Subject: Y será una luz entre la tinieblas.
¡Hola hola Familia!
It's very very interesting and odd to actually change companions for the first time when in the field. Just about everything changes. As sweet joy would have it, for the better. Elder Law has been an extreme blessing for me, the ward, and the sector, and we've hit it off to a fantastic start. He's a very loving (and very tall) companion, and he takes this very seriously, in the way that he understands that this is the most important war this planet faces. And for that there is great desire for organization and hard hard work. Elder Law is the youngest of his family, having 5 older sisters, the closest one being the legendary Hna. Law. His sister (now Hna. Beeston, who was one of my teachers in the MTC, I think I've said that 300 times) was in this mission and ward about a year ago, and really left a fantastic impression here, and Elder Law knows that and is ready to live up to the standard.
With this new energy and fire, we've started to take off. The members have recognized our mutual desire to work hard and thorough (and smart of course) and are all offering more help, something foreign to Elder Law as he started his mission in a 40 member branch where there were only 4 people that could help, and teeth had to be pulled to do so. We had a missionary return home this last thursday and he wants nothing more than to continue working. We did some divisions with him and the YM President, also a recently returned missionary, yesterday with great success, and we learned bundle loads from them as well. Within the last two or three days (after getting to know the sector) we've tripled contacts, over doubled received referrals, and in two days met the weekly goals of many of the other key indidcators (lessons, invitations to church, etc.) Mind you Elder Law only has 3 months more than I do in the mission, this is his first time being Senior companion.
I think it might have to do with just the fact that there's been a change, or that my companion isn't native that has also blessed me of course with a much greater attitude of outgoing-ness. Although my Spanish isn't perfect, I no longer start to fall in the habit of simply following the lead, but leading out as well.
We're on the hunt now for new investigators, as the pool has slightly dried up, so we're thinking of starting an English class, and other activities.
New Year's was great, we had an ''asada'' (glorified Chilean barbeque) and I just have to say that Chilean meat kicks our trash, I don't know why. He only put salt on it and smoked it for a few hours and sweet jimminy it was good. I confess I've been slacking in picture gets, so I'm going to take a preparation day and trangle all around.
This Church is true, and the Spirit is strong. Priesthood power is real, and has great influence. Though most of the time things take a few hours or days to test the faith, not always. Blessings can have instant, full and complete results. Don't have fear to share this joy with everyone! Thank you very much for all you do, I love you.
Elder Kent Pimentel
P.S. I had another person tell me I look like Arnold Schwerzenegger this week, a stranger.
Cultural Notes: Driers for clothes are almost unheard of, as is Peanut butter. The summer has brought an absolutely delicious harvest of fruits: Cherries, peaches, strawberries, etc. With this abundance the juices that everyone drinks are no longer from powder, but just blended fruit and water. It's veeeeeerrrrry good. To actually have raspberry lemonade that's just blended lemons, raspberries, sugar and water, without any preservatives, other things, powders etc. is quite a treat. Lemonade is usually (if not made blended on the spot) done with ice cubes frozen blended lemons that are then put into a glass or pitcher of water, with sugar after. Neat and delicious.
P.P.S. Algunas fotitos. In Spanish, to add an ''-ito'' or ''-ita'' at the end of a word more or less is a way to say it's small, or to de-formalize. A little bit like putting ''little'' before the word, or a ''y'' at the end of a name type kind of thing.
I've noticed that I adopt accents of people around me. In the beginning I spoke more or less with the accent of Hna. Alexandra Sepúlveda, after that I changed to Elder Jensen, my district leader, and now I find myself when trying to speak in a jovial friendly manner using the Mexican accent of Elder Lopez, our Zone Leader. Interesting.
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