Hello Friends and Family and Merry Christmas!
I am sorry that last weeks letter and pictures did not get put up- I had foot surgery last Monday. So here is your Christmas gift of 2 letters. We are so excited to talk to Tynan on Wednesday.  Thanks to you all for your love and support to him.
Cheryl

Sent Dec. 16
Hola Mi familia

This week was really great. We had a zone conference. We didnt get packages but thats fine. It was great because Elder Svec of the seventy was there. It was a really great conference and was good. I am really looking forward to this next year. As a mission we are going to read the book of mormon 4 times. I am really looking forward to doing this because my testamony of the book of mormon has grown so much in my mission and I want to see it grow more. It really is great that we know of all of these things. 

We are getting ready for christmas it sort of feels like it is going to just be another day but thats fine. There are a lot of christmas lights and decorations up here which is a little surprising to be honest. Not as much as at home but still it is great to see everything because I love that stuff. We know that we get to talk for 30-40 minutes on christmas. We are going to do it in the evening at like 8 here so like 4 there. 

I cant believe that you guys got tickets for the christmas concert for the mormon tabernacle choir. And you guys were so close!!

This week I had a great experience with our recent convert carmen. She has such a strong testamony and every time She shares it I feel like I am learning something new. Her son is a member and has mental problems and she has such a loving attitude to help him always. They had a big problem this week and her patience and love was something that I want to have for my family someday. She relys so much in Christ and that is why she has so much trust and love for him and his church. I am so happy to have know her and been a part of her process of conversion. 

We have changes this wednesday. We dont know what is going to happen but we think that we will stay here because I only have one change here in this area and my companion only has two. We are hopping that we dont have to move to a new area right before christmas but we will see. 

Time always is going so fast and every week I cant believe that It is time for p day again. But I love what I am doing and am excited for another transfer. this will be my 4th in chile. I cant believe I have been here for so long. I love you all so much and hope that you guys are having a good christmas. 

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

Sent Dec 23

Hi Family

I am glad to hear that everything is going good. I have an anouncement to make....

Im a father. Yes I have a son and he is 23, from columbia, and is the only member of his family. I am a trainer this transfer. It is a little crazy to think about this but it has been good these few days. We had changes on wednesday and we have been working in our area. It is going really well. I am realizing that I am able to do much much more than I though before. It is still great to have a latino companion to practice my spanish more. I have felt really comfortable with my spanish for a while now but I still need to practice and learn more. I am excited to see him progress and learn more and more. He came pretty well trained, I think his age helps a little too. He has been a member for 4 years and is the only member of his family. He said that he believes that when he returns from his mission his family will listen to the missionaries. 

Our area is really great I like it a lot. We have one investigador with a date for baptism. His name is elias and his date is for January 12. He is progressing a lot and has asisted two times. It is really good because he has a lot of friends in the church. He has such a great story with the holy ghost. I dont remember if i told you guys this or not but I will tell it again. He always has had questions about the holy ghost and what is the holy ghost. He has visited other churches before and they always say that the holy ghost is like dancing and yelling  "Amen." He said that he never felt like that was the holy ghost. Because how could something so crazy almost like a fiesta invite the holy ghost. I really is so true. It made me think about the temples and how we go their and find peace and tranquility. It is something that cant be faked. The spirit is pure joy and peace in our lives. I love the temples so much and really cant wait until I can go back and visit the temple, ok thats a lie, I really can wait. It really is such a special place where we can feel the spirit so strong. It is the same with the church. Every week we can go to take the sacrament and feel this peace and comfort from the spirit. I am so grateful for this blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and that I have this opportunity to share it with other people. 

I am really excited for christmas! It doesnt feel like a normal christmas of course but still I get the feeling of christmas and I am excited. 

