Trip to 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

I now have two tomato plants in my garden.  The other ones are beginning to show as well.

Just so you get a better idea about the dogs of antofagasta.

Margaret standing in front of a very unusual tree   Very interesting.

 Raul and Jennifer Merino moved to a new home.  They are the cake mix contacts at Liders.  We helped them some with he move.  He posed to tell us goodbye.

 Elder Goff (tall) and Elder McComb in front of our office.  Elder Goff was going home for health reasons.  He just arrived, but hopes to come back.

 A Street scene in Calama

 We rode from Antofagasta to Calama on this bus.  We were in the very front top.

 Posing by a huge rock filled with copper from the Chuquicamata mine near Calama.

 Mom and I are getting ready to board the bus to the Chuquicamata Open pit copper mine.

 Getting ready to board the bus to the Chuquicamata open pit Copper mine.  By far, the largest one in the world.  Doug and Nancy Lawson with us - the only other senior couple in the mission.

 The city of Chuquicamata, which has totally been abandoned because of the health hazard coming from the mine.

Another picture of the city of Chuquicatama.  Mine tailings from the mine are behind.

 An abandoned playground in the city of Chuquicamata.

 An abandoned church in the city of Chuquicamata.

The bus that took us to the mine.

 These trucks are huge and hold 90 ton. One tire costs $40,000 lasts nine months and is taller than most of us.  Notice the size now and how little they appear down in the mine.

 Another view of the abandoned city of Chuquicamata and the mine tailings behind.

 Copper rocks in the museum near the mine.

Snow capped Andes mountains beyond the desert

 Valley of the moon near San Pedro de Atacama.

 It was kind of eery to be among the geysers and boiling water everywhere

I made friends with some birds by feeding them.

 A large geyser shooting up water

Mom made friends with some Koreans  They were a fun group

Here are some videos of one of the geysers.

Activating and Invites to Dinner

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

 Mom and Robert Cherino, a member of the Origenes Ward.  He has been inactive in the Church and we are trying to keep him coming to the church.

 Elder Plowman, Robert Cherino, and Elder Monsalve in front of the Origenes Church

 Woke up this morning with a big cargo ship just leaving the port

 We met Carlos Calderon and his wife Marieta and son Peter at Farmers Market.  We had them for dinner and invited Elder Hortua and Elder Maki to come and teach them.  They are now progressing well in being taught by the missionaries.

 It is difficult not to take a picture of the dogs enjoying a siesta on the sidewalk.  This is right downtown Antofagasta.

 Mom and Claudia Ulloa and Patricio Saareohe.  We met Claudia a Scotiabank and invited her and Patricio to dinner.  This was really a fun evening even though they do not speak much English and we do not speak too much Spanish.  We learned quite a bit

 A picture of my tomato plants.  A long time before harvesting tomatoes

Will We Make A Difference?

Dear family,  I did not take too many photos this week.  It seems we did not do too much in the way of getting out, so did not have a lot of opportunities to take pictures.

I am continually amazed at the dogs in Antofagasta and where they choose to sleep.  This one is in a downtown business window.  I found some humor in how and where he was sleeping  

The lobby where we live is getting decorated for Halloween.  Apparently it is a holiday here as well.

 since we are going into spring here, I decided to plant my garden.  Unfortunately, I could not find a tomato plant, but could only buy seeds.  I am starting from scratch.  I will report my progress.

 I mentioned once before that the Chileans like to paint their walls.  I have taken several pictures of their paintings.

 Because of the mining industry here, there are hundreds of trucks just like this.

 The micro buses pick up people and drop them off all along the way.  They are a hazard to driving in Antofagasta.  The drivers do not follow any rules of the road.

 Another picture of our building with a turkey vulture flying nearby to check if we are still alive or his lunch.

