AJ's email from 3/26/2012

     well this week had several things that have been different. ill just start with the coolest. we had 2 earthquakes over the last 3 days. saturday morning i woke up at 4 in the morning because of the first one. and with us having our bedroom on the second floor of our house and then i sleep on the top bunk, lets just say that my bed was moving around a lot. but it was pretty cool cuz it was a side to side movement. but that one was a 5.3. then sunday night we were in the house of hermana aida when there was another earthquake. at first it started out slow so we just stayed still but then it kept getting stronger and stronger and it felt weird so we had to leave the house to be sure. it felt a lot different than any other earthquake that ive felt. it was more like a swirling movement. afterward we found out that in the epicenter it was a 7.2 and here in the santiago area it was a 5.8. but they told us that thats how it felt 2 years ago when they had the huge one but this wasnt as strong. so thats why we had to leave the house just in case it got worse. but i enjoyed it the whole time and elder vilar and i were joking around the whole time. it was fun although lots of people got scared.

      tuesday we had our interviews with president king. and i think it was the best that i felt in an interview with him since ive been here. we talked about a lot of things, especially with the changes in el monte. so basically i already knew was what going on. the only thing that he didnt tell me is who my new companion is. but what he decided to do in the end is put elders here. and so he split elder vilar and i up, one in each sector, with a new companion. and before telling me who was going to which sector, he asked me what i thought. and so i told him that elder vilar and i had talked about that before and that we thought it would be better that i stayed in the city part of el monte and that elder vilar goes to lo chacon in the campo part. and then he told me thats how he felt it should be too and that he was glad that we were all on the same page. then at the end i explained the whole situation with javiera and that we wanted to get her baptized as soon as possible and that it would be the easiest way to take care of everything. and so president approved for elder mcbride to come interview her so that she could get baptized this week. so then wednesday he came and interviewed her and everything turned out well. after that the only thing left for us to figure out with the baptism was what she was going to wear. the only tunic that the ward has is for someone 8 years old. so we had to look for one. we asked our ward mission leader if he knew where we could find one and he told us that there are several in the closet of the church but that we had to find our own way to get into it cuz they had lost the keys several months ago. so thursday night we went with one of the members to the church to break into the closet. and it was so funny cuz basically we had to break the door off to get in. but the whole time we just said whats better, that we have to pay for a new door or not have a baptism. eventually we got it open and got one of the tunics out for sunday.

       then sunday we had the baptism after church was over. it went really well for putting it all together in about 5 days. it showed me too how good of a branch this is here. the people are all pretty good and i feel lucky that so far into my mission ive always been in good wards. but everything turned out good. i had to lead the music for the hymnns so that was my part. after getting baptized, javiera gave her testimony and during it, she started to cry a little. it was kinda touching to see.

       the other thing that happened this week is that we had to get the new pension ready for elder vilar in lo chacon. we werent ever able to find a place to live big enough for all 4 us of so we have to split up. so friday we went with the elders from the office to see where its at and to see how the pension is. we found out when we got there that the new pension is the smallest in the entire mission. it has 2 rooms of about 10´ by 15´, one to sleep in and the other to study. and then they have a small kitchen and the bathroom is in a corner of one of the rooms. its so small and im actually glad that im staying in the old pension cuz i dont know if i could handle being in that small house. but im definitely gonna make fun of elder vilar and his companion.

E. Mlazgar and E. Sanchez

      so changes were a little different this change. normally the change meeting happens on tuesday but this time president did it monday. so i already have my new companion. his name is elder sanchez and he is from cinaloa, mexico. its already been a cool day laughing with him and elder vilar cuz we have all been together basically all day. and elder sanchez and elder vilar were in the same group in the mtc so they already know each other and so we are gonna have a lot of fun together in the branch. the only thing is elder vilar´s comp is very strict and doesnt really know how to have fun. so we´ll just have to work on that. but i know im gonna enjoy my time with elder sanchez.

       that everything from this week. just ready to start a new change and start out with a new comp. hopefully we´ll have as much success as i was having with vilar, and more would be better. but i hope that everyone has a good week. take care