Another week has passed through our fingers and our high lights were many. We got to talk on the phone this past week with Merrill, Laura, Julie, Jonathan, Bryan and George's two sisters Glenda and Viola. We also received (family news) via emails from Laura, Laura (for Hannah), Stephanie, Debbie (for Dallin), Viola, Glenda and Mark Pearce. Highlight of the week was Matt & Julie's daughter, Jennah Grant turning in her mission papers. We are counting the days until she will know where she will be called. She will receive her call in Idaho, where she will be at BYU Idaho. We so enjoy hearing from any of you and check our emails daily before we leave. We are 3 hours ahead of when our Utah children's families. We hope the Kleins and Grants had nice wedding anniversaries on July 31 and Sept 1. We hope you all had an enjoyable LABOR DAY Holiday. Also we hope you ENJOY this weeks STORIES. For the photos you will need to go to talbottestimony.blogspot.com. We also sent TWO videos this week of the Cueca dance and a street show where they were playing the piano and the violin.
STORY 271 a JENNAH GRANTS' MISSIONARY PAPERS ARE IN!
We were so thrilled to learn from Julie Talbot Grant our daughter, that her daughter Jennah's missionary papers have been signed and all interviews are done, and they pushed the button to send them into Salt Lake City headquarters. We simply cannot even begin to express how greatful we are to have another granddaughter now who wants to serve a mission. These young girls (ages 19 to 26) who are serving in this mission add so very much to the missionary work. We can see the wisdom in lowering the age so more girls can now feel it will work into their "life plan." We will be praying that she will be sent to the right place and to the right mission that will be just for her.
STORY 271 b YOUR AUNT VIOLA & UNCLE AFTER FOUR GENERATION PHOTOS
Her great grandson is coming to this same Antofagasta mission a day after we leave to FLY home. We leave on December 6 and he arrives on December 7. This is remarkable to have great grandchildren serving missions. We loved the photos they sent us and wanted to share them with each of you.
George's sister - Viola Talbot Fawcett................. born 25 April 1931
Viola's daughter Nancy Fawcett Wilcox born...... born 6 Feb 1954
Nancy's daug Raylinda Fawcett Hirschi born...... born 13 Aug 1976
Raylinda's son Logan Herschi born..................... born 10 April 1998
Elder Logan Herschi will be coming to the Chile Antofagasta Mission on December 6 of 2016 on a plane that will arrive between noon and 1 pm, which will be the same day we leave at 4 am in the morning with the other missionaries who are going home. Logan will be going to the Mexico MTC the end of October. (3 photos)
STORY 272 COUSIN TED, wife WENDY &two DAUGS - VISIT HANNAH in Florida!
We could not resist including the photo of Hannah with my sister Marilyn and Glenn Smith's son Ted Smith who lives in Orlando. We were so pleased that the Orlando Mission President allowed them to go and visit Hannah. We will have to wait for Hannah's email letter to know more about this visit. Ted's family used to live in Tremonton,Utah, but moved to Orlando, due to a job change last year in 2015. From what we have heard they hate being so far away from Tremonton, but also love it in Orlando, where the home they live in also has a swimming pool. Ted is around the same age as our Laura. (1 photo)
STORY 273 FINDING HOTELS for OUR VISIT TO OUR THREE SONS MISSIONS
This was a time consuming process for us. We needed to arrange for hotels in Salta, Cordoba and Buenos Aires (in Argentina) now, even though it is 12 weeks away. George had called Carlos Fida in Salt Lake City who is from Argentina and he gave us a few suggestions, but basically we ended up having to just go into the "Hotel Searching Place" and look for hotels ourselves, where we also needed to pull up street maps showing locations, etc. We also had tried to call our son Bryan to find out the places where he had lived in the big city of Cordoba, but just got an answering machine. Therefore, we proceeded on our own. We came up with three hotels and one accommodation for five nights in Temple Housing (in Santiago,Chile), where we had previously made those arrangements. Our mission ends on November 18, (be gone from Nov 18 to Dec 1) and will return home on December 7 with the other missionaries leaving on this date.
