Garret's Mission Blog: August 26-September 1, 2025 Week 9 Centinela Branch, Talcahuano Chile

Hola, comó están?? Espero que muy bien! I'm doing great here. This week felt very long and very short at the same time😂. But it was a good week and it felt very eventful.

SUMMARY

-The baptism of Maria Jose Wednesday!!

-Last pday day, Elder Macias and I bought and ate 3 whole family size pizzas at papa johns!

-Interviews with president Wednesday

-District council this Wednesday

-Exchanges in another area with Elder Ren, Thursday and Friday

-Lots of walking, and lots of contacting in public

-Had lunch Sunday at a members house and it was his Birthday so we had a birthday "party" for him (I ate like 4 pieces of cake that was lit)

Baptism of Maria Jose:

Wednesday was my 2 week mark in the field and my second baptism. If I keep this up that'll be 100+ baptism on my mission

But it was a great baptism and Maria Jose was very happy to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

Talcahuano:

I'm learning a lot more about the city I'm living in (which is good cuz i've lived here 2 weeks lol), but apparently it's the second biggest city in the Concepcion mission. In September it's a big month for the Chileans, because September 18th is their independence day, so the whole month of September there's the feeling of National Pride. I hear the food during September is fire, which I'm excited for: Completos, Empados, and other good stuff. There as also like tons of Venezuelans in Talcahuano (and Chile and the rest of South America) which is cool because Elder Macias is from Venezuela.

Day to day missionary life:

The day typically looks like this (it felt like we only had 3 "typical" days this week because of the exchanges and interviews with president)

wake up 6:30

6:30-8:30-exercise, have breakfast, shower get ready for the day

8:30-11:30-plan the day, have companionship study, have language study

11:30-1:30-Find, teach and baptize time, we leave the house and go to work

1:30-lunch

2:30: personal time, this was just added the day I got to the mission (clutch), I get 30 minutes to practice the piano (or if I'm exhausted 30 minutes to sleep)

3-4 personal study

4-9: Work time, this can mean talking to people on the streets, stopping by friends houses, stopping by members or inactive members houses, or lots of other things

Exchanges:

An exchange is where you switch companions for a day and work with him for 24 hours. I was with Elder Ren in San Vicente, where first I learned that not all the apartments in the mission are freezing (my house is very nice but it is very cold because it doesn't have any heat), and I learned that not all areas in the mission are as sketchy as my area

Random Stuff-

-I gave 2 blessing this week which is a little bit tough in a foreign language

-our house has a very nice view of the ocean and the sunrise and when I jumprope every morning I can see the sunrise. it's pretty cool

-the panderias (like bread shops) here in Chile are insanely good

Spiritual thought:

This week I read the talk by Elder Holland "tomorrow the lord God will do wonders among you". I like this talk a lot, especially for missionary work because a lot of days feel the same. I like this part a lot, " If we give our heart to God, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do the best we can to live the gospel, then tomorrow—and every other day—is ultimately going to be magnificent, even if we don’t always recognize it as such. Why? Because our Heavenly Father wants it to be! He wants to bless us".

I like the part when he said, if we do the best we can to then all days will be magnificent EVEN if we don't recognize them as such. I recommend listening to this talk it's fire.

(We told Garret to take pictures of his area and the food he is eating and he did a great job this week!)