Weekly Letter

So things are going good here in O´higgins :-) Yesterday we confirmed our baptism that we had had the other sunday which was a relief because member had told me that if you wait too long between the baptism and the confirmation, Satan still has time to kill the person who got baptized before they become members for real. So you can bet I was a little on edge during the week :-D The family is doind great :-) (Pedro, Carmen, Magglory, Cristian, Niko, and Pedrito so you know who they are) bytheway Mom, Magglory is mad that you havent accepted her yet on facebook. They are doing really great :-) We´re planning for the 5th for the baptism of Carmen and Magglory. There are some complications in that Carmen has a little problem with smoking, but I told her to knock it off and she said ok so we´re alright :-D Magglory has been baptized twice already in two different churches. She understands the line of authority and she believes that everything that we have said is true, she just doesn´t want to think that this next baptism will be wrong like the other two. She´s reading, she´s praying, she´ll be fine :-) Things are looking up.
Short note, The ´´earthquake´´ did nothing but scare people (I did hear there was one death but it was from a heart attack). Me and Elder Colombo were talking to an Adventist lady. A very Angry Adventist lady, and she and Elder Colombo began to chat in a less than cordial manner. Anyways, So I´m hanging out while my comp and this lady are yelling and the fence that we´re leaning on begins to shake and I for sure thought that it was Elder Colombo shaking the fence with his hands cuz he was mad but then I realized that all the fences that I could see were shaking as well, along with the windows :-D But it was only big enough to get your attention nothing else. So no worries, we´re alright :-D
I wanted to talk about faith. Yesterday we went to the home of an older woman who wanted us to give her a blessing. We chatted for a bit, she hasn´t been to church for longer than I´ve been here in the sector because of her health, so she´s kind of in bad shape. So we give her a blessing, and as we´re leaving she tells us ´´Me siento bien!´´ I feel fine. Not like when people say that they feel better that you passed by to visit them, she felt fine. She was genuinely happy and without her pain. For a sec I was like whoa, what happened but just for sec because I remembered ´´oh yeah, We can heal people with the power of God. thats why´´. I´ve always known that blessins help but I had never seen it work so fast. Another time we gave a blessing to another older lady who was in a lot worse shape. An intestine had ruptured or something and this lady needed to stay in her bed. We were actually just passing when the son sked us to come in and give her blessing. She was asleep when we did it and then we left. couple days later her daughter finds us in the street and says that her mom is fine and in fact her health and personality had changed to what they were like when she was younger. Crazy stuff. It makes me think. One happened very quickly. One happened later but the lady didn´t even hear or was aware of the blessing but regardless is better. Faith to move mountains. Faith to heal. Faith to be Healed. How much is needed to heal someone. How many people need to have it. Only a seed, very tiny seed, of faith is needed and only one person needs to have it. Perhaps what we wish to happen will happen quick, tomorrow. or perhaps much later, but I believe that if we believe that it can and will happen, it will. Only a seed :-D
Thats it for me :-) I´m sending letters to other peoples so heads up for those but the next week I´ll send some for you guys :-) SO until the next Mom Dad Sam Meri Grace Sophie and Dani, I love you all and BE HAPPY
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

