March 5th

Well, things are going good. This week, I really don't have a whole lot to report. I have to admit that this sunday, our ward had the highest attendance than I think any ward I have ever heard of here in the mission. 188 people were in church! Many of those came for a baby blessing but still 160+ were active members from our ward. I really love it here in this sector. 

It has been a little rough finding people to teach. I mean, being here in the city just makes things different but things are going really well and I think that we are on the verge of finding some wonderful families. I know that this sector has all kinds of potencial, we just need to tap into it. We are working hard and we are seeing sucess in many aspects of the work and in others, we are on the verge of big breakthroughs.

This week, we got special permission from the stake president to have a meeting with the bishops in our stake to see what we need to improve as missionaries and it was impressive how some people are really conflictive about the way things need to be done in missionary work. For the most part the meeting went well except for a few bishops who were way too harsh on the missionaries in their wards (luckily the stake president and his councilers were there and they saw who was willing to work to improve the missionary work in the stake and who wasn't). I hope that doesn't sound bad. We don't have any serious problems with members here in the mission, but some times, if one missionary makes a mistake, they take it out on all of them. It is just motivation to be perfect right?

So about the mall, only half of it burnt down and last week they reopened the half that was fine. We typically can't go to the mall but we can ask members to go there and buy stuff for us. It is really nice to have pizza hut or dunkin doughnuts every once in a while. That is one of the blessings of being in "the Second Capital" of Chile. Concé is really beautiful. The people are generally nice and I can't really complain about the climate. It is really similar to the Bay Area, just a lot less polluted and with a lot less people everywhere.   

Things are going well. I am really happy that everyone is good and happy. I am also really excited to see what happens with the house. I hope things get wrapped up quickly. I want y'all to be at least a little settled by the time I get home. Well, I love you tons and hope to hear more good news next week. 

Elder McNeil