Conference season

            Once again, we have entered conference season.  Since we have four stakes and three districts, it means we have seven Sundays in about a two month period to attend a stake or district conference. 

            President attends the Saturday priesthood meeting, and then we go to the adult meeting Saturday night and the conference on Sunday morning.  He usually speaks at all three meetings while I only spoke occasionally.  I am trying to do better this time by speaking at every one, if they have time for me.  I have always felt challenged by speaking in church and sitting on the stand has never been a favorite activity—just one more area of many where I’ve had an opportunity to grow and change during this mission.

            It is a good experience to see the members in each unit gather for these meetings and also a thrill to see missionaries assigned to that area.  Now the elders attend the priesthood session and all missionaries come to the Saturday night meeting with or without an investigator.  Sometimes, when we are in a small branch with 20 people or less, it can be hard to remember the strength of the church here in Chile, but when I see the building full back to the cultural hall stage and hear the hymns, I am amazed and encouraged.

            In this weekend’s conference, all the speakers were excellent.  President
Warne even spoke last night in the adult meeting without prior notice.  Fortunately he had brought his ipad with his current talks on it, and did a great job without anyone noticing. 

            I realize I haven’t said much about missionaries in this post, but of course they form our central purpose.  This week President had interviews, we attended district meeting, we heard about illnesses and other health issues, and received many phone calls with questions on many different subjects.  I’m happy to report we have a wonderful, hard-working group of missionaries and we are doing our best to keep up with them.

            I am so sorry for only once picture this week.  I promise to do better next Sunday.

Hard working assistants and president after our weekly Sunday meeting.

Dos actividades

     Welcome back to another blog post from Chile, and thanks for supporting us.  First, I would like to describe the funeral we attended on Wednesday.  This man was a branch president with a wife and two sons.  He had cancer for a long time.  President Warne visited with him several times, including the day before and was with him at the end accompanying family members.  There is no embalming in Chile so the funeral must take place no sooner than 24 hours later and no later than 48. 

     It was amazing how quickly everyone gathered to make it happen.  Talks were assigned, people were notified, and chairs and canopies set up—the chapel in that town is very small so the funeral was held outside, plus it was hot.  All the missionaries of the zone formed a choir and did a beautiful job.  They also helped with set up and take down.  The missionaries assigned to that branch will continue to support and help the members wherever they can.  Finally, it was a great opportunity for the people who attended to hear the plan of salvation as it was powerfully presented.  Hopefully, some of them will be motivated to seek out the missionaries and learn more.

      Thursday and Friday we were in Santiago for the semiannual mission president’s seminar.  You may remember that I wrote about our trip last October to Iguazu Falls in Brazil.  The meeting last week was about reaffirming our purpose and refilling our cup, so to speak.  We always enjoy the chance to stay at the Mariott in Santiago!  The area presidency taught on Thursday, and part of Friday, then Elder Soares of the presidency of the Seventy gave a final message.  Sometimes, we tend to get a little bogged down in the minutiae of the mission, and it was inspiring to hear again about our noble purpose and suggestions for improvement in our calling.

     We also enjoyed very much seeing the other presidents and their wives, most of whom we only get to see at these meetings.  We all enjoy telling and hearing mission stories since we have a lot in common.  On Thursday morning, the outgoing presidents and wives bore touching testimonies.  It is a little scary to think that next year we will be in that same position.  We need to lengthen our stride and try to accomplish more even as the time goes by ever more rapidly.

we haven't done an airport picture lately, right?

Two of our wonderful sisters

At the seminar on Friday

Missionary meetings

            The Spanish language has some great superlatives.  The one I like for today is buenissimo! As in—last week in the Chile Rancagua mission was buenissimo (very good, excellent).

            On Monday we said god-bye with thanks and good luck to eleven wonderful missionaries whom we will miss.  We always enjoy with them the lunch of fajitas and then the testimony meeting which is the highlight of the day.   But they were ready to return home, serve in their respective home areas and begin or resume schooling, work and (eventually) their own families.

