Week of October 18 to October 24, 2015
Dear Family,
DOGS in the streets - the dogs in Antofagasta continue to bring us laughs and chuckles as they are laying around everywhere during the day. We think they are nocturnal and sleep during the day and roam the streets at night. However there are plenty of big dogs roaming the streets too.
FARMERS MARKET and Missionaries - We originally found this couple at the market. they stopped us and called us Mormons. We stopped and talked to Carlos and his wife. They have a little son named Peter. After a month of not finding them at home George finally had a phone call where they answered. We had them and the missionaries that go to the district where they live over for dinner. Come to find out that Carlos was an orphan in Peru and over 30 years ago the LDS church had some kind of care center for these kinds of children and a school. He said they did not push their religion on him, but he was grateful to them. Their little boy (age 4) doesn't talk very much. We told them about Primary and hope they will soon visit the church meetings. They are seeing the missionaries weekly now so we will see what happens.
DINNER with a new couple from Scotiabanc - George has a true gift for recognizing people by the light in their eyes. The woman at the bank who helped him had that light and he asked her if she would like to learn about the Mormon Church. She said yes so the photo has them sitting at the table after the meal and before the Book of Mormon discussion. They committed to read the first 10 chapters in 1st Nephi so we invited them back for dinner next Friday to talk about those 10 chapters.
WORKING to activate Robert Cherino - Here is the young man Robert who joined the church 3 years ago and then went inactive. Some of our missionaries re-activated him and then he went inactive again. We are now working with him to try to get him away from the 7th Day Adventist Church, where he has many friends. He is in the photo with the new missionaries who are working with him, plus us.
IVAN Zuniga from Calama for dinner - We met Ivan at the Pathways English program class. He is the bishop of one of the Calama wards. Both Ivan and his brother Claudio are very interested in George's Book of Mormon discussion that he used to give firesides on. Now Ivan has scheduled George to do a fireside for the Calama Stake on Oct 7th. we will go up ad back on the bus. Converting the presentation to Spanish plus having a translator should prove to be somewhat of a challenge.
WHAT has to be done at the office for Cambios (changes) - for those of you who wonder what I (Margaret) do at the office Here is a brief description. I work with another elder to get things ready for the missionaries LEAVING and the missionaries ARRIVING. This process takes place every six weeks. It is a lot of work to prepare all of the materials that I have listed below, but generally it takes about 3 weeks.
New Photos for ARRIVING missionaries for office and pres. home photo boards
Three ring binder with two printed books, and printed page Sheet with important phone numbers to glue in the apartment, police, etc.
Luggage name labels, laminated and with tags (3 each)
Purchase a pillow for each new missionary
Purchase 2 bottles of water for the missionary and his companion
Purchase two packages of cookies for each new missionary
Put the water and cookies in a black shoulder bag for each new missionary.
Make the Memories booklets for LEAVING Spanish and English Missionaries Make end of missions certificates
Make letters for the missionaries; stake president
Names printed on large white envelopes to hold things
Gather together mail for missionaries coming in and those leaving
Lists have other items, but I can't list them all.
SATURDAY and the GPS - Saturday is our P-day, but we usually do not adhere to taking the day off. Today we met and planned to visit Raul and Jennifer Merino (the cake mix couple) who are moving to a new home to see if we could help them with their move. I had tried to call all week, knowing that they were moving to see what we could do to help. They were busy and did not answer their phone, so we decided to use the GPS and find their new home. It led us directly to their new residence where we were able to catch them home and helped them unload their car. Mom also took their curtains and washed and ironed them. We also told them we would take dinner to them Sunday evening. They are really a neat couple but because of work, moves etc., they have been very difficult to catch home.
NEXT WEEK - We plan to take some time off next week, with the mission president's blessing. We will be leaving on Tuesday evening and take a bus to Calama, which is about a three hour drive away. We will stay overnight with Ivan Zuniga on Tuesday night, and then meet Doug and Nancy Lawson on Wednesday and tour the Open Pit copper mine, which is he largest in the world. We will then drive to San Pedro de Atacama and have a tour of the Valley of the Moon and the geysers. We will return to Antofagasta Thursday evening. It will be an active two day retreat. We will probably not be accessible during that time period.
We hope everyone is doing well in Provo and other places..
Love,
Mom and Dad
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