Paranal Observatory

DEAR Children, Spouses, and Grandchildren     Sat. Jan 23, 2016  6:15 pm

This has been another busy but eventful week Jan 18 to Jan 23, 2016.

Story 30   SUMMER in CHILE  Here in Antofagasta, Chile is in their FULL hot summer and the beaches are loaded with (sun umbrellas) and people and their children. We can see the beach from our South deck and it is really something, day after day, as school does not start here again until March 1 (Dec, Jan, Feb) are  the summer months here. However, we get the "sea breeze" and if we open our doors and windows to the outside, it is cool inside our apartment even though we do not have fans or air conditioning due to this cool sea breeze.  I did put up sheets to cover the windows to block the sun as best I could and it helps, plus I also hung some black plastic trash bags.

Story 31  CHILEAN CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAY PARTIES  We went and visited Edwards family last Saturday and George took photos of the "plastic fun house" that people order for parties (anyway the more wealthy people do). Edwards said the party was for one of their friends families, and they told them they could have the party at their house. We arrived when they were setting up the fun house, and left before the party. We had gone "home teaching" to this family, and had caught them all home. We are still just friend-shipping them at this time. (see photos)

A birthday party at Edwards home.  They go all out.

We stopped to see our friend Edwards Galdames

Story 32  THEIR PDAY - CAME for BREAKFAST  (Mon Jan 18) for two missionaries. Elder Kazden Jolley who lives about next door to Stephen and Timandra Fawson in LaVerkin, and his Latin companion who does not speak any English. Kazden has a twin brother who is serving in Peru. He said the two of them are as different in looks and personality as night and day. He is the grandson of Janet Hafen who I went to school with. Janet's sister Penny Hafen is the girl who beat out Jeff Holland for Studentbody President. (just some trivia). There mother sewed and dressed these two girls and a younger sister in high fashion for our day. Velma Ruth just died recently at about age 98. At the breakfast we talked about how to get people to read the Book of Mormon. We are looking for any missionary who has actually had someone from Chile read the whole Book of Mormon clear through and so far (NIL). (see photos)

We had Elder Jolly, from La Verkin, son of Margaret’s classmate and his companion for breakfast

Story 33  FIRST ALL CHURCH MISSIONARY CONFERENCE  (Wed Jan 20th) This was broadcast all over the world starting at 10 AM in Salt Lake City, but it may have been broadcast from Provo at the MTC. The Seventies put it on. Apostles who spoke were Elder Anderson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Oaks, then Elder Clayton from the 70s and the Young Women's president Sister Oscarson, and a member of the Presiding Bishopric. It was all focused on FINDING, TEACHING, RETAINING and ACTIVATING. They had a panel of missionaries (Sisters and Elders) who answered questions, they had charts, TV screens with statistics, a church video showing people helping one another, youth bringing in other youth, etc. and then ended it with Elder Oaks talk at the MTC to the missionaries in the audience who were taking notes, etc. It also stressed working with Ward Counsels to get contacts names.  AFTER the meeting we drove the missionaries back to the office and here are some of there comments they were making:

"I have only had one referral from a ward member in all of my mission"
"The branches I have worked in don't even have a Branch or Ward Counsel"
"We have never seen anyone in Chile do the things like the video showed us."
"People here don't even know there neighbors, and won't let them in their homes."
"Being a missionary in Chile is a lot different then being one in the USA."

George and I came to the conclusion unless the Church has a big push to have the ward and branch members help with giving the missionaries referrals it won't help to tell the missionaries to get the referrals from the ward members, as the Church no longer has the Elders and Sister missionaries knock on doors.

