Prepare for pangs Uncle Bill. PICTURES!!

Making tortillas in their kitchen.

Their house.  They sleep in the top.

Their front yard

Plays anything he can get his hands on.

Climbing trees.

The farms.

Just another day in Chile.

Such a great view of the farms.

Amazing sunrise

I love you, but don't let it go to your head.

So the other day my cell phone starts ringing, and its just super early in the morning (not really it was just like 10 am, but still, no one calls me that early normally) And i see that it is my new district leader Elder Virhuiti (i think its spelled like that), and so i think  Shoot, what is going on, something must be wrong, because we never call eachother this early in the morning unless its something super important And so I answer my phone and i hear Hey there good looking And my first though was YES I ALWAYS START TALKING ON THE PHONE LIKE THAT! (Random fact, every time i have to call a gringo that isn a sister missionary i always say something like that!)

And then my next thought was Wait a second Elder Virhuirti is from Venezuela, i dont think he knows how to speak in English So i decide that i am going to test his knowledge. So respond Sup Babe And then he laughs and he just starts talking to me in English. And we just have a super funny conversation in English. And then i we hang up, and my companion Elder Abarca Says to me Why did they call And i tell him, You know what Elder. I have absolutely no idea why he just called me

But its funny me and him are like super awesome friends now i freaking love that kid. I am super excited to get to work with him more. He is coming down to LAgo Ranco this Friday to come work with me, and my companion is going up to Rio Bueno to work with his comp. But it was awesome the other day i was in a meeting with him, and we were talking about goals, and he told me something super funny. He said In my country we have a saying. you have to work like a black man, to live like a white And Everyone just starts Cracking up, and i speak up, and i say Elder That is mildly Racist Then he says THats just how we are in my country. It sounds racist, but it gets the point across And then we had an awesome meeting about goal.

And i took the floor for a while and gave an awesome High Jumping Analogy that one of my coaches told me once back in highschool, about how if you try jumping right about the bar. You are going to hit it, or fall right under it. But the bottom line is, you arent going to make it. But if you aim to jump much high than where the bar is at, and work hard enough to be able to jump that high, even if you never achieve the really high goal, you are still going to be jumping alot higher than any of the people who was aiming right at the bar. Actually that meeting was probably one of my favorite meetings ever, because i am a firm believer in setting super high goals, because then i achieve super high results.

But it was awesome me and him pretty much Tag teamed that entire meeting and just did awesome teaching about goals. And i like to say in worked, i know in lago Ranco we have been getting a ton of work done, and i imagine that in Rio Bueno that are getting even more work done than we are here. So i want to tell you about my zone leaders a little bit too. I love them so much. They are awesome.

One of them looks like Harry Potter, and the other one is a big Tongan. And i am great friends with both of them. But last night Elder Poirier (Harry Potter) calls me at like 10.45 at night. Right before i was going to bed. And Tells me some really bad news about how the missionaries here in Chile Orosno arent allowed to work this Tuesday, or Wednesday. (which stinks, because next week is Chilean Independence week too, and so the missionaries arent allowed to leave for that week either. So i am going to be bored to death in my house for almost two weeks straight. But after i was done talking to Elder Poirier he says Tell Elder Abarca I love you for me And so i just Yell ELDER ABARCA! I LOVE YOU!

And then i hear in the background of the phone Elder Amone (the Tongan) say Hey tell Elder Crockett I love him, but say it in a way that it doesnt get to his head And so i say Hey i heard that Jerk! But i love you too Elder It was super funny. But anyways that it my Email for today, i feel like i wanted to ask you for something, but i cant remember what it was so it must not have been that important. Welp Love you all!!!!

New Companion!

