http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865584354/Mexico-City-MTC-training-hundreds-of-missionaries.html
Elder Hamilton left the MTC on Monday, August 12. This was the letter he sent that morning.
I know this is random for me to email you today. We were down weighing our bags and were told that we could check mail if we didn´t have anything else to do so I thought I would let you know what my schedule is. I am leaving the ccm today at 4:30 and my flight leaves at 9:30. We get to chile tomorrow at 6:50!! It is a straight through flight which is nice and shorter than I was thinking it would be. There are 21 people going to chile. 7 from viña del mar and 14 going to concepcion. From the airport it is a 1.5 hour bus ride to viña del mar. I am planning on calling tonight at the mexico airport as long as things go according to plan and there is time. As for when I get to chile im not sure what is happening I just know that they will email you when I get there. I hope everything is going good today! Tell everyone I say hello.
This week has been good. It has gone by fast which is supper great because I have just wanted to leave. I really am not nervious at all to go to chile. I feel like i am doing a lot better at giving lessions and speaking spanish so I am not too worried about it. I know it will be hard but I am more excited about it than anything.
I dont know how long I will be on here but email me back if you get this. I love you
Te amo
Tynan
We were able to talk to him for about 2 minutes at the airport- just long enough to say I love you and hear it from him!
Now we are on the great Monday schedule for letters. Our first letter from Chile.
Hi mom!
Yes i am finally in chile!! I slept some on the flight which was good. When we were landing I started getting really nervious because this was really happening to me right now! No more mtc, the field!! Costoms was easy and right when i saw my mission president I felt so happy and comforted. Like when I got my call, exept minus all the tears. We went to a lookout point over the city which was cool. And then to the flower clock. It was really awesome to see that! Then they gave us a book of mormon and the address to the mission home, drove us a little farther down the road and told us good luck. There was 7 americans and probably 11 latinos so all the americans had a latino. Which was great because THIS IS NOT THE LANGUAGE THEY TAUGHT ME IN THE CCM IN MEXICO! I could not understand like anything that was going on! we found the mission home after like an hour and a half, had lunch and interviews with the mission nurse and the president. I love my president so much, he is so great! The rest of the day was sort of just a relax day. We all went to bed at like 8. The next day we woke up at 7 (thats when we wake up here in chile, and we go to bed at 11) Did excersize and studying and went to some training meetings. After the meetings we had the change meeting and got our companions and areas. My companions name is elder abarca. He is from santiago, 1.5 hours away, has been here for 6 months and i am his first son. It is great to have a native who knows a lot, he speaks almost perfect english too but I try to speak as much spanish as posible. My area is esparanza. We are actually reopening it. It was closed 6 weeks ago because they didnt have enough missionaries to put everywhere. So we started out with nothing but names to go off of. So we have just been contacting on the street, references, and past investagators. It makes it hard because we have only taught one lession in 5 days. I just dont get it, in the mtc every door we knocked they let us in but here they dont. HAHA yes I understand it is different. It is hard because sometimes I feel like I am doing something wrong, but i just have to remember to keep going and keep trying. Our area is super confusing. We have a map but it is small and the roads are so wierd here it doesnt make sense, and the house numbers are totally random most of the time going from 4 to 62 to 103 to 1. It makes no sense. We are on a hilly area so most of the time we are walking up or walking down a hill, so i make sure and not exercise my legs in the morning because they get enough durring the day. We had a zone meeting which was nice. All in spanish but I understood most of it because it was americans talking in spanish not chileans. Each day my ability to understand gets better and better. And I am trying to talk more to people to get used to everything. Sunday was great. I love the ward! I cant talk to them really well but they are nice. We are fed lunch by a member everyday which is awesome. We havent had time until today to do shopping so our breakfasts have been very small. The food the members fix is good, nothing really wierd. this does bring me to the worst thing about chile... They DONT HAVE DINNER!!! I dont know why but they dont. sometimes they have once (pronounced like 11 in spanish) but no dinner! Definately something else to get used to but its fine. Once we go shopping today I will have food to eat at night when i get home. We do have hot water which is great! It isnt the best shower or water pressure and the hot water doesnt last to long but I think i can survive. It is funny because so many things that if I were home I would be like "heck no" here I just smile and think "now I am having a mission experience that everyone always talks about!" Things are good here though. Some moments are really hard and I get down on myself not knowing If I can learn the language, walk up another hill, or be away from all of you but that is when I pray and ask for help! I want to work this week on always having positive thoughts during the day! It also felt like a long two weeks because I havent had a p day, or a long opportunity to talk to you guys for two weeks. So today is great! I love you all so much!
I love you, Be safe, Pray always!
Love
Elder Hamilton
