Preparing for Christmas in Chile

Dear Family,  Diciembre 13, 2015 Sunday (Domingo)

Another week and today is Isaac Talbot's 8th birthday, Spencer comes home this week, and Christmas is just a few weeks away.  We miss all of you very much and particularly as Christmas draws closer, and do appreciate the packages that have arrived, and your phone calls. It is harder to talk to any of you now that we are 4 hours ahead of your.

MISSIONARY STORY of the WEEK

   George and I go to the (Correo) Post Office in Antofagasta at least once a week. One of the ladies has been particularly helpful. George asked her if she would like to come to have supper with us (supper or dinner is called Cena in Spanish). She wanted to, so we got the dinner ready and she came. We were enjoying the meal when George asked her if she knew anything about the Mormons as she has prepared so many packages for the Elders (processing them) as this lady had worked for the Correo for over 30 years. Andrea said, yes I do, my mother was a Mormon. Our jaws dropped!   Then she said her mother died in 2006, at age 86 and was baptized a member of  the church when she was 80.  However, this daug. (at the meal) told us she was not interested in learning more about the church (she had 5 other siblings but 3 are deceased), but it was an interesting evening. She spoke ONLY (so so) English, so we had to really give our (limited Spanish) a work out. We plan to have her over again in January

VISITING our CONTACTS with CHRISTMAS SURPRISES

    We purchased 26 big red round bells (metal) and some strawberry jam, and a few kitchen (cocina) towels to wrap up to give to our contacts families. We FIND the Chileans have SEVERAL different customs associated with Christmas ----NO  no, and I mean no, you will not find any CARDs (Christmas cards) being sold in the stores. I brought a box  of cards with me that we are using to give to contact families. The Chilean children also have hardly ANY toys in any of the homes we have visited who have children. Bedrooms are almost devoid of anything except a bed and a chest of drawers and a few little things, but NOTHING like what we have seen  American children have. We have enjoyed visiting our contacts a few each week in December.  We have learned that in Chile the NIGHT before Christmas day is the big event. A big dinner, put the baby Jesus in the christmas (nativities), and open the packages around midnight. Then they sleep in and have Christmas day to visit family members. Christmas Eve is the big event.

STAKE CONFERENCE in CHILE & PAST MEMORIES

     When I was a little girl and growing up in St. George I loved to go to Stake Conference and we always sat in the balcony at the St. George Tabernacle. In Provo, we loved taking the children when they were being raised to the Provo Tabernacle for Stake Conferences. We hear that the Provo City Center Temple will have their open house starting in a few weeks. It is hard to believe. However, even though we work on our Spanish (every day) we still do not understand the speakers at Conference (in Spanish) as they talk VERY FAST, and run the words together, but we keep listening for words we know. However, we love singing the songs and feeling the joy of worshiping together with the Chilean people. They are so loving and give hugs to all of the women, and air kisses on their cheeks, and handshakes to all of the men. A loving culture.

A CHRISTMAS STREET PARTY for the CHILDREN

      We were invited to attend a party held in one of the neighborhoods where our contact family the Layton's live. Their older children 29, 26 and 22, along with some of their friends, were participating in a small music group (guitar, drum, electric piano, and a singer). We arrived at 5:30 and it started at about 7 and we thoroughly enjoyed the event, and were invited to share a meal afterwards. George took several photos. The girl (age 20) who did the vocal singing was truly talented and felt the music with her heart too. She was born when her mother was nearly 45 and at the time of her birth she had two older brothers 20 years older than herself. Her name is Ann (Anna or Annie). She sang Feliz Navidad, and we  just could not get enough of that Christmas song. George also played (Star Bright) for them on the piano. WE NEED OUR daughters to scan and mail us the copy of the music so they can learn the words, and George will accompany them, next week IF we get the music by email (scanned).  The Layton's love to have us participate with their family events but are not currently having the lessons, even though one son (Javier) is a member. Javier is 29 and is borderline (inactive) and has never wanted to receive the priesthood. 

OUR PAST CONTACTS WITH the  ANTOFAGASTA MISSIONARIES

      We made a list and we have over 10 our our past contacts with missionaries  who are working with them, but the contacts are moving (slowly) towards baptism. It is possible that none of them will even be baptized.  However we PICK up new contacts almost weekly, but it takes "opening our mouths" and asking people if they have friends who are Mormons. This has been the best way for us to start a conversation about the church. Most generally they say YES, that they have a friend or someone they know who is a Mormon.  Then the conversation just goes from that to whatever we feel we can say to find out if they would like to know more.

