Christmas Letter and Video

Even though we spoke to Jamie yesterday, we got a letter today. Also, we (meaning Sam) videotaped some of our conversation with Jamie and that is included below. It's pretty funny with Sophie being Sophie for Jamie's entertainment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IipVUSfYiW4


HEY EVERYBODY!! :-D
Howzitgoing?! :-D Things are going alright here in ohiggins like I told you guys yesterday :-D That was awesome bytheway :-D
Hey Mom, before I forget, I loved all of the presents :-D I just didn`t know what to do with the cube and I didn`t have the time to say that they were all great cuz I had more important people to talk to :-D The candy is great because candy rules, and as well, its great to have enough for the entire zone :-D All of the missionaries in the house are very appreciative. Elder Colombo and Elder Bartel love finding out what REAL candy tastes like :-D That was one of the better moments of the week because even though it wasn`t Christmas just yet, I still got to get presents from the fam. Very very fun.
So what to say after talking to you guys in less than twenty four hours . . . Nothing much :-D Hey I was reading Dallins email just before now and I think its great how he`s doing in whatever its called, where he`s at :-D I don`t know who Elder Reeves is but I`m sure he`s a cool guy, and if not, I know enough people now that I can ``take care of`` missionaries with a few phone calls :-D Naw, just kidding :-) I`m sure Elders Gomez and Reeves are going to do great :-D
Something new, Elder Colombo and I are going to start a Choir in our ward :-D We think that this will be great for the ward cuz they kind of need a boost in morale (the beatings will continue until the morale improves) :-D and they are kind of off key, the members. We think this is good because people who don`t like to sing wouldn`t sing loud enough for us to hear them in the meetings :-D Sing ho for singing! :-D
I don`t know if I`ve said this but I think that Danny is going to be a great help :-D I feel bad that I`m not going to meet her ( I think you said that she`s going to stay for a year, mom), but I`m still looking forward to letters :-)
I`m just kind of rambling cuz, one its kind of fun, and I don`t have anything else to do and I have the time to do it :-D
I`m doing alright through everything :-) I was thinking the other day ``Why don`t people stop to listen to us, why is it so hot, why don`t people get baptized, why why why, whine, whine, whine`` and then my angry get things done side of my mind was like ``You wuss, you`re a missionary, its supposed to be hard! Get sunburned, get rejected, be tired, Do Your Best, cuz thats what you`re supposed to do.`` I am kind of sad that its a little more difficult than it has to be here in ohiggins but Me AND Elder Colombo are both determined to make a huge change in the sector. Elder Colombo told me last night that he wants to leave ohiggins so that all the missionaries after us will say ``Of course we can baptize here``. I was like ``Amen`` :-D He showed me a very cool talk from someone that I`ll get a copy from later but a part that I liked in it said something like ``We are here to do our best. We do not have the time to be afraid that we cannot make a difference``. :-) Let the sun fall, let the sky collapse, we have work to do and only a little while to do it. Vamos, No màs :-) Very inspirational I thought.
So I`m aight.
Hey I don`t know if I said this, but it was really cool to see everyone yesterday :-D Everyone looks good and Sophie seems to have gotten bigger :-D Nice camera and blanket sam, your hair is as fluffy as always. Grace and Meri, you both looked pretty and mom and dad, you both looked good as well :-) I miss you a ton but I don`t feel like the next Christmas is really all that far away :-) and all the months after that are all downhill :-D Sing ho. For real, it was really really cool :-) Elder Colombo says that seeing the fam isn`t something that makes missionaries miss home a ton more than it gives us a boost to work and I agree :-) Thank you all.
So Hey, I`m sending a little christmas package, the thumbdrives, and the Ipod. I decided today that perhaps you guys should hold onto the Ipod for now. I really REALLY like it, but I am horribly distracted with it as well :-D I was thinking that maybe next december when I have studied Preach my Gospel to the max so that I start studying the ensign and jesus the christ, and however hard and long the road, then I would be more able to listen to music while studying. I DO want to have it for december 2011 so don`t forget :-D
Thats basically it for me :-) SO until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all, and Be Happy!
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

Weekly Letter

HEY Everybody!! :-D Howzit going?!! :-D
Things are going alright here on the other hemisphere. So this is the part where I tell you things.
So some news, I have a new comp! :-D We had emergency transfers last wednesday. The thing is that no one knows what happened. Nothing happened on either ends of the transfer. So yeah. My new comp´s name is Elder Colombo, and I actually knew him back in Camilo :-D He used to be in my old district. He´s a really cool guy and we´ve been tearing up here in Ohiggins :-) :-D Elder Colombo is from Argentina as well and he´s just always smiling and laughing and stuff :-D We should have a lot of fun together :-D We´re both kind of down about the sector cuz he had a bunch of baptism dates lined up where he used to be and I´m just tired but we´re both determined to leave ohiggins better than we recieved it. FUEGO!!!
Some of our investigators. Patricia we´ve had before I was even here in the sector. She´s recieved all the lessons except for la ley de castidad and la ley de diezmo, but she only needs those for the baptismal interview. The problem is that she doesn´t want to get baptized but doesn´t NOT want to get baptized. We´re pretty sure that she knows that she has to get baptized but she´s afraid of doing it. She says that she doesn´t want to start something that she won´t finish so we´ve tried to tell her that she´ll have all the help she will need when she´ll have the ward, the missionaries and the holy ghost but she´s still not wanting to get baptized :-P We´ll find something to help her eventually :-)
Barbara is a girl from a part member (and a little inactive) part family that want her to be baptized. They came to US :-D Merry Christmas to you too. We did have the date for the 25th but we changed it to the 26th so that a missionary that originally baptized the family could come as well :-) She is really cool but just a little quiet so we´re not sure if she´s learning and understanding everything but the family helps a lot too so nothing to worry about.
Moises (moses but spanishified) has been with the missionaries for a VERY long time and actually already wants to be baptized. The problem is that his family is like Crazry Catholic and hate us . . . Thats always fun :-D Sometimes when we go over the family lies to us and says that Moises isn´t home so we say goodbye very loudly and then wait outside for a bit unitl he comes :-) The problem with Moises is that he wants his family to at least be neutral about his baptism so that he won´t be totally rejected and we´re willing to wait for that :-) Hopefully we´ll be able to have a truce with the family with maybe a picnic or something, something cozy and not hateful. Something.
That´s really it for investigators :-P We don´t have much to work on but we´re still searching :-)
Thats basically it :-P Sorry about that :-P Little things, I found a gift today for you guys for christmas :-D Nothing really fancy or big but I liked it and it´s durable for sending as well :-D I haven´t yet gotten the package yet but I may or may not get it on wednesday :-) Hopefully yes. As for the call . . . I may just use our cell phone and ´´pinch´´ you guys and then you call me back and then we chat. I honestly don´t know. I don´t know about skyp if it is or is not against the rules, but it is cheaper. This is what I´m going to do. I´ll call the home phone at 2 o clock our time (I THink 10 o clock your time) and then you just call the number back. This is the base plan. If anything changes, I´ll let you all know.
Anyways, Thats it for me. Remember why there is a Christmas, cuz 2010 years ago we all got the best gift and so we should always Give the best gifts. The Church is true, Thomas S Monson is the Living Prophet and the gospel is the absolute best thing to make the family happy and strong.
Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all, Merry Christmas, and Be Happy!
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

