WEEK 16 IN REVIEW

Monday 1/6

Good times with the Saavedra fam!  Saw Camila finally. :)  Tacos for lunch, went to the mall, LOTS of questions about the USA.  I'm so tired and my lungs hurt bad... :(


Tuesday 1/7

Lots of thinking and reflecting.  Being in this, my last, sector is bitter sweet.  I worked SO HARD here and saw so few results... This is where I ended the mission.  Today I walked the streets where I used to knock doors and apartment buildings.  Brought back SO MANY MEMORIES, good and difficult ones.


Wednesday 1/8

We went to Tome Beach!  With Camila, her mom, and her grandma.


Thursday 1/9

Today I just took time to chill... the past few days have been go-go-go and I needed a break!  I caught up on uploading my videos to youtube.  I can't believe I only have 5 more days in Chile...

I found Orieta on facebook!  Well actually Camila found her for me... but I'm meeting her at the mall where she works, tomorrow at 1:00.

I just wish I could see Lucho...  That would make this part of my trip perfect -- it's the only thing lacking.


Friday 1/10

On this trip, every day is Friday!  Except Sunday, church.

I had lunch with Orieta at the mall. :)  It was good to see her.


Satuday 1/11

I'm just walking through Concepcion with Mannuel and I was telling him my thoughts about this trip... and I have to write!

Basically, it keeps hitting me that the world is the same everywhere -- not much changes from country to country.  Everyone's looking for happiness and they all think it's somewhere else, or just beyond their reach (money), or they hope that everyone watching them thinks they've found it!  But... I think, right now, that true happiness is found wherever you are -- doing your daily things that bring happiness:  exercise, reading, good conversation, appropriate food, work, recreation, etc. (This reminds me of the Family Proclamation.)

I thought that ''travel'' would bring me happiness, and it REALLY has, but not in the way I thought!  I thought that seeing people and places and landscapes and things would ''fill me up'', but what has really been valuable is seeing that everything is the same everywhere, and that happiness is here, not there.  ''Here'' is always present, just like ''now''... ''there'' and ''then'' never are.

I used to want to save the world, but now that I've been out in the world, I only want to ''save'' (or rather, ''help''), my neighbor -- the person next to me, the person who crosses my path.  Because people ''here'' are no better nor worse off than they are ''there''.

I used to feel guilty that I was so privileged to be born in the US, with opportunity galore, but now I see that everyone was born on this earth privileged with something: a united family, money, work ethic, talents, etc.  If someone lacks money, for example, maybe their family is super united.  Others who have political and religious freedom might have rebellious children.  I dunno.  What I mean is that we all have gifts, and talents, and opportunities based on where we live, and we can use all of those to strive for a fulfilling life--whatever that means to the individual.

To me, a fulfilling life is being with people, and helping others, and developing myself for my own good.  I want to use my time on earth to become the most I can -- fit, social, friendly, balanced, hard-working, intelligent, open-minded, ever-learning, connected with God, healthy, kind, loving, and outward-reaching.  That's what I want.  And I want to find people in my life who have similar goals/ideals so that we can help each other grow and progress like we want.

So basically... everyone's given the same amount of privilege, in different ways/areas, and we all need to gain stuff from experience with other people.  And we can all seek for what we want, and that's fine!  Travel, nice things, health, education, etc.  None of that is bad!  And it helps us grow in the process, in other areas, while we're seeking the things we most want.  I think.

(Later) We watched a Chilean movie at the theatre ($5 each, promo) and that's about it!


Sunday 1/12

Church was good.  Not a whole lot goes on on Sundays...  I've got 2 full days left!!!! Nervous for Brazil!