October 25, 2010

everything is going well. this week was good, its a struggle with my companion of balancing patience and working hard, because he doesnt really work hard but i am learning patience and a lot of other good lessons. so i love letters and dear elders but i only get them like every 3 weeks at a big reunion or something like that so don´t be mad at me if i dont´ reply, the way mom does it i get an email and the dear elder so that is the best and would that so ya ask mom how she does that. we ran out of money so the last few weeks were fun. the money i brought is all dollar bills and there isnt any place to change it here only in concepcion so next big meeting i ll have to change it. but anyway my first month i really didnt know what was going on so when my companion spent money so did i, like we took cabs all over, because i thought he knew what he was doing and we would have enough, but boy was i wrong... jk its been good though. the mission is really good chile is great. lebu is good but there are a ton on evangelica people who are the people who raise their hands in the air and say i am saved. its tough because this people don´t listen really good, they meet together and have meeting every single day. there church is pretty much a party so its been tough. the other day i was walking wondering in my mind how can we compete with this chuch who is pretty much a party place, and then i felt this really strong feeling, it was like a punch in the face. it was like are you kidding me you are a representative of the only true church on the earth, the only church that has the principles and ordinances that we need, the only one that has the book of  mormon. it was a really strong experience. the members are really good here, and all love the members, too much sometimes jk. i still think we spend too much time just talking to them, but its been good they are all super nice. my spanish is still not very good. its really funny whenever i think that i doing good, the very next person i talk to just looks at me werid and turns to my companion and asks him what i was trying to say. its really funny and is a constant reminder that i need to be humble and always remember Christ in any success or progress. Chile is good we work hard to reactive families, chile has a ton of inactive people all for different reasons, from being offended, to the church being too early its at 10 (THATS impressive). so thats good to try to help people come back to church. i think the key is you just have to keep doing the little things every day like reading and praying. every day you don´t its just harder the next day, and then you get in a habit of not doing it and then its hard to get back in the groove so just do it every day. thanks for all your letters and support. you are all awesome and i love you all. i will also accept any food that you want to send, chilean food is good but nothin beats the good ole usa. we eat with members so its always a risk everyday to eat breakfast or not, because some people just load up your plate and if you don´t eat it all you are the devil, but sometimes they don´t and its not the best so you are dying by the time we return home, becuase in our mission we don´t eat dinner. so its a gamble everyday. so thanks again love you and continually need your prayers.

October 18, 2010

everything is going really good. this week was good we found a lot of people that are so ready for the gospel. chile is really cool. we were just walking down the street the other day and this guy stops us and was like i want to change my life, and become better. it was so awesome. then on wednesday night there was this guy lying on the side of the road, he was drunk really bad. so we offered to help him because he lived up on the hill and had to go up a ton of stairs to get to his home so we carried him up the hill, it was really sad because the guy was crying and you could tell he was really sad. so anyway we went back to his house like three days later to see if he was doing alright, and his grandaughter answered the door and we talked with her and she was so awesome and we are going to start teaching her. so ya we have been having a lot of really cool experiences. i still don´t really teach a lot which is hard my companion does most of the talking, but i am improving and getting better everyday and understanding a little more so ya its been good. spanish is still hard but i can understand a lot more now, i can actually hear words, before the sentences were just one long slured word. i broke a rule which i felt so bad about. we are not suppose to eat dinner with anyone. well one of our investigators has three kids and they are all awesome and cool, well the other day i cut wood for them and we always help them with stuff. so we went over yesterday and they had made completos which are like really good hot dogs, for us because i had told them that was my favorite food. so ya sadly i ate it, but really it was a lose lose situation. i really love my mission it is awesome something crazy happens everyday, but its starting to slow down a little bit and i am starting to get a handle on things. one thing that is still kind of hard is that we give our laundry to a lady in the ward and she does it for us, we pay her though. but like every week when you open the bag you get a strong wiff of like pond water. i think she just goes down in the crick as john wayne would say and washes them. but ya i am grateful i don´t have to do it but ya my clothes all kind of smell like the creek at the ranch. i don´t want to sound fairy mary but lebu is the most beautiful place i have every seen. it has like everything, forest, grassy meadows, a river, ocean, beach, rolling hills. i ll have to send you guys some pictures because it is awesome. today we went to the beach and just walked around it was so pretty and picked up sea shells. they were all over the place it was crazy, the chileans all look at you weird because i was all excited. its kind of like when some one from a foreign state comes to arizona and is all excited to see a cactus. but ya it was my first time going to the beach or even seeing the ocean so ya that was really cool. another funny thing about lebu is every day at 12 they sound this ridiculously loud alarm. i feel like i am in great britain and the nazis are coming, no joke. so ya i am doing really well, its still hard, but i am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel when i will finally know what is going on and will be able to understand everyone. thanks for all your letters and prayers. i really do appreciate them all. i love you all.

