Hola from Chile

[Sept 7, 2009]
¡Hola from Chile!
I'm over in rainy rainy Chile right now, and I'm loving it and hating it at the same time. haha, more loving it than anything though. It has been raining for about 3 or 4 days now, and I think its about to let up. The gutters are filled with water because the sewer system are not real great, and the city put out little walkways for people crossing the street to get over the water. Its pretty ridiculous, actually. Jeffrey would love it over here. There are some HUGE puddles to jump in.
Well, this has been the first coherent week for me, really. My area, called El Parque, is great! It has a pretty widespread diversity, economically. But compared to American standards, it still doesn't compare. They would probably all be in the lower bracket of the middle class, for the most part. Everyone´s roof is leaking, because they are all made of tin. No one has central heating and it can get pretty cold during lessons sometimes. But I'm not really complaining. I'm loving it for the most part.
The main problem for me right now has been the language. I'm having a hard time helping people with their doubts and concerns, when it sounds like their speaking Japanese sometimes. Well, its not that bad, but sometimes it is. A lot of people in the last generation forgot about dental hygiene, so they are all missing like 20 teeth. So when they talk, a lot of the letters kind of slip out the gap in their teeth. I am understanding a lot more, but it continues to baffle me how im ever going to fully understand this language. In terms of understanding, I probably am catching 30-40% of what they say, and speaking, I can still only say like 20% of what I want to convey. But its okay, because the lord works through me, and even if I don't have confidence in myself, I have confidence in Him.
Yesterday my companion and I were knocking some doors in the lovely rain, and I turned to the other side of the street that we already knocked, and decided to be weird and knock anyway. (Oh yeah, a side note: we dont ever really knock doors, we yell from the gate "Alo!") So I shouted from the gate, and we got no answer. But we weren't real worried, because it takes Chileans about 15 minutes to get from wherever they are to the door. So we yelled again, and finally decided to move on to an investigators house. Right when we decided to move on, an old lady walked up the street and came to the house. We asked her if she lived there, and she replied that she did. Immediately she invited us in. We then taught her a wonderful 1st lesson, and she agreed to be baptized. haha, no, not really. That would have been cool. We did get in, but she was super super catholic. I don't know why we were supposed to go to that house, but we were. It was pretty cool just because when we knock, we really don't get into any houses. I don't know who told me about Latin American hospitality, but they must not have gone to Chile. The people are nice for the most part, but we have only gotten into like 3 or 4 houses this week from knocking on doors.
Other than that, we basically go off of references that we get from members and less actives. I love going to their houses though, the less actives. They let you in, AND they´re crazy. We stopped by Victor, a less active member who has a problem with the word of Wisdom. We couldn't tell at first, but about the time he started pulling out all his belongings and showing them to us, we realized that we was pretty drunk off his butt. It got really exciting when he showed us his night stick and knives and tried to demonstrate how to fight with them in a 15 by 10 foot room. Yeah, i wont go into details to save mom from some more grey hairs (I know they´re there mom, I´ve seen them... haha)
That's about all I have for right now. I hope everyone is doing well, and no one is worrying too much about me. I'm doing fine. I have the Lord with me wherever I go. That's better than anything I could ever ask for. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have been greatly blessed because of them. Love you all!
Elder Westover