AJ's email 11/28/11

hey everyone how is it going? so this week was pretty interesting.......the only problem is that i cant remember half of it now to tell you all about it lol but anyway like normal ill do my best.

          this was a very productive week for us to start out the change and so it made it really fun and im excited to finish my time here in this sector (assuming this will be my last change here that is) but the next 5 weeks should be really good. we found a ton of new investigators, but the best part is that more than half of them DONT have to get married first. it was really amazing to find people who arent living together. but the best new that we found im hoping will be able to get baptized in this change. her name is adhia and she is the 10 year old daughter of a less active member. but the mom told us when we passed by that she has been thinking a lot lately about how her daughter needs to get baptized and that she wants to come back to church. so that would be awesome cuz thats a for sure baptism. all we have to do is teach her the basic stuff that a 10 year old needs to know to pass the interview and get her to church enough times. 

        the other person we are working a lot with right now is ainhoa still but she just has to stop smoking and come to church. she has almost stopped now. she hasnt smoked in about a week and a half and she said that she is doing whatever she can to avoid it. the only thing that im a little worried about right now with her is that next week she needs to have her interview to get baptized the 11th. but this next week is stake conference and so its a 45 min walk to that building from where she lives. so we have to try and find someone who has a car to take her which is a problem in our area cuz im pretty sure not a single person in our ward owns a car. so we´ll see.

         another thing that should be fun not this week but next week is that we are having a talent show in the ward. and each organization has to put together something for the show. and considering that our ward mission leader is inactive and we dont have ward missionaries, i would say that its safe to assume that its up to elder sosa and i to do something for the missionary work organization. so what we are thinking about doing is this. because he plays guitar. so he is going to play guitar and im going to sing (or at least make an attempt at it) but we are thinking about doing 3 different songs. the first one is "sideways" by rascal flatts. cuz it doesnt matter how bad i sing that one, the main thing will be that its in english so everyone would love it anyway. the second 2 songs are spanish songs. the first one is called "que lloro" and i really like it so im hoping we can do that one really well. and then the last one is really popular in latin america called "corazón sin cara" but im hoping that we can pull it all off cuz it would be a lot of fun. but we have to get to work practicing right away cuz we have to put the guitar together with my voice. but im kinda looking forward to doing that.

          saturday was kinda funny something that happened. cuz last time we had the sister die in our ward, the church was randomly open in the middle of the day and so we walked in and thats how we found out that she had died. so saturday the church was open again in the middle of the day and i just figured that they were cleaning. but elder sosa and i were joking around and i said i dont know im kinda scared cuz last time it was open there was a dead person, but completely just as a joke. so we went inside and walked to the cultural hall and there was a casket there. and elder sosa and i had to leave like right away cuz we were laughing to hard cuz it was actually true. but this time it was just a lady that was 99 years old so it was her time to go. but still thats the third viewing that ive gone to in the mission now already. hopefully i dont keep up this pace the whole mission.

           but other than that everything is going good. im learning how to play ping pong a lot better now from some of the members here still. they really are so good down here at ping pong. and then elder leavitt and i played today and he beat me 8 straight times. but it was really good ping pong. but anyway i hope that you all have a good week. take care

KEEP READING TO THE NEXT POST...SOME NEW PICTURES SENT FROM LAST WEEK

A few pictures from last week...

Republica District

Who knows...your guess is as good as mine!

Mid-November baptism...father and daughter

Mid-November baptism...girl's family

E. Sosa and E. Mlazgar in new soccer shirts

El Macho and El Rey and...YUMMM...PIZZA!

BONUS POST...stolen pictures...he-he

Okay, so not exactly "stolen". I got permission from Elder Leavitt's mom to use some pictures that he sent to his family since AJ didn't send any this week. 

The Republica Zone with President King.

The email Elder Leavitt sent with these pictures read:
"Enjoy these photos and remember to always raise the banner of freedom -
The Book of Mormon"

Elder Leavitt's blog is one of my favorites and inspires me to keep my blogging-self moving. AJ makes frequent appearances there while they are in the same district...and to AJ's relief they will be for one more change and through the holidays!

Check it out... http://elderalexleavitt.blogspot.com/

AJ's email 11/21/11 -- no pics today :(

this week went by so fast. it was crazy. but i was also really nervous all week cuz i didnt want to get changed. but the good news is that i am staying here in avenida matta for a 4th change and elder sosa and i are staying together. so im hoping for some good things this change. as long as we can stay focused and not enjoy the ward to much that we are in.

