Familia!
Guess what, the church is true! This week was awesome! Elder Blood and I are working together so well. Things are coming so easily for us. I have seen so many blessings and miracles already from being in the mission for just two weeks. Alright…so some updates which are absolutely amazing. This week we taught thirty-two lessons, including less active members, members, and investigators. We also found thirteen new investigators. I live with our zone leaders as well. There are four of us in the apartment. One of our zone leaders told Elder Blood and me that we have found more new investigators than the rest of our district combined. We also set two baptismal dates–for February! This week was awesome! We made a goal to talk with everyone–I mean everyone—and it really has worked. We have been so blessed and led by the spirit to find the people who are ready for the gospel.
The first baptism we set was with a lady named Drovsha. She has a job that takes her all over the world. Apparently she has met with the missionaries—like forty times all of the world—but always moved before anything happened. We just happened to see her on the street and talk to her on the way back to our apartment one night. The next baptism we set was with a lady named Gloria. She is older and lives alone, and was super receptive to everything. The best part about this week was probably two other investigators that we met towards the end of the week. I’m pretty sure we are going to set baptisms with them, too. The first one is Marta Espinoza; she is a mom with a two-year-old girl. She apparently has been struggling with a testimony of God recently. She told us that she was praying to God to let her know if He is there the day that we knocked on her door. Her husband’s mother-in-law is a nonactive member of about thirty years. So, we are teaching them both. They both came to church yesterday and loved it. My favorite investigator is another mom named Gloria, who we found last night. We entered her house and she talked about her kids for like half an hour. Then we taught lesson one, and she LOVED it. She loved us—haha. She couldn’t believe that she had never heard of the Book of Mormon. She told us she wonders why the Catholics and Evangelists are arguing so much, when the truth is right here—haha. We are going by her house on Tuesday, because she is baking us empanadas—ha ha—and giving us more chocolate.
Well those are some of our investigators. I don’t have time to explain every single one of them, but I hope that gives you an idea. Don’t think that everyone in Chile automatically wants to become Mormon when we talk with them. With the good, comes the bad as well. We are made fun of everyday and some people are super mean when they open the door. Elder Blood told me that people have thrown rocks at him and spit on him before. It reminds me of the trials that Nephi and Lehi had when they were preaching. But I do love Chile. We are right next to the ocean, and the view from the hills that we tract is absolutely amazing. I’m going to try to send some pictures, but most of the pictures that I have are of the city—not really of the hills where we tract. It’s hard to take pictures because people are always watching us and we can’t look like tourists.
But let’s see…some random stuff about Chile. There are no such thing as a public bathroom. There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE—like literally there are three or four dogs running around in every street. Often times, they will just sleep on the sidewalk or wherever. There is dog poop everywhere, and it’s hard to avoid it–haha. Almost no one has a car, so taxis and buses are huge around here. The Chileans love American music. I have heard so much music that I know. In every store, house, or wherever, people are playing the exact same songs that are popular in America. I had no idea. I’ve heard a ton of Classic Rock. It’s funny, because the people have no idea what the lyrics say. There’s a deacon in my ward whose favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers—haha. I like to talk music with him. The milk here is delicious. They have vanilla milk and banana milk. I have no idea why it’s not sold in America. Grocery stores are pretty much the same, but have completely different brands of food. Chileans hate peanut butter—haha. During a lunch with a member, they were telling us how bad peanut butter tasted, and that the only people who buy it are the gringos. They love their empanadas, bread, and soups. Tomatoes and avocados are huge here. Surprisingly I have had no problem getting used to tomatoes with everything. There are a lot of tourists here, and oftentimes, they ask us where things are. They say—Oh, you must know where this is. You guys walk all over this city—ha ha.
Spanish is coming slowly but surely. I can teach lesson one pretty well now. If there are any complicated questions, my companion always steps in. But each day, I can see a little improvement and I feel like I can express myself pretty well in Spanish now. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. If you need something to pray for, you can pray for our investigators to continue progressing.
Con amor,
Elder Teeples
Epiphanies 
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