Dear family,  (Wee of October 10 through the 17th)  2015

FAMILY NEWS  We enjoyed talking to Debbie Talbot (daughter in law) on the phone for her birthday Oct 16. We also enjoyed the email from Laura and her new photos. We got to talk to  Bryan, Merrill, Jon, David  and Julie on the phone. We tried to call all of the others and got phone messages. We learned Spencer comes home from Brazil on December 17th. We wish we had more time to skype and see everyone but our days are just packed to the brim. We so appreciate Amy making the blog. Even my brother Norman's wife Jerilyn said she enjoys seeing and reading it each week. 

FAMILY SPANISH LEARNERS and SPEAKERS  We did not realize that our family is so full of those who have studied or have learned Spanish The list is like this: (learned it in school) Laura, Debbie, David, and  Jonathan. Grandchildren who took Spanish in school:  Austin, Dallin, Dayton, and Drew Family missionaries who went to a Spanish speaking country:  Bryan, David and Jonathan, (Merrill - Italian); (children's spouses) Matthew Grant, David Stuart.  Debbie Shurtz took 4 years of Spanish in High School and received the Spanish Award her senior year.  She says she has forgotten a lot but I a sure it would all come back fast if she were in a Spanish country. We are proud of Hunter who learned Thai and Spencer learned Portuguese. Austin took Spanish at BYU took and lived in the Spanish House living quarters where you can only speak Spanish. He received 16 credit hours for his Spanish work. Bryan, Jonathan and David are all very proficient in the language even though it is many years following their missions.  David is over the Spanish Ward in his Stake assignment on the High Council and gives talks there in Spanish. We HOPE HOPE we can talk to them in fluent Spanish when we go home, George will be able to for sure, but I a still in the (hope to) category. I am certain Matthew Grant and David Stuart can still speak the language too.

OFFICE WORK - It was a quiet week at the office as it is the week following the BIG push week for Cambios (changes) when new and leaving missionaries come and go. We spend considerable time driving back and forth to the hospital to take things to Elder Goff who had some recent seizures and was in the hospital for tests.  

CHILEAN HOSPITALS  They have city hospitals and private hospitals. Every one says you want to go to the private hospitals. The mission always uses the private hospitals. The neurosurgeon seemed quite knowledgeable. Elder McComb, who is in a picture with George in this week's photos is the companion and they had a fold out kind of chair he slept on at the hospital for 4 nights. George checked them out on Tuesday and took them to their pension (apartment).

MORE INVESTIGATORS  George went to the Scotia Bank this week with Elder Hortua. After doing their business he asked each of the female clerks if they would like to learn more about the Mormon Church. They both said they would. Elder Hortua was quite surprised. George told him it is all about (opening your mouth). But it is really more than that. We look in their faces ad you can see tf there is a good light in their eyes and that tells us who might be interested. We are reminded of an old  saying  that goes like  this "WATER WATER everywhere and not a drop to drink."  Now we say "PEOPLE PEOPLE everywhere and very few want to learn about the church. It is so amazing to watch people coming and going rushes here and there, driving here and there and shopping etc. And yet very very few want to know more about the church.

ITS JUST A JOKE   We asked Martha and Rodolfo about our Eternal Marriage as compared to Death do you Part. They said (he) Oh that is just a joke. After we die we will recognize each other, and we will be together again, we are certain that is how it will be. The "till death do you part" is just a joke.  He felt like when everyone goes to heaven they will seek out those they love, and no one signed papers on earth saying at death we part and therefore you can't see each other in heaven.  He felt we will find each other and be together. 

THE EARLIER IDEA of a TRUE CHURCH  Our daug.- in - law,  Debbie Shurtz Talbot made a profound statement this week on the phone. She said when Joseph Smith was born and during his era, people were LOOKING for the right church and wanted to find out which one was right. Now Satan has taken that idea out of their minds and put in the idea that  there is NOT just  ONE True Church. They are all good and true .Just pick which one you like, and have a good heart and everyone who does those two things will go to heaven. You don't need baptism, sacrament, apostles, etc. etc. Edward said: "My parents taught us to be good and kind people. They felt they did not need a church. But if in our later lives we want a church that is OK with them." Edward still has not warmed up to the idea that he needs a church. But he likes us and although he is only 25  and we are in our 70s, he keeps in contact with us weekly. 

