Note from Mom: The mail strike continues in Chile, so please send emails instead of postal letters. Connor has limited computer time, but will print our emails and read them later. Unfortunately, he isn't allowed to respond individually by email, but when the strike is over, he can respond by postal mail, so include your mailing address in your email.  Connor's email address:    connor.christopherson@myldsmail.net 
 

¡Hola familia!

It’s raining pretty hard! :D

I got so many emails today! I haven´t read them, but I will today.

First, I have some items of business, to answer your questions:

1. It is easy to print emails. It takes a tiny part of my emailing time to print each email and costs a little less than a quarter per page. To me, that is worthwhile. I´ll probably just read the short emails or emails with photos (without printing) and print the long emails for later.

2. No, I have not received the package yet. All this month people have told me, "Your letters and your package will probably come next week." But they haven’t.... I know that´s not your fault.

3. Yes, the photos of Tommy did turn out. Thanks :D

4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!! You´re going to be a teacher! In Spanish, the word for teacher is maestro, which means "master." You´re going to be a master, Max :D

I don´t have much more time, so I´ll just say a little about the food in Chile :) Most meals from members, we have chicken, rice, and potatoes. It´s also common to have cream with fruit for dessert. We also have some sort of salad where the primary ingredient is not lettuce, but sliced tomatoes. In Chile, lunch is the big meal of the day, and they don´t really have dinner. Instead they have "once" (pronounced ON-seh). I´m not really sure why it´s called "once," which means eleven... because it´s usually in the evening. Basically, they get bread (which is deliciously fattening in Chile) and they have lots of delicious jams and jellies, creams, and butters to put on the bread. There’s also a drink that´s very popular called mate (MAH-teh) which is where they fill a special mug with herbs and grasses and they pour very hot water in it. Missionaries aren´t allowed to drink it because everyone shares from the same mug and it´s not sanitary (it also takes a very long time to drink), but members drink it a lot.  Peanut butter is rather expensive in Chile, but I usually buy it for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I´ve also come to love Oreos dipped in peanut butter, but that´s very fattening, so I can only do that every once in a while.

Love you all!

-Elder Connor Christopherson