On the way home we passed a bicycle protest in progress.
The tourist industry is starting to be affected greatly. They figure at this time, the peak tourist season, they are 50% behind last year. As the protests continue, people are canceling their trips and no new reservations are being made. Plus the two big government conferences have been canceled in November and December, the APEC trade summit and the COP25 climate change meeting. This will hurt the economy even more.
Elder Thompson, Elder Hughes, and Elder Potter went to the notary office on Monday and we now have the keys to our new apartment. We scheduled Hermano Zenteno for Tuesday morning to move everything from our old apartment to the new one. I was very disappointed that the apartment was not cleaned, things were just taken out of cupboards and nothing was wiped down. We will have work to do as we get moved in. We came home and packed all evening. We got up at 5:30 on Tuesday morning to finish getting everything ready for Hermano Zenteno and caught a bus to the office. The traffic was so bad on Monday evening that we didn't even try to bring the pick-up home and we had been told that the first session would be at 10 so we had plenty of time to walk down. But we got informed at 10pm that we needed to be at the temple by 8am so we caught the bus and then drove from the office to the temple.
The temple will be open all week for the morning shift. That is a big improvement and we were busy all morning. It was so fun to see the young missionaries getting to come again. The demonstrations continue almost nightly but are mostly in the area around the palace now. When the President gets a report that something big is going to happen he warns the young missionaries to return to their pensions before dark and to take a member with them for their visits. We continue to be careful and watchful when we are out and about.
We returned to the office after the temple to pick up our refrigerator food to take to the new apartment when we learned that we would not be moving!! Well, we have lived out of suitcases and boxes for two days and finally on Thursday morning we were able to move into the new apartment. We spent the day unpacking boxes. The elevators here are too small to bring the bed up to the apartment so poor Hermano Zentano had to bring the bed up 7 flights of stairs! He had two young men working with him, thank goodness. It is an amazing apartment.
President Brotherson decided that he needed the Senior Missionaries to live within walking distance of the office. We have been looking for an apartment for several months. We found the apartment for the Potters and had it ready for them when they got here. We really were kind of disappointed when we found one for us. We really didn't want to move. It was so stressful but we are now moved in. When the Hughes leave in two weeks, we will get our recliner and whatever items we need for our pension from theirs. Our old pension is not going to be rented anymore so we will finish cleaning it after the appliances are taken out.
On Wednesday I was given a new assignment. I am to conduct auditions for the Charla Fogonera's (fire sides) that the missionaries put on each transfer. The biggest problem with the assignment is that we have a Charla on Sunday! I have Thursday and Friday to audition and decide who gets to perform! I had 8 different groups who want to perform and can only use 5. I hate to have to say "no" to anyone! One group called and said that they have an investigator who will be singing with them - well, no matter what they sound like they will be performing! Well, we were thrilled when we heard them. The investigator was the best musician of them all! I will get to direct the choir made up of the La Reina and Alicahue Zones. That is the blessing for having to do the auditions. We are hoping to be able to actually have the Charla. It will depend on the riots and protests. Tomorrow we have heard that the protest will be on Cristobal Colon, the street we live on. It could be an interesting day!
We are moved in but have no internet in the apartment yet so I am at the office on Sunday afternoon trying to get this posted. The protest on Cristobal Colon was not near to us. But our Charla Fogonera has been canceled due to a protest planned in that area and the missionaries may not be able to get home after the Charla so it was canceled. Hopefully next week we can share photos of our new home. This country continues to be in turmoil but the work goes on. Have a great week. We send our love to all. Chao
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