Arica: Life in Arica (Continually wiping dust off my shoes)

This week was another week in the life!

I feel like I haven't done a real good job describing Arica, so I'm going to just talk about Arica for a bit. The houses all run into each other and are made out of concrete, the architecture is super "squarish", if that's a word. In our sector we have a lot of "flaites". Flaites are kind of like gangsters in the way that they walk and talk. When we're walking around on the streets people will yell "Hello, my friend, how are you?" In English. I'll usually say something back to them in English, they'll look confused for a second and then smile and continue waving. I'm writing from an internet cafe, which down here are called "cibers". Their is way more energy in the streets here, probably because it's the middle of summer and no one has AC. It's good for us though, because we can always find people to talk to. 

Our city, Arica, is right on the border of Peru and Bolivia, as well as being the entry point to Chile for many other countries. We have a ton of different accents here and have taught Chileans, Argentines, Bolivians, Dominicans, Columbians and Flaites. Flaites are by far the hardest to understand. The "s" sound is completely omitted and I'm just barely starting to be able to understand it. The Spanish here is alot faster than the Spanish in Mexico, but it's basically the same.

So, we have to cook our own food. Most of the mission has "mamitas" but we are one of the few groups that don't. It isn't that bad because one of the elders in our pension, Elder Swett, likes to cook (Elder Swett is from Wyoming and a straight up cowboy; lasso, hat, boots and all). 

Some stuff that happened this week:

• I've been learning magic tricks from one of the priests from our ward that we take with us to teach. His name is Alan and he is the same age as Spencer, so when we're with I think of my lil bro alot.
• We had an amazing Family Home evening in the house of the Second Counselor/Ward Mission Leader. We talked about the Word of wisdom and then had a surprise party for one of our investigators. She was super happy and this was a blessing for us because right now we're trying to help her develop friendships in the ward.
• We learned how to make empanadas in the house of one of the members. They were super delicious, even if I bawled my eyes out while cutting onions. The sister missionaries thought this was hilarious.
• One of our investigators got married! This is pretty miraculous because he was ex-communicated because he wasn't married. He's served a mission and everything and is super excited to return to the church. We're working with the bishop right now to get him and son baptized!

I'm learning to love the mission and am learning the language super fast!

Continually wiping the dust of my shoes,

Elder Walker

Arica: Learning Patience

The weeks here keep going faster and faster!

This week we had two companion exchanges. One with the district leaders, and one with the zone leaders. It was super interesting to see the different styles that they have and I got some good ideas of stuff that I can improve on.

The language is coming along alot better. I still want to be able to speak more and be able to actually have conversations, but it's good that I'm learning patience as well!

This week was super cool because of one experience I had in particular. We were out on our schedule and were looking at where to go next. A name jumped out at me on our list, but we had planned to visit this particular person later. We decided to follow the prompting and went to this house, even though it was on the complete other side of our sector. We knocked on the door and the investigator was sick and asked if we could come back later. We were walking down the road and heard someone playing a guitar. We went up and talked to this man, turns out, he's less active and had been praying for the missionaries to stop by! Cool stuff!

We're making progress with alot of our investigators but sometimes it's a little bit frustrating because I want them to be baptized right away! Patience is a virtue that I need to work on, so with time I guess!

Other than that, things are going pretty good! Love and miss all of you guys!

Arica: Teaching Families/Learning the Language

This week was a lot better, and I think I'm starting to adjust to life in the mission! I'm definitely getting used to the no air conditioning and walking around in the sun all day. It actually isn't that bad anymore!

This week we've been working a lot with a few families. It's hard when about half of the family accepts the gospel and eagerly comes to church while the other members of the family don't seem to catch the desire.

We had a really cool experience with an 81 year old man we taught this week. He explained that his wife and kids were members and that his children had served missions.  We taught the restoration to him and before we left, we asked if he would say the prayer. At first he said that he didn't feel prepared, but we persisted. After the prayer I looked up and a tear was rolling down his cheek.

I like our area a lot because all of the members we talk to seem super eager to help us with the missionary work. We have this thing that we are doing with a stuffed teddy bear named Elder Rocky. He comes with instructions and the family does one different thing every night. All of the activities are focused on getting the members involved with missionary work.

I'm slowly but steadily learning the language, and I can now understand about a fifth of what is being said. I made a goal with myself that by the first month I would be able to understand most of what was being said and by the third, I would be able to speak to at least some degree of decency.

Last P-day we hiked to a peak that overlooks the city of Arica. There is a giant statue of Christ there similar to the one in Brazil, but a lot smaller. It was cool to be able to have a look out onto the ocean and the city together. I really do love being on the coast and wish that we were closer to the beach. I love the people and the enthusiasm that the members have here!

Nos Vemos,
Elder Walker

Arica: First Full Week

by Mary Anne 

Tommy didn't write a group letter this week, so here are a couple of things from his letters to his family:

• Everything is dry. It is so dry that even weeds don't grow.
• His companion is Bolivian and is trying to learn some English while Tommy is learning Spanish. His companion's favorite English phrase is "We need dance like cows". Tommy doesn't know why.
• He is getting the first taste of not being able to express what is in his head (every foreign speaking missionary has those moments.)
• They made four commitments for baptism this week.
• The members are enthusiastic about helping the missionaries.

(Still no pictures)