1st Week in Chile!

Dear Familia, Wow, where do I even begin? How about here...I`M FINALLY IN CHILE!!! I wish that you all could see it here. The people live in such humble circumstances. It sounds like you already know where I am and who my companion is. I am in Chillancito, just outside Concepcion. We live in a very humble home. We have a plug in heater in our bedroom, but the rest of the house is freezing haha. We only have hot water in the shower. which I am very grateful for! However, if you turn the water up too much, all the power in the house shuts off. Its happened to me 3 times so hopefully I get better at it. My companion is Elder Maxfield from Salt Lake. He`s a Utah fan, but we get along fine. He played football, rugby, and ran track and cross country in high school. We're getting a long great! I have been blessed with great companions so far. He`s great at speaking the language and is really a good example. I`m learning a lot everyday tho its frustrating right now because I can`t understand what people are saying! I can pick out words here and there, but Elder Maxfield does most of the talking , cuz I have little idea of what's being said most the time. Chileanos speak so fast too and Elder Maxfield said it took him about 6 months to be able to have a conversation with someone. I really have been praying for patience and help because I just kinda feel useless right now, but I know I´ve only been here a week and that this stage is all part of the mission. Our flight from Dallas to Santiago was about 9 hours. I was actually able to sleep about 6 hours, I woke up about every 20 min, but it was a good sleep for a plane ride. Then our flight to Concepcion was only about 50 min. Before I knew it I was having lunch in the mission home! President Humphrey is awesome! We just got some of our visa forms, took some pictures, had lunch, and were assigned and shipped out to our areas! Elder Maxfield and I did some tracting the night I got here! We're kinda in a refining and reactivating process right now. There were 4 baptisms the weekend before I got here, so we're trying to find more people to teach and there's a lot of inactive that we're trying to get to church. We have a few investigators right now that are pretty strong and one said they want to be baptized so hopefully we`ll set a date soon. The people are really friendly here and will actually at least talk to us before they reject us. So we haven´t had any doors slammed in our face yet. We have lunch with a member everyday which is awesome! Here in Chile, they have a huge lunch and small dinner. So its kinda hard to finish everything the members give me for lunch, but so far I´ve been able to finish everything! I really have a bad feeling that I won´t lose weight with all this food they give me! But I know all the walking we do helps haha. There's a hill right in the middle of our sector and to get to the top we take a staircase with 201 stairs! By the time we get to the top I`m pretty much dead! So my legs are definitely getting a work out. Apparently there was a 6.5 earthquake the 2nd night I was here. Elder Maxfield woke up and said things were shaking, but I slept right through it! I´m so tired at nights now (cuz I´m working so hard) I´m usually asleep within a few minutes. Church was great! One of our investigators came to church and we confirmed one of the baptisms from the weekend before I got here. I was asked to introduce myself in sacrament meeting too and actually wasn't nervous, But I probably sounded like such a gringo cuz I speak so slow compared to the Chilean people! Oh well..and I really couldn´t understand what the talks were about, but I was still able to feel the spirit which is what counts! We´ve already been asked to give many blessings too, so I´m becoming quite good at anointing people with oil. I still don´t have the vocabulary to give a blessing tho! I still haven´t figured out where to print out pictures, so hopefully I find a place soon. We went into the city this morning to take care of visa stuff, so next week maybe we´ll go back and look for a place to print out pictures so I can send. It sounds like you got the mailing address for letters. The one I believe it is... Mission Chile Concepcion O´Higgins 940, Oficina 502 Concepcion Chile Hopefully that's the same one you were given. Please change that on my facebook page also. And here's what I´ve heard about mail. . Dear Elders are printed out every week too, so if we make a trip to the mission office, I believe I will get those every week as well. And hand written letters in envelopes take 2 weeks to get here. As far as packages, I sent 3 boxes home as well as my sleeping bag via Cash on Demand. Let me know if you get everything! I hope everyone is doing well! Its so great to finally be out here in the field. The 18th of September is Independence day for Chile, and this year is their 200th year of celebrating Independence, so there's a lot of fiestas and partying going on. The ward is having a talent show, and me and Elder Maxfield have to come up with something to do! Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and I hope Clay gets better. I´d love to hear from anyone be it email or DearElders, or even letters too! Although it may take about a month to get a response from me that way because letters take 2 weeks to get here. Glad to hear that Peach Days was fun for everyone! That's a real bummer that BYU lost to Air Force! That's like the first time in forever! They should have all the kinks figured out in 2 years when I get back. I love you all! Have a great week!!! Elder Mortensen