2/27/2017

¡Esta semana fue loca!  This has been a really crazy week. We have cambios (transfers) today, and Elder Carter is leaving for Viognier (I believe that is how you spell it).  Anyways so I´m getting a new companion today, Elder Retuta and he is from the Philippines, but that´s really all I know about him.  Oh also he speaks 4 languages apparently!  Anyways I will have to tell you more about him next week when I meet him.

Also this week we almost baptized Juan Carlos, the guy who gave me the rubix cubes to solve.  He said he was going to live all the commandments of God and get baptized.  I really wanted to baptize him, because he is such a cool guy!  I really want the best for him, but I saw he was still having problems with the word of wisdom this week.  Elder Carter said that we should keep the same baptismal date and he was going to be baptized last Friday.  I had some doubts about baptizing him, but Elder Carter said we taught all the lessons right and he agreed to follow them all so now it´s his choice to be baptized or not.  Then we got the baptismal fount ready for him to get baptized and I just felt really bad that day.  I went into the chapel because I didn´t want to baptize him, but the other Elders said he was ready.  Then at 7:00 he showed up in his car and he was smoking... :(  Then the other Elders said we should call President to see what we should do and he told us to wait for the baptism, and then President talked to Juan Carlos on the phone.  He put a goal with him to quit smoking and we will try to baptize him after he hits it.  So we didn´t baptize him, but we are still working with him to reach the goal!!

Anyways other than that everything has been going pretty good!  The language is constantly improving!  One day, I even forgot how to say at least in English haha.  We also cleaned the house a lot for when the new guys arrive this transfer.  I am doing really well and I am praying for you guys everyday!!!  Please pray for my investigators that they can feel the spirit and they can receive blessings!  I love you all and thanks for everything you guys do for me.

Love,

       Elder Hirschi

Answers: 

What position do you like to play when you play soccer with the other missionaries?

1. I am not very good at soccer compared to basically everyone in the mission hahaha.  But I do like to run back and forth from defense to offense.  So I would say like midfielder or something.

How are your investigators doing?

2. They are doing good, we found a Venezuelan family of 3 again except the kid is only about 5 years old, but they are really receptive.

 Do you sometimes get out your patriarchal blessing and read it?

3. Yeah I read my Patriarchal blessing during study time sometimes.

When are the next transfers?  Do you think you will stay in Copiapo?

4. We are having transfers today, and I am staying in Copiapo

Are there many dogs that you see or other animals around?

5. There are tons and tons of dogs, because it´s a law that you can´t kill dogs, and there is no animal control.

 What are the schools like there?  Do the kids get breaks for Christmas and summer?

6. The kids are going back to school I believe in March, but they are on break right now.  I think it´s similar to the United States, but I don´t really know.  They have Summer break, but it´s during our Winter Break.

What percentage of kids do you think go to college there?  Do they ever talk about the perpetual education fund that helps kids be able to go to college?

7. I don´t know what the percent is, and I don´t know what perpetual education fund means

Dad wants to know if you think you will ever be able to beat him again in chess?

8. That´s true I don´t really have time to play chess on the misison, so my skills might drop down to his level before I leave the mission.  So I don´t really know haha.

2/20/2017

¡Hay bautismos de nuevo! Hey family everything is good in Copiapo.  This Saturday was Stake Conference and it was awesome.  Our Mission President spoke about the restoration in the conference.  It was really cool, and we also had a zone conference and interviews right before.  

We have been progressing a family of 3 and they are really nice people from Columbia.  It´s a husband and his wife and son, and they are really receptive to the gospel.  This week we asked if they wanted to take the step to get baptized and they said yes so we baptized all three of them on Friday!!  It was really cool, all the Elders were dressed in white.  They are really faithful and the dad (Fabion) already wants a calling in the Church, but he has to wait till he gets the Priesthood.  I know they will be really firm in the Church though.