WHO DECIDED WE WOULD BE BORN INTO the CHURCH That is a good question. One of our investigators (Mark) said "Sure you believe all of  the things you are telling us, you were born into the church. Do you mean that all of the people in Antofagasta have to go around and FIND the true church. That does not seem fair."  

THE BOOK of MORMON  Another witness that Jesus is the Christ. George and I have both decided that this is where we need to put the emphasis. If we can just get people to read it and to know that Joseph Smith could not have written that book. Then perhaps they would come to know it is true, then to realize that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and then all of the rest would come.  So far we have not had even ONE of our investigators  (except the young man who moved to Columbia)  who would take the Book of Mormon seriously and read it clear through. We will not give up trying, but this is how it is so far, in working with 26  different people. We keep praying that their hearts will be softened.

WILL OUR MISSION MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO ANYONE  We sometimes wonder. But I say yes it will. George works so marvelously well with the office Elders. They all really like him a lot. He always jokes with them in a kind way, and  hugs each of them each day when we leave the office. He has such a kind way of working with them. He is a marvelous "father" image for them. So we can make a difference there. Also we are making lots of friends and we CALL all of them once a week, and keep adding more people to our list. Perhaps someday we will have someone who will take the promise to read the Book of Mormon and they can know it is true, if they will sincerely pray about it.  Keep praying for us and for our investigators.

Love Mom and Dad

BYU FOOTBALL GAME  We were glad David could use the tickets with his "cronies" and watch the game against Cinncinatti. Glad they won. We listened to it on the computer (radio style) from 9PM to 12:30 AM. 

Earthquake Photos

Dad sent some photos from the night there was the big earthquake.  I couldn't save them to my computer, but you can view them here:

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=07799b2b71fe2183&id=7799B2B71FE2183%211619&authkey=%21AH0%5FXNsLm04rloQ

Visiting an Evangelical Church

Margaret, Genovive, Gustavo, Rodolfo, and Martha at the Evangelico Church where we attended with them.  It was a very unusual experience,  but we are glad we went.

 The food for dinner prepared by Martha.  It was unbelievably delicious prepared in celebration of Rodolfo's birthday.

 Margaret to the very left, Rodolfo in the center, Martha sitting with their little boy Gustavo by her.  Mark Reddick on the right.  Maria is by him, but not visible

Birthday party for Luis in blue shirt next to Margaret.  He is a grandfather of Edwards Gandalmes on the left, who has be come our good friend.  He invited us to dinner, but we did not realize it was the birthday party.

Elder McComb and I.  He helped me with finances upon my arrival in the mission field.  He is not only a very good missionary, but we are very good friends. 

We had a birthday celebration with Martha, center sitting down, and Mark and Maria.  It was Rodolfo's birthday who is just coming in behind Margaret

 I helped with the dish and they gave me this apron to wear.  They wanted my picture since the apron looked so good on me.

Up close, the apron looked like this.

Dear Family,  Week of Oct 5 Monday (Lunes) to Oct 11 Sunday (Domingo)

BIRTHDAYS  We so enjoyed talking to  Julie on her 40th birthday and to Amy on her 38th birthday. Mom reminded Amy that she gave birth to Stephanie in Msy of 1981 when she was age 38 and that she turned 39 two months later in July, We pray daily for Amy and Stephanie that all will go well with their pregnancies, and that they both deliver in January of 2016 healthy babies.

GENERAL CONFERENCE  - We had each session of conference lined up with different ones of our contacts who were going to attend but one by one they fell through except for the four who did attend the last session on Sunday. Interesting enough the women both liked the talk by Elder Durrant about choosing a scripture for each week and they took notes too regarding what he said about putting it on the frig. These people have not had any of the lessons, but were the same people (two couples) who came to the Origines Ward (Barrio) fiesta and really enjoyed it. We were impressed that some of the ward people remembered them, and at the conference session gave them big hugs.

