For You Americans

Hola everyone!

This week flew by and a ton of stuff happened! So Elder Santos and I started to do the Insanity workout in the morning so we don't get fat haha. And if you don't know what that is, just know that it sucks and I hate it. Anyways, on Tuesday we had our weekly district meetings in Tomè so we took our 2 hour bus ride there, had our meetings till around 3 and then took our 2 hour bus ride back haha. And by the time we got back, we were all dead tired haha. We literally have to take busses everywhere. Not around Quirihue cause its so small but whenever we have a meeting or something which is actually very frequently.

Wednesday was super fun. We had correlation with the Colemù branch presidency about our investigators and then we had to go to Tomè for a sleep over! We had a conference on Thursday at 8 AM and so we slept over at the zone leaders casa in Tomè cause it would be impossible to get to the conference from Quirihue in time.
 

The conference on Thursday was pretty great! Nicolàs L. Di Giovanni from one of the quruoms of the 70 spoke to us and it was supper hard to follow in Spanish but good practice for me. About half the mission was there in that conference so I got to see Elder Holt and Elder Kingsford again! I also got to see Hermana Burnham and we all gathered together cause we didnt really know anyone else yet.
 

Friday was a pretty rough day cause every appionment we had fell though. Every. Single. One. So we walked forever trying to contact people and stuff. We got a coulpe people after a while but man my feet still are aching from that day.
 

Saturday was pretty chill. There was a baptism in Colemù that we went to and the branch president`s daughter and her friend were baptized. After we got back to Quirihue we visited a couple people and then we went to play futbol with a bunch of Chilean kids. And holy crap, they are freaking good at futbol (thats soccer for you Americans). They made me look like a fool out there haha. But hopefully I'll get a lot of practice while I'm out here and I'll be a pro when I get back haha.
 

I had to give another talk this Sunday haha. That`s the bad thing about a small amount of members, you have to speak every other week haha. But I gave my 5 minute talk that sounded terrible. 

Two more important things I need to mention. First, the Nutella here is fantastic. And second, THEY HAVE NUTELLA HERE! Anyways, that is all for this week! I miss everyone so much, but it`s way better here!

Elder Evelo

 

 

A Seal chillin on the beach

 

Elder Bianco (my companion) and Elder Santos in ​Colemù plaza

 

Dodgeball is everywhere

 

A fire close to our home

 

A friend that follows us around

 

At the beach

 

Look it's a seal!

 

A view from the top of our house

 

 

Bienvenidos a Chile!

Holy crap I'm in Chile!! The past 24 hours have been crazy! The airport was a fun expirience haha but im glad that I had other missionaries with me to help out. The flight to Santiago Chile was sooo long (about 9.5 hours) and we were given full course meals and everything, it was awesome! When we got to Santiago we had to run to our next flight and going through customs made it take forver, but we were able to make it to our flight right as they were boarding. Concepción is beautful! I took quite a few pictures on the plane, but its so hard to appreciate how beautiful it is from a photo. When we went to claim our baggage there were a bunch of missionaries holding a big sign saying welcome to the Chile Concepción mission. It was such a relief to see them haha. We took some pictures with them and then we drove to the mission office. At the mission office we had a bunch of training stuff about health and finances and stuff. And then after all of that we had a meeting were alll the new missionaries had to bear their testimony and then we were assigned a trainer! My Spsnish during my testimony was super bad haha but I found out that my trainer and first companion is Elder Bianco. I totally thought he was a gringo (American) and i was super happy cause i could speak english with him, but NOPE. He´s Argentinian and he speaks no English at all! Haha So ive been having so much fun not speaking english at all haha but i know i´ll be able to learn faster like this which is good. After we got our trainers we drove to our area or sector. My first sector is in Querihue which is about 2 hours north of Concepción. The weather is super awesome except for the fact that its about a million degrees haha. Querihue is a pretty small town and the people here are pretty poor. Almost evryone lives in super small houses with no A/C. But the people here are awesome! They are so nice especially to new missionaries like me who know no spanish. Well at least i think they are being nice... Anyways, the branch here has about 15 or 20 members, and the church building is in our casa/pueblo. Its super crazy how small the church is here but im getting used to it little by little. Out casa is pretty small but i like it. After i unpacked a bunch, Elder Bianco and i went out to teach some lessons. Oh boy was that fun haha. I pretty much followed him around cause i didnt know what he was saying to me haha, and during the lessons i just sat there crying in my head cause i didnt know what anyone was saying haha. It was pretty rough but I could tell how awesome a teacher Elder Bianco is and now i know that i have a lot of spanish to work on. 

