Emails received October 27, 2014

Here's my weekly account of the happenings here in Nancagua. My companion (ELder Dunmire) and I are scarily similar. It's awesome. But I'm killing him this change- meaning he's done with his mission after 5 more weeks. So that's kind of sad. But that also means that I'll probably be staying in Nancagua for at least one more change after this one, so I can help Elder Dunmire's replacement get to know the sector. Other than that, there's not much more to say!

Love,

     Elder Hamilton

Mom, you would be so proud of me. Just to let everyone know, a few days ago we took the journey to Santa Cruz and went into a Lider (Chilean Walmart) and bought a blender. Since my companion is dying this change, we're making green smoothies and running every morning, and he's stoked to get a nice bod for when he gets home.  Green smoothies and noodles are about the only non super foods here, so we make a lot of those. My defecations now have a healthy amount of plant matter in them, so I'm doing good.

Here's a real pretty picture of the Colchagua Vally that houses Nancagua. In the background you can see the Andes, and there's still snow on them for some reason- despite it being like over 9,000 degrees here. 

Mom,

     My comp is from Oregon, and he's like 6'1". Then there's Elder Almeida, from Brazil. His accent is really funny because he spoke portuges before the mission. He basically sounds like a gringo. Then there's Elder Miranda, from Panama, and he's really funny. This is his third change, so he got here 6 weeks before I did. I like everyone in the house a lot better than before. They're all just nicer, and funner to be around. 

     Dang, you're talking about singing hymns in spanish. I have completely forgotten all the English hymns I know, so that's weird to think about. Our church building is really nice for some reason. I'll try to take a picture of it this week and send it next week. 

     Some people have cell phones, but only the richest of the poor people. I don't know what you can send, because everything works differently here, but if I think of something I'll let you know. It's not that important, the nib I have will work, but thanks. We went to Santa Cruz today for P day to play futbol, and I sent you guys all letters, and it cost about $3,500. Which is like $7. So that was awesome. Pretty cheap. It's really sunny here, so if you could send me some more of that Neutrogena sunscreen from Costco, that would be awesome. If they still have it in stock. I don't really know what else, just whatever you think of I guess! 

     Love,

          Elder Hamilton

Emails received October 20, 2014

     This week was crazy. On Wednesday, my companion got a call from the mission president saying that he had to have all of his stuff packed up and be ready to go by the next night, because he was going to be a secretary for the mission. So he got all of his stuff together and the assistants to the mission president came and picked him up on thursday evening. And I was left in a trio with the other two elders that live in our house. Since Thursday, we have been able to enter whatever house we want, because now we don't need another priesthood holder to accompany us. And then, on Saturday night, the list of transfers came out, and these two elders are leaving nancagua as well! So I am the only elder staying in Nancagua for this next change.

     On Friday, it was some teachers' day off or something, so we decided to take a trip with some of the local hooligans to the big mountains that are right outside of town. We hiked so far, and there were no trails, so we had to bushwhack our way up the mountain. We got about 3/4 of the way up, and then we had to turn around so we could make it back home in time to be ready for an appointment.

     Then, today, we took a trip to the mountains across form that mountain, where there's a really big catholic virgin statue. I'll send a whole bunch of pictures, because it was so pretty, and we could see all around the big valley that Nancagua is in. 

     Also, in the coming months, when you buy grapes, look on the label for Chile Nancagua or Colchagua, because Nancagua is the main exporter of grapes to the states, and they all tell me that they send a whole bunch to california. 

     So yeah, sorry that this email is kind of suckily made, but I'm going to send a whole bunch of awesome pictures to make up for it. 

     Love,

          Elder Hamilton

Mom,

     To get the nib go to goldspotgifts.com and then look up Pelikan M215. The nib is the part that touches the paper, and it should be like $30. If there is a size FINE available, that would be great, but if not, MEDIUM will be almost the same. Either one will work. Thanks!