Story 34  DINNER for JOHANN & his WIFE ROSIO  (Wed Jan 20)  This was the 2nd dinner and George gave the lesson. We have a chart that we made up about the Plan of Salvation using scriptures from the Bible and some in the Book of Mormon. I tended the two children ages 1 and 5 while he taught. They are a special family, not married, but said they would get married, when George told them they would have to get married if they wanted to be baptized in the future. We are teaching them how to pray and the little girl is now folding her arms, bowing her head, and can say AMEN.  We feel we are making progress, and they are planning on coming again to our home for dinner, next week for another lesson. (see photo from last week)

Story 35  PACKAGE from STEPHANIE  for DAD's BIRTHDAY  It arrived on Thursday (Jan 20), and came in two weeks. We were so surprised, and she had purchased him some binoculars that he immediately opened and used. It was such a surprise. We will NOT be home on Sat. Jan 30 and Sun Jan 31 as we are driving to the South for George and two of the Elders to do "Church Audits" in four of the mission Branches. A Branch is under the Mission and not the Stakes, here in Chile. We hope to be back towards early Sunday evening so perhaps we can still talk to some of you on his actual (76th Birthday) as we are 4 hours ahead of you. Appreciate the cards from Bryan and Lisa and Laura that came too!

Story 36 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE   MOVIE from Bryan and Lisa. (Friday Jan 22) We had called them and they said they wanted us to watch a movie about the Paranal Observatory in Chile, so sent us a gift certificate and we got the MOVIE right in our apartment within 30 minutes. It was really something. The first movie (really a documentary) we have watched called "Nostalgia for the Light."  Then we got up early on Saturday. If any of you want to watch this you can order it from Amazon for $2.99.

Story 37  TRIP to PARANAL OBSERVATORY  We picked up the Elders at 7:30 am and drove South 75 miles. We arrived and parked and gave them our permits filled out for each person attending from our car. While waiting for the gate to open George met two couples and we got their names, and another family with the wife a member but husband not. We are always LOOKING for contacts and are rarely disappointed. It was a very interesting day. We went from sea level to 8600 feet above sea level. There were FOUR large observatories (look up Paranal Observatory in Chile) on the Internet if you want  to know more. Inside was incredible. The size of the telescope was monstrous!  One of the Elders fainted as he has had a history of low blood pressure. We also talked to one of the staff members while getting a medic for the Elder. He was from Santiago, but born in Evanston (suburb) of Chicago the same town that George served in on his mission, where his father worked for Northwestern University. Then the family moved to England, and he got a degree in Physics, and ended up in Chile. Married at age 42 and has a 3 year old daug. He works 4 months each year at the observatory the night SHIFT as the work is done at night.  George asked him if his work helped him religiously. He said no, as he is an agnostic.  He said they have Christians, Agnostics and Atheists working there. We were SO fascinated by the equipment all run by computers. Wish we could explain it all but it would not be possible here plus we heard most about it in Spanish, but loved the tour. We also went to the UNDERGROUND Hotel. George took lots of photos. We hope you enjoy them. (see photos)

Site of Paranal, the world’s largest astronomy observatory.  Top of Cerro Paranal.

 Facilities at Paranal Observatory.

 The complexity of the observatory tower inside.  It was amazing.

 The group listening to our guide in Spanish.

 Our guide teaching.  Notice the ring on the floor.  It was rotating.

Complex computer equipment at the site.

 A good look at the actual telescope.

 A good look at the reflecting mirror.

 One of the scientists from England examine the results.

 Waiting for entrance to the hotel at Paranal.

 Inside the Hotel at Paranal.

 Entrance to the hotel, which is underground.  Part of the James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solice was filmed at this hotel.

 Inside the hotel at Paranal.

 Left to right - Elder Spanbauer, Gonzalez, Morales, Walker and Hermana Talbot.  Elder Walker, in blue, fainted because of the 8600 ft. Elevation while inside the observatory.  That was a scare.

Margaret wanted me to take a picture of these trees.  You never see trees in the desert here.

Many European countries are participating and funding this project.  They have welcome written in the language of the countries participating.

The had many pictures on display at the museum of pictures taken of the night sky

A view of the Pacific Ocean from the Paranal Observatory.

 I posed for a picture atop Cerro Paranal.

 The tallest hill in the center is where they are putting a much larger telescope.

Margaret and I standing in front of Cerro Paranal Observatory.

 On top of Cerro Paranal, one of the several large observatories.  Notice how it can rotate.

 Smaller observatories that on tracks so that they can change position.

Story 38. BIG HAND in the ATACOMA DESERT We also visited the HAND that is out in the Atacoma Desert (about 7 miles south of  Route 5 road going to Paranal). There is not a paved road to it, you just drive over the desert up and down sand etc. The hand was HUGE. However the wind was blowing hard and blew my hat away but George caught it. You can look the hand also on the Internet.   (see photos)

A hand in the desert sculpture.  Elder Spanbauer in front.  The wind was very strong here.

