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Monday, August 6, 2012

His first area, Las Arenas, in Antofagasta with Elder Rivas, Aug 6th, 2012

I´m way stoked to be here in Chile!  Can you believe I´m in Chile? It´s nuts!! So unreal to me. I hope we can have success. I´m trying to learn the best way to contact and teach so I can be a better tool to bring people unto Christ. My first meeting with the Mission President I told him I want a native companion, so he gave me the one from Chile. Chileans have different accents, so President Bruce was like good luck, I can barely understand him. haha But I´m starting to pick it up, he helps me a lot.  I´m starting to understand everything people are saying, it´s ton´s more than my first day. I'm always learning, this little boy at this house we taught asked me if I was sick because of my accent haha. It was funny. It´s weird tho because with spanish I almost don´t feel scared to talked to people. I think I talk more in spanish than english.

I talk to everyone on the bus and stuff but sometitmes my trainer goes 'wait till you can speak more'. I can´t wait to be fluent and start contacting everyone! Another crazy thing is the buses. Holy cow my first one I thought I was going to die, they think theýre like sports cars then fly! Then stop two inches from hitting the car in front of them. They are super crazy!  It´s cool, we´re in like a computer hut with a bunch of computers and we just pay for the time. Kinda crazy how poor my area is. I think it´s one of the poorest of all Chile. Idk if I wrote in the other email,  but it´s in Antofagasta so there´s like a ton of people and stuff. At times it´s kind of scary though cuase my companion told me not to take all my money with me.
So story time, yesterday was my first Sunday in the ward. the chapel is like a little bit bigger than our releif society room. and nobody can play the piano, so it´s whatever you call when you sing without music. It´s different, but I like it. I bore my testimony talked about how I know I'm doing God´s will and if we work together as a ward we can help others come unto Christ stuff like that. I felt way good about it then after the meeting the bishops daughter comes up to me and goes´when you gave your testimony, you were using your hands like a rapper, like 50 cent and eminem.. are you a rapper??' I was like sweet, I hope that's not what everyone was thinking. ha Oh well. My companion said most people in the ward said good things about me.
It´s frustrating having all these people around you talking and not being able to understand. I can only understand like certain parts almost enough to get the jist but they talk to fast. But it hasn´t really stopped me from sharing with people the message. I talk to people on the bus and like the natives are almost like too scared to, and they speak spanish! It´s not fair. When I´m fluido it´s going to be so much more sweet!
I kind of feel bad tho, cause it´s like I don´t think they have a ton of things ya know and I have an ipod and touch screen camera and when he saw my house he was like woah!! idk it´s nuts. where I live is tiny you´ll see the pictures I´ve taken. It´s tiny and we live in the hood I guess. So normally we would stay out til ten proselyting, but in my area, like the heart of it, we have to go back to our pension area early, as soon as it gets dark. Then, our mamita, the lady who cooks for us makes us one meal a day.  So I have cereal, the one meal, then cereal. I need to go buy more things. In the MTC you have tons of food, now I rarely eat haha, but it´s all good. 
Today we went to this place like walmart it´s sweet and close to us. I was with three other missionaries and one of the laptops in the store was playing way loud rock music so I go up to it and played mo tab on the computer way loud haha it was sweet.  Oh another weird thing here is every person listens to american music. So on the bus all I hear is like Katy Perry and those kind of songs. It´s weird! So many things have happened and don´t even know where to start explaining, it´s like my mind is just taking it all in so it´s hard for me to write everything that´s happening. I like it here, although it´s tons more dificult then the MTC. This is hard work but it´s also way fun and super rewarding. It seems like a lot of people have let us in and let us teach them but theere not home when we go for the next lesson. That´s happened a bunch but I feel like this will be a successful area. But the spirit has been a comforter. I´ve never really felt in danger although last night we finished teaching someone late and we walked though the "hood" when it was dark, but luckily I had nothing on me.
It´s weird how different this is and how like poor the people are, it´s sad. and also I´m used to a ton of people going to church and not having a ton of inactives, but here they have lots. All the members say that the Bishop here is amazing because of all the things he has to deal with. I´m sure it´s a lot of problems with poverty. I´m not used to this. Not used to a lot of things here, but I´m adjusting. All the thoughts and ways I had of always being super clean have flown out the window. It´s impossible when you have probably the dirtiest area in the whole mission. There are stray dogs everywhere, it´s just crazy. That´s the only way I can explain it. We´re lucky to be able to live the way we do, so incredible lucky.

Because it´s so different, it´s kind of made me more homesick then I thought it would. Every night after working I go home and listening to my ipod, going back to english, giving my mind a little rest. But I still love chile! It´s different and everything, but it's awesome. me gusta! Like now to drink water I have to go to the store and only drink water bottles. I have a water filter but the tap water is nasty. Also the food. The food here is good, like the bread, but I miss american food too. It´s weird though because I miss everything, but I feel like this is just my life now. Like i´m already sort of used to it. just like-alright this is how it is so I'm going to love it, which I do.

Another cool thing is all the missionaries here a like best friends. Everyone I meet is really friendly, I´ve made a bunch of new friends already with natives and gringos. A few people I talked with told me I have good spanish for only learning for two months, but I've also heard the opposite. Soo idk but in Chile the spanish is so lazy and kind of weird. The only way I know how to explain it is they have almost a lisp. haha It´s weird, can´t really explain it, but yeah hopefully I will be speaking like a Chilean soon.

Well I gotta to go, I'll try getting on at the mamitas house to upload pictures today.
Hasta luego- love you all!
See ya,
Elder Farnworth

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