Hi mom 

I am doing really good this week. I think this has been one of my favorite weeks in my mission. It wasnt all easy but it was great. I have learned a lot about my self and about the gospel and I love it. I really feel like I am growing everyday. I love being able to focus so much on the gospel of Jesus Christ and have that be such a center of my life. 

This week I learned a lot about patience. I definately havent perfected this attribute of christ yet but I have gotten a lot better in my mission at being patient. Some times it is hard to communicate things with you guys that we need to communicate but I am learning to be more patient and just do what I can do. Then I just focus on what I need to focus on. It doesnt mean that it fixes the problem but sometimes I cant do anything about that right. 

This week we had the baptism of carmen. She is really great and was so happy and ready to be baptised. We went in the morning to fill up the font and we didnt have hot water so we were trying to fix it and ultimatly we just used the chapel that is in the area next to ours. It was really great and the spirit was so strong. Now we are going to work with her to get her to the temple. We have some other people that we are working with and some are progressing. So we are going to keep going with them. We are working to find new people to teach. It has been really hard. here is really different because there arent a lot of people that are in the street. We have to knock doors. which isnt always as productive and efective. 

I am really liking my area, district and companion. There are 6 ´people in my district 2 hermanas y 4 elderes. One of the elders actually served in esperanza where I served so thats fun to talk about the people there. We had a district activity today which was really fun. We played soccer (like every activity haha) and had sushi!! it was great. My companion is really great. He is working on learning english so it is fun to help him with that. He has progressed a lot in the three weeks we have been together. His dream is to go to utah to live and study languages. He has a lot of determination and is a really hard worker so it has been a lot of fun to work with him. 

Really everthing is going good here. I am excited to talk to you guys in one month! I love you so so much

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

Waffle Luv from Chile

Hi mom 

This week was good. I am doing good and learning more about the area which is a really big blessing. We had a baptism yesterday which was really great. Her name is Paulina. I told you guys about her a little last week. I had the oportunity to baptise her which also was a really great experience for me. She was so happy and said she felt so aliviated of all of her heartaches and sorrows. It was a really great day. I really felt the spirit so strong in the baptism and I have gained a bigger understanding of the importance of the baptism. Many times we talk about baptism when someone reaches 8 years old and I dont think to much of it. But seeing the whole process of teaching and getting people really ready for baptism, what the primary does for all the kids, It is such a bigger thing now. 

This next saturday too we have a baptism for our other investigator, carmen. So that will be something to look forward to also. We are trying to find more people to teach. That is something that we need always. There are some other people that we are working with that are great and we will continue to work with them and hopefully they will progress more and more. 

I absolutely love my waffle maker it works really great. I had waffles a few times this week for breakfast which was really nice.

The bad news for this week is about mail. We had our zone meeting this week so I got letters no packages. I know that I have a package in the office, at least based on what you said the tracker says, but posibly I didnt get it because I had changed areas. So now we just have to be patient and wait for the next oportunity to get it which probably isnt for another month. I did get some letters though which was really great.

The area that I am in there are a lot of fires right now. Not in my actually area but in the surrounding hills. It is really different than my first area in that it is just hills all around but I really like it. I like being able to see different parts of the country. I cant believe I have almost been here for two weeks. The time really does go by so fast it is crazy. But I am doing good. I love you all and hope that things are going good in your lives too. 

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

My Bed

Even though I am not home I still have lights!

Waffle luv Chile

I am doing great here in QUILPUE!!

Sorry to take so long in posting this. CH

Hola Familia 

I am doing great here in QUILPUE!! Yes I changed areas and companions! It was wierd because the biggining of the week me and my companion thought that we would both stay in our area and then I woke up the morning of changes and I just knew that I was changing. I dont know why but I really thought that I was changing. Then when the zone leaders called it was true. So I am in a city called quilpue the ward it paso hondo. It is close to vina del mar and my other area, like 30 or 45 minutes away but I cant see the ocean. I am on the other side of the hills surrounding viña del mar. I really like the area a lot it is way bigger than my old area. There are actually 4 missionaries in my ward two elders and two sisters. It used to be two wards with two buildings but they closed the building in my area and combined the wards together so now we have a closed chapel in my area. The ward is also bigger with around 150 people asisting instead of 90. My companion is Elder Cañar from ecuador!! Dad I need to know what mission you served in in ecuador. He is from quito ecuador and has been here in the mission for almost 8 months. He is great and obedient. I am really excited to work with him. The area is so huge I am a little worried about becoming familiar with the area but I know it will come with time. I dont have the ocean to look at anymore but I love it here. The night skies are great because It is easier to see the stars here. And there arent as many hills here. It is still very hilly but not as many or as steep. So that is a great thing too. 

