March 5, 2018 (transcription from audio file)
Hola, muy buenas tardes a mi familia y amigos.
Es la tercera semana del cambio número trece en la misión Chile Rancagua.
(note from Elder Olson's mom: I do not speak Spanish, but I am proud of myself for transcribing what he spoke in Spanish by guessing at what it meant and typing that into google translate...hahaha. So for the rest of you who don't speak Spanish, it says, "Hello. Very good afternoon to my family and friends. It's the third week of transfer number thirteen in the Chile Rancagua Mission)
Hope you guys are all doing well. This week was good. We spent a lot of time on trips to and from Curico to do things for my visa, my companion's visa, for classes and interviews.
On Wednesday we went down and had district class. After district class we came back up to Licantén and worked for a couple hours. We had an appointment in Hualané with a member who took us out there to visit this inactive member. And so we were going to go visit her and we got there, and she wasn't there. So we were kind of like, shoot, what do we do. And when we were about to leave her house, a recent convert from Santiago, who moved there to Hualané, about a month ago, who we contacted a couple days before, we ran into her on that same street. It turns out she lives right across the street from the inactive member we were there to visit. So we were surprised to see her but pretty excited about that and we were able to go into her house and visit her right away. So that was pretty fun. Well it was really cool that she was right there in the perfect moment.
I think that was probably the theme for this week. It reminds me of the talk by Elder Rasband, By Divine Design, about how there's no such thing as coincidence. We have definitely seen that a lot this week. There have been a lot of perfect little timing things that have worked out in a way that's almost too good to be true.
So after that, we contacted a couple people, we had a visit we had scheduled, but he wasn't there, and then we had to hurry and catch a bus to Curico to stay the night because the next morning we had to be up bright and early to do stuff for my companion's carnet, which is the Chilean ID. That took ALLLLLL day. It took a really long time. We took turns waiting in the line and while the rest of us went out and got stuff to eat, went to the bathroom. But while I was sitting there, the guy sitting next to me was from Washington, and he was married to a Chilean. So that was kind of cool. Something a little bit different. He was a nice guy. And oh yeah, also during that time, because it was really SOOOOOO long waiting, we went and I bought a new suit, because I had to stay close but I needed to buy a suit. So we took advantage of the time to buy the suit.
(side note from Elder Olson's mom: he messaged me a couple of weeks ago telling me all his suit pants were completely worn through between the legs...even the ones that had been patched once already. These boys do so so so much walking, and some bike riding, that their suits don't stand a chance. I'm glad he could get a new one.)
And then on Friday we were down there, we had to sleep down there in Curico again. We got up SUPER early in the morning at like 5 to go do stuff for my carnet. The secretaries had lost a document of mine for the Chilean FBI so we showed up there and got there just in time because there were about 50 Haitians who'd been waiting there all night, getting in line. Because what they do, they only give like 50 slots to people in line. So out of the 50, we got there and we were like 44, and the rest of them had slept the night there outside of the place. So we got there just in time. We got our number when they opened up at 8:30 in the morning. It was really cool because we got there with the ONLY taxi that was working that hour. So that was something pretty cool. Then while we waited we went and got breakfast in the plaza. We saw a member from Alameda, one of my other wards here, and he offered to give us lunch, because we didn't have anywhere to have lunch that day and we had interviews in the afternoon, so that was really nice of him. And so while we waited we found a place to get my suit pants hemmed and then we went all the way back to the Zone Leader's house, showered, changed, and got everything we needed for interviews. Then we went back and we got there EXACTLY...so our number was, we were 44 like I said, and when we got there, they were attending number 43, they were attending the person RIGHT in front of us. So we were really sooooo lucky that we got there right when we did. And part of it that helped was, the colectivo, the taxi driver, he took us all the way to the place. Here it's not the same as a taxi, it's called a Colectivo. They do routes and so where we needed to go was a little bit out of his route, but we were talking to him as we were going and he was nice enough to drop us off exactly where we needed to go. We got in right on time and got it all done. And then the afternoon, with interviews, I had to present on the importance of giving references, obtaining references, passing references, taking care of them once they've been passed...all of that.
And so that was pretty much our week. It's been a good one. It's been pretty busy but at the same time we haven't been able to work in our sector quite as much as we wanted to. But it's been good.
Hope you all are doing well. We are here, I started recording while we were waiting for lunch, and they've brought us our food. So, thanks for everything. Love you guys. Take care. Bye!
No pictures this week but a video...a glimpse into missionary life, as Elder Olson said.Language Study made fun.
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