          basically the whole week we just focused on making sure we got everything done for the baptism that we had on saturday. but i swear if the baptisms keep getting more and more complicated like they are right now, im gonna die from stress before i come home. cuz the last baptism was stressful enough but this one was even worse. cuz we werent sure if we were even gonna have it til about an hour before. but basically what happened during the week is that we had to figure out who was going to baptize her. but early in the week we found out that the dad wanted to baptize her since she is a 9 year old girl. and that would have been fine.....except for the fact that he has been inactive for the last year. so in order for that to happen, he had to have an interview with the bishop. but the bishop was on vacation til the morning of the baptism. so they had that interview 15 min before it started. and then also we didnt have clothes for either of them til the morning of. then to pile another thing on top, we got to the church building half an hour before and the baptismal font was empty. and it takes 6 hours to fill with hot water. so then we just had to fill it quickly with cold water and so it was literally ice cold for her when she got in. but at least there will be something for her to remember.
      the other cool thing about this week is that we made shirts as a district. cuz we are named los encapuchados (which basically is another name for rioters if i havent explained that before) so we made a jersey type thing with that name on the front and then our names and numbers on the back. and they only cost about 8 dollars so it wasnt bad. but my name is el rey, sosa is el macho, leavitt is el rusio rico, tognetti is the italian stallion, enamorado isenamorado.com, and then carcamo put te pongo which i literally cant explain that one cuz its to dirty. probably not something that a missionary should put but its hilarious on him cuz he is tiny and so quiet.
       the other thing that i bought this week is a soccer jersey of chile that i found pretty cheap. its real but it cost about 25 dollars less than normal. and i also bought another jersey of my favorite team from here in chile, la u de chile. that is one good thing about here in chile is that they have a ton of places called ferias where they sell just about everything and its all cheaper. i cant remember what its called in the states. but its better here cuz they are everywhere and you can find anything. so i took advantage of that
       but i hope that everyone enjoys thanksgiving this week. i wont have anything like it but ill eat a ton during our lunch and call it good since they always feed us a lot. have a good week.

AJ's email 11/14/11 (Look at me...right on time)

alright this week went by way to fast. i literally feel like i was just sitting here at the computer writing and it was a week ago. just a little thing i forgot to include in my letter last week. pday last week we played basketball (elder leavitt and i) in parque o´higgins while we were there. and we played against these kids that were playing. 3 on 3 and for some reason they put us on the same team. but that was just a mistake cuz we ended up destroying them 40-17. and it wasnt even that close. we just got tired at the end and started giving them baskets cuz we felt bad. but it was really fun playing again against other people. i cant wait til the christmas party with all the missionaries cuz then i can play against better people. i heard that in the party last year, these two elders had a dunk contest and the one that won had a between the legs dunk. so im excited to be able to play against them.

       most of the week was pretty normal. we didnt do a whole lot that was anything worth writing. maybe the only thing is that yesterday we had another baptismal interview for a 9 year old who is going to get baptized saturday. but after what we went through with the last one, it just doesnt seem as interesting lol but its still good that we are gonna have another baptism. 

     the only other thing we did different this week is that friday night we saw a little of the chile uruguay soccer game cuz there was no one to visit and so we went to a members house and they were watching the game. and from what i saw, chile played terrible. partly cuz 4 of their best players didnt play but still. they lost 4-0. if any of you really care lol

     and then like 3 nights this week we got done with everything at like 930 so we went by the church and it was still open from the youth being there. and so we played ping pong against some of the youth in the ward. and i found out that i have to really work on playing ping pong cuz everyone here is really good. this one kid in the ward just destroyed me. but it was really fun. other than that, it was just same old stuff. our numbers for the week were pretty decent which means that somehow we stayed busy during the week but it really didnt feel like it. it just shows that time goes by fast when you are busy.

       the pictures that im including are of a cigarette box that i had to take away from one of our investigators this week. not exactly the most spiritual thing but i thought that its funny what they put on the cover of the box. and the funnier part is that people still smoke it. but whatever 

       i  hope that everyone is doing good. take care and have a good week.

Originally I included both pictures, but changed my mind and edited one out. You still get the idea without the picture on the other side of the box...what's a mom to do???

E. Leavitt and E. Mlazgar AND a Pday clip

Here is my favorite recent picture of AJ and his DL (district leader), E. Leavitt. You can see that they have become good friends. Also I have posted a short clip AJ took at a park on their Pday...or at least I'm assuming it was Pday considering the whole district is there and rather casually dressed.

E. Leavitt and E. Mlazgar

AJ's District Pday Picnic

WOW...almost 5 months. Here is a catch up entry that includes some 50th Celebration clips and AJ's email from November 7th.

Let's start with some clips AJ sent from his perspective at the 

50 Year Celebration...

Cultural Dance (25seconds long)

Cultural Dance 2 (16 seconds long)

Cultural Dance 3 (22 seconds long)

Cultural Dance 4 (22 seconds long)

Now a few still pictures from the celebration...

 OKAY...NOW...

I'm just going to start by posting AJ's email as he sends them each week. I will add pictures as I have time. This email was from November 7th.

alright where do i even begin with this week. i hope that ill be able to remember it all to be able to tell you guys. but here we go.