Dear Mom you totally still take priority over all my friends just so you know. Just a little insight to how i do my internet is first i write my mission president, then you, and then i write my friends. So you are always in first place

Hey Dad I had a video game for the PS2 that i played when i was a kid called Kingdom Hearts, and it sounds almost exactly like what Lela wanted, you can let her play with those to keep her calm for the next month haha

So just so you all know when the Voice recording i sent home i wasnt trying to pull off an accent, that`s just kind of how my English voice sounded. The day that i pulled the Country Accent all day long sounded a million times better.

So I LOVE my new companion! He is awesome, we get along awesome. But before i get into talking about him i want to tell you my adventures of Ditchin my last companion in Osorno haha

I left my home at about 8 am, because we had to be in Osorno by 10 30 so that my companion could leave with the group heading down to his new sector, and its about a 2 and a half hours drive to get to Osorno so we left at 8. And as soon as we arrived (at 11) Immediately the other missionaries grabbed his bags and threw them on a bus, and right away he had to leave. And it totally happened super quick, when i got there i just saw a huge group of missionaries, and i was friends with almost all of them so i head over there, and start talking to them, when my old companion just kind of nudges me, and said he was heading at. And then he left.

I then learned that my companion Elder Abarca was coming from Coihuique, (way down south) And that he wouldnt arrive until about 10pm. So I have another Friend he named Elder Miltchen (I think it`s spelled like that), and so when he hears that i was going to be there all day he gets super excited and says ``Elder Crockett, you totally have to come out to lunch with me!`` And so we went out to eat, when we run into my first companion here in Chile Elder Larsen!!!! And it was super legit.

So we all went out to eat. His companion right now is Elder Neilson, and i was his travel leader when we came to Chile. But anyways we are all eating when Elder Larsen asks me who my new comp is, so i tell him Elder Abarca. And He couldnt even Believe it. He told me that Elder Abarca, was his companion in Paillaco right before i arrived. So when Elder Abarca left i got there. And then it totally remembered reading the area book, and seeing his name written all over everything. And so Elder Larsen was super excited for me.

After Lunch i met up with my friend Elder Amone, he is a super Legit tongan from Florida. And his companion was on the same flight a mine so i spent the rest of the day with him. We went to the mission office, the post office, and just all over the place It was super fun! I love that guy. He`s actually my new Zone Leader now. And Guess what he totally has a uke. But i`ll get into that in a min.

Well to make a long day short 10 o clock comes around, and i found myself in the buss terminal when i see the mission president walking with a huge group of Elders. And so i started searching for my companion when i realized something, that i already knew almost every single one of them, and i was wondering why they where all in the terminal, when i saw Elder Balbuena, when it clicked. It was all the missionaries going home that day. And so Elder Balbuena sees me and runs up to hug me and stuff, because me and him are super close.

But i am going to skip the next part of the story and go straight into when we had to say goodbye. It may have been one of the saddest moments of my mission. I just said goodbye to a ton of my friends, knowing that most of them i will never see again, because they are from all over the world, and so after i hug a bunch of them goodbye, i go and i stand with my friend Hermana Tipples, and it was so sad, we where there waving goodbye to the dieing missionaries (mission term for going home) And a TON of them where Crying! They didnt want to go home. And then i started talking about it with Hermana Teeples, and i Totally do not want to Die! I know i literally just started my mission, but i already love it here!  I can not imagine how hard it is going to be in Two Years to go back home. Now I still love you all, and i`m super excited to see you some day, but man it is going to be tough. Thankfully i dont have to worry about that for a long time though. So i`m solid.

After they all left my companion arrived in Osorno. And so i left with him Elder Amone and Elder Poirier (his new comp) And we stayed the night in La Union. The next morning i decided that i was not going to do my 30 mins of exercises, and that i was just going to play the Ukulele instead! I loved it so much!!! I then made it a point to shower last so that i would have a longer unbroken time of playing Elder Amone`s baby. But Good Next sense he`s my zone leader we can totally have intercambios, and so he said that the next time we`ll have one he`ll make sure that we are together so we can jam. I am super stoked for that!

