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Hey Yall,

We finally had a Baptism! Better yet, it was Rosa who got Baptized! Rosa was baptized on Saturday by Elder Sanjines, the elder who found her and her cousin in the street almost seven months ago. I preformed the confirmation along with the first counselor in the Bishopric on Sunday. We are definitely really excited to have a new member of the ward. And, I don't know when it will happen, but I'm sure Rosa's example will have an effect on her parents, too.

Funny story from after the Baptism. The baptismal font in our chapel is dysfunctional with the pipes and the mechanism that works the tap to stop the water doesn't work. So every baptism we just stuff a bunch of clothes inside a plastic bag and shove it in the drain to plug the water. The funny part is that Elder Sanjines forgot to take out the bag while he was in the font and we didn't realize until after he had left. So, I had fun going swimming! (No, that is not against mission rules. I went bathing.) Anyway, I go in the font (being in the proper attire) and pulled out the bag. But what luck do I have? The bag broke and the towel inside flew down the drain. So, I spent the next hour trying to get it out while the other elders were laughing at me. We never did find the towel, but the water drained out, so we didn't worry about it. Welcome to the mission, right?

Also this week, there was a fire in our neighborhood. It's in the poorer part of the neighborhood called Vista Verde. It´s probably in the Chilean news if you want to look it up. I don't know exactly what happened, but we've heard that five houses were damaged or destroyed but no injuries or deaths are reported. But the news would know better than me. We just saw the smoke all afternoon while knocking doors.

On a happier note, we had another adventure this week. Elder Tanner has a bucket of honey that he's been using for months and when he went to use it the other day, we found a mountain of ants on top of it. Sad day, right? It was really funny, though. Maybe I'll send pictures. He was not happy, but we all had a good laugh while we killed all the ants and cleaned up the kitchen.

Something that I'm proud of this week is my appearance. We went with Elder Tanner and Elder Valdivia to a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with a family in their sector. We got there and as we were being introduced, the family all said that I look European. Who knew? So, this week, I've been telling people I'm from Germany. Haha, I make sure they know I'm pure gringo afterwards. But aren't you glad to know I'm not American?

We're working with Pamela this week, but it's hard because she's a teacher in the high school (of music) and has to prepare to start this week. Yeah, school here starts in March. Go figure. They end in December and we've been in their summer vacation since I got here. Anyway, Pamela is super super smart. She took notes during the Stake Conference we had and she asks very good questions in the lessons we have with her. She notes everything and we're super duper excited that she's reading and praying every day.

Yeah, that's about it for our week. Elder Garcia gets more and more trunky everyday, but he knows when it´s time to take his mission seriously. We're working hard to have 3 baptisms in March. Hopefully we can do it. :) That's it for this week. Talk to you all later!

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