumpeting entrance* I have arrived! haha The first few days of the week were a little slow, but then I got more on my plate than I really needed. I broke down into a "to do list" because if not I surely would have forgot something and just exploded! I had to get some new cards ordered for Elderes, and I had to make sure that everyone got their second deposit of money. That wasnt too bad, but then I just had a "hey they are going to cut a hole in the street and cut the water at this house. And we have to pay for it." or "hey the bank wants to foreclose this house..." haha Luckily none of the above mentioned was my fault! haha But I did resolve the problems! Although I did forget to pick up our printer from the shop. It had problems...a month ago. But it should be done now! haha We also had a really good lesson with some members this week. We went to do our mothers day phone calls last sunday and then afterwards we shared a little bit with the family that let us use their computers. They are just a young couple, but they are super awesome! Unfortunately they cant have children, but they are doing everything that they should and they are just spiritual bombs! They helped me realize the mission fuzz I have over my eyes! Ican honestly say I forgot there was more to life than just doing the work of the lord. Not that it ever stops, but rather that after the mission I have to learn to coordinate it all and have a healthy balance while helping my family to grow and enjoy life too! I would have to say I have now been in the mission long enough to forget that there is more I will have to worry about! AHH im living in ignorance! haha Ok, not so much, but it was kind of a wake up call! haha but its kinda funny to see that! My companion also brought me back to reality when we had a lesson the other day on Orgullo y humildad. (pride and humility) If you would like to just come back to earth with me, read Heleman 12. Its great! take note of the pattern that God has for us! Thats about all that I got for this week! I hope that everyone is going great and just loving life! Congrats to the graduates. I cant believe school is over for the year! haha Cuidanse! Elder Marvin

Vina Del Mar

Hola familia y amigos. Como estamos este semana? This was a pretty crazy week, as I had guessed, with changes and all that, but it was mostly just a crazy 2 days that were just loaded! Sunday and monday were pretty regular, except we repassed anything that Elder Castillo never explained for me, and said some good byes to a few families with him. Then we just had to prepare and make sure that we had everything ready for tuesday morning. Tuesday when I woke up 4 of the 8 of us were gone, (oh ya, new assistent got there early and so dd the new secretary, so we had 8 of us in one pension) and that was kinda crazy then I realized Elder Greer went to santiago, and the assistents were getting elderes from the bus station. So I got ready and I went down to the office to start dirrecting people and man. Before I was in the office, I liked to be outside and talk with everyone, now that I am in the office and know that there is a lot to do, I avoid going outside! haha But it was still fun. The new "gringas" that got here from the states got here at 5:40am, so we had orientation for them and everything done by 2pm! It was crazy cause normally they finish by like 5 or 6! So that was good for the news to get out and adjust to their new areas. My orientation went well, there was 4 latinos and 3 girls from the states, so I did it in both english and spanish and it was pretty fun! but I couldnt remember how to say a few things in english, so they had to struggle with me! Then lunch was the usual empanadas other stuff. Then the rest of the day we had to get all the missionaries to their bus and make sure everything went down alright and enter everything in the computers, and well we didnt get out in the streets on tuesday! haha Wednesday was even crazier, I had to call the cleaning lady, get a pension repairman sent to a pension, enter a thousand things, go to the bank to pay some visas, reorganize a lot of papers, look for some old bills, file some REALLY old bills, and it was just a crazy day! I got a lot of "I remember my first week flying solo too..." but more than that I just had a billion things to do! haha but it all went well and we did get in the streets that day! The rest of the week was pretty normal, although I worked really hard not to buy super greasy lunch this week, only had a burger one day! haha but that was way better than the rest of the elderes here! haha The great challenge of the office. haha I also got to call my family this week to organize the call for sunday! That was fun, I did it from my desk too! HA! I also got a lot of letters this week like almost everyday! haha It was pretty cool, but now I am way behind on replying to the letters! haha thats alright! Thats about all that I got for this week. I am dying for a baptism, but its hard. I just gotta work hard and I really think we should get an investigator to church this week! I really hope so at least! I love you all! Cuidense! Elder Marvin

Did we really just come to the end of this change? It cant be possible that I already have a month and a half in the office! haha How crazy is that? haha This week was a heck of a week! we had a million and a half things to do, and its not even change week! With all the rent that had to be paid, we had to make sure that everyone was going to be receiving the correct amount by the 5th (today) and we have most of them on an automatic pay, but I had to go through and check and make sure that they have the right amount; some with some utilities added, some that needed, and the oh so good "special cases". but I got it all done, and in time! it was nice to have Elder Castillo to help me out with everything too! We also had the "consejo" or zone council on friday, and all of thrusday we were gettting ready for that. Then friday we had to wake up at 5:30 am so that we could pick up some of the zone leaders from the bus station. Then we had to make sure they had everything and we had to give a short presentation to the zone leaders but that was easy. and then we had to go to the bank on friday too, and then the bank was LOADED and so we had to wait and then we were late to set up lunch and there was just a million things to do! but the lunch was AMAZING! Hermana Gillespie made chicken fajitas and I lOVED them! =D Afterwards we had to go and get some medicine bought for somebody, and then drive elders back to the bus station to go home and then buy bus tickets for changes this next tuesday and then I had to come back and enter a TON of information into our systems and then it was time to go home! We played a little since we had a long day, and then we decided to have a "Sleep over" where we all just brought our mattresses into the living room. haha it was fun! Then this morning we had a nice wrestling match! That was fun! haha Well and the good news is we have changes this next week, so it will probably just be just as busy! haha Well I heard something, but maybe you guys did too. Obama called Romney this last week. He said "I got some good news and bad news for you." Romney said "Well, give me the good news first." So obama explained " Well it looks like we are going to have a Mormon President afterall..." -Romney "And the bad...?" -Obama "I´M GETTIN´ BAPTIZED THIS SUNDAY!" (hahahaha) Ya, at least thats what a member told me! haha Oh and we had a fun time on our raod trip last sunday! The wife of president gillespies counselor tried to call us out for speeding, when we were going 10km/hr slower than the max! haha She just gets nervous elder castillo said, so thats life. haha But We also got to eat lunch there with the mamita de Los Vilos and that was good! something simple, but just real food! I have really felt this week that I ate too much sugar and kinda felt like blegh. But hopefully I can be a little smarter this next week! Well thats about all that I got. Elder Castillo is headed to Coquimbo for his change and I will be working solo at the money desk! I hope that I can do everything well and not mess something big up! haha And Elder Alarcon I think will be my next companion. Ill give you the for sure next week! But its pretty clear! That is all I got for this week, im signing out! Les Quiero Mucho, Elder Marvin