Talagante!! Ever heard of it?

Dear family,As you can see from the subject line, I am in Talagante. Now I am sure you are all wondering where it is. Let me explain: Talagante is an itsybitsy little city about 35 kilometers to the west of Santiago. I am outside of Santiago for the first time in my mission!!! So that`s cool. We are not in the city of Santiago or on the coast. We are right in the middle, the part of the mission that is called "El Campo", which means countryside. Our sector is mostly city, but when we are near the boarder we can see these huge green beautiful fields of grapes and other assorted produce. It is so beautiful. Also, another funny story: Elder Mawhinney is in my district! So that`ll be fun. My companion is...........................Elder Butròn from Perù!!!! Hurray! Elder Butròn is amazing. He has about 13 months in the mission (the time I had after I finished my first change with Elder Cannon). He has been a member of the church for two (count em, two) years. He got baptized when he was 23 and one year later he left on his mission. He is honestly one of the hardest working companions I`ve ever had. He started his mission in El Rosal. He got there right before I got special changes out of Rivas Vicuña, so I knew him for about a week, and all my mission I`ve heard great things about him. Also, Talagante is not a stake, it`s a district!!! There are no wards here, they are all branches!!!! So the church is still growing here, and the local leaders have missionary work as one of their top priorities. We also heard from the district presidency that by the end of the year President Jones will send in the papers to make this district a stake. So we need to focus a lot on the branches. More than anything we need priesthood holders. In order to be a ward, a branch needs to have 25 active, worthy, tithe paying priesthood holders. So we will definitely be looking for them, both inactive members to bring back to the church and future priesthood holders that still haven`t been baptized. We definitely have our work cut out for us but I am so excited. I love the Lord and I know this is His church and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve Him. Well there are tons of things I still want to tell you but we have to go because every Monday at 12:30 we play soccer in our chapel with the zone. Have a great week. Love you all, and thanks for the package!!!

Love,

Elder Cloward