We went to the home of Gloria and Alberto Riuz for dinner. Selva and her husband Victor came too. They fixed us a meal of fettuccini with chicken and spaghetti sauce. We had a great discussion about the gospel. Selva is getting baptized on Saturday and we are trying to help Victor and Alberto get the desire to come back. They are both baptized but have been inactive for years and have forgotten so much. It was a very pleasant afternoon.
We were settled in and reading our Sunday school lesson for next week when the dreaded phone call came! The Hermana's in La Dehesa have locked themselves out of their apartment. They are without shoes, phone, and money. So at 8pm we headed north to unlock a door. When we arrived, we found that they had their key in the lock on the other side of the door so our key wouldn't unlock the door. Hna. Isaacson had a plan if our key didn't work. They had a window open and we found a ladder so we didn't have to kick in the door. So up the ladder to the rescue went Elder Thompson.
Luckily they were only on the second floor. (not bad for a 70 year old) I was afraid the old wooden ladder would break!
Hna. Harmon, Issacson y Thompson
We got back to the office and a few of the Elders who are going home on Monday morning were there.
This is Elder Bacilio. He has been an assistant to the President so is in the office a lot. He will be missed. We got home about 10. It turned into a long Sunday.
Monday morning we did the pouch run again. As we were coming to the Gabriella Stake Center we passed lots of students with scarves tied around their necks. We then saw smoke in front of us and knew these kids had been up to no good.
Sure enough, they were protesting in the street. The price for the buses and toll roads were increased today.
Don't know what they expect, when you destroy something, someone has to pay to get it fixed.
They had school tables and chairs and shopping carts on fire. It sure slowed down traffic. We couldn't believe that the police didn't simply get a loader and remove it from the street.
The snow pack is melting fast with the warmer weather and the canals are running brown and fast.
More red light traffic entertainment. It is definitely not boring driving about the city.
Monday night we had the new Elders from the Mexico MTC come in. There were only 4 of them so we had 2 stay with us and the other 2 with the secretaries. They didn't arrive until 12:15am. We fed them some sandwiches and we all got to bed about 1am. We had to be up by 6am to get to the temple for our shift. We were exhausted!
We had 12 missionaries leave this transfer. It gets harder each transfer as we see our "grandchildren" leave for home. We have seen them grow into amazing young men and women and will miss them. We pray that they will move into this new phase of their lives with confidence.
We welcomed in 16 new missionaries, 4 Elders from the US, 3 hermanas, and 9 more Elders from various other countries. Tuesday evening we needed to take a companionship to their new home. We drove out to Vicuna MacKenna. It took us an hour to get there and only a half hour to get back home due to the heavy traffic at that time of night. We had just changed our clothes and sat down when we got another call and headed to Gabriella to pick up a memory book for the Hermana who is going home tomorrow because her father is dying. She is from Ecuador and her missionary family was afraid that the mail would never get the book to her. They had all written in it and had photos also.
We didn't get to bed till after 11. We are feeling very old and tired this week and it is only Tuesday!
Wednesday morning we headed to the airport.
We got Hermana Castro to the airport. We had to do some extra processes to make sure she could leave the country cause her visa had expired 3 days ago. We spent a lot of time waiting in lines! We left the office at about 9am and got her through customs and into the boarding area about 3pm. It had been a long day for her already but she won't get home till about 10. We pray that her father will still be alive when she gets home so she can spend some time with him and say good-bye. She is an amazing young missionary. She has only been here for 9 months.
We took Thursday morning off to go to the temple. We call this our p-half day. We really are on call 24-7 with the pensions so to have a whole p-day off doesn't happen very often. We picked up the Potters after our session at the temple and headed to the training meeting for the new missionaries and their trainers. We present a power point cleaning slide to them and try to teach them a few basic cleaning tips. We always hope that the trainers will remember and apply this information also. The pensions really are much cleaner than when we arrived and we love it when the missionaries catch the vision of cleanliness.
Friday and we are heading to the airport once again. (the dreaded 4 mile tunnels) I really hate this drive! Herman Jofre is heading home to Antafogasta in northern Chile due to health problems. She has only been here for 6 weeks. We had no trouble this time as she is from Chile and were only about 3 hours from start to finish. We got home from the office early and were enjoying just relaxing when again the dreaded call came in. Twice in one week! We headed to La Florida to unlock the door so the Hermana's could find the keys that they had locked in their apartment. It feels like we have been in a truck forever!
Saturday the 11th is a day we will remember forever. We were privileged to attend the baptism of Selva.
Elder Thompson was asked to baptize Selva. Selva was brought to a Capilla Abierta a year ago by Gloria Riuz. We have been visiting and helping to teach Selva ever since.
These two couples are so fun to be with. Gloria had a kidney transplant 6 months ago and is doing great. Her husband Alberto just had an implant put behind his ear so he can hopefully hear. He had the cord around his neck when he was born and can't hear in one ear and can't see with one eye either. Selva is a nurse. She has a very sweet testimony and a love for her Savior. Victor was baptized 32 years ago and has never been active. We pray that we can help these 4 prepare to go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity.
Trying to get six adults to stand still for a photo was a challenge for the young missionaries
Selva's grandson Benjamin and son Rudolf attended the baptism.
And these are Selva's princeses, the missionaries who have been teaching her about the gospel for the last year. It was great that so many of them were able to attend. She has a special love for the young missionaries. She has been feeding them for the last year even though she was not a member.
The ward supported her tonight. I was thrilled to be able to play the piano for the baptism and Elder Thompson and I sang "I know that My Redeemer Lives". What a special evening!
We hope that you have had a great week. We have had a very busy one with lots of hours in the truck. You can't say that we are getting lots of miles on the truck but with the traffic it just takes forever to get anywhere. We are so thankful for our Heavenly Father and his tender mercies that we receive daily. We are thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are thankful for the opportunity to be here in Santiago. We love being able to serve with these amazing young missionaries. We are so thankful for our friendship with the Riuz and the Barrios families. We send our love. You are in our thoughts and prayers siempre! Chao till next week.
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