CHILEAN HUGS  It might interest you to know that in Chile and probably other South American countries the people greet (women) with a kiss on the side of the cheek along with a hug and the men hug and shake hands.  The people are very loving in this regard. Last night when we were at the home of the (Laytons) and their son came home he went to the table where the family was eating and kissed his father, sister, mother and aunt on the top of their heads. First time I have seen this done.  This custom of hugs and kisses will be missed when we return to the United States.      

COMBIOS  (means changes) We had an extremely  busy week last week.  We were  busy trying to track down investigators for conference and then on Monday, the new missionaries arrived and the transfers began.  This means hosting, serving food, shuttling people from the mission home and to bus stations and etc.  That was a three day event followed by leadership council on Thursday.  Zone leaders throughout the mission come to the mission office to be taught leadership and to share successes.  That means we are busy with food and all the things that go with that. Our mission is dropping and now has 202 missionaries. Only 10 came in this time, and all were elders, 5 Latins and 5 English. One was from Moab, Utah and another from Manti, Utah.

AN ELDER WAS HOSPITALIZED   We had an elder who has experienced some seizures, so I spent much of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday working with his companion, and going to the mission home, to the hospital etc.  I went from early morning to late in the evening sometimes trying to keep up.  Fortunately, we have a new week, the mission president and his wife are going on a retreat for a week to Ecuador and so the office should settle down.

SPANISH PROGRESS   We are still trying to work on our Spanish.  I did not make much progress this past week because of all of the activity going on in the office.  Hopefully, this week things will get back to normal. We did meet with (Jose) this past Monday as he is the young single adult that we met on the elevator. He will come each Monday and have dinner (cena) with us and help us with Spanish. He was raised in Santiago (North part where Jonathan served) but was a baby when Jonathan was there. His parents sent him to a private Catholic school that also taught English along with Spanish lessons of which it was his native tongue. He speaks excellent English. He had it all of the years of his schooling. A PLUS sign for Laura's two children who are in Chinese immersion programs at their school in Centerville. He is working here in Antofagasta at a company a job he got because he could speak English. We liked him a lot. He will come every Monday and will probably stay for 2 hours. This will be a great blessing to us.

VISITING AN EVANGELICAL CHURCH  We sort of made a deal with the two couples who attended our General Conference session that if they came to our church we would go to there church. They called us last night and said (today) was the day they wanted us to attend To go with them, we had to miss our own Sacrament meeting, but we felt we had to keep our commitment and go.

Rondolpho came and picked us up and drove us (along with his wife and small son) to their church. It was a BIG building that used to be a gymnasium and had a large balcony on the back and two sides. Upon entering it (looked like a building not a church, there was a cafeteria where people could buy food to eat, then we heard LOUD music playing and we went up stairs and sat down, Below was a big stage with three people singing, two bands one on the right and the left of the stage and four dancers below the stage, and lights were flashing everywhere.

 We were sort of shocked and wondered what would be next. This went on for over 1/2 hour and the words the three on the stage were singing were projected on the two side walls to the right and left of the stage. Then they had a blessing time, where people who wanted blessing could come to the front below the stage and volunteers from the church were lined up to talk to them one by one while they told their problems, and wrote names onto papers. Then the names were put in a large basket and after they sat down these names were presented to a minister type person who waved him hands over the names and blessed them.

 Following another man came up to the microphone and talked about donations and  this they had large pockets covered with cloth and bows (about 12) that people were carrying around for people to give donations into. People arose from their seats and dropped money in these buckets. The man (husband) of one of the wives named Mark told us they take in a lot of money. He told us he did not like this church, but his wife did.  Then they played all kinds of music and had singing and people were standing and waving their arms and moving around to the beat of the music. It got everyone all fired up (sort of like feeling the spirit I guess).

