September 22, 2014 Q&A Session

1) what type of housing do the people in your area mainly live in? And what are they made of?

2) What type of housing do you live in?

the people here live in houses i think they are classified as houses) and apartments. what they are made out of depends on how much money they have =p there are wood and cemnent houses and possibly a cinder block or two. a lot of families share houses so i really am not sure what the average size livng space is for 1 family.... i live in a really nice neighborhood about 30 minutes outside of my area so my house is big and nice.

3) What type of food do you eat? do you have a cook? Do you eat with members? Do you cook? Do you eat at restaurants?

i eat a lot of beans and rice and potatoes. very little meat ( except for hot dogs. we get that more frequently) we have to cook breakfast and dinner ( if you want it). lunch is the really big meal here so we eat a ton fpr lunch and we never have to make that. people love to feed us lunch =p

4) Are there a lot of stray animals?

there are a lot of dogs and some cats. usually when you see a cat though it got caught by a dog and isnt living =p

5) Do people sell food on the street?

yes people sell food on the streets but they are usually things like wrapped candy and sopapillas they deep fry so i enjoy to eat this food =p



6) Does everyone have electricity? Running water? Gas? Sewer?

everyone has gas and running watter and sewers. there is one company that sells the gas. our gas is just a prpane tank that we hook up =p

7) How do you do your laundry?

i have a washing machine




8) How many missionaries live with you?

i live with one other companionship so 3 other missionaries

9) How far is the church from your home?

umm the church is like a 30 min walk. it takes us about 20 minutes to get to our zone and then 10 more to get to the church


10) Is it starting to get warmer? Is it starting to seem like spring?

chile is a lot like texas... you never know how the weather is going to be. it will be hot one day and then freezing the next!

11) What is the biggest difference you see between the way people live there and the way people live in the us?

there are a lot of huge differences... the economy is one thing. the coutry is basically owned by 4 families. everyone else is pretty poor but they are all have and content with what they have. they dont always need the newest things. they make what they have work.

12) What is the biggest similarity you see between the way the people live there and the way people live in the us?

haha people are still people so i guess the similarities are just natural in people =p there are a lot of similarities. boys will always be boys and girls will always be girls =p

 

13) what is the strangest thing you have eaten so far?

ummm the strangest thing was chicken hearts. they arent bad... just weird

14) what food do you miss the most?

i miss a lot of food =p candy. i really actualy dont miss meat much... its weird =p

 

15) Have you worn all of your ties ;) ? (Declan to about 40 ties on his mission with him)

hahah yes i have =p

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September 22,2014

Fiesta!

hello everyone! i hope you are all doing really well!!!!




i had a really good week. 9/18 is chilean independence day and it is also their biggest holiday. it was a lot of fun! we had a party in the chyrch with the people in our ward. i got to fly my kites =) of... i dont know if ive told you all about kites... well here in chile they have a tradition of flying kites. it is huge! almost everyone here knows how to do it and about 75% of ther people who are at home during the day are outside flying these things all day. it is huge. so me (being the person that i am) decided that i really wanted to fly these things and i was going to like it and do it no matter what. i have like 8 kites ( their are about 50 cents each) and i have basically a giant fly fishing real of string i can use to fly them. the kites are called volentines and people fight them in the streets. you can try and cut another persons line with your line. its a little competition =p so yeah i have a bunch and i really like flying them.




i also ate a ton of empenadas. empenadas are the fiest food of choice here. so i ate about 9 on the 18th and almost every house we went to that day gave us some to take home . it was awesome.




i am doing really well. elder balarezo has helped me a lot. this was a super tough week for me for some reason. he is helping me to see what really matters in a mission though and he is helping me make every week better. the lord knows who we need in our lives and he will put those people there when we need them.




i love you all and i hope you have blessed weeks!!!




(*I had asked Declan several weeks ago to be thinking of some Christmas ideas as I would have to be sending Christams out early in order to get it to him on time. He has taken a couple weeks to think about it and I thought his response was a little humerous. As you can see, he is the same old Declan:)




{i have been thinking about this a little because it takes about a month to send stuff... but i dont really need anything. i would like a few things though.

