A long week in the office!

Sunday we attended church in the Nunoa 2nd ward.  It was a very big ward.  The bishop is very much into missionary work and is having a ward activity this week where the ward is to bring their friends and family.  We don't think we will be having a Capilla Abierta here because of the missionary activity that is already going on here.  They even have 6 young missionaries out from this ward.  We were surprised to have President and Hermana Brotherson show up as well.  They were asked to speak after they got there so that was great for us.  We have 21 more wards to visit!
     Walking to the office on Saturday morning we passed by a yard where the Bird of Paradise bush was blooming. 

We asked the owner who was watering the lawn if we could take a foto.  She was delighted and told us that the bush is 30 years old.
     Our truck is being serviced this week.  The engine light has come on and won't go off plus we have a couple of lights out and the tires need changed.  We really hate driving in this city but being stuck in the office all week is not fun either.  We have about 8 service calls that we need to do so it makes it even harder to sit around and not get anything done.  The temple is also closed for the next two weeks so we don't even have that to fill our days.  It is going to be a long week!
      It is Friday evening and we finally have the truck back with brand new tires, new lights and new oil!  It really has been a rough week with our wings clipped.  We have helped everyone in the office with whatever we could to keep busy.  Elder Thompson was able to go with Elder Hughes to finalize a new pension at the notary and then met with the realter to get the keys.  We helped get the pouch items ready for the pouch run next week and got a lot of reading done.  It will be great to be able to do some service calls next week. We still have another week without the temple though.
     Since we have no Capilla Abierta scheduled for Saturday, we invited the Wallace's and the Hughes to breakfast.  We served pancakes and scrambled eggs.  Then we all loaded up in the Hughes van and headed out on an adventure.  We have been looking for a belt for Elder Thompson that says Chile on it.  None of the souvenir shops have any belts that actually say "Chile".  We were told to go to where Ave. San Diego crosses with Ave. Victoria and we would find shops that made leather goods.  Not a whole lot of information to go on and no actual address but off we went.  We found about 5 blocks that had stores that sold only leather goods, from shoes to boots to belts to purses and leather rolled up like fabric that you could purchase.  We walked up and down the blocks and finally found a shop that had a belt for Elder Thompson.  We looked for a Leatherman pouch here also as his has lost one of the fasteners and is tied together with a shoe lace.  The man in the shop made him a new one right there on the spot and even repaired the old one

Waiting for the belt to be made smaller and the new pouch to be finished.

It was a beautiful day.

Statue along the sidewalk

As we walked, we saw a lady and her son setting up shop on the sidewalk with a sheet thrown down and were just emptying their wares onto it.  She was from Ecuador and was selling alpaca sweaters, socks, and other items from Ecuador.  She was a member of the church.

Elder Hughes got an amazing shot of the baby on her back and I will add it when I receive it.  She really made a haul with these 6 missionaries. 

We really enjoyed walking and shopping through all the shops here.  Then we went to lunch.

We found a Mexican Restaurant on our way home.  What a fun day with some very special friends here in Santiago.  

We got home about 5 and found out that Boise State beat Florida State this morning.  Wow!! What a great end to a great day!!!

The slow week ended on a high.  We plan on getting some service work done next week and not being in the office much.  We send our love to all.  You are in our thoughts and prayers.  Till next week, chao!