Two Weeks of Emails in One Post (Again - yup I'm a slacker)

August 20, 2014 Email

So, this sector is really cool. Seriously.

So recently I have been getting sick... Sucks a ton, my throat is clogged 24-7 and my nose is literally a waterfall on drugs... hopefully I can still work. I hate being indoors.

We have campo! In other words, fields... Huge, massive Fields... It is super cool. We hiked out to one of them when we had nothing else to do and everyone was inside. So we went contacting out there! We weren't very welcome there, but it was alright. Im really learning how to do contacts with Elder Dueñas. (I asked Joshua what he meant by fields, it's farmland.)

Dueñas is really cool. Hes got a sick accent from Peru, and his voice completely changes when hes speaking in Spanish. Hes not fluent in Spanish, but we are working on it together. Ive also been helping him out with the lessons, mainly because he literally has no time out in the field. Then again, neither do I! We have a lot to learn and only 3 months to do it! Hopefully my Spanish will get a lot better this change.

Um, Tank this week has been locked inside... I think his owner got sick of him following us everywhere and finally locked him up... I miss that dog. I don't have any photos of him to send yet, but Ill get them there.

Other than that, I'm still learning everyone, I still have difficulty remembering peoples names. Were going to try very hard to improve this sector, and I have a couple of ideas to strengthen the ward up. Still working hard, still in Chile...

Love all of you a lot, sorry I don't have too many impressive stories or anything, and I'm terrible at sending pictures. Please forgive me.

Love,
Elder Faber

August 27, 2014 Email's 

This week Timo Tio (the local neighborhood drunk) was yelling at everyone. "Oy! Los chicos alla son mis amigos!" "Oy tio! Nesicita dejar bebiendo vino!" "No! No puedo! No puedo!" The guy is super holarious. We also got another free taxi ride from him, and determined when he isn´t drunk, he´s drunk. Even when he´s not drunk he´s acting like a drunk. Do not worry, he´s a pretty decent driver.

They moved Prada out so he can recover in a smaller sector, so we have 2 elders in my old spot that do no know the area or any of the people they are supposed to visit. Luckily I get to go back and talk to them for A BAPTISM! AND GUESS WHAT! I´M BAPTIZING ISABEL!

Alright, the rest of my email is going to be dedicated to Conner Thredgold... I really didn´t know the guy very well, but I grew up with him and was in the same school and class as he was up until high school. From what I can remember, he was a really cool kid. Super social, and really liked to have fun. I´m sorry that he´s gone know... Right now he´s in the spirit world, still continuing the work, helping the people that didn´t have the chance in this life to change understand and hear the gospel. Peter 4:6 talks more about how the dead will have a chance to hear the gospel, accept the principles and accept the baptism that we offer them on ear. It´s like being a permanent missionary! That would be amazing... I love being a missionary, and I know that he´s happy right now continuing the work.

The plan of salvation is pretty legit. I think it´s become one of my favorite lessons to teach, just because it´s central to everything we do on this earth.

Well, I hope you all have a good week. Know that I love you guys, and that I´m doing my best.

Forgot to mention, but we have been teaching English! We´re teaching a ton of kids every Friday in some apartment buildings and we got to go to a school and teach! I got a really cool reference out of it! She was super interested and wanted the missionaries to come and teach her! super excited. Her mom was baptized a while ago and is inactive now, hopefully they´ll get a baptism and a reactivation out of it.

The Week of Companions

Joshua had a very interesting week. I'm going to share bits and pieces of here. Some of you may have already received the group email. 

He named the email "The Week of Companions" and compared it to a Star Trek episode....

Instead of being in a star ship stuck in space, I´m in another country serving a mission! So I guess the latter is a better experience!

Tuesday, we went to therapy again, and while we were in the mission office, we ran into our Zone Leaders, Elder Babbitt and Elder Chavez. Elder Babbitt just got his wisdom teeth out (the name for those is so much cooler in Spanish, the dientes de juicio, or translated, the teeth of justice) so he decided it would be a good idea to do divisions. We agreed, so I went home with Elder Chavez to do divisions. HOWEVER, in both sectors because I had appointments and he had set appointments as well. So we managed 2 sectors that are about 20 minutes apart from each other by foot. And none of us had money so we could not afford a taxi. We went to a cita in his sector and taught a super cool family that got baptized this last Saturday, and then we went to my sector to my investigator family of gold (Isabel and Daniela). They had their whole family there, I shared a thought about our purpose here and why our message is important, AND WE GOT REFERENCES FOR THE OTHER MISSIONARIES TO TEACH!!!

Wednesday, we got up early so we could do contacting in the subway. Why early? Because neither of us could sleep. So we went with two other elders from the house and got to the subway station at about 8. I forgot to mention that I still absolutely suck at contacts. So we passed out pass along cards and getting to know people. The first person I talked to was super nice until I gave him the card, and he completely rejected me. That wasn´t fun. I kept offering him the card but he said that there are other people that could use it more than him.

Thursday, got back to the house after doing contacts in the street market (didn´t go very well, but I did get some stuff I needed). We said our goodbyes to Babbitt and Chavez, and they left.

Friday, did divisions with Elder Ware. We had several people contact us! Not bad people, just a guy that knew the bible and the new testament like the back of his hand but did not have a belief in Jesus (seriously, that guy has read 3 different versions of the bible and written essays on the thing), and 2 evangelico missionaries. That was interesting. They all said that we could come back and share, just they said that we might be converted to their religions. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Saturday, did divisions with Elder Taborga again. He was almost hit by a car, nothing much happened that day, just I only saved a life (about time, so busy saving everyone else´s spiritual lives and I haven´t saved a physical one yet?)

Sunday, I GOT TO SEE MY COMP AGAIN! I almost cried... Super long week. I finally got to rest spiritually in church and start again with some appointments afterwards.

All in all, in one week, I had 5 companions, and a whole bunch of new experiences and new people. Because of that, I am now perpetually tired... BUT STILL LIVING BABY! WHEW!

Joshua actually ate this hot dog..
50 cm or about 18 inches.