Hotel - El Relax in Salta, Argentina (2 nights)
Hotel - UH Urbano in Cordoba, Argentina (2 nights)
Hotel - Tango de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina (3 nights)
OUR BLESSING - To our BIG surprise when we did get an email from Bryan the hotel we "picked in Cordoba" was in a perfect location to be close to where he had lived, where the church was he had attended a Zone conference, and where Austin had lived when he was there. We felt we were guided by the influence of the Holy Ghost and was helped and guided to find this hotel in such a perfect location. The promise when we take the sacrament that we will have the spirit of the Holy Ghost with us during the week if we are living righteously, certainly was verified when we picked the hotel in Cordoba. For any of you who want to look at these hotels you can type in the hotel name into Google with city name. (no photos)
STORY 274 BIG SURPRISE -AIRPLANE COSTS from USA to CHILE ($860 or $1580)
We commented to our son Jonathan Talbot last week via email about a lady we met at the Las Rocas Open House two Sundays ago, that she had told us she had purchased two airplane tickets to the USA (with the destination) Las Vegas, Nevada, for $800 each. We thought this was quite remarkable as our son David had told us when he checked airplane ticket prices they were over $1500. After telling Jon about the low price, he then went into the internet airline tickets site and verified that IF you are purchasing tickets to Las Vegas (Nevada) round trip to CHILE then you can get them for $860, but if he purchased tickets for such a trip from the Dallas Fort Worth Airport they are over $1500. But the real surprise was the Las Vegas (SAME plane for the $860 price) lands in Dallas Fort Worth airport to pick up passengers who are paying the ($1500) price. Now try to figure this out to have it make sense! Las Vegas must have SOME KIND of deal with the airlines to reduce prices, etc. to get people to Las Vegas. This means IF any of the St. George, Utah, relatives have missionaries in foreign countries they can probably get HALF PRICE fares for traveling to foreign countries out of Las Vegas Airport. At least it is worth checking this out for people who are traveling. (2 photos of price comparisons)
STORY 275 ATTENDING the QUITO BARRIO PRIMARY SHARING TIME (Sun Aug 28)
We never end at trying to come up with ideas of how to get Marta and Rodolfa into the church. Unfortunately, they have attended most events in the barrio we go to and have said they want to go to that barrio. We told them that in the church you have to go to the barrio where you live, so we decided to go to the Quito barrio and attend their primary to see what it was like. Therefore we attended Sacrament meeting in our barrio and then drove to the Quito barrio to attend primary. By the time we got there it was time for Primary Sharing time, which for this barrio was the last hour. It was a much smaller primary with only 12 to 15 children in the younger group and ONLY 1 child, a male child the same age as Guga. We introduced ourselves and told the president we were "scouting out their primary" to see what it was like. They were so "excited" to have the possibility of another child to come to their primary and treated us so very well. Photos taken were of this event, that we took to show to Marta, which we did. (3 or 4 photos)
STORY 276 a INVITED TO SUNDAY DINNER AT MARTA'S HOME (Sun Aug 28)
When we arrived we found out this was NO small affair. They had invited, Marta's sister, her children, and Rodolfo's sister, and his bro in law Able. The table was set beautifully and the dinner was excellent. We are SENDING you the instructions on how to make the food they served, as Rodolfo found it on a web site and made it, and then gave us the web site. The long spagetti noodles cooked and mixed afterwards with what he had mixed in a blender was utterly delicious. (1 group photo)
STORY 276 b WE WERE SHOWN PHOTOS of a JEWISH WEDDING (Sun Aug 28)
Rodolfo has a brother named "Sic" who is 72 and is a Jewish convert, but also part Jew as both Rodolfo and Sic's father came from Jewish descent. Sic is the son who was taken to the USA on the ship (that we told you about many stories ago) and was LEFT in the United States to seek his fortune at age 18. He chose to become a chef. He has since returned to South America and lives in Brazil. This was his 4th marriage, and it was a FULL Jewish Marriage with all of the pomp and ceremony. Rodolfo had flown to Brazil the past weekend (reason Marta could come to our church as he was out of town), and was there for all of the Jewish customs and proceedings. We sat on the couch in his small living room area and Rodolfo showed us all of the photos he had taken, one by one over 75 photos and told us about them. It was a real education. We wondered WHERE all of these traditions came from. Particularly at the end when they wrapped up a drinking glass, wrapped it in a cloth napkin, and put it on the floor and his brother "stomped on it and broke it/" It represented that where they were TWO people before as they had each drank from two separate glasses, now they are ONE, and the other glass was crushed. No photos from this. We can't tell any more here, but it was ALL very interesting. (no photos)
STORY 276 c VISITING HOME BEING REMODELED-MARTA'S SISTER (Sun Aug 28)
