Elder Pierce McMullan : Cerro de Dragon! It's so worth the climb!

It was great hearing from Pierce today as usual! He doesn't mention coming home (IN 22 DAYS!) There seems to be a sense of urgency though with the people he's teaching!

Here are a few excepts from today's email:

"We have some people progressing really well. Doris is coming back from Santiago this week and called and was like "when can I get baptized?” RIGHT NOW, was basically my response. She'll be getting baptized on Saturday, which will be cool."

"We have another person who can and will possibly be baptized the following week, and a possible wedding/baptism the last week. So we shall see what happens! Fingers crossed that the people will make the small changes that they need to."

"Today (like with all my companions) I dragged Elder Santos to go do something crazy, but it HAD to be done! We climbed the Cerro de Dragon! Google it, it’s like a mountain of sand. PURE SAND. It was really a work out at times. At some point, I just wanted to go back down but then it was like, "well I can see the highest point, and if I don’t go now I’ll never come back.. (Probably) I know I can reach it, it’s in plain sight." I think it’s very similar with people, work, school or even getting to the Celestial kingdom. It looks hard sometimes, but it’s there, it’s possible! All you have to do is stay on course…., and boom, LISTO. So many people quit on the way because they’re tired, or it’s too hard. But it’s still possible! It’s sad seeing people give up, or seeing them breaking commandments because it’s easier than obeying them in some moments. We all just need to confide in God and then "every little thing, it’s gonna be alright" -Bob Marley...."

" Anyways, yea it was a good week. We met a lot of people with strange views about God. Some things I’ve never heard before like "I believe in Mary, Jesus and the Sun." So I asked "the sun?" "The sun sent Jesus to the Earth through Mary, the sun is better than Jesus" "ok...?"

"We had a REALLY weird day the other day after Chile destroyed Bolivia 5.-0. The people were still celebrating the next day, and any and every random crazy person came to us and started talking. This one guy had a sword made of swordfish noses and was waving it around at us. Didn’t really get it, but kind of a cool thing...? Things like that should come with the 32 piece Tupperware set. *cough* reference to Napoleon Dynamite *cough*"

*Info about "Cerro de Dragon"*

Cerro Dragon or The Dragon Hill is an enormous sand dune about 4 km long, located near the coast in the city of Iquique in Chile. Varying in height from 150 to 500 meters, it is the largest urban sand dune in the world; only the dunes of the Sahara are higher. The dune is situated on narrow rocky ledge above a cliff 500 feet high that forms a natural barrier to the sea. It is believed that the Dragon Hill was formed 20,000 years ago during the last ice age when the sea was out by a further 100 meters, exposing the shoreline to erosion and deposition by wind. Today, the dunes represents one of the most characteristic landscapes of Iquique, and is visible from throughout the city.