Well now I have time to finish my posting. Yesterday I was able to post half he activities and events that had happened to us.

 

For us an exciting time is when we can go to the Temple of the Church. These are special buildings where our most sacred ordinances and covenants are done. These buildings are not for normal Sunday meetings but additional opportunities for those who are faithful to the commandments of God. There are two levels of ordinances done. One is normally for youth and the other is for adults who have made additional progress. In these first two pictures are  a group we took to the temple for the first level of ordinances. In the picture are (left to right) Bonnie, Simon Andrade, Pablo Andrade, Mariana Catalan, Claudia Espinosa, Ximena Vargas Villaroel, Jorge Vargas. This was the first time in a long time for some of these people to participate in these blessings and they felt very blessed. The second picture is the husband and Wife Jorge and Ximena with us.

 

A few months later we had the privilege to go to the Temple with Jorge and Ximena for them to participate in the higher ordinances of the Temple. They had prepared for some time and the joy they felt as they were able to participate was very satisfying. You can see from the second picture of their love for each other and happiness to be there.

 

Another wonderful experience we had was to go to Vina del Mar. This is a large city on the Pacific Ocean. It is a tourist town. For those who have been to Honolulu it is very similar in that it is a major metropolitan town but on the Beach front. It is also very similar to San Francisco in weather and on the hillside. As we drove there we commented how similar it is in terrain and vegetation to San Francisco. The other part that made is fun was the visit of Soli Tenger who is a friend of ours from Sachse. She was raised in this town and had not returned to see her family for many years. In this picture you see Bonnie with Soli and her father. In the background is a restored house. We are right on the beach front in this picture.

 

Chile allows gambling and in this picture is a large Casino in Vina del Mar. It is quite pretty.

Bonnie and I are in front of the Casino here. We did not go in. Most shops and tourist areas are closed on Monday because the weekends are so busy they have to close to give the people a day off and time to clean up and be ready for the coming week. 

 For those who have been to San Francisco you remember the horse drawn carriages. This is one in front of the Casino. They are quite proud of these carriages.

 

Santiago is a large metropolitan town of about 8 million people. When I think of it I wonder where does the water come from, or the food, or other basic supplies. As for water this is a very large lake that provides water to about 1/3 of Santiago. I did a panoramic view and this only represents about 1/2 of the lake. It is also very deep. The lake is in the mountains east of Santiago and it takes a 1 hour dirt road ride to climb the roads to get here. The drive is worth it and to see this lake is quite beautiful. The water is extremely pure, they do not allow any type of motorcraft on the lake and fishing only from the banks if you can get here. We have driven up twice and it is a load for our little car. 

 

 

We had a program for the young women in the branch to share with them and their parents the activities these young women would participate in during the year. It was amazing what they will do. Here you see the four young women who came. We have one other young woman in the branch who could not come. From left to right Aranzazu, Claudia, Yasmin, Fernanda. They are great young women and very pretty. Below is a picture of these young women singing a song for the congregation along with the missionary sisters on the right.



 

 Keeping warm during the winter is a difficult task. It is not that cold temperature wise. About the same temperature as in Dallas. But think what it is like to not have Central heat in your home and the houses are not sealed. Many holes in the corners, around doors and windows, etc. So inside is just as  cold as outside. there are a few ways to stay warm: (1) an electric space heater and electricity is expensive, (2) propane gas heaters, we have two and they work well, but many do not want to use them because they think the odor is real bad or a fire hazard, (3) wood burning stove. For wood you either cut down your own trees in the yard or buy wood. Last year we spent over $1,000 for wood to keep us warm. We were warm but this year we have the gas heaters and we will save a lot.

Anyway, we also cut down two trees in the yard and here we are cutting the wood. Simon Andrade is helping me. Do you see the wood fly off my axe.

 

 

 We have some fruit an nut trees in our yard. Orange, apple, walnut, almond, and lemon trees. We are harvesting the walnuts from the trees as they fall. Here is a big bowl of walnuts collected one day. We have almost three containers this size of walnuts. Brownies with nuts, Ice Cream with nuts, banana nut bread, all are favorites in our home.

 

I mentioned in a previous post of some of the improvements we are trying to do in the yard. When we came there was a walkway from the street to the house/church. One side was full of weeds and the other was all dirt. this first picture is where the dirt was. See what we did around the tree and then planted grass. I had to cut the lawn again today. It is all filled in and pretty green. 

 

This picture is of the other side were it was all weeds. Look at the green and pretty flowers. there is still much to do but it is so much better.



 

 This is a picture of a work day activity. We cut down limbs that were over hanging, and cleared rocks from a open area, mended a fence so no dogs could come in, made a combination volleyball/mini-soccer field for the members to play, and fixed some lighting so we could have the court lit at night. Below are pictures of the results and some of the brush we hauled off. this brush was the smaller pieces after they cut off the thicker pieces for fire wood. We had a truck load of firewood.

