So here I am in Tome. I'm close to the ocean right now because we came down off the hill to use the internet. There are 3 wards in Tome... well, two wards and one branch. We are in the branch. The other two wards actually have the beach in their sector, we don't. We are in the hills about 1 or 2 miles from the beach. The hills... oh the hills.... we have some pretty good hills in this sector. Garfield is a little kitty compared to some of these big cats. We don't have beach, but we have some incredible views. Because we are in the hills we can see the entire city and the ocean at the same time... its pretty awesome. This city has the ocean atmosphere and lots of seagulls and smells of ocean / seafood. (I still haven't eaten any seafood) Because we are on the ocean it is a lot cooler here. There is always a breeze and it actually gets kind of chilly at night before we enter the house. We live in a condo that is very simple, but definitely big enough. Our door is broken and so we can't lock it, but we put on the lock anyway just so it looks like it is locked. The owner said he was going to fix it, but so far he's been all talk. I'm not worried, it's very tranquil here. In Chillan all the houses had bars on the windows, probably 90%... aqui only 10% have bars on the windows, maybe less.
My companion is awesome. Elder Keller from California. He has two transfers here in Chile, but he already speaks perfect Spanish. He said a lot of his friends were Mexicans and so he came here already speaking. He is honestly a stud. He is SO humble, so patient, and so nice. He's a big guy... 6'1" 195ish... He has the body of a strong safety that would light you up coming across the middle (every time I look at him that's what I think) however he played soccer and baseball. He is a mix of Mr incredible/Krunk (from the Emperor's New Groove) and Zac Efron from High School musical. (Zac Efron for his looks ;)) Oh ha ha a couple of nights ago we were running home to get in the house on time and he ate it pretty hard... face full of Chilean dirt / concrete.... ha ha luckily he's an athlete so he caught himself and didn't get hurt.
Ahora... La obra....... Frutillares is a branch of 215 members, 60 (mas o menos) attend church every Sunday. Not bad for Chile. It does NOT have many houses, but its more spread out with hills. Don't be mistaken... it still has houses, just not as many as Chillan. It has kind of been down in animo for a while, but oh my how things can change in one week. Long story short, we set some goals of 40 baptisms on the year, 40 re-activations and an attendance of 120 by the end of the year (Just so you know, last year Coyquen baptized the most people in the stake... there were 27) I remember when I told you guys that we would baptize hundreds down here and I'm still convinced it will happen... 40 baptisms will be surpassed SO QUICKLY if this plan works.
Oh, it was cool because the hermana Dorqua Torres knows a lot of people here in Tome and she actually called before I got here and told everyone about me. I don't know what she said, but I hope it was good.
I don't think they understand what "Nuts 4 Nuts" means... I think they figure a higher number would mean better nuts...