We have three investigators that have dates for baptisms this month. Paulina, Carmen, and juaqin. Paulina has her date for next sunday so we will see what happens with that. She is 22 and has cousins and family in the church. She is really great and has had many spiritual experiences to strengthen her faith. Juaquin is 10 and all of his family are members. I dont really know much about him because I havent taugh him. Carmen is like 75 and her son is a member. She is aweseom. She definately has seen a great change in her life. Before she didnt want to have anything to do with the church. The missionaries would visit her son but she wouldnt participate. She said, though, that she would sit in her room and listen. her son has different medical problems and at one point things were really bad. She had a dream the Jesus Christ knocked on her door and told her that everything would be alright and that she would be given everything that she needed. She started listening to the missionaries and her testimony continued to grow. She has such a strong testimony and wants to do what is right. When so shares her testimony I can see how strong her faith is and how much this baptism means to her. She is so nice to us. She calls us her grandchildren and says that she always wants to make her house feel a little bit like our home. She is getting baptised the 23 of november. I am really excited to be a part of these peoples lives leading up to their baptisms and then when we start helping them continue their conversion to go to the temple. 

My apartment is great. It really is not that bad at all. I really have been blessing with where I live. haha. It is clean, or at least I will make it clean, and we have an oven and microwave which is great and our beds are pretty new. Also I have been blessed with two latino companions who want to work hard and be obedient. I have talked to other greengos and many other people only had like 2 latino companions their whole mission. So learning the language has been super great. I really dont have to much problems with the language. I still have a lot to learn but I am able to express myself really well with what I know and I can understand almost everything. Sometimes I cant understand specifics but I am able to understand in general. My companion doesnt speak very much english and so I am helping him learn. He said his dream is to go to the united states and be able to comunicate with the people. 

My old ward was about to have their primary program in a few weeks and my new ward hasnt had theirs yet so It should be in a few weeks. I am looking forward to that. I always love those weeks!! I should have zone conference in the next week or two so I will be getting my mail. I cant believe that november is already 1/3 over and I have now been in chile for 3 months. It is going so fast it is hard to believe. But everything is going good. I did get bit by a dog yesterday luckly just my pants and not my flesh but still a little hole in one of the pairs of pants for my suits. I am going to stich it up because it is just a straight rip that is only like 1 inch. Haha but I have heard a lot of stories of other missionaries that got bitten. I will try to be more aware of my surroundings but he just came up from behind me for nothing. I am a little convinced that the devil can control dogs but I know that is not doctrine and I am not teaching that to people. 

I am great and love you all so much.

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

He got his package!

I have to start by saying how spoiled I was to have to sons go in the states and how easy it was to get them things. So far all of our mail has been received by Tynan no problem, but he only gets it at zone conferences- every 6 weeks- which is a bit frustrating. His birthday package has been at the office since Oct 7- but missed his conference and he wasn't going to receive it until mid Nov. So I was really happy to read he asked for it. Cheryl

Hola Familia

I am doing great and had a really good week. First, congrats to chris and makayla in your wedding! We had a really good week this week. We found more people to teach which is so great and I have a lot of hope in a few of them. We are actually teaching 2 families who are really great. The both have a lot of faith in God and Christ and really love listening to our messages. I love it when we get to teach. Imediately all of the walking and hard work disapears and all you focus on are the people and how you can help them in this moment. The hardest thing is to find time that they can be taught. A lot of people say that they are only available one day in the week. A lot of times we pass by and talk to them other days too. We are so happy to be seeing so much progress and change in the area and the ward. We are a little nervious about changes this wednesday because we dont want to leave. But what ever happens will be the right thing. It is so wierd that it has been another 6 weeks here in esperanza. Time flys by so fast it is crazy. All of the progress that I have seen has really strengthened my testamony that when we feel like we have done all we can do or walk as far as we can go, if we go a little farther we are going to see miracles. There was one day this week that I was just exausted, physically and mentally. I prayed to find the strength to keep going and keep walking. After that it wasnt like my burdens and challenges were just taken away from me and I didnt feel them anymore but I was able to push through it, with the help of god, I know it. I think this goes for anything in life. When we have challenges or trials in life and we feel like we cant go any farther. I know that if we can push a little more and pray for help from god, we will receive that help and we will be able to do everything we need to do. It wont be easy, its life. Sometimes it may be harder after. But I know that we can get through any trial or challenge that we have in our lives if we turn to god. One of the things I have learned about the atonement and I love it that the atonement not only paid for our sins but Christ felt everything. All the trials, pains, challenges, everything. So when we think that no one know how we are feeling in this moment remember Christ does know and he is here to help us if we ask. So JUST KEEP SWIMMING! or walking. 

It has been getting warmer here which is great. But still not too warm so that is really great. There is always a little wind to cool us down and people always give us water or juice. Halloween was good. Nothing to exciting. It is definately not as big as in the united states but still there were a lot of little kids that were dressed up and walking around for candy. We wanted to change our nametags and be the other person for the day and knock on doors and say "message or treat." We actually did get some treats from people which was nice. Their candy for halloween isnt very great it is just like tiny candys that are general. I missed the reeses and kitkats haha. We had three people in our companionship forsunday and this morning until we droped him off at the offices. That was fun to have someone else with us for a day. When we were at the offices I saw the mail room and my package so I asked if I could have it and I got it. I didnt get any letters or anything so I dont know what else I have there but I was happy to get my package. When I opened it I kept saying, my mom knows me so well. haha. 

Things are going great here. I am happy and excited for this week, a little nervous waiting for wednesday but we will just have to wait and see what happens. I will let you all know this next week. 

I love you all

Les Amo

élder Hamilton