Weekly Letter

HEY EVERYBODY!! :-D
Howzit going?! :-D Things are going alright on the other side of el mundo.:-) I`m not sick and Christmas is coming :-D Feliz Navidad!!
So yeah, I`m alright :-) Recently its been kind of cold here in LA. This is weird here because our seasons are in reverse. Their summer vacation here is in December til march. Crazy stuff. I love the reactions on people`s faces when I tell them what we do in the states :-) They almost always say ``Why do you do it in reverse? Why are you all so weird?`` and I`m like ``No, Why are YOU ALL so weird?`` :-D Funny stuff :-) Since its cold here everyone else is suffering when I`m like ``Stop whining dummies, its December, its supposed to be cold`` then I remember where I am and keep quiet. :-)
Things here in O`higgins are still pretty slow :-P I think that I said this last time, but we do have a baptism date :-D Its going to be a Merry Christmas :-D We also found a family who want to have their 7 almost 8 year old daughter to be baptized in january :-) Happy Day :-D
Everything else is still pretty slow :-P Curses. BUT . . . I`m taking a stand against this Maldito sector this week and for all the weeks to come. I`m not going to let this sector ruin my Christmas by making us feel ``unable to make a difference``. You wait, STuffs going to be happening this week. :-D ¡¡Creedlo!!
Anyways, things that happened this week. We were able to teach a couple of people this week. Being a missionary is so much fun when people want to listen :-D One morning we recieved a call from a sister from the ward and she asked us if we could come over later on in the day and help her to begin quitting smoking. When we got there she was really really nice, as well as her family. Then we made a plan to help her to quit smoking. We wrote down all the things that she was missing because of smoking, all the things she could have and all the blessings she`ll recieve when she`s totally done with smoking. It was good to do. She and her family have kind`ve had it rough for the last couple of months :-P Unfortunately the husband wasn`t faithful to her and it has been very hard for them (her and the kids). They are all SO nice though. The Sister (Virna) told us that even through all this and the smoking and everything, she still feels that the church is true. She said it like that as well ``I can FEEL that it is true still``. Very very cool. I left her some scriptures to read (Alma 7 11-13 and John 14 18) and we left. Something that I wanted to point out, English and spanish scriptures are not exactly the same. that John scripture above for example in english says I won`t leave you ``comfortless``. In spanish (translated) it says orphaned or deserted. Its really really cool to study scriptures now :-D :-)
Another cool thing, we were able to meet a baby of a couple in our ward who was born on wednesday :-D She`s 5 days old!! We went over to the house (to see them before the baby came because she was due two days from now) and the mom answers the door and she`s like ``Hi`` and we`re like ``hi`` and she`s like ``come in and see the baby`` and we`re like ``. . . What baby?`` and she goes into the other room and brings this tiny little person out and we`re like ``BABY!!`` :-D The couple asked us to bless her right there so we did :-) Cool stuff
Anyways that`s it for me. I haven`t gotten any packages or letters yet and I don`t think I will til the 23rd or 24th :-) So they`re still on their way :-D Oh, a little note to dad, I use MY card usually at the end of the month when funds are short, but I`ve used them more this month cuz I lost my church card :-P No worries though ;.) I`m getting another one today :-D
So thats it for me. Until the next Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all and BE HAppY!
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

Weekly Letter, Video and Some New Pictures

Jamie is trying to bake cookies at a members home. They didn't turn out very well.

Jamie with his bishop and his family

Jamie was teaching these boys to play baseball. This was taken before they played because after they started playing Jamie hit the ball so hard and far they lost the ball. He had to get the kids some new tennis balls!

The video can be found by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKYeW5t_OuA

HEYO EVERBODY!! :-D Howzit going?! :-D
Just so I don`t forget, I did finally get the package with the letters about the baby :-P Not fun :-P Thanks for the M&m`s though :-D Yum.
Anyways, I am doing fine here in Villa O`higgins :-) I`m ready everyday to go out dressed, tie, tag, everything and then its time for personal study until 9:30, then I would have planning for the day and then comp study but that doesn`t happen and as soon as its eleven and we`re not heading out to work I hit the books again :-) Sing ho for more study time. I`m basically Chilean now for all the spanish that I know :-D ¿¡Què Onda Gringos?! :-D Whats Up Gringos?! :-D Honestly the thing about learning another language is that you learn that everyone is really all the same at the end of the day. When you begin learning you assume that anyone else that can speak the language is perfect in everyway, word, act, thought, whatever. You come to realize that people can mess up in a different language just as you can in yours. A whole different view on other people when you realize they`re just like you.
Good things this week. Elder Saucedo turned 22 wednesday :-D That was fun. A bunch of other elders came over in the night and we had foods and pleasant conversation. There are some really cool people in the zone :-) Oh yeah :-D We went on splits on tuesday and I went with the newbie Elder Walker :-D I`m spanish savvy enough that I`m trusted with the newguy :-D So we did a bunch of contacts and my favorite was when he told a lady what we do in church ,``we pray, we read the scriptures, and we talk with Jesus``. I gave her a passalong and sent her on her way. Elder Walker got mad at me later, ^^^Why`d you let me say that?!^^ And I was like ^^Think before you tell people that ``we talk to jesus``^^ :-D Very funny. What else . . . Oh YeaH ! :-D A family came looking for US and asked if we could baptize a daughter of theirs and we were like ``Shoot, we might be really busy, I don`t know if we can . . . OF COURSE WE CAN!!`` (but with more reverence of course). Really cool :-) The date is for the 25th so I think I`M dreaming of a white Christmas :-D Don`t you just love puns?
Thats really it :-P For Grace`s question on what we eat here, We eat a lot :-) I never have anything big for breakfast cuz if I do then I won`t be able to finish lunch :-D Not only that, lunch is always ALWAYS more than one dish. There is always something after the first and occasionally the second. I can sum up everything that we eat with very little words; Rice, Chicken, Potatoes, Soup(various types but a lot of it), Fish, and Bread. Not to say that there is anything wrong with the food :-) The Food is great. I have not had to gag things down to eat them, they are usually very tasty. Its that there`s a ton of the all the same food :-P No worries though :-D
As for Elder Saucedo. It is not that he is lazy or chraico(crooked), he`s just really Really not liking the sector. He has a point too. When we had the transfers this week I went to the other sector and there is a huge difference between ours and theirs :-P There`s a ton more people, they`re not all old, and they listen a little more before saying that they are catholic or whatever. As well the sector is so tiny, theres no room for the missionaries not to talk to everyone, over and over again. :-P Not fun. I`m doing alright. I`ve tried to help him go out but I`m not having too much success :-P All well :-) Things can only get better.
I may or may not get the package you guys sent tomorrow. Speaking of the catholic stickers, I`ve been told that if you cover the package with them, the package usually makes it safe to where it needs to go :-D Sing ho for superstitious latinos :-D I`m also sending you guys some letters and a card for christmas today :-) I couldn`t find gifts :-P But i promise that I will :D
Anyways Thats it for me :-D until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all and Be Happy!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

Weekly Letter-11/29/10

HEYO!!! HOWZIT GOING?! Hey everybody :-D How`re things? How`s life on the other side I hope that everything is going well.
So things here in Los Angeles are basically the same. The work is pretty slow, we`re not finding anyone, not very fun. I always have enough time to study so thats not a problem Still not very fun Some good news We just barely got ok´d to do english classes on fridays You`d be surprised about how many people would come to these classes. People here really do want to learn english. The things is in Chile it`s mandatory that you take english in school. Its not like in the states where you need to take a language class only to get into universities, here its like reading writing arithmatic and then english :-D So hopefully we`ll have people who are interested in that and then eventually in their salvation and stuff :-D
Spanish is coming along great still Its amazing to me that I can speak another language. I`m pretty legit Advice to people that are learning another language, don`t try to force what you want to say into another language, if that makes sense. At this point, I don`t translate english to spanish in my head, it`s all just spanish. For example, the word cabeza means head in spanish. When someone says cabeza to me I don`t think the word head and then the thing where people have their faces, I immediately think of the thing. Languages are really just codes and as soon as you figure out the trick you can speak it :-D
For the phone call. I don`t know how that works I believe that we go to a members house, we`ll ``pinch`` you and then you`ll call us back :-D That way you pay and we don`t Chileans do this all the time I think thats how it works
The package that you guys sent me is in my general location. I don`t have it yet but I believe that E` Saucedo is going to bring it home today when he comes back from a conference I hope that you guys have gotten the package I sent you the other week :-P I didn`t move the pictures on THAT card :-P Ojala que sì hopefully yes
E` Saucedo is doing alright :-) We still don`t do very much :-P The thing is that if we had people to visit then ìt`d be easier to get him out of the house but the only thing that I got is ``Lets go do contacts Elder. Lickitysplit!`` . . . I`m sure you`re convinced.
Something pretty funny in a twisted sort of way is that someone tried to burn our church down the other day :-D I`m sure you`re all laughing at this point. These (I`m assuming) kids, sawed off a bar off of the 10 foot high fence, sawed off the bars off a window, Broke the window and then tried to light the carpet on fire inside. They only left a few scorch marks, thankfully, before they made a break for it. The really funny part is that the day before Elder Saucedo was telling me that the people hated us here and I said ``Naw, they`re only really annoyed with us cuz if they really hated us they`d try to burn the church down``. . . . speaking of cosmic irony. You win this time universe. Next time I`ll be sure to use different words.
ANyWho :-) Enough about that :-D I was wondering if you guys (Eventually cuz the years almost gone) could send me a REALLY cool calender for next year We found one in the house the other day with amazing pictures of beaches Very cool. As well, if you guys could send that badger bug repellant that`d be cool too :-) Darn fleas.
Thursday I made a little video for you all but I didn`t know what to say really :-P If you guys could send me a Dear Elder with questions that I could answer, that`d be cool too :-)