            Tuesday day we welcomed 10 new missionaries.  They are always glad to finally be in the field, excited to meet their companion and a little nervous about beginning the work for which they have planned and worked toward for so long.  As I have mentioned before, we do a little processing, do some training and orientation, serve a good lunch (hamburgers and cheesecake this time) and send them off.  They will drop off their suitcases, buy groceries, visit the cyber or internet café to send a short message letting parents know of their safe arrival, then finally start working in their areas and preaching the gospel.

            Friday we had the monthly mission leadership conference or consejo.  We had four new zone leaders and four new coordinadoras or sister training leaders, which shows the kind of turnover we experience.  Between now and August, 16 of the 22 zone leaders will leave as will ten or so of the 13 coordinadoras.  You can see why we constantly teach and train, sometimes using concepts we taught only a few months ago.

            The activities I’ve described are the reasons I said the week was so good.  We got to interact with missionaries, get to know them better, and we realize every day that as President Warne likes to say:  every day in the mission field is buenissimo!

Hard-working office missionaries--two are going out and two coming in

New missionaries --we are always so glad to see them!

New zone leaders

New coordinadoras

Weekly summary

     Every week I try to think of a subject for this blog that will be about something interesting in the mission, yet also uplifting.  Hopefully, I achieve that goal more often than not.  Unfortunately, by this time I have covered many of the activities we have so it is getting harder.
     As we have just finished interviews, I finally remembered to take a few pictures.  The elder on the right told me his mom would be very happy to see his picture and I'm happy to include it.  Overall, I was very happy with the progress of the missionaries who are learning English.  Many of them are working hard toward their goal of speaking fluently by the end of their mission.  We also hope that the  English speaking missionaries will keep working on learning Spanish throughout their mission.  I have realized that I will need to keep studying as long as I am in Chile and even after.
     On Friday of last week, we held what we call "news training". Basically we bring all the new missionaries and their trainers back for another meeting after five weeks and tell them again many of the same things we told them the first day, since we figure they were too excited or too tired to take it all in.  It is also a good experience for us to see how they have grown in confidence as missionaries and with the language.  They have a chance to reconnect with friends from the MTC, ask questions during a session with us away from their trainers and do a practice that shows us their progress in Spanish and in teaching.  President always tells them they are almost done being the newest missionaries since the new ones come this Tuesday.
     What I have come to realize and the new missionaries begin to see is that the time of a mission passes very rapidly.  Each transfer period seems to pass by ever faster and I realize I must work harder to learn to be more effective and more worthy of the Savior's blessings.  In the beginning of a mission, the time seems to stretch out, but that feeling doesn't last long.
     Tonight we are giving talks at the Santiago MTC, which we do every three months.  We like seeing the missionaries who will be coming to us on Tuesday.  When I stand at the pulpit and look down into the faces of these amazing young people, I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve.  They are truly representatives of Jesus Christ and I look up to them, try to help them as they serve, and learn from them.  
     If this post seems a little disjointed, sorry about that, but hope you enjoyed it anyway.  Until next week...

The assistants always teach a class during interviews

I included this photo because this is such a common sight in our mission.

Hi, Mom!

Missionary work in Machalí

            Last week it was time to renew our focus on missionary work after our daughter left so we did interviews in San Fernando on Thursday, then on Friday night we went out with the sister missionaries.  We had a lesson with an investigator and her husband, and then the next lesson fell through so we went to visit an inactive family.  We had a very pleasant visit with the couple; they have four children and we enjoyed meeting the children and visiting.  Before we left we had a prayer and took a family picture.

            Today we spoke in the Machalí ward which happens to be the home ward of that family.  The sister missionaries and we were excited to see them come today.  President Warne had printed and framed the picture for them, and they were thrilled to receive it.  President reminded me that nothing happens by chance in the Lord’s work and this is a clear example.  The members of the ward were very friendly with them and we hope that they will continue to come back to full activity. 

