November 29, 2010

hey everybody! jk this week went really good. things with my companion are really awesome he is a really cool guy and we are starting to finally have some success which always helps your relationship. the first two weeks with him were kind of rough we were just working really hard but we just werent getting anywhere and it was really frusturating. this week though we finally started to have some really good lessons people finally started to come to church and it was just a great week. there was still some crazy stories. on wednesday it was such a werid day. we were teaching this older lady, and i dont remember how in the world it came up but she was like i am a prophet, and saying all this werid stuff, that she had gone down to the river and had baptized herself. so then we tried to explain that she needed the authority like john the baptist and thats when she said that he had come and given her the authority and had told her to go and baptize as many people as she could, but she was hungry so first she went and ate first. no joke thats is really what she said, and she was totally serious. it was so hard to keep a straigth face during that lesson. lol. so that was really werid, also this crazy person got a microphone and was like yelling in it all wednesday moring, it was such a crazy day. they dont celebrate thanksgiving here but my companion is a gringo too so on thursday we cooked french fries, rice, this sauce stufff, and then yogurt and fruit for our thanksgiving. we didnt have all the delicious pies but we weren´t forced to eat turkey (thats the only part i don´t miss about thanksgiving) i think its a fair trade. this one place in our zone has 4 gringos in it and they actually cooked a full thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all it was crazy. it was really fun, then after that we went on splits with the zone leaders which was good. right now i am in curanilgue which is a town about 1 hour from lebu. my companion had a leader training thing in concepcion today so i had to come here with some other elders. its been fun, and it was a really good week. i realized this week the importance of charity. before i think we were just teaching and being robots, we really werent working with our hearts it was just doing it to do. i really think that is what made the difference this week, we really started loving the people. chile really is awesome i couldn´t ask for a better place. thats another thing we did differently this week was trying to be really positive about everything. so ya everything is great, thanks for everything.

 

love

 

elder brimhall

November 22, 2010

this week went really well. we worked really hard,and taught a ton of lessons. it was kind of sad at church though because none of our investigators came to church but it was still a good week.it is hard becasue there are a ton of evangelicals here, which is a church. they tell all these lies about joseph smith and all sorts of werid stuff. its still great though i really love it here. there are a ton of great people here,and i couldnt ask for a better place to be.  we went to a catholic funeral it was crazy. the mom of the branch pres in a different town died and they had the funernal here in lebu, so the mission pres asked us to go to give him support. it was so werid.they have all these crazy pictures everywhere and crosses and it was just crazy. the pastor guy was wearing a purple robe and i dont think he even mentioned the women who died it was just a normal surmon like he would give on any old sunday. they also have this band in the back ground that just starts playing at randomn parts of the surmon. it was so werid but a good experience. we had interviews with the president this week which went well. our president is a super cool guy. o ya some really good news we have warm showers now. its great it really does change your entire day. today was really fun, my old companion is in my district still so he came down for p day. we went to the beach again, it was so cool. it is really pretty and was just an awesome time. then we had a bbq with some chicken, it was fun. everything is going really well. sometimes i do get discouraged with the lack or success, or rejection, or that i cant say everything i want to in spanish. but then i try to remember the talk that elder holland gave when i was at the mtc. he talked about why the mission is hard. its hard because the atonement was hard, because salvation isnt a cheap experience. it wasnt easy for christ so why would you think it would be easy for you. in order to progress we have to face difficulties. every bad thing, trial, gives you a chance to apply christ like attributes in your life, whether it be charity, patience, or faith. i love you all thank you so much for all your letters, and prayers.  