We had heard about this home and finally had an opportunitiy to go to it. First of all we have to tell you that Marta had only one sister. Two daughters in one family with a mother and father. Their father was a very hard worker and through his diligence he obtained three or four stores in Antofagasta, of which he gave ONE of them to each of his two daughters and sold the other two. This is the same store that Martha now has. Her sister has the other one, plus has purchased 2 or 3 others. These are VERY small stores the size of our smallest bedroom in our Provo home top floor. But the parents also had a BIG home in Antofagasta (long and very deep). It is close to where Marta and Rodolfo purchased the condo they now live in (1 1/2 blocks away). Here again, Marta said this sister wanted her parents home they had in Antofagasta and Marta will get the home in Brazil when the parents die. This was the arrangements, that also has other details I cannot go into. But at any rate we kept hearing about this home being remodeled and Sunday after the dinner we walked over to the home. It was HUGE! Homes here have a small front distance (no yard etc) and the two walls of the home as the walls of the two neighbors home. George took 3 to 4 photos. It also has a swimming pool. We were shocked to see HOW big it really was. It will be finished AFTER we leave, but we did say we would help they paint if they get to that point before we leave. (3 photos)
STORY 277 PRESENTS for POST OFFICE CLERKS to INTRODUCE New Pres (Mon Aug 29)
George has made such a big difference with being so friendly with the clerks and people who work at the Antofagasta Post Office (Correo). Therefore, he told the new mission president he wanted to take him to the Antofagasta Post Office to meet these people and to also give them each a gift. We purchased the cooky packages, and it took us several hours at the office to make the "12 Thank You Cards" that had to go with them. George then drove the president to the post office. They parked in the parking garage and walked the two big city blocks. Upon arriving they found at least 10 large packages waiting to come back to the office that then had to be put into a VERY BIG bag. (no photo) The president was "shocked" at the amount of work that has to be taken into consideration to go and pick up the mail. For two young missionaries they cannot CARRY the big bag, and yet they cannot be separated. Therefore they have to get someone at the post office to watch the bag of packages, and go and get the mission van and then return to get the packages. It was GOOD for this new president to see with his own eyes, what has to take place, particularly with Christmas coming and many many packages arrive weekly. (1 photo three of the gifts given)
OTHER PHOTOS Street piano player and feeding the birds. (2 photos)
On another day we were walking to visit Marta at her store and saw the street filled with people watching the man play the violin and he had a small little man (fake man) playing the piano. We have never seen SO much money put in the hat for this show. The streets are lined with "street activities" dancing, singing, etc. But this was the best we had seen. We also brought left over bread scraps for the birds and they flocked to get what we had!
STORY 278 HAVING QUITO BARRIO PRIMARY PRES. over for DINNER (Tue Aug 30)
Last Sunday after attending the primary we went a step further and invited the primary president, her husband and child, and the other family (wife, husband not a member, and a 4 year old son, and a new baby) to come to supper on Tuesday PM. However, only the primary president "Andrea" and her small son 'Eric" came. But Marta came and Rodolfo and they did meet them and after dinner we played the "MATCHING BIBLE CHARACTERS" game. Marta had purchased some cards with Bible Characters on them and had done this for their home evening. Therefore, we went to the same store and purchased us a set. To play the game: you lay them all (front side down) and let the players pick up two cards to find a match. Marta is really a "WHIZ" at this game. We told her she should be on a "Game Show" in the USA! She always wins. (1 photo outside our door)
STORY 279 ANOTHER HOME EVENING LESSON for MARTA, RODOLFO & GUGA
We had more photos, but only are including this one. They send us their photos via email on Wednesday evenings. They are really enjoying having an LDS Traditional Home evening lesson, and they told us they even found the site on the Internet with "Home Evening Ideas." We do not know where this will all go. Marta (Spanish) is the name for Martha (English) We love this family a lot, but they are not progressing towards accepting the gospel like we would like them to. George asked her if she was still reading the Book of Mormon this week when we stopped into her store and she said "George, you do realize that we do have our own Church, and no I am not reading any more." We seem to take 1 step backwards, and 2 steps forward, but don't know where it will end up. (1 photo people in 3 masks)
STORY 280 A HOME PRIMARY CLASS - the BIBLE STORIES to SOL and her SISTER
This is a very unusual situation. Carolina is the sister to the former Area 70, who has now moved to Ely, Nevada. They were both baptized at age 8. The one (Richard) stayed in the church, but the mother who also joined, and this daughter did not. This daughter Carolina even went to the USA and lived with a Mormon family, and attended seminary, therefore WHY did she leave the church? We do not know. However, she was given a home (pretty nice gift) from her father who was divorced from her mother and he is not a member, and is currently living with (not married) to the Dr. Laureta lady who has helped us with medical issues.
