May 30, 2011

Well today was/is going to be real fun, I was a testigo (witness) for a wedding this morning, that’s what the picture is of. And they wanted us in street clothes because they see us in nice clothes all the time, so they really wanted us to look normal for once. Natalie is going to be baptized this Saturday, and Edgard will be, but not yet, we are still really working with him. He was baptized Evangelical and I think he just doesn’t want to feel like he was wrong, so he is a tad bit prideful in that aspect but he is the funniest guy and a great friend now, he is awesome.

We also have 2 more fechas for this Saturday, but we will see how they work out. Dagoberto is on, he has had problems with smoking, drinking, and doing drugs, so we will see if he is still doing that, if not we are baptizing him this Saturday because he really wants to and he is the funniest guy even though his language is not the best, ha-ha. My vocab at his house has grown/ I have grown a filter to some words, ha-ha. The other is Monica, she also has had some problems with smoking so we will see if she has fallen, if not we want to baptize her this Saturday because she wants it as well. Anyway, that’s the big news this week, ill fill the rest of the email up because I love sitting at computers and typing, makes me feel at home and relaxed and all.

So we had a BBQ (the Chilean version and that is without BBQ sauce because they don’t know what that is) at Natalie´s house today after the wedding and that was fun. We met a girl that spoke English, and was a vegetarian. She thinks eating animals is so cruel, but fed some beef to a dog, I found that ironic. But yah that was funny. Anyway and we are having another one for lack of better words "dinner" from our branch mission leader, so that’s pretty awesome. We will be filling up on the meat tonight, for sure.

We have a lot going for us here, a lot more investigators than I ever had in Lebu so that’s really fun, and the branch here is super awesome, so I’m liking it for sure here in Lota.

We had our last interviews with President on Thursday and that was sad, he said he is buying a house in Utah so that will be great.  I will want a visit there for sure, possibly a dinner. Hermana Swenson offered so I’d love to take them up on that one, ha-ha.

Hopefully Elder Jackson will stay with me for one more cambio, he only has one more than me here, and he is awesome so I think he will, but yah, I want to stay with him. We work well together, and it would be great to stay with him.

But yah that has been my time here, oh and I went on an intercambio with an assistant Thursday and he offended 2 investigators of ours, we had to go back and talk to them, so yah that was funny and scary at the same time, they told us they love us way more, ha-ha. But yah thought I would slip that in there, ha-ha

love you all stay safe and all that jazz.
Elder Kyle Allen

May 23, 2011

OK so this week has been interesting, a few things to report but not a lot a lot so I’ll try to expand a lot on the things I have.

First things first, I went to the office today and got the mail, I got 2 return to senders from letters I sent in March, and one recent one I sent: please tell Martha (if you can’t cause I know she moved and that makes it obvious why it was returned) that I’m sorry my letter never got to her, I sent it but I guess Chile mail hates me/ she moved so not my fault, and the other one was one I sent to Meagan Knowlton in March, please tell her I’m sorry it never got their either, apparently I had the wrong number on her letter, but I went back and copied her address exactly from the pouch letter she sent me, so I guess I have an incorrect address from her, if there is a way to hear how I get to her/and address that would be great.

Ok so this week I hit my 7month (5in Chile) and on the 20th, that day, I was bit by my first dog. What a glorious present. We were walking up this hill one night and this lady said something super soft in Spanish I didn’t hear, and all of a sudden my calf started hurting really bad. It bit me and ran off before I realized what had happen so I didn’t get to kick the crap out of it. I have teeth marks on my calf now, no blood luckily and my pants weren’t ripped, but yah, I got my first and not last dog bite.

We had an activity with the young men this week and it was interesting, we pretty much spent the whole day reactivating, and as great as that sounds, it stinks when we need to be working with the investigators that we had. So I became senior comp for a day with a small Chilean and well it was interesting, telling people they need to go back to church and them not coming, haha. But yah, that was a whole day, interesting no?

Today we went up to Concepcion and talked to an hermana and she is going to be making us footy pajamas. We are doing them in the shapes of super heroes. Elder Myer is being the Flash, Tony is being the green lantern, Elder Jackson is being Iron Man, Elder Brimhall is being Superman, Elder Hillman is being Captain America, and I’m being Batman. They are going to be so fun, and keep us so warm during the winter because it is sooooo cold, like so crazy cold here.