Today I withdrew money from my debit card for the first time, and everything worked out well.  I am planning on buying some stuff to send home if I can sometime!  Also there are some really cool souvenirs in Chile that you can buy for pretty cheap.  They have lots of mines here so there are lots of cool rocks to buy too!  Anyways I don´t want to spend very much money though.  I will mostly just use it for emergencies.  

I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day this year haha.  We just worked like normal and it didn´t really feel different.  There were lots of people with flowers in the street though so I could tell it was Valentines Day.  

Anyways I love you all and I want to thank you again for everything you guys do!!!  CHAU (I finally found out chow is actually spelled like this haha oops)!  

Love,

    Elder Hirschi

Answers: 

Do you use anything like dictionaries to help you with the language?  What helps you the most with the language?

1. I do have a dictionary, but I learn most by asking my companion or by asking the people. The thing that helps the most is just talking with the people a lot.

  Have you had a chance to try out your debit card yet?

2. I did today and everything worked out well so that´s good.

Did you guys do anything for Valentines?

3. We didn´t really do anything but they do celebrate it here, I would just say it´s a lot smaller.

Did you have interviews this last week?  How did it go?

4. We did have interviews with President.  It was really good, and short, but it really animated me to press forward in the work.  

Do you ever get a chance to play the piano?  Are there many in your ward that can play piano?

5. Yeah I play the piano a lot at the church, but not during the meetings or anything like that.  No there´s not a ton, we have one of the young girls (like 14) play the piano during sacrament meetings.  

What do the other missionaries like to do most on P-days?  Do you ever go sightseeing?

6.  We don´t normally go sight seeing we normally play futbol (soccer) or do some sort of sport.  Today we did go sight seeing a little. We went up to the giant cross that is on top of the mountain. 

 What are some foods you have liked the most there?

 

7. They have really good empanadas here in Chile.  The closest we have to an empanada would probably be a hot pocket, but I think empanadas are a lot better. 

2/13/2017

¡Hola Familia!  I had an awesome P-day today! We got to play soccer with zone vs zone which was cool.  Also we played with the President of the mission Presdiente Ferreira and he is actually really good.  He is a super funny guy and really tranquilo (kinda like calm but cool) President.  He was on the opposite team of me, but in the end it was about a tie even though I don´t remember the score.  Also one of the rules in our mission is that only the Hermanas(sisters) can score goals which even though it´s kind of lame, I think it´s really funny.  We are always right next to the goal just passing it to the Hermanas again and again so they can score haha.  

This week was really cool, we taught lots of people.  We are going to baptise 3 people next week if everything goes to plan.  But next week is Stake Confrence so we are going to have to do the confirmation and baptism on the same day!!  We called President and he said it was ok because of Stake Confrence.  So hopefully that all goes well.

My Spanish is improving as always, but this week was weird because I kept saying things in English during the lessons which was embarrassing.  Also since I´m so used to saying things like bakán (which means cool) while I am talking.  Someone said that they were fighting with their daughter and I was like, oh that´s bakán (cool)!

Because mom is always doing it I decided I will do a scripture of the week.  So here it is I guess haha.  I love you guys and I will see you next week.

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 31: 19-21 (talks about faith and enduring to the end)

Love,

       Elder Hirschi

Answers to the questions: 

 Has it started cooling down at all yet?  Is it pretty humid or dry?

1. It still is hot, but strangely enough this past week was a lot colder.  It´s usually just hot and dry.  It´s a lot like St. George actually, so at least I´m used to it.

What have you liked most about your apartment and ward?

2. My apartment is really small so I don´t really like it, I would say I like the people inside of it most TA TA!  Same goes for the ward haha.  No the ward building is really cool, but I really like playing the piano inside.

How are your investigators doing?

3. Our investigators are doing well, Juan Carlos the one with rubix cubes wants to get baptized on the 26th so hopefully that goes well.  Also Paulo my first baptism received the priesthood and he is now a TEACHER!!! so that´s cool!

Did you have interviews with the mission president?  How was it?

4. We are about to have interviews with the mission President this week, so I don´t know yet.  But I did have one at the first and it was cool, President said he trusts in me!

 Are your new converts doing well?

