I STOOD MY GROUND AND STARTED THROWING KICKS LEFT AND RIGHT

Querido familia y amigos,

Hola from the city of Angels! Well a lot has happened from the last email but at the same time it was kind of a sleepy first week here in Galvarino Los Ángeles. For starters, last Tuesday for transfers it was a 4 hour bus ride from Pitrufquén to Los Angeles. Élder De Leon rode with me the whole way because he was heading up to Concepción to leave. We had to switch buses in Temuco to go to Los Ángeles and like 5 of the youth from the rama in Pitruf where waiting there to despedirse (say good bye). I didn´t realize that they liked us so much, they were all very sad to see us go.

Anyways when I got to LA (faster to write LA) my companion, Élder Terrazas, was there to meet me and we went straight to the house to drop our stuff off and then to lunch. Oh, and no he doesn´t speak any English so this last week has been quite the adventure. First off though, we live in a nice cozy little house with another sector, Via O´higgins, and my buddy Élder Kamalu from the MTC is in that sector! So it's cool being in the same house with him but at the same time it's a big blow for my spanish self esteem. He was a stud with spanish in the MTC and his trainer was latino so he speaks really well and understands almost everything. And Élder Vincent is in my zone too and he is speaking like a gringo who´s been here for over a year so I´m just trying my best not to compare myself with them or else I´ll go crazy! hahaha.

Castillano is still rough but I think that I´m still being too hard on myself. My companion says that I´ve already improved a lot since I´ve gotten here and all the families in the barrio (ward, yes we have a ward here) say that I speak well and understand a lot for having so little time here. I guess I can kind of see the improvement. It's just painfully slow. But once again I think that I just need to worry less and have more faith. I know that I'll get it and know I don't need to worry about not speaking it enough now because I don't have a choice haha. My companion is a good guy, his high voice and feminine mannerisms get on my nerves every so often but we get along great. His style of contacting and teaching isn´t as effective as Élder DeLeon´s (I'm starting to appreciate how much deleon really taught me now) but he works a little harder then deleon did and walks faster. And well you can't have a perfect companion and I´m glad I got Elder Terrazas. He´s a good missionarry and a good guy.

Well the work here in Galvarino is a little slow, kind of like it was in Pitrufquén. We only have three good investigators right now and 2 of them need to get married before they are baptized. They are living with their boyfriends of like 7 yrs with kids and everything. You see that a lot here. I´m not too worried about the work though, we are working hard and I have a good feeling that we are going to baptize at least a few this cambio :) So Los Ángeles isnt nearly as big or dangerous as the L.A. back home but if it was, our sector of Galvarino is like the Compton or Inglewood of the LA back home hahaha. There is lots of grafiti and flaites everywhere. The flaites have like their own language here, they talk faster then normal chilenos and use so many of their own words that the older people here can´t even understand them haha.

But don´t worry about me, I´m safe. There are a few neighborhoods we steer clear from at night but my companion is kind of a wuss and thinks every neighborhood is peligroso(dangerous). At night, sometimes when we walk through really flaite parts of town, he tells me to put my hood up and not talk because he thinks that they like to bug gringos but I think his high voice and mannerisms would attract more flaites looking for trouble than my gringo accent. Besides, all the ones I´ve met seem to like me. I just use some of their phrases, give them the flaite handshake, and say that I´m a Colo Colo fan (their favorite soccer team whose name is grafitied everywhere) and they love me. Heck, all I have to say is "yo soy de colo" or "vive colo" and not only do they not bother me, but it's a conversation starter that seguays into a discussion about the gospel.
To answer some questions, they don't do dia del muertos here. They do Halloween but it's an extremely weak weak copy of the Halloween back in the states. It's not nearly as cool here. And don't worry, I´ll send my card home this week. Well, I never thought I´d say this, but I kind of miss Pitrufquén. I didn't fully appreciate all the friends I made there and the strength of the one group of jovenes there until now. We got so many references from them it was insane. But I know it was time to leave and Galvarino is starting to grow on me more and more each day. I just need a little more time to get used to the new sector. But I already like this sector a lot (it's huge so we walk a lot) and I´m excited to work here for the next month and a half or six months. However long they want to keep me here.

Oh, before I go, I have a few funny stories. A couple of days ago we were on a bus traveling to this neighborhood on the far edge of the city and our sector, when all of the sudden my companion got up and starting passing out pass alongs to the entire bus. When he was done he walked to the front of the bus to face everybody and basically started preaching and inviting everyone to church. Hahaha it was awesome!, just like the old soap box days 200 years ago. When we got off the bus I asked him if that was normal and why he did it and he said that he never does stuff like that and he just felt like he needed to. So who knows? Maybe we will get a baptism out of it haha.

Oh, and I had my second dog attack, another big awnry sucker except this time I stood my ground and started throwing kicks left and right. When his dog buddy saw that I was fighting back he joined in with snarls and lunges at my legs. Finally, after one of my kicks grazed the dog's head, they decided they had had enough and ran off. So hah! take that mañoso(uhh..i dont no.. awnry maybe) mutts!

The last story. I lost my last plaque so I now have to go plaqueless until I can order a new one. It was very sad.. I feel naked now hahaha...yeah..

Anyways I´m healthy, I´m safe and I´m happy so don't worry about me. I just need to develop a little more patience with mi español and to start seeing success. I know that both will come, the Lord is just trying my patience and faith, so that's what I will be especially working on for the next bit. Well, as always I love you all and enjoy all of your Halloween candy. Oh, and don't worry about me eating here. The members here are a lot more willing to feed us and there is an empanada factory next door with empanadas almost the size of my head and completos(hot dogs) the length of my arm. And I'm not even exagerating hehehe. I'm getting fat in this sector! Well once again love you all and don't forget to say family prayer everynight!

   Con cariño, amor, y comida grasa, Élder Harper :)

I just read an email Alex sent me in Pitruf and he's baptizing one of our investigadoras, Keka, Next week.

YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! the work wasnt a waste there!