And he totally knows where i can buy one in Osorno, he bought an alright Baritone Uke (not as nice as my baby, but lets get real mine sounds like Magic, and we are in South America so uke`s arent exactly that common) But he bought is for 20,000 pesos. Thats only like 40 bucks! I totally want to buy one! I`m not sure how i`ll have time to jam with it though, most of my free time goes to practicing the hymns for Sacramento meeting. Oh ya by the way i`ve totally been playing the Piano in Sacrament meeting for a couple of months now, i just dont think i brought it up.

Welp i wanted to tell you about my new companion, but i think that would take another hour so i think i`ll tell you about him next week. But hes awesome, love that guy to death.

Love you All!!!!

CAmbio en Last Reglas, y en LAgo RAnco‏

Hey Everyone so There was Just a Change in the Mission Rules, and i am now aloud to write emails to my friends too, if you want to tell me something feel free to do so! And i can write you an actual email instead of just throwing out a ´´i will write you a letter answering you so you can expect to hear back from me in another 4 months´´ haha

So i got a call last night saying that i am getting a new Companion. His Name is Elder Abarca. And i know Absolutely nothing about him hahahaha. Neither does my district leader, or either of my Zone Leaders. So i have no idea what to expect hahaha But i am going to go to Osorno Again this Wednesday to Pick him up so i´m sure i´ll find out pretty soon

So I was with Elder Spriggs this Last week on an Intercambio, and it was hilarious!!!! He made the Surprise Box Remark. But before we met up i was thinking to myself  ´´I already know i cant speak English, and i am going to be running around with a Gringo, and so this is going to be a perfect opportunity to Practice´´ But then i started thinking about every single return missionary i know who served a spanish speaking mission, how they all come home with just ridiculous accents, and i thought to myself ´´I do not want to go home sounding like a Chilean, i would much rather come home sounding awesome like Josh Turner´´ and then i got hit with a brilliant idea I decided, that i was only going to speak in a country accent when i speak in English, that way when i get home in a couple years i will just be used to only speaking English with a country accent so i will just sound Legit!

And so i did hahahahahahaha

And it was so funny!!!! I sounded so good though hahahaha But it was awesome i would be going around with Elder Spriggs, speaking all awesome, and then we would talk to someone on the street and suddenly my country accent goes away and i use my spanish voice, aka my normal, which probably by now has some weird mix between a Mexican Accent and A Chilean Accent because i´ve been running around with A mexican In Chile for the Last 3 months. But Elder Spriggs said ´´You speak awesome spanish, and you have a great spanish accent too, but your spanish voice, doesn´t sound anything like your English voice´´ Little does he know, that my super attractive country accent, is totally fake hahahahahahahahaha And i think its so funny to think that half of the reason i´m doing this is so i can use the word Y´all without sounding like an idiot hahahahahahaha For real English needs to invent a better pronoun for Ustedes haha

But at one point we got called by the zone leaders, and both of them know me, and know i don´t have a country accent, but they and Elder Spriggs told them ´´I really like having Elder Crockett as a companion, he has a really nice country accent, and i havent heard one of those in a long time´´ And the zone leaders totally went along with it!!!!! They totally pretended that they always loved talking to me because of my country accent hahaha WIN!!

But i´m totally bummed about something, with the new companions, i am getting moved to a different District (i´ll still work in Lago Ranco) and so i wont have any more intercambios with Elder Spriggs, so i´ll just have to hit him up with my super awesome accent when we have Zone Capacitations (P.S. i dont even know if thats a word in English the word in Spanish is Capacitación so i just gringoized it and i hope its a word hahaha. I am going to have so much problems with Speaking English when i get home haha)

So mom, what you told me about Truman, and a decision he decided to make, I totally made the same decision a couple of years ago, and it was really hard, but looking back i know it was what God Wanted me to do. If you  could i would really appreciate it if you could ask him to write me an Email telling me about it, and next week i will totally give him some support. I would write him write now but i dont have his Email Address, so just ask him to email me please :)

Welp i love You all! I look forward to hearing how you´re all doing!
Ella, you´re such a girl

Love you!!!!!