SO things have been very good here in the Ohig. I don´t think I made this clear but I´m going to be here at least until the 15th of march. So that should be fine :-D I´m going to get know EVERYBODY :-D The other day we were told that God doesn´t exist and that we were wasting our youth trying to teach the scriptures. Another day we were told that ´´the latter day saints were going to be burned in the last day ´´(I may have misinterpreted that one but Elder Colombo says thats what the pastor said) :-) Happy day.
But for good news we had a baptism yesterday :-D It went really well. We had the baptism after sacrament meeting which was good because if we had done it on Saturday almost no one would have come :-P :-D So the ward stayed, I was able to give a cool little talk (I speak spanish by the way), we had the baptism, everybody couldn´t fit in the font room there were so many people, family and non family a like :-D It was a really cool baptism. All of the grandma´s gave Makarena (the girl who got baptized) hugs and kisses, and her Aunt said that she was going to make it a point to come back to church :-) :-D Very cool :-)
We´re still working with the family that we found a couple weeks ago (La Familia Contreras) and they are still doing very well. They were almost all not home during the week but we kept in contact over the cellphone and they told us that they were still reading the Book of Mormon and praying which was great. The daughter was the only one that was able to come to church but she brought three friends with her who are also beginning to listen to the lessons :-D Things are looking up :-D
So thats it for me :-) Letters are on the way :-) Grandma McConnell, I hope that you are doing alright with your sister. Grandma Utley I hope that you´re recuperating more and more everyday, and I Hope that all the rest of you are doing good and if not good, great :-D
A little note, I read Romans chapter 8, the last three verses, and they made me think that there is nothing in or out of the world that can take away the love of God from us. Even if we don´t want to have it, God loves us anyway :-) What a blessing. We can´t lose if we remember who it is that hopes the best for us and is doing everything He can for us to have the best. We can´t lose :-D
Now that´s it for me :-D Until the next then, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, and Dani, and All of you out there, I love you and BE HAppY!! :-D
Sincerely
Elder McConnell

So hey, WHoa Grandma. So everything went well I heard which is good. No offense but I wasn`t all that worried about anything because I didn`t hear about open heart surgery until this morning, and then after I heard that grandma was fine. Before I had only heard of angioplasty which is either not really a big deal or I wasn`t aware of how big of a deal it was. Its cool how everything worked out in the end :-)
So things here in the ohig are going really good :-) We`ve done a lot of things here to help with the ward and sector. I don`t think I said the last but we had a Baptism on the 29th :-) It went very well :-) It was kind of impromtu because we had to do everything but it was good nonetheless :-) We hope that this baptism will help her family make their way back to the church because they are a little inactive. Here`s to hoping. It`s good that we had a baptism because the last time that this sector had a baptism was in March 2010 :-P Sing Ho for not a year! :-D Another cool thing that has happened recently is the family that I was talking about the other week :-) We`ve been teaching them throughout the week and they have accepted everything that we`ve said and they even say that it makes a lot of sense :-D TAke that Satan, Gospel Props! We had a ward activity on friday where we had all the members that came bring a cake(or something sweet to share) and then we provided a spiritual message and games :-D A plus was that the family was able to come and get to know just about everyone in the ward and THEN on sunday they already knew everybody :-D Yesterday after church they told us that they loved everything and want to hear more. So we`re going to leave them alone for a little while . . . . Yeah thats not happening. They`ve been a real blessing for us and I feel that when they become members (When not if, because THEY`ve already been talking about the temple) that they are going to be a great help for the church :-) HAppy Day, all is well.
Another cool thing this week. The Area President, Elder Carlos Amado, came and had a conference with us on thursday :-D It was really fun and he`s a really funny guy. It`s weird to think that if I didn`t know spanish, I wouldn`t have been able to talk with him or listen to what he was teaching. Crazy stuff. Something that he told us was that at the time we may not feel that we are being guided by the spirit but when looking back, its obvious that we were. Cool thought.
Something funny, so we were contacting the other day cuz we do that sometimes, and we run into this old guy and we`re like hey sir how`re you doing? and he was like good good, and we were like Hey were missionaries and we have this special message for YOU, and some other things about the importance of our happiness in this life, and until this point he was being polite until he asks ``What are you guys, Catholics, Evangelists?`` And we say ``We`re from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints`` and he asks ``What?`` and we say ``. . .The Mormons`` and then he flips out and he`s like ``No I dont want anything from you guys, you need to leave`` so we stand there awkwardly for a sec and I`m kind of sad cuz it`s always sad when they do that so I say ``Here`` and I give him a little passalong card of Jesus and he gets all surprised and says ``What is this?`` and I`m like `` . . .Its Jesus`` and he`s like ``But you guys follow Satan, the Devil`` and I`m like ``. . . Nope`` :-D After that he got all happy and smily and thoughtful for awhile and we told him that we can only follow Jesus because anyone else is wrong. He stopped talking to us at this point onward but he was still smiling :-) We told him we`ll pass by someother time when he wasn`t busy and then we left. Funny stuff. Its amazing what people think sometimes.
So hey that`s it for me. I`m mailing some letters today but they`re all for other people but I`m sending letters to you guys next week with pictures so hang tight. (By the way I`m still going to be here in Ohiggins until MArch 15 at least. Forgot to mention that ) Until the next Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, and Dani, I love you all and Be HAppy!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell

