May 25 Transfer to Punta Arenas

Hey family! I only have time to get on super fast and let you know that I cannot write to you this week about my experiences thus far in the Patagonia world of things because I have to go to the police investigations place to get my carnet thing like identity card for Chile today because my certification only lasts for so long and I had to wait until I got to Patagonia and I have to do it TODAY! before the thingy expires and it's really important.

So I thought it was awesome that I had a back-up thing, because I wrote out what I wanted to say on paper to take a picture of it! But I took a few pictures over by the coast and my camera died! AND I HAD YET TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE LETTER and my companion doesn't have her camera with her. And I have to hurry over to the P.D.I. right now because it's like the DMV supposedly. But I love you and I'll just have to send the letter from this week next week! I'm sorry.

I love you! And I'll read your emails and respond to you next week! 

Love, 

Hermana Olson

p.s. yeah it is suuuuuuuuper cold here.

(Mom's transcription of the photographed letter, received the next week)

I’m here! It’ nothing that I imagined, but to be honest, the only thing I really imagined was penguins, so that’s all about it. Getting here was the part I didn’t anticipate at all.  On Monday night, Hna. Oross and I stopped by Victoria and Sandra to say goodbye and also have a good  last lesson like we planned.  It was just a nice night.  Sandra wasn’t home though, so we were going to come back on Tuesday to say bye to her too. . .until right before we were going to go home and begin packing, Elder Keetch called and said, “Hey did you know you are leaving tomorrow?” And I said no.  Because I didn’t. . .And apparently Punta Arenas people always leave the day before cambios to get to the airport down in Puerto Montt on time.  So that was a bit of a ripshock.  I hung up on the phone and it was almost 10 pm so Hna. Oross and I had to leave to be in the house on time.  But I told Victoria (and Romina, Sophie, & Erna) that I wouldn’t be stopping by tomorrow.  It was sad.  They all cried, but we couldn’t stick around for long.  I cried too.  We came home and I BEGAN packing.  I stayed up and didn’t go to sleep until 4 am. 

Then we got up and went to our district meeting.  After the district meeting, we met as a zone for a while.  Then it was lunch time, so we ate at Hermana Katy’s house.  She was very sweet and gave me about 4 pairs of really warm socks that she knitted herself because, apparently, I was going to need them.

We were supposed to be at the terminal for buses at 4:30 because the bus to Puerto Montt was leaving at 5:00.  I left my suitcases at the church.  We got to the church at 4:00 and called a taxi.  After waiting a while we called 3 more.  They didn’t come! So at 4:25 we decided to RUN to the terminal.  The terminal wasn’t too close. . .at all.  But we ran the entire way with a back pack full of 40 lbs. worth of books, a shoulder bag, my giant coat, and 2 50 lb. suitcases.  It was quite a stressful adventure.  I was just thankful we had run these past two months because there would have been NO WAY we would have been able to do that.  The sidewalks in Valdivia are SUPER cracked and rocky too.  Well, anyway, we made it to the terminal at 4:55!!  5 minutes to buy a ticket and get on the bus.  We found the zone leaders and apologized for being so late.  They looked at us and laughed just because APPARENTLY all the buses were late and we wouldn’t be leaving for another hour.  Hna. Oross and I were drenched in sweat.  The elders said we were the first ones there!  Haha, but I guess it made up for not exercising earlier that morning.

So after cooling off, !CHAU! I went.  Just like that.  Weird.  I traveled, once again, as the only sister missionary in a flock of elders.  This time it was so  much stranger without a companion.  But we all had a jolly time.  There were 9 of us on that bus.  It was neat talking about our different experiences on the mission and also seeing a bit of Chile ROAD-TRIP-STYLE =).  The bus ride was about 3 or 4 hours.  When we got to Puerto Montt, some hermanas picked me up and I stayed at their house for the night.  The next morning I had to take another bus to the airport.  This time it was just Elder Mendoza from Peru and I, because the other missionaries took an earlier bus (the traffic in Puerto Montt in the morning is CRAZY!!  We had to walk a lot of the way before getting to the bus because no taxis were open that early in the morning and Puerto Montt has A LOT of rain so my suitcases got soaked.) Anyway, I flew down to Punta Arenas with Elder Mendoza, E. Fotheringham, E Alder and E. Bliss.  The plane was not very big.  I LOVE seeing Chile from above!!  After arriving, we all crammed on this bus thing with about 40 other people.  I was squished next to a man named Gonsalo.  He was wondering who all these missionaries were and I explained who we were.  When we got to our church, the bus stopped and Gonsalo asked if this was our building.  I said, “Yes! It starts at 10 on Sundays!”  And then I got out.

GUESS WHAT! Gonsalo came to church this Sunday!  But he actually lives pretty far, so he gave us his contact information and we passed him to the missionaries in Austral.  Gonsalo liked church though, and is really interested!  I couldn’t believe he actually came!  I hope he keeps investigating.

So I met my companion.  Hermana Parkinson from Spanish Fork, Utah.  She’s the 2^nd oldest in a family of 6 kids and her youngest sibling just turned 2!  She has been out on the mission for 22 months.  We have only been speaking Spanish these past 5 days, so she’s very dedicated to the language.  I like her.  She reminds me a little of my roommate Mikayla so it’s been fun to get to know her.  I think it will be a good cambio with her.

The people here are GREAT!  I’m really missing my Valdivians, but it’s a neat experience to get to know a whole new batch of awesome people.

Punta Arenas is like another country.  It’s so different than the rest of Chile!  Or at least my birthplace.  They talk different here—their accent, or pronunciation, and also ways of saying things.  For example, quite a few people switch the ch and the sh in words.  Like chicachita is “chicashisha” or they say “osho” instead of ocho and they pronounce hecho like echo or eko! It’s different.  Some people also talk like Argentinian accents.  My companion uses a “J” sound for any word with a “y” or “ll”.  I think the accent here in Punta Arenas is just a mix between the Chilean sound and Argentinian.  But they are right next to Argentina, and actually a lot of them go to Argentina pretty often BECAUSE IT’S A LOT EASIER FOR PUNTA ARENAS PEOPLE TO GO OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY THAN TO TRAVEL IN IT!      Haha.

It’s so funny.  It’s this isolated city in the bottom of the world!  They are all very proud of this place.  It’s sort of the equivalent of Texas in the states.  They have their own flag and everything.  I really like their flag.  It’s called the flag of Magallanes.  Everyone has it everywhere: their mailbox, random stones on a hill, their porch, their couch.  But it’s a pretty cool flag.  They also have their own dance here in Patagonia called Shameme.  From what I could gather about this Patagonian dance is it looks like a mix of the Tango and Merenque, but I didn’t watch very much of it.  They say if I’m here for September 18 (independence day) I’ll see it.