Superman Socks

Jocee! Happy Birthday!!!! So I had some of the funnies experiences ever on the 17th. I´ll have to tell you about them the next time i write you back

So I am not going to lie i have absolutely no idea what i am going to write about today, because today i literally wrote a letter to every single person in our family, and so there is literally nothing on my mind that i can throw out at you.
Oh ok i thought of something!

So the other day i overheard a conversation between two missionaries who were talking about me, it was my Companion And My friend Elder Spriggs, i pretended that i didnt hear them, but Elder Spriggs was telling my companion about something that i Did with his Companion while i was on a intercambio with him, and it was probably the most accurate description of me that i have ever heard in my life. He said ´´Elder Crockett is a lot like a Box Full of Surprises. You never know what you are going to get from him. When he walks into the room you know know if he is going to be serious or the biggest goof ball ever. The only thing that you can know for sure about Elder Crockett is that when he walks into the room, he is going to change the lives of every single person he meets there.´´  (OK, I love this description of my son.  It really is perfect.)

He Then proceeded to tell my companion a couple of things that happened due to my intercambio with Another missionary. But i Pretended that i didnt hear anything. But i looked back on the little time that i have been friends with Elder Spriggs and i thought to myself ´´you have only known me for a month and a half, and you just described me better than i think anyone has ever with the whole surprise box thing. And just so you all know where he is getting this information from i am going to give you a brief history of the last month.

 One day i was making cooking with Elder Spriggs, and he could not stop laughing at what i was doing. First of all i was wearing a pair of Capris (short pants) that i have, and wearing the Superman Socks that you sent me just to be funny, and the whole time i was just acting ridiculous, walking around like i was a girl, doing my dramatic model turn around blue steel pose every single time i turned around to look at someone, and a million more just super funny crazy person things that i wont even explain, just use your imagination hahaha

But the very next day, after i had just spent all day Goofing around, i had an intercambio in his town where they have not had anyone with a baptismal date in months and months, and even less of them actually making it to be baptized, and i set three different people with a baptismal date, and from what he tells me they are still going strong. And then another time when i decided to get off of a bus in the middle of nowhere, i wont say why, but i wrote a letter to miya talking about it, but its super funny, but he was almost crying he thought it was so funny when i told him the story.

But i just found out last night that tomorrow i have to Go to San Pable (his town) again tomorrow for another Intercambio, but i am going to be working with him tomorrow, and i am pretty excited for it, because not only am i positive that i´ll have an excuse to be myself all day long haha, i know that now there is alot of work that needs to get done in San Pablo, and i am so excited to do it. But i was thinking about it the other day, in my emails Home i dont think i talk about any of the super awesome experiences that i have in Lago Ranco. not in my letters home that i wrote today i talked all about experiences that i had in LAgo Ranco, but they are all me being Serious. Mas o Menos.

And so i am going to tell yall about a funny one that i had just the other day. I was teaching a couple of my investigators that i have (who are getting baptized in a couple weeks!!!) How to make Tortillas from scratch (P.s. I totally know how to haha) because they wanted to eat Tacos. So after i taught them how to make it, my companion takes a little bit of flour, and throws it at me, so i take some flour, and i faked threw it at my companion, and threw it at one of my investigators. And well little by little it turned into a full blown Flour fight, and by the end i was literally all white, my companion looked like an old man, because his black hair was filled with flour, so it looked like it was going grey, and my investigators Shirt which used to be a solid Red, was a light pink. It was Super Fun.

