Santiago Chile

Santiago Chile

Monday, April 27, 2015

April 27, 2015- Iorana!

iorana familia y amigos,

today I am writing here from Easter island! this is the island in the middle of the ocean that has the giant head sculptures everywhere. I arrived Monday late at night. it was a little scary to travel solo. I was alone for about 6 hours which is never what a missionary wants. Elder Macedo, Elder Swan, and Elder Espinoza (my new companion) picked me up and we went to the house.

Elder Espinoza is from Puerto Montt. he is Chilean. he is very awesome. Before his mission he was in a metal band, so we got right to talking about that. this is his 4th change in the mission, so he is still pretty young. he lives very close to the volcano that just erupted in the south of chile, but his family is OK.

the next day was our pday and we went on a tour of the island. they ride bikes here, and there are a ton of hills, so the bike is kicking my butt real good here on the island. we visited the beaches here and we took pictures with the Moai (Moai are the giant sculptures).

later that day, we met up with some investigators and we went fishing with them. they fish different here. they dont always use poles, but pbc pipe that is about the size of a can of wheat and they wrap fishing line around it. we didnt catch anything, but it was awesome.

on wednesday we did a service project. we helped this one lady cut down a tree in her back yard. we do a lot of service projects here. I got to meet A on Wednesday. he is an investigator that has been going to church for years, but he still hasn't  been baptized. he´s an older man, and he is rapanui (native to the island). he is awesome and always goes to church, but he is missing a testimony of joseph smith.

wednesday and friday nights we taught english. on thursday we had a regular day, and we got to be missionaries. the island is very different. the people here are a lot more laid back. they are very relaxed here. the contacts we do are a lot longer because they want to talk for about 10 minutes before you can invite them to hear the gospel. its not like santiago where everyone is busy all of the time. it is very different here.

on Friday we had a bike trip with the young men from the branch. biked aroung the island and visited these awesome caves. there are a lot of young men that are investigating the church here, so we came with them. after that we came back to the church and we cooked oi oi which is a rapa nui dessert (its like sweet stuffing).

on Saturday we had other service projects and we got to play soccer that night. soccer isnt allowed in santiago but here we have permission. we played for a while with some islanders, and some recent converts. I scored 4 goals, so I was a pretty happy camper.

on Sunday I got to know the branch. there are about 25 people that go to the branch. we dont have a branch president because they are in the process of calling a new one, but it appears that they will call one of us missionaries. I got to give a talk on agency, so that was fun, and I got to present myself. it is an awesome branch here. they are all very close. 

Sunday afternoon and night. we had lots of appointments of people who wanted to give us food. we visited with a less active named M who gave us emanapadas and a peruvian investigator who made us arroz con leche. it was a crazy week.

I feel very blessed because I get to be part of those who fulfill the scriptures that say that those of the house of israel that are scattered over the islands of the sea will be brought to the truth. I am very happy to be here serving my Lord and Savior. It is a completely different mission here in the island, but I am doing my best to adapt and help the people here come unto christ.

Love, Elder Williams

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