The office elders prior to August 22 "cambios."
L to R, Elders Coria, Klinkefus, Nelson, Mietchen, Davis, Goodman;
Carmen, Barker, and Abel.

 Elder Barker, the office financiero, aka "Mr. Incredible."

Elders singing "Called to Serve"

 So today we traveled with the Goodman's to La Cascada, which is a small town off the coast of Lago Llanquihue about an hour south of Osorno.  About a 45 minute hike from the edge of the town is a huge waterfall that measures 138 feet.  We had an amazing time.  The six of us office elders went with them and we were able to take a lot of pictures.  I uploaded a bunch of them to dropbox.  The family might enjoy them.  It was really cool.  I remember hiking up Workman Creek I believe it was, with some friends a while back, and when I saw this one I was absolutely astonished at the difference in size.  I have never seen so much water falling so fast constantly.  Just being at the bottom there was quite the bit of wind just from the water flow.  Even getting down to the same level of the waterfall you get soaked.  Enjoy the pictures.

August 2012

I have begun to realize that being here in the office has really lessened the amount of time that we have to be in the sector proselyting.  Talking among various Elders with whom I have become close, and during studies and prayer, I have come to realize that it can change.  Throughout this week I have been praying, studying, and doing everything possible to find a way to be able to accomplish what the Lord wants in our sector and at the same time fulfill with our duties here in the office.  Everything is possible with His help, and anything can be achieved.  Success depends on will, and the Lord blesses us accordingly.  This week I have managed to organize everything I do in the office to a much more compact schedule.  Instead of planning to leave at 5pm (which normally leads us to getting out around 5:30 or 6), my schedule is now built to leave at 3pm like missionaries who are not in the office.  It has been very discouraging to leave so late and not have a whole lot of time to work where it really matters.  I have found that when I really strive to get everything done, it happens.  

     Today we had an amazing zone activity.  Well there wasn't anything too special about it but we are all awesome people so it made it fun.  We left at 8:30 this morning on a bus to go to the Osorno Volcano.  It is a 2 hour bus ride that was really fun.  We got to the Volcano, but a ways up the mountain we had to stop because the bus couldn't make it any farther.  We walked up the rest of the way, probably about 30 to 40 minutes, taking pictures and throwing snowballs the entire way.  I had never been in wind so strong nor snow that heavy.  We got to the ski resort up at the top, and met a guy who was from Australia but had worked in some of the major resorts in Arizona and Utah.  He pointed out to us where we could go up the hill to the side of the resort.  It was not open today so we had free reign of the place, even though the lift wasn't working.  We had bought a huge thick plastic sheet quite a bit larger than a tarp, and carried it as far up as we could make it.  About 12 of us got on this giant tarp and slid down the mountain in a line.  It was so much fun. It was extremely cold weather and everyone ended up getting absolutely soaked.  The snow was blowing sideways and would hit hard too. I was really warm though.  I had my thermals on, and jeans, and my rain pants that go on top of that.  I got to make good use out off the large winter boots that I have been carrying around as well.  They are extremely warm and absolutely no water could get in them.  I was really really warm.  However when we all got back to the bus everything was pretty much just wet so we joked around and did what we could for the 2 hour ride home.

Today we went as a zone to Niebla, which is where an investigator, Marco, lives. He gave me the keys to his house and we went and had a barbecue in h

Well this morning I had a little interesting venture. Actually Saturday night I decided I wanted to try something new. I was able to get ahold of a small teflon pan and a spatula in order to cook my eggs in the mornings. A few days later (Saturday) I was looking at the pan and spatula sitting in the kitchen and then the thought that general conference is coming up popped into my mind. I then remembered the delicious tradition of making omelets that dad always does. So I took the honor of buying a pepper (that had half red half green... fairly interesting), an onion, a tomato, thickly sliced "bologna" type meat because that was what was available to chop into cubes of ham, cheese, and some bread. I had quite the fun time making omelets this morning. And Im sure the other three missionaries I lived with enjoyed them too. They turned out quite well. I sent some pictures of the experience for you all to enjoy.