We went to the office this afternoon to say good-bye to Elder Mendez. He is the oldest missionary that we have serving, 27, and he is from Uruguay. We have really enjoyed serving with him.
The Elders called him grandpa
Monday morning we had a few service calls to do. It is cambio week so we found out that we needed to deliver a mattress to one pension. We will wait to make sure the change is for good before we deliver the frame. We have a couple of more mattresses to deliver next week as the President has changed the apartment for the Zone Leaders and their apartment only has 2 beds. We headed to the temple to get ready for our 6 new missionaries that are arriving tonight. The temple missionaries came down from the 4th floor where they live to the 3rd floor where we will spend the night. They are always so willing to help. They helped to make beds and sandwiches. We didn't get to stay in the President's suit this time. We got to spend the night in twin beds in one of the rooms just like the young missionaries.
Elder Spencer Kimball- Utah, Johnson- Utah, Crossley-Florida, Hale-California, and Hermana's Arosamena-Panama, Gray-California. These 4 young men arrived starving. We were thrilled when they arrived earlier than expected so we got to bed by 11pm. We were a little tired the next day at the temple but it was a great day.
The new missionaries spend the day with President and Hermana Brotherson. They arrive at the mission office about 4 and leave with their new companions at 6 to go to their new homes. We were asked to take 4 of the Elders to their pensions cause they couldn't find anyone in their ward that would come and pick them up. I don't blame them. Six is an awful time to be on the roads. It was a very slow drive to La Florida. Wednesday was a busy day. We had to drive back out to San Jose de Maipo, where we had just been on Saturday. We had to meet the owner of the house and get her approval on the new bathroom and collect her share of the money to pay for it. She was very pleased with the end product as are we.
We then drove to Pirque again, just like on Saturday, to fix a few things in this pension. The following fotos are random shots on the way to Pirque. This is the farming area of Santiago and we just love being in this area.
Hay field
Side raking the hay
If you look close you can see the sticks all in a row. We have no idea what crop it is
Grapes
It was a windy road but fun to be in the vineyards and orchards
The river below, very brown water
Some of the houses were very humble
Some of the neighborhoods were quite fancy
And some of the houses were just very unique
It was just a relaxing drive. We did the service work in Pirque and got a phone call from Gabriela so we headed there next. We had planned to eat at the Casa Bosque in San Jose de Maipo but we were not hungry when we passed by it so we just kept going. We arrived back in Santiago at about 4 and stopped at Little Ceasers for a pizza to take to the office and eat. It ended up being a real long day but we accomplished everything we had planned and more.
Thursday morning we received another call to move more missionaries. We had to pick up 2 sisters in La Reina and took them to Puente Alto where we left one and picked up a different one and brought her back to La Reina with all her luggage. When it is cambio week, we just never make plans cause we never know where we will be needed. We presented our cleaning power point to the new missionaries and their trainers in the afternoon.
Friday morning we had a service call and then Elders Thompson and Hughes went to the notary to sign the papers for our new apartment for our new couple that arrive next week. We hope to get their apartment all set up for them to move into when they get here. Our Friday evening is the post called Riots and fires.
Our Capilla Abierta for Saturday evening has been cancelled due to the violence and the metro being shut down. The missionaries are on lock-down for now also.
We headed to the grocery store with the Hughes. It was interesting to note that the shelves were not well stocked like they usually are. The box boys probably couldn't get to work. We drove to our favorite Chinese Restaurant for an early supper and found out that the mall just down our street was closed and the protesters were very active on the corner.
The police were on the opposite corner but I missed them
As we drove home, we noticed that each and every service station that we passed had cars lined up to fill up with gas. We wonder what they know that we don't? There is no traffic outside our apartment this evening. Everyone seems to be staying home!
So far 156 police officers have been injured, 49 police cars damaged, 41 metro stations vandalized and 308 people arrested. The rate increase for the metro went from about $1.00 to $1.16 or about a 4 % increase. Chile does not produce its own oil and must import its fuel, leading to high prices for petrol, electricity and elevated public transportation costs.
We are safe. All of our young missionaries are safe. We pray that the riots and violence will end soon and the city can return to normal. It will be interesting to see how the coming week unfolds. We are being watched over by angels and guided to be able to accomplish the work we have been sent here to do. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. We send our love. Till next week Chao!
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