Don Hamilton Denton Crockett (my legal Chilean name)‏

So i just finished all my visa stuff so i am legally allowed to be here in Chile from 1 more year! My 90 day visa expired super quick. So many things has happened this week. I don´t even know where to start. 

 

I received  2 letters from Truman this week, one the day after his birthday, and the other just a day or two ago, i also received a letter from Nick Chambers.  I have a letter coming for Truman this week, and i should have a letter coming for Nick next week. 

 

So this week i had 3 different intercambios  (exchange, for those who were wondering what that's meant all this time.J). Only 2 of them was for more than just a couple hours. My first one was here in Paillaco (speaking of Which uncle Bill I live on the end of the North side of Paillaco. My first house here though was right next to the train tracks. Those where fun to have in the middle of the night hahahha) But i was with Elder Pariona who is from Peru, and it was fantastic, he started his mission here in Paillaco  he knew a ton of people that we could visit who for one reason or another were either dropped or Baptized. 

 

And speaking of members of the Church Miya the priesthood is starting to turn around here. I just helped ordain two men to the Melchizedek Priesthood this Sunday, and i would like to say that i helped with bringing them to the church, one of them was that really humble man/my home teaching companion who i told you about before, and the other was one of my friends who i reactivated his family. 

 

So when i got here other than the Branch President (who doesn´t even live in Paillaco) there was 1 active Melchizedek Priesthood holder there are now 6, and the stake president was here this Sunday and was talking about how, with the members help, we could turn Paillaco from a branch to a ward with how much it´s growing. It was my goal to get it into a ward by the end of the year, but he wants to do it sooner, hopefully the members help out because even thous there are about 20-30 more people who are attending since i have arrived here it  has taken me 3 entire months to get that many.

 

So if all the members helped hopefully my goal will be accomplished. And speaking of growing the Church i should have my first baptism this weekend. It is the girl that i told you about when we were skyping who reminds me of Ella. I have 4 more that have baptismal dates and 2 that used to have baptismal dates but have recently fell through so i'm hoping we can change that. 

 

I also had an intercambio this week With Elder Balbuena in Laurel, and i loved it, me and him are great friends, and i pretty grateful for it too, because just a few day after he got a call from President and got sobrecambiod (transferred.J.) and so sadly i probably wont see him again on the mission because he is way down South now, and only has 2 more cambios left before he goes home. 

 

But i am really hoping i get to see him after the mission because me and him where really good friends, but if there is one thing that i have gotten really good at these last 5 months is how to say goodbye to people i really care about, because i have to do it alot. And at first it was really hard, and in fact still is, but honestly i am hoping that it stays that way. Because i don´t want to see the day when it´s no longer hard for me to say goodbye to people. Granted i´m a whole lot better at it than i used to be, but that is a weakness i intend to keep. 

 

Sadly i'm already out of time this week, because i received a bunch of emails  this week, please for everyone who is emailing me please continue, i am just going to start printing them out and reading them later instead of reading them all at first just so i can have more time to type. Thanks for everyone who is sending me Letters too! I absolutely love them, And just as a side note i tell so much better stories through letters just because i don´t have to worry about time, so let that be inspiration to write me haha. 

Love you all! Keep me posted with everything!

May 20th

Hermana Harper can you send me your mission home address? I have a legit story that i want to tell you!

Kyle I have a letter coming for you in the mail right now. I got the stuff from my mom. But South America is definitely something else haha Wet is definitely a understatement haha

Uncle Bill Paillaco is un Pueblo that is half way in between Valdivia and Osorno. And i am pretty sure i know someone that has Copihue flowers, i´ll find out for sure though and try to get a picture of them. One thing that they have here though in Paillaco are Rose bushes the bigger than most of the trees i´ve seen in Mesa they are super beautiful. I actually spent most of my P day in Valdivia today around El Rio Calle Calle y en el centro pricipal. Es super linda allá en Valdivia. Quisaz depues de la mision nosotros podemos visitar diferente areas de nuestras misiones juntos.

So my companion was sick again this week. It was terrible. I am getting really good being alone though hahaha. Honestly the worst parts of the day was when my companion was awake because he was always in a bad mood because he didn´t feel good and he kept saying things that sounded like he wanted to fight. But Sunday rolled around and he didn´t want to go to church because of how he felt and i almost literally dragged him out of bed, called a taxi and went to church. Which was probably good because there was alot of people who needed my help there, and to be honest i have never used more consecrated oil within a half hour than  i have in my entire life (i refiled my vial 3 times) Everyone is feeling better though and i should be getting back to work after P day ends so it´s all good. And well almost absolutely nothing happen this week other than that. And so i am going to take this opportunity to tell random stories from when i first arrived in Chile 3 months ago.

