Happy Birthday to me!

Hola Familia, Te amo mucho, Chile es mejor que antes, yo aprendo mas y mas todos los dias. la Gente aqui esta mi segundo familia. Y mi Cumpliaños fue perfecto. no puedo creer yo cumpli 19, que bacán cierto;)

If you knew how much I hate Pulgas (Fleas) right now, you would probably be worried I was a little crazy.... Pulgas are little tiny tiny animals that get into my clothes and beds and backpacks and stay there... forever.... and bite me.... everywhere.... That is the main thing missionaries have problems with... and I´m about ready to punch the pulgas in the face.. they such so much, they are all over my waist line because they can´t crawl past my belt line, they bite me all over my legs and arms.... I hate pulgas....

I just cut my hair by myself for the first time ever hahah, I look so flayte I love it hahah, My birthday was perfect though, I got 3 different  cakes from either recent converts, an investigator that we just met who own a pastry shop, and one of the ward families that are so awesome. and Elder Smiths converts, Shirly and her family, are like our parents here. They love us so much and will give us anything. They got me presents for my birthday...... like really.... such an amazing family. I got cologna and a cute scarf :P Happy Birthday Mom, I hope it was as good as mine.. Probably better cause you're in the states and I´m not haha.

Our baptism fell through this week. the mom and her daughter disappeared. ughh.. so flipping frustrating this weekend... but on the bright side, Elder Smith and I were tocando puertos cuando we found Aliza. Aliza has been meeting with the missionaires and going to church for 12 years but she has been Con Vive, (living with a guy) this whole time. But when we talked to her she told us she is getting married in June and she wants to get baptized... how awesome is that, we basically walked into a blessing, so that is cool. She has a fetcha for the 8th of June and hopefully we can find Ruth and Carolina and baptize them this weekend... so technically we have 3 fetchas and 5 other progessing Investigators.

James and Rocio are the Con Vive couple and were going to try and set a marraige date for them and baptize them this month also. Then we have Daniella and Sonia, they are tough ones. Sonia is like 60 and Daniella is 22, their whole family are recent converts and we give a lot of juice at their house so we know them very well. They are such a great family but Daniella and Sonia are just some tough cookies, but we're going to try and set a date for them this month. And other than that we have Naomi, she´s 13 and her mom is 27.... you see that a lot here. Chile is known for having A LOT of 13,14,and 15 year olds getting pregnant. but the 27 year old mom was a member her whole life. She went through sunbeams all the way through young womens. Then she got pregnant... that's just how things work here. But she loves the church so much and wants her daughter baptized. So hopefully we will set a fetcha with Naomi too. Everything is moving along perfect. Just keep praying for me and my Spanish and all the people here in Chile.

Its so insane that all my friends just graduated.... so hard to believe that was a year ago for me.. I´m so excited for all them to either come out here on missions or start the college life. 

This week we had the Newbies Conference and also Zone Conference, The Newbies Conference was about 5 hours and we talked about basically any questions we had about our disobedient companions, the culture here, how the Latins will try and steal your money. Then we had Dominos Pizza so that was good... Zone Conference happens every 3 months and its basically a conference where President Bruce pumps us up for everything. He throws out some deep doctrine that gives us motivation and we get to see all the other missionaries from the sectors around us. So I like Zone Conferences ha ha. 

The people of Chile really really love their hot drinks.... tea, coffee.. They always offer us Ecco... we're allowed to drink it cause it doesn't have caffeine or something but it tastes disgusting.... and we can´t say no. So everyday I hurl down a glass of nasty coffee..... so awesome... Chileans and their weird obsession for warm drinks... IDK.... 

Today is my official 2 month day... it doesn't seem like I've been on my mission for 2 months. Time flies by.... My companion is getting really really trunky, he goes home in 1 1/2 months and is counting down the days.. It´s not a bad thing but he likes to give lots of juice at members and recent converts houses. I wouldn't mind working a little harder. But everything is good... I´m sorta learning what not to do while I'm with him. But I love him he´s a baptizer and that's why I'm here so that's good. 

Well, I love you all so much. You guys don´t realize how much I think about you all, both family and friends. D&C 6:36. Here´s some pictures of me at La Portada and me on my birthday and a bunch of other random stuff:) Here´s my address to send me both letters and packages. I really like letters and packages, it takes a while to get to me and for me to send things back but its worth it:) Love you all.

Elder Mason Craig Paxman

Chile Antofagasta Mission

Sucre 220, Oficina 504

Edificio Bulnes

Antofagasta, II Region

CHILE