I am currently in what I believe is Northeastern Santiago, in an area called Gambino. I´m not exactly sure where it is in Santiago, but I´m reasonably sure that I´m in Chile. I´m over one ward - the Gambino Ward. All the members are really nice, and they feed us three times a week. We buy lunch - the big meal here - three times a week from a member, and P-Days we have to basically fend for ourselves - don´t worry, I have become a master at making grilled cheese using the toaster and the microwave. I even bought my own bottle of ketchup, just for my grilled cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches are warm, which is nice, considering that it´s the middle of winter here. I´m not to cold - I have my thermals, gloves, and a big coat, and lots of blankets. None of the houses here have heating or insulation, so we use plug-in heaters. We celebrated the fourth of July the other with, of course, PIZZA! Yes, even here in the middle of nowhere santiago, chile, they have pizza. Which reminds me, happy birthday to Rix, Dad, and Isaac, and congratulations to Rix on being baptized. I´m sorry I had to miss it.
Yes, I have been kind of frustrated lately. Homesick, tired, lonely, and not having fun. But some interesting things happened this week that changed that. A member of our ward died on wednesday. We went to the viewing, and I didn´t think much more of it. That is, until we got a call the next day from our ward mission leader, Hermano Muñoz, who had been authorized to preside and conduct at the funeral, and needed our help. We ended up obtaining permission from President Essig to go to the graveside service, where, of course, I, the white boy from washington who had been there for two and a half weeks, had to give the opening prayer. Thankfully, I had enough Spanish to suffice, and was given some help. Two days later, we visited his family. We sang, "Come follow me", in spanish of course, and then we prayed, and elder chung shared a message of hope. And then I had a feeling, a feeling that I should share Matthew 11:28-30, about coming unto christ. As I did so, my mouth was filled with what to say. I didn´t know as much spanish as I said that night, nor do I remember exactly what it was that I said. But one grandaughter felt it, and we are visiting them again tonight. A similar experience happened when we taught Fresia later that night with Elder Brown, one of the Assistants. Again, What I said was not of me, but from on high. The same thing happened again yesterday as well. And I can now contact better than I ever have.
I still don´t understand a lot of what people say, or why I´m here in santiago instead of San Antonio or St Paul. But I understand a lot more now than I did three days ago. I´ve been here for three weeks, and I only have another 94 to find the reason, or reasons why I´m here in Santiago. I still miss you all a lot.
Buena Suerte,
Elder Hjelm
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