ANyways :-) thats it for me :-) So until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all, and Be Happy!!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

Weekly Letter

HEY EVERYBODY :-D
Howzit Going?! :-D Things are going alright here on the other side of the world
Hey just so I don`t forget, I got the package :-D the one from October anyway :-D Sing ho for Candy :-D The thing is that they do have snickers and mnms here but they`re . . . different :-P I don`t know why but they are :-) I also liked the pictures and the ensigns :-) We have them in Spanish but its better for me to read in English :-)
I sent some letters to you guys today but they`re kind of boring so don`t expect much :-P :-) I hope that Meri`s present and the camera cards made it to you guys :-P That would suck if they didn`t :-P
Oh yeah, Dad. I gave my copy of However long and hard the road to my old branch president in my last sector so I was wondering if you could send me the other one or another one cuz I don`t want anything to happen to the one you have.
I was going to say that if you guys wanted the package to arrive before Christmas, you would have needed to have sent it early but you guys already did that :-) Smart :-D
I`m just kind of stalling for time cuz there`s not much to type about this week :-P One thing that was cool was that we were taking our clothes to be cleaned yesterday when this random guy out of nowhere said ``Elders, I want a blessing``. We were like ``. . . ok`` :-D Turns out the guy`s a member that hasn`t gone to church in awhile cuz he works a lot and sometimes on Sundays (which really meant ``Sometimes I work and other times I just don`t want to go`` but you have to read between the lines to see that). Anyways he said that he was going through a rough time and wanted a blessing. So we gave him a blessing and started talking with him for sec and we learned that his mom and girlfriend weren`t members so we asked if we could come by another time to ``meet`` them (We really did want to meet them . . . and help them with their salvation. :-D ) He said that`d be totally fine. :-) Its cool how things just happen sometimes.
So thats me :-) So I got a call the other day and yeah, not happy. I hope that everyone is alright :-( I wrote a little more about how Pres Swenson called me in the letter so that`ll come soon :-) Its sad. :-P nuff said. I`m alright, cuz I`m glad that Mom is alright :-) Little things :-D
Regrettably that is all that I have :-P I promise that I`m doing alright :-) Still, studying, still working a little at least, still me :-) Things can only get better :-D
Anyways until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all and Be Happy :-)
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

p.s. If you guys could put in that pink cd player (or some cd player) some christmas music cds, photos, the November Ensign, and whatever else you want, that`d be awesome :-) Thanks for everything.

Weekly Letter- 11/15/10

HeYO :-D
HOWZIT GOING?! :-D Things are doing alright here on the other side. :-)
SOOoooo . . . Yeah . . . I guess this is the part where I talk about me :-) Oh yeah, I forgot you guys don`t know anything about my new sector :-D Lets get started :-D
So I am now in the Los Angeles Norte Zona, O`Higgins sector. Don`t laugh, O`Higgins is merciless :-D My new comp calls himself Elder Saucedo and he`s from Argentina. If you look down a street in our sector you can see the Andes and he`s always joking ``If you hop over that, your at my house`` :-) He literally says that cuz he speaks perfect english :-) When I had 6 months on my mission he had 6 months left and he doesn`t stop to let me know that whenever he can :-P He`s a really cool guy. Our roomates are Elders Barajas and Walker. Barajas is the father (Trainer) of Elder Merrell, my old comp in the MTC. Elder Walker just got into Chile last Saturday so he`s still figuring out the language but they both are really cool :-) Our zone is pretty tight as well. I`m not going to bother naming them all but don`t worry, they`re cool too :-) Now about the sector
O`higgins is kind of the roughest part of the mission . . . Or so I`ve been told. It`s not THE worst but its up there unfortunately. There hasn`t been a baptism in more than 9 months :-P The worst part though is that its just plain hard to contact people here. The problem (well ONE problem is) that the sector is so tiny. I`m pretty we could knock every house in our sector in two weeks maybe a one day more. Elder Saucedo says that he`s probably contacted everyone that lives here in O`higgins. He`s been here for two cambios before :-P Poor guy. At first when I heard this I wasn`t worried cuz come on :-D I`m Elder Jamie McConnell :-D Unfortunately, I can`t do anything without Elder Saucedo and he really doesn`t want to. The worst thing about this is that its not because he`s lazy. He doesn`t like to go out because he doesn`t want to go out and do contacts just to get a number because the people here are pretty rude most of the time and for him it hasn`t led to anything for more than two months. If we do leave then its usually two or three hours after we`re supposed to. The other day we left in the morning just in time to make it to lunch :-P He`s really discouraged. I`ve tried to get him to get up and go but he`s just not up for it :-P Not fun.
Anyways :-) enough about that :-) Guess what. . . We have two baptism dates! :-D One just from yesterday :-D We went to church ( cuz missionaries do that sometimes) and after priest quorum we went to go to our gospel principles class and there was only three people there, two members and the boyfriend of one of them (non member). So we go to teach the Restoration and we get to the end with the Book of Mormon and this guy says that he`s been reading it so we asked him if he believed it was true and he said yes and we asked if he wanted to get baptized and he was like yeah and we were like ``SWEET!!`` but with more reverence cuz we were still in the church, and then we set up dates for the lessons and his baptism. :-D Happy day. Two baptisms in this sector is like crazy :-D Whats funny is that our zone is one of the best baptizing zones in the mission and people always ask why and we say ``Steroids`` :-D
Honestly, I think that if every person read the book of mormon, the lessons from PMG, and maybe (but not necessarily) a May or November issue of the ensign, then common sense would be like ``Hey this kind of seems important. Maybe I should get baptized``. This is even without prayer. I have this belief that if any person lets us inside their house then we`ve already won. We just don`t know how long it`ll take for everyone to find out that we`ve won. There`s a movie called The District that the missions use to teach sometimes and there`s a part where an investigator says that she got an answer and that the church isn`t for her and the first time that I heard that I was like ``. . .Uh . . . No. Moroni said if you pray, you get yes.`` I think that Moroni`s promise is something that is the heart of the mission of the LDS church. Moroni`s promise to me is the same as if you listen, you will hear. Its a good promise to have and its even better to share.
ANYWHOO. I`m tired :-) I`m sending a letter today to you guys but only one for everyone :-P I haven`t gotten your mail yet so i don`t have anything to respond to but I promise one for everyone next week :-D Also I`m putting in a memory card and Meri`s Birthday present :-D Hope you like it :-D
The Christmas Package . . . If the box could BE m&ms that`d be tight, if not i understand :-D Sam for rillzz I want Fiji in the box. That muscle rub will always be useful. btw depending on the sector, you`ll walk a lot or a little. In Camilo it was quite a lot :-D As well whatever cool surprise you want to put in would be highly appreciated :-D
Anyways, thats it for me :-) until monday Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, Baby, I love you all and Be Happy! :-D
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

New Area!!

Jamie sent this EMAIL kind of early today. He's been transferred to Los Angeles (further south than our LA). Kind of a neat twist, his old companion, Elder Valdivia, is training Elder Bowman from Grantsville, and elder that Jamie went to high school with. Small world. We should have pictures by next week!