Therefore, we went to Carolina's home to see IF she would let us come and tell Bible Stories to her two children once a week for a half hour. We went for our first visit and took a MAP of Israel and a MAP of Jerusalem and the wall boundaries during the time of Jesus' life. We had a nice discussion but only stayed 1/2 hour. We will have about seven more times doing this and will start Bible stories next time. This is called "inch by inch progress" in trying to open a discussion with the mother (Carolina) and find out WHY she will no longer attend church and raise Sol in the Church. Sol is an adorable girl who we have sent photos of before, and speaks fluent English. They send her to a very expensive school that only teaches classes in English (except for a Spanish class that is obviously taught in Spanish.) Ideide and Wilson will now be sending their two children to this school starting in the next school year (March 2017) upon our telling them about Sol and how well she speaks English. (no photos)
STORY 281 TWO NEW FRUITS - "FIGS" from IDEIDE and also tasted "CHERIMOYA"
Ideide has been such a wonderful friend for us here in Chile. She was raised in the mountains east of Ovalle (one of the towns David served in on his mission) where she lived on a big farm like area. Even how, her mother picks and MAILS her via bus travel boxes of fruits and vegetables from the family trees. Her mother raised the two daughters alone as she was separated from the (father) of the two daughters when the girls were young. We have learned so very MUCH from Ideide about the native fruits and vegetables here in Chile from tasting things her mother has sent. This time it was FIGS, and Cherimoya, but Ideide said she purchased the Cherimoya. Therefore we went and purchased two of them, to eat this coming week. The seeds inside are HUGE and many. (2 photos)
NEW FRUIT "CHILEAN FIGS" (from a Google site) Figs in a dish.
The common fig tree has been cultivated since ancient times and grows wild in dry and sunny areas, with deep and fresh soil; also in rocky areas, from sea level to 1,700 meters. It prefers light and medium soils, requires well-drained soil, and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Like ALL fig trees, Ficus carica requires "wasp pollination" of a particular species of wasp (in its case Blastophaga psenes) to produce seeds. The plant can tolerate seasonal drought, and the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean climate is especially suitable for the plant. Situated in a favorable habitat, old specimens when mature can reach a considerable size and form a large dense shade tree. Its aggressive root system precludes its use in many urban areas of cities, but in nature helps the plant to take root in the most inhospitable areas. The common fig tree is mostly a phreatophyte that lives in areas with standing or running water. It grows well in the valleys of the rivers and ravines saving no water, having strong need of water that is extracted from the ground. The deep-rooted plant searches groundwater, in aquifers, ravines, or cracks in the rocks. The fig tree, with the water, cools the environment in hot places, creating a fresh and pleasant habitat for many animals that take shelter in its shade in the times of intense heat. (1 photo)
NEW FRUIT - CHERIMOYA (from a google site) Photo of 2 and seeds.
