Meals and missionaries

            As I was scanning old posts looking for inspiration, I realized I have duplicated a few pictures, so sorry about that.  If I have also duplicated subjects, I apologize for that, too.  President was trying to give me suggestions about different aspects of mission life to cover, but I told him I have just about analyzed every single facet of mission life I can think of.  By the time we go home, some of them will have been covered two or three times, so thanks for your patience.

            This is that last week of the transfer when we try to cover a lot of ground before the cambios next week.  On Monday the missionaries are supposed to do a deep cleaning of their house or apartment and have an inspection by either the zone leaders or a coordinadora.  I am certain that your missionary would benefit from any cleaning suggestions you might send them.  Also, on Monday night all the missionaries who are going home come to the mission home for training about being self-sufficient. 

            Since A_____ is still out I will be doing a lot of cooking this week.  I will serve a snack after Monday's training, a light breakfast and then lunch after we go to the temple on Tuesday, again with those going home.  Wednesday we will do our last session of family history training in Santa Cruz; thank goodness I already have the cookies in the freezer. 

            Thursday is mission leadership meeting, which includes breakfast and lunch, and I am making our lives a little easier by serving pizza; always a hit with the missionaries.  Friday we are meeting with all the new missionaries and their trainers from this transfer, which again requires breakfast and lunch.  I have figured that with all the activities of the week, we will be serving around 230 individual meals, not including Wednesday’s cookies.  Thankfully, the senior couples are always a huge help.

            The missionaries are always very appreciative of the food they receive no matter what it is.  A couple of sisters told me today about the times they have had pig feet and chicken feet for almuerzo.  It is one reason why we try to have a delicious, nutritious, and slightly less adventurous meal whenever we feed missionaries.  See you next week.

One missionary in each zone is training the others about
Family History.  It is going well.

The missionaries are fascinated to see each other's family
trees in Family Search

Seminar in Uruguay

            The subject of this post will be a little different since we were at the mission president’s seminar in Uruguay.  I hope you will enjoy a short report on our experience.  It does affect the missionaries because we come back ready to share what we learned at the seminar, and also with ideas to improve both our service and that of the missionaries.

            The seminar is held twice a year as I’ve said before; last year in October we went to Iguazu Falls in Argentina.  This year we went to Punta del Este, Uruguay, a beautiful coastal resort town on the Atlantic.  One of the major benefits of the seminar is the chance we have to be with other presidents and wives.  We exchange experiences, laugh together and enjoy being with friends we don’t see often but who are “in the same boat” as we are.

            The purpose of the seminar is for the area presidency to present information we need to improve ourselves and our missions.  They help keep us firmly on the right track and let us know of their concerns about how the South America South area is doing.  They teach us how to be better missionaries because like our young missionaries our focus is inviting people to come to Christ and be baptized.

            After, laughing together, eating delicious food, learning how to improve and feeling the spirit testify of the truth of what we are doing we have come home renewed and ready to work harder here in our part of the Lord’s vineyard.

            I hope you'll enjoy some of our photos from the seminar and next week I promise to have pictures of missionaries!

The wind blew fiercely much of the time.
We enjoyed a tour of the city--that is why we are casually dressed.

Punta del Este is a peninsula with the River Plata on one side
and the Atlantic on the other.

Our hotel--we were on the 15th floor so we had a great view.

A sculpture of five fingers coming out of the sand.  And the wind, again!

An amazing sunset and back to work after a great seminar

Focus on Family Search

            We really enjoyed conference last week and we are really grateful for the technology that allowed us to listen and watch each session as it was broadcast.  The priesthood session did not start until 9:00 with the three hour time difference; President went to San Fernando to be with the missionaries and members there so he didn’t get home until 12:00 a.m.  He said it was worth it to be there and they were thrilled to see him.

            We have been counseled that our focus should be not just on baptism but baptism as a necessary step toward the temple.  We presented this concept in our mission leadership council for September, so every missionary then heard about it in their district meeting last week. 

            Since October is our month for specialized training, President decided we would meet with each zone and have a presentation by a missionary about how to create an account in Family Search and some basic information about adding or finding names.  Then each person had a short time to find their account and make sure they could access it.  They also have an extra hour in the cyber this week to work in their account.  Of course, we have a wide range from families with most of the work done to new converts who have their name and little more.  The point is that they will be able to share this concept with their recent converts and recently activated members.  Even investigators can create an account and start working on their family history.  We are hoping to see an increase in temple attendance by the members in our mission, even for baptisms which can be done as a family with the older children.

            We met with four of the eleven zones this week and really enjoyed each meeting.  I hope the missionaries enjoyed it as well.   We rewarded them with cookies as they left, which they are always happy to receive.  We are always happy when we can be with the missionaries, so we had a great week.  I hope you did also. 

Missionaries accessing family search in the mission office

This elder is explaining family search to one of the Tupahue zones

It's a picture week!

            I’m assuming that most of you who are reading this post have been enjoying the conference this weekend.  It has been inspiring and uplifting and also a call to improve and do better.  Rather than try and cram an additional message into the mix, I am going to just send pictures for you to enjoy.  But please remember—we love our missionaries and we are so grateful for this time to serve with and be with them.

Earthquake report

            I’m sure all of you heard about the earthquake here in Chile; it was pretty big news because of the strength.  President sent out an email to parents as soon as we knew all of our missionaries were safe and accounted for.  It was definitely the strongest we have felt in over two years of living in Chile.  President was in Buin—45 minutes north, doing an interview and I was at home working on the last batch of flags we gave out during interviews.  