FOUR NEW CONTACTS came about THIS WEEK

      We will have to keep you posted, but we did pick up one lovely mother and her daug at the Birthday party we attended a week ago, and we stopped by their home to talk to them this past week - a full family with a husband and another son. We have planning an evening at their home to share talents next week. We found another boy (David) who was outside our building and lives in our complex, along with his sister, plus  two women at the Christmas party on the street  who want to have the missionaries come to their homes. Also, we finally got VANESSA on the phone who we met several weeks ago at Edwards' home when we were there for dinner. We find that it takes having a Missionary Attitude of wanting to find people, then lots of follow through with phone calls and visits.......they are out there, but we do have to talk to literally everyone we can, to even find the few who are interested, and even then it is a long process to reach final conversion.

A YOUNG ADULT "PURiMISEA" and her NEW BOYFRIEND

      Several months ago we had dinner at her (Purimisea's) parents home (members) and the parents were so sad because this daug. was seriously dating a non member. The parents so wanted her to be married in the temple, but this could not happen as he was not interested in the church. We encouraged her to break up and pray for the Lord to bless her. She got brave and broke up, then returned to him again. However, at Stake Conference she came and said she finally broke up with the past boyfriend  the 2nd time, and was now dating a young adult from the ward they are in. She introduced us to him. They are both above age 26, and it looks like there will be a wedding in February. It truly was an answer to her parents prayers that she could break off the earlier relationship that had been going on for several years, and NOW  this daughter has been blessed and can be married in the Temple in Santiago. A wonderful story with the daughter and the parents all so very happy.

STUDYING the BIBLE CHRISTMAS STORY in SPANISH

     A young man from the Quito Ward who we met 3 weeks ago has been coming every Sunday PM to help us study Spanish. We chose to read the Christmas Story about the birth of the Savior in Spanish. We have to discuss every word that we do not know and only cover about  6 to 8 verses a week, but it has been truly a blessing to both of us to read and understand the story (from the scriptures) in Spanish. I wish we could explain all we have learned but just know it a wonderful experience to read the story in another language. Bryan, Jonathan, David, Laura, Julie, Debbie, David Stuart and Matt Grant, have all had this experience as they all know and have studied Spanish. If they haven't read the Chapter 2 in Luke, it is a very spiritual experience. We are so glad we are doing this.

    MUCH LOVE  to each of you and we pray that your prayers for us will be answered with a blessing upon the heads of our many investigators who are such lovely people, but most of them are not particularly interested in reading the Book of Mormon to find out if it is really true. This mission is  going to take ALL of us, your prayers, our prayers and lots of effort on our part, plus continued blessings from our Heavenly Father.  Thanks so very much for praying for us and for our contacts.

Love MOM and DAD

Adrianna on the left was baptized in March.  Her grandson Eric is home from his mission from Japan temporarily for health issues, and Anna Marie, a sister who joined the church years ago.

This was our lunch table.  It was fun being with them.  Adrianna is a Chacalaca.

An elaborate birthday party for Gabriela.  She just turned eight.

Gabriela finish her ride

We were the only members of the church at this party birthday party, and we were wearing our missionary name tags.  We got a few funny looks, but also made a good contact.

Monica, Gabriela's mother serving her sisters

Mom teaching a young girl English.

Claudio, Gabriela's father, serving birthday cake.

Antofagasta Zone Conference - Elder Jolley from La Verkin and his companion Elder Cordova.

Sister Missionaries with President Dalton at the Antofagasta Zone Conference

Elder Wocicki and Elder Vietella with their Christmas Mail

Sister Talbot with Andrea from the Post Office.  We asked her if she knew anything about the Mormon Church and she said her Mother was a Mormon and Baptized at 80 years old

My tomato plant garden.  I am going to have to make a decision with this pretty soon.

A photo inside of the big Mall at Antofagasta.

Sister Talbot with the grandmother of an Investigator.

A Christmas party for the neighborhood school children.  We were the only members present wearing our missionary name tags.  We were well accepted.

Anna Gonzalez, who sang with the group, and has agreed to sing Star Bright.

Marcela Nelson and her son Matias with Hermana Talbot.  We picked up her as an investigator at the Christmas Party.

 Angelica to the Right, and her Niece to the Left.  We picked them up as investigators at the Christmas Party.

