Circunvalacion 1 - Week #1

Hola Familia!

Guess what!!! It is Saturday... and that isn't a very good sign if I've got time to write you!!! Yes, the exact thing that I said in my e-mail on Monday about not changing sectors HAS HAPPENED! And I'm not sitting at the desk of the Historiador for the Mission Chile Santiago North. For the next few weeks I'll be training under Elder Tolman and shortly I'll be on my own (we don't know if it is a full change or not). Also I'm currently in another trio, with Elder Tolman (Historiador, from Chicago) and Elder Johns (Secretario, from Washington). The work here is different... and now I can almost say that I have a "day off" as we USUALLY don't work in the office on Saturdays since it is our P-day.

So to start back at the beginning... Monday Elder Davenport and I went to the chapel where we change companions and everything went well. I was with Elder Young for a while and we had just finished buying groceries for the week in Lider (aka Wal-Mart) when something strange happened. The zone leaders gave us a call as we were leaving Lider, I assumed that it was to see how everyone was doing in the new companionships and all... NOT!!! Elder Caro verified to make sure it was me who had answered the phone and immediately notified me that there had been a few changes in the zone and that I would be going to the office as the new historiador... WHAT?!?!? I tried to pry for a few more details, but he didn't have anything except for what was going to happen with my companion. About 5:30 PM (a half-hour later) Elder Hoyos, one of the assistants to President May, called me and had a few more details. Turns out that Elder Young and Elder Angulo, who was going to be in a different ward in Quilicura, would be opening the sector (white-washing) and that the companion that Elder Angulo had for about 6 hours as well would be training a new missionary that we didn't know was coming... So in about 2 hours I had to pack everything as well as do all of the paperwork and stuff to get Lo Ovalle 1 ready to have two new missionaries... luckily Elder Young was there and wrote everything down as I packed and talked. It is an even better sign that I haven't received a phone call from him with any questions, so I think they are doing alright.

As I said before I now sit here in the 3rd floor of El Cortijo (the office building where the mission office is) on my P-day to write you all... All sorts of fun... Right???

It has been a little bit difficult to get used to working all day in an office and then go out and do missionary work in the evening. We have to depend a lot on the members here in this sector to make sure that the ward is thriving without seeing us much, other than Sundays. Luckily we have the 4 office missionaries (5 when one is training) and one other companionship, full-time proselyting missionaries, here in the ward, Circunvalación. The members here are great and seem to be used to the fact that we aren't out working in the field all of the time, but either way the work is getting done and we are having success here. We have an investigator, Matthias, who is preparing to be baptized this next Sunday, and we are super excited about that. It doesn't really matter where you go, the work is still the same... the only difference is that we stay on the phone almost the whole time we are working in the sector and aren't in a house.

So about the office... it is just another office. All of the missionaries talk like it is a big secret (because it kinda is), but other than that it is basically a lot, and I mean A LOT, of administrative stuff to keep the mission running. We work here from about 10:15 AM to about 4:30 PM Monday-Friday and Saturdays when it is necessary. Also Sunday nights we have to worry about taking numbers and all of that jazz. My assignment as historiador is everything that has to do with the information to see how the mission is running and everything that has to do with the computer side of the missionary work in the mission. I also get to play the role of "Mr. Creative" or "Elder Creative" (I guess...) and figure out the way to do any report or project that President May, Hermana May, or the assistants want. So my job gets to be a lot of fun and playing around on the computer!!! Yay!!! But the mission is a whole different ball game from where I'm sitting now... Up until now I didn't appreciate all that the office missionaries did, but now I see that it is a lot more than I thought.

Apart from this big change of scenery there isn't really a whole lot of news coming from my end of the world! We are constantly getting colder and rainier outside and just like East Texas the weather can't figure out what it wants to do. This next week I'll have to be worrying about taking the written test for my Chilean driver's license, since there are only 2 of the 5 of us that have it. Hopefully all goes well, because I've heard that the test is a little difficult because it asks some really dumb questions. Right now we are working on getting all of the reports from the changes done and a few other things that we have due this week. And every Monday we have a meeting with President May to throw around ideas about how to help the mission out, from the administrative side... so that ought to be interesting (and I'm not being sarcastic, just so everyone knows... really.).

Hope to hear from y'all soon!!! Everyone will have to change their writing schedule for the next few months (could be 10 or so like Elder Tolman has here in the office). Love you all and miss you all! I'll get your letter on Saturdays now. Hope that all is well at home!!!

¡Todo mi amor y cariño!

-- Élder Todd