Message ---Then last of all they had a main speaker who gave a message out of the BIBLE were projected on the two side walls in BIG print.. George and I looked them all up as we could not read the Spanish words (over half of them). The THEME for these scriptures was that religion comes from the HEART and if you have a good heart then that is all that is required. After his sermon that was accompanied by piano music for back ground, they had more singing and waving of arms and had a prayer and people all resounded with AMEN and AMEN. This "wound up" group of people left and another group was coming in.  The three or four main ministers who gave the prayers, blessings, charging people up to donate money, and the main sermon,  were in the entrance area hugging people as they left. There was a 10, 12, and 6 pm session each lasting 2 hours each.   NO Sacrament, everyone was in pants or levis and we were  the ONLY two (our of probably 300  people ) in a dress and suit.  We were quite SHOCKED that this was so ATTRACTIVE to SO many people.  It reminded us of the LARGE SPACIOUS BUILDING talked about in Lehi's dream.  We later asked about baptism and the couples told us people who want to be baptized can go on a certain day to  an area in the pacific ocean among the rocks, etc. one of the (paid) ministers for the church  will baptize them. This church also advertised their Youth, Children and Women's groups meetings that take place during the week. The people in attendance seemed to really enjoy this (entertainment type church) and now we understand why "Maria" keeps telling us "All you need is a good heart" and that there is not just one true Church.

We both felt that this is going to be a HARD SELL to get the two wives changed over to our kind of church. We showed them a program and talked about what we do at a sacrament meeting over the dinner table and hope sometime in the future we can invite them to attend. We won't do this until they have consented to the lessons.

FRIG  SCRIPTURE   We were impressed that Martha had made a beautiful scripture to put on her frig. She went to the last session of General Conference and liked Elder Devin Durrant's  talk. She also told George while they were doing the dishes that God had sent us to them. We don't know where it will all end up but they are presently Wonderful Friends for us. Inch by inch we tell them things about our church!

A CHILEAN GRANDFATHER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY  After leaving Martha, Rodopha. Marie and Mark we drove out to Edward's grandparents home for a birthday party.  We did not know what we were going to until we got there. Here in this small home at the back was a BIG outdoor room with a tree growing in the middle, and a tiled floor. Music playing and long tables with lots of people (relatives). We were introduced to Edward's mother's siblings, spouses and children (15 grand children for the grandparents). They wanted us to sit down to the meal. NONE of these people were even Christians and had NO religion at all. They looked at us as a couple from the USA and were most interested in us but had never heard of the Mormons. We just enjoyed them and talked to them through our translator friend Edward who was the oldest grandchild.One of the children (and Uncle) of Edward., brother of his mother looked just like a (Indian) from the old west movies. The people there called him an Indian. I told George he looked like a true blooded (Lamanite). We do not know where this will go but they loved having us come and we took photos for them, and George did (tricks) with the children and they loved him - pulling his thumb off, making money come out of their ears, etc.

SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE  We keep going back to the spiritual experience I had over 3 Sundays ago when the spirit came over me and said to (Ignore) the office and (spend our time bringing souls to Christ as this is one of the few times in our life when we will be able to do this. By ignore the office, meant to not let things bother us  (ignore them) and just focus on missionary work. We keep going back to this and wonder where all of the people we have met and are working with what will what will become of it. No baptisms even in site, but we have over 30 different situations where we have contacts. Geoge keeps a busy week just phoning them and keeping in touch and we constantly have little (surprises) phone calls from those we can't reach and yet they finally call us.

RESULTS    Where this will all end we do not know, we just know we work hard for being ages 73 and 75 and are grateful for our health and keep working on Spanish so we can communicate more and not be so limited to brief sentences.

Sanchez Haircut

Mercy Estrella came to dinner with Robert ,award member, and Elder Ortega. They gave her missionary discussion.  She was the barber that gave me a Sanchez haircut.

 Mom and I with Mercy Estrella

Diana Leyton with her grandmother and young cousin.  She is on the right.