So we have an investigator that smokes, drinks, drinks coffee and tea, and does some illegal drugs, so the word of wisdom has been taught and he knows he needs to stop he is just trying, and it’s hard, I can only imagine. He went to church on Sunday and that was cool to see. His name is Dagoberto, and we call him snoop dog, haha. He is so funny and swears every other word; my Chilean vocab has really grown. Haha.

This upcoming week we have interviews with President in Coronel, so that will be fun, and yah it will be great to see President and hermana Swenson, for sure!

We are holding a family home evening tomorrow night for the branch and that should be fun, I think we might do a talent show, I don’t know we need to talk tonight with the zone leaders because they are fun and have crazy ideas all the time!

I can’t believe that it has been 7months, I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s been a long time, but at the very same time it’s like, wow 7 months, really? It’s a weird feeling for sure, things just keep moving and this is week 5 or 6 of the cambio so cambios are this week or next week, wow, I’ve already been in Lota for a long time, time flies in a good sector, haha.

Well I love you all so much, and love hearing from you, I’m sad to hear you are all sick, that stinks, and I know what it’s like, we are out in the cold all day and it stinks so we get sick easy and the houses are heated and are like plywood walls, haha so it’s tough sometimes to get warm, and our house never sees sunlight, so it’s beyond freezing all the time, I sleep with 2 jackets and 3 blankets, haha, and those wool socks are amazing, all the Columbia stuff is, it’s the only things that last. Anyway, get well, get well soon, we want you to get well, haha. stay safe and be happy, that is always a big part of your day, I never noticed it till recently.

Keep up the fun, love you all, stay classy, and write me, thanks
Elder Kyle Allen

May 16, 2011

Today we went to the municipal building with 2 investigators and were testigos for them, meaning witnesses. yep we are marrying a couple on May 30th and the wife wants to be baptized the day of the wedding.  We are still working with the guy because he isn’t as ready be she is. So yah we are marrying someone! That’s so tough and rarely happens here, big day for us. we had a family home evening last week with them and pretty much laid it on the line, if they were to die tomorrow they would be sinning so they said yah you are right and finally set a date. We went to the government building today to set the date with the government and are doing it on the 30th just in case Elder Jackson leaves at the end of this cambio (but it’s his 2nd here in Lota so I don’t think he will). But yah that’s a huge deal. The people had been investigating for a long long time, I’m like the 4th or 5th new missionary, she is 24 and he is 22. So yah, big day for us. And that’s about all I really have new. Did a lot of contacting but to no avail, as you know.

So I don’t know if I told you but they changed the hour of our schedule and stuff. we no longer wake up at 7, and go to bed at 11, it’s now a half an hour earlier, which stinks because 630 is soooo much harder than 7 for some reason, I have no idea why but it’s just a lot harder.

I’m going to try again to upload those pictures of McDonalds and our fun in Concepcion today so look for those, hopefully it works, because I don’t know what else to send home, I’m sitting here trying to think what I can tell you but there really is nothing huge or really new, hahaha.

Ok they are shutting down the computers for a little so I’ll be back and write more and finish my time on the computer, love you all Elder Allen

May 9, 2011

There isn’t much to say because yesterday was so great and I talked to you all so yah, I'll just write a short, I’m still alive thing here for you.

oovoo video chat for Mother's day

I went to Concepcion and went bowling with the elders from Lota (alto and bajo) it was so much fun, like 2dollars for an hour, pretty sick, and I got 4 strikes, the other bowls were gutters so my score sucked, but yah, it was fun, hahaha.

Then I had McDonalds, it was really good, but crazy expensive, yep I had a big Mac because I can, and it’s the first burger I’ve had since, I don’t know when. But yah it was really good.

I saw Elder Owens and Elder Palmer from my MTC district which was a lot of fun, so we talked for a while but yah that was today.

We have 2 noche de hogar s today so that’s tonight, and work as usual this week.

Tell the "do-ster" (Brother Schade) that I got his letter and I liked that story printed in a very old version of the church magazine, hahaha. Tell him that I enjoyed getting that letter because I was one of the few people that got mail, hahahaha

But yah that’s all I got, sorry if it’s short, thanks for the letters, and the emails, from Alyssa and Hilary in particular because they send me them pretty regularly, hahaha, but yah they are awesome and makes my Mondays so much more interesting and lively, hahahaha

Love you all so much!