HEY?! :-D HOWZIT GOING?! :-D
I didn`t know that Cody got home already :-D I thought that he was going to get home in like april or something. My Bad :-D And Brock`s heading out as well :-D Crazy stuff :-D
So how`re things? How is everybody? Hopefully your shoulder is getting better Mom :-P Its funny hearing about Sophie watching tv because I can imagine perfectly how she`s in the chair :-D She`s kind of the shape of a potatoe :-D
Its good to hear that everything is going alright at home :-) Actually one thing Dad, Grandpa sent me an email the other day that he had slipped and fallen in his driveway like on sunday I think sometime at 6 in the morning. He didn`t say that he had told anyone so if you could go and check that he has all his parts that`d be cool :-D
So things are going good here on the other side in Chile :-) We were able to bring a lot of people to church yesterday (3 which is a freaking ton load thank you very much). We found a really cool family LAST monday and they are all really cool :-) We arrived and they invited us in with smiles and everything. We were able to have a really cool conversation and share some scritpures with them. We also gave them a Book of Mormon and they`ve been reading it :-D Cool stuff. The kids (3) came with us to play soccer on saturday which was cool :-) It`s only a matter of time and the spirit now :-D VAMOS CHILE!!!
Things continue to kind of slug their way with the ward. Now that I`m with a comp that isn`t really down on himself it isn`t as bad as it was but its still hmhuhm, word. I don`t worry too much because it will have to improve eventually, even if its after my turn here :-)
Thats basically it here :-P :-D Hey dad, I wanted to tell you that I might buy a new luggage bag next monday and it isn`t inexpensive. The biggest bag started falling apart the last cambio. There was a bar that was between the wheels of the bag and yeah, that`s gone now :-) As well I packed the walls of the bag to tight the last cambio and they are all cracked. If I can fix the bag in the week, I let you know on monday but if not then I`ll have to get a bag. The bigger bags range from 100 to 140 DOLLARS not pesos so heads up :-P I think that there is a way that I can fix the bag but just so you know if I can`t.
So thats basically it for me :-D Until the Next Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, and DAni, I love you all and BE HAPPY
Sincerely
THe only one
Elder Jamie McConnell

