Tierra Amarilla

Well I'm here in Tierra Amarilla and I'm absolutely loving it. Tierra Amarilla is about 30 minutes outside of the big city, Copíapo. A little town all by its own. It only has basically 1 LOOONG street about 10 miles long and about 500 yards in width only. So crazy how the layout is here but I love it. We have to take micros (giant crappy buses) to get from appointment to appointment. We have a lot of work in a small little pueblo, so we're there most of the day but at times we go out to work in the farther areas. It's so awesome how different it is working in this area. There are actually trees here. I'm still getting used to it and actually having shade to walk under. It's very ugly compared to The States but very very beautiful compared to Northern Chile. I´ll send you some pictures of me looking out of our apartment.

We live on a giant property with our Mamita, who cooks and washes our clothes for us. Her family is sooo awesome and I love them all already. My Mamita here wrote my Mom on Facebook and loves talking to Gringos but doesn't know any English hahah, She is awesome and cooks really really well. People here are making it a goal to fatten me up.... They are trying to kill me haha.

My companion is a freaken stud. Elder Mangum.  He is ALWAYS SOOOO HAPPY I freaken love it hahaha. It helps me be happy. He played football last year at BYU and had full ride scholarships to basically any school in the Nation. We get along just fine with our personalities;) hahaha Don't worry we focus on the work but at times its fun to talk about sports and the Utah BYU rivalry that we have going on hahaha. We go running every morning. I'm basically his personal trainer here to keep him in good shape getting ready for his football career after the mission haha Jk. But no he is such a good missionary, has better Spanish than me and only has been out 4 months on the mission. He has a way with loving EVERY single person we meet. Everyday we're learning of how to become better missionaries together but really he is teaching me here. He is an awesome guy. We're gonna make miracles happen here.

Our little Branch a few months ago had an assistance of about 25 people and was on the verge of getting shut down. Elder Keele and Elder Mangum and the other 2 Missionaries did a great job at giving the Branch excitement and they got the assistance up to 55 at one point which is a HUGE feat. Yesterday we had 46 in church and I gave a talk, haha my first week in the Branch I gave a talk and taught Priesthood with Elder Mangum. The Missionaries are a very big part of helping with the Branch. It's my first branch so I'm getting used to all the stuff and more responsibilities that we have but I love it. There are some AMAZING people that I have already met this past week.

We have 2 Fechas for the 28th of December, Andres and Luis. 2 Potential Priesthood holders, something that the Branch hasn't seen in a long time. The branch only has 3 worthy Priesthood holders including our President of the Branch, President Castillo. He´s a stud only 23 years old and is the only one that runs this Branch. I'm excited to serve the people here and help build the assistance of the Branch. There is a family of Alleen, Ximena, and Maite. They are recent converts of Elder Mangum and Keele and they have about 50 family members that live on the same street.... Chile for ya... But most of them are inactive members but that's where most of our work is, is with that family.

I love it here. Lots of work to do but I'm super excited. It's hot hot hot here in Tierra Amarilla, Hotter than it was in Arica. If I were to guess probably 150 Degrees... Jk but seriously I have never been so hot in my life. The weird thing is that in the mornings it's so cold that I have to put a jacket on but mid day it's so hot that I want to strip off all my clothes... Chile.... I'm doing good here. Thank you for the prayers. 

Elder Paxman