 The performing group at the Christmas Party.  Diana Leyton is at the Keyboard singing as well.  Her grandmother is with Sister Talbot.  We see the back of their heads.

 As you can see, Elders will be Elders and Sisters will be Sisters.  I know them all, but will not try to name all of them in the picture.

 Another picture of the Zone, slightly more civil.  Sisters are of course very proper.

 Nativity in our building where we live.

 Christmas tree in the  building where we live.

(Last week's letter that never got published)

DEAR FAMILY,  (Sun (Domingo) Nov 29 to Sat (Sabado) Dec 5, 2015)

OUR EFFORTS TO LEARN & SPEAK SPANISH
We keep pursuing the learning of Spanish, and are making headway, thanks to the books Bryan and Lisa sent us, and the other book we had Julie purchase for us. Plus we have a few Chileans who speak Spanish who are working with us.  I (Dad) find, however, that even though I have my vocabulary the words that they are saying, I do not recognize them when I hear them because they talk so FAST.  Margaret and I are very determined to be able to speak better and understand Spanish better over the next few months. Mom is still working with (MTC) Skype plus a Kitto ward member  (Jamie) is starting to come and help her.  It is a hard and tedious process, but we just keep working at it daily, and appreciate your prayers in our behalf.

TRYING OUT OUR NEW GOSPEL CHARTS (Sun Nov 29 & also Tue)
We had Alfred over for dinner (after he attended church in another ward - not ours) and we showed him our new chart pages. He liked it a lot and wrote down a list of the scriptures  we showed him from the Bible.  He has been going to church and wanted to know what the Doctrine book was they talked about in Sunday School (D & C). We had earler bought a large roll of brown wrapping paper and cut it up to large sheets and  then made xerox photos plus cut some from old Liahona magazines to tell the gospel story one page at a time. We have about 20 pages. Alfred said it really helped him better comprehend what we have been trying to share.  Our main GOAL was to get people to read the Book of Mormon.  We also shared the chart (s) with Hugo. He gave a different comment and said "he didn't remember hearing that Christ came to America." He promised to read but we will have to see. Both of these men are working with missionaries, we are just support.

VISITING JUAN LOPEZ (Tue Dec 1)
We had an investigator that I met at TurBus (Hugo) who has been wanting to take us to the little village of Juan Lopez.  We asked the Mission President if it would be OK to spend a day with him at Juan Lopez, and he  gave us the approval.
Therefore, on Tuesday Dec. 3, he drove us and his dog to Juan Lopez (which is about 25 miles away from Antofagasta). However, first of all he came for breakfast and we gave him a lesson on the Book of Mormon.  We had a fun day with him at this little village, which is empty of people during the week, but on the weekend people go there to sunbathe, swim, fish, etc.  There was hardly anyone there on Tuesday.  We watched people fish and enjoyed the quite little community.  They have no water, so potable water has to be hauled in by truck and the people who have houses have big containers for water on top of their houses,.  Some men were spear fishing and had quite a few fish in bags.  They also had an octopus that they had gotten.  We also went to another very small village (named Constitution) and spotted a lot of fish in the ocean.  I did not have a pole.  It was a very interesting place.  On the  drive to return home when we came in view of the ocean, we saw literally  hundreds of "Pelicans" diving in the water after fish.  Apparently a school of fish was traveling by, and they were all getting dinner.  It was quite a site to see hundreds of Pelicans dive bombing into the water with a big splash to catch the fish. Hugo will come to dinner at our home  again next Sunday.

MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNSEL (Thur Dec 3)
Wednesday was a catch up day since we were gone on Tuesday, and Thursday was leadership counsel where all of the Zone leaders come in for a meeting.  We had earlier prepared the mail  plus worked with more mail that day for zone leaders to take back to the missionaries in their sector. Also I had to work with and provide reimbursement for the missionaries who have had to travel or pay bills that are paid by the mission.  It took me all day to do those and also help Margaret get the mail ready to go for 50 people.  Also, their is an unusual amount of mail this time of year being as Christmas is so close.

NATIVITY SETS FROM CHILE (Sat. Dec 5)
Several of you have asked us to purchase a nativity set from Chile.  We went down to  the Centro Mall today and purchased all the store had in stock.  Unfortunately there was not enough for everyone (purchased 6), but we will keep looking to get two more so each family will get one  We will wrap and mail these six on Monday when we go downtown to get the mail and hope they will arrive by Christmas. The box lables did say "made in Chile."

