September 21 update

Matt let us know at the last minute last week that P-day would be a day late this week  In true Spanish construct, Matt described the anniversary as

Chile completed 200 years

We showed our solidarity by flying the Chilean flag at our home on Saturday September 18!  But apparently Chile's Bicentennial Independence Day celebration lasted four days in the country, Friday through Monday; so all the stores were closed on Monday.  They would not have been able to shop or find computers to use, so P-day was postponed until Tuesday

needless to say it'll just mess me up because i always think it's a day earlier than it really is. haha

Same for your parents, Elder!  We managed to endure an additional day waiting to hear from him.

Of course, the holiday celebrations were pretty disruptive to normal missionary activities.  He promised to send more photos and details next week (limited time today), but he did comment:

yeah EVERYONE was gone or had family so was busy. it was just about a week of walking around trying to clean the SIMI (list of members) because people would at least answer the question "does this person live here?" so that was ok. but also we passed by for some members to see how they were doing. haha we've been eating LOTS of meat. haha empenadas and everything. and today we'll be going to Pomaire which is like a tourist center so hopefully we'll get to see alot of stuff :D

Pomaire sounds like an interesting place to visit.  It's about half an hour away from his current city.  Here's a description we found: click here

He did report a little on Maria:

with maria yes :D she's progressing amazingly :D she's having some trials but she's AMAZING in enduring to the end. her kids were out of town this past week to visit their dad (maria is seperated) but they'll be coming back today in the afternoon. :D Maria's personality is amazing though. she told us (after telling her about it) that she's really excited for General Conference :D we promised her that if she prayed with faith, she would be able to receive answers to whatever kind of question she has :D

We asked if the members were helping support their efforts in fellowshipping Maria:

yeah. the rule about us going into a house without a guy older than 16 is being re-inforced in our mission. so we've kind of had to bring members, it's helped to have a member there but it's so hard to get some men there because they all work but it's been good. also she lives really close to several members so that's helped :D

This was also an interesting response.  Matt has never said anything negative about his companions.  But we asked which of all his companions has had the most positive influence on him as a person:

all of them. all of my companions from disobedient and strict, to chill and stressed, have all helped me learn ALOT! so far the companions that i had the hardest time with i learned the most from. :D

Very interesting response!  We look forward to learning more details, probably after he comes home.