Elder Jared H Moser: E-mail and Photos

Hola!! Well, I was kinda sad when I saw the weather forecast for this week!! I thought it was gonna start cooling down a little bit too, it did a few days last week and it was so nice! But it looks like I will just have to stick it out for a while longer! It is not too bad though. I had a great week in the Islita, we definitely do not teach as many lessons out here as we did in Rinconada, just not as many people, but the people are just better though, a lot nicer out here out of the city. It was an interesting first Sunday here with church. My first week here was stake conference so this was the first one. There was about 30 people there yesterday, and us missionaries taught Sunday School and Young Men's cause the teachers kinda ditched, so it is gonna be an interesting time here! We had 4 people in the Sunday School class and two in the Young Men's. Kinda weak!! The only strong group here is the Young Women's - they have about 7 or 8. The President of the rama or branch here is a recent convert, so he relies on the missionaries a lot too, it is super different than what I am used to back in the states! And after Sacrament Meeting everyone just goes and eats grapes outside by the entrance to the property, so it is hard to get things started haha, but I am excited to work with the people here, they really are great people. And Dad, in the picture of Google Earth, I live on the very very bottom right smack dab in the middle of that picture. There is a little group of houses down there right in the middle and that is me. The houses that are in perfect rows were a government project that they did so the poor people could own a house. You can buy one for 600 American dollars, they are not too bad, small but nice. Pretty good price, I would say! And our church is right at the top of those houses in a street called San Antonio - it is one of the streets connecting that and the next neighborhood above that. My sector is only the new houses and the neighborhood above that and the one right below it named Concha de Correros, and above those is the other missionaries sector which goes up for about 25 km. They have a huge sector! This week we found a really good family. The parents just got divorced but are still living together, but they seemed really interested so it should be fun teaching them. They have a 16 year old son that is really awesome and is the most interested so I am excited to work with him. There is also another 12 year old kid and his mom we are teaching, and he has a baptismal date for the beginning of May because kids under 14 or so have to come 8 times before they get baptized, but he is doing great and loves reading the Book of Mormon, but other than that we really don't have too many that are really progressing too much, and we are kinda focusing on finding new people right now. Kinda hard with the limited people we have in our sector but there is a lot of good people to be found! Looks like you and mom had a great time in Utah, looks like a fun hike! My companion said that he does know where Lake Isabella is - it is super close to his house - what was your comps name?? Ya, and I am pretty sure that this part will get absorbed into that mission, and I am pretty sure I will be in this part when it changes so it should be fun! Lots of new different places I can go! Well I hope that everyone is doing alright back at home! I am loving it out here in Chile! Have a great week! Thanks for the letters! Dad, I still have not gotten the packages and we don't get mail this week either, so hopefully it is here by next week.

Elder Moser