 I let the elders take a picture of Margaret and I at the Hand Sculpture in the Dessert.  In addition to taking our picture, I found this picture on my camera.  It was a "selfie" of Elder Spanbauer, Elder Gonzalez, Elder Walker and Eder Morales.  They were excited to put this photo on my camera.

 Picture of Margaret and I at the Desert Hand Sculpture.

 Elder Walker couldn't resist getting one more picture of himself on my camera.

 Elder Morales posing in front of the Hand Sculpture.

Story 39.  READ BOOK of ABRAHAM 3-4 about the WORLD  The experience at Paranal sparked me  to re-read what it has in the Book of Abraham. We are so grateful for the restored gospel and the additional scriptures we have. The man at the Paranal who we talked to said there are "BILLIONS of GALAXIES" out there.  We are both so humbled to know that the God we worship created these. It is simply bigger than any of us can comprehend. I wish we would have shown you the photos from the MOVIE they showed us at Paranal of photos that they have taken, that were simply incredible with full colors, etc.

Story 40. FAMILY NEWS FOR THIS WEEK   (Jan 18 to Jan 23) Amy finding her diamond that fell out of her ring, Laura and Mike flying to Canada and noticing her passport expired the day she returns, Stephanie and baby are doing well, Waiting for a new grandson to be born this week, Zach's 7th birthday on January 28, Ethan being called to a Senior Patrol leader representing their Stake for a Scout Event in New York, Hannah's mission call went in on Monday Jan 18 (looking for her call before Valentines Day in Feb), worried about Bryan and Lisa in the big snow storm in the east. David (senior contest) and Drew (grandchildren contest) each won $20 for winning the bowl picks this year, We learned a lot about our son Jonathan on "Linkiden  Internet site) other of our men are on this site too,  and last news we heard is that Matt, Julie and family helped with Tornado cleanup in Texas. We Love  One and All!

WE LOVE the emails and phone calls from each of you and appreciate your prayers, particularly for our investigators and that we can learn and speak Spanish.

Love Mom and Dad in Antofagasta, Chile.

Christmas Tree Topples Down

Dear Children and families    January 17, 2016 Sunday

As usual, we have had another busy week here in Antofagasta. The days and weeks just seem to fly by. We work at the office and then work doing the dinners, and the clean up.

Monday  JOSE


Story 18 -PACKAGES MAILED for NEW BABIES (Mon Jan 10, 2017)   We returned to our apartment on our way to the post office and wrapped the two packages for the TWO new (wawas) means baby in Chile Spanish. We mailed the two packages on Monday the 11th of January so they should take at least 3 weeks to arrive.  We are SO relieved to have Stephanie and David's baby here safe and all going well. We pray for Amy daily that all will go well with her delivery too in the very near future.

Story 19 -  JOSE RETURNED to HELP US with SPANISH   (Mon Jan10, 2017) Our Spanish helper Jose, who lives in our same apartment building) returned after the Christmas holiday break. He thought he was flying to the states on a stand by pass, as his mother is a pilot for a major airline here in Chile, but he got to the airport and discovered to his dismay that his passport had expired. So his mother and brother left for the USA and he returned to Santiago to spend time with his father. His parents are divorced and his father married again and had had another child who is about age 1. His mother has not married again but has a live in boyfriend. Jose is extremely polite and very good to us. He is age 26. We had a good visit catching up on the holidays but (manana) means tomorrow (Monday-Lunes in Spanish) we will present the Gospel display chart and see what he thinks about our presentation.

Story 20  OUR ANTOFAGASTA ZONE MEETING  See Photo of the group  We (us and the elders from the office) drove to the zone meeting that we belong to. This meeting was held in a church (Miramar Barrio). Barrio is Ward in Spanish. This particular church is built on a very prominent hill overlooking the whole city of Antofagasta. If Antofagasta ever gets a temple I think they will convert the church on this site to be the temple. Anyway, there were about 25 elders and sisters at this meeting. The new Zone Leaders did a terrific job of introducing all of us as many new elders were now serving since last week was transfer week. Then they had the sister missionaries take some time, and they had a bag of candy and every elder or sister who answered a question got a piece of candy. Then they talked about the Zone statistics. They are hoping to have 20 baptisms during the next two months. The WHOLE Mission only had 426 baptisms for 2016. This Zone has not had a baptism for two months. There are 7 Wards in this Zone,. and the average attendance for all 7 of these wards was 700 for the month of December.