So my story has to do with a little something i like to call a miracle hahaha. It was my first day here in Chile, i was in Santiago waiting for my plane to arrive to take me to Osorno. And i had just passed though all of security and has my 90 day visa approved. And there was a bunch of paper work i had to do to get that done. But when i finished there was one paper i had left and it was all in spanish so i had no idea what it was. But i filled it all out anyway and set it down to the side and started talking to someone.

I then heard that my plane was coming in so i grabbed my bags and left. And as i was passing through security the second time to get on my next plane i remembered that i left my folder with my papers in it where i set it down. But by the time i remembered i was far enough through security there was no way of me going back to get it. And so i think i just siad a little prayer that someone would throw it away before someone steals my identity with it. Because it had all my passport info and a bunch of other stuff on it. When i arrived in Osorno they asked us if we had that paper that i left behind, and i told them no and that i accidentally left it in Santiago. Which was apparently kind of a big deal.

So i had to go on a intercambio with one of the APs where they drove me to the Gobierno where i had to do some more paperwork, and refill out the info that i left behind. And then the government guy ( i cant remember his official title haha) was saying how he really hopes that no one steals my identity because apparently it is pretty common for people to steal that information from foreigners to apply for a bunch of random stuff. And so i was freaking out a little bit but figured there was literally nothing that i could do about it so i just stopped worrying about it. The next day i get assigned to work in Paillaco, and as i was unpacking my bags i saw in the very bottom of one of them a blue folder that i knew that i didn´t put in there. I opened it up and discovered that all of the things taht i left behind in Santiago where in there. And i know for a fact that i left them in santiago because i saw them as i was passing through security. And that is the first miracle i saw here in Chile. It was a small one. But it was still one. And in fact a really important one haha.

So i am going to give a little back ground info on the pics i attached this week. One of them is me and Elder Balbuena, i mentioned him when we were skyping. I freaking love that man to death, he is from Mexico City, and is super loving. He is my zone leader and calls be a bunch to make sure everything is going good. I definitely intend to see him again after the mission. And the other picture is right outside my house in Paillaco. I live on the very edge of the city and that is the view i see everyday as i leave for work. My flash wasn´t working or else it would have probably looked better because it is super gorgeous. I never get tired of just standing there and over looking el campo. It´s super gorgeous. I meant to take pics of the Rio Calle Calle too that i told uncle Bill about. That is super gorgeous. I was around that river all day. It´s super legit there are wild sea lions there.

Oh one last thing. Can you send me the writing address for Bishop Wells? I want to write him. Love you all! Keep me posted!

Snail mail from April 22nd

Dear Family,
On April 14th I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission, and it also happened to be fast sunday so I decided I was going to bear my testimony. So I'm in church and a a couple of people had already borne their testimonies and they were all super long Evangelical style testimonies (Devin might know what I mean by that) and so I felt inspired to go share my testimony and I was expecting I was going to give some legit testimony that was going to inspire more missionary work to happen in my branch, but I went up there and I said "I know the book of Mormon is true.  If you read it, you will too" I then closed and sat down. I had such a stupid big smile on my face, almost laughing at myself with how simple an short it was, but what happened next was awesome.

Every single one of the youth got up and bore their testimonies.  Many of them were almost, if not as simple as mine and the Spirit that was was incredible.  I thought about it a little and I realize that it really is the simple things that really make a difference.
(bad news, my bus just broke down again the middle of a forest and there is enough trees surrounding us that I can't even get a decent view of the mountains.  So I'm just surrounded by 2 green walls of trees, but at least I have time to write. haha)

Ok, my Samuel the Lamanite experience.  My companion and I were cutting wood when he wanted to try hitting the wood as hard as he could.  So he swings as hard as he can, when the head of the axe flies off and comes within inches of hitting me, and gets stuck in a a piece of wood that was behind me..  I was surprisingly calm haha, but my companion was not, so he says "I'll just let you cut the wood, you're better at it and haven't almost killed anyone recently."  he then goes and gets the axe head out of the wood and start messing around by a wood pile. About a half hour later I see that he has taken the axe head and attached it to a stick and was using it as a hatchet to waste more time.  I then see that he is throwing it to make it stick in wood I already chopped.

