Vina Del Mar, Chile

Friday, September 25, 2015

Week 56: I WILL SURVIVE!!! Earthquakes and Tsunamis Aint got notin on us!

Hola Buenos Dias!! :)

This week was a crazy intense week! For those of you who watch the news should already know most of my week. For those of you who don't, the title should explain and give a few hints ;)


But to start at the beginning of the week...

We were out working really far away from the apartment and my companion had to go to the bathroom really really bad. So we passed by all the members, investigators, or anyone we could think of to use the bathroom but no one was home. My comp said, lets just go to the apartment, I don't think Ill make it, but it is worth a shot. I just told him that we would keep asking people if they had a bathroom. We talked to a guy on the corner who looked like the owner of a little cafe and asked him if there was a bathroom there. He said yes and that we could use it. He took us to the cafe and told us to use the bathroom but the lady inside said no. We found out that it wasn't his cafe and that people from outside weren't allowed to use the bathroom. The lady kept saying no but the guy kept telling her that we needed to use it and that he was willing to pay her to let us use it. Then another lady showed up and started arguing for us as well. She told the lady who wasn't letting us use the bathroom that she was a horrible person for making missionaries who walk in the street all day hold it when they had to go really bad. It was kinda nice to actually have people arguing for us and not against us, I'm thinking it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. None the less the guy paid the lady 4 dollars so that we could go to the bathroom ha ha :) After using the bathroom we contacted him and he wanted us to pass by and teach him. We will see how it goes.

Quote of the week from some little kids... "Elder, You look like toasted bread!"

This week the big thing that happened. Lets just say I survived an earthquake and a tsunami! 

This week we were teaching a newer investigator and we were just about to teach about Joseph Smith when I felt a little bit of shaking. For Chile little "Temblores" or mini weak earthquakes are common and I have felt them before. But it started getting stronger and stronger so I looked at the investigator. He told us to be calm and that it was nothing. But then it got stronger and stronger and it felt like the whole world was shaking! He stood up and we all went to the door frame (Apparently the safe place to be in an earthquake). We watched his truck shake and look like it was about to flip over as the world was spazzing out! After 3 minutes of shaking everything stopped. We started listening to the radio when the tsunami sirens started going off. We found out that our apartment was in the tsunami zone and that we had to evacuate and get to the safety zone. We went to the apartment quickly to look for some basic things and went to a members house. While there we tried to get in contact with our zone to see how they were. The phone lines were crazy busy because everyone was calling. By 1 in the morning we had managed to contact about half of them. We ended up staying the night at the members house and the next day we went to the apartment. It was fine and the tsunami didn't make it up that high. But we learned that the center of Coquimbo was destroyed by the tsunami. We spent the next 3 days doing service in the center. Ill send picture because they can explain it a lot better than I can. But all in all Coquimbo was the second most affected place in Chile, after the city that was the epicenter of the earthquake. We are going to keep doing service, but there isn't too much that we can do. 

This week was also the 18th of September which is Chile's independence day celebrations. And President Diaz is awesome and gave us the whole day to celebrate and have fun. So we ate barbecue, played soccer, talked with members, and enjoyed the day. It was pretty awesome :) We also spent the morning doing service for the people whose houses were destroyed and who didn't have anything to celebrate. 

As a zone leader one of the things we have to do is make sure everyone is working hard but is happy at the same time. It is definitely a challenge. I came up with the idea of doing "Funday Sunday" "Wacky Wednesday" And "Fetchin Friday." On each of those days my companion and I make a recording of us explaining the challenge of the day in a fun way. We say it the same way every time so that it will catch on. We do it with background music and everything. Then we send the recording to the district leaders to send to their districts. This last Funday Sunday was to contact everyone that was wearing a soccer jersey and to invite the to be baptised. Most people enjoyed it, we for the first time in my mission, didn't find anyone with a soccer jersey, and some were lame and didn't do it. But we are going to keep going with them because I am pretty sure they will work, and then Coquimbo will become famous for Funday Sunday, Wacky Wednesday, and Fetchin Friday. :)

That is basically my week as much as I can describe with words. Ill send the pictures to explain it a little better :)

I love you all, Stay Golden! :)

Love,
Elder Nielson :)
 









 

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