October11, 2010

this week was really good, it definitely had its ups and downs but overall it was good. the mission conference was really awesome and i learned a lot, it was mostly in spanish but i understood most of it and the president would say the important things in english so ya it was good. spanish is still really rough but every day i am getting better understanding a little more its slowing down a little more everyday. the members here are really nice sometimes a little too nice they like you to come over and talk to you for ever so its hard because my companion like to talk to so we end up spending over an hour at there house just talking about different things, so thats been hard but we talked about it and hopefully we don´t spend as much time this week. thats really my only two problems spanish and sometimes i don´t think we work very hard but other than that its really good. my companion is really nice and a cool guy not the hardest worker ever but is a good guy and i am grateful to have him as my trainer, i am learning a lot from him. the food is definetly different but its good (sometimes) jk lol. i am grateful but ya its crazy because they just load your plate up and if you don´t eat it all your prettty much the devil, so you just have to shove it down your throat. but in our mission we don´t eat dinner so it usually works out because your not hungry for the rest of the day after lunch and you don´t eat very much for breakfast knowing for lunch your going to have to force yourself to eat so ya its been good. our shower and our toilet flooded this week it was crazy. the water wouldnt drain in any thing, the sinks, toilet, or the shower. it was crazy and then it started leaking out and our kitchen was flooded. it was so nasty because the toilet wouldn´t flush so it pretty much looked like the one in the ranch house with poo smears all over, it was awful but its all good becasue now its all fixed. this week was pretty cool and there were definetly miracles. one that was insane was this we were going to visit this inactive member so my companion wrote down her address and we left. we were walking all over the street trying to find the house but we couldn´t find it. there this other house in the background behind this other house and we couldn´t see the number so we thought maybe that was it. in chile they just yell hello in the persons front yard so thats what we did. this guy came out with his little daughter and we talked to him for a little bit, and then he invited us in. we taught him and it was a really good lesson the best we have taught so far. so the crazy thing was that when my companion wrote down the wrong address it was 247 and he wrote 240. CRAZY!!!!!! so ya that was awesome i don´t know what will happen with that guy hopefully it all works out but he seemed so ready for the gospel and listened and really opened up to us so ya that was awesome and was a totally miracle that we found him. one crazy thing in chile is that there are drunks all over the place. we always say hi to everyone and when we do they start following us and its crazy. one time we were contacting this kid and the drunk came up and started to hug us. thats pretty much the test if someone is drunk here if they randomly come up and hug you out of nowhere when you are walking down the street. you be nice and let them but it is definitely werid and not to be mean but they smell really bad so after you smell bad too so its just crazy. also being an american drunk people love you no clue why but they do. yesterday we were walking down the street and this drunk guy with like 4 guys yelled for us to come over. i felt like the guy in the movie a christmas story where that guy is yelling hey you ya you get over here. so ya my companion went and i followed. they were nice not dangerous or anything just talked to us but it is crazy becasue they are drunk. so ya that was interesting. it just depends being an american some people really love you for it and some people hate you it just depends. also a funny sad story we talked to this older couple. the wife was really intersted in our message it was about eternal families, but the husband was catholic so he was like no thats not true when we die were not going to be married and stuff like that it was kind of sad, just to see someone really want our message but the other didn´t i wonder what his wife was thinking. todays p day was really fun we played soccer gringos versus the natives 3 on 3 with our zone and the gringos won it was crazy. the natives are all way better but they show off a lot so we just steal the ball and go down and score it was awesome. but ya everything is going well its starting to warm up the weathers nice. its really windy here i found out this week that they call it the ciudad del viento which in engligh pretty much means the windy city. , also yesterday we had to change our clocks to be an hour faster it still makes no sense why people do that but ya that was interesting. but ya there is so much to say sorry for this lengthy letter. the mission is really good i am having a great time. love you lots keep praying for me i need all the help i can get. lol. thanks for all your letters, love, and support. love you lots

