First Letter from Chile

"Hello Everyone,

This past week has been really hard for me because i am here now and know NO Spanish. At the end of the MTC I remember thinking, I will be OK, I know a lot, yeah NOT! What makes things worse is that my companion doesn't speak English. We have trouble communicating sometimes but I am learning very quickly because of him and because I have to. His name is Elder Bordolli and he is from Argentina. Just my luck, I get one of only three Latins in the whole mission. It's a blessing because I am learning a lot so it's OK.

My first place here is called Coelemu. It is a small town an hour bus ride out of Concepcion. We live in a small house that I can only describe as a civil war house with a few extras. Its small, everything is wood, our hot water comes out of a shower that is heated by way old scary looking, want-to-be water heater. It's run by gas. We have to do everything to get it ready to use. We are the only missionaries there and the closest others to us are 45 minute bus ride away. I was thinking I was going to Concepcion and then when I got here I realized that the mission is a lot bigger then only the city. Today we have to do everything to get my visa and go shopping. We have one of the largest areas in the mission. It covers Coelemu and everything within a 30 minute bus ride of the city. The city is small only has 1 stop light, with about 8,000 people. We walk everywhere except for meetings with the district, or conferences. on Tuesday we have district meetings in Tome, also an hour bus ride away, and this we on Thursday, we have zone conference with half the mission.

Everyone travels by bus here. They are so crowed the seats will be full and the entire aisle will be full as well. These buses are like greyhound buses, not school buses or Uta buses so you can imagine how many people that is.

As of 2 days ago, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I was suddenly able to understand about 60-80 percent of what people say, when they speak clearly. They talk really fast and a lot of them mumble really bad. Those people, I don't understand at all. Also they don't say the S at the end of words which took a while to figure out, but it's bad because sometimes it changes the word and then I'm not sure what they are really trying to say. In Coelemu there are tons of farmers and my district leader said that because that is where i am learning my Spanish, I will talk like a farmer. They say I will most likely be here for 6 months but with Elder Bordolli for 3 and 3 others with someone else. I get mail at district meetings (Tuesdays). It feels like it's been forever since I heard from any of you. I'm not sure how I will send letters home but I will find out tomorrow. I love you all a lot and miss you all tons but I am having fun here (when I understand them).

Hope to hear from you all soon, and please continue to pray for me, because I really need the help right now. I'm not very home sick because of the distance like I thought I would be, I'm home sick because I can't communicate and everything is different. It will be OK though. Love you all lots.

Elder Anthony Maxfield."