Feliz Navidad!

This is Hayden's letter from last week. I'm late in getting it published. I'll post about the Skype Christmas call. I promise!


"Hello everyone!

This week was fetching crazy. Haha we had a few Christmas activities and they were way fun!! I love to be around all the other missionaries. I imagine my type of Christmas this year is way different.. We have had BBQ`s, played basketball, and sang in Spanish.

Oh, and let me tell ya a crazy little story.. We were out knocking doors.. or rather yelling at the doors because every single house here has a fence crazier than a military base.. Oh and within every fence there are like 7 million dogs.. These particular dogs were barking way loud.. So I was like, "Hey, it`s probably a good idea to spray these three pit bulls with water so they will be quiet and I can hear if somebody is home.." Well anyways. That I did.. Then next thing ya know this huge gangster dude runs out of his house screaming.. In English and Spanish.. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WANT ME TO KILL YOU?" Haha so we were pretty scared but then he tried to punch me through the fence.. That`s when we got the clue that running might be a good idea. Sooo...we took off! Good thing I am not that fat yet because this dude left the fence and started to chase us! Haha we were ducking through allies and sprinting through side streets until we felt like we had lost him. Then we ran to this ripped dude's house and taught him the importance of Christmas. Did I mention this guys lives two houses away from us? Haha but it`s cool. He saw us again and didn`t do anything.

Even crazier.. For like the first time I realized.. Dang. It`s Christmas. I am not with my fam. This is weird. Well I walked outside and IT WAS SNOWING. Little tiny flakes of frozen mist. Barely noticeable, but yes.. It snowed. Yes that is a miracle for me. Yes I was really happy, because if ya didn`t know.. Chile isn`t the coldest place during the summer!

Oh, and a pipe broke right outside our house and sent a river in the streets.. Pic..

I saw one cat and two dogs get eaten by other dogs.

We have 8 baptismal dates right now and I LOVE MY SECTOR AND COMP!

Other than that.. We have just been celebrating a bit here and there with the missionaries and members. Christmas time is the best. It doesn`t even matter where you are, who you`re with, or what you`re doing! Try to remember a bit more than just The Birth of Christ. Try to remember what He did for every single person.

Alma 7: 10 y 12

I hope you all have a great Christmas! I can`t wait to talk to my family. Hope they still remember me and that I can still speak in English..

Merry Christmas!

Elder Clegg


Pictures...

They have big hot dogs here. Se llaman completos.

I wrapped lights around myself because it was snowing!!

We flooded the road for like 5 miles.. It wasn`t us! It was our neighbors.. but everyone thought it was us!"

White Christmas

When Hayden got his call to Chile, we started to do research about life down there. We learned a lot. One thing I remember thinking is... "It will be summer in Chile at Christmas time..." Now I see this as a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. He knew that it would be super tough on Hayden to be around lots of snow at Christmas time. I am amazed at the blessings God gives us because He knows us so well. Despite being summer in Chile, Hayden is still enjoying a white Christmas. Take a look at the picture from this week and you'll see why!

"Hi

Holy Cow. I have been out for 20 weeks! Somebody told me that today. I have lost track of time down here. Oh, and all you guys are full of crap. It is not Christmas time. There is no snow and the Mall Santa Claus was just speaking in Spanish. I think he has the gift of tongues.

Well, this past week was the best of my mission. My card reader doesn`t work, so I can`t send pictures yet.. butttt I had the chance to baptize Patricia. It was something that I won't be forgetting anytime soon! It just makes everything worth it. After it was done and I was changing.. I just started crying! Haha man I am a baby, but it was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have ever had in my life. In one month, the gospel has changed her life completely! After our first visit, she told us that she didn`t want anything and tried to give the Book of Mormon back.. but we just sat on her doorstep for a minute testifying about what it had done for our lives and she decided to give it a second chance. This second chance is going to change her life, and the life of her family forever. Her mom and daughter should be getting baptized the 3rd of January!

Apart from that I don`t really know what else to say. Life is good. We are finding, teaching, and baptizing right now. Chile for life!

I did divisions with our Zone Leader, Elder Johnson this week. He is such a stud! Haha well this Chilean just fixed my card reader. I think he wanted me to pay him or something!

Oh, and don`t eat Chilean Chinese food... That is just asking to mess yourself up! My companion and I got destroyed because we tried to celebrate a little on Saturday night.. Those are two countries that don`t mix.. but I will tell you one thing. Elder Didericksen is right...Everybody in South America listens to Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle. Even a Chinese dude working in Chile.. who only speaks Chinese.. he knows that song.

I hope you are all well! Have a Merry Christmas season y'all."