           To us this is missionary work as it should be—missionaries working hard to find, teach and baptize, but also retain new converts and help inactives to remember the joy they felt when they were baptized and to find their way back.  We have many challenges here in Chile, and in our short three years here we will not see the end of the work that needs to be done.  But we can find joy in the progress we are making and pray for the Lord’s help to do better.  To those of you who are parents of missionaries serving here in Rancagua, thank you for sending your son or daughter to serve.  I would like to challenge everyone who reads this post to do something this week to advance the missionary effort where you are.  Blessings will come to you and you will bless the lives of those you help.

Great family from Machalí

Sorry for only two pictures today.  I promise to do better next week. 

Couple on the far right came back to visit so
all the couples came for dinner-great fun!

Missionaries are the best

            We’ve had a great week with our daughter visiting.  We continued with mission responsibilities, and also did a little touring.  Her visit seems to have gone at light speed, but it has been wonderful.

            Monday night all the missionaries who are leaving in February and April (we don’t have a transfer in March), came to the mission home for a class about self-sufficiency.  The church is working hard to help missionaries adjust to their post-mission lives and developed this training to help them make good decisions about school, jobs and life in general.  Hopefully their time as a full-time missionary has prepared them to stay faithful and active in the church, and this training, although brief, will also help keep them on the right track.

            On Tuesday we went to the temple with those leaving in February.  As always it was an amazing experience to be in the temple with our missionaries; an unexpected blessing of being on a mission.  As I told the missionaries this week in my message on our web page, whenever someone asks me what surprised me about serving a mission or what is my favorite part of being here, my heartfelt response is about how much I love the missionaries.  As I watch their examples of hard work, spiritual growth, and I’m able to be with them, my testimony is strengthened and I am changed for the better. 

            Saturday we went to a baptism which we always enjoy, even though it was very hot inside and out.  A returned sister missionary from here in Chile also attended since she had helped teach the new sister as an investigator.  We don’t often see our returned missionaries since they usually live far away, so it was great to visit with her and hear about her adjustment to regular life.  So far she is still keeping the missionary schedule!

 Each baptism we attend is a great reminder of why we are here and what our focus needs to be.  If you have the chance to help missionaries wherever you are, I hope you will take the opportunity to assist them, learn to know them a little better and increase your own testimony as well.

             

Pizza, watermelon and popsicles--great summer meal!

Dining alfresco at one of our favorite places

 

Yes, another group shot at the temple

A few of the wonderful missionaries I am talking about
at mission leadership council

Youth at Casa Blanca

            It has been another great, although hot week here in Chile.  I know my memory is faulty but I do not remember this kind of heat last year.  When the sun is blazing still at 6:00 p.m. I feel for the missionaries and hope they are surviving.  Very few homes have cooling systems so inside and outside are pretty much the same temperature.

            We had a great experience last Tuesday when we went to the EFY for the youth in our mission.  It was held at a camp owned by the church called Casa Blanca located about halfway to Viña del Mar; about 300 attended, including the counselors.  We were in the first part of the camp but a brother told us there are eleven more sections—it is gigantic.  The youth slept in big tents, with two bathroom buildings.  Also there is a pavilion area for meeting together and another with tables for meal time.

            President had been asked to do a presentation on missionary work—of course—as part of a rotation including three stake presidents and the Santiago temple president, an amazing group.  I served as support—cheering silently from the side.  He did a great job of having some stand as investigators and offer questions that a missionary might be asked by an investigator. He also asked them questions to bring out information they need to know when they consider serving; for example, who decides where you will serve, who will clean and cook for you, etc.

            We were impressed by their answers and ability to find answers in the scriptures.  It is clear that these wonderful young people are the future of the church here in Chile and seeing them together learning and participating in gospel discussions was amazing.  We are grateful to see them and play a small role in helping them along their road to becoming leaders, teachers and great members of the Church wherever they are.

Meeting in the main pavilion

tents set up for sleeping

Dining pavilion