HEY! :-D HOWZIT GOING?! :-D
Things are going great on the other side of the world :-) Just to start, they transfered me :-D Surprise! I`m now in the Las Angeles Norte Zone. It was pretty weird leaving from camilo cuz that so far has been Chile for me :-P I don`t know anything else :-D But its aight. No offense to camilo but I was living in the ghetto of chile when I got here :-D Our house is great, it even has a backyard (not with grass or dirt, some other third thing, but its still a yard :-D). When I say great, that does not mean sparkling fantastic. Elder Saucedo (my new comp from argentina) has a funny saying about the missionaries ``just cuz we`re on a mission, doesn`t mean we have to be nasty`` :-D For real, missionary houses kind of bite the dust when we`re living in them :-P It`s mostly cuz we`re usually not in the house to clean it, and kind of because we don`t care :-) Regardless, its a cool house. I`ll be sending pictures next week :-)
I don`t have much to say about the area that I`m in yet cuz I don`t have that much time here still, so next week there`ll be more info :-) Elder Saucedo (sow say dough) is really really cool :-D AND he speaks perfect english :-D I didn`t know that until he starting going off with gringo words :-D He`s missing in his mission the amount of time that I have on my mission :-P Math here is never very fun. I think that he`s our district leader here as well, so thats also a plus :-D
Elder Saucedo was telling me the other day that our sector hasn`t had baptisms for almost 9 months :-P It was funny when he told me cuz before he hadn`t spoken in english yet. He was like ``I`m going to be honest right from the start. This is a tough sector`` :-) Another funny thing is that he doesn`t have a spanish accent but his voice makes him sound like an old time new york gangster :-D I think of a much cooler Al Capone whenever he talks english :-D But yeah, he said that its tough here, but he told me that he still wants to work so thats what we`re going to do :-) So thats good :-D
Yesterday was fun :-) The vast majority of the members of our ward are quite old. They are also MAYBE 50 people at most, so i was wondering how it was even a branch. Regardless it is a branch and all the people are really cool :-) and wrinkly :-D
My other comps in the house are called Barajas and Walker. Barajas is from califonia and Walker is from colorado and he got here on saturday :-D I have the same amount of time in chile that he has in his mission :-D Its crazy :-D They are both really cool people as well :-) We`re going to have a lot of fun.
Spanish is still coming along great :-) I`m starting to understand more than I can speak which I think is cool :-) Since Elder Saucedo can speak english he`s killing my spanish :-D If I know that somene can speak english here, its so hard for me to talk to them in spanish :-P Darn talented latinos! :-) It`s aight though :-D
That`s basically it for me :-) Hey Sam, you gotta send me some more fiji spray and deoderant in the next package. They don`t have that in stores here. I didn`t send any letters today but I promise that I`ll write them next monday :-) I´m also going to send pictures and mer`s present too :-) So heads up.
I promise that my next email will be longer next week :-P I haven`t really done anything yet here to right about :-P So until monday
Anyways, until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you and Be Happy :-D
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

Weekly Letter

Hey Everybody!! :-D Howzit going?!
Things are still going fine on the other side of the world :-) Things are actually starting to heat up a little bit here, and I do mean literally :-P HOly roasted cow :-P I was lucky cuz I didn´t have sunscreen when it started to to get warmer but my comps gave me a bottle to use so I´m aight for that :-D My skin started getting darker almost instantly :-D
So the work is going a lot better now mas o menos. We`ve been teaching a bunch of really cool people and they`re starting to actually do things :-D Sing ho for Eternal Salvation! :-D We`ve been teaching a JuanCarlos and Evelin and their two kids for a little while now and they are both really interested in the church. The problem is that they are almost always working so it`s almost impossible to set up teaching appointments with both if them attending. But we do what we can and that seems to be working :-D We asked them the last lesson if they could prepare themselves so that they could be baptized the 20th of Nov and they said yes :-D This would be great but they haven`t come to chuch enough now to meet that goal but at least they want to get baptized right?
We`ve also just barely began teaching another JuanCarlos who`s interested as well. He`s been to a sacrament meeting and a baptism and when we were teaching the other day we asked if he`d also like to be baptized on the 20th and he said yes as well :-D Happy day :-D We still have to teach him a lot but I think he can do it :-D
We`ve also got two inactive families with unbaptized children that we`re working with and they are both really great families and I think they like it when we come over but they need to come to church still :-P One family (Gisel Sebastian and Flor) needed to go to a birthday party or something and the other family (Victoria Daniel Fernanda and angry husband) just won`t show up. Throughout the week they`re always like ``Yeah we`ll come`` and then they don`t :-P Psych. This would be a funny game if it was funny.
All things considered things are still very good :-) We`ve begun to teach a lot more than last week which is great :-D Its never too hot and it hasn`t rained for very long yet. The other day my pants got soaked but it was aight cuz we were done for the day. Another day we had to bunker done at a members house but that was like for only thirty minutes and then it stopped :-) The sun`s never too bad with sunscreen AND I get to have an amazing missionary tan :-D Sing ho for not looking gringo :-D
Nothing much interesting :-P Sorry for that. I haven`t gotten the package yet but we`re going to the mission office right after this so maybe it`ll be there :-) I son`t need anything that I can think of right now so no worries :-) Meri, I found a present for you the other day but I haven`t sent it yet :-P I`ll let you know when I do :-)
Oh yeah, Transfers are going to be this saturday so you won`t know where I`m at til next monday :-P Hopefully we`ll stay :-)
Thats it for me :-) Until next time Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie I love you and Be Happy :-D
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell

Latest Letter

We sent Jamie a package to announce our "new arrival" but he had not received it yet so he got the news from an EMAIL that was sent to him. Also, I have posted a link to a video that Forrest and Jamie made as they flew to Chile. Just copy and paste to view the link. The YouTube link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o11eHGYtIKI

Here is the letter for the week!


Just to start ¨¨THERES GONNA BE ANOTHER BROTHER WHEN I GET BACK HOME!!!!!!!!!!!????!!!??! THERE CAN¨T BE CALLS FOR THIS???!!!!???!!! HOLY COW!!!!! For real though when I just barely read the email it was kind of like ¨¨hey by the way, baby´´ and I was like ´´Yeah, we already got Sophie, I was there, I lived the dream´´ but then I went back to read again and saw ´´expecting . . .Oh boy´´ :-D Well DANG!!! :-D I really don´t know what to say :-D other than holy cow.
. . . . . . . . I was gonna write an email but I lost my train of thought. Something about missionary work . . .
Oh yeah. HEYO Everybody!! :-D Howzit going?! :-D Things are doing alright here on the other side of the world. A little shaken up back but that happens a lot. This week was really really fast with a surprise ending as well :-D Never saw it coming :-D
This week was alright in that I´m not sick and we´re getting stuff done and I´m learning Spanish more and more everyday. Unfortunately with la gente we didn´t have a lot of success this week :-P We were able to teach a few lessons throughout the week but not nearly as many as usual :-P Everybody was busy this week (or sleeping which is busy in Chile) so we mostly walked around, did contacts and got tans :-D We got like 201 contacts which would be awesome if the reason that we got that many wasn´t cuz no one wanted us in their houses :-P So there was that and as well all the people that we are teaching currently are not progressing :-P We had two people come to church yesterday but they were both already members, just inactive :-P It was great to see them there still :-D I dont know. Its like ´´Dang. We asked them to come, they said they would come, we called them the day before to remind them that we asked and that they said, but they still didn´t show up´´. The thing is that I want to say ´´The people just aren´t interested´´ or ´´its their choice´´ or ´´they don´t want to do anything´´ but when I think that it feels wrong in my head. I´m wondering if we´re missing something but I have no idea what it is. I´m waiting for that angel that came to Alma the younger to come around and be like ´´ Well here´s your problem´´ and I can say ´´Of COURSE. Thanks shiny man´´ That might be sacrilegious but I´m in a funny mood :-D
Really though, I´m doing alright with all this :-) I guess we just gotta do everything that we´re already doing just a couple of levels higher :-D Yeah, step up. :-D When I figure out whats going on I´ll let you guys know :-D
I don´t really have anything else to say :-P I wrote everyone letters today and sent them as well so you´ll get those eventually :D At the time I was unaware of the new baby so thats why I won´t be loud in the letters :-D Another thing I wanted to ask is how much of a time difference there is between here and the states? Because we had a time changa awhile back and I heard that there might be a four hour difference now. I dunno :-P Maybe :-D
The people like to talk about me to Elder Valdivia wherever we´re at and they are sometimes kind of mean. I think it´s because they think I don´t understand so I always like to surprise them with a little ´´¡YO SÉ LO QUE ESTAS DECIENDO!´´ :-D Surprise!
I´m still in shock about the baby. Just letting you know.
One thing that I wanted to say is how the gospel really does bless people. Unfortunately the churches here are quite small compared to Utah :-P But you can see how different the people are when you know that they´re members. There´s more happiness and just this feeling of family with them :-) Sometimes you just want to hang out at the members houses cuz they´re so cool and they´re always inviting us anyway (Future missionaries, do not do this, its a trap :-D Make sure to always focus on the people who are sick and not those that are healthy. We are Doctors. We go to the sick) ANyways, yeah. Always remember what the gospel can do :-D
That´s it for me :-D Until next monday Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace Sophie and Mr. Surprise I love you all and BE HAPPY :-D
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell
p.s. . . . still surprised :-D