 Office missionaries-left to right - Elders Gonzalez, Chang, Talbot, Cloward, Maki, Ortega, Hortua, and Erickson

 Alfred Yanez son playing with the Engish/Spanish cards

 Elders at General Conference at the Quito Stake Center -left to right - Elders Ortega, Gonzalez, Plowman, figoroua, Fakahuafua, Cloward, Hortua, Cordova, and Chang.

 Edward Gandalmes and his girlfriend showed up for breakfast.  We were glad they came, but it was somewhat unannounced.

Dear Family,

Although I sent some pictures to Amy, I did not get off a letter, as the weekend was pretty busy with two days of conference.  We really enjoyed listening to conference.  Since we are three hours later, our morning session was 1-3 and our afternoon session was from 5-7.  Obviously the priesthood session was 9-11.  Mom and I had lined up investigators to attend every session so wanted to be with them.  There are two Stakes in Antofagasta, and since we are not limited to a particular Sector, and had met people in the store, we attended both stakes to be with them.  We also had some meals planned to be with them.  We were disappointed in that people who said they were going to come didn't show up for one reason or another.  Some were sick, some indicated they had to work, and some just did not come.  We had worked so hard to invite them and wanted to have them listen to Apostles and prophets, and they just did not show.  We did have two couples show up to the last session, and we had them over for dinner afterward.  They seemed to enjoy conference, but didn't have a lot of questions for us.  They really liked Devin Durrants talk.  One of our investigators that was going to come, was ill with a bad cold, but did show up to our home for breakfast (to our surprise) prior to conference.  He brought a girlfriend.  We quickly fixed breakfast and hosted them.  It was obvious that he had a bad cold.  We really like Edwards and the girl friend seemed very nice.  We will have to see if we can get her interested in the church.  We went out to the Leyton's as the reason she could not come is because her mother was suffering from a bad back.  We found that to be true as well, as she was in a walker and really struggled to get around.  We called the Elders to come and give her a blessing.  We took some food to them and ate snacks and had them watch general priesthood meeting on their computer.  They seemed to really enjoy that.  Even the father came down and watched it, which was unusual.  He has usually stayed upstairs while we were there.  Anyway, we tried to do what we could to involve our investigators in conference.  Alfred Yanez is being taught by the missionaries.  We had he and his two sons over for dinner and then were going to go to conference with them.  He said he couldn't go because he and his wife are separated, and she had plans and couldn't take the boys so he could go, and did not want the boys to go to our church.  All I can say is we did our very best.

It seems that the adversary has won the battle in many cases.  People here usually work long hours and sometimes have more than one job.  They are not thinking of religion or the future life, they are worried about surviving in this one.  Free time is not for reading the Book of Mormon or learning about religion, it is about finally having a break and doing something they want to do.  Sometimes I feel like I would like to take some of these people by the collars and shake them and say, "do you realize what you are denying yourselves of.  We have the Truth.  We are trying to give you a message that will bless your life.  Why won't you listen?"  I think often of the missionaries in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible who had similar problems.  They do not want to listen, and simply don't care.  Sometimes, the ones who will listen are really "down and out."  They are like the poor Zoramites in the Book of Mormon who were not allowed to worship and were expelled when converted by Alma, Amulek and others.  Agency is a wonderful thing for those who choose to do good, but a very  destructive thing for those who choose not to use it properly.  There are so many here who live together and are not married.  Divorce is extremely difficult, so they separate and then live with someone else.  When missionaries find them, they have to deal with those kind of problems.  We live somewhat in a world without morals.  Many people have become very set in their ways.

We pray that all of you are doing well.  We appreciate your letters and phone calls and all you do and have done to help us be here.  We could not have come without your help. Also, thank you for being such wonderful children.  You have taught your grandchildren well, and we find much joy in hearing about the good things they are doing and seeing their accomplishments.  They could not to that without loving and supportive parents.  With your families, we see you doing much the same thing that we tried to do (but much better) of giving you children talents and opportunities so that they can have successful lives.  Once you bring a child into this world, you feel the love for, and the responsibility of that child for the rest of your life.  Thank you for making our lives what it is.