Elder Kyle Allen

May 2, 2011

LOTA IS AWSOME. I’m so glad I am here and not Lebu anymore. The members here love the missionaries and feed all 6 at the same time sometimes, but I’ve always had lunch with another companionship so it has been awesome. I live with the zone leaders and they are awesome, one is from New Zealand and the other is from Oregon, woot! Elder Meyer and he is from Eugene I’m pretty sure. But yah we live in an apartment and it is very cold because it’s starting the winter. There are 3 sectors in Lota, Alto medio and bajo. I am in medio and the ZLs are in bajo, who we live with. The Church building is 2 blocks away, and the sector is only 15minutes away from where we live, which is in bajo. Here is the thing though, alto is up onto of the city and is way up there. bajo is the bottom part of the city and is sea level and all that jazz. medio has ALL THE HILLS that make the up and the down of the city. which stinks. I go up and down and up and down, sweat so much! Man it was ridiculous. But yah it’s huge. We did our 200 contacts last week on this huge hill and I was panting so badly, it was ridiculous!


But , Oh the smell!!!   It smells of fish all the time, because we are right on the side of the sea. Oh my gosh the most powerful smell of fish ever, every day all day. It’s ridiculous but apparently you get used to it. Anyway it’s crazy fishy here like the pictures below.

The Lota smell



Right outside our apartment

Some stories:

So there is this crazy lady here that hates everyone, people call her Maria la loca, she is insane and hates life I think. Anyway on my first day in Lota I walked by her and Elder Jackson just said, smile and look nice. She looked at me and had a HUGE rock in her hand, raised it up and threw it at us. Didn’t hit either of us but she threw a huge rock at us and called us some bad names in Spanish. that was crazy.

That same night we walked thru the plaza on the way home, and walked by all the plaza dogs, dogs that live in the plaza, like 25 of them. Jackson said don’t worry they don’t do anything, so I walked by like nothing was wrong, one got pissed at me for no reason about 5 feet away, and started barking and chasing me, trying to bite me. That was the last time I listened to Jackson, hahahaha.

Then 2 nights ago we were walking home along a road that was very dark. Out of nowhere these small rocks just started coming at us, I got hit in the head and the back and the shoe, nothing big or anything like that and did not do any serious damage but all these rocks were being thrown at us by these annoying little kids. But yah those are some great new stories from Lota, hahaha.

The  branch is great, every Tuesday night they do a family home evening for the branch and we bring investigators to it, and every Friday night they play church movies in the church and we bring investigators to that as well, and sometimes they play Disney movies or other movies like the Singles Ward or the Best Two Years. It’s a great ward, and we always have meals! It’s awesome always being fed and not having to cook, it’s just awesome. 

Elder Jackson my companion: he is from Utah and has 15months in the mission. He is like me but a little quieter, super funny and awesome. Teaches amazingly well, and always has me sharing a new scripture so I do a lot of scripture searching in my personal time. We are planning on going to Concepcion next week. He likes motor cross and extreme sporty stuff like that, he is great and I am really lucky with my companions so far for sure. Jackson, Gibbs and Goddard are like the best companions you could hope for. We have a baptism already lined up for the 14th. we are marrying a woman who is 24 on the 14th and baptizing her that day right after the wedding, I think missionaries can actually marry we are checking with president on Wednesday for sure but wouldn’t that be cool?

Lota is amazing, sorry I’m trying to throw so much new information in here as fast as I can, and I know I’m forgetting stuff, but hey next week I get to call you so that will be awesome!  I honestly can’t wait for that! I haven’t seen you all in 4 months, that’s crazy to think about but it’s been since Christmas, I need to show you my tan and my carnet (Chile id card meaning I’m a legit Chilean! hahahaha)

Well about the call, not sure what will happen, I have been emailing Andrew and he can let you know what we decided more specifically but all I can tell you is I will try to call through Gmail between Wednesday and Sunday to set up the time, like I did for the Christmas call. So once you get that call you can be more excited, not until then, cause if you are looking forward to that already it will be a long week for all of us, trust me, hahaha.

Well I love you all so much! know that, I can’t wait to talk to you next week!

Let Alyssa know she is awesome for always writing me, and Hilary as well! and that Alyssa now is no longer in cool Europe, but in stinky Provo, hahahaha!!!

I love you all so much

Elder Kyle Allen