TWO NEW CONTACTS (Sat Dec 5)
We met one young man (Richardo who speaks fluent English) at the Mall book store  - where we stopped in to see if they had any Christmas books made in Chile -  however found none). He is coming over for dinner tomorrow, but said he is an agnostic. We told him we would change that. Then we met (Caroline) while shopping for a headset that Bryan recommended we purchase to listen to the scriptures in Spanish.  She is coming over for dinner next Monday PM. We try to  find people who might want to listen no matter where we go.

TWO BIG PARTIES (Fri PM and Sat AM)
We were invited to a graduation family party (buffet) and also to a birthday party for Gabriella who turned 8.  We will highlight these two events next week, and we also found two more contacts at the birthday party, but we will have to see what happens. It is all about asking people if they know any Mormons. This seems to be the easiest approach and when they say yes, we start talking more.

MERRILL'S HAUS FINE FURNITURE FIRST SHIPMENT (Dec 2 Wed)
We were very pleased and impressed with the picture of the couch Merrill's new company had constructed and shipped (20).  Although he has had quite a few set backs, it looks like he is going to make a success of his new venture.  We were so pleased for Merrill. Hope all of you take time to look at his photos.

WE MISS ALL OF YOU VERY MUCH
ALthough they do not have Thanksgiving in Chile, they do celebrate Christmas.  We see Christmas trees and Christmas lights everywhere, but NOT like in the states.  When we went to the mall today to find nativity sets, the Mall was full of people and the stores were very busy.  It seemed almost like home at Christmas time, except most everyone speaks Spanish so that we do not understand too much of what they say.  Nevertheless, it is Christmas time, and a wonderful season of the year, and at this time family is very important to us.  We miss all of you and wish we could sneak back and be with you for this season, but know that that is impossible.  Nevertheless, please know that we love and miss all of you and hope you will all have homes filled with love and kindness, as you celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The only gift we want is the gift of tongues,

Love

Mom and Dad

Thanksgiving in Chile

Dear family,

We missed all of you at Thanksgiving, but sent you some pictures of our Thanksgiving day events.  Margaret the office elders some dinner, and then we went to a Thanksgiving dinner with some non-member friends.  They told us they could not see us here without having a regular Thanksgiving dinner.  It was lovely, and they could not have been kinder to us.

We seem to keep very busy.  We work in the office during the day and try to do missionary work in the evening.  One of the big problems in Chile is that people work long hours trying to survive.  In most cases, the husband and wife both work.  Their hours are long and often they are also working on Sunday as well.  When we went to the baptism on Saturday, Sandra Dias, the mother of Javier was there.  She is a lovely lady, but works all day Monday through Friday taking care of an elderly woman, and then works in the Farmers market on Sunday from 7 in the morning until 6:00 p.m. at night.  How do you teach someone the Gospel who never has time to read the Book of Mormon or go to Church.  They are sincere honest good people, but are burdened trying to support themselves.  Sometimes I feel the adversary is winning by keeping people so occupied with making a living that religion is not something they feel they need to worry about at the present time.  Many people are in the same situation.  both husband and wife work, they work many Sunday's and trying to survive and get ahead is more important than being a member of the true church.

We are still working with Hugo Rivera and Alfred Yanez.  Hugo we met at Turbus and Alfred we met at Liders.  They are both being taught by the missionaries, are attending church, but have not committed to baptism as yet.  They have both been invited, are moving forward, but a little slower than the missionaries would like.  We are having both of them over for lunch today after church.  We really enjoy them as friends as well.

The weather here is getting warmer each day.  I find wearing a long sleeve white shirt during the day is a little uncomfortable.  It is hard to believe that you are having snow, cold and ice in Utah.  I check the weather periodically in Utah, and it sounds like you are getting some snow and cold.  Hopefully, you will get plenty of snow in the mountains to alleviate the water problem that has gone on for several years.  I would like to have some water in the streams when I return.  Hopefully my Talbot cousins have not caught all of the fish.  I want to take Zach fishing.  He said he has not gone since we left.

we are receiving a lot of mail now in the mission.  All the missionary Christmas packages are arriving.  Mom and I were downtown on Friday so picked up the mail and we had 15 packages, some of them being big.  They gave us a big sack at the Post Office to deal with the packages, but even then, not all of them would fit in.  It was almost more than Mom and I could deal with.  Fortunately, however, we also received a package from Jon and Melanie, so picking up the mail was worth it.

