We have had some additional wonderful experiences. We want to share what we are doing and some pictures of places we have been and people we are with. Our assignment as missionaries is twofold, (1) seek out those who have joined the Church in the past but are not currently active and fellowship them as best as we can back into activity, and (2) to work with the leadership of this little branch of the Church to train them in leadership, organization, and growth for members in the church. Our belief in the Church is that everyone needs three things, (a) fellowship with friends, (b) a calling/responsibility in the church organization, and (c) learning the gospel of Jesus Christ and how to follow its precepts. Those three things are what we are endeavoring to do with those who are currently less active. Below you will see the pictures of us with two young sister missionaries who are here on a proselyting mission from their homes in Utah. We are working together in San Jose de Maipo.

 Sister Amanda Tibbetts from Riverton, UT and Sis. Ciera McKinley from Orem, UT.

 

We are part of a district of 8 missionaries and our district is part of a zone of 16 missionaries that covers about 5 total congregations. Here is a picture of our zone.

You can tell from the picture that many are from other countries in Central and South America. In fact these missionaries represent 6 different Latin American countries. They are all here at their own expense to share our message.

 

So our days are full. We have about 2 1/2 hours in each morning to study, learn the language, and prepare for the day. We are out of the house about 11:30 and return home usually about 9 to 9:30 at night. There is some free time but when we are seeing about 10 to 12 different families each week it does take time and it is very enjoyable. To watch them change their lives and see joy it is very beneficial.

 

We also take some side trips on Mondays as that is our "free day". Today we went east from our town through the Canyon of Maipo and deep into the Andes Mountains. These mountains are the biggest we have ever seen. Not the tallest as we have been to Mt. McKinley in Alaska, but the size of the Mountains are massive. Here are some pictures on the road we followed. In the Pictures you will see another two couples. The two men were companions of mine when I served a mission as a young man here in Chile. They are currently now serving missions as we are. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I don't think they do justice to the size but you can see the idea.

 This is the river that runs down the canyon. We are at the bottom here.

 This is the dirt road we traveled on up the canyon for about 15 miles.

 This is a gypsum mine where we stopped and turned around. We are about 25 miles from the Argentine border.

 Here is one of my companions,Van Layman and his wife along with Bonnie.

 Look at the size of these mountains. Is this not magnificent.

 These trucks travel up and down the canyon daily delivering gypsum to the processing plants in Santiago.

 Here we are close to the top of the canyon and you can see the river flowing down.

 This is a bus stop at the city of Volcan. There are 22 families that live in this city almost at the end of the road.

A church in the city of Volcan.

 Sorry this is sideways. It shows the telephone poles and power poles. Pay attention to the telephone pole on the top. Real sturdy.

 

These final pictures were taken as we left Church yesterday after our normal Sunday Meetings.

 

 There was a festival for recycling in the town. These dancers and band are traveling the city streets to announce the effort.

 Doug Pulsipher on the left, Van Layman in the center and myself. 45 years has changed all of us but still good friends and servants in the Lords kingdom.

Here we are the three of us with our wives. Sally and Doug, Van and Millie, Bonnie and Greg. Doug and Sally are serving in the Concepcion Mission.  Van and Millie are serving as temple missionaries in the Santiago Temple.   It was a wonderful weekend with them and our mission is wonderful. 





We have been here for 3 weeks and we are very excited. We had several first for us which I will share in a minute. First let me show you the beauty around us. We are settled in the middle of a mountain valley with tall mountains all around. There are about 6-7 mountains within 10 miles of us which are between 9-13,000 feet. We got some snow and here are some picture of the view out our front door.

 

 

I don't know if you can appreciate the beauty but it is spectacular.

 

As for our first experiences:

1.       We had our first earthquake. We were sleeping one morning and felt the bed shake a little and then shake a little harder. It stopped then. It was a weird feeling but everything held together and we are quite fine. That was the first time at all for Mom and it was a surprise experience for her. I am sure we will feel more as there are 7 Volcanos here in Chile, so to have an earthquake is not abnormal.

2.       We had our first rain. It was a really nice rain throughout one evening. Not a gulley washer but a steady rain. On our roof it is a composition roof but it does not have any decking or insulation, so when it rains if sounds like we are in a tent. So all night it sounded like rain on a tent. We did not get any rain inside and so we felt quite protected.

3.       We had snow in the mountain tops. We are surrounded by mountains, big mountains. All around us are 9-12,000 foot high mountains. It is beautiful so with the recent rain there was snow in the mountain tops and you talk about a beautiful view. I included two picture out our front yard of the mountains. One is at sunset and the other during the day. We will try to get more.

4.       Walmart has stores down here. They are called Lider and just like home they are everywhere. There is one in Puente Alto where we go that is absolutely mammoth. It is bigger than any Walmart we have seen in the States. It has almost anything you can imagine and just like the states the store is full. Yesterday for example we went to the Lider store that is a little closer and there are 44 checkout stands full. We were in line to check out for 15-20 minutes.

5.       Internet is still a challenge. We have the modem stick but it is slow and not the best reception all the time. If we were down in the city of San Jose there would be cable in the homes but not here on the mountain as it is really difficult to get cable to the homes on the mountain so we have to use airwaves. We think we have found the solution though. The church is going to let us use their carnet number and have the service billed to them. We will include our internet service on our housing cost. Then I will use my I-phone as a wifi hotspot and we will be I business. Tuesday we will be checking into it and if it works we will have a more reliable and consistent system. We will see.

6.       We had our first parking ticket. We went to the Puente Alto 2^nd ward for our Zone meeting. The church is in a commercial area and has a fence around the building. A nice building. There is parking along the street in front of the church. Because the church lot was locked we parked in the street. The block is pretty long. Anyway at one corner is a sign indicating 30 minute parking limit which we did not see because we came from a completely different direction than the corner the sign is on. There is another sign 2/3 down the block which we did not see because we did not get that far. If you park for more than 30 minutes you pay 50 cents per minute including the first minute. We were there 3 ½ hours.

7.       We had our first Labor Day. Just like the states there is a Labor day and the same people get off work. And like the states it is a day for shopping.

 

Our next Post we will share more of what we are doing.