Recent La Portada Zone meeting in Antofagasta.  Hermana Talbot is second from right in the front. She looks like one of the young hermanas.

Story 21  HUGO WANTS to STAY CATHOLIC.  We have sent photos of Hugo before. He is the single man George and Elder Lawson met at Tour Bus, and he wanted to learn about the church. He then came to church 3 times, and started the lessons. When the missionaries invited him to set a baptism date he said he would have to think about it. He is also the man who invited us to go to Juan Lopez for a day. He didn't answer his phone for the past 30 days and when George finally got hold of him, we invited him to dinner for Wed Jan 13 Jan 2017). During the dinner he told us he wants to stay Catholic and does not want any more lessons, but wants to be our friend. We felt badly but had to honor his decision.

Story 22 JOHANN WIFE and TWO DAUGS   See two photos.  Johann did not show up for church last Sunday so on Monday before we went to the office we drove to the street he lives on and left some candy for his daugs. and a note. He called George and we invited him to bring his wife and two daugs. to dinner. They came on a city bus and then walked several blocks pushing a stroller to our apartment. We had a nice evening and good discussion about the church. We hope they will keep wanting to learn more. However, it is really sad here in Chile as the men if they do not have a degree get paid very little. They do not own a home or a car. He is living with his grandmother and she with the two children with her parents. We know tithing would be a great sacrifice for them. We will have to keep leaving notes at the gate and having them over again in the near future.

Pia, the young daughter of Johann and Socio.  She had fun at our home.

Johann, Socio, baby Isadora, and Pia.  They were at our home for dinner.  They plan on attending church with us on Sunday.  We met him at the port.

Story 23  RODOLFO, MARTHA &  SON, Martha's mother (MARIA), and Rodolfo's sister MARIA all came over for dinner on Friday 15 Jan, 2016. We had a lovely dinner of chicken and noodles fixed with sauce. They loved the meal. Then we brought out the church Family History booklet and had the women fill it out at the table with names, etc. while George worked with Rodolfo on the computer in Familyhistory.org. The mother (MARIA) was born in Brazil. Her parents came from Italy, so she did not know any of her grandparents who lived in Italy. She said her parents were very poor and she never had shoes as a child. There were 8 children. She did not know their birthdays, but wrote all of their names in the booklet. She was a very lovely lady. She attends a major Church in Brazil, not Catholic, but something else. We pray that even ONE of these people will want to READ the Book of Mormon and get a testimony. It is going to take a miracle for this to happen.

Gustav (called Guga) Martha, Maria Antionetta, Maria (Martha's mother from Brazil) and Hermana Talbot. Margaret fixed a lovely dinner for them.  It was a fun evening as we read from the Book of Mormon, taught them the music "Star Bright" and played a game.

Story 24  THE MILK BOX CHRISTMAS TREE CAME DOWN in 15 SECONDS   After the dinner, little Guga was walking around by the table and accidentally pushed over a chair that hit the Christmas Box Tree that I had sent photos of earlier. The adults all "gasped." But George and I just laughed and  then he took a photo of little Guga standing by the tree. This is a must see photo!  We all had a major laugh and they were still laughing when they all walked out of the door to go home. It really was funny, but the box tree had to come down anyway. I just had a hard time parting with it so left it up as it had a lot of decorations Amy, Julie, Laura and others had sent, plus all of Christmas card photos that had come in the mail. I did love making that tree out of milk boxes.