Jamie talking with us on Chirstmas

HEy EverYBody :-D
Howzit going?! :-D Things are going alright here on the other side of the world.
So some interesting things this week :-) We ALMOST had a Baptism :-P And we almost did it in a River :-D but it didn`t happen :-P So we had everything ready, she has been taught all of the lessons and she passed everything in the interview, BUT she told us that she didn`t want to do it. Actually she never said yes or no. The thing is that she at this time can be baptized. There is no problem with that. She however has this really big fear of not enduring to the end. The problem is that she has this ex pareja. The closest word in english that I would use is a husband or wife that live together almost exactly as if they were married but aren`t. Right now there is no problem, but she is afraid that in the future this guy`s going to come back and they`re going to live together and then the baptism would`ve been for nothing :-P She knows everything, she knows that its important, she knows she has to do it, but she wants to be sure that this won`t be a problem for her later :-P So me and Elder Colombo both felt that we shouldn`t push her on this. We knew that this idea was really sad but we also knew that it was the best thing to do. When we got home we didn`t feel too bad :-) Elder Colombo said that If we had baptized we wopuld have felt worse :-D I agreed. So theres that.
Nothing much really crazy happened this week. I gopt the hymnbook and bugstuff on tuesday. We had a capacitacion which is just a big spanish word for a big meeting with los angeles south zone and Pres. Swenson :-D We learned a lot. he talked about how on the mission we are every decision that we make and its the same for the rest of your life :-D Cool stuff. I gave a talk yesterday :-D Darn Bishop told me the night before thatI needed to do it and then 15 minutes before he told me twenty minutes. I whipped out some old talks that I had in my english scripture case and just translated it :-D I gave a talk on forgiveness. It reminded me about when you would call me in the morning Dad and tell me I had a class later on in the day. Thanks for the practice. I also got to giver a blessing in spanish the other day. The thing in Spanish is that there are two different ways to say you, tu and usted, but for some reason blessings and prayers are usually said in tu form. The sad part is that I almost always talk in usted so I hardly know how to speak in tu :-P I did good I thought :-D It was a mix of the two :-D
So yeah, thats basically it :-) I`m sending letters today so heads up. I`m doing great with everything. Really the ward is really really cool :-) I`m going to miss them a lot when they take me out of here. That might happen in February first but I`d be totally fine until the middle of march :-) Sing Ho :-D
ANyways, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, and Danny, I love you all and Be Happy!
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell
p.s. Whats in my hand? Nothing, Nothing, I`m a magician

Weekly Letter and Some Pictures

HEY Everybody! :-D Howzit Going?!! :-D I loved reading the emails and Dad, thats a pretty cool article about you :-D though they did forget to put in the rest of us in the story cuz I`m pretty sure we were there for some of those parts :-D So I assume that the Ipod arrived :-) I have to say that I do not trust Chilaen mail services :-P Ten cuidado. Danie seems like she`s really helping out a lot :-) How is her name spelled bytheway? Danny, Danie, Dani . . . :-) Nice cake Sam, And HEy mom said you got those fire poi thingies. Don`t be stupid cuz if you burn down somebody`s house now, you go to jail. Now you gotta make sure that everything you do isn`t too stupid :-D Happy birthday bytheway :-D How does it feel to be 18? I cant even remember what we did for my 18th birthday. I know that you guys were there :-D I think that I got my compùter there as well :-D That was almost 2 years ago :-D Holy caca :-D So yeah, more about me. Things are going good here in the Ohig. (You can`t really be too gangster with a name like ohiggins). We`re improving a lot about the sector. WE didn`t have a lot of success with people coming to church yesterday but you can be darn sure we invited a ton of people to go and they all said ''Yeah we`ll go'' which was great because they usually say si dios quiere which means if god wants which almost makes me want to scream sometimes. ``I`ll go if God wants me to`` ``. . . We just told you that he does moron`` :-D that was rude, and I don`t ever say that but the thought`s still there :-D But seriously, things are improving . We have a lot of new people that we can teach, a lot of inactives that we`ve found that want to start coming back. Everything is looking up :-) SIng ho. Something cool that happened yesterday. On the 15th we have a baptism scheduled for Patricia. The same day, the ward is going on a paseo. I don`t know what the word means exactly but the thing is a really big ward activity at some river some where. We were told that we needed to come because the members might kill us if we don`t, but we said that we might have a baptism for the 15th, so the bishop said ''no importa'' which is like doesn`t matter ''we`ll bring her with us and baptize her there``, and I was like ``Um ok we`ll talk with her``. The thing is that patricia is kind of `timid`` and she doesnt want to get baptized if she`s not sure she`s gonna stick it out, so we were going to talk to her about it. Anyways, the meetings went, blah blah blah, eventually sacrament finished and they began a meeting about the paseo with all the members for a bit. Patricia went outside for a sec and we talked about the baptims and if she`d like it in a river, and stuff and she was like yeah we`ll see. Eventually we went back into the chapel and got ambushed by the members. They were like ``Are you going to come, are you going to get baptized, are you coming, its going to be great, the water`s perfect for baptism, just a little dip, we are ALL going to be there, COMING???`` . . . . I was like ``Guys, shut UP!!`` mentally, but then patricia caved in and said ok :-D It was perfect cuz thats all she really needed was everyone telling her to do it. :-D She knows everything, she`s just afraid of the happily ever after part but i think that the members are going to be a great help :-) So thats basically it .:-) Hey by the way to Mom and Jason, Some of the youth members have asked for my facebook stuff and I told them that you two speak spanish. I hope that they aren`t too crazy :-) The convert that I have is Constanza Rivas so if you want to get to know her and her fam that`d be cool. Something that I wanted to ask for, if you guys ,in a package that might be a little bigger, could send me a pair of missionary mall shoes and more socks, that`s be great :-) I have one more pair but I think it`d be good to have one more backup :-D Thats it for me :-) Until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, Sophie, and Danny (spelling), I love you all and Be HappY! Sincerely Elder McConnell

