Our beautiful Sunday was interrupted by the dreaded phone call - our keys are locked in our apartment - NOOOO! Of course it is 9pm and the truck is at the office. We have the Hermanas catch the bus and meet us at the office. It takes us about 40 minutes to walk to the office. We took them back to their apartment to make sure that our keys will work. We were not sure that we had the front gate key to their apartment complex. We were blessed and the keys worked and we got them delivered and got home at 11pm. Thankfully we have not had any repeats but we know this won't be the last time this happens.
Monday we did some paperwork in the office and then met with our contractor at a new apartment to show him the things that we needed fixed before we move the Hermana's in. We have found an apartment in the right area to be able to split up 4 Hermana's. This is the 11th new, it is not new but different, apartment that we have found since we arrived, one for each month we have been here. The President would still like us to find one in Gabriela and one in Cordillera to split up the foursomes but those areas are very poor and there is just not much to choose from. But we are confident that when the Lord is ready to split up these Elders, we will find a pension.
Flowers are blooming everywhere
On Wednesday we did some service calls and just got back to the office, fighting very ugly traffic, when we got that dreaded call - again! The Elders were locked out of their apartment. Because it was 4pm, we had them catch a bus and come to the office. They can travel faster on the bus than we can drive out to them. We gave them the extra keys and saved our sanity and nerves. The President has asked us to find a new apartment for the Senior Couple who are coming to replace the Hughes. In fact, he would like us to find 2 close to the office so the Senior couples serving here could walk to and from the office if needed. Right now it takes about 40 minutes to walk to the office from our apartment. The Hughes live here as well. The office has a grocery store, restaurants, and the church within walking distance so an apartment close would be a smart move for future Senior Missionaries, especially if the mission doesn't have the cars. So we took a walk on Thursday afternoon around the neighborhood of the office. We tried to stay within a 5 to 10 minute walk from the office. We went into at least 20 apartment complexes to ask if they had anything for rent. We left our number with 2 of them that said they thought that there was one for rent but all the rest of them were filled. This would be a great place to own a rental, it would never be empty. We were ready to call it a day when Elder Thompson thought we should go to one more that was just across the street from where we thought our limit should be. And there it was, FOR RENT! Now we are just waiting to see if the owner and the church can settle on a contract! We don't know at this point if we will be moving into it or if the Potters will. When the Hughes leave in November one couple will move into their apartment (if we haven't found another one close to the office) and we will let our apartment go back. The other apartments are in much better shape than ours and they have 2 bathrooms.
No, Elder Thompson is not being asked to walk a straight line or being arrested
As we were walking to the office, these 3 policemen were crossing the street on their bikes. I wanted to get a photo of them on the bikes, but when I asked for a photo, they got off the bikes and posed. The bikes are behind them. I thought Tracy would be interesting in the kind of bike that they use. The one talking to Elder Thompson was the only one that knew any English and he was enjoying practicing his English, which was not very good. I got photos of another group on another day.
The Hughes are the hosts for a Pathways group each Thursday evening. These 10 students have to speak English and are studying to pass the test to get into BYU Idaho. Most of them will take online classes but a few of them hope to go to the States to study. They are doing math this quarter. We went with the Hughes to observe the class and learn more about the program. One of the students is the teacher each week, taking turns so everyone gets to do it. These 10 are all ages and from all over Santiago and they are so loving and helpful and encouraging one to another. It was amazing to watch them. They were working on fractions - we were totally lost. It's been a very long time since we have done anything with fractions.
Friday evening and we headed out to have dinner with the Hughes. I have been looking for a new restaurant to try for a while. I have spotted this white with green strips building that said Marco Polo and I thought it looked like a fun place to eat. I have been planning on this for about 2 months. It is on a side street and we never went in front of it, only saw it from the side. On the internet there was a Marco Polo restaurant in another part of town so I just figured this was one of the same chain. So we headed down Cristobal Colon in the heavy traffic to check out this "restaurant". It is on a one way street so we had to go around the block to get in front of it in bumper to bumper evening traffic. Bless Elder Hughes heart. He drove without complaining and we arrived in front of our "restaurant"
Which ended up being a DAY CARE! Elder Hughes figured that the tables and chairs would be a bit small for us!
So we went back up Cristobal Colon and pulled into the Olivo &Limon Restaurant. We had never been here before, but the chairs were big enough for us. Ha! It was Peruvian food. We really enjoyed it. Just goes to show that things are not always what we think they are.
Saturday morning we met the Hughes and the Lawson's at the office. The Lawsons are the senior missionary couple from the North mission. We went to Portillo with them months ago. We were heading out to San Jose de Maipo to check on the new bathroom we are having installed in our pension there. We have 4 missionaries serving here, 2 of them serve in the branch presidency. They live in a 6 bedroom, 1 bath home. We are having one of the bedrooms converted into a bathroom. The Lawsons have never been to this part of Santiago so they came with us. We stopped at the same restaurant/woodworking shop where we bought our duendes. The Hughes are buying a grandma and grandpa for themselves.
The flowers are beautiful along the road
This is the La Florida area
The parks along the roads are so clean and well kept
The wiring is so interesting - not sure if it meets code or not
This is the restaurant/woodworking/antique shop where we bought our duendes
The outside seating. The tables and chairs are so unique
They were just getting the big ovens heated to cook in
Sitting in the log seating
Hermanas Thompson, Lawson y Hughes
The big double oven
The owner on the right and the cooks
A log planter
The Hughes picked up their duendes and we were off again. Next stop, the missionaries pension in San Jose de Maipo
The new bathroom is coming along nicely. It should be finished Monday.
We walked around their feria - oh no- not the dreaded phone call again! Sure enough! Saturday evening at 9:10 and the Hermanas have locked their keys inside their apartment. This is the third time this week and we know that it is time for a change. We are the ones paying the consequences for the irresponsibility of the missionaries. We sent the President a message and asked him to inform the missionaries in the weekly newsletter that from now on, if you lock your keys in your apartment at night, you will have to spend the night at the apartment of your Zone Leader or District Leader and then make arrangements to get the spare keys from us the next day. This way the missionaries have to pay the consequences and not us. We didn't get back home till 11pm. In each companionship, each missionary has a set of keys. That's 2 keys being locked inside. Totally irresponsible!
The feria had a few treasures for the Hughes. They have been getting gifts for all their children and grandchildren and lacked a few things. They were thrilled to find the wood snakes for the little boys.
We headed back to town and stopped at the Casa Bosque Restaurant.
What a fun looking building. It was started in 1998 and completed in 2000. The foundation and walls were made from over 8,600 old recycled tires. The wood is all from cypress trees.
The grill (notice the duende)
The view of the ceiling from our table (duendes keeping watch all over the place)
The ceiling in the entry way
The stairway
Loved the duendes and the woodwork
The upstairs walkway
NO we're not duendes, just missionaries Los Thompson, Los Lawson (from Meridian, ID) and Los Hughes.
along the way. They must have been heading to some show somewhere
Beautiful horses.
We headed back to the city. It was a fun day, until that dreaded phone call. The Hughes leave on November 21st and the Lawsons will leave in December. Time just marches on.
Well, that is enough rambling for this week. It has been a busy one with a few diversions to entertain us. We pray that you have had a wonderful week. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. We are being watched over by angels and are accomplishing the work that we have been sent here to do. Our Father in Heaven is blessing our families in our absence. We pray that they will feel his presence in the miracles and tender mercies that they are being blessed with. Have a great week. Chao!
No comments:
Post a Comment