Monday, December 28, 2009

Hola buenas diás familia, So it was good to talk to you guys a couple days ago. Haha mi compañero was having a lot of trouble with the call with his parents and almost didn´t get to talk to them. But it all worked out it was quite funny. But next time i´ll get a card. Anyways, thanks for the updates and the advice. I´ll check again today if there are cameras at Lider (the walmart lookalike) but i think everything is digital now. So yeah as long as the package isn´t heavy its relatively cheap to send through the mail. And all I need is that backpack and a camera and so it shouldn´t cost much. So I was going to send you some pictures today but we forgot the connector thing from the computer, sorry... they will come soon don´t worry mom. In the meantime, keep looking at the mission website. But anyways these last few days have been great. Still teaching these two families that seem to just be on the edge of baptism but they have something holding them back and we´ve been working with them. Usually its just a little pride and the fear of change because everyone here is Catholic and they don´t want to change because they feel its like changing families. They just need a stronger desire to follow Jesus Christ, so its going well... just slow. We´ve also found some more great investigators that we´re teaching. These two weeks are kinda crazy because of the holidays but I love teaching people about Christ around Christmas time. Its really special. I love the people and most of them are really nice and friendly, they just need the gospel to augment their faith and follow the teachings of Christ. I love the work and the language. Its starting to come faster now because I´m finally putting all my effort into learning instead of getting frustrated so its amazing. Also, yesterday I tried this chilean drink called motte. Its this drink with like corn and dried apricots in it. Definitely interesting but not bad. I need to send you guys some chilean candy. Well its good to hear from the family and that you had a good Christmas. Take care of those grandkids and tell them I love them and miss them! The next time you hear from me it will be another decade.. 2010. Wow tan loco... I love you guys and I will talk to you later! Les amo mucho. Chao, Elder Webb

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Hola famila, So it just erased my whole email and I have to do it again, I gotta make it quick. Sorry about the calling card hassle. I didn´t really know what was going on. I heard that our families have to call us but apparently if we buy our own calling card´s down here, we can call our families. So next time I´ll do that. Sorry for the wasted money. But everything here is going pretty well. I´m going to send pictures in my next email so don´t worry. This week has been great. I had my first baptism on Sunday and it was really awesome. Her name was Joselyn and she is 18. Our sector is a little dificult to find a lot of people but we have quite a few families that are ready for baptism and just need to say yes. So the work here in Recoleta is going forward. I love it though! We do a lot of walking and a lot on tracting but I love talking to the chileanos. They say some pretty hilarious stuff, especially when they try to speak english. Tuesday, I also had the opportinity to go to the temple for Christmas. My first endowement session in Spanish. It was definitely different but I loved it and could understand quite a bit! I got some pictures of the temple that i´ll send to you guys soon. So to answer your questions, no I haven´t eaten any cat and yes I have running water. This is a first world country mother, we don´t eat dogs off the street... speaking of though, there are tons of dogs on the streets and its always fun to mess with them. With the members, usually we eat a lot of rice or potatoes or beans. We had this meal yesterday with rice and fried eggs and its really good. I also love this meal called pude which is just a bunch of mashed potatoes basically. And sopa is really common, which is soup. The only place I´ve eaten at is Subway in downtown Santiago but there arent really and American fast food places around here. I love completos though, they are like huge hot dogs with avacado and different stuff on it. They´re awesome! So I love the food and the members down here. Its good to here everything is well back at home. Tell clayton he needs to save up some money for his little bro, jk. I hope you guys enjoy the family togetherness on Christmas. I´m excited to talk to you guys tomorrow at 3:00 chilean time. I hope everything works out ok. I hope you enjoy a cold Christmas because its definitely not cold down here, its weird. But its not too hot, it doesnt seem like it gets out of the 80´s ever. but the sun is brutal, its really bright or something. Well I gotta go. Les amo mucho familia! Chao! Elder Webb

Dec 21, 2009

Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:27:32 +0000
>
> Hola familia,
> ok so this is how its gonna work, call this number
> 011-is to call to another country
> 56 -is the country code for chile
> 09 -is what you call her in chile when you call a cell phone(your calling a members cell phone).
> 76546048 -is the cell number
>
> so all together itll be like this, 011-56-09-76546048
>
> I will be waiting you phone call at 3 oclock pm chilean time christmas day.. that should be at 11:00am your time Christmas day
>
> its a members phone, we talked with her about doing a test phone call as well, tuesday, if you read this email beforehand, you can do a test call. call at 8:00pm chilean time she will be waiting to answer a test call just to make sure everything is alright. She knows a little english but all you have to say is Elder Webb. Oh and also, its a rule that we can only talk for 40 mins. and this thursday we can write again to verify. Ok ill be reading your letters and writing more thursday.
>