It is time for us to go to church, so I better close.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Margaret prepared Thanksgiving dinner for the office missionaries.  This how it looked, even with a menu

 This is a picture of the office missionaries.  Talbots Hart, Childs, Gonzalez, Maki, Ortega, Morales and Hortua.

 Surrounding the table - Elders, Ortega, Hart, Gonzalez, Maki, Talbots, Childs, Morakes abd Hortua

 We were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with non-member friends.  Left to right - Able from Spain, Rodolfo, Maria Antonette, Genevive, Mark Reddick, Margaret, and Martha,  In the front is Gustavio, son of Rodolfo and Martha.

A birthday party for Felipe, son of Monica and Claudio. We got some members of the ward to help him celebrate.  None here are members of the church

 These are all members of Monica's family, mother and sister and children who attended the party

A beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean from our balcony.

Maria Antonette with her grandchildren

Rodolfo with his two sisters.  Genevive on his right and Maria on his left

Marias son Rodrigo and his live in girlfriend and daughter,  The doll is the craze here now

 A picture of all of the women at the dinner.  Carolina, Rodrigo's wife (?) Genevive, Connie, Martha, Maria, and Margaret.

 Maria antonette hosted the Thanksgiving dinner.  She is not a member, but a very lovely person.  The family goes to the Evangelical church.

  Mark Reddick, Maria's husband holding their granddaughter and her doll.  These dolls are a craze  in Chile.  He said this doll cost $35.

 Genevive and her cat.

 Saturday we attended a baptism for Javier in the white shirt.  We met his mother Sandra at farmers market and talked to her.  She is not a member of the church, but a lovely person.  Her problem is she works Saturday and Sunday.

Sent from my iPad

Elder Quinton L. Cook Visit

Dear Family,  November 15 (Sun) through November 21 (Sat)

This has been an extremely busy and difficult week.  We knew it would be, so kind of braced ourselves for it, but it still took its toll on us.  We are now back in our apartment and it is 8 am here. (I am listening to the BYU game while writing this.)

TRANSFERS: (Combios take place every 6 weeks)
On monday we were sending missionaries home that have completed their missions.  That isn't too bad, as we have to do some driving and picking people up, but not too much more to do with them, but we also had to get ready for Tuesday when the new missionaries come in.   Here it is called (Combios) which means (change) in Spanish. In English they generally call it (Transfers), but they do not call it that here. We received eleven new missionaries,  for whom I also had to do driving and picking up, etc.  Also we had to prepare purchase and prepare food for them on Tuesday at the mission home and then prepare the office for the meeting on Wednesday when their companions arrive and they leave for their sectors.  Again driving  people around and food. prep. On Wednesday the new missionaries meet their trainers and the two of them depart after lunch for their new areas of service. This is always a three day process: Mon (old ones leave), Tue (new ones come), Wed (new ones meet their trainers) and after an orientation and lunch, they go out into the field. The next combios (changes) will be two days after Christmas on Monday 28, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30. We will have over 20 missionaries leaving for this one. Every six weeks this takes place and there is a lot of work and preparations that take place to get ready for this three day process. As there are 52 weeks in a year  this process takes place 8 times each year. This means we will work with 12 of them (three day process) during our mission.

ELDER QUINTON L. COOK: (Apostle)
Elder Cook was to arrive on Friday with two other general authorities, so we had to make certain everything was clean and in order and then shop and prepare food for 120 missionaries to be served in the office on Saturday and prepare 60 lunches for those having to catch a bus and leave right after the missionary meeting on Saturday to go back to their sectors.  That was no small chore.  Mom and I were both worn out every night   Serving 120 hungry missionaries right after going to a conference for two hours in the morning was a real effort.  Unfortunately we did not have the help we needed, as the office missionaries were tempted to go and see their former companions and visit with other missionaries.  We found ourselves in the office alone trying to do everything for a while, but fortunately some of the other missionaries offered to help us and we made it through the day.

ELDER COOK'S TALK:  (to the over 200 Missionaries)
We enjoyed his talk particularly as he spoke in English and had a translator for those who speak spanish.  It was interesting how they did it. He talked only in very short sentences, so it flowed right along (English) then (Spanish). He told the missionaries to write the four things down that he wanted them to hear.  He told them:
First  1- They are to be ward and branch builders by -- Baptizing, Retaining and Activating. He wanted them to be friendly, smile, know names of ward members, and be a big support to the wards or branches they are serving in. He wanted them to make a differences in the wards or branches they are serving in.

