These are notes from our call with Elder Butterfield on Mother's Day.
He looked really good - looked happy and has lost a lot of weight. He said he looks really funny because his
pants and suit are really big now. We
suggested that he find a sister in the ward who can alter clothing and pay her
to do it. He said that he thought that
he knew a missionary who could do it. We
didn't think that was a great idea... :)
When we were first trying to get the skype to work, he could see and
hear us but we could only see him (not hear him). Savannah waved the Chilean flag and he smiled
really big and sent us an im "Chile!!!!" She knew that I had the flag in my van. It was her idea to show it to him. When Allie was telling her that she would get to see him on the computer, she said, "I will say hi Bruhzer and he will say hi Savannah."
We did have technical difficulties, but finally he was able to see and hear us and we could hear him (but not see him). It was still really cool though because we could all be in the conversation with him at the same time.
He said, "My personality is still the same. But, I've changed a lot."
Weirdest thing he has eaten:
chicken feet in soup; he said he asked his companion what it was and he
said he would tell him after he ate it
Most shocking thing that has happened:
when he was teaching a lesson to a lady she started breast feeding right
there without a blanket over or anything; he was in the middle of bearing his
testimony... And the same thing happened
in sacrament meeting - the Elders were sitting right next to a lady when she
did that.
They don't knock on doors. They
call out "hallo" and people come to the door. At night sometimes people throw rocks at the
house to get your attention. That
happened to them earlier in the week.
They didn't know why they were doing that at first. He said they thought
the gangsters were mad at them or something.
Then he said, "Actually, we're friends with the gangsters."
They buy their milk in pouches.
You have to cut the top corner off and pour it out that way. A lot of other things come in pouches too
like yogurt. He said that they gas their
milk (carbonated milk...) They like lots of things carbonated. He said he has to drink the water with the
blue cap - not the red cap - because he got sick when he drank the ones with
the red caps.
They have a really big lunch and no dinner or just a small snack like
bread or something. In Lebu they ate at
members houses about twice a week. In
Los Angeles they eat at members’ houses almost every day.
They have a sister in the ward who does their laundry for them.
In Lebu his nickname was Superman because they think he looks like Clark Kent with his glasses.
Alejandro - started going to church with his aunt and uncle who are the
YM and YW president and also went to seminary; He got baptized and is still
really active.
Gloria - when they first talked to her she told them that she had been
looking for religion and had attended several other churches and didn't feel
they were right. She told them that she
knew the Church was true on their first visit.
He said that he is way happier in Los Angeles than he was in Lebu. He really likes the area.
Most of the roads in Los Angeles are paved. Lots of the roads in Lebu were cobblestone.
They don't have cars or bikes and don't ride buses except to go to the
mission office. They walk
everywhere. His shoes are getting worn
out.
They lived in a big house in Lebu.
There were two bathrooms - one in their bedroom.
They live in a house in Los Angeles.
Two other missionaries live with them.
Three of them are from the states and one is from Columbia.
Lots of people he meets think he is from Argentina.
The ward he is in now in Los Angeles has lots of really supportive
members. It's a big ward - like at
home. The Lebu ward was quite small.
The people in big cities have more money. A lot of them have computers in their
houses. In Lebu not as many people did.
There is a volcano near Los Angeles.
He can see it from Los Angeles.
He hopes he can go visit it sometime.
During his first week in Los Angeles they had five people commit to baptism
and they expect to have a total of ten by the end of this week.
His new companion (Elder Craven) told us that Elder Butterfield is
amazing and told us how great he is doing and that he is a great missionary and
was really excited about their baptismal commitments.
Nate said that the next time he gets a new companion he might be a
trainer. He is kind of scared about
that. (But he'll do great if he is.)
He told us that he was really lucky to have Elder Corliss as a
trainer. Sometimes the trainers are not
very good. But, Elder Corliss was great.
Elder Corliss and Elder Moss (his companion from the MTC) are now
companions.
They are allowed to have instruments in their mission. His companion gave him a guitar. He can play
it on p-days and at the end of the day before bed.
Jessie asked if his companion is cute (that's always the first question
when he gets a new companion). He said
that he is.
It is almost winter now. But he
said the weather is nice - kind of like fall in Utah. But, the houses don't have good heating. He said that they have a wood stove for
heating the house. They probably get
cold at night.
He said that he was sorry for not sending pictures and that soon he
will spend a p-day sending a whole bunch.
I told him I have to google pictures of where he is... I even found
pictures of food that he might be eating...
They were at a member's house using their computer. Jessie showed him her prom dress. One of the girls in the family said she
really liked the dress.
In Concepcion he has seen a Burger King. In Los Angeles they have McDonalds.
He gave his Perry the Platypus away to a boy in the ward. He said that the boy was really happy about
it.