And before I have time to tell him that's a terrible idea, he slips or something and missed the wood pile and narrowly misses me yet again.  I was not angry yet, but I did call him an idiot for throwing an axe at me and then told him if he is going to continue wasting time to throw his axe in a direction that there is no one standing there.  Well about a half hour later he forgot my council once again and as I was getting ready to chop a big piece of wood he gets the idea that he should try throwing his axe at it before I could chop it.  As you can guess his accuracy was off and it  bounced off the top of the log and goes right in between my legs.   I don't remember if I even said anything.  He was full of apologies though for almost hitting me again and he left his axe behind me where it stuck in the ground and said he was going to stop.

I then had some thought about how I was really lucky, but as I was thinking that the big log I was going to chop fell off the chopping  block and hits me in the shin and it freaking hurt.  haha.  So I realized that was probably a sign from God about how it had nothing to do with luck and also realized it was probably just the righteous prayers of my Mom protecting me.

I'm not sure how he got it back, but somehow that hatchet ended back up in my companion's hands and at some point of time a couple hours after the last incident I was grabbing more wood when I turn around to see that he was throwing the axe at my chopping block and I see it hit the top, bounce off, come within inches of hitting my leg and land in the wood pile pretty much exactly where my head had been just seconds earlier.  By now I was out of patience and faith that God would continue protecting me if I let my comp continue with trying to kill me, so I grabbed the axe and threw it to the top of the wood pile which was too tall for him to get it back.

that's my story for this week
I love you all,
Thanks for the prayers, they're working
Elder Crockett

Mother's Day

Hey Kristen you should send me your mission home address so i can write you.
Kyle i have a letter in the mail for you. If you want to write me before it gets to you my address is
Hamilton Crockett
Casilla 7-0
Osorno
Chile

It was great to talk to you yesterday! It was really funny right after i got off skype i turned to my companion and said ´´Chuta es tan difícil para hablar en inglés´´ hahaha (good heavens, it's hard to speak in English) 

 

But for my email today i am going to tell you about how i ended up starting up a ward choir haha. So a couple of days ago the branch president called me and asked me to do a musical number for mothers day, just me my companion and the sisters. And so i told them i would, and called the hermanas and asked them if they could come to the church before the English class that i teach, so we could practice. So we were practicing, and none of the Hermanas could really sing it. The two gringas had a hard time saying the words, and the hermana from paraguay had never heard the song we sang (Allí donde hay amor) And so i was trying hto help all of them, when all my student from my english class started coming. And the Hermanas asked them for help too. 

 

Which was not the greatest idea they have ever had because all Chileans are tone deaf. The is absolutely no exaggeration in that sentence haha. So what should have only took a couple of mins to get a couple of people sing a primary song, turned into 2 hours of elder Crockett helping Chileans sing. And oh my goodness it was so funny. I am looking forward to the day i die, when i can have a perfect remembrance of my life, because i am going to watch us practice that piece a couple of times because it was just ridiculous how terrible it sounded haha But like i said when we were Skyping is apparently God blessed us with a small degree of musical talent and so it sounded alright haha. The president was talking about having the choir do another musical number sometime, hopefully i get moved out of Paillaco before that though, because without me and my companion it would fall apart haha
 

But after we finished Skyping i decided that we should probably go visit a sister who lives in a retirement home here (or the south american equivalent of one) And it was really nice. The sister i met was the first member of the church here in Paillaco, and has been an active member of the church up until when she was almost 90 years old when there wasn´t anyone left to take care of her so she went to the hogar de los ancianos. And i just talked with her about her life, she really appreciated it. I bring her the sacrament almost every sunday, and have given her a priesthood blessing once when she got really sick. But i never really talked to her. But she is a great lady.
We then had two baptismal interviews planned for that night too, but due to a couple of scheduling problems we are going to have them this after noon.
 

One thing that i forgot to tell you about though last night is that a couple of days ago we had a zone conference, where all the missionaries from the northern half of our mission was there, and president Rappley, my mission president, revealed to us a new program that we are going to start using to solve the problem of the 90 percent inactivity rate we have here in Chile. And i am really excited to use it, because i have had to re activate people the hard way the past 4 months, and this new program is clearly inspired by God. It was alot to do with asignaciones, and miembros. I should be getting a bunch of paperwork for it in the beginning of June. And then i will be able to start working with it. It will be great.
 