Second 2- He told them they succeed when they invite  people to learn about the Mormon Church - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regardless of the outcome, meaning whether they join the church or not.

Third 3- He told them that they are the message. Their smiles, their cheerful faces, their attitudes.  He told them to Be righteous and Follow the Savior.

Fourth 4- He told them to focus on their spiritual power on teaching, planning and purpose. He bore his testimony, and said even though they  (general autorities) are advised to not share in detail their spiritual experiences, he said he knows the Savior's voice and he has seen his face. But he did not elaborate on this.

Tomorrow (Sunday Nov. 22), Elder Cook will speak again in a special  multi Stake Conference here in Antofagasta.  Fortunately, we do not have have any more responsibility regarding his visit and we can rest now with not the pressure, for the upcoming week.

INVESTIGATORS:
We are pleased to report that we have had some good experiences with investigators this past week.

----Hugo Rivera (age 40 not married), who I met at TurBus four weeks ago, has now been to church three times and is planning on going to the conference tomorrow.  The elders working with him are very excited about him.  It had to be a miracle that we met him. He has only had 1 or 2 lessons so far.

----We also met with Claudio, Monica, and children Gabriela (age 7) and Phillip (age 20) and went with two young single adults in Katherin's car ( she is the wife of the area 70) up to see them.  We were received very well and had a good time helping Phillip to meet some of our young single adults.  We hope that perhaps Phillip (who is on break from his University studies until April) will make some friends in the church. This is a start in the right direction, but the Young Adults will have to do their part.

----We also have Alfred Yanez, who we met at Liders four months ago, taking lessons from missionaries and is possibly looking towards joining the church.

--- We went to only 1/2 hour of Edwards's Rugby game. However, he was on the bench so we didn't get to see him play. For some reason his mother or siblings do not come to watch him play, but he likes it that we come. He wants to get back together with us.

----We have a number of other investigators we are working with, but have not had time this week to do much with them, but I did call several of them on the phone.

We don't keep track of how long we work daily, we just work until we start feeling exhausted. We are staying healthy and are generally  refreshed after a nights rest for the next day, even at ages 75 and 73.  Fortunately this next week there is nothing major, so we can get back to our regular tasks. The MAIL room is packed with packages that are coming in for the missionaries and more come daily, but they all have to be  picked up at the Antofagasta post office which is a long detailed process (one package at a time, could take way over 1 hour to pick up 20 packages). We plan on having the missionaries pick up the packages, we we cannot carry them to the car (two blocks away from the post office.)

LOVE TO EVERYONE:
Please know that we are missing everyone and wish that we could be with all of you for Thanksgiving.  I started thinking of the holidays and they are going to seem kind of empty without being with all of you.  We do hope we can TALK to each of your families on Thanksgiving day. We get home from the office around 5 PM. So that is 1 PM your Utah time. We will be here the rest of the evening as we have nothing planned - we just want to be home to talk to our children and have them sing to us  the chorus of COUNT your MANY BLESSINGS in Spanish.

Nevertheless, we find our mission time passing quite fast because we are so busy, Since the past 6 months went by so fast, the next 12 months will go by equally as fast and we will be home again for  at least Christmas of 2016.

SPANISH PROGRESS:
We are using the new materials Bryan sent us and appreciate his help. He also gave us the book of John in spanish and english and it is helping us alot too. Every little bit helps. We are making process an inch at a time!

Love to you all and we Count Each of You as a Blessing in our Lives,

Mom and Dad

6 month Mark - Short Stories

Dear Family    Nov. 8, 2015

Another week of our mission past by so very fast it seemed. On the 18th of Nov we will reach our 6 month mark and 1/3 of our mission has taken place. It all goes by so quickly. Highlights of this week include the following short stories. We literally can only do so much. The Lord will have to give added help if any of these contacts have their hearts softened and want to eventually baptized. Antofagasta is like being on a Scavenger Hunt looking for WHO might be interested out of thousands  and thousands of Chileans and many Columbians who live here and who are not members of the Church. It is really quite the experience we are having.