elder brimhall

November 15, 2010

this week went really well. there is a program in chile where we visit the inactive families in chile because there are a ton of them. we have to visit at least ten every week. we never really did it with my first companion, but this week we did. it was so cool we found so many people it was awesome. now we just have to teach them and help them progress. this week started out kind of rough, it was like every contact people would just walk by or say they were busy and didnt have time it was really frusturating at the beginning of the week, it was a little discouraging. so we talked about it and decided to do something different, thats when we started to visit the inactive families it went really well, and was really successful. there are still tons of dogs here, and but now there is this nasty disease going around its like leprosy for dogs, so there fur is falling out and and it is really disgusting, their tails look like rats, i ll have to send you guys some pictures, its pretty nasty. lebu is really cool its always windy so you can pass gas any time and no one ever knows because its so windy so you cant smell it jk there was a lot of cool things that happened this week, and we found a bunch of people. love you all thanks for all the letters and support and prayers.
elder brimhall

November 8, 2010

everything is going good, i got a new companion for my first cambio. he is from the united states utah, but he has been out for  a year so he can understand everything and is really helpful. its been good because he corrects me when i say a word wrong and stuff which i actually like, because i can already see a difference in my spanish. my other companion would never say anything, even when i asked him to so ya its been really good. his name is elder elder which is crazy. i am already tired of him having to explain why his name is elder elder and weve only been together for like 2 days, i wonder how he feels. but he is a really cool guy and i think were going to have a lot of success together. so the first day he came we went to visit this guy who we had a lesson with like a week earlier. so we started talking and this guy was crazy, we could not get him on track. we would ask him a question and he would just start talking about something completly oppostite. it was so crazy. then he just started off on this crazy story, that i had no idea what he was saying. in the middle of the story my companion stood up and was like ok were going to leave what you said was really offensive. then the guy started yelling at him, and was pointing to me saying that i didnt mind his story and that i was his friend, i just stood there with a dumb look on my face because i still had no idea what was going on. so anyway my companion walked out the door, and i followed but the guy tried to shut the door in front of me to keep me in, but i grabbed the door and pulled it open. so anyway when we got out of the house i asked him what the heck just happened, and he told me i guess the guy was using like every swear word there was. it was such a crazy experience. so ya that was funny. church here is funny, there is time, mormon time, chilean time, and then there is mormon chilean time. people are always late here its crazy. my first sunday i was freaking out because no one was here, and then after sacrament everyone comes in, in  a huge wave. this week was good, my companion is really good and i am happy to have him. lebu is great. the food is really good but i not sure if it is or i am just really hungry. so ya everything is great, i love it here in chile. my spanish is getting a lot better which has been really good. so ya love you thanks for the letters and all.

with love
Elder Brimhall

November 1, 2010

this week went really well. it was really fast, its crazy to think that in one more week i ll have already had my first transfer. its also crazy to think that i ve already been out for 3 months its crazy. the mission is really really great i love it so much. the language is still hard but it keeps getting better. i can talk to everyone but drunks and really little kids. drunks are kind of jerks a lot of times. the other day we were walking and one stopped us in the street and asked for money. i said we didn´t have any, and he was like what did you say, you don´t speak spanish i cant understand anything your saying, and just a bunch of stuff. i really wanted to punch him, but then i had to remember i am a representative of Jesus Christ so i just tried to ignore it. so i was a little disappointed after that, and feeling a little sad. so after that we were looking for a family, but we couldn´t find there house, the way chilean houses are numbered here are really weird so sometimes its really hard to find them. but anyway we couldnt find it, so we knocked on their door and a lady answered, and she was really nice. so anyway we talked to her for a little bit and found out that her nephew had just died. it was really sad but that is the way the Lord prepares people to accept the gospel, so on one hand its really sad, we get to teach her how she can live with him again and live with her entire family again in a state of never ending happiness, so its cool too. so that got me thinking ya that guy was a jerk, but when you are persecuted for Christs sake you receive blessings, so it all works out in the end. it was the day of the dead here or something like that but it was crazy, EVERYONE was at the cemetry yesterday, it was crazy, there were so many people. also they have halloween here so the last night all these kids kept knocking on our door, but we didn´t have anything, not even pennies, or walnuts to give them so we just didnt answer i felt kind of bad but hey what can you do. yesterday we walked so much it was crazy no one was home so we were walking all over i was so tired. so ya everything is going really well, i love it here. also i need a picture of everyone and your families if you can, so ya thanks again for everything.