So just a couple last things. Last night i made a couple of jokes about how i was happy ´´Today´´ I just wanted to let you know that i really am happy pretty much all the time here. Somedays im not sure how, because i´m constantly wet, cold, and tired. But somewhere in between those i have a ton to be grateful for. And it´s really clear to me that this is exactly where God needs me to be, and so He´s been doing a pretty good job taking care of me. Even those days where i´m in the hospital, or can´t leave the house for an entire week, and am literally alone for days at a time without talking to anyone. 

 

And i told Truman yesterday that the best thing he could do to prepare for his mission was to actually read the Book of Mormon. I cannot stress that enough. The first time i read it through my time here on the mission it was a little harder, because it wasn´t anything super special for me yet. And i just kind of looked at it as a really good book that occasionally made me feel good about myself. But the second time i read it though (still in the process) it is clearly the word of God. I don´t think i read it with the right focus my first time though. But this is my email to you today. Love you all! I love hearing from you. Keep my posted with everything that is going on. 

 

And also now if there is any questions or stories you want to hear more about let me know and ill send more about them to you. Love you!!!!

La semana de la clinica‏

Miya could you get Kelcie Evans Philippines address for me? Mom i have not yet gotten the sleeping bag, but i did just get all the medical supplies you sent me. I saw that you sent them on Mar22nd and i just got them a few days ago so it still may be a while until i get the sleeping bag. Also I got a letter from Nick Hawkes, Shelley Williams, and Erika Crandell  and if you read my blog i have a letter coming back to you in the mail right now, and it may take about a month for you to get it.

So i am incredibly surprised with how quickly this week passed by because i don´t know if i had experienced longer days in my entire life haha At the very beginning of the week my companion got really sick and couldn´t get out of bed. And so i told him that he should just rest and that i was fine with missing a day or two of work so he could get better. And after 4 days of sleeping (without waking up for more than about an hour or two a day) without getting any better i decided i should probably call somebody.

So i called the mission doctor  and talked to him for a while and explained everything that my companion had. And after talking for a couple of mins he said that i needed to take him to the emergency room. Which at first i was  grateful that we may actually get my companion feeling better, but i had some reservations about it, because so far with my time here in Chile i have not had very many good experiences with Chilean Hospitals. Doctors offices are ok but the little experiences i´ve had inside of hospitals should belong in a scary movie hahaha enserio the hospital here in Paillaco is scary.

But the mission doctor told me that i needed to take him to La Clínica Alemana. it was about an hour away in the middle of a bigger city. Thankfully i have a friend that was willing to drive us there, because quite frankly i don´t think taking him on one of the buses and taxis would have been very fun for either of us haha. But he was unconscious for the entire ride over so he didn´t mind how long it was. In fact he didn´t even believe me when i dragged him out of bed yesterday to go to church that it was actually sunday because he had been unconscious for almost an entire week. He thought it was wednesday still hahaha

But i got him to the clínica and the doctor there ran a bunch of tests on him and decided they have no idea what he has hahaha they have established that it is probably some degree of an intestinal virus. But it´s something they haven´t really seen before. And they told me if he isn´t feeling better by tuesday it´s probably something more serious and i need to bring him back haha. But this week although has been a giant waste of time it was actually pretty good for me. Because i had an entire week of solitude with only a couple of phone calls from the zone leaders and the Hermanas to make sure that he was still alive and to make sure i was in some degree of sanity haha. But i after a week to myself i had a lot of time to think, and i really think i grew alot this week. There was a couple of things that have been tearing me apart inside pretty much since the day i started my mission back in January, and had been killing me for well almost 5 months now. But i really had time to resolve those internal conflicts i was having with myself. It was something i really needed.

So there was one day where i got to leave the house last week, and i have some freakin legit stories from it. I am almost out of time with my internet time, so i will just write them to Dad in a letter home. But shoot they are so cool. Just to get you excited about them there was a moment where there was someone who was really trying to tear down my beliefs, and the beliefs of one of my investigators, and well i stood up to them. And i don´t think we are going to have a problem with them anymore hahaha. I love you all keep me posted with everything thats going on! Thats awesome to hear that you may move! Let me know if you do because i´ll have to give the information to my president. Love you all!