December 14, 2009

Buenos dias familia,
>
> So I made it to Chile. Wow things are quite a bit different than I imagined. Santiago is huge. It seems like I´m always lost while walking around. My trainer is a gringo, Elder Moser who is from Los Angeles. He´s been out for about a year and a half and so his Spanish is great. Mine.. is getting a lot better. The people here speak Spanish so much different than the mexicans back at home in Mesa. Its kind of hard to explain but its taking a while to get used to their accents and their dichos(sayings). I´ve learned a lot of phrases and now can speak pretty comfortable with the Chileans. I´m still waiting for my ears to pop though Dad so I´ll let you know when that happens. Hopefully soon! Well the address of my first casa is... Lircay 328, Recoleta Santiago, Chile. Its a small little neighborhood pretty close to the edge of the North part of the City. My first area is a little flite which means gangster/getto. But its not that bad, most everyone is nice and no one is gonna try to hurt us or anything. My companion said he´s only almost been robbed once and is was by a baracho (drunkard). So no worries here in Chile. The work is pressing forward. There are an incredible amount of inactives though here in Chile. Most likely because when the huge boom of missionary work happened here, they were baptizing people that werent ready. So every week we have a little project called Permeneced to help reactive families. I love the people here though. Most Chileans espeacially members are extremely nice and welcoming. I love talking with memebers because they help me with spanish a lot. Right now we are working with a lot of investigators and this week we have two baptisms to look forward to this next Sunday. One is an 18 year old girl named Joselin and the other is a 10 year old boy named Nicholas. Its great to see them so excited about their baptisms and being able to make this huge step in their lives.
>
> Well everything else here is pretty good. Our times are a little different because the Chileans usually wake up a little later and work later so we wake up at 7.30 and go to bed at 11.30 at night. Presidente and Sister May are really awesome and I´m excited to get to know them better. Usually once a week we (jugar la pelota, literally play the ball but it means play soccer) and I need to get better at that. Its definitely weird being almost Christmas and it gets pretty warm in the day. I´ll get used to it though. Just so you know I might need some stuff so I might ask you to send a package later so don´t send one if you were going to. Everything is different here though. The food is pretty good but I´ve noticed they don´t really eat very much here. I still havent gotten sick yet but I think I´ve already lost a couple of pounds. They have one big meal a day at 2 called almuerzo and then they have Once around dinner time but its just like tea and pan(bread). So as missionaries we eat almuerzo with a member and then just work the rest of the night and eat when we come home at night. We do a ton of walking here.. I sure hope my shoes last haha. I really like the culture though and the city. Its strange being at the bottom of the world but its an awesome experience. And also, after I email you guys I´m allowed to email friends so you can share with my friends my email address. And I also can send pictures over email so I´m probably going to by a digital camera down here maybe. We´ll see. Thanks for everything and I hope I answered all of your questions. I love the mission and the work. And I love you guys. Chou!
>
> Elder Webb

Dec 10, 2009

December 7, 2009

Hey I just got your email thanks for the forecast. I'm so excited for warm weather again, wow its been cold. Today and yesterday its been snowing a ton and its still coming down hard now. I leave to the airport in about an hour. I'm pretty sure our flight we'll be fine though because its only snowed a couple of inches. I got a calling card for about 3 dollars and its got about 400 mins on it. I can't use it in Chile but it was cheap so I'll use it when I get to the airport. I might give you guys a call before we go to Dallas because our layover is really short but I'll still give you a call in Dallas for about 10 mins maybe. Thanks for everything! It is really nice to get out of the MTC even though it was the best experience ever especially this weekend. It does feel like both though because I've never been in such a small area for two months without leaving so it'll be nice to be free again! Well I love you guys and I'll give you a call later. Don't worry, I don't need a package mother. The only thing I do need need is some like wallet sized pictures of our family and a 4X5 if you have one. I realized I don't have any pictures of mi familia! So if you could send that in a letter soon that would be great! Thanks again, its time to get out of this country! Viva Chile! Hasta luego Elder Webb