Hello family and friends! (:

Hello family and friends! (:

Another good week here in Chile!  Glad to hear everyone is happy and doing well!!

It was a pretty hard week for a couple of reasons, but everything is alright now!

This week was the Chilean 4th of July, or Independence Day, only it's on September 18th here!

It was pretty fun on Wednesday, because we had a party at the Church! Chile shuts down for a couple of days during this week because everyone is enjoying the Holidays. No one was home to hear our message! The parrty was fun though. One of the members DJ'ed and it reminded me a lot of home! Which was fine, they have a lot of traditional dance music here called cueca! It's cool. We did some fun games, and then everyone flew kites! Flying kites is super fun! (: Im totally getting some of these kites shipped up to the States when I get home. Time is flying by though. I feel like I was just barely writing home last week!

One day this week our electricity shut off in the middle of the night, so our hot bed things turned off too. It wasn't very fun to be freezing all day! We had to shower with the lights off and everything. Chile isn't too different from the states, it just doesn't have a lot of nice amnenities like dryers, nice showers, and restaurants! But it's pretty good!

Spanish seems like it's just barely coming each week, but then I remember I have barely been here enough to learn it. With time, patience, and the Gift of tongues, someday I will speak Spanish!

So I had a pretty tough time this week, just struggling with Spanish and home and what not. I lost a lot of sleep, and just couldn't really pay attention. I relied a lot on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ -- because through Him all things are possible! My testimony grows of Him each and every day. I feel closer to God each and every day as I pray a little harder, study a little more, and let my faith grow even more!

I'm having a blast in the mission, but not every single moment will be good -- just like our lives. We are here to have joy and to enjoy the things here on Earth, but just like we experience happiness and good times, we will also experience tough times and sadness. I know that if we build ourselves on the Rock of Christ that we can make it through any trial! Jesus Christ atoned for our sins so that we could live with our Heavenly Father again. We will never feel as bad or as low as He did in the Garden. Through Him we can make it through anything.

I'm working hard out here, and I am one-tenth of the way through the mission. I'll be home before I know it, and can't wait to see all of your smiling faces again.  (:

I love all of you and thank you for the support!  Have an awesome week, and pray a lot!

Love,

Elder McGee