Week 68...Another Week in the Greatest Mission on Earth

Hey Fam and Friends,

Another week has come and gone here in the greatest country on earth, yes, Chile. Elder Johnson and I got to work together all week because President didn't want anyone doing divisions for the first week of this change because the rain kinda destroyed everyone's groove last week. So, now we got to get back on top of things. This week will be basically just divisions with the missionaries in our zone and then so will the next 4 weeks of this transfer and then the rest of my mission as well... It's a good thing that I like divisions. 

So where do I start? I guess I can talk about the zone. My mission is a lot different from other missions in the fact that there are only 9 stakes in the whole mission and therefore there are only 9 zones. I am in the stake called Los Cerrillos, so I'm in the zone of Los Cerrillos. I was previously in Ochagavía and before that I was in 5 de Abril and before that I was in Peñaflor. I always knew that Ochagavía was once the worst stake in the whole world as far as inactives and church attendance, but now I have come to know that Cerrillos is the worst stake in the mission and it's on the verge of becoming a district because the attendance is so low. We met with 1st stake counselor this week to talk about a game plan and what we are going to try and accomplish. President basically wants me here because my retention (people who have been baptized within the last year) was perfect for 3 months straight in my last ward of Villa Sur. I had 6 for 6... So now I'm here in Cerrillos to supposedly help get the retention up because ITS TERRIBLE!!! The other terrible thing is the baptisms here are low... so we've got a lot to do to say the least. It's cool to work with stake leaders though and see how consecrated people are to this work. I love members that work with us and if there's one thing I've learned on my mish is that I WAS A TERRIBLE MEMBER MISSIONARY. I never left with the missionaries and never gave references; let's just say I will be different after the mish. So family, GET YOUR BUTTS OFF THE COUCH AND GET OUT AND HELP THE MISSONARIES! I know we've given lots of references as a family and we've had FHE with friends before, so we're not completely useless, but you guys should be doing a lot more!

The good news is that we're in the strongest ward in all of Cerrillos called Primo de Rivera. This ward is super diverse. We have 3 companionships in the ward. Us, other elders, and 2 hermanas. Hermana McNevin was in this ward before and she took out the trash! People freak out when I tell them that we graduated seminary together... 

The ward is diverse because it's got super rich people and super, super, super poor people. We are in the poorest sector, and lemme tell ya, it's something else. I have never seen campamentos in my mission but we have them here! That's where all the homeless people live and they just live in tin shacks, the crazy thing is that it's a suburb area, but you come up this hill to get to our sector and it's a different world! The other cool thing though is that our sector is on a huge hill and we have the sweetest view in the mish! We also have some crazy blocks... I've never seen so much prostitution in my life, neither have I seen so many drugs. There's a lot of bad things happening in these blocks and it smells horribly. Elder Johnson gets super scared at night, but I honestly have never been scared of Chilenos. 

We have a ton of Haitianos as well, and the good news is that there's a few as retention so they help us out! The retention is 16 in our sector... 16 people baptized within the last year! LOTS OF WORK!  The zone needs a lot of help, but I'm looking forward to working hard this change! 

Love all you guys! Read your scriptures, say your prayers, keep the Sabbath day holy, and help the missionaries! This is a gospel of progression and if you're comfortable, you're doing something wrong! 

 

LOVE,

ELDER WEAVER