Hola from the good ol Chile!! Atleast what’s left of Chile. Where should I start? Well, the night of the good ol Earthquake it was about 3:40 in the morning and I was just laying in bed asleep and then woke up because my bed was starting to shake. Well, it didn't stop. Kept on shaking and it started getting harder and harder so I sat up in my bed and was like, ''Noall, Noall!! What’s goin on man?!!!'' He woke up and was like, ''I don’t know!!'' and then we realized, ‘Hey its an earthquake!’. So we hopped out of our beds way quick and tried to get out of our room without falling down because the whole house was shaking at this point. We made it out of our rooms and stumbled towards the stairs. Made it down the stairs without fallin, luckily(Noall almost fell.haha) Got down the stairs and ran towards the door(We were hearing glass and stuff crack and break.) Finally found the keys and we made it outside. Once we got outside it was slowing down and it finally stopped after being outside for like 40 seconds. It scared me a little.(lol) We went back inside after that and checked out the damage. My books and stuff had fallen off the table and my toothbrush and stuff fell off the counter. Elder Noall's tie collection fell off the tables. The thing above the toilet fell off and shattered all in our bathroom. We had a window crack and another one is shaking loose because all of the caulking fell out around the window. Our lights got cut off but they came back on in the morning. During the night we were feeling aftershocks and we've been feeling aftershocks up until last night. I guess there were three in the night but I didn't feel them. Other than that though, we are all ok. Our sector didn't get hit very hard but our community did. Our Community is called Puente Alto if y’all want to search it out. Some buildings fell down and smashed some cars and alot of the buildings are starting to crack around here but all those big buildings are more up towards Providencia which is in the Northern part of our Mission. All of the Missionaries are ok.

On a much happier note, the work is going good here. Patricio is the one that should be getting baptized but he needs an interview and we need to finish teaching him. He is working alot now so its hard to find him in the house but he went to church yesterday with his buddy Wladimir so thats always a good thing. We are also teaching this other girl right now, her name is Carolina(20). She is way ready and reads and prays all the time and is wanting to get baptized. Her Baptismal date is for the 21 of Marzo. If y’all could keep them in your prayers I'm sure they would be very grateful.

Alright, so about Elder AC. Um, I'm doin good. The Spanish has been hard for me these past couple of weeks. I don’t know why, but it feels like my understanding diminishes sometimes. I dont know if its because I'm not paying good enough attention or if its just because I'm needing to study the language more so I understand more of what they are saying but, this week I'm going to try and really study hard so I can get this Language down!!

The Gospel and the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ are the greatest gifts that we have in our lives. With those things we can be ready and confident in what’s going to happen. I am so thankful for you all in my life. I can always count on my family and friends. I love you all and hope this finds y’all doing great. This Gospel is true and it changes lives.Woop Woop!!!!!!! I love y’all!!!!!

Hey Everybody - I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy 2010! Wow, its hard to believe that time goes by as fast as it does!

I am currently serving in area of Santiago named 'Los Toros'(the Bulls). Its a more affluent section of the city, and the people tend to be a little more cold and harder to teach, which makes the work challenging. This is a view of the Andes Mountains from the front door of our apartment.

This past week my companion, Elder Rasmussan, and I had a few stomach problems! Its the middle of the summer here and all the fresh veggies are in season, especially corn and beans. We've been eating just like the Chileans and have over-indulged! Thank goodness for indoor plumbing! Speaking of stomachs, this delicious dish is tripe(cow stomach)! Tastes just like chicken?!?

My Spanish is really coming along and I am doing a lot better when I am talking one-on-one with people. Prayer works! I can really understand just about everything people say to me now, even with their Chilean accents! This is a picture of my companion and me...

We began teaching a guy named Edmundo last week. He has cancer and is about 60 something, pushing 70, and has the potential to be a good investigator. We have an appointment with Him in a little bit. Hopefully it works out.

Thank you for all of yall's prayers. I can feel them work in my life every day.Prayer is amazing and you know what else is? The Gospel!!!! Its amazing and true. I have seen it change peoples lives! Jesus Christ gives us hope in this crazy world of ours and He truly brings peace to peoples' lives!!

Take care everyone and I'll do my best to keep you all updated. Thanks for your friendship and for staying in touch!

Love,
Elder AC