Transferred to La Serena & New Companion is Elder Hermosilla

So I got transferred.  Oh my goodness! I felt so relieved after all that time. I went to church Sunday and I just went as a missionary. It was so nice. Like I am not as stressed, and I like my new area and my companion, so it should be a good change.  My companion's name is Elder Hermosilla. He is from the south of Chile, so that is good that I can have another Chilean comp before I come home. I will have one more companion though, as Elder Hermosilla has been here a really long time. The members are good. It's great cause here is a bishop. Like I can just be a missionary now. It's so nice. 

So yesterday we had a baptism. Her name is Alicia. She is really funny and it was a good experience. Yesterday I was in church and asked a kid that was like ten years old why he wanted to go on a mission. He said, "So I can go to the states and eat at McDonald's!" it was funny. I told him there were better places to eat then McDonalds. It made me laugh,

So my new area is La Serena. I am back by the ocean, thank goodness! It is cloudy a lot, so I can relax from the heat. The sector is great. There is a sister missionary here named Sister Huntsman. She was actually Bailee Bluemel's roommate at college. It make me laugh, so tell Bluemel's I met her. When I met her, I said I was from Wyoming. She is like "Lyman, right?" I am like yeah, and then she explained how she knew about me. Bailee told her to watch out for me.  My district is big. I am pretty sure I am the oldest one in the zone. Never had that happen before. Tomorrow there is a conference. The members are good.

I was going to tell you not to send anything in the mail like cards or anything because I don't think it will get here in time before I leave.  That is good that you got to see everyone this week. There were three dogs in the street, like puppies, and we looked for their owner, but there was none. So we had three puppies outside our house for two nights. We finally found them a home. It was a good week. I can't really remember anything else. Have a good week.

Love,

Elder GIllies 

Alicia's Baptism w/Elder Hermosilla
2/27/16

Transfer Week

So no, don't send my drivers license. I don't need it. What I meant to ask was, am I good to go, like can I can legally drive when I get back or do I have to do anything else with my drivers license? This week I didn't get to see Elder Bednar. It wasn't a good week. I wasn't very happy what they did. So basically the way I understood it is they didn't want any missionary to go because that would look bad, because not all the missionaries were going. They basically put all the guilt on me for pushing so hard to go. It's true, I wanted to go, but I think I deserved to go after running the branch the whole time without our branch president and the things that I have had to put up with during these six months. Oh, well. I hope I will get transferred this week as I am ready for a change in companions. If I stay here, I would rather just finish my mission here because I don't want to go to one area for my last six weeks. That wouldn't be fun. So hopefully I get transferred this time. I don't know if I can handle another transfer here. 

Yesterday we had a good lesson. We felt the spirit very strong and we have scheduled a lot of baptismal dates too, so that is good. Today we played soccer. A lot of people came. This is the last time they can come, because next week school starts here. 

So that is good about Utah. How many more weeks is it going to take them to finish the basketball? It's going to be weird going down there, but it will be good too. Edna and Jonathan have been really busy, but if we could find them that would be good. This week I will get to see Elder Bednar on tv. He is doing a world wide thing for all the missionaries. The thing is, it's the same day as transfers,  so if I do get transferred, I will be on a bus at six a.m., and I will have to pack the night before, so I won't get much sleep. Other then that, I am good. Have a good week.

Love

Elder Gillies

Running LIke Crazy!

So my birthday was pretty good this year. I had two families that took care of me and even made me a cake, so that was really nice of them. We will be back on the road tomorrow going to Vina for my companion to go to the dentist. So with Elder Bendar, I still don't know if we are going or not.  We received permission and everything, but yesterday they told us that the second counselor was going,  but president said we could go too. If it's my choice, we are going, but I don't know what my comp will say. Transfers are next Wednesday. I think my companion might go, because I don't know what he is writing President Diaz about the branch, but one of us has to go. I am ready for a change. Yesterday we went to Tambo on the bikes. We made it back home like 9:45 at night. It was really fun. We were able to find a new person and find a family that lives out there. I don't know how we found them. They were the last house on the hill, but it was good. With the conference with Elder Texiera, it was interesting. There was Spanish, English, and Portuguese. He can speak like five languages. That was nuts, but it was good. There are two elders from Columbia. When they get together, it's so funny. So the bus ride was entertaining, but we had to get up at 3 a.m. Then Tuesday, I worked in Los Vilos again in my first sector. We found some people that I was teaching before I left. They were still interested. The missionaries hadn't passed by after I left and it's a big family. Their son and daughter-in-law are members and just got sealed in the temple a few months ago, so hopefully they will hear from the missionaries. This week was nuts. A lof of things happened, but this week should be a little more relaxed, maybe. I don't know. 

