Thursday, May 15, 2014

 
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.

 

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