Alex's Third Letter from Chile

Hey Everyone!

Ok so to answer your many questions, no your letters are not too long. heidiyou@, warrenyou7@ those are Elder You's parents emails if you want to write them. Speaking of how awesome Elder You is he gave me a Colo-Colo jersey which is my soccer team down here. It was way nice of him. He goes home in November so that will be sad. My zone leaders are Elder Rawlins and Elder Sornoza and Elder You is the district leader. My greenie meeting was good we had a ton of pizza. The only thing that could have made it better is if it were in English it is a flippin greenie meeting and it was all in Spanish which seems really dumb to me.

So far here in the mission I have been keeping a tally of things that have happened to me. I have kicked 1 dog in the face, have hit 3 dogs with rocks, been kissed by 1 drunk guy, have had a very long handshake with 2 drunk guys, been offered beer by 1 drunk guy, I have seen 1 drunk guy peeing on the side of a building and then another drunk guy sang me a song in English or attempted to. Also this week not a single person was home when they said we could come by. Samuel has gone missing. He has missed the last 2 Sundays, didn't show up to our appt. at the chapel and he doesn't have a cell phone for us to call and we cant go by his house because his parents don't like us. So it has been frustrating but luckily I can say me and Elder You have done all we can and just hope he realizes that he needs the gospel in his life. He has told us he knows it is true and wants to be baptizedso I don't know what is happening. The pastor was not home when our appt. was setup for and we have yet to be able to get in touch with the Mexican family.

Stake conference was good Hermana King spoke at the adult session on Saturday and President King spoke at the actual conference. We didn't go to the adult session so I didn't hear her talk but she did get up and bore a short testimony on Sunday she did very well. Llittle miracle to note, I really didn't understand much of the conference but President Kings talk I understood the entire thing. It was sooo neat! I don't know why but I did and it was cool. Also I am starting to understand the scriptures in Spanish when I am reading them a whole lot more now. I still am reading super slow but I am getting it. Overall I am starting to understand a whole lot more.

We recieve our mail once a week on Wednesdays from the office elders who drive around dropping it off. On p-days I usually wake up, do my push ups and sit ups, study, take a colectivo to the via la foresta chaple and play soccer. Then we come back to Malloco, I shower change into church clothes go to the store buy groceries drop them off at the pension, then go to the emailing building and email you guys. Then we get to work. We are in the Peñaflor area and my sector is malloco all the Peñaflor stake.

Now that I answered your questions I can now share some cool stories. First, I have met two returned missionaries who served under President Northcutt small world eh? (President Northcutt was our Stake President before he was called to be a Mission President in Argentina) They both loved him by the way. Two I know why I am was sent to Chile. All over the place there are cemented in ping pong tables with permanent metal nets haha. One day we were walking and this family was playing on one and I talked Elder You into coming with me so I could challenge them. I beat everyone there haha and we got their address and will come by at some point and try to teach them. It was way cool. On our way back to our pension there are these kids that are always there. The kids here call everyone older than them uncle or tio, so we walk back and they are always "tio! tio!" wanting us to play with them. One day we jumped rope with them and another we played soccer with them. When we were playing soccer it was 5 little kids versus us 2 missionaries. We had such a huge group of parents watching us play with their little kids. I think it was a good thing because now everyone talks to us a whole lot more and I think they now think we are regular people just like them.

Here in Chile there are some big holidays coming up. One is this Saturday not really a holiday but on Sept. 11 a long time ago some college students were killed protesting. Now every Sept. 11 everyone just starts rioting. We are not allowed to leave our pensions that day. The other is Sept. 18 Chile's independence day. It's their 200 year anniversary and it is gonna be 4 days of celebrating. I am flippin pumped. Basically every family in the ward wants us to come celebrate with them.

Last story was yesterday at our lunch appt. with the Dinoso's. We had just finished eating when their son came in drunk. They have 10 kids who are all active except their 20 year old son. He is a very funny drunk and was saying all this ridiculous stuff. I felt so bad for Hermana Dinoso she was so embarrassed and looked like she was on the verge of tears and left. After awhile they asked me for a spiritual thought. Don't ask me why you ask the guy who has been in Chile for 3 weeks and still doesn't know Spanish but I did it anyway. I shared my favorite scripture Deuteronomy 20 3-4 all about how Christ is with his people strengthens them and will save them from their enemies. I shared how that scripture has helped me through so many hard moments in my life and how through the scriptures and our faith in Jesus Christ we can get through anything. Surprisingly they all understood me including the drunk one. Hermano Dinoso bore such a strong testimony to his son. It was really powerful. Unfortunately I really think he needs to do that when his son is not drunk. He wants us to have something prepared for his son on Sundays now. Mainly he wants us to bear our testimony to him and start teaching him. You can really tell they love and are worried for their sons well being. They thanked me for my testimony and scripture it was really neat.

I am so thankful for my family. There is such strength in a unified and eternal family. I have seen that more here in Chile than anywhere else. When your whole family has the exact same goal in life it is so cool. Everyone is willing to help and build each other up. That is why God has given us families for that exact purpose. That is why the family is such a strong motivator for people to join the church. If you meet anyone, anyone in the world whose family is not active or not members they would literally do anything give anything to have a sealed family that can last for eternity. I love my family and everything they have done for me and for helping me be who I am today.

I love you guys and will talk to you next week,

Elder Leavitt

hey p.s. you have yet to send me everyone's birthdays. Say happy birthday to Kira for me love ya Elder Leavitt