Things about Chile, especially in Querihue: There are dogs everywhere. Haha you cant look some where without seeing about 5 stray dogs laying around. We have this one dog that follows us around and its awesome haha. They told the new missionaries about dog bites but all the dogs here are super friendly. The money here is super inflated. Its about 620 Chilean pesos to one US dollar. So there are times when we are almost milionaires haha, but not really. Everyone here talks sooooooooo fast. Like holy crap its so scary haha. Every time some one talks to me i have to tell them to repeat what they said about 5 times haha.   

The past couple days have gone by pretty fast. Everyday i am learning more and more. Elder Bianco and i are pretty good friends now and i can actually understand the majority of what he is saying haha. The other elders in our casa (elder Watson and Santos) are pretty awesome guys too. I like Elder Watson a lot cause he is from Utah and speaks english haha. Im actually starting to talk to investigators and the members now! Only a little bit but more than the first day! Elder Bianco still teaches almost all of the lessons but i say a couple things now and then. 

This Sunday was pretty interesting. Like i said before the church is in our casa and it doesnt start until 3 which is awesome haha. But it was a good sunday cause we had 16 people there! Elder Bianco says there is usually around 18 people so thats not too shabby haha. It was cool though, and i got to give a small talk during sacrament meeting cause im a nooby. I can definitely tell that my Spanish is getting a bit better but i still need to learn a lot.

We took a bus to Concepciòn for P day so that we could get some stuff from the mission ofice and so that we can go shopping and walk around the city a bit. You cant see the ocean from inside the city but hopefully we will go take pictures and stuff a little later and I´ll send those next week. But other than all off that, everything is going really well! Super vacan! (vacan means awesome). Im so happy to be here as a missionary and to have the opportunity to serve these wonderful people. I love and miss everyone back home and i hope that everyone is doing great!

 

Elder Evelo

 

 

A picture of Concepcion from the airplane

 

I love Chile!

 

My first area

 

Elder Bianco with his new companion Elder Evelo

 

 

​Casa buddies (my comp is on my right)

 

I am rich!

 

Living conditions for some people

 

Our welcoming committee

 

On the plane

 

Our little room

 

Coming into Concepcion

 

My little buddy

 

This is why I couldn't call you from the Airport!

 

Van ride from MTC to Airport

 

 

Letter from the Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Evelo,

 

Sister Arrington and I had the great pleasure of welcoming your son, Elder Evelo, to the Chile Concepción Mission. After we met him at the airport when he arrived on Tuesday, we enjoyed lunch together with the other new missionaries.  Afterwards, we held an orientation and testimony meeting, and Elder Evelo met his first companion, Elder Bianco, who will train him to be a missionary. They will be laboring in the sector of Quirihue A and located in the zone of Tomé.  

 

A mission is a wonderful experience filled with challenge and success that strengthens the testimony and spirituality of each missionary. The greatest support you as a family can give your son during his time as a missionary is that of uplifting letters. Missionaries look forward with great anticipation to each letter from home.

 

It will be our privilege to work closely with Elder Evelo as he serves here in Chile.  We are blessed to have him join us in this mission and know that he will have many life changing experiences as he proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your support and for sharing  your son with us.

 

Sincerely,

 

President  & Hermana Arrington  

 

 

Carlos with President & Sister Arrington

Map of the Chile Concepcion area

 

 

Leaving for Chile!

Blog thing

Hola poeples!

 

This week has been a pretty crazy week. Not because a whole bunch of stuff happened but because some big stuff happened. First of all I was called to be District Leader of my district last Sunday because our old district leader wasnt being that positive to others. We only have a couple days left here at the CCM but it's still pretty stressful to be a district leader. Ever since I first got here I've been looking to others to be my example and to help my be the best that I can be. But now I have to be that example and help others. Its pretty hard but I know I can finish these last couple days with out killing everyone is my district haha. And then when I get in Chile in 4 days I'll be a noobie again!! Yay! Im really really excited about leaving for Chile! The CCM gets really boring after a while haha. Im going to miss everyone so much though, especially those that arent going to the same mission as me. I feel like my Spanish is good enough to be able to teach well in Chile but I know that I'll feel super lost when I get there haha. Oh also, I've gained about 10 pounds here already so expect me to be fat when I come back haha. I hope everyone is doing well! 

Elder Evelo

 

Final District Picture1

 

Final District Picture2

 

Showing date and time I am leaving the CCM

 

A nice bag I picked up here in Mexico. Also this is study time.

Some cans we collected as a district.

 

A picture of Mexico at night