October 4, 2010

also i almost forgot miracle of the week both my bags coming here were 49.5 lbs crazy right?? and they ended up not checking my carryon which i am sure was more than they said it could be so ya that really was a miracle. becasue they said that the carryon could only be 17 lbs. also last fact about chile is the drivers here are horrible the bus drivers weave in and out of traffic it is so scary. everyone rides their horns and are honking constantly it is kind of annoying. so ya tommorrow we have a mission conference which i heard are usually really really good so i have high hopes for that. well thats all thanks again for everything love you lots.

October 4, 2010

<hey hows it going so much has happened since i last wrote. My trip went well it was really long but i made it. the nine hour flight was crazy. sorry i wasn´t able to call but my calling card died which was weird because i only called dad and it said i was out of minutes so ya that was disappointing but your right christmas isn´t too far way. so ya sorry about that. it was so weird to go from the<mtc to the real world. there was all this bad music playing and all these bad pictures of girls and it was just horrible, you don´t realize how much evil is in the world until you leave for a little bit and then come back. so ya that was crazy coming here.... So n< let me start by naming the similarities between the usa and chile-------- ????ok thats the end of that list. jk but seriously it is so different here. The airport as very misleading, they have all these signs but they had the english translation under it and everyone speaks to you slowly. so i was like hey this won´t be bad at all and then you leave the airport and everyone is speaking like 200 miles an hour. When they say you won´t know what the heck is going on for the first 3 months i used to think they were exaggerating but now i am pretty sure they are serious. people talk so fast i cant even describe it. you really have to just here it because it is insane. the members in the ward don´t even talk to you because your an american and they know you don´t know whats going on.  its pretty frustrating because i don´t know what in the world is going on. but it is getting better i ve improved a little bit every day which is good, but i still have no clue what people are saying. any pride i may have carried with me into the mission field is now definitely gone. i have become aware of my own nothingness and as King Benjamin would say I am an unworthy creature jk, but seriously it has been hard. but i´ve been reading the scriptures alot which has helped and the second verse of the hymn come come ye saints which has helped me a lot. Also the talk that elder holland gave when he came to the mtc, he talked about why the mission is hard. he said it was becasue salvation is not a cheap experience. the life of christ wasnt easy, the atonement wasn´t easy and his crucifixion wasnt easy. if you want to be his disciple you have to go through a little bit of that pain. so ya that has helped me carry on and just keep working hard, knowing and trusting in God that one day i will be able to understand this language, even though right now it seems impossible.   i feel like the guy on the best two years. where he goes to buy bread and just has that dumb look on his face and has no clue what is going on. my companion is good but is not the hardest worker which has been tough, because i don´t know exactly what we are suppose to do or how to do them or the language for that matter. but we talked about it and hopefully that gets better. his name is elder orellana and is from bolivia so he knows a lot of spanish which has been helpful. The showers here are freezing and they don´t have hot water which has been horrible. i dread taking showers in the morning. i am going to become the smelly kid in class jk. <um so every monday i will be writing you guys, an every tuesday i will receive the letters so it is probably a better idea if you do as mom did and just email me back on this website and then i ll be able to write you back or else i will not be able to respond for a week. also i am now allowed to email other family members so if anyone wants me to email them just send me your email address. i will probably just send a generic to everyone and then  respond to everyone else individually. Sorry bridgette but i just got all your dear elders the day i arrived at the mission home so ya sorry i never wrote you back but i never got your letters. Que mas. um its good here, its been hard but so was the uofa and the mtc at the