Skip to main content
Hey Yall,
Before anything else, I must tell you what happened with my wallet. All I lost were the credit cards, my Chilean identification, and some photos. Maybe about 5 bucks in cash. Nothing much. What we know happened is this: Elder Rossi and I hopped on a bus because we were late for an appointment with someone who was getting baptized the next day. I sat kind of weird on the seat and in addition I don't think I put my wallet in my pocket all the way. So, we are almost absolutely certain that it slid out of my pocket when I stood up quick to get off the bus. When I went to buy a snack about an hour later, it wasn't there. So, we're almost positive that it stayed on the bus. We filed a missing objects report with the Caribineros (The police here) and we're just hoping that all comes back to me. If not, oh well, it's ok. However, my wallet happened to take this little vacation at the end of the month when we don't have much money. So, I'm stretching a little bit to make the money I have last. But, it's a good example of how we don't need much to live. A bus of fifty cents every week and a lunch of $2 every Preparation day. Not a whole lot. We mostly just buy food with the rest. And get our haircut. So, don't worry, I'll be fine.
As for the good parts of the week, there are a lot. Well, some of them not so good. This week there was a national strike in Chile. The students and parents and everyone are complaining about the price of Education here in Chile. There are some schools that have not had classes for almost the entire school year now. They started back in May and are still losing classes. Anyway, the other day there was a day when we were not allowed to leave the house in the morning because there were all kinds of protests in the street by youth, parents and people complaining about it. Nothing was open for hours and it was a good morning in the house until we left to go to lunch.
The other not so good thing: there was a train crash right in front of our house. It was actually the same night I lost my wallet. We got on the bus and about a minute later we heard a big thud from about 200 yards behind us. We found out later there was a car on the tracks and they couldn't get off the track. Luckily the family got out of the car, but the car was kaput al maximo. "Broken to the max" :) No one was hurt and it was cleaned up relatively quickly.
On Saturday was the crazy day. We went to Lota, the city next door to have a baptism for the whole zone. There were 9 people who got baptized in the same service and our zone met the goal for baptisms! But was impressive how many family members and friends came to support everyone. The Chapel, designed for about 50-60 people, was FILLED with people. The Elders from the Zone sang "God be with you til we meet again" as a special musical number. It was a great day, especially since 3 people from our Branch here in Camilo got baptized. Fernanda, Luis and Branco. :)
Afterward, we found out the Transfers for all the missionaries and with the new president, some crazy things happened. Elder Rossi and Elder May are both Leaving Camilo, as we all expected, but Elder Gonzalez is going to train this next Transfer! We hope he trains a gringo, but we'll see. Elder Rossi is leaving to go down to Freire, a little town near Temuco and Elder May is headed up to Concepcion, in Talcahuano. The crazy things about the Changes are the leaders. there are all kinds of Zone leaders and District leaders that changed to people none of us suspected. We'll see what happens this next cambio! Oh, by the way, I'm staying in Camilo with Elder Brann. I don't know anything about him, so next week we'll find out, huh? :)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Am I Proud to Be an American?

This weekend is the 4th of July, or Independence Day in the United States of America. One of my favorite songs during this time of celebrating the country is "God Bless the USA." The words paint a detailed picture of the beauty of the United States, both in a physical and emotional aspect. Our country is often depicted in a majestic manner such as this, making it seem like the greatest in the world and we often hear those bold words, "I'm proud to be an American."  With all of the issues that have been cropping up over the past couple of years such as impeachment, systemic racism, foreign intervention, and most significantly the COVID-19 pandemic, I have reflected deeply about what we celebrate with the 4th of July. These issues are just a few of the many that have made me wonder about the country we praise so proudly.  Am I really proud to be an American?  Thomas Jefferson wrote the candid words of the Declaration of Independence, which were th...

I like Happiness

Dear Readers, Happiness is great, don't you agree? Just the other night, it was a very frustrating and confusing night out with the Ensemble yet again, but I came back to my friend's house to hang out and just decided that being happy was more important than giving in to my gossiping desires. The rest of the night was just brilliant after I decided that. This morning was another example: I woke up late and was again frustrated. What did I do? I went to school and decided to be happy. The rest of the day went great! Be Happy! :D

When You Wish Upon a Star

Dear Reader, One short day in the [Segovia] City! It is a beautiful city, to be sure. As part of our study abroad program in Spain, our group takes various trips to different cities here in Spain to see museums, palaces and history from several different eras of humanity. Today it was a pleasure to travel to Segovia. We had several adventures while we were there. First off, we stopped off at the Palacio de la Granja (Palace of the Farm). It was an attempt to replicate the Palace of Versailles in France back in the 18th century. We weren't able to enter the palace itself, but we spent about an hour walking around the numerous gardens on the south side of the palace. The palace gardens awesome. The pictures taken here don't do it justice. The gardens stretched father than you can see and the statues were absolutely beautiful. They were representations of hunting on the grounds with dogs, Greek Gods, and other famous figures from the middle ages. However, despit...