1 a small nice just book of mormon in english

2 a small nice just new testimate in english

3 the approved missionary library books

4 sudoku or other puzzles i can do to keep my brain more active

5 a more advanced algebra work book and other math books i can use too




thanks!!!! i love you!}

Seriously- who else asks for a math book????? I love it!!!!!!)

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September 15, 2014

These weeks go bye so fast...

well another week has flown bye here in chile! this is going bye so fast!!! like seriously so so so so fast!!! but this week was another really good one!!!!




So i dont know if you all know much about my mission. My mission is a pilot for a new type of missionary work. we are testing out something for the church called Plan Piloto. My mission and the santiago south mission are the only 2 missionms in the world right now who use it. basically what it is is we work really hard with less active family}ies as well as investigators. we visit less actives just as often as we visit investigators. we have about 1000 less actives in my sector. a lot people who were baptized when they were really young. but we have a book with all of the adresses of the members and we basically go to try and reactivate them. we teach them lessons and try aned respark their interest in the church. we also work really hard with their families. it is really awesome because i have gotten to work with a lot of part member families and i get to help make their families eternal. we have a baptism next week or the week after with one ofr those families. the mom was a member and she knows the church is true but just doesnt go so we are worrking wioth her kids and they really want to be baptized. yesterday she wentr to church for the first time in years. it was amazing.




so in chile 9/11 is a really dangerous day. i had my first complete day in my apartment. all of the companionships in my area were not aloud to leave their apartrments that day. i had a really good day though. i read a ton. i started reading the new testimate this last week. i really love it. i also read the book our search for happyness by elder ballard ( Not my old compoanion ;p). it is amazing. if you want to learn more about our faith and whaty we believe in i highly recomend it. it is very small and i would recomend it to anyone.




so yesterday i was sick for the first time out here in the field... the morning was very very very unpleasent. i felt terrible but i pushed through it and went to church. yester4day ended up being one of my best days out here. we tought 4 great lessons, gave blessings to a whole family of investigators who have been really sick, worked a lot with the youth, and felt the spirit extremely strongly. it was definitely a testimoney building kind of day!!!! i kjnow that if we pray for help god will help us through every situation we need helpo in. i know that god does answer prayers, i know that if we work through adversity for the things we believe our minds, bodies, and sould will be strengthened. i know that if we work hard and do what god wants us to do we will be greatly rewarded.




i love this church and i love this mission.




i hope you all have an amazing day




Elder Johnson




{ A little extra info about his referencing him being sick, which I though his uncles in particular would enjoy ;)

If you get queezy or offended about the reality of monazumas revenge on missionaries in foreign lands just skip over this last part; however, this is a reality of his mission I want him to be able to remember he endured through and still kept on smiling and loving what he was doing:




soooo yesterday i had my first almost poop your pants day. i can now say i have a testimoney of imodium ad =p hahaha elder balarezo and i were both sick =p we were fighting over the toilet when we were at our house. it was bad. then we had to go out into the streets... i seriopusly spent 90% of my mental power just making sure i kept everything that was inside of me inside of me =p when we got to church i went to the bathroom... 9 times =p yeah and finally after church the meds started working. so after that i was good!!! i really didnt feel like eating though =P so yeah, i have my first poop story on my missionm =p hahaha. }

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September 8, 2014

Cambio week

hey everyone just so you know thiis is going to be really short... today we had transfers so i have no time to write. but this week was really good. not much changed here. im in the same place with the same people and same companion! so i didnt get effected too much =p




I had a baptism last week!!! ill send ics next week i promise =) but i got to baptize again =) it was awesome. he was the first person i tought when i got here. his name is francisco and he is 13. ill send pics later!




i love you all!!! have good weeks =)

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September 1, 2014

Que Volà?


Hello everyone! how are you?




i had an amazing week. i seriously have never worked harder in my life and i was so rewarded for it too.




this week we had 7 new investigators added to our list. and 4 of them are super super super prepared to be baptized. im so excited to work with them. we also have another baptism this week. it is for the first person i taught here in chile. his name is francisco. he is 14 years old and he really wants to be baptised. something really cool about this baptism is the other guy i baptised (Gilbert) will be able to baptise him because he is a priest! so yeah that is way cool! that will be exciting!




well... the lady whose shop we write at is kicking us out because she has to eat.... ummm i love you all!!! i know this church is true! work hard and i know the lord will bless you!!

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