Weekly Letter

Hey Everybody! :-D
Howzit going?! :-D Things are going aight down here on the other side of el mundo. I`m not sick and that in it of itself is something to celebrate :-D Go FOOD.
There is not much to write about :-P The life of a missionary is pretty much what it says in the white handbook with people inbetween some of the spaces :-D Oh yeah, guess who had a baptism on saturday. . . That would be me and E`Valdivia :-D How cool is that?! :-D I think its crazy that all my life I`ve been thinking about going on a mission and baptizing and stuff and now I`m doing it! :-D It was really cool :-) I was a little worried at the beginning because no one showed up except for her family (bytheway her name`s Constanza Deniz Castro Rivas and she`s 8). Later I learned that that was pretty usual for baptisms here so it wasn`t that bad and she has a big family anyway :-D We`re hoping that she being baptized will help with the rest of her family getting baptized because she`s the only member except for one uncle. So yeah, that was cool :-) She`s a really smart and special 8 year old. We were kind of worried that she would go inactive after a time but I don`t think that she will :-) She`ll be just fine I think.
I don`t have much to talk about for this week so I`ll just tell stories. Elder Mondragon is from a high school whose mascot is the spartans so naturally we like to spartan kick stuff. Speaking of kicking a chair through a window, that`s what he did :-D Earlier I had dropped a chair down the stairs on him to make him mad so he came up the stairs with the chair and kicked it back down the stairs. Because there wasn`t anyone to get hit by the chair it hit the window and broke it. Talk about reverse karma :-D What else, Elder Valdivia hasn`t tried to stab me recently :-D Yay for no stabbing :-D The other day we had a weeny roast in the back . . .yard of our . . .house :-D It was really fun :-D Thats basically it for random stuff.
Recently a sister of the ward has asked if E`Valdivia could play for a choir practice every once in a while so those have been fun. I`ve pulled the whole ``I can`t speak spanish so ipso facto I can`t sing`` trick so basically I get to read and relax with pretty spanish church music. I think some of the people are catching on that I understand a lot more than they think I do :-D Spanish is still coming along great :-D I am starting to be only as lost as I was back in the states with english :-D The other day a family asked if I could give a pray in english and I was like ``. . . No sè`` :-D It was really weird to pray in english.
Everyday I`m more and more convinced that this is Gods work because whenever we`re walking to wherever for some reason or another we run into our investigators, and not just people in our sector. me and Elder V ran into a recent convert of his yesterday who lived more than an hour away from where we were. The other day we ran into a Evelin who we`ve been teaching and her family. She works at this mall that is like fortyfive minutes away from her house and we were there getting money from the ATM and we thought ``Hey lets go check out the computers`` so we did and there she was :-D This happens like all the time. I think that its so that our investigators can keep thinking of us between visits :-) Its really cool to think about.
That`s mostly it for me. Sam you can`t carry sophie around in a box, that`s not right. I almost peed my pants when I saw the picture but its still wrong :-D Until next monday Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie, I love you and Be Happy :-D
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell

Jamie's Tour of his Apartment

Now, I could say that this looks a lot like his bedroom at home...

Weekly Letter

Heyo! :-D Howzit going everybody?! :-D Things are going aight here in the other america. We wake up we go out we come back for lunch we go out again we come back again and then we sleep. :-) Asi es la vida de los misioneros. Every time people ask how I am I say tired, which basically means great in missionary talk because if we weren´t tired we´d be doing something wrong :-D
Just to answer some questions so I don´t forget. The Dear Elders are sent to the mission office where they need to be picked up. Where I am right now in (or at least around to) Coronel is about half an hour to forty five minutes from the office. We try to go to the office every pday but that´s usually because we plan to do somethings else in the city. Usually if we are expecting something, we´ll ask our zone leaders to go and pick whatever up because they usually have meetings during the week in Concepcion. As for mail that comes from me, I´m not entirely sure how long it takes to get from here to there. The first letter I sent wasn´t written the same day that it was sent And I cant remember the date that I did send it. I did however send a little package with the thumbdrive in it last monday so when you get that you can figure out the amount of time it takes.
My companion and roomates are all really cool people :-) E´Valdivia, my companion, is from Arica Chile, and he´s super annoying and really cool. :-D Just to explain how annoying he is, for fifteen minutes after we left the house one day, he tried to stab me with a thumbtack. After that he stomped in puddles to splash water on me. When there aren´t puddles, he´ll throw the water thats in his bottle at me. The problem is that if I get really annoyed I can´t talk in spanish so I just try to avoid these situations. Something that I try to take advantage of is a game he likes to play. here in Chile for heat, cooking, heating up water, and sometimes electricity, they have these trucks driving around carrying gas tanks. The missionaries like to play slugbug with these gas tanks and E´Valdivia is no exception, so whenever I´m annoyed and I see the truck first, you can bet I´m not gonna pull my punches :-D But naw :-D He´s actually a really cool guy and a great teacher. I was worried that I´d get so frustrated being with him that I wouldn´t be able to teach but he´s never made me that angry :-) And there´s always the gas trucks :-D Then there´s E´Wilde and E´Mondragon. Their both from utah and their both really cool as well. E´Mondragon likes to play a game as well. He´ll occasionally yell down the stairs ¨HEY NEW GUY¨. I really love him. . . :-D Naw he´s aight. He helped me a ton when I was sick the first couple of weeks. He knows how to make a drink that the Chilaens here like to use for sick stomachs. E´Wilde is a really cool guy as and he doesn´t have any really creative and fun games that he likes to play either .-D Double bonus :-D
This weeks been alright :-) We had a bunch of our investigators come to church yesterday which was good :-) I think I said in my last email that we were going to have a baptism on saturday but we had to change plans :-P The mother and Grandma of the girl who had the date on the 9th felt that she wasn´t quite ready yet but we asked if it be alright if we moved it to this saturday and they said that would be fine. :-D Yay. So Coni (the girl who´s going to be baptized) and her grandparents (non members but regularly come to church) came yesterday and so did an entire investigator family. We found them like I think a week ago and we taught them a bit and they said they´d come to church and they DID :-D Really cool.
The language is coming along great :-D With families that I´ve know better I can understand better than with others. The problem I think is that I´m still just not used to listening to spanish yet :-P But no, I´m doing a TON better than I was :-D The trick is to take it all at once and then guess waht you think they said and then answer the best you can :-D If you´re right, Good for you. If you´re wrong, the Chilaens are expecting you to mess up anyway so they just laugh and talk again slower :-D Its alright when you know how to play the game :-D
That´s basically it for me :-P Sorry for not a lot of words :-P Until the next Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie, I love you and Be Happy
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell

Weekly Letter

Hello Everybody! Recording Live from somewhere! :-D Hey Whats up? How`re things? How was conference? :-D
Things are going alright on the other side of the world. Spring is on its way so I don`t have to worry about being extra cold. There`s always a level of chilly here in Chile :-D Ugh I hate myself for saying that :-D Speaking of awful jokes here`s a spanish one. ¿Què hacen pescados en agua? Nada :-D Mom`s going to have explain that :-D ANyways yeah I`m aight. I wrote letters today and I copied all my pictures onto the thumbdrives. I`m sending one in the package and don`t worry I have a copy with me.
Seriously though, how was conference? It was pretty fun here. We get to watch it in english actually :-D They set up a tv downstairs in the stake center for all the gringos and everybody else watches in spanish upstairs. I feel bad because I had to listen to the first two talks in spanish cuz the tv wasn`t set up yet and there is a huge difference between hearing the speaker and a translator :-P I had a good time anyways :-) Exceot that none of our investigators came :-P Curses. I told one family that if they came that they`d recieve whatever answer they needed to get baptized and at the time they were like that sounds cool, maybe we should go ,and I was like (evil laugh) Now the First presidency and Los Doce Apostoles are gonna drop some gospel bombs on their heads and they`ll have to get baptized. But they saw through my trap and escaped :-P Sucks to be me right now. :-D Naw just kidding. It was a bummer that none of our investigators came but we still got a baptism on saturday coming up and none of our investigators have told us to stop coming back so i guess you win some you lose some. :-D
Speaking of not getting letters, I think that all the letters that were supposed to be sent to Chile when I was at home are either at the MTC or with some other missionary whose name is James F. McConnell the 4th. Very possible I know, but I`m sure he`s not as good looking as me :-D
Elder Valdivia. My godfather, is a pretty cool guy. :-) The other Elders describe him as a very big kid and he is most of the time :-D He`s also a great teacher during our lessons. We were teaching one time and the house began to shake and we were like ^^ITS THE HOLY GHOST!! GET BAPTIZED OR HE`LL CRUSH YOUR HOUSE!!!^^ :-D Naw, but we were teaching one time when the house began to move around. Later we joked about how the voices of angels shake the earth. Actually in the scriptures there are a ton verses about the earth moving around. Look it up :-D But yeah, Elder VAldivia is a really cool guy. I`ve heard that some of his previous comps got pretty annoyed with him and in Sams letter I explained a little bit, but I haven`t had any problems so far :-D It good to be companions with him.
Què mas Què mas . . . That`s basically it for me. :-P I`m actually very boring :-P About the address, everything goes through the office. I`d give an address that was closer but there isn`t one. The missionaries themselves do not have mailboxes. It`s alright cuz its not to hard to go to the city to get whatever. the Spanish is coming along great. I get more and more of the jokes everyday :-D and . . .Yeah thats basically it.
So mom dad sam meri grace and sophie, I love you all and Be Happy
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

Challenging Week

Hey Everybody :-D Howzit going?!
Things are going alright here in Chile concepcion south :-) It´s cold some times and always in the mornings but you get used to that and I´m finally getting used to the food :-D They use a TON of grease in like everything :-) but no, it´s a really cool place all in all. I haven´t felt very homesick since I´ve arrived which I´m grateful for. I do think of home but its not devestating to me :-D I was worried about grace though :-P We were having some sort of conference and during lunch Sister Swenson was talking to me and then she was like ´´Oh yeah, Did you hear about Grace´s accident?´´ I was like ´´uh . . . NO´´ I´m glad to hear that her toe is doing alright. Anyways, more about me :-D
So this last week has been pretty interesting for both good and bad unfortunately :-P Just to let you know I´m absolutely fine, it´s something else :-P During this last week we got two investigators to commit to dates for their baptisms. :-D I wrote more about them in a letter to Mom and Dad so you can look forward to that :-D Unfortunately i only wrote one letter :-P Next week I promise to write more :-D Anyways so there was that, and we also went to a baptism for Elders Wilde and Mondragon. :-D It was really cool :-D Elder mondragon was like ´´step up to the celestial kingdom mi amigo. Watch your step´´ :-D Too funny. I´m learning chilano more and more every day :-) I already know spanish pretty good but they didnt teach me chilano in the MTC :-D Also, I didn´t say anything before but the food here messed me up pretty bad when came the first week :-P I{m totally fine now though .-D SURPRISE. :-D Elder Bustos was telling me that everybody that isn´t a native to Chile has to get used to the food as well. He said that he had the same problem. But yeah i´m aight now :-D
Speaking of Elder Bustos, that´s where the bad comes in :-P We´re having transfers this week and we had actually thought that everyone would be staying in our district because Me and Elder Mondragon were brand new and Elders Wilde and Bustos were needed cuz they knew the area. Turns out that Elder Bustos is leaving and I´m getting a new comp :-P Unfortunately it´s not just that Pres Swenson wants to be funny. It was kind of important that Elder Bustos would leave. I´m still not sure about everything that was going on but I know that the other Elders found some letters and things that made it pretty evident that Elder Bustos was beginning to have a relationship with a member. Fortunately nothing happened, but the fact that this is even happening as missionaries is still pretty crappy. So since yesterday I´ve been in a trio with Elder Wilde and Mondragon :-) Already I think that my Spanish is dying :-D Just kidding. They are both really cool guys. Elder Mondragon likes to call Comp inventories a lot .-D I´m doing aight. It´s just weird to say that my trainer was with me for less than three weeks cuz he got kicked out of the sector. But you know, whatever .-D
Anyways :-D Everything else is aight. we are all chilling and stuff :-D At home we actually listen to a lot of music. I´m kind of mad that I don´t have my Ipod :-D Don´t send me my ipod though :-D I{m sure that if i had it then i would just hang out at home just listening to music :-D Things that I do need though, My gloves are with forrest so i´ve been needing a pair :-) It´s alright now cuz springs coming but it would be nice to have some nice guantes just in case. Speaking of awful weather, it´s actually not that bad here with the rain :-D It´s only rained twice since i´ve been here and i really like wearing my overcoat and making people think I´m the matrix coming to baptize them!
Unfortunately thats it for me :-P I´m trying to find things to type but i can´t :-P I´ll try harder next week .-D Until then Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace and Sophie, I love you all and Sed Feliz.
Sincerely
Elder

Letters and Pictures

Jamie didn't give any description of the pictures in his letter. We'll ask him next week.

Hey everybody :-)
Sorry that i didn´t email on saturday :-P Today´s not actually P-day but we´re alright to email cuz it was so busy on saturday. The thing is that in Chile on the 18th of September its there equivilant of our fourth of July except that the chilaens get a lot more crazy than we do. :-D We´re not really able to work the entire weekend not because its dangerous but because a lot of the people are too busy drinking or partying to want to hear anything about Jesus. :-) So we just rested. Its funny, the last two weekends have been the same. On Sept 11th every year a ton of riots and protests happen because of some thing that happened way back when but no one here has told me what.

Anyways, I wrote a little list this week to make sure to type down what I want you guys to know :-D First on the list is tremors or los temblos they call them here. I think that it was maybe the third or fourth day here when in the middle of the night the bed starts rocking. I´m thinking ¨jeez elder bustos (cuz its a bunk bed and I´m on top) What´re you doing?¨ Then i realize that everythings shaking :-D Fortunately for me i was so dang tired that i just went back to bed. It was kind of like a massage :-D In hindsight, maybe we should have woken up but i guess no harm done :-D

Now my comps. Elder Bustos is from colombia and he´s been out since june 2009. I´m glad that he´s my trainer starting out cuz if i had Elder Escobillana from northern Chile, then I don´t think I would have understood anything the first week. Elder Escobillana was paired up with an Elder Wilde from I think Ogden but we had a sudden transfer and now Elder Mondragon is with Elder Wilde (also from Utah). The people here when we say where we´re from call it the Fabrica :-) ONe thing that I´m glad the Elder Bustos is my comp is cuz he speaks spanish but not at extreme speeds like Elder Escobillana :-) He even speaks a little english when things are really confusing for me :-D

All of our investigators are pretty cool :-D Whenever we´re in the house they are always paying attention as long as the tv´s off. Me and Elder Bustos actually have a baptism date on the 9th of oct. :-D her name´s Coni and we have to teach a couple of lessons in the next couple of weeks but she´s really wanting to get baptized :-) Elder WIlde had a baptism on saturday too :-D

A cool little detail, the first sunday i was here the new chapel that was just recently built opened which was great for us because a big problem with getting people to come to church was that it was just so dang far away and they couldn´t afford to take the bus. Even with this new church it´s pretty far away but its definitely closer.

The language is going fine. I´m just now starting to understand mostly of whats being said. I can understand perfectly during lessons but before and after i still struggle a bit, but thats alright because it usually doesn´t have anything to do with me and I hardly talk a lot in english either :-D

The house we live in is kind of run down but kind of not. :-D We cleaned it the other day cuz i´m sure that the dirt in the bathroom was moving when i turned around so now its alright. We´re usually not there anyway during the day except for sleeping so its alright.