Weekly Letter

HEYO!!! :-D Howzit going?! :-D

Things are continuing to go alright here in the other Los Angeles. New years was fun and not at the same time. It was fun in that we were able to go over to some members houses to enjoy the festivities on the 31st and 1st, but it wasn`t fun in that almost all of our investigators (and a bunch of members) weren`t home during the week :-P As well, all the people who remained in the street were drunk. I was going to say, mom and dad, that you both saw a lot of drunk people in the street on your missions (maybe more in Scotland :-D). I swear that some day I`m going to find a drunk guy in the street and he`s going to be dead. They look dead most of the time anyway, but you`re never sure.

So for New years we went over to the house of the Bishop of Galvarino (the ward that we share the chapel with), Bishop Valdebenito. He`s a really cool guy and I think that I already told you guys that he looks a lot like Dad, except spanish. Basically we just hanged out, listened to music, ate a LOT of food, and talked :-) Something I learned the other day, I don`t have to try to understand conversations anymore, its like listening in english now, WAZZUP!? :-D How cool am I? :-D A song that you need to look up Sam is Arriba la vida by (I think) Cronika. Its a pretty cool song and if you emailed me the lyrics, I could probably translate it :-) I`ve recently been making a list of music that I`ve heard in Chile so that I can download it when I get back home. That you should be home.

Some cool things that happened in the week, we went on intercambios(exchanges) on tuesday and we found two people that spoke english. They were both really cool people :-D The first one kind of like to swear a little. he asked us about who we were and what we were doing here and some other questions like the word of wisdom and the Ley de castidad and we we told him what they were he was like ``Dang guys`` but with the actual word :-) Funny stuff. The second one was kind of more interested in that we spoke spanish more than that we were missionaries, but to each his own :-D

The rest of the week was basically contacting cuz everyone wasnt home (or they had lied to us about where they lived). That was fun though because we found a lot of people for this week :-) Yay. . . . Thats basically it.

I cant believe that Its 2011 already :-P Crazy fast. A lot of the Elders that I know are going home this year. This is going to be the one whole year of my life as a missionary :-D Crazy stuff :-D

Hey, about the package. I sent the thumbdrive but not until I had erased all the photos that weren`t still on the camera. I BELIEVE that all the photos that were erased had had a copy of them sent to you guys. Hopefully all of them because I have none of the photos from before that :-P Hopefully you get the thumbdrive and hopefully you have all the photos :-)

Side note. Yeah we felt the earthquake, but I have no idea why it would make news all the way in the states :-P It shook the house for a bit but only so that you knew it was an earthquake. I don`t think that anything happened :-D

So thats it for me. Until the next, Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie, I love you all, and Be Happy! :-D

Sincerely

Elder Jamie McConnell

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