     We actually didn't teach a whole bunch this week. Everyone here works in the fields, so they get up super early, get home super late, and when they are home they're either eating or sleeping, so it's a bit difficult. I'm getting a companion tomorrow though, so that's going to be good. 

So this happened today. We don't know why it's a thing, but here it is. Everyone we've talked to says that this happened for like 5 days before the big earthquake in 2010, and that whenever it happens, that means at least a small earthquake. So this week might be crazy. But it might just be a myth, I guess we'll find out!

On the way back down the mountain on Friday, we started flipping over rocks, and this is what we found underneath one of them. As you can see, it doesn't like my camera, and it's not afraid of people. This is the biggest one we found, but we found a whole bunch almost as big as this one. 

And here's the view from the almost top of the mountain. 

Here's the trio that I have been in since Thursday. We're up on the mountain you can see from our house. The ones that are sometimes covered with clouds. 

Here's  some pictures of the amazing sunset on the way back to Nancagua from La Orilla. Enjoy.

Here's the view from the very top of the mountain with the virgin statue on it. The big mountan in the background is the one we almost summitted on Friday. There are going to be soooooo many grapes coming out of here in january/february.

Email received October 13, 2014

Hello!

Well, this week, on the ninth, marked one month in Chile, and it feels like it's gone by so fast! I've learned so much, and my Spanish has grown soooooo much. In the original language of Chile, Mapuche, the word Nancagua has two meanings. The first one is something close to "jump over water," and the second one is literally "city of apostacy." The second meaning is very very true. The missionary work is barely happening here, but were still doing all we can. No one wants to talk to us, but we just make it fun. And the members that are here are really nice, and they know that we're having a hard time, so they're extra nice. This morning we had a little 15 second tremor, so that was cool. We could feel it pretty well up on the second story, and it was kind of fun. Well, here's my picture letters, and I'm gonna respond to individuals now.

Love,

Elder Hamilton

Here's the way out to a little poblacion called La Orilla. It's super pretty because it's spring and all the plants are growing super fast, and there's always birds, bugs, dogs, and whatever other animal making noise. There's a whole bunch of little irrigation canals in the dirt, so there's that noise too. It's always super peaceful.

Very very very little happened this week that was worth taking a picture of. But my trainer inherited this investigator progress board from his old trainer, and we just got it this week. It's freaking awesome, and I thought I would let you appreciate it as well. 

To Baby Sis, she told his about her week…

Dang, that sounds crazy. Hey, I'm gonna send you a letter sometime soon hopefully, because I got your letter this week. I just have to go to a town with a post office. (The closest one is half an hour away by bus :/  )

To Mom

Hey,

Yeah, we got to watch conference this weekend. I was worried that I was going to have to watch it in Spanish, but luckily they shoved us into the clerk's office at the last second with a laptop, so we got to actually understand it! I agree, it was really cool. Did you notice that the first three speakers on sunday morning all spoke about how the prophet makes big decisions, and that we need to do exactly as he says, because he can't tell us to do something that's not right, even if we don't like it? We were all freaking out, and we thought he was going to reinstitute polygomy or something crazy. Luckily, he didn't announce anything at all. 

We just had an investigator move really far away. And we just had another investigator's grandma tell us that we couldn't come back until her grandson is doing better in school. So that kinda sucks, but we had some guy ask for a book of mormon on the church website, so we hooked up with him and he's super stoked. But we're 99% sure that he's a druggy, so we're gonna have to eventually tell him that he can't do that any more... BUt yeah, this week we're focusing on finding new investigators, so we're going to be doing a lot more contacting. Which I am terrified of, but I guess I'll eventually get comfortabe with it.

Love,

     ELder Hamilton

I asked if he got the package we sent…

Yeah, I had to go to Rancagua on Friday for a new missionary training, and I got it there! Thank you so much for everything in there! The notes especially! The slippers are perfect, and I didn't realize how much I miss normal food!

Talking about the coat we sent….

