Hola familia! Que Tal? Bueno I made it to Chile safe and sound. 2 nights ago on the plane while we were going to Santiago there were a bunch of high school students who were on the plane and Elder Packard and I first just started talking to them and then they asked us what we do and what we teach and there was this one girl who was very receptive. We taught her and this other guy the first 3 lessons and gave her a book of Mormon and then we prayed with her on the plane. It was an incredible experience. She said she was going to read and was probably going to contact the missionaries in her area. After we landed in Antofagasta we were picked up by President Bruce and some of the assistants. We have this big bus that we use to transport all of the missionaries. Let me just tell ya that this place in next to the moon. Ha-ha this place is crazy. There are dogs, everywhere. Just a billion stray dogs running around everywhere it is nuts. There is graffiti everywhere and just about no plants. But we went to the institute in Antofagasta next to one of the churches and there are gates and all sorts of stuff around it it’s crazy! But anyways once we got there we had an orientation with President Bruce, ate some food and then had a quick 3-4 min interview with President Bruce. After that we waited and waited till all had been interviewed. Along with our group of 11 there are like 6 more natives that met up with us in Santiago. After that we got some American dominos pizza. Probably the last for a while, but it was good. After that we had the exciting scary time of waiting to hear who our trainer would be and where we would be driving. The mission boundaries are insanely huge. President Bruce compared Antofagasta to cedar city. Then having the furthest south area vallenar compared to san Diego, and then comparing Arica to Boise. So basically the distance of our mission boundaries compare to San Diego driving to Boise. If you were called to Arica that is a 12 hour bus ride north. However I have been assigned to serve with Elder Smith. He is from Cottonwood Heights and went to Skyline high school. He went to the University of Utah for a year and seems like a way good kid. He graduated in 2010 and has been here for 1 year. He seems like he will be a great trainer. He seems like he is an obedient missionary and I am so excited to get to work. We are serving in an Area called Iquique. It is 6-7 hours north of Antofagasta and our apartment is like right on the beach. It is a complete hole in the wall ha-ha but its great. Ha-ha its pretty grose but what can ya do. I will clean it up pretty good. Last night we took our bus ride on these double Decker charter buses to get up here. We got here around 2 am I was so tired. It has been insane to get here and to have travelled here. The Spanish here is insane. My trainer tells me I have really good Spanish but it will take me a bit to pick it up here. They mumble crap and speak so fast it is insane. I could pretty much understand anything but a Chilean. But this is crazy. Anyways I got to go but I am safe and doing well! Our preparation day will be on Monday so I will write again then. Have a great week I love you all!

Elder Newman