Valdivia -- Week 1

Last week, I was transferred out of Rio Bueno.  It was tough to say good bye to the district, and even tougher to say goodbye to the sector.  The district consisted of only trainers and trainees, and I was privileged to lead four of the best missionaries I have known.  We worked our butts off in the district and in the sector, it was hard to say goodbye after we had poured our heart and soul into that branch.  On Tuesday, we had our last district meeting, and we took the district photo.  Later in the evening, the branch held a farewell party for Sister Ball and I.  Sister Ball and I were leaving four people in the branch that we had prepared to be baptized, and we were not going to be present for their baptism.  It was a wonderful to be able to say goodbye to everyone that we had taught and with whom we had shared such special moments.

Well, Sister Ball flew south to be an sister trainer leader, and I'm a zone leader now.  My companion (Elder Henriquez) and I are responsible for the well-being of 22 missionaries in the city of Valdivia. It's... interesting being zone leader.  We run all the errands that the 22 other missionaries don't have time for.  Passports, mail, numbers, houses, special permissions, lost luggage, bus tickets, and a million other little tiny things which collectively drain our time.  It's like being in the office again.

My whole life I wanted to be a leader, but right now I am honestly a little tired.  District leader became a fun assignment by the end of my four months, and I would say that I had a measurable impact on the mission of the five missionaries in my district, as well as on me.  But how am I supposed to have a measurable impact on 22 individual people, 16 of which I will see only once a month?

We have weekly leadership training for the district leaders in our zone, and train them how to be better district leaders.  I feel a little incompetent training other district leaders, when I was a district leader for only 4 months, and the missionaries in my district were fantastic.

On a little note of the holly jolly spirit, I was transferred to Valdivia right before the Christmas season.  The stake and zone here are big on musical numbers, and they are planning a lot of big Christmas activities, so they are excited to have a violinist.  I don't have any personal money left, but I believe that it was a good choice to buy a violin, because I've been able to share the talent with a lot of people, and it looks like I'll be sharing it with a lot more.  We are going to do a Christmas activity as a zone in the town square, and that should be pretty cool.

Here are photos of the farewell.

The house in Rio Bueno.

A main street in Rio Bueno.

The district:  From left to right.
Top row:  Elder Crotzer (district leader), Elder Warner (trainee),
Bottom row:  Sister Thatcher (trainer), Sister Marinho (trainee),
Sister Ball (trainer), Sister Parkinson (trainee).

The zone.

The farewell.

Alejandra and Carlos.  Alejandra is getting baptized on the 13th.

Paola, Cristian, and Rodolfo.  Fantastic family.

Guillermo and Natalia.
Guillermo is getting baptized on the 13th as well. 

Hernan and Carolina.  They are getting married on the
9th of January,and Hernan is getting baptized on the 10th.

Our recent converts of the last two months, from left to right:
Humberto, Ana, Carolina.  Words cannot describe the
experiences we had with them.  So good.

Love you,
-Elder Crotzer