2/22/2010 Chase's last letter before the earthqake

Hello Everyone. Everything is going great, im in good health and still having a great time. We had a nice sabbath day too. We picked up familia Droguett again. They still dont really like going to the classes after the main meeting, but we still have a few tricks up our sleave. We just taught them the 10 commandments yesterday, it was great, and we ended with a round of foosball, which me and Elder Canaan dominated in. ha. They are a way chill family. We going to plan a family home evening with them for next week and get them going on with it regulurly. Its still been hot, but today was the nicest so far. Absolutely perfect all day. We are finally on the down slope i believe. Sounds like the ward is doing great with the changes. I imagine Brother williams is not too stoked, ha. Primary? God works in mysterious ways. We have had a great change here in our ward too. They are turning alot around for the better. We have a lot of great members. No baptisms yet, the 7th of March will be the big day. we hope all goes well. Your prayers are always welcome. We make a lot of contacts each week at least 120. But i will let you know about the ones that progress. There are a lot of crazy people here, ha. My spanish has been improving signicantly in the past two weeks. I can understand basically everyone now, and understand 90% of what they are saying. ha. Speaking is still coming, but i have gotten a lot more comfortable. My personality is starting to shine through a bit, which is nice, finally. Im glad my room is sitll in good use. it was such a sweet little sanctuary. i cant believe jordan swan is just getting back, it seems like he has been gone forever. And Landons call to England, ha that is so perfect for him, i would have loved to go there, but Chile is dope. and my sector has really started to grow on me. Time is flying for me. Me and elder Canaan cant believe it , it seriously seems like every day is sunday then pday. Especially for him because he has so little time left. but really, we are having too good of a time and working a lot. we have the balance, they call it "the chill" in the mission. and it is gooood. next change is in 3 more weeks. it will be interesting to see what happens, i shouildnt be changing sectors but Elder canaan might, they usually send the ones that leave to a different sector to die in their last change.

zone conference tommorow, its going to be awesome. and i will get the first package you sent. that is good work is going well and everyone is staying happy and healthy. Dad, im glad that kara and nic have been pushing you in the video games, keep it up and you might be able to beat me in two years. ha. im sure you are keeping my xbox in business, take care of her for me. that is awesome you guys went to canyons. i have always wanted to go there. ah man does snowboarding sound so amazing right now. keep it up! thanks for the sunday note. the cool thing is there are a bunch of talks on joseph smith on the ipod you sent me, its basically full of them, but they are way neat. There are so many things i never knew about his life. but yeah thats it for this week, having fun and working hard, trying to grow and soak it all in every second. all of the crazy ratty dogs, people yelling horrible english, it is all so great. my stomach is finally fully accustomed to the eating schedule and the food. they really do make some great stuff here. thank you for all of your support and love. The Church is True everyone, Jesus is the Christ and we can never forget what that really means. I love you all! keep it real.

So far all Missionaries are safe and accounted!

Hey everyone I found this in the Deseret News. All 9 mission presidents have checked in and said that all missionaires are safe and accounted for. Will keep you updated with any other news.


Here is the News Story:

SALT LAKE CITY — In the hours after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday, killing more than 140 people and triggering tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific basin, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say all nine of the church's Chilean mission presidents have checked in and are reporting that all missionaries are safe and accounted for.

LDS missionaries in Mendoza and Salta, Argentina, also are safe and accounted for.

"We, along with the rest of the world, are watching with concern as reports from the massive earthquake in Chile continue to unfold," said LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter. "As with any disaster, immediate details are difficult to confirm."

Local LDS Church leaders in the Concepcion area have reported considerable damage to the city, but they are unaware of any deaths to Latter-day Saints and indicate that all chapels appear to be just fine.

No significant damage was reported to the Santiago Chile Temple, however the trumpet on the angel Moroni statue fell off, according to the report.

LDS priesthood leaders are continuing to try to assess the status of LDS Church missionaries, members and meetinghouses.

In addition, church officials is assessing an appropriate humanitarian response to the disaster. Relief efforts would include coordinating with government and other disaster relief organizations.

The LDS Missionary Training Center in Santiago was not damaged in the earthquake, Trotter added.

Earthquake

Hi Everyone,

We have just learned that at 3 a.m. last night in Chile an 8.8 earthquake hit outside of Conceipion. The worst in definitily in Conceipion but Santiago is not too far away. We have not heard from Chase but we will let everyone know as soon as he is allowed to call home. Please keep Chase in your prayers.

Thank you.

2/1/2010- "McDonalds was amazing!"

Hello! its been a great week. I have not been taking a lot of pictures because im scared to take my camera around, it really is not the safest area to do it. but i will find a balance. but yea i have to use elder canaans card reader to send the pictures. so if you could send me a sd usb card reader, that would be awesome, i did not get the package yet, i will have to wait till next zone conference to get it. but i did get some letters from some friends, we had an awesome zone conference. learned cool stuff, got a great welcome, we each got a whole pizza to ourselves, it was a great time. according to what i read about dad finding our location sounds right, there is a huge field north of our house. we do have a fridge in our house, and the barrel thing is mainly for our garments, its interesting but it works well. we just hang up the clothes to dry. we went to san bernardo today and sent some mail, it was nice to see a different side of santiago, it was a lot more alive and had some cool sights. also we went to the mcdonalds, it was absolutely amazing, haha. i will never forget it.

we wont change companions at least till the next two changes i think. we have one person committed to baptism, a family that is close, and some other people who are really close. its been awesome, we have been teaching a lot. weve been getting behind on contacts because we are constantly teaching. we had 12 investigators in sacrament meeting this past sunday, it was incredible. i also gave my first talk also, on Faith, it went really well. it is getting crazy hot here, i am actually baking in the sun as i type this. i am getting a lot more comfortable here, spanish is still coming well. im not too worried about it. we are working hard and i am learning so much about teaching, people, life. it is a lot different then i thought it would be out here. it always good to hear everyone is doing well.

i will let you know more about our investigators next week, we should be putting a lot more dates this week. stay well, and do all you can to keep the family strong. That is the biggest thing i have seen down here. We need to constantly strive to do all we can to build up eachother in the family, there are a lot of things that distract us from doing so. i love you all. have a good week.