About to Leave the CCM - week 5

Dear Friends and Fam,

    Last time I'll be emailing from the CCM! I am incredibly excited to get out of here (92 hours left just by the way). It's been a wonderful experience but I'm dying for a change from the routine. Although, I'll be a little sad to say goodbye to the friends ive made here. Luckily all of my district not going to Rancagua (just the Hermanas and Elder Tilley) will be returning to UT post mission so there's a good chance I'll see them again.

    I leave for Chile at 6 am on monday morning. The sixteen of us headed for Rancagua will all be flying together connecting through Panama City, arriving in Santiago at 12:19 a.m. I'm all packed, and I was a little worried due to a new 22 lbs weight limit on carry-on bags. Luckily I had some extra room in my checked bags.

    This week my Comp and I taught a lesson in district meeting because our district leader had another appointment and he basically uses our companionship as vice presidents. It was actually a really great lesson about overcoming trials through the atonement. My favorite scripture is on that topic (Job 23:10), and I also HIGHLY recommend going and reading DyC 121 & 122 (although if you want a shorter version just read 122: 5-9).

    This week has been especially exciting due to our discovery of a soda machine that dispenses random sodas. Our whole district meets up there after lunch, and we enjoy a fun little game we call Mexican Roulette. The machine once gave us a Coke, and we all are sincerely praying that one day we can get one too. It doesn't sound all that fun, but to be honest we're all pretty hungry for any form of entertainment here.

    We will have the opportunity to watch general conference this week, which I am super excited for. Luckily it's in English. Some of the apostles speak spanish though, and I really enjoy listening to  them because they speak really slowly and it´s really easy to understand. Keeping up with the translators takes a lot more focus though and I think going for that long would seriously melt my brain.

    The spanish is going really well for me though, we took an assessment with another district and I got significantly above the average (actually the second highest out of both districts, so basically I'm a prodigy). However, I know that it'll be WAY harder in the field. Chilean spanish is crazy fast and full of slang, but I think I'll get it.

    The church is true, I Love you all, and I hope everything is going well back home.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Olson

P.S. 91 hours left now..

Our morning Maestra (teacher), Hermana Nuñez

Packing up