Well, this was kind of a slow long week. Not much happened, but I do have a lot of fun little stories to tell. Hopefully this next week can be a little better as it is the last one of the transfer.

Last week we ate with a Peruvian family, the same one with which we ate chicken feet a couple months ago. This time we ate "pata de vaca", cow feet. Yummy. Actually, it´s very similar to cow stomach, and Elder Pititto told me that´s what it was. Then that night we visited the family and they told us no, it was feet. Great!

We got our shower fixed! I think I forgot to mention it was broken. Awhile back I talked about getting an electric shower, so we didn´t have to dump hot water on our heads out of a bowl. About a week before the 2 other Elders got here, it broke. The shower part worked, the electric no. Only cold water would leave. I had some of the fastest showers in my life, because it was freezing! It made me think of swimming in a lake in the mountains, whose water comes strictly from melted snow. But last Monday the guy came and fixed it, so now we have hot water! Woo hoo!!

The other day we knocked a door and the guy that came out couldn´t understand me. Fortunately, it wasn´t that my Spanish was bad. Unfortunately, it was that he´s deaf. He brought out some paper and we "wrote the contact." Turns out he´s a Jehovah's Witness but has friends who are Mormons, and he wanted to talk to us. We shared with him a couple scriptures that prove that Jehovah is Jesus, not God. In Psalms it says that Jehovah will judge. Then in John it says the father won´t judge, the son will. Who´s the son? Jesus Christ. He gave us a thumbs up, went inside and came back with a woman and a magazine. She explained to us that they are from Viña del Mar, and are going to get married soon. They gave us the magazine, which is one from the JWs. They were really nice people.

Later that same day we did a contact with a Catholic woman in the street who said that Christ came here to Chile in 2002, when the Pope came. She said when he came everyone was happy and all was great. Then he left and everything went downhill. Interesting.

The other day in divisions with Elder Pititto we knocked on a door and a 92-year-old woman let us in and gave us juice. The thing is, she´s so old she forgets stuff. She asked where I´m from about 5 times. And then everytime I´d answer she´d say, "Yes, but THE United States? English or German?" She also several times mentioned how I have the face of a foreigner. 3-4 times she told us that her parents were born in Bethlehem, and she´s been there and in South Africa. At the very end, after the prayer, she "blessed" us in some Middle East language. It was quite an experience.

Wednesday an appointment failed, and we decided to knock a department building. These building have five floors, with four departments on every floor. We decided to start at the top and work our way down. The very first door we knocked, they let us in. We ended up teaching two teenage girls. Yesenia is 19, and Carol 14. They´re cousins and both from Peru but have been here several years. Yesenia was meeting with missionaries before, and almost got baptized, but her parents said no, not until she´s older. (Like now) They were both really excited to go to the church yesterday. Unfortunately, Saturday night Yesenia got sick and couldn´t come. But Carol came and loved it. They both are reading in the BOM and praying. They both have their answers about Joseph Smith and the BOM and are both excited for their baptism on the 31st. They also have friends in the church, but we´re hoping to find them more. We also really want to help them strenthen their testimony, so that they get baptized for that, not for the cute American Gringo Elders. ;)

I´m really grateful to be here on my mission where almost everyone is receptive. There is the occasional "No! Go back to your country!" (In Spanish and English) But for the most part even those who don´t want anything at least are nice. A lot of the people even invite us in and give us juice or pop, even if they´re not interested in the message. I heard a story of an Elder, I think someone Elder Squire knows, somewhere in Europe who after 9 months in the mission entered the first house to teach a lesson. I have 9 months in the mission and I couldn´t count how many houses I´ve entered. I´m glad I´m here.

Good news! Nicolas received the priesthood yesterday!!!!! It was a surprise for us. Thursday we knew he went in to talk to the bishop. Friday we visited Nicolas and he told us about it, that they talked about a lot of stuff. But he didn´t say anything about getting the priesthood! But they sustained him in sacrament meeting and then ordained him in opening excercises of priesthood. I started tearing up during the ordination. It was a happy experience for me. I really hope he serves a mission. He could be a killer missionary. (Figuratively or literally, he´s HUGE!!!)

Well, I think that´s about it this week. Next week I´ll possibly be with a new companion, maybe in a new sector. We´ll just have to wait and see. Ciao!

Elder Murdoch