Bye Bye Christmas.  Guga accidentally tipped over a chair on Hermana Talbot's Christmas Tree and the tree came tumbling down.  We all laughed ourselves silly over this picture

Story 25  HOME TEACHING SIX FAMILIES  Sat. Jan 16, 2016. Here in Chile they really do not have home teaching or visiting teaching like in the states and wards in Texas. People do not own cars, and would have to take a bus and to do it is next to impossible. So we decided to do our own VISITING. I got up and took the cake mix (spice) that Amy had sent me and made it into cookies. I used a banana, 2 eggs, some oatmeal, oil, and made balls of dough and cooked them. They turned out really well. Then I made 8 paper plates with cookies, and a church card taped to each plate.  We had NO appointments, but said a prayer and started out in the truck we have on the weekends to visit our contacts. The first home was that of (1)  CLAUDIO and Monica. They are now separated and we found Monica and the two children at home. We had a nice visit and caught them right before they were leaving. Then we drove to the next home (2) MARCELLA, and threw the cookie plate through the gated area and it landed by the doorstep as no one was at home, the next home was for the (3) LEYTONS. Only the mother was home. She invited us in and we asked if we could read the Book of Mormon with her. She said yes, and then invited us to dinner on Tuesday when all of the family would be there, and she wanted all of them to read in it too. The next stop was (4) RAUL but they would not answer the door, even though they were home, so we hung the cookies on a hook above the door so the dog would not get it. Then we went to (5) EDWARDS home and found them all home. They loved the cookie package and the mother Paula, said she would eat them all. We were so surprised to find them all home. Then we drove home and kept the other cookie packages to give away on Sunday at Church to a couple who were just baptized (6) THEY LOVED THEM, and called (7) ROBERT on the phone and said we gave his cookies to someone else as he didn't come to church.

Story 26  GEORGE WENT FISHING with RODOLPHO.  They went Sat. afternoon  (Jan 16, 2016) from 5 to 10:30 pm. George thought it was just he and Rodolfo, and had planned to really get serious about the church, but then the brother in law came too, so he could not talk as planned. The bro in law played the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the car from his computer and George asked if he was a member, but he only did it for George who was a Mormon. This is going to be a hard sell to get them out of the Evangelico Church. But we pray daily for a miracle. They also caught only two small fish, and George came home saying he is not as sure footed as he used to be climbing around etc. Glad they all returned safely.


Story 27  GEORGE'S TOMATO PLANTS.  See photo.  You have to know a "farmer at heart" will not give up his garden, even when on a mission. He planted them from seeds he bought at a store six weeks ago. Edwards family had a PLANT FARM in the far north. He is going to come and get the plants on Monday and take them to the farm as we do not have any BEES up 20 floors in the air. It will be interesting what happens to these plants after they leave us.

is an update on my tomato plant garden.  I have six plants growing.  The tallest one now has a blossom on it near the top.  ?Donde esta son las Abejas?

Story 28  A NEW FRIEND HUGO B. BRIAN.  We met him at church today (Jan 17, 2016). He is a Mormon from Louisana and is here working in Antofagasta for 2 months on a project. He is a chemical engineer and went on a mission in California (Spanish).  We invited him to come to our apartment after church for dinner at 5 PM.  During the dinner he told us he was named for a former member of the first presidency (Hugh B. Brown). We then asked him to help us with the Sacrament Prayers in Spanish. Come to find out he is an excellent teacher and explained word by word in the prayers. He knows English grammar very well and Spanish too. He will come back again for breakfast on a Saturday in two weeks. He was very, very nice to us and is the same age as Jonathan. He has a wife and six children in the USA..

Story 29  THIS WEEK on WEDNESDAY Jan 21 will be the FIRST ALL WORLD Missionary CONFERENCE from the First Presidency, the Apostles, and the Seventy. It will be broadcast all over the world starting at 10 AM Utah time, (2 PM our time). All missionaries are to go to their stake centers to watch the broadcast. We will tell you more about this next week. It is an historic event. Dallin will be watching it in California.

We love you all very much.  We want you to know that we are both enjoying this mission very much but feel so badly that it is so hard to get people to want to learn more about the church. We know that ONLY if we get divine intervention from our Heavenly Father it simply may not happen. We have worked so very hard, had so many many dinners, have had many many elders in our apartment for dinner too, sat through lesson after lesson, but so far after being here 8 months we have not had even ONE of our contacts request baptism. Now we know why we should pray daily to find the honest in heart who will accept the gospel. We LOVE our contacts so very much. The families we have made friends with are so very special to us.  We can see what the gospel would do for them and their families. We  read the Book of Mormon daily, work hard at the office daily, and then spend  any spare minute on Spanish, prepare and have  dinners at our apartment, plus try to find new contacts weekly of which we added two more this past week. We rarely spend even a minute for ourselves. We do hope the Windows of Heaven will soon open and pour down blessings on our contacts.