One thing that I thought was interesting is that we can watch movies and listen to music when we´ve got the time. the movies can only be disney and only when you can´t do work but we´re still able to watch some. The other day we watched toy story 3 and lion king one and a half :-D I didn´t finish toy story cuz i want to know what happens when i get back in ENGLISH.

Anyways thats about it. I´m trying to send the pictures but it might take a while :-P I´ll see if i can send them all right now :-)

Anyways Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you and be happy
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell

First Letter From Chile

Hey Everybody, Well I´m here finally in Concepción Chile where the keyboards actually are able to do español. :-) There is a ton to write about I don´t even know where to start. :-) Well first at the airport after Mom sam grace and sophie dropped me off, i learned that my flight didn´t leave for another two hours so i just walked around a lot until Forrest showed up. The group of missionaries he was in were late cuz of traffic so i mostly just hanged out until 2 o´clock. I actually ran into a friend from rexburg who was coming from Florida. Then forrest came and we eventually got onto the flight. Then Dallas where i probably had my last big mac for dos anos and then we got onto the flight to Chile. I fell asleep at around11 or 12 and woke up at 6 chilean time. We eventually made it to Santiago where I said my goodbyes to Forrest and then headed off to my next flight. I found out that i had lost my camera on the dallas flight so I was looking for a place where i could get in contact with the plane when this guy showed up and started helping out with my bags and tickets. I didn´t realize until later that he wasn´t actually like assigned to help the elders until after but anyways he helped me get my bags checked and took me to the american airlines office to see if i could get my camera. Ididn´t have pesos on me so he took me to a atm to get money but we couldn´t get any money off of the cards at first. I felt bad a little cuz by this time i figured out he wasn´t just helping me out for fun but he had helped me alot. We could only get i think 18 mil off of the debit card which is like almost 40 dollares and then i was on the flight to chile. before we took off a flight attendant walked up to me and gave me my camera. I don´t know how she knew me or how she knew the camera was mine but i´m glad that i have it. Eventually i made it to concepcio´n where pres and sis swenson were waiting and then they took me around the city for a bit and i got to see that building that was in all the newspapers back home that was on its side. Then we went to the mission home where we had almuerza with the asistants and then they took me to my first sector. When we got there, Elders Bustos, Wilde, and Escobillana were waiting for me. Elder Bustos is from colombia, elder escobiliana is from the northest part of chile, and elder wilde is from ogden. Elder Bustos is my comp. After that we got everything unpacked and then we went to a members house for the rest of the evening. For the rest of the week we did alot of the same things. We contacted and visited members and less actives and investigators.I hardly did much except walk with elder bustos cuz i cant understand anything that the people are saying:-) Elder Bustos AND me taught a lesson together once when before he tild me what parts i was going to do and that was fun. It was really cool to be teaching an actuall investigator. On saturday (shout out to Sam, three years :-D) the people off chile have like a ton of protests that actually get pretty dangerous. We didn´t have any problems here but we didn´t do anything that day because of the protests. Sunday was fun because up until recently there had been only one chapel in our sector that was pretty far away and a lot of our less actives and investigators wouldn´t come to church simply because they couldn´t do the walk. But recently a new chapel was built and the first sacrament meeting in it was sunday. Elder Bustos said we had like 14 investigators come to church :-D count it. Yesterday we had a zone conference with pres swenson which was pretty fun. THey played some talks and movies that were english so i was finally able to figure out what was going on. and thats pretty much it :-D
I´m doing alright down here in the other side of the world. I´m tired, confused most of the time, my feet hurt, and just kind of hanging out with my comp when things are happening around us , but i´m doing great :-) The first wek was hard but it was good all at the same time.
I want to write more but this stupid keyboard can´t freaking backspace and i´m going to go nuts in a little bit. :-D M ynext Pday is saturday and I´ll explain why then :-D

Things that are important:
THey still do dear elders down here :-D They aren´t delivered , we have to go to concepcion to get them which is like a twenty or thirty minute busride . Its the same way with packages and letters
I am understanding more each day:-DBecause elder Bustos is colombian, he doesn´t speak crazy spanish so i can understand him
Forrest has my gloves pillowcase and baptism pants so if someone can tell him to mail those, that would be great.
this keyboard is driving me up a wall so i´m going to wrap thins up. I´ll definetely write much better on saturday and answer the questions better. Until then Mom dadsam meri grace and sophie, I love you a ton, i miss you like crazy but its not making me sad :-) 19 months and 3 weeks is nothing to 2 years and it´ll pass so fast when i´m working so much :-) Stay cool and be happy
Sincerely
Fortunately the one and only
Elder McConnell

HE IS IN CHILE!!!!

Everyone:

Barbie and I received this EMAIL tonight from President and Sister Swensen with the pictures attached. He had an adventurous trip down to Chile. Once he got to Santiago, someone got a hold of his debit card and withdrew about $160 US from his account. Then he left his camera on the plane from Dallas to Santiago. Fortunately, he got his camera back but not the money. Considering that was the same day I was in Alaska and Grace almost had her toe amputated some people would be throwing their hands in the air. At our house we call that MONDAY!! Anyway, his P DAY is on Monday and so I'll be posting his EMAIL when I receive it. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support.

James and Barbie


Dear McConnells,

Attached are some photos of your son arriving safe and sound. We are so grateful his health is better and he's here at last. He's landed in a very sweet spot, with Elder Bustos from Colombia, working in the Camilo Olivarria sector of Coronel. Two other missionaries live in the house with them, one from Chile and the other from the U.S.

This mission extends from Talcahuano in the north to Loncoche in the south, about 5 hours by car. There are about 180 missionaries, a 50/50 mix of Latinos and Northamericans, plus some others from Europe and other areas of the world. The missionaries teach an average of 30 lessons a week and every companionship visits 10 inactive families each week, so they stay busy. The food and water are safe and the countryside magnificent.

There has never been a better time or place to serve a mission than right here right now. After the earthquake and the announcement of the temple here, the people have been prepared to receive the message of the Gospel brought to their door by your handsome son. It's a privilege to serve with him in this wonderful work of the Lord. Thank you for your support and prayers.

Sincerely,

President & Hermana Swenson

Pictures from the MTC

When a missionary leaves the MTC Zone all of the elders of the branch sing "God Be With You" in their own language.

Elder McConnell and his cousin Elder Forrest Stephenson


Elder McConnell and Elder Davies the day Tyler left for Taiwan

11 Weeks and Hanging On

Hey everybody :-) I'm emailing today :-D YaY! I got to catch you guys all up on the latest news of the MTC :-) I got the time, a computer that works and a keyboard that doesn't go into shock whenever I want to use the paragragh key :-D So here we go.

So basically, I'm pretty sick :-P Unfortunately I've been sick for more than a month now :-P NOT FUN. Another thing that isn't very exciting is that I don't believe that the gall bladder was the problem :-P I was hoping that after the surgery that I was feeling sick because of the surgery itself and the different medications that they had giving me. Unfortunately I've been off of the different medications for a couple of days now and i haven't had any changes :-P So now I'm sick and I don't have my gall bladder :-D I guess now when I eventually get better, my gall bladder won't get infected with some deadly disease 'cuz I don't got one :-D So thats a plus :-D

It's been pretty tough :-P I think that I'd be alright if I had only been sick a week and then got better, but this has been starting to wear on me a little bit :-P I don't really know whats going to happen next and I don't know what I need to do to get better :-P Spooky. HOWEVER, :-) ;-) I am, in fact, THE one and only James "Jamie" Farrell McConnell the FOURTH, and I don't got the time to be stressing about this and I don't got time to be worried about you guys being worried about me :-D I've got other things to do and so do you all :-D So hop to it!

So an update on where me and the other Elders of District X are at in our MTC experiance. Because we have been here so long (Me eleven, Them fifteen), our zone has too many districts than we have classrooms, so we have been evicted out of our classroom. :-( :-D We're homeless! :-D It's crazy :-D So basically now we bunker down in 11m, in and out of the classrooms and hallways because people are using those rooms as well :-) We just can't win :-D

Actually the other three Elders got their travel plans I think wednesday, and they are heading off to Mexico on moday and tuesday :-) So now I'm stuck :-D It's aight, I'm just going to move in with another district and chill there. After Elders Payzant, Porter, and Blackham leave, I'm going to be the oldest missionary in the zone :-D And you know that I'm gonna abuse that power :-D I'll let you know what happens.