Hey Real quick Sorry for not using the names of any of the people i teach, we are asked not to. but in my letters home i think i used names. But After the fight, we could not even walk around the house because everything was cover in flour so we were slipping around the whole time, it was super funny. But after we helped clean up. And then i we taught them about baptism, and the spirit was pretty strong a couple of times in the lesson, and in the End I put both of our investigators in this family with Baptism dates. And it was awesome. I sent the whole story to Miya.

Actually i also sent the aforementioned bus story to Miya too. The 3 people getting baptized in San Pablo I sent that one to Truman. I hope you get the letter soon. Thats too bad that there is a Post Office Strike going on over there in The States, I hope they get everything fixed up good soon so yall can write me more hahahaha.

P.S. I hate English they dont have a conjugation for Uds. That works well, all i have is Yall, and i sound like a red neck. I guess i could say Ye and stuff like like, but i dont use vosotros en Español tampoco, in fact i dont think i even understood how to use Ye and all those Biblical Pronouns until i learned Spanish hahaha. Love You all.

P.S. I havent turned into a Red Neck just so yall know hahaha Love you!!!!!!!

La Verdad‏

Kyle I totally was singing that song to wake my companion up in the morning haha

Mom something super important i just sent a package home, but i may have accidentally sent it to the old houses address. So you may need to tell the post office that, any maybe the new home owners too in a couple of weeks. And for a package i want more pictures, but other than that i cant think of anything that i absolutely need. Thanks mom! Love you

Dad mom sent me the pictures of the lake, and it looks just like Chile. And as you were describing the hike and the rain, that sounded just like Chile too hahaha You´ll have to take me there some day, i´m sure i´ll feel right at home haha.

Nick And Truman I got your letters this week. I´ll have something on you way in the mail in just a little bit.

So quote from this week. A missionary asked me how i have such a good spanish accent, and how i speak spanish so well and i said ´´Have you ever seen the movie Nacho Libre?´´ He then told me yes and i reply ´´If you can apply this movie to your life, you will never have any problems with speaking spanish. Ever´´ hahahahahaha And it is so funny how true that is hahaha

So story from this week. I was in a town called San Pablo. Visiting a less active family. And the missionary i was with was going to share a scripture with them. So when they did not pull out their own Scriptures i decided that i would let them use some of the books of Mormon that i had with me me. So i set a couple of them down on the Table, and they just left them there. My companion then shared a scripture from the book of mormon, and they didnt open it up or anything, and after my companion shared a scripture he asked me if i wanted to share something and i thought ´´Yup i sure do, because anybody who does not accept a copy of the book of mormon, and does not excitedly open it to read it, does not have a testimony of the book of Mormon´´

So  I started pretty bold. I started by Asking them ´´When was the last time you read in the Book of Mormon?´´ And then could not remember the last time. Honestly i wasnt surprised. And so i said ´´Ok we are going to read a part of the introduction together´´ And then i asked them to open up the books, and read a couple of the paragraphs there. And there is one Paragraph that says´´ We invite all people everywhere, both male, and female, to read the Book of Mormon, Ponder its message in your heart, and pray to know if its true´´ So we read that and i said ´´I really like how this paragraph says all people everywhere. It doesnt say, we invite all people investigating the church to read it. It says we invite all people everywhere to read it. It says that this book has written by prophets of God So that all people, Active members of the church, investigators, missionaries, less active members, All people everywhere can read it and ponder in their hearts, and pray about to know if its true.

The last time i prayed about if the book of Mormon is true or noty was just the other day, I just finished reading it again in my mission, and I know its true. And i know that when you read the Book of Mormon, and pray about, the holy ghost with testify to you that it is true, you will know that Jesus Christ lives. You will know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, you will know that Thomas S Monson is a living prophet of God. You will know that i Book of Mormon is True. I promise you, that if you read the Book of Mormon, you will know that it is true. I promise you this because i have done it. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that the teaching that are written in this book are true.´´