The cherimoya, also spelled chirimoya, is the fruit of the species Annona cherimola, which generally is thought to be native to Ecudador, Colobia, Peru and Bolvia, then transported to the Andes and Central America, South America, California, Hawaii, Southern Europe, East Africa, Kisii and in particular to Northern Africa. Mark Twain called the Cherimoya fruit the most delicious fruit know to men. The creamy texture of the fruit (inside) is similar to eating a custard pudding. Therefore this fruit is also called "Custard Apple." (1 photo)
STORY 282 NEW CHANGE in FOOD and DESERTS SERVED to MISSIONARIES
This new president's wife has some new ways we are to do food for missionaries. She ONLY wants "Juice" served at the missionary meals and not "Pop." She also only wants at the meals "no Chips" "no White Rice". but Fruits and Raw Vegetables served along with the main course of purchased "Baked" and not "Deep Fried" empanadas. The missionaries seem to be OK with NO Ice Cream and we saw lots of missionaries eating "the large red apples," after the meal. Understand that we had a big shopping day this past week and purchased: 10 very large bottles of juice, 15 boxes of granola bars, 50 small juice boxers, 50 large red apples, 50 mandarine oranges, 40 bananas, 3 bags of carrots to peel and cut, 3 bags of brocalli, some pears, and other items. It was a BIG shopping day for us. The group photo is not too clear of the missionaries but does give an idea of HOW many we served for the September "Monthly Leadership training meal" This is the best we can get from the IPAD. George wishes we had a better camera, but he takes good close ups photos, but not good far away photos. I took the photo of George (who rarely gets to be in photos) and two missionaries who attended, one used to be an office Missionary "Elder Morales" from Conception one of our favorite missionaries. (3 photos)
STORY 283 TALKING with DIEGO again, (age 27) who SAYS he is an ATHEIST!
Diego came for his third visit with us. He is "wagering" that there is not a God. He also says we cannot prove that there is one either. He lives in our apartment building and is a drummer for a band. This is how we met him, as we went to hear the band practice on the very top top area of our building. However, he says he will still come and visit with us. He is a very nice young man, just the product of the Catholic "drop outs children" who are disalusioned from seeing their parents "never attend church" and have no beliefs, and many of the rising generation of youth now say "There is no God." Diego is ttending one of the Universities here and studying to be a phycologist. His masters program research work is on divorce and causes, etc. We gave him a couple of Liahona magazine articles written for our own people on LDS Divorce. We wonder how far we will get with him, but George handles these conversations. (no photos)
STORY 284 AN ANTOFAGASTA BRITISH SCHOOL PROGRAM
The parents here in Antofagasta who can afford it, send their children to private schools. They pay about $500 a month or more per child, each month for this. This is the school that Ideide and Wilson take their two children (Daniel age 10 and Pascal age 7) to. This is the program for the Chile BIG (like our 4th of July) Program for which the date here is September 18 (Independence Celebration). It took place at 10 am on Saturday so we attended for the first 2 hours and then had to leave early. We enjoyed it and got one contact name of the lady sitting next to us. We always OPEN our mouths when ever we can and being out in public and sitting gives a good opportunity.
STORY 285 ANOTHER DINNER for RICARDO &LAURITA and CAOLINA & SOL
Two months ago they came to dinner and then came again on Saturdayu Sep. 3 at 2 pm and stayed until 5 pm. They LOVED the Old Maid game. Julie had sent this to us earlier. We have been "shocked" at how much the Chilean's like "Old Maid". They just laugh and giggle when they get the old maid and act like it is the funnest thing that they have ever played. So strange as in our home, I never thought Old Maid was a hit. This is the father of the former AREA 70 who we have been trying to fellowship. Also the sister of the former (area 70) who is a baptized member but inactive and is not raising her two children as "Mormons" and does not attend church or have anything to do with scriptures, etc. in their home. We went to that home to do "Home Primary" lessons. (forgot to take a photo of playing Old Maid) They in Turn invited us to their FAMILY Independence dinner. We do hope we can make progress with this family before we leave, but it is always always slow and takes LOTS of patience. (no photos)
STORY 286 ATTENDING for an HOUR the CHILE "CUECA DANCE COMPETITION"
This took place in the evenings of (Thur, Fri, and Sat) (1-2 3 of Sept). It would start at around 8 PM and go to midnight. Couples dancing the "Ceuca" came from many different cities. See VIDEO. We hope it goes through so you can see it and hear the music. George said he can remember the BYU folk dancers doing it, but i am certain these native dancers do it better. We went Thur and Sat evenings for about 1 hour each night, but did not stay to see the winners on Saturday. They were still dancing and deciding at midnight on Saturday evening, as I woke up due to the loud music and could SEE what was going on from our tall balcony and hear the music. Jose told us the Poncho and Dance came from the SOUTH in Chile. He said Chile has many differences in cultures from the North end of Chile to the far South end. He said you could compare it to the culture in Alaska to the culture in the far end of California close to Mexico. He said the people in the far South are more like the Argentina customs, and in the far North like the Peru culture. He said there is specific steps and you have to do it a certain way. He knows the dance. We copied some Google text for you that followI want him to teach George how to kind-of do it. Hope we can find time before we leave to do this. (see several photos & a video)
CUECA DANCE (pronounce kweka) While its origins are not clearly defined, it is considered to have mostly European Spanish and arguably Indigenous influences. The most widespread version of its origins relates it with the zamacueca which arose in Peru as a variation of Spanish Fandango dancing with criollo. The dance is then thought to have passed to Chile and Bolivia, where its name was shortened and where it continued to evolve.