Just a little note to you all that have been writing me, I do have your letters and I will be writing back as soon as I can :-) Unfortunately, there's too many of you now and I don't have the strength to get a letter to all of you :-) But when I get better, I'll be sure to write aMAzing letters :-D

Forrest is doing good :-) I can't believe that it's already been more than two weeks :-D He's doing great with the language and he's already got a feel for the place :-) I heard that Pres. Smith was gonna step down and make way for Elder BIGDEAL :-D ;-) but that might just be a rumor :-D

Unfortunately, I have very little to write about :-P I apologize sincerely for that :-P I might email more later today if I get Dear Elders or something.

So Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie I love you all and the rest of you who read this are alright ;-) :-D

With complete love
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell :-D

Surgery Day 1 and 2

Elder McConnell and Mom before the Surgery

Morning After Surgery with his brother and sisters

Jamie with Sophie

Grace and Sophie walking for Jamie

Jamie, Sam and Meri


Elder McConnell and Elder McConnell

Doctor Appointment with Jamie

Everyone:

Today we were able to go down to Provo to see Jamie during his doctors appointment and it was a good experience all the way around. Even with the results that Dr. Peterson had given us. Basically, his gallbladder is not working and they are going to take it out lapriscopically (scope). The shocking part is that it is happening tomorrow morning. Barb and I will travel down to the hospital tomorrow morning and be with him when he gets out.

It was a neat experience for me to see him and to be with him and his companion, Elder Porter. Elder Porter is another elder in his group that has had visa problems. He's been in the MTC for 15 weeks with no end in sight! Anyway, in just the short amount of time Jamie has been there at the MTC I can see the maturity and self confidence that he has. He speaks with confidence about not only the gospel but how he feels both pysically and spirtually. While we were waiting for Dr. Peterson in the clinic room we all cried a little bit. We know that he is in good hands and that the many prayers, fasting, and thoughts and letters in his behalf have lifted his spirits up through this trying time. Barb and I shared with him that this is part of his mission experience and that he will be a better missionary and person because of it.

As we dropped off Jamie and Elder Porter at the MTC, it was a whole lot easier the second time around!! Even though it was Move In Day for a lot of other elders, this one was a little bit sweeter knowing that we are going to get this resolved and move on.

Again, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They have been very helpful for Barb and I but mostly, Elder McConnell.

James

Dear Sam:
Hey! Howzit going?

It’s been alright here. I'm not dead so that’s a plus. But it’s been pretty tough. If there's one thing that I've learned here these last like three weeks, it’s that if you get stuck, sick, or injured and you're trying to get stuff done, then you cannot give in to despair and give up. I think that I’m just now starting to understand a little part of what you went through when you were hit by that car. The days would be filled with emotional and literal pain that it would be almost impossible to be anything close to hopeful and happy. The thought of another tomorrow would be feeling like it was crushing you. You just wanted it to end. You just wanted your pains to be done. Thinking back, I think that it’s amazing that you’re the awesome person you are, even after all of that.

There is a cool video on mormon.org in the new video section on the 2nd page called the infinite power of hope. It’s pretty cool, it’s by President Uchtdorf.

Anyways, I wanted to say thanks for being that example to me.

So….life’s even more boring now than it was before I was sick. When you’re in and out of bed and the doctors’ offices for several weeks, the story’s the same.

I ran into Forrest on Wednesday though. That was cool. He was in the MTC cafeteria when he ran into him. We started talking for a bit then I asked where he was heading and where his class was. Forrest said “I don’t know”. So I asked him for his schedule and he was like “I lost it”. So I was like “What are you doing?” So Forrest said “Dude, I have no idea what’s going on here! My parents dropped me off two hours ago and now I’m eating ice cream!” Too funny!

That’s about it for me. Stay cool, have a good summer.

Elder Jamie McConnell

Weekly Letter

HeyO!! :-D Howzit going?! :-D

Things here at the MTC are basically the same except for a few minor changes here and there :-) Some goods news, I got my travel plans today :-D I'm heading out on monday July 5th to Chile :-) Yay me. I'm pretty excited :-
So anyways, something cool this week, we're having a new mission presidents training conference here this week so we have a ton of new mission presidents here and also a bunch of the Quorum of the Twelve as well :-) They'll seriously just be walking down the halls while we're in the main building :-D We've been advised not to swarm.

Something not so cool this week :-P I've been sick since last friday :-P It wasn't too bad until monday when I went to the Health Clinic. They said that it's probably some sort of inflammation in my stomach and they gave me some medications. I went in today for another check-up and they did some blood tests. I'll get the news at 2

Because of the new mission presidents training in the main building and the gym building, we've been forced to go out to the field (Playing field not mission field) for gym. It's really cool, I've just been resting in the shade during the last two times because I wasn't feeling up to playing it, but there's a lot to do at the field :-) Unfortunately, it's boiling lava hot there :-P I haven't had to worry about since I've been in the shade, but the majority of my district and zone have gotten sunburns :-) So I guess its a blessing to be sick :- That's basically it for me :-P I've missed a lot of class this week so there's not much news there. We taught the second lesson this week in Spanish which was really cool :-) I'm pretty confident con mi espanol :-D I guess for you Dad, you could talk about how praying makes things that seem to be difficult to you seem easy because when you pray you can be guided in what you do :-) THat's mostly it this week. Until next week Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you and Be HAppy!!!

Sincerely Elder McConnell

HEYO!!!! :-D Howzit going?! :-) I'm doing fine in what we like to call in espanol the CCM :-) I still don't know what that means for sure :-) But no, life here at the MTC is doing good ;-) Its long and repitive to the extreme but besides that it's great :-)
We didn't have an apostle for devotional this week but we did have the president of the seventy here :-D Elder Donald L. Hallstrom gave a great talk to us about how we are a covenant making people and how we should always be keeping our covenants and how they can provide protection for us during our entire lives :-) Which is very important to remember especially while you are on your mission :-D
We got a new district this week so now me and Elder Merrell are no longer the only missionaries in our room :-) It's alright but the extra space was really nice before the noobs showed up ;-) :-D Just kidding :-D We have an Elder Taylor and an Elder Tidmarsh and they are both really cool :-) We've already started to make them say their prayers in spanish ;-D I should feel mean but I really don't care and it's good for them anyway :-D
Spanish is coming along great :-) I'd type this email all in spanish but its weird figuring out what the keys do when they're on a spanish setting so just take my word for it :-D seriously though, it's pretty amazing how much I know from just the last 6 weeks :-) I can teach the first two lessons completely in spanish and now that i think off it, I bet I could teach a lot of the other lessons just by ad-libbing my spanish :-) I can't always say what I want to say with what I have so I have to use what I know :-) It makes teaching very VERY simple :-D
The food is weird. That's really all I have to say :-)
A lot of the older districts in our zones are leaving these next couple of weeks so we're all starting to feel really old :-P In the MTC weeks are the equivelant of maybe 3 months in the outside world :-) No joke. In comparison to the new districts, we are like those crazy old men on the top of mountains who have all wisdom :-D It's a temptation not to abuse this power :-D
We heard the other day about a prank that was pulled on some new elders. Apparently when they got to their dorms and were unpacking the first day, another elder walked in with a belt tied around his arm and then proceeded to give himself his insulin shot. Obviously if you aren't aware that the elder was diabetic then this situation would be a lot more serious ;-) Also the belt added a little to his act :-D Anyways no one told these elders that he was a diabetic for the next two days :-P That's just mean :-D
Note to dad: I think that I only have a buck fifty on my card and I don't think that it'll be a problem because I don't need anything really, but if you could put some money on the card that'd be great.
Oh yeah, my foots healing really quick :-) The orthodics are working wonderfully so no worries :-)
That's really it for me :-) Remember to write and to my family Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie I love you. And the rest of you reading this are alright ;-) :-D

With almost all sincerety
Sincerely Elder Jamie McConnell