5. The new converts are all doing good, Emeterio was going to leave with us to help with the missionary work, but he couldn´t go.  Paulo got the priesthood so that was cool.

 Have you been to any zone conferences or district meetings lately? If so, what are they like?

6. We do them a lot they are pretty cool.  We do lots of practices and talk about our investigators.

How are things still going with your New Year’s goals?  Are you still writing in your journal?

  

7. I am still writing in my journal, but I did stop for a little while :(.  I fixed it again and tried to fill in what I remembered.

My Ward Mission Leader Gillermo gave me a sweet shirt for baptizing for the first time (by the way he loves Star Wars and so do I)

2/6/2017

¡Hola de nuevo mi amoroso familia!  I`m doing great in Chile! All of our investigators are very receptive and many of them want to get baptized.  It`s really cool, but I think we need to make sure that all of our investigators are willing to follow all the teachings of Christ and be faithful members.  I really hope that all of our investigators will continue following Christ throughout their lives.  

The other day there was a blackout in Copiapo which was really crazy!  It was at about 9:00 pm so it was really dark and very hard to see.  I remember feeling a little nervous when it began, but luckily an investigator helped by driving us home.  We made it home safe and I didn't hear of anything bad happening, but usually we have to be home by 10:00 because the streets can be dangerous at night.  But we went home a little early to be safe, because of the blackout, and I was glad nothing bad happened.  

I gave my first blessings in Spanish this week, and I gave another one the next day!  It is scary at first, but if you just try to listen to the spirit it can help you to know what to say which was really cool.  Sometimes I would say things that I didn't even know what I was saying.  I don`t know what happened to either one of the people I blessed, but they seemed really happy after the blessing.

I got to baptize someone this Saturday.  His name is Emeterio and he was a really cool investigator, because we taught him one time and invited him to come to church, but then we couldn't get in contact with him to bring him to church.  Then he showed up to church and we were thinking he wasn't going to come, because normally we have to bring our investigators or they will not come.  However he did come and sat down right next to us, and he went to the next class with us too, and after we asked how he liked it and he said it was really interesting and that he wanted to get baptized.  So we set up a date and we kept teaching him, but he was just really ready to get baptized so we baptized him super fast.  It was my first time baptizing someone in Spanish, but I did it on my first try.  Then after I felt really good and I asked him how he felt and he said he felt good as well.  It was a really spiritual experience.

Love,

         Elder Hirschi 

Answers: 

 Is the church there very big that you go to?  Is the ward very big? 

1. The church we go to is the stake center, it's the biggest church building in Copiapo.  There is only 1 ward though and it`s not the biggest.  There are lots of members in our ward, but there's lots and lots of menos activos (less actives).  

 Do you think you will have a Valentines party in the ward there?  Do you see many Valentine’s things in the stores?

2. Is it almost Valentine's day... I didn't even notice haha.  There hasn't been anything that I've seen and no one has told me if we do anything.  

When are your next transfers?  Do you ever have interviews with the president?

3. Somewhere around the 26th of February is the next cambio (transfer).  We have interviews with President next week, but that is my first one on the mission, other than the first 2 days when I was in Antofagasta.   

Do you have a microwave that works in your apartment?

4. Yeah we have a microwave, a stove, and a fridge, but the fridge is just really small.  

What is something Elder Carter has taught you?

5.  Elder Carter has taught me a lot about what to do on the mission.  Like how to use all the tools correctly and how to teach the investigators better to understand the gospel.  He also helps by trying to make me speak in Spanish all the time, which I really need to work on that.

Have you seen many guitars or ukuleles there? 

6. I have seen lots of guitars and ukuleles, but I only played the guitars a few times.  I have not played the Uke except in the CCM.

  Do any of the missionaries in your apartment play the piano or like to sing?

7. Elder Sarralinen likes to play the piano, but no one really likes to sing.  

 Are you able to see the pictures we attach to your emails pretty well or do they take a while to download?

8. I don`t download the pictures they just show up as pictures so I look at them, but I can download all of the ones I want