Week 54 Antofagasta

March 19, 2016

So honestly, this last week was crazy. We had the conferences in the North of the mission this time and it was awesome. We first went to Iquique and stayed with some Elders that I had met in Vallenar clear back when I started the mission. The following day we went to Alto Hospicio (a small town right above Iquique) and had a conference there. Right after the conference we drove to Arica. I was so excited to go to Arica again. Arica has a special place in my heart. We arrived late at night and had to do some last minute shopping for the conferences and then we stayed with the Elders in Las Acacias. My old sector! We had to park the van at the Las Acacias church and Bishop was there! I got to talk to him a little and that was super cool. We woke up extremely early the following morning and left to prepare for the conference. Everything went well and I carved a watermelon! I think I finally found my true talent! hahaha just kidding. Ill send a picture of how it turned out! Not being in the office stressed me out because I knew I was going to come back with a ton of work to do but everything went well with the conferences. Also, when I was in Arica, I was able to go visit Alan (a 17 year old kid from the Las Acacias ward). He was one of my good buddies when I was serving in Arica. I got to see his family and it was awesome! We also went to go visit a young recent convert named Fernando that we taught in Arica. He was seriously like one of my best friends in that ward. Out of all the perks of being in the office, this is by far the best. The chance to visit old sectors and see people I had met and taught and to see their progress as members or investigators in the church. There is a good chance that those were my last conferences that I will participate in the office. It was seriously like a road trip with a bunch of friends. I have a ton of work to do now and I will be doing a lot of it today even though it is my Pday. Sorry this one is short but I will try to write more next week. Here are a few pics from our road trip in the north of Chile.

Love you guys!

Elder Spanbauer

Here is the Watermelon I carved for Arica!

Elder Hart and I being blown to bits

The Office and the Assistants

"El Gigante de Tarapacá"

So funny story, President told us to stop by this tourist attraction called "The Giant of Tarapacá" and he said it was amazing. We thought we were going to see some awesome sculpture that was made hundreds of years ago but we arrived and saw this.... We laughed sooo hard because it looks like a 5 year old drew a stick figure in the sand! hahaha but all jokes aside it was kind of cool because it is huge.