Another great week! We had the baptism of Eduardo's son, Daniel, which was really neat, and Eduardo is really growing as a member of the church, truly becoming part of the branch.

I also received the news that I'm leaving Alto Hospicio! I've loved teaching and getting to know the people here, but I'm also really excited to get to know more areas of the mission.  The city I'm going to is called Calama. It's a fairly large city, and is the farthest in-land of all the cities in the mission. That means I'll be hours from the ocean, and in the middle of the desert.  Because of that, Calama is really hot during the day, and really cold at night... and literally in the middle of the driest place on Earth.  The world's largest open-pit mine is also in Calama, mining copper. I'm excited to get to know the area and the people, and can't wait to start teaching! It will be six hour bus ride to Calama, but its not too long, considering the size of the mission.

My new companion is Elder Jennings. I haven't met him yet, but I'd assume he's gringo, by his name. We also got news that sister missionaries will be coming to Alto Hospicio, after seven years or so of it being the only zone in the mission without Hermanas. Elder Aparco and his new companion will share the branch with the sisters, and the sisters will have the sector that Elder Francis and I had before. (Since it was four elders in Tarapacá, and then shrunk to 2 when it was just me and Elder Aparco, it will now be four missionaries again, but two will be the hermanas.) They're going to live in the apartment that was previously where the senior missionaries lived, and it's nice! It's super clean, and has a microwave and its own washer, and patio.

I hope everyone had a great week as well, and I'll update you all next week!

-Elder Checketts

Below are some photos I took with the members and investigators here, in Alto Hospicio: