He has found the bread of life...literally

Hola, Familia - ¿Qué Tal?

Nothing much is new here in Chile. We have all worked super hard this week setting the example for the zone. We would have done better, but the problem is that I´m slightly sick. It´s only an irritated stomach - I hope. But I´ve been on clear liquids for the past 24 hours, and have gotten some additional sleep. I don´t know why I´m sick, but oh well.

That reminds me, I haven´t told you all about the food here in Chile. We´ll start with the bread. It is so, so good. Marraqueta is like french bread, but better. And "pan amasado" is this thick, dense homestyle bread - absolutely delicious. And what´s better, pan (bread) is cheap here. What´s also really good are "completos", or more specifically, "Italianos", basically a hot dog on an oversized, toasted bun with diced tomatoes, avocado, and home made mayonaise. I like mine with a little ketchup. They are so good, and a great reward for doing your daily contacts. On the sweeter side, there´s "berlines", which is basically a bismarck doughnut, and this delectable thing called "brazo de reina", which translated means, "the arm of the queen." It´s like a cake, but it´s filled with cream and manjar - basically caramel. It´s so good. The empanadas here are great too. There´s a lot of dishes with rice here, which is good. But salad is weird. The basic salad is lettuce with oil and lemon juice, generally served with tomatoes. Luckily, there´s pan at just about every meal.

I can´t believe that our ward beat Gravelly Lake - !Qué Bueno¡ The 24th of July isn´t really a big deal down here. I´m glad to hear that you all are surviving camps and temple remodels and everything else. I´m starting to settle in here. I´m adjusting to spanish, and I am even starting to think in Spanglish. I´m enjoying the work. I´ve already been here for 5 weeks - changes are this next week. I hope that I get to stay here. I really like this ward, and the people here. Oh yeah, if everything goes accroding to plan, we´re going to have one, if not two, baptisms this week! I will be sending pictures. Tell Bro. Roholt that he will do fine in the bishopric. If I can learn spanish, he can be in the bishopric.

Ciao, Amigos!

Elder Hjelm