About JOSE:  Our Monday evening Spanish session with Jose, after an hour and a half of Spanish work, turned into a big discussion about marriage. He is looking for a girl to marry, but his idea is more like ....... try it out and see if it works and get married later if it does.  We wonder if the LDS concepts we discussed with him will sink in, but we did present them. and he did listen

About CATHERINE:   On Thursday we went to the Institute at 7 pm to wait for Robert (whom we are trying to activate and Ivan Zuniga who was coming from Calama and neither of them showed up). However, Catherine Jimenez visited with us for over an hour. She is a  first cousin to Ivan, and asked us why we were waiting to see him. As it turned out she wants us to come to their home this coming Monday for home evening and show them George's Book of Mormon power point presentations. Her husband is the Area Authority over Antofagasta's 2 Stakes and 8 others. They attend our ward. This could prove interesting to say the least.

 About CLAUDIO,Monica and Jennifer: Last time we met with Claudio at our home (two weeks ago)  he was very down and said Monica wanted him to move out and they were separating. Then on Friday he called George and said he had been in an accident, went to the hospital, but was ok, and said for us not to come by. However, we purchased a large juice drink and did stop by. He answered (at their home) and had a bad black eye and other bruises. He was so glad we came and we visited for probably two hours. He was born in Chuquicamata (where we had pictures from last weeks excursion) so he was very interested in the photos of the deserted town by the Copper Mine. Then Monica came down and it appeared they had patched things up. Hopefully we can get the missionary lessons going again soon. Claudio is the same age as David and he calls us Mom and Dad as his parents are both deceased.

About JAVIER'S Graduation: This is the young man who is a member of the Church, but is sort of inactive. We have made friends with him, his older sister and younger brother and the parents. Diana called and invited us to his graduation party at the grandmother's home that is located about 8 blocks from our current apartment. We bought him a gift of a bottle of Juice and a box of Chocolates and went to the party. We felt impressed to start taking photos of all kinds which was a big service to them. Then we MET Javier's cousin Edger and his wife Anna (who is from the Ukraine in Russia and both speak fluent English. We spent the better part of the evening speaking to them, and have invited them to dinner next Sunday. More on this will come later, but we stayed till 11:00 pm and the party was still really going strong with all kinds of relatives and friends and tons of food.

About RAUL, Jennifer and baby: We were going to go take supper Sat. but he had to work, so we hope to work with them again this up coming week.

About ERNA and husband: She is the lady who called George during Priesthood meeting last week, we went to her home and she consented to come to our home, but after taking to her husband (later) I guess he said NO so she called and cancelled the dinner appointment and said she was happy being a Catholic.

About HUGO (who George met at the Tour Bus Station). He is the one who went to Quito Barrio (Ward) last week and George wasn't there so he went home. We drove all around to find his place (after we heard what had happened). Two of our missionaries were walking on the street and he called them over and said he went to church, but could not find Elder Talbot so he went home. We finally found his street (but only after two city workers told us not to go in that area as their are a lot of robberies and they grab watches off your arms, etc. But we did persist and found Hugo. We invited him to church this Sunday and he did come. More on that miracle below.

About ALFRED He was suppose to come to the Caliche Barrio (ward) so we went there to meet him, but he didn't show up due to a water leak in his apartment, so we then drove to the Quito Barrio (to catch the end of Sunday School and Priesthood looking for Hugo).

More About HUGO:  We got there to the quito Barrio and no Hugo. George called him and he said he would come right over. He did and they went to Priesthood together but the real miracle part of the story is that a man walked in and sat down behind them from Santiago. This was not his ward. He served in the military with  Hugo so they made a fast good connection. We invited Hugo, Carlos to dinner at our place, and Alfred was already coming so we had the 3  (40 to 50) year old men for dinner. Carlos told us that he was in church at the Angamos Barrio and a voice came into his mind two times to leave that ward and go to the Quito Barrio. He acted on the prompting and arrived just in time for Priesthood and sat behind George and Hugo. He was a BIG hit with Hugo and the dinner at our home with the 3 men was really something else. We needed Carlos (from Santiago) and the Lord sent him to us. The continued stories for Hugo and Alfred will be tied to the new Carlos who was extremely helpful at the dinner conversation as he spoke both English and Spanish.  Come to find out, Hugo and Carlos served in the military together in Chile.  Hugo drove a tank and Carlos fired the weapon.  To have them meet the way they did was a miracle.