I then asked ´´Will you read the Book of Mormon. And pray to know if its true´´ And right away they answered Yes. I have no Doubt that they are going to start coming to Church again when they read the book of Mormon. Because its true. But that day was a pretty good day. The Missionary work in that town has not really progressed at all over the past couple of months due to a couple of problems that previous missionaries has caused there. But i went there with the mindset that i was going to give the missionaries there alot of work to do. Because i am really good friends with one of the Elders there, and so i know that he will do a good job taking care of the work there. So that day i went to San Pablo, and i had 3 people that we had just met accept Baptism dates. And those stories are even better, but i have plans to write those in a letter to Truman. My boy Elder Spriggs has alot of work to do in San Pable hahaha.

I love you all keep me posted!!! Read the Book of Mormon. Its True

El Presidente Bakan‏

Jace real quick, I just realized that before the mission i spoke straight up Flayte I dont know how i´ve been teaching an English class, because i did not speak english hahaha

Shelley you have the coolest jobs ever!!! Id tell you that im jealous, but i kind of like what im doing But thanks girl i´m looking forward to getting your letter, even if i am like a million years old when i get it haha Love Ya!

Miya. I am so down. Keep me posted. And i will get to go to the temple once here. And its the day before i leave. I have to drive to Santiago, and i am totally going to go through the temple before i have to go to the airport. It will be in spanish so i dont know if it will be the same but if not i plan on going to the temple every week when i get back so i´m sure ill find out

Mom no it doesnt have anything to do with you apostate prophecy. P:S. if you were talking about the really tall red head from mesa, she doesnt speak english either hahahaha

Dad, DOnt even worry about it i literally got your email as soon as i opened up my email so there wasnt any problem. You´ll have to take me there to Colorado, im so down for a man trip there

So a quotes from this week

´´Elder Crockett, That was an inspired idea. Either that or your just freaking crazy´´ OK before continuing every single one of my companions have said something like that haha

So i LOVE my new Branch President. His expectations of what God expects of him are almost as ridiculously high as mine!!! We are getting so much work done it is awesome! And i am hoping that we get a new chapel soon too. Because today i went to the church to Email you and i turned on the lights and sparks start flying out of one of the lights and starts burning the chapel a little. 

 

So we cut the power and called the district. They should be coming in tomorrow to fix it along with about a million other things. But when we called the man said that he is going to find out if we can get permission to build a new church, because we dont fit there anymore.Yesterday we had even more people than we had the week before. And the church is pretty much falling apart. 

 

Oh other random fact, i got a call from the APs the other day, and they told me that the work is progressing fast enough here in Lago Ranco that President s going to send us more missionaries!!! I am not going to lie I am really hoping for some more Elders. More than likely it will be new sister missionaries, but i want more Elders so bad! It would be awesome because we could play basketball and a bunch of cool stuff that you cant do with Hermanas haha.

So awesome story from this week. I found a women who is straight up golden. I was visiting a little town a couple of miles outside of LAgo Ranco with my branch President because he wanted to meet a less active member there. And while we were there we knocked a door. And a Lady opened the door, and so i introduce myself and say that i am a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, And straight away she invited us in and asked us to sit down, she turned off her tv ad so was ready to share with us. 

 

So i ask if she had ever talked with missionaries before. And she said No. And that she had seen missionaries in the street once in her town but other than that no. And my first thought was ´´You just invited 3 men that you have never seen before in your life into your house, and asked to to make themselves comfortable and stuff like that. What is up with you´´

 

 And then i asked her if we could share a short message with her and she said ´´Yes but it has to be pretty quick, because i was just about to leave for work and i have to be there in 15 mins´´ And shoot i was just blown away. That there was someone who was literally busy had to leave but still invited us in. But we taught her a little bit of the Restoration and gave her a pamphlet. And she was super receptive i can hardly believe it. But she gave us her number and told us to come by whenever we wanted and we could teach some more. She is awesome.

Welp i am all out time. Love you all keep me posted!