Today I had to do the last passport stuff, so I will have to wait for my drivers license card thing and then I am good to go, thank goodness! I don't like doing that stuff. It takes a while and you have to pay more money, but I am good to go now. 

There are two people that I am teaching English to. It's Jonathan and Edna. They are real cool. We will start teaching them this week too. So hopefully they will get baptized. Other then that, not much has happened. Have a good week. 

Love,

Elder GIllies

Turning 21!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I can't believe that I will be twenty-one either. I would be ok if the snow was still there when i got back. I want to see some snow again! So with this week was a little harder week. I don't know what we have to do to help this branch out from where it at. I think they all think it's ok just to stay like this. So I don't know. Tomorrow we will be in Los Vilos and Wednesday we will be in La Serana so that will be good. It will be a super busy week. The only day we won't be on a bus will be Thursday and Sunday. The rest of the week we will be on a bus going somewhere. Oh, and I might get the package you sent tomorrow, but it depends if President Diaz bring it up or not. My comp is still waiting for two packages from Christmas! So thank you for the package and the money.

That is good that the basketball teams both won. That should mean that Coach Lueck is in a good mood. 

So with the Rita, I don't know, we might have to let her go because she has been really weird. Yesterday she showed us that she has so many doubts about stuff that doesn't even matter. So I don't know. We found some new people too, so that was good. The president of the branch gets here today, thank goodness! It's been over a month since he has been here and it's been a very interesting month. He gets here for a few days and hopefully on Sunday, so that will be good. I have two more weeks in this change. This week we will be traveling basically the whole time. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if i stayed here another transfer again and that my comp got transferred. I don't know what he is going to say in the interview, so I don't know if I'll stay here again. It would be a long time here again.  

I am excited to see the basement when it gets done. They should be done in like three more weeks or so, right? I don't know if you will get to use the fireplace much this year. Sounds like you had fun snow shoeing. Oh yeah, do they still have a ward assigned for the young single adults in the stake and when does that start?  Hope you have a good week. Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Gillies

Hoping to Baptize Rita

Hey, yesterday I had to do audits, too. It took 4 long hours! Oh my goodness. It was horrible, but we got it done. Now I know how to do everything, so it will be more organized next time, at least while I am here. After that, I don't know what will happen.  Yesterday we had some cool experiences. Jario, a young kid, just got back from EFY. He had a dream, and I think he is thinking more about a mission now. He is a good kid. It's just really tough to be his age in the church here. There isn't even a young men's leader, so we are going to try to get him going so he can leave on a mission. So Rita sewed her baptismal clothing and everything, so next Saturday we will are going to baptize her if everything goes good. All the activities that we were doing at the church has come to a stop. The members have been really lazy, so until they start cleaning the church and all that stuff, we have stopped the activities. Saturday we had an activity of rescue and no one from the branch showed up. One guy came. It was so embarrassing, but we could still do a lot of work with him. So tomorrow we have to go to Vina for my companion. Next Wednesday we are going to La Serena, so I am excited for that. I have only been up there once and it was like the third week of my mission, so I am excited to go see it again. 

No, I haven't gotten the package yet. We haven't had zone conferences or anything like that, so I don't know. It might be a while before I get it,  but it's ok. After this package, I wouldn't send any more stuff.  I might not get it before I come home.  

That is really cool about Utah.  And all that  snow, I am missing the snow right now. It will be a while before I will get to see snow again. Other then that, I can't remember much more of what we did. That is so funny about Madyn singing in Smith's.  Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Gillies