About ANNA (from Russia): This was a tender story she told me at the Graduation party for Javier. Anne was the only granddaughter for her mother's parents and they all lived in Ukraine. Now their is one more grandchild. However. Anna's grandmother sacrificed to give Anna either English lessons or Ballet lessons.  The grandmother decided on the English lessons and thought they would be more beneficial so paid a lady to come twice a week for seven years while Ann was growing up. Then Ann met Edger in Antofagasta and they married. She has a good job and she mails her grandparents money each month as she saw how much they sacrificed for her buying her dresses and things she needed and they went without, plus paid for the English lessons.  They do not have much money to live on and the Ukraine has so many problems. Anna said it brings her great joy to give back to a wonderful grandmother in appreciation for all she sacrificed for her.

About ANNE's husband EDGAR: More on this next week. They are coming to Sunday dinner and that story will be big as he is not too hep on the Mormon religion.  I am certain we can hold our own with him.

These are just SHORT STORIES but we hope you will enjoy them. We put in our office hours Mon to Friday and spend as many other hours as possible working with our past contacts and then finding new contacts. We are juggling about 20 or more different households at the moment. These stories don't tell it all either.  There is much more we can't tell. All we do know is that we can only do SO much and if their hearts are to be turned to want the gospel and to make the necessary changes in their lives, the LORD will have to give added help. We saw a miracle today with Carlos being told to go to the Quito Barrio, and he didn't know why.

We love all of you and know you are praying for us just as we are praying for you and each of your lives and children's lives that all will work out the best for all of you with the individual challenges and struggles you are dealing with. SO glad the PACKAGES we sent arrived. We do feel healthy and eat really well with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables that we purchase at the Farmers Market. We feel our immunity has been increased and our bodies are stronger. Example:  I had two cold sores that started on my top lip and both of them just (did not grow) and went away.

Much Love  Mom and Dad

Hot Tub Pools and Copper Mines - Calama

Dear family  

We went to Calama this past week and your father did his Evidences of the Book of Mormon fireside (he sent a photo earlier from that), also went to Valley of the Moon, the largest Copper Mine in the world, to San Pedro de Atacoma, the Geysers. See the BLOG photos for the captions and many photos.  You will enjoy seeing them, so I will not go into details. But we won't be able to write captions, and send photos untill later today or tomorrow as we have a SERVICE project this morning, dropping off Halloween treats to some of our families, and meeting EDWARD to see his Rugby Game and (plus) meeting CLAUDIO  (another investigator) who is coming to sit by us at the game, We never have a real PDay as we do missionary work all day every Saturday. We get the laundry and house  clean up work (washing all of the floors etc) work done on Friday early in the morning or Thur PM (generally but not on Thur this week) so our Saturdays can be open.  We went to the Origines Ward HALLOWEEN party last night --- it said it would start at 7:30. We went at 8 and helped with final room prep, then waited until 9:30 before the people started coming and we were the PHOTOGRAPHERS for the photos of which we will send some, but we had to leave at 10:30 PM when more started coming. Chilean time is different then in the States. Another pair of missionaries told us they invited investigators to a Ward Function and the investigators came and no ward members showed up and after waiting a half hour they left. Our investigator who said she would come did not come and we were glad as no one else had arrived at 8 pm. They have great parties, but people come from 1 hour to 2 hours later after the start time, and I am sure the party went to well after MIDNiGHT!

Hope the grandchildren all have a fun Halloween trick or treating or Treating others as what most of you do,

Love AND Prayers for all of you, Mom and Dad

The strange plant.  Note the flowers on the side.  It is really prickly.

 Young people loved swimming in the hot tub pool.

 Source of the hot water for the hot tub pool.

 An interesting place with dressing rooms for changing and then swimming

 Interesting Place

Photo was the Chuquicamata open it copper mine.  Note the big trucks, they look very small.  The small trucks can barely be seen on the roads below.

 Another view of the mine.  Note the backhoe in the bottom loading a big truck.  Also you can see the big and little trucks operating.

 One more view of the mine with all the trucks operating in the mine.

 Another view of the mine that 1 1/3 mile long and very deep.  An earthquake fault line goes through the mine, which makes the mine somewhat dangerous.

A large volcano that is not active.  However, smoke is coming out of the active one to the left.

 A river valley with volcanos.  This area is know as the "Rim of Fire."

 Notice the Vicuna out of the bus window on top of the hill.
 The small village of Machuca

 Mom in front of one of the homes at Machuca

 The church at Machuca

A deep canyon as we returned to san Pedro de Atacama

 This is the Quechua Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama.  We stayed in the furtherest room to the back.