August 26, 2013

Hey, how is everything going back home?  Things are going pretty well here.  Finally, there are changes here in Paniahue.  However, the surprise is... I'm staying!!! and my companion will be leaving to Curicó.  It is crazy that now I will be living in the same house here in Santa Cruz for almost 10 1/2 months.  It is even possible that I end the mission here.  That would just be crazy.  But I am honestly really excited to keep working here.  There is still a lot of things to do here, and I think this small change, even if it's just in my companion will help give a jump-start to just keep working even harder.

Last night we went to a farewell for a missionary in Almendroza and for my companion.  It was a really good experience to see many of the people that I have grown to love so much.  It is going to be weird starting now with a new companion.  It has been a really long time with Elder Saucedo, and I have really gotten used to working with him, so we will have to see how everything goes with this adjustment.

My new companion is Elder Leyton from Peru.  I haven't officially met him yet, so I will have to tell you more next week when I write home.  I just hope that all goes well and that we can work really hard here in this branch because it definitely needs all the support that we can give it.

Today we are pretty much spending all day saying goodbye to people.  Even though I am not leaving, it is still pretty sad, probably because it reminds me that one day I will be in the same position, having to say goodbye to people that I may never see again.  At least in person... that's the great blessing of technology: now you can talk to just about anyone anywhere without too much of a hastle.  Thinking of that makes it a little easier.

Well I'm attaching a few pictures so that you can see everything.  There are a few from the primary activity that we had, playing soccer on the beach in Pichilemu, the missionaries in Paniahue, all of us with the branch president, and a picture from the farewell.

Well I hope all is going well back home.