beginning and i ended up loving both of those so i just need to stick it out keep working hard. love you all o ya also a funny story we were having our study in the morning and this street vendor guy knocked on our door, so my companion was outside with him talking so i went out to see what was going on and when i went out the door shut behind me so we were locked out. we went to our land lord lady but she didn´t have another key so we were trying to open the window and other things but nothing was working. then the street vendor guy got this plastic soda bottle and cut it up and slid it in the door and unlocked it. <i was like i can tell youve done this before. it was good that he opened it so we could get in but not really because that means he could do it anytime he wants so ya i am kind of worried now i put all my valuable away and hid everything. so ya that was kind of funny. the people here are really good and are usually really nice. the kids are usually really cool but every once in a while there are some punks.but hey what can you do. i am in the city lebu which is freezing because it is right by the ocean and it is windy everyday. i wear that wool coat of jons like every day. by the way how do you wash that? Sorry for any mistakes i may have made typing this its on a spanish keyboard which is a little different so it is kind of hard. But ya i like it here a lot. o ya conference not gonna lie i didn´t understand very much, or for that matter really anything i was able to get little bit and pieces here and there but ya overal not very much. you´ll have to send it to me in english when the ensign comes out. the food here is ok, not as much fruit as i thought, and it is pretty much just as expensive as the food in the us. they do have this completo which is way good its a hot dog with mayo and avocado and tomatoe it is so good. <my mission president is really cool i like him a lot. also another funny thing was on the plane to chile they had like this 10 minute video about how chile was awesome and you shouldnt liter to preserve the beauty o Chile and it just kept going on and on so i thought chile was going to be all nice and clean boy was i wrong. there is trash everywhere. everyone pretty much lives in the ranch house but a smaller version no joke it looks so much like the ranch house its not even funny. if times ever get rough and we have to go out and live in the ranch house it will be all good with me becasue i ll have already spent two years living in something like it jk but seriously. it is good though becasue these people are humble and ready to accept the gospel. i think we ll have a lot of success here. so ya sorry i am kind of rambling on here there is just so much to talk about, but ya <i love you guys a lot keep praying for me i need all the help i can get :)Final funny thing of the day chilean don´t sell soda by the ounce like americans they sell it by the liter. it cracked me up when we went shopping for the 1 st time and i saw there soda they are so huge it was awesome. So ya thats all sorry this letter is so long just a lot of info so ya love you lots!!!!! 

Arriving in Chile

Dear Family of Elder Ammon Brimhall:

We want to let you know your son arrived Tuesday safe and sound and smiling. We picked him and 17 other missionaries up at the airport, came to the mission home for lunch and an orientation, then to a chapel where they met their trainers. Elder Ammon Brimhall will be working with the amazing Elder Orellana (from Santa Cruz, Bolivia) in the city of Lebu.

This mission extends from Talcahuano in the north to Loncoche in the south, about 5 hours by car. There are 180 missionaries, a 50/50 mix of Latinos and Northamericans, plus a few from Europe and other areas of the world. Missionaries teach an average of 30 lessons a week and each companionship visits 10 inactive families each week, so they stay busy. The food and water are safe and the countryside magnificent.

We want to put your mind at ease. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us directly at this email swensonjneil@aol.com

There has never been a better time or place to serve a mission than right here, right now. Following the earthquake and the announcement of a temple here, the people and the land have been prepared for the Gospel message brought to their door by your handsome son. It’s a privilege to serve with him in this wonderful work of the Lord. Thanks for your support and prayers.


Sincerely,

President & Hermana Swenson

Elder Brimhall with President & Hermana Swenson

Los hermanos y hermanas serving with Elder Brimhall