E. Mlazgar and E. Leavitt on Pday

      so elder leavitt and i did divisions again this week so that he could make my divisions paper which has our goals to get better for the next change. so monday after we went to the mall together, we just spilt up and elder leavitt came back to my sector monday night. and then we were together monday and tuesday and then switched back wednesday morning. and it was a ton of fun and we had so much success. cuz tuesday we taught 7 lessons which is the most by far that i have taught in one day. so we just started the week of so good. then wednesday is when the week started getting weird. cuz wednesday afternoon we got a call from one of the members in the ward. and he told us that a lady had died in our ward and that they were gonna have a funeral that night for her. but the weird part is that i didnt even know that she was sick. and i remember talking with her a week and a half earlier in church. and she was only 40 years old. so it just showed how quickly you can go cuz i definitely not expect her to die. but that day was slow cuz we had to be at the church at 6 to set up everything and then we had to be there the whole time saying hi to people. and then at 9 the funeral started and it was pretty sad but it was also really good, cuz there were a couple non members there and the bishop and stake president both talked about the plan of salvation and how its ok that she is gone cuz we know that we will see her again. so that was kinda cool. but the weird part of it all too was that i helped carry her casket in when they got there to the church. and its the first time ive ever had to do that. so a different experience.

AJ and E. Sosa

        then thursday we had a meeting with president king in the morning. but i was more interested the whole time in after, cuz magali was going to have her interview and i was really nervous about that. but she passed and president said that she has a strong faith and is going to be a wonderful member. so that made me happy to hear and it relieved some of the pressure.....for the moment. then thursday night the office called us and told us that we had to be in maipu at 8 in the morning to do the stuff for elder sosa´s visa. so we had to get up so early to be there on time. and we spent all day standing in lines and walking through the middle of santiago to get his paperwork done. so that just drained our time and then basically all we were able to do all day was at the very end when we went to visit jose and magali to plan the baptism. and it surprised me when we talked about who would baptize her, cuz i thought that he would do it and thats what i suggested. but they both wanted me to do it. and that really made me more happy that they would want for me to be the one to baptize her.

      saturday we had another meeting that we had to be to early in the morning. and president had told me that we were going to have an apostle, but i was disappointed when we got there and there wasnt an apostle, it was just steven snow from the presidency of the 70, which is still someone really good but he´s not an apostle. but the cool thing about the whole meeting is that half of it was in spanish. and when someone talked in english, there was a traslator there to turn it to spanish. but when it was in spanish, elder leavitt and i had to translate it to english for the senior couple that was sitting right in front of us. and i never knew how hard it is to translate til i had to do that. cuz you have to listen in spanish, think about what is said, then turn it to english and say that, all at the same time. and its continuous so you dont have time to stop and think. cuz if we had missed something, the senior couple wouldnt have understood what was being said. so that was fun and good experience for something in the future.

Jose and Magali

Melipilla convert (Natalia)

     then sunday was the big day of the baptism. and it was literally one of the longest days of the mission so far, but also one of the most satisfying. the craziness started during church, cuz one of my converts from melipilla, natalia, came to see me. (and yes she is the one in the picture that i sent with this) but it was really good to see her and talk to her and see how much she has changed. cuz i remember that first night that we talked to her and i thought she had no clue about anything in life and was crazy. but also during church i had to finish getting everything together for the baptism, like the clothes, who was going to give talks and all that. so it was really stressful. then around 630 we walked over to the other church building for the baptism (cuz our building doesnt have a baptism font) and we set everything up and then waited for everyone to start showing up. and i hadnt been so nervous in a long time. with not knowing how many people were going to show up, having to make sure that i was going to say the words right since i was the one baptizing her, and just making sure that it would be a day that she remembered.

Before the baptism

basically i couldnt sit still between 645 til after we had actually done the baptism. but the cool thing was i was nervous until we entered the water, and all of a sudden i was just calm and it was so peaceful. and as i said the words, my mind was so clear and i felt like my spanish was perfect it was awesome. and as i did it and as we were standing there in the water a little after, i was just so happy and i could see in her face how happy she was too. its something that i will definitely never forget. i definitely slept better last night than just about any night in a long time. it was just a great night.

        

well i hope that you are all enjoying the nice weather wherever you may be at, cuz here its absolutely terrible with the heat and i cant imagine what its going to be like in the middle of the summer. but ill have to deal with it. take care and have a good week.

this link is to the article of the celebration that we had, if you havent seen anything from that yet http://lds.org/church/news/chile-celebrates-50-years-of-missionary-work?lang=eng

HERE ARE SOME MORE PICTURES FROM THE 50 YEAR CELEBRATION>>

AJ and E. Leavitt at the 50 Year Celebration

AJ and the youth from Melipilla (previous area)