 Heber Olsen has now moved out of our home, and apparently a younger couple has moved into our basement.  They are just getting married.  They are in the Ward of Dan Bishop of Mountain View Management, who has been looking after our home.  Also, apparently James Peacock is going to get married.  He is renting our home up in Midway.  He is marrying a woman who has two children, so that will change our home up there.  I think they are going to get married in late winter or early spring.  Esther Shim in the Willow Lane home wants to move out in December even though they signed a contract to be there until August 2016.  We have asked Dan Bishop to find someone to rent that home.  There is not much we can do from here, so have to just trust that all will be taken care of and will work out.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Post Office Contact

Elder Josten Childs, center, his companion and Margaret

 These ladies cut my hair.  The one on the left is Mercy from the Domican Republic, the other is Lucero from Bolivia.  The one on left gave me a pretty crazy haircut the last time.

 The paper featuring he parade we attended last week.

 A drummer performing in street plaza downtown Antofagasta

 Pictures of the Main Street plaza with dogs enjoying a siesta.

A main plaza downtown with Big Ben replica

 We went to see Diana Leyton in the hospital.  Her mother is to the right and her aunt and is to the left.  Boys are the grandsons of the aunt.  The resulted from the credit card contact.

 Turkey Vultures perched on the other part of our building.  They are waiting to see if we are still alive and kicking.

DEAR FAMILY,  (Week of Domingo Sept 20th to Sabado Sept 26  2015) I sent the pictures to Amy earlier to post on the Blog, but I usually try to send all of you the letter so that you will know what is going on.  If you want to see the pictures, you can go to the blog spot at your convenience.

WE LOVE THE NEWS FROM HOME  It is nice to receive all of the good news from home.  We are pleased to see Michaela going to the Homecoming dance.  She looked beautiful. Likewise, photos of Julie and her daughters all dressed up and heading out to women's conference.  Happy for Kristen on 18th birthday and Ethan on his 16th.  He can now drive, so watch out ---- the Talbot neighbors.  Glad to hear that James got in the Jazz band with his saxophone and that Dayton is enjoying the trombone and band.  Happy birthday to Ezra and pleased to hear that Amy and her family are enjoying my grapes and strawberries and keeping the weeds out of my yard.  Hannah and Hunter are now at Utah State and attending school there, We MISS Hunter's mission emails. We got a thank you  card in the mail from Hannah. Merrill got $55,000 in furniture orders for his new business last week, and that Michael is enjoying his new job.  Happy to hear that Lincoln is walking and talking and that Tanner is as cute as ever.  Sorry that Landon is in Houston for three weeks, but glad he has work.  We are so pleased that Amy and Stephanie are doing well in their pregnancies.  Dallin seems to be doing well on his mission, and we can tell Spencer has been a very good missionary. Our December missionaries fly home on Dec. 27th from this mission.  Merrill tells us that Natalie is the top of her class in school, and is really doing well.  We are so pleased with all of the good things that are happening with our family.

OUR INVESTIGATORS    We have been busy with new investigators and trying to keep up with some of the old ones. Our list of contacts just keep growing weekly. We have made some very good friends and hope that some of them will want to take the lessons and become members of the church.  All of our contacts are really good people.  We considerable it a miracle in how we met some of them. We both feel people are literally sent o us and that we do not just by chance find them.

ONE SMALL MIRACLE  For instance, last week we had to go to the post office to pick up the mail.  While we were be waited on at one mail cage, a lady came up by us in the mail cage next to us.  She was very friendly and nice.  Unfortunately, George was having to conduct business and I didn't speak much Spanish with her.  As she left, she gave us a very friendly goodbye.  Margaret and I both wished we had been able to get her name and lamented that fact that we had not been able to.    A day later we  went to the grocery store (LIDERS) the Walmart of Antofagasta, to pick up a few things, and low and behold as we entered the place to go into the store, who should meet us at the stairs and greet us ----the same lady we had seen at the post office the day before.  How in the world we saw her again was a big surprise. How she just happened to be at the store  was