Love  and Prayers Always for Each of you.    Mom and Dad

Chilean Fiesta

Story 16  - DANCERS on SUN.Dec. 27 CELEBRATING "MARY"Mother of Jesus"

 These photos came about because we had met "Johann and his step father George" at the boat ramp when we were watching Edward launch his new business. We invited them over for dinner, and they came. We gave them the review of the church, as both of them had heard about the church, and Johan was particularly interested. We invited him to come to Church on the Sunday after Christmas, but we waited for him on the bench at Church but he never came. After church we decided to go and look for the place he lives with his grandmother. We parked the car on the street and SAW MANY people standing around, and heard LOUD music, drums, and saw dancers in the street. We walked toward it, and to our surprise, here was the BIGGEST crowd and street dancers from many different groups of people who had come from many different places. Sort of like a (Band Competition of Some Sort). Hunter would have LOVED it. The drums were huge. It went for at least  a half mile up one street, and a quarter of a mile across another street. We found a man to help us find Johan's grandmother house and it was on a street that came right out of where this was all taking place. George took lots of photos. We didn't find Johan home, but did find all of this on a Sunday afternoon after Christmas.  ENJOY the photos!  

 More dancers.  Note how long the different groups extend.

 Dancers with a Gorilla

 A pretty young lady who participated.

 Strange masks

 I purchased a hotels here in Antofagasta.

Dear Family  NEW YEARS DAY in Antofagasta Chile  Jan. 1, 2016

       Hard to believe we are now into the new year of 2016. We also are starting our 8th month of this mission.  During this time we have probably met and worked with over 60 different contacts and have had many many dinners at our home  (probably 8 a month) for new friends, contacts, and missionaries. Plus we have attended several 1st discussions (in Spanish), and given 1st discussions (in English), but so far we have had none of our contact desire to be baptized.  This mission  in Antofagasta only had 414 baptisms for all of 2015. Which is lower than the three previous years. That averages out to 34 a month(+50 more) a little over 1 person being baptized per day (counting 365 days in a year). We have not been told what the actual retention rate is for this mission. Grandsons - Hunter told us they were baptizing approximately 150 per month in Thailand, and  Spencer said it was  at about 150 per month in his mission in Brazil, too. However, the retention rate is probably under 20% in both of those missions. That means out of a 100 baptisms, less than 20 remain active in the church.  Hunter said the retentsion was 11%  retention when he arrived and 17% when he came home.  Missionary work is more than just BAPTIZING, it is RETENTION and also SHARING  testimonies, with those who do not accept it. Maybe someday or years later, our contacts will accept the gospel plan, we just keep trying, but don't drop our new friends.

                Starting in 2016 we will be numbering the stories we write.