​Yeah, it's like spring summer here, so some days its hot, but some days the clouds never leave and it stays super cold, so that was good!​

Nancagua kind of sucks, but the members are super awesome because they know that no one wants to talk to us. I feel like I'm not getting enough opportunities to contact or teach or anything because no one ever answers their door, but we do a lot of practices. And it's all in the attitude, so we just make it fun. A member told me that ALL of the food is super food. Even the vegetables are synthetically grown. So that sucks. I think I'm gonna take some money out of my card and buy a blender the next time we go into rancagua. If that's ok with you and dad. And some members grow and sell lettuce, and I'll buy fruit from the farmers market each friday. So yeah, there's that.

Also, can you give me Uncle Josh's email address and street address? While I was in the MTC he mailed me a spanish to english picture dictionary from the 80's. It's freaking awesome, and I want to thank him for it. Also, I don't want to be obnoxious, but in the next package you send me, could you send a 32gb flash drive? Elder Madsen has one that's aluminum and it's really compact and perfect. If you can find one like that it would be perfect, but if not it's not abig deal. I just want one because we have found the best way to get inside houses is to share mormon messages videos, and when my companion isnt my companion anymore, I won't have access to a flash drive. And its not super important, but if you could send a new nib my way that would be cool. It's not super important, and don't worry about it too much. 

One more request: My headlamp and some extra batteries. The power goes out sometimes, and we're not supposed to have open flames in the mission house (candles) so it kind of sucked. Thanks so much, and don't feel like you have to send a package for a while! unless you want to. but it was really expensive. your choice! I don't actually need any of this stuff, it just makes living in Chile a lot easier!

   Email received October 7, 2014

Coca Cola wouldn't be a thing if South America wasn't a thing….

 ​Hey guys! This week was pretty laid back, but by no means did we relax. First I'll address the subject of this email. I honestly believe that if South America didn't exist, the Coca Cola company would not be in business. The Chileans (I don't know about the rest of the South Americans) drink SO MUCH soda. It's crazy. Earlier this week we walked way out to this poblacion called Callejones, and we asked this house very clearly for some water, and they came out with ​two glasses of soda. And that happens every day. They have soda with every meal, whenever they're thirsty, and whenever they feel like it. These big soda trucks are always driving around to restock the little almacens and soda stores. Not joking. There are whole stores dedicated to soda.

     So today we went to Pichilemu as a zone, which was awesome. We rented out this guy and his bus, luckily he was a bus driver as well, and he took all of us over to Pichilemu. It's this gorgeous beach that they have world surfing competitions at. In the summer, which is fast approaching here on the other side of the equator, they get massive waves, and it's a big touristy area. But today there weren't hardly any people out, so we had the whole beach to ourselves. We went to this thing called Punto Lobos, which means wolf point, and I have no idea why it's called what it's called, but it was awesome. When we got there this morning, it was pretty cold, but it warmed up pretty soon, and we played frisbee, and football, and of course futbol, and it was super fun. And believe it or not, I actually put on a sufficient amount of sunscreen enough times throughout the day that I didn't get sunburnt! It was aweosme. 

     So everything in Chile is smaller. And I was totally expecting that. But I didn't expect the actual stairs to be smaller. I have had a problem ever since I got here of falling down the stairs almost every time I go down. My massive feet don't actually fit on the dang stairs, so I go down with as much foot as possible on each stair, but that's abviously not enough. I've gotten really good at falling though, but that's about the only good thing that's going to come out of the stair size here in Chile. 

     Later this week I will have been in Chile of a month. On the 9th. Time has flown by here, and I can hardly believe that I'm 4 weeks into my first cambio! (they each last 6 weeks) It seems like each week goes by faster and faster. 

     Well, thanks for wanting to know what's going on with my life! ANd thanks to everyone who writes back!

     Love,

          Elder Hamilton

Here's a picture of me at Punto Lobos. It's those two bigs rocks way behind me. 

And here's another picture of the beachiness of Pichilemu.