Hermana Mercado's #8 letter from Chile!

One funny thing about Chile, that I wasn't really expecting, is that they listen to a lot of American music. A lot of 70's music. We hear the Beatles quite frequently. But then there have been a few occasions when I hear the Backstreet Boys. And they have a lot of just plain American words for things. For example, they go to the "mall" to do "shopping". And a few weeks ago, one sister in our ward who is pregnant had a "baby shower". Yes, they say all these words as they are said in English, just imagine them being said with a Spanish accent. It's interesting.

Anyway, this week was interesting because of the holiday. We didn't have a lot of set lessons, so we did a lot of contacting, looking up old investigators and references, etc. And the day of the 18th was crazy! We ate so much! We got fed lunch twice because we got invited by two different investigators and we didn't want to offend anyone. We ate soup and empanadas de pino in both cases. Then in the evening, we visited a inactive sister we met contacting in the street. She fed us cake and empanadas de queso. I think we ate enough empanadas that day to last me through the week!

Not a lot much else to report on except that Patricia, Viktor, and Felipe are doing well. Patricia says Viktor has changed a lot. He's a lot more loving now and willing to help around the house. They're just so great!

And General Conference is coming up! I don't think I've ever been so excited for General Conference in my life. As President King said, "For missionaries, General Conference is better than Christmas!" And it's true! It's going to be amazing!  I can't wait to hear what they have to say!

--Hermana Mercado