Letter received on October 6th 2008
S-U-P-D-A-W-G Sup dawgs Sup Dawgs. So what´s going on family? O.k. so I had no idea about Dad´s new truck, just some needed info: what is the make, model, the year and the color. Oh and how many miles does it have? Anywho, I´m glad you liked the pictures, I would send them through mail, but I want to save money, I will send a bunch at my year mark probably. I have more today, so I hope you like them. Cambios are soon so Elder Calquin will probably be with me just a couple more days, so today we went running close to Morro de Arica, you need to see it, it´s amazing. There was a cruise line docking in and the waves were huge, there were also two dead pelicans on our run(just for your imformation, I thought you would like) But it is a dream running on the beach, it feels so good and it calms you down so much. There are play grounds everywhere so I got a picture of that also. Oh and Elder Calquin used to be a diver when he was ten and we got pictures at the place where he had a meet.
Anywho, I did get to watch conference. I took 30 pages worth of notes in my journal, so I have to buy a new one soon. It was amazing. There were 5 of us gringos in a room at the Stake Center watching it in English. I absolutley loved it but it killed me to think how close that is to home. But I got over it quickly because that night I got 5 investigatores to come with us to conference which is amazing. But I absolutely loved the talks, oh and I new you would be crying especially in the one about missionaries. I put in my journal, (mom is probably crying right now) but they were all so great, and to hear the announcement of 5 new temples was amazing. We were hoping for Chile so bad but hey they have to pay tithing first. Also what struck me for the family is being unified by studying(not just reading) scriptures and praying together as a family EVERY DAY!!!!!! Please Please make sure you do it, I know it will bless us so much more than we are already being blessed everyday. That is another thing, make sure you all remember who is blessing us and where the blessings are coming from. Give thanks every day for everything, I never realized how much I loved the little things until I got out here. Like being able to walk bare foot on the carpet, grass, drinking water from the tap, warm showers, a conversation in English, or just a hug or saying I love you to your mom or family.
Enough of my preaching, it just meant a lot to me to hear conference. But this weekend Saturday is the baptism of Miguel, Andrea(maybe and hopefully), and Katia. Hopefully everything keeps working out well for them to be baptized. We also might be able to baptize Jesus Patricio, I guess we will see. It´s amazing the things you hope and wish for when you are on a mission. It´s all about them, this mission isn´t about me. I´m glad I learned that early.
That is good Tiffany had a good 16th birthday, oh and how was homecoming, did Fremont win? But Tiff is lucky she got to spend it with the family, the family is where it is at.
Oh and that is extremely loco loco that I have been out that long. Last week was my month in Chile(not Chili, he he) and then this week my 100 day mark. It is flying by. We are getting some 12 new gringos this cambio so I won´t be the nuevo anymore. Since it is cambios soon, we had our 6 week interview with President Urra. I was lucky because it wasn´t one on one, there were 3 other Nativo, Older Elders with me. President Urra just kept complementing me and saying in Spanish can you believe that this is Elder Jacksons first cambio. He is much more experienced then 6 weeks. So it made me feel really good. It is sad to not have much more time with Elder Calquin though. He helped me out so much. But hey, the Lord will bless me with another great companion.
Well I love you all and thank you for your love and prayers. Have a great week and make sure and have fun and make the best of TODAY and dont worry about what could have been.
(There are no tomorrows to remember, if we don´t do something today.)-President Thomas S. Monson.
I love you all. Check ya lata.
Con amor siempre
Elder McKay Bryan Jackson
The First