I love you so much and hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Feliz Navidad 

Elder Hamilton

Made pouch with member

Snowing in Chile

Yea! It's Christmas

There are cows, horses, donkeys and lots of random animals on the side of the road. Very Strange

Food With Relief Society

His awesome tree

Hola

Things are going really good here in chile. This week was so fast, like most of them. I did get my package for christmas with my stocking in it. I loved your little decorations mom and I made myself a little tree with my lights. I dont know if there is a pension in the world that is as ready as I am for christmas. A lot of people are doing there lights and trees right now which is great. It still is really wierd because it is so warm, yes I am using sunscreen. It is really interesting how late they are to start christmas here. You would think that because they dont have thanksgiving they would start earlier, the united states has thanksgiving and they still start early, but no they dont do anything until like the end of november until now. I prefere starting the bigging of november, If I can even wait that long. 

Right now we are teaching two people that are progressing and others too. We had a lession with an investigator named Elias and he had a question about the holy ghost and how we could feel and recognize the holy ghost. He has asisted many other churches and said that He doesnt understand because in almost every church they say that the holy ghost is felt through dancing and singing loud songs and a bunch of amens and stuff like that. We taught about the holy ghost and how we can feel his influence in our lives. He said after that he felt a lot of peace and tranquility when we are there with him and he can tell that that is the holy ghost. In our next lession he told us that the other day his friend offered him a cigaret and for the first time he was able to say no, because he is trying to stop smoking. he said that he had prayed to feel the spirit and to have the power to stop smoking and say no. It was a really spiritual experience. I have learned so much about the spirt in my mission and how we can have the spirit and learn from the spirit. I have never had a time in my life when I have felt the spirit in all of my life. Everyday and all the time. I love it. It is a feeling that I can only get from serving the lord like I am right now. I am so grateful for the spirit in my life and what I am learning right now. I cant believe I have almost been in chile for 4 months and I have 5 months in my mission. It has gone by so fast for me and I have learned so much. I am excited for the next 1.5 years to learn and grow more. 

Thank you for all of your support in the experience that I am having I cant express enough my gratitude for your prayers and help in this time of my life. I know it may just seem like something small, a prayer for the missionaries or... I dont know, something else but I really do see every little thing that my family is doing right now and has always done for me in my life. It is wierd because I actually feel like I have grown closer to all of you, friends, family, or posibly a stranger that is just reading this. I love you all and am praying for you all. 

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

A week of being thankful

Hola Familia

I am doing really good this week. It was such a fast week. I did what you told me mom and really tried to focus on the things that I am thankful for. It was such a great week and such a great idea to do. When you think about one thing it generally leads you to think about another thing and before you realize it you have so many things that you are thankful for. It really is a blessing. We have so many amazing things in our lives. This was the only thing I did for thanksgiving. Wasnt super great. But I loved your thanksgiving meal on the plane mom. 

I got my package on tuesday which was awesome. So now my pension is all decked out with christmas lights. I love it. It was fun because last night we went to the house of the sister that does our laundry and we helped them set up their christmas tree. So I got to do a little bit of decorating this year which was really fun. There are some houses here that have lights set up for christmas and more and more everyday. Not as much as home but still it is fun to see them. There is light here until like 9 so it isnt very dark for very long. 

The work is doing good. We are teaching a few different people and just looking around to find more people to teach. I am liking this area a lot. We have changes in 2 weeks, time is going so fast, so we will see what happens. I think we will both stay here because what I have heard is that the changes before christmas generally arent really that big. But there is still a posibility. I really like my companion he is really nice. I am glad that you guys are doing good and are able to be with nathan. Tell him hi and that I love him. 

It is so wierd that it is almost christmas. The weather here makes it feel like it is like may or june. I am really excited to talk to you guys in a few weeks we dont know anything about when or anything. We do have a zone conference next week so I think we will get mail but I dont know. It is a zone conference with the president and I dont remember if in the last one we got mail when in this conference so we will see. I would think that they would try to give us mail before christmas but really I dont know. If not. thats fine I will have a great christmas present after. 

Like I said the best thing for me this week was thinking about all the things I am thankful for. We really are so blessed in our lives and when we realize that and give thanks for that we show our love for the lord and our heavenly father. I am so happy I have this knowledge about the truth. I am so happy I have all of you guys for your support and your love. I hope you are all doing good and are safe and health. I love you so much.

Te amo

Elder Hamilton

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