Work, work, work and a baptism!

What a week!

We started off with Tuesday, which was the annual celebration of chilean independence. On this day, everyone parties, and almost everyone does one of the following three things: Goes to the beach, goes out into the country, or partakes of alcoholic beverages. Basically, there was nobody here. Our numbers were way down this past week. We spent the day with members, and had an asado - a chilean barbecue. Yeah. Wednesday, we had my first baptism - I don´t really even know guy, but, of course, my companion tells me three hours before the service starts that I´m going to be baptizing him, so that was fun. Thursday I gave my companion excedrine for his headache, and he felt rather weak and woozy afterwards, because of the caffiene. friday, I was sick again, but still went and worked, and my companion was walking like he was part the indianapolis 500. Ugggggh. saturday we had a zone activity, where I couldn´t eat anything or participate because I was sick. Then we went and painted a house, and then we went and worked. Sunday we confirmed our investigator, John briones, a member of the church. we helped out in the primary, and had a family home evening with another investigator. today, a haircut. this week has gone by so fast.

Please give my condolences to the tomlinsons. Please keep me informed about my seahawks (pictures would be nice), and tell me all about the mariners.

Cordially,

Elder Hjelm

Independence Day in Chile

Greetings from Chile!

The entire country is preparing a party for me tomorrow, to celebrate my five months in the mission! Okay, it´s actually el 18 de septiembre - Independence Day in Chile. everybody´s going to be celebrating, and we as missionaries can visit with members, work, and participate in the activities of the ward and stake. the only problem is that our ward actiivity is next saturday. but I hear that everyone gives you an empanada or something when you knock their door.

My sector is huge. It´s like three times the size of my last sector. we´ve been walking a lot, which is evidenced by the blisters on my feet. My new companion is cool - he really knows how to develop a relationship with the investigators. We have a baptism on wednesday, and another planned for sunday. Oh, our investigator in gambino was baptized on saturday.

The water problems are fixed in the apartment. Now the owner is going to put in tile and fix a wall. Now if he could only fix the shower - it sucks!

Everything else is good here, and it sounds like everything is good there, too. Keep me in your prayers - you´re always in mine.

Ciao,

Elder Hjelm

Goodbye Gambino...

Querida Familia,

I have been transferred. Goodbye Gambino, hello Valle Grande... No wait, Simon Bolivar 3? What happened was that I was supposed to go to Valle Grande, out in the country, put there was a missionary who had a relative in the ward in which he was going to serve. So President Essig called me up, and sent me off to Simon Bolivar 3, close to downtown Santiago. My new companion is Elder Huaratapayro ( try saying that three times fast) from Peru. This sector is baptizing like crazy apparently, and now I`m here. It`s actually a large ward that is divided into three different sectors. I`m excited. The only problem is the house - it has water problems. Needless to say, we will probably be changing in the next couple of weeks.

We had a ward activity on friday that started out with just us, the ward mission leader, and his family. We gained a few more people, but that was basically it. Everyone wished me well in the ward yesterday. I finished packing this morning. My bags weigh a ton. I`ll send pictures of the old ward and house next week.

I`m sorry to hear that Joann Stevens died. She was so sweet and kind. I will miss Her. And now Jon Mortenson is the Bishop in Steilacoom ward? Whoa. Best of luck to him.

That`s all for today folks,

Elder Hjelm

Short, but sweet!

Hola,
     Transfers are in one week. I have the feeling that I will be
leaving Gambino, which sucks, because we have several baptisms lined
up. Oh well. Things are going well. We´ve been working hard. It´s
still hard to understand the spanish here, but I´m picking it up. The
food here is pretty good too - I´ll be bringing home some recipes.
     And the house is painted? Finally? Whoa. I need pictures - photo
verification. It´s good to hear that Leavitt is getting his papers
together, and Colton got his call - Boo yah! spanish speaking is the
way to go! I´ll ask some of the elders who have been here a little
what things they suggest to bring.
     Who are my seahawks playing next? I want play by play emails -
but I think that´s impossible. I love you all a lot.

Ciao,
Elder Hjelm