Story 1 - HIME (Jamie) SPANISH HELPER, FROM the QUITO WARD

    We met Hime one Sunday when we were visiting this ward. This ward is closest to our apartment (and is the Stake Center), but we have been assigned to another ward 5 miles to the South. Hime had a suit on and was at church, yet he told us that he was not active in the church. He spoke English and talked to me for a while, after the sacrament meeting. I asked him how busy he was and he said not very, and so I asked if he could come weekly and help us with our Spanish. He did not want to be paid, therefore we send him home with a food item each week (a large juice bottle, box of granola bars, etc.) which he seems to like this idea. He is very punctual  and arrives nearly exactly on time weekly.
            This past week we asked him WHY he did not consider himself active in the church, as he does go to church. He said he was baptized when he was 10 years old along with his 13 year old sister. His father had always been a member, but his mother was a convert. The family went to the Santiago Temple and was sealed when he was 10 years old (which means his mother must have been baptized at least a year earlier). His father even had been a former bishop of the Quito Barrio. He said he was ordained a deacon, and passed the sacrament for 2 years, but never advanced to receive the teacher ordination in the priesthood. Somehow, he became dis-interested and did not believe in the Church, and he then told us "Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon." He said he had read it  years ago and had even attended seminary for two years, but does not believe the church is what people say it is.  He said he does take turns praying at home  (blessing the food) along with other family members to honor his mother, but he does not believe in a God. He goes to church (sacrament meeting only) to honor his mother's request, but does not take the sacrament, then walks home.  We obviously were both surprised, as we did not get into his personal beliefs when he first started coming to our apartment, and because he was always at church we didn't think he meant it when he said he was not an active member. He then told us that he is an atheist. However, George told him that he is not an atheist, because he cannot prove that there is not a God, but he is more correctly an agnostic. He then said, "then I am an agnostic."
         He is 24 years old and turns 25 on January 15th.  This will be a GOOD project for us to see if we can help him get a testimony that the Church is true, as he comes to our home weekly. His parents must love that he comes and helps us.
          Our lessons with him will now change as we will need to start trying to help him gain a testimony. For the past 3 weeks we have been reading the Christmas story from the Bible in Matthew and Luke and he has been explaining the Spanish words, etc.  It takes us a LONG time to even get through 8 verses, so it did not go very fast (one hour for only 8 verses) because he explains a lot of things to us. We bought him a new shirt for Christmas and he wore it last time. We also gave him a (little seed) this past week to put in the pocket and told him FAITH is like this little seed and it can grow. He didn't seem to think so, but smiled as he left.



Story 3 - HOW PEOPLE WASH DISHES in ANTOFAGASTA

    Most of the homes, even nicer homes in large apartment buildings, do not have "hot" water in the kitchens. For the bathroom showers, they tell me it is something that heats the water as they use it. We do not have hot water at the office (church) either. Nor does any of the churches in our mission have hot water. In Chile, they sell a container like a big pitcher that you plug in and it heats water in about 3 to 4 minutes, if you want hot water.
      We have been in at least 4 homes, and this is how they do the dishes. They get a medium size plastic bowl and mix the dish soap with cold water and make a nice creamy suds. Then they take a sponge and in one sink (with no water in it, rub the dishes on all sides with suds in a sponge, and the silverware) then have the tap with cold water running and rinse them. George rinsed the dishes, etc. and I stacked them. They do not dry them with towels, but stack them so they drip dry and then in the morning put them away.
        The kitchens are VERY VERY small, they are long with very little room, and are very compact. Our daughters and daughters-in-laws would "gasp" if they had to work in these kinds of kitchens.  However, the richer people in the South do have BIG homes, and I am certain they have bigger kitchens (the mission presidents home is in the south and that kitchen is big, but I am talking about the normal everyday people, and even in the homes in nice condos, and probably most people here, have it even smaller that what I am describing (maybe just a sink and running water and a small counter and a few cupboards.
     Our kitchen is similar, George and I can hardly pass each other and it has only 1 sink, but WE DO have a hot water heater, a large one like in the USA, therefore we do not have to heat our water. The utility bills are very high in Antofagasta, much higher than in  the USA.

Story 4 - BUSY PAST WEEK  "COMBIOS"  Missionaries LEAVE and COME

      (Combio it is a verb conjugation of Combiar - to change) We had long days Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then Thursday was New Years Eve.  We had 20 missionaries go HOME, and 11missionaries ARRIVED. We served a dinner on Tuesday for the arriving missionaries and office staff, and then on Wed. the trainers for the new missionaries arrive and we have a dinner again. The trainers train for 12 weeks. It is an honor to be asked to be a trainer. But all of this involves DRIVING people around, to hotels for some of the 20 missionaries who cannot fit into the mission home as they have to then leave the following morning on a bus to the airport to FLY to Santiago where they are met with another bus to take them to the temple where they do one session before they then fly to their homes.  George got to the office at 6:45 am on Tuesday and worked driving people around constantly (picking them up at bus stations, and what ever else - plus we did some shopping for the next days meal) and he didn't finish with driving around until 10:30 pm at night. I would say that is a long day for someone who will turn 76 in 31 days.

