We are here and enjoying the work. Here are some interesting and beautiful pictures we took. First, our address is 19081 Cemetario (Cemetary) we live almost next to a Cemetary up on the hillside of the Town of San Jose. Here are two pictures inside the Cemetary.

 

The cemetery is about the size of 2 football fields. You can see each site is real close to the next. There is about a 18 inch walk way down each row of sites. There is no space between the sites on the side. There are some that are quite elaborate and other that are very simple. 

Here is a picture from a different angle of the Cemetary. The people are very good about visiting their family sites. Some of these accommodate more than one person but most are sites per person. They sell real flowers and artificial flowers on site and down the road from us at the bottom of the hill is a strategically situated flower vendor. Lots of flowers and color.

 

The next pictures are some views I took from our house. The First is looking over the valley towards Santiago. You wind down the valley towards the left and our of the Canyon to the suburb of Puente Alto and they to the city of Santiago. This is a picture in the daytime.

 

 

At night we sometimes see the following picture out our kitchen window.

 





 

 

How would you like that out your window. 

 

This is the same night looking in a different direction.

 

Yes it is beautiful in the middle of the Canyon. The people here are wonderful. There is sometimes a small town feeling to an outsider like ourselves, but because we are missionaries and most have some knowledge of the Church they are kind and receptive to us. They don't know much about the US but they do think we are all rich.

 

The Lord has blessed us greatly while we are here. Bonnie was able to give her first talk in the church meeting yesterday. She spoke of the blessings she has gained from being a missionary. I also spoke on the needs of every member. President Hinckley told us years ago that every member needs three things: A friend, the good word of God, and a calling in the church. That is so true. If members do not have those three things they feel either unwanted, not useful, or embarrassed for lack of knowledge of the doctrine and gospel of Jesus Christ. We are trying to help in each of those areas and make sure everyone has those three things.

 

We met a lady the on Saturday who is a member. We knew a little about her. I invited her to come to church. She said, I don't have nice clothes. I said, that does not matter. We love you anyway and want you to come back and join us. She was at church yesterday and had a wonderful experience. There were those there she knew and who welcomed her. We need a friend, the good word of God and a calling or purpose to be there each week.

 

We are blessed to be here and appreciate all the support we get from friends and family. 

July 1, 2013

 

I wrote this entry and then tried to post it and the system fouled up and so I am writing it again. I hope I can do it twice.

 

Time is going by and we are having some interesting experiences: Below is a picture of one of them:

 

This is a picture of Bonnie and Sister McKinley, who is one of the sister missionaries serving with us in San Jose. They are holding their newly issued Carnet cards. These are like SS cards in the US. They are used for everything for identification. If you use a credit card, you must give them your carnet number, if you want to enter into a contract with someone or a business you must use your carnet. Since I did not have a carnet I could not purchase our car. We had a friend purchase the car and we are using it until I get my carnet, then we will transfer ownership. I remember all the people who did not want to give their SS# in the states for privacy. Here you have to give it for everything. Bonnie now has her card, I am waiting for my temporary visa to come through and then I can get my carnet. We don't know what is the hold up but we must wait.

 

The next experience was our first Snow storm. It came Thursday this last week after it had rained for a few hours it began to snow mid day. This first picture is the beginning of the snow in our front yard.

 

The next picture is in our back yard. You can see the snow covered the ground except under the trees. We had a sister in the Branch call us this morning and asked if we could take her to see her 98 year old mother in the hospital. She lives about 1 1/2 miles away and she walks it twice a day. She is 70+ years old. Anyway, since we are the only ones with a car we gladly helped her. That night she walked home in the cold. We had offered but she went on her own.

Next is a picture of the next day. This is looking out our front door. It is looking west towards Santiago. When we go shopping or to Santiago we pass through this canyon beyond these mountains to get to the suburbs of Santiago. It is really beautiful

Below is a picture overlooking San Jose de Maipo. On the far side of the valley is the River Maipo which comes out of the mountains. This look is to the east. On the other side of the mountains is Argentina. It is a small community. Here all the roofs are covered with snow. They are all tin roofs and no insulation in the houses. It gets cold. One day our temperature was more than 75 degrees colder than in Dallas. It was about 25 degrees that day, but it was beautiful as you can see.

 

 

This wonderful little street is about as wide as a full size pickup. It is the road from down in the city to our house. It zig zags up the hill like switch backs, and they passes a cemetery and then we get to our house. What makes the drive interesting is when someone is coming the opposite direction than you are traveling. The rule is the driver coming up the hill has the right of way. So, if you are coming down you have to pull off the road enough to let them by. No there is not much room. In this picture you cannot see a driveway on the right that goes up the hill to a house. The driver coming down will pull up the driveway, let the person pass, back down the driveway and they move on. Some of the areas are not as convenient or as quick as this one. We are glad for a small car.

 

 

This picture is of the sisters who serve in our zone. The mission is geographically divided first into congregations (called wards or branches depending upon the size). Then we combine some of these units into Districts. These districts are supervised by one of the missionaries who is called to be responsible for the missionaries in their district. Then some districts are combined into a zone with missionaries as leaders. There is some wonderful leadership training opportunities for these young people. Anyway, there are fewer sisters in the mission and they will have their own zone. Last week we had the sisters for the zone our sisters are in to our house and fed them lunch and they had some tine to play and relax. Here is a picture of the sisters that came. The sisters that work with us are in the back row third and forth from the left side. They are really good young girls. 

 

 

Once a Month Bonnie and I go to Santiago to the Temple there. It is great to be able to go there to serve in the sacred work of the temple and have the peace and solitude of the Lord's house. We are blessed to be able to go.

 

That is our pictures for this time but we wanted to share with you a fun experience we have had. We have been meeting with Luis and Maria who are 60+ years old and members of the church. They have both been divorced and now have been living together for 27 years. They have son. They did not want to get married because they did not want to get divorced. (Don't ask the logic) Anyway we have been working with them to understand the blessings of marriage vs. not being married. In our church marriage is very sacred. In Chile the sanctity of marriage is secondary. It really effects the children as you can imagine. We believe in the fidelity of marriage and no relations outside of marriage. Anyway we have been working with them and become very good friends. Anyway this last week we were discussing principles of the gospel and she asked, "How much more do I have to learn in order to marry this man." That was wonderful news for us. They are now preparing and it will be a wonderful day for us and them.

 

Anyway we are doing well and enjoying serving the Lord 100% or our time. We are together all the time and it is really good. Our relationship is growing and I can tell you Bonnie is better now than 3 months ago when we left. The gospel is true and we love serving.