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.