 

 

Here we have the workers who worked hard. Left to right Carlos Valenzuela, myself, Sergio Salinas, Pedro Quezada, Jorge Vargas, Pablo Andrade. It was a great time and they are quite proud of the results.

 

Back at our house the fall is really showing. Here is a tree in our yard and the beauty of the fall. 

 

 

We had a new adventure a few weeks ago. We have this bread oven on our property. I have mentioned it before. We had a group of American missionaries here for dinner. We were not sure how we were going to cook the food and Bonnie had the idea of using the bread oven. So we fired it up and cooked 36 potatoes in the oven and it was great. We will use it more now that we have some idea of how to use it. It is simple and fun. 

 One of the fruits here is a Membria. You can see its size here in Bonnies hands. About the size of a large grapefruit. It has a fir film on it while it is ripening. When the fuzz comes off it is ready to eat. We tried it and it was really sour. they love it. It is like a sour granny smith apple. BUT when you make it into a jam it is really good. It has a flavor of a cross between apple and peach jam. It is very good.

Well that is all for this post. We are doing well. We are quite excited for the future of the branch if they can learn about leadership and followership. they are learning and lights are going off. The Gospel of Christ is true and provides joy to all who will take advantage of it.

 

Well it has been a while since my last entry. It has not been because I do not want to make entries, we are busy. We have about 10-11 appointments each week with people to teach them, answer questions, or provide information they desire. It is really fun. The great joy comes when we see their lives change and do things to improve themselves. The Gospel of Christ does this to people. For example, Luis and Victoria have been a couple for 27 years and never married. The laws in Chile have been quite difficult for a divorce until 12 years ago and when they changed the law, many of the people had decided what is the benefit of marriage, there is too much commitment, and if we don't like each other what do we do. It is a waste, so they just live together, have a family and separate when things get tough. This couple  had done it for 27 years and when we met them they had no desire to be married. As time progressed the spirit of the Gospel of Christ entered their hearts and they decided to get married. This first picture is of their front yard where they set up some tables for a dinner after the wedding. This was  taken during the ceremony. 

 

 

 

Her is a picture of the bride to be. This was one of the first times in her life to wear a dress and she felt so feminine. It was great. She was so happy to have this day. They were like two young adults on the day of their wedding. It was really special.

 



 Weddings in Chile are different. As I mentioned the government for many years forbade divorce.
When the law was changed, the government prescribed what a wedding was. (1) it had to be done by a local government official to be recognized. No priest or other person could perform a marriage. (2) these marriages need to be scheduled with the government offices. Usually they can only schedule 6-9 months out. These ceremonies are done in the city offices unless they pay an extra fee to have the official come to their home to do the wedding.  (3) The government prescribed the sections of the law that had to be read for the wedding and all the other words of the ceremony that had to be read. (4) As part of the ceremony the participants have to sign a document of the license and affirm as to how assets will be separated if divorced. In this picture you have the government official asking them both to sign the documents.

After signing the documents they can exchange rings after the officiator reads the prescribed wording.

Then they are married. If they want to have a church wedding after this they are welcome to do it. Here is the couple with the official after their wedding. They were so happy and to this day they are so grateful to have made this commitment to each other. We are now preparing them to go to the temple and be sealed for all eternity.

 

 

We had another event in the Branch of the church. There are very few yards here. They will have dirt fronts with a few plants stuck in the ground. At the church we had one side of the entry walk planted at one time with grass. At the time of this picture the grass was all weeds and poorly watered, because they do not have sprinklers or water facilities. We decided it needed to be changed. I made a two head sprinkler and started watering the one side. Now it is green and the rose bush is flourishing. On this side we built a circumference around the tree and filled in rock. It looks much better. At this time I have also planted lawn all around the tree and it has filled in. The members did not think it would work. You have to do all kinds of things and, and, and. I said no, I will show you. To their compete disbelief we now have a solid lawn on this side and they are quite proud of the look of the building.

The final part of this writing is we had a Open house for the community to come into the church and visit us. Here is a placard we had out in the front on the fence.

 Inside we had six of these displays to explain some of the teachings of the church. People would come in and we had two sister missionaries who would guide them around and explain principles and answer questions. We had a pretty good response.

Here we have a placard of Christ. This was the beginning of the tour. With it we had some scripture quotes of the Savior inviting the people to follow him and obey his commandments.

 In each of the rooms we had a small display. Here is the room of the Priesthood and some things done by the brethren in the Priesthood.

This room was for the youth and activities and things done with the youth.

 This room is for the mothers. The organization is the Relief Society. Women are taught talents, skills and tools to be used as mothers and wives.

 This is a picture of the branch members who helped out with the Open House. Also included are some of the visitors. It was a successful event.