Due to the dance's POPULARITY in the region, the Peruvian evolution of the zamacueca was nicknamed "la chilena", "the Chilean", due to similarities between the dances. Later, after the Pacific War, the term "Marinera," in honor of Peru's naval combatants and because of hostile attitude towards Chile, was used in place of "la chilena." The Marinera, Zamba and the Cueca styles are distinct from each other and from their root dance, the zamacueca. Another theory is that Cueca originated in the early 19th century bordellos of South America, as a pas de deux facilitating partner finding.
The INTERPREPATION of this courting dance is zoomorphic: it tries to reenact the courting ritual of a rooster and a hen. The male displays a quite enthusiastic and at times even aggressive attitude while attempting to court the female, who is elusive, defensive and demure. The dance often finishes with the man kneeling on one knee, with the woman placing her foot triumphantly on his raised knee.
In BOLIVIA, there are many variations throughout the different regions. Cueca styles of La Paz, Potosí and Sucre are the elegant and static versions, whereas in Cochabamba and Tarija the style is much livelier and free. The same could be said with the music where in different regions rhythm and speed slightly differ amongst the regions. While dancing, handkerchiefs are used by both male and female dancers by twirling over the head. It is said the twirling of the handkerchief is a way to lure the woman.[3]
CLOTHING WORN is very traditional Chilean clothes. They wear black costumes or dresses. The men in the dance wear the huaso's hat, shirts, flannel poncho, riding pants and boots, short jacket, riding boots, and spurs. That information is debatable. Women wore flowered dresses. Cueca dancing resembles a rooster-chicken relationship. The man approaches the woman and offers his arm, then the women accompanies him and they walk around the room. They then face each other and hold their handkerchief in the air, and begin to dance. They never touch, but still maintain contact through facial expressions and movements. The white handkerchief must be waved; this writer has seen Chileans using paper handkerchieves from a box rather than dance the cueca without one.
STORY 287 BYUs FIRST GAME in ARIXONA "JAKE the MAKE:" Kleins know him!
Frpm Laura Talbot Klein's phone text: "I was so surprised that Jake Oldroyd was the BYU kicker that made the kick that won the game last night. He was in our ward in Southlake, Texas when we lived there. His family lived in Timberlake where I used to live and I used to drive him to school with my kids when he was in 6th grade (before Timberlake was moved into the bussing route) His family and one other were the only Mormons with Michaela and James at their school. A super nice kid! His mom is a former "Miss Utah" and is incredible on the violin. She and I lamented together many times that Southlake didn't have an orchestra. Well, I guess it's good they had one of the best football teams in the state of Texas! That is paying off now. Jake is still a 6th grader in my mind! That was the age he was when I last saw him. He is also great on the piano too. He used to substitute as the primary pianist when they needed one while he was in primary. He could play anything."
Because of Laura's text.....we could not resist going onto the Internet to find a photo of "Jake Oldroyd" this week and then made copies from taking them off from our computer screen, "for Laura and other family members to view." In the process of making the photos, we actually found the game replayed. It was our Monday PDAY so George enjoyed a few relaxing moments watching the game. He said he has never seen such "dejected Arizona players" when BYU won 16 to 18. It was a great first opener game for a new BYU coach and for Jake, a walk on player who does not even have a scholarship. Sounds like he will now be one of the team kickers! (see photos sent)
STORY 288 IDEIDE and PASCAL plus CLAUDIA& FRANCISCA came to CHURCH
This may not seem very BIG, but this has taken us a "f u l l y e a r" to have either one of these families attend.