Story 5 - DYING MISSIONARIES and being BORN MISSIONARIES

     George and I do not like the above terms. This is what the elders and sisters call themselves when they arrive and when they leave. We talked to Hunter and Spencer and they said they used the same terms in their mission. The church has 406 Missions.  We feel when missionaries go over (85,000 out serving) it would be better to call them REBORN again when they go home over "Dying."  If we are all to be missionaries the rest of our lives, "Dying" just does not give the right meaning.  In the office the elders say so and so is dying (if) they are leaving. I guess George and I are seeing a new dictionary definition for "dying" ...one going home from a mission!  One time an elder said to me, an elder was just assigned to where he was "born" and the people will be glad to see him. I thought, it was the place he was really born (as a baby), but not, so, it was where he served in his first sector after arriving.

Story 6 - WHAT TOOK PLACE AT THE BUS STATION at 10 PM

    After a long day George returned to the office to take an elder to the bus station who was now being transferred to another place, one of the former APS. I cannot tell all of the events along with this, but when he went to pay for the parking ticket, two elders had just arrived on another bus, and needed to go to their apartment. It was late and George was tired, but he offered to drive to take them, was at least somewhere in the area kind of where we live.  After dropping them off with their luggage, one of the latin elders knocked on the glass window of the van on the drivers side.  George said he rolled down the window, and this elder in broken English said "Elder Talbot I love you." George said it was a tender moment for someone who had worked all day serving the elders and sister missionaries, the one "I love you" meant a lot to him. All I can say is he could have told the elders to call a taxi, but he went the extra mile, late at night, when he was very tired, and drove them home, before turning home.

Story 7- THE ELDER WHO HELPED LOAD the LUGGAGE

     When we arrived at the office in June the elder who was over the finances, was particularly discouraged with the big responsibility he had and did not feel his efforts were appreciated. George and he bonded together and worked so well together. It was now time for this elder to return home. George said he had never had such a BIG bear hug, when they saw each other, as he had served in the field for the past 12 weeks. This elder told George that when he arrived it was the turning point in his mission. He simply could not thank him  (George) enough for coming on this mission. Then he helped LOAD all of the luggage in the van while the other elders stood around and talked, which was a great help to George.  A missionary can be MORE than just preaching the gospel, he can be offering to HELP when a task is obvious that has to be done, he can CLEAN up after himself, he can ask is there something ELSE I can do for you, he can give RESPECT to his elders, he can THANK those who help him, he can OPEN doors for others.... he can in truth, be much much MORE than whatever one thinks he will be or need to be when deciding to go on a mission. This missionary was ONE of these kinds of elders.  Something to think about when our daughters and sons families are raising future "missionaries" elders or sisters.

Story 8 - THE RESULTS of the BIOPSY on GEORGE's HAND

     We picked up the biopsy taken from the top of George's hand on Dec. 31st. It had a lot of words we did not understand, as it was written in Spanish, but the summary read to us by one of the office elders,  said it was not malignant, or was not cancer of any kind. It said it was more of a "sun burn" on a place on the hand. It may have cost us money to see the doctor and to get the biopsy, but it was better to KNOW it is OK, over wondering and not finding out. We could not have had better care from Dr. Valencia when at his office (a dermatologist). We do have to go back and take the results. Here in Chile, we drove to take the biopsy to the medical clinic where they do it, and then we picked it up, and will take it (the results) to the doctor. This is not how they do it in the States.  We will tell more when we return from the Dr. office, perhaps next week.




END of Jan 1, 2016 Family News and Stories.   These stories are not a day by day account, but some of the grandchildren have said they enjoy the STORIES more than just long paragraphs of what we are doing. George keeps a day by day diary (in cursive) but it will need to be translated, as we understand that our grandchildren do not READ cursive any more. I write a weekly account on Sunday but not a daily entry.  We will be having lunch at the mission home today and then have one of our investigators families (she just had a new baby) and they also have a 4 year old son who has autism) over for supper tonight at 7, along with 3 missionaries.

    MUCH LOVE to you ALL and BLESSING for the New Year. We so enjoyed talking to all of our children's families on the  phone over the past two days. We will be praying for Stephanie and Amy particularly who will be having their babies in January. We also pray for the success of Merrill's new business, and that Landon will find the job that he wants in this new year. We also pray for Dallin on his mission and for ALL of you individually and for all of the grandchildren. We have to do prayers in Spanish, then our longer English prayers to pray for all of you. A new year is always an "open slate" for all of us.