David's Baptism!

Hola familia! I'm glad that you made it back from your trip(s) safely. I can't wait to see the video that Chloe made! It sounds like it's been kind of a crazy last few weeks. California looks like it was a blast and the lax boys are just as crazy as ever. Way to pass your tax test too!! I can't believe you and dad are going to Puerto Rico- you'll be a tiny bit closer to me down there. That's going to be so fun- I want pictures! Fiji 2016 would be awesome, I'm in for sure! That's too bad that Olivia's dive meet didn't go as planned :/ She'll get em next time.

So it's been kind of a crazy week down here in Argie-land. The cold actually isn't too bad, I hope it does warm up a little bit though. To answer a few of your questions, Malta is made from some sort of crushed grain/herb that you mix with sugar and hot water or milk. I would describe it as tasting a little bit like coffee, but not exactly. As far as the food goes, it's good but I'm already so sick of pasta and bread!! I'm getting fat! I still haven't had any beef, but I have had Milanesa which is pretty delicious. The reason that I haven't had it is mostly because my comp. has Chrons disease as well as ulcers, so she's not supposed to eat red meat (or fried food, soda, juice, sweets, etc.) because it makes her sick. Also, it's pretty expensive and the people here aren't rich or anything so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it too. Shopping for food is still pretty weird for me. Everything is in bags, they love ham flavored snacks and grape flavored candy. Also, just a few random things that I wanted to tell you in the last letter are that there are wild parrots in the trees here & they're super loud, as well as pink peppercorn trees everywhere. (The peppercorns actually taste pretty good, I'll have to bring some home.) And as far as Riley Crist saying that Chileans are the best, the people here would beg to differ. They basically hate Chile. My companion especially hates it, and told me all about how Chile betrayed them in some war that they had recently. I'm gonna have to take her side on this one, sorry Riley.

 

We had 2 big meetings "capacitaciónes" this week, which is mostly why it was so crazy. One was with our zone, and the other was at the mission office with Presidente. The main thing that we talked about was the "recorridos" (church tours) that we're going to start doing! It's going to be such an awesome opportunity for people to be able to feel the spirit that's in the church building and learn more about our beliefs and what goes on inside the building, so that they're more comfortable with the building and they have a greater desire to come and learn more. It's going to take a lot of work to be able to coordinate them with ward members, but hopefully we'll be able to start doing some soon. Besides that, we also had the baptism of David! David was working with the other Hermana's in Maipu for a while, but he actually lives in our area so they had to let us start teaching him a few weeks ago. He's an awesome guy who's ex-girlfriend is actually a member of our ward. He had a testimony that the church is true since the beginning that the sisters started teaching him, but he didn't want to have a baptism date because he felt like there was too much more to learn, which is understandable. However, we worked with him along with a member of the ward named Selene and set a goal for the day that he would be baptized because we knew he was ready, but then on Thursday he ended up texting us and saying that he wanted to get baptized this Saturday! Pretty crazy. It took a lot of work and 4 hours of cleaning the church building alone, but it's all good because he got baptized! It didn't go perfectly because while my comp and I were singing Divina Luz (Lead Kindly Light), the lights turned off, which was pretty ironic. And also, a bunch of ants infested the cake that the other sisters made to eat afterwards.. But it was awesome and he got confirmed in sacrament the next day, and is going to recieve the priesthood next Sunday!

We also threw a mini-party and burned the clothes of Hna. Gimenez, who just completed 18 months of being a missionary, which was a lot of fun. (Speaking of that, I just had my 5 month anniversary on the day of David's baptism- isn't that crazy?) And also, we have been having more success with investigators recently and we have a couple new ones that are awesome, but I don't want to write all about them yet because it seems like we get jinxed or something when I do, so I'll have to tell you about them another time. Things are looking up though, no se preocupen!

It's pretty exhausting being a missionary here and having to walk all over the place and catch buses to the middle of nowhere, but it's an adventure and we've at least started to help change a few lives for the better. It's the best, (and sometimes it's the worst, too), but I'm excited to see what the next year of missionary life has in store! ¡Que andan muy bien! Les quiero mucho.

<3,

Hermana Crawford

On the way to an investigator's house in Russell

(this one's for Jenna B.) A poor one-eyed doggie.. at least he has a sweater and got to lick the remnants of my banana con dulce de leche ice cream

 this is the best pic I've been able to get so far of the mountains

Hna. Gimenez with the sorpresa fiesta we threw for her- the theme was day of the dead because she's about to "die"

the quality is crappy on this one but it says "Maipú, the best place to live"

Hna. Keller & Gimenez celebrating the 18 month anniversary of Hna. Gimenez in the mission

¡SORPRESA! We had a baptism this Saturday for an investigator named David

David was pretty nervous so that's why he looks kinda freaked out in these pictures

David with the elders in our district, the ward member who baptized him, our ward mission leader (who does he look like to you guys?), and the bishop's 18 year old son