Concerning Rain and Paraguas

October 26, 2009

Alright folks, things in Chile are wet and cold right now. We thought that the weather was supposed to warm up, but apparently, it decided to take a different turn. Im sure you can find some sort of hidden meaning or pearl of great price in that, but its too wet and cold right now for me to try and look for it right now.

First, I would like to make a shout out to Alyssa, who just turned 17 two days ago! Alyssa, I'm writing you a letter that will hopefully reach you sometime soon, but we aren't allowed to write any day but on Pday, so yeah. That stinks. Anyway, I hope everything went well for you and you had a good birthday. I wish I could have been there!

Second, I want to thank Elder Ponce, who helped get my friend across the mountains through his first change. I hope he picked up a little bit of a chilean accent!

Okay, now my spiritual/exciting experience of the week:

A couple days ago, the weather outside looked pretty cloudy. One of the memebers in the ward told us yesterday that it was supposed to rain a little bit, but being the big men that we were, decided that we would be able to handle a little bit of rain. We left the pension with only our jackets, thinking nothing of our paraguas (umbrellas). Things went alright for a while and we were able to teach a few lessons before lunch. As we ate an awesome egg drop soup, the clouds churned and darkened. Just as a side note, I have now become a conosiuer of soups now. Chileans have decided to take it upon themselves to be the soup capital of the world. I have eaten all kinds of soup. Egg. chicken. beans. cilantro. muscles (seafood). You name it, Ive probably tried it. My comp even told me that he had a chicken heart one time in his soup. But that is besides the point. The sky turned into a muddy clay when we walked out the Sister´s house with warm soup rolling around in our stomachs. It wasn't long before I started to feel it. Little wet drops began to slap the top of my head and face. Once I had made sure that it wasn't my companion´s spit, I looked up and thought; "Uh oh. I should have brought my umbrella". Within the next 30 seconds, the light drops of rain turned into a torrent of water coming down from the heavens. We walked through the streets of chile, soaked from head to toe as the storm continued to worsen. It felt like God was stockpiling buckets of water for a couple of days and was just waiting for a couple of missionaries who were´nt obedient enough to bring their umbrellas. The streets filled up quickly, as the sewer system here is not exactly what it is in the states. Soon, we were trudging in inch and a half deep water, our shoes, socks, and anything else we had on covered with water. We tried to get into a few houses, but when they answered their door and saw two soaking boys, they looked like they were thinking "they are going to get my tile so wet!" instead of "Wow, they look like they don't want to be outside in the rain!". Finally, we went to a member´s house to wait out the storm. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. Its one that I will never forget and something that I will take with me throughout all my mission. That is that wet suits smell really bad. They really do, and you cant really get rid of it. I think im doomed to wear a smelly suit for the rest of my mission. haha! im just kidding. I was able to learn how little acts of obedience can really change whether you stay dry or wet. Every day we make little decisions. Little actions that at the time seem very insignificant. But in the end that's who we are. We are the result of all the little decisions that we make in life. Its these little choice that seem very insignificant that lead to the most significant consequences. I am going to try to become the kind of person who is concsious of these decisions and try to be a better person, one action at a time. But my suit really does smell.
Love you all!

Elder Westover

P.S- mom and dad, don't worry, my suit is okay, you don't have to try and buy me another one. I just hope you aren't banking on me using it with any regularity when I get back home.

P.S.S- Grandma and Grandpa, I love hearing all these experiences that you have had. It really helps me to have a better perspective on this work and hopefully I will be able to carry on the tradition of handing out lots of book of Mormons!