Alex's 21st letter from Chile 1/10/11

I believe this was taken at the Mission Christmas Party.

I recognize 3 of the Elders from some of Alex's MTC pictures but only remember two names.
Far left is Elder Nielsen; his companion in the MTC & Elder Moody is between
Elder Nielsen & Alex.

Hola family!

AMAZING WEEK!!! but I will save that news for later. So turns out I have been swearing like my whole time here and didn't even know!! I do this thing with my hands sometimes ya... well turns out it means F*** you mother! And no one has told me until I was at the house of an investigator and they told me. Crazy embarrassing right? So I just explained how in the States it has no significance and how I guess I need to work on not doing it haha. (I think they must say "ya" at the end of their sentences in Chile because Alex used it a lot while he was talking to us at Christmas and he is now using it when he write.)

This is the home where Alex & Elder Diaz spent Christmas

Also another funny story, the other day we were walking and here in the city it is like all walls in front of the houses and we were heading to an appointment and someone from behind their wall shot me in the face with a water gun!! I was so stunned I had no idea what had just happened.

But on a more spiritual note I guess, this is also a cool story, so every week we get pouch that is when we receive our letters and what not. Well in pouch for me and elder Diaz we received about 5-6 old paperwork for old investigators for our sector. Some were from 2 years ago. We have no idea who sent them or how they even had them but we passed by for them and found this one solid family that lost contact with the missionaries over a year ago! It is so cool and I am so excited to start working with them. This week also we got a ton of new mission rules. I guess some crazy stuff went down in another mission here in Chile and we are no longer allowed to take photos with the Sister missionaries unless you have your comp and she has hers crazy!

Another picture of the Elders at Christmas.
(Alex asked us while we were on skype if it looked like he had lost weight because people there have told him he looks like he has. It was hard to tell just from his face but we said maybe he had a little. In this picture where we can see him standing it's very obvious he has lost weight.)

It has been soooo hot here like crazy! The other night I couldn't sleep I was so hot it was terrible. Also all week my knee has been killing me but I have been living with it. I have been icing it and taking ibuprofen so hopefully it works.

A cool story, so a family of investigators that we have told me the other day they really like me because I am crazy and like to have fun haha. They said they don't like those missionaries that are pure work and as they said ¨Square¨ haha. So that made me feel cool. Oh Sunday Elder Diaz randomly was called on to give a talk with zero warning so that scares me to think I might get called on haha.

I am just so happy with all the progress we are making here and that leads me to my last and crazy awesome news. WE HAVE A FECHA!!! We set an baptismal date with one of our investigators for the 29th of January. I am just so crazy excited cause there has not been a baptism here for a long time. His name is Juan. He is like 50 something and his wife who has been like "I am catholic and not going to change" the whole time told us that he is the head of the family and with a little work she would probably follow or something like that. But Juan is amazing. He was a raging alcoholic like you could find him passed out in the middle of the street. But he has just totally changed his life and it is soo awesome. I love this guy. He is a little goof but he is cool. Just neat to see people change their lives you know?

To answer your questions, Elder Champion was in Peñaflor with me remember? But got changed and now one change later we are in the same district again. He is legit. He is one of my best friends here in the mission. He is from California too up near San Francisco. Elder Nielson is actually in my Zone now. He is doing way better and is normal now. I like him and we have some good conversations. I think the MTC was just hard for him. And I wrote the family back and will mail it this week.

Hey, so I am starting to make a package to send home cause I have a bunch of stuff that piling up ya? So I want to know if you think I should send home my journal. I have about a weeks amount of pages left in it so I think I will send it what do you think?

Christmas in a missionary apartment.
Elder from England, Elder Diaz, Elder Leavitt & Elder from Argentina

Well I feel like this is a short email but there are pictures so that makes up for it. I love you all a ton and will talk to you later.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Leavitt