A________ always tells me that the mission home is one of the safest anywhere because of the concrete construction.  We always joke that it’s great for earthquake safety but terrible for internet purposes.  However, I have to admit I was very nervous when the walls and floors started shaking.  A senior couple, who live on the 11^th floor of an apartment building, felt their building swaying back and forth—very unsettling.  President Warne stood in a doorway, which was quick thinking, and headed for home right after it ended.

            We have two towns right on the coast, Pichilemu and Constitución, so when the tsunami warning and accompanying evacuation order went out, we were very concerned about those missionaries and their safety.  Unfortunately, our service provider had a break in service for a couple of hours.  Fortunately, all of the missionaries did exactly what they were supposed to and headed for their apartments no matter where they were; their apartments are all safely away from the tsunami danger zone.

            That area of Chile has had many aftershocks, even one last Friday night, and we are praying that no further damage is being done and the people there have started recovering.  We are grateful that Chile as a whole is as prepared as possible for these strong quakes, and also hopeful that this one will be the strongest we face.  We are happy to have the technology that allowed us to make sure the missionaries were ok and then let parents know.  We were also able to send word to the Missionary Department when we had accounted for everyone.  It is a good opportunity for us to review our emergency plan and encourage the missionaries (again) to make sure their emergency backpacks are ready.  

After district conference

Big smiles from great sister missionaries

three secretaries, one in charge, one leaving
and one new.

I just have to include a picture of our new
missionaries--18, Yea!

18 news means 18 talented trainers--great missionaries, all.

Las fiestas patrias

            Last week was September 18 or the day of Independence for Chile.  They refer to it as dieciocho (18) or las fiestas patras.  I’d like to describe our experience and hopefully you can picture your missionary taking part in a similar celebration.

            This was our third and last time to be here on independence day so we had a hard time deciding where to go since nearly every ward or branch has an activity.  A sister we had seen the week before invited to the Peralillo branch activity so we went there.

            It is a small village surrounded by vineyards, with one of the most attractive plazas we have seen in Chile.  We arrived at 2:30 p.m. because we began the day with a trip to Santiago for a hospital visit—a young boy we know, not a missionary.  The members had already been there for awhile starting the fire, etc.  We visited until the meal was ready.  It is called parillada or grill and we ate steak, pork, and chicken with various salads and pebre (pebrā) which is just like fresh salsa without chiles.

          After the lunch we visited more, several danced the cueca (kwākâ), the national dance of Chile.  After a couple of hours all the sisters disappeared back into the church to start preparing the next meal!  At six we ate fresh empanadas—they made sure that President ate the one I made.  Let’s just say I need more practice at that plus various breads, a fresh cheese, sopaipillas, and a cheesecake.  To say we were full is a definite understatement.

        We only have one set of elders in Peralillo but they were great to participate and even brought in a few investigators.  About 35 people were there at various times, and it was definitely an all day affair.  We left at 7:15 and everyone else was still going strong.  It was a real honor for us to be there and they were so gracious to include us in everything, as you’ll be able to see from the pictures;).

        It was a great day and we hope all the missionaries had an equally pleasant time.  It’s a great chance for them to interact with members and investigators in a more casual yet still productive way. 

 

egg race--good thing they were hard-boiled

the second meal

making empanadas

four missionaries and the branch president

mother and son dancing the cueca

the traditional cueca dress and the wonderful
sisters of the Peralillo branch

Testimony and peace

     Today I would like to share with you a testimony building experience that I had on Thursday.  We are in the midst of zone conferences but because of the holiday this week--dieciocho or the Chilean Independence Day we decided to have new missionary training a week early.  You probably remember this is the meeting when we bring back all the new missionaries and their trainers from the last transfer for additional teaching.  We hope they have been in the mission long enough to realize that additional help is a good idea.  Plus they are excited about seeing friends from the MTC and having a nice lunch.

     Anyway, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself since Thursday was the day for a nephew's wedding back in Utah and I knew almost all of my family would be together.  Sometimes 6,000 miles seems extremely far from home.  That morning I prayed for assistance with getting through the day with a good attitude.  During one part of the training we divide into groups for a practice about how to begin teaching an investigator.  In my role as the investigator, as I was listening to my group teach of the blessings to be found in the gospel, I had a very strong witness that I was in the right place and felt a real peace about being here in Chile and with the missionaries.

     I am so grateful for that blessing and witness.  I am grateful for the growth I have experienced in our mission.  As I say often, it is a privilege to know and serve with these young missionaries, representatives of Jesus Christ.  Our time with them is short but life changing for us and hopefully for them as well.  I know that we are doing the Lord's work as we serve here in Chile along with many thousands of others worldwide. The example set for me by the missionaries always gives me a goal towards which to strive; I hope to be like them in their ability to feel the Spirit, to find and teach and baptize.  I am grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven, and I share these thoughts with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Yep, it is time for zone conference lunches again.  They are
pretty happy with the menu this time.  Salisbury steak, mashed
potatoes, fruit, bread and blueberry zucchini cake.

Good food and good sisters is a great combination

I can't resist these group shots.  The missionaries love trying to
keep their eyes open all at the same time!

We always like to have a special musical number and these two
sounded lovely doing the verses in English and Spanish.

This is the group for new training.  We are so happy with how
far they have come in a short time.  It is hard to believe that
the next group arrives next week.