October 18 update

The major news of the past week in Chile, of course, was the rescue of the 33 miners who had been trapped for 69 days.  The missionaries tried to keep working, but didn't get a lot of response during the time that coverage was on.  We asked Elder Kenison how much of the rescue he saw.

I saw the machine that pulled them out. pretty sweet. haha everyone was talking about them. we got an update in the street all of the time. haha it was funny because while we were walking around there was some kid that started yelling at us (like "Hello, how are you?") just trying to be funny. the thing is I had NO IDEA what he said. so i said "¿QUE?" (what) and he just stops... thinks and says, "hay dos mineros mas" (two more miners) hahaha elder carvajal and I laughed. but it was good to know

Work in the Esmeralda Branch continues pretty slow, but the missionaries are working hard.

we're just trying to find some new ones. we've knocked SO many doors and contacted SO many people. hopefully some of them will progress. the problem is that there is a rule that is being enforced in our mission now. that we cannot enter a house unless there is a guy there that is age 16 or older. so it's been kinda hard from like 3-7 in the afternoon because ALL of the guys are working. but it's been good still. just trying to help the Branch start participating :D we're planning an activity to act out parables from the bible. so i hope it all goes well. it'll be on the 6th.

We asked what kind of door approaches they use.

when we can find something to talk about besides the gospel first (something in the lawn, their day, for a while the miners, stuff like that) then that gets their attention and we ask them if we can bless their house with a prayer, or share a short message about Jesus Christ. one thing i've learned is that if you ask ANY chilean for help they are GLAD to help you (unless they're drunk)

On that last comment, he said there seems to be a much larger problem with drunks on the streets in this area than in his previous ones.

This picture demonstrates a typical missionary appetite. Matt always did like pizza...

haha also lunch yesterday haha pretty good. haha what is gone is how many 5 of us could eat haha it is a HUGE pizza. haha

The next photo looks like someone was having a lot of fun.

Noche de hogar. haha family home evening. we had a family home evening and we played a game. katharine won (bottom right) note that she doesn't have stuff written on her face. haha the game is that you pass around a marker or something and one person turns their back and says "la papa se quema" (the potato is burning) over and over and then when they say "la papa quemó" (the potato is burned) whoever has the item being passed around gets to have something drawn on their face (by the one who was saying "la papa se quema")

Last but not least — this was a photo to make his Dad proud.  Matt and I always had the tradition to go out for ice cream after general conference priesthood meetings.  He wrote,

after the priesthood session of conference i still had ice cream haha :D woot