Elder Clegg

Power to Promise

This is actually Hayden's letter from last week. I'm a bit behind...

I've made some pretty important promises throughout my life. I promised to keep the commandments, serve others and take upon myself Jesus Christ's name when I was baptized. I've also made promises in the temple and to Mike. I've promised to not tell important secrets when friends and family confided in me. On several occasions, I've promised not to ruin surprises and Mom, I'm forever sticking to my promise that I did not hide food behind the washer and dryer to save for later...
Hayden has an experience in his letter that has had me thinking a lot about promises and the power they carry.

"This week was pretty dang great! Like after Colo Colo.. (like the Oakland Raiders of Soccer).. lost the championship, there was a dude that drove past our house shooting a gun out the window! First time I have seen that.

Also, directing the sector hasn`t been as hard as I originally thought it would be. We had a lot of good things happen this week. My new comp, Elder Figueroa, speaks Spanish. He is hispanic.. So we were passing by some of the people Elder Fisher and I stopped visiting, just to see if they would progress with a new missionary.. I had the strongest prompting to go by this dude named Josè! Elder Fisher and I looked over him really bad... He doesn`t hear very well.. And doesn`t understand when gringos talk in Spanish.. but long story short.. He has read the Book of Mormon since we stopped going by, went to church with us, and is getting baptized on the 21st!

Also, Patricìa is doing great! She is gonna be baptized this week. We have always been told that as missionaries, we have the power to promise things.. So when we first met Patricìa, she had been without work for a year and a half..! So we promised her that if she made the decision to be baptized, she would be able to get work..and she got a job!! This is a lady that at one point tried to give us her BOM back, but now.. She wants to be baptized and is more active in the church than most of the members!

Oh and hey.. another miracle. I REALLY had to go to the bathroom.. but we were a good mile and a half from our house.. I was about to have some serious problems.. So I said a prayer! Haha then right as I ended my prayer.. My investigator Danny was behind us in his car and saved me. Haha prayer works. I promise you guys that if you need something, don`t be afraid to ask for it!

No pictures this week.. but I really wanted one with this drunk dude that had just about the sickest hair I have ever seen. This man is a miracle in himself.. In the 5 minutes we talked to him, he drank 2 liters of beer.. He had 3 more bottles that size. What a legend."

Elder Clegg


It sounds like I'd better promise to send Danny his favorite treat or something. He saved Hayden from what could have been a REALLY BAD DEAL...

Staying Put

Transfers occurred this week and Hayden is staying put! He is excited to be able to stay in the sector that he and Elder Fisher worked so hard to open. Apparently Elder Fisher is off to be a Zone Leader! Hayden has a new companion and much work to do.

Call me a mean Mom, but I have giggled all week about the fact that the day Hayden wrote this email, we woke up to 3 inches of new snow. Read on and you can laugh with me!

"Hi

Haha I just came from my second Reunion de Cambios.. That means that I finished my training! So that is cool.. However, my life just got drilled with responsibility!

Haha my Companion, Elder Fisher, got sent to a different sector.. So that is gonna be hard. He was an absolute machine at working. I got a new comp, Elder Figueroa. Yeah even though the name doesn´t seem like it.. He is from Utah. Haha I have only had gringos from Utah as companions so far! He only has like 5 months in the mission and I have 3.. So that is a very freaking young companionship! He is really happy though. I like happy people! Haha

I hope that I can keep up what Elder Fisher and I started, I now have to direct the sector every day! It`s gonna be an adventure. Elder Fisher and I went from 6 lessons in the first week.. 0 investigators.. To 48 lessons in our last week.. With lots baptisms waiting! Haha so needless to say, in the start.. I hated life, but in the end.. Elder Fisher and I got along really well! It was sad to see him go.

Here is my first huge mission miracle. Danny. He has been such a blessing! Haha he is 25 years old and SO receptive. His baptism should have been last week, but like any other flighte.. (Thugish person), he might have to wait. He told us that he had a dream that two angels came to him and offered him a book.. and that they spoke a different type of Spanish.. Then the next day, we showed up with a BOM. He is converted. He stopped drinking and smoking, has read through Alma, and is sharing the gospel with his friends...IN 3 WEEKS. God works in mysterious ways. Maybe I won`t be able to be the missionary that baptizes him, but I have had the absolute pleasure of teaching him!

I am super excited to keep working here in Nueva San Martin! Haha life is good.

Have a good one. If it`s snowing. I hate you all."

Elder Clegg

"Pics.. Danny!! (Yellow Shirt) Carlos.. (Gonna be baptized).. My district as of this last week... New companion (Edler Figueroa)"