Reason Why #1 - This family did attend over a year ago but then wife told us that she is "Catholic" and wanted to stay with that church. However we NEVER gave up as it was her sister who joined the church. Then this past week (Ideide's husband Wilson and the son Daniel) had gone to Santiago to be in a Rugby game, and therefore we invited her to go (with us) and Ideide said since Wilson was gone she could go to church and bring Pascal. She also had Wilson's sister at their home (who was recovering from a recent kidney surgery) and to our amazement she also brought her in a wheel chair. I literally nearly wept when George who waited outside for them to help, pushed the wheel chair into the large church meeting room right after the opening prayer, and they came in to sit by us.
Reason Why #2 (Claudia works at Sociabank and finally finally finally said she would come to church) George just never never gave up on her, after excuse and excuse and excuse. Last week we visited her again at the bank, and she said "I will come." Therefore, George after making sure (via a phone call that she was really coming) had to leave after the sacrament to go to the other ward (barrio in the far North) to meet Claudia and her young child, for whom it was also their "f i r s t t i m e." We therefore had FIVE investigators to church on September 4, for two different Fast and Testimony meetings.
In both cases these families stayed for all three meetings. Therefore I took Pascal to primary and sat with her, and the two sister missionaries went with Ideide and her sister- in-law in the wheel chair to the Investigator Class and Relief Society. Then after church George returned back to the ward I was attending and took their photo outside of the church. The sister-in-law was already in the car or she would have also been in the photo. We then went to our apartment and got dinner (that was ready) to take up to Ideide's home. We then stayed from 2 until 6 pm.
We were SO surprised when after the lunch, we brought out the Joseph Smith story and some visuals I had made of him finding the gold plates, and Ideide took over and told the story in SPANISH to her sister-in-law. We know she (Ideide) knows the church is true, but her husband does not want to be involved in a church.
After this, I began teaching Ideide the Primary Song that the children need to know for the upcoming Primary program. It all took a long time, but she learned the melody and some of the words to teach her two children who (we HOPE will continue coming (to our church) at least for the block of time for Primary for the next weeks so they can be in the program. We fasted on Sunday that his heart will be softened and soon. (1 photo outside of the church Pascal is on the far right in red). PS This is the family who is going to Orlando, Florida from sept 7 to the 17th.
STORY 288 The FRONT DESK CLERK Down Stairs on First Floor of our PAZ Apartment Building
George is on a first name basis with all of the clerks and took this photo. The clerks are all from Columbia. Someone is at the front desk always, day and night. People have to sign in when they come in. Means all of our guests have to sign in. The clerks used to call us to see if it was OK for them to come up to see us. But now they just let them come, as we do have LOTS of company. We do feel really SAFE here in this building. The people are very nice and we meet lots of people on the Elevator and ask if they speak English. We generally, most always get "NO" as an answer. But then we tell them "No" is the same in both languages so they know some English, and they then laugh!
END
This has been a busy past week. But in truth each week is a busy week. We hope you reading what has gone on with our missionary work, the articles on "new foods" we eat, and "culture dances" and "school programs", and having "five Contacts to church". We look at attending programs, and such places as a good way to meet people, as they are "standing around" or "sitting" which is different from seeing them push a food cart in a grocery store or walking in halls of malls, where it is much more difficult to talk to them. We LOVE all of you and appreciate so very much your prayers for us, for our investigators, and for all of the missionaries all over the world.
We keep praising "JOSE" (who is coming to dinner again tonight Monday) as being in FIRST PLACE for reading the "most" in the Book of Mormon over anyone else since we arrived in June of 2015. However, when we said this last week he posed the question to us "What are you doing wrong so people won't read it.?" We will ask him to answer this for us tonight, as it took us over 12 months to even get him to start reading it!!
Love to All Dad and Mom
(parents Padre and Madre) (siblings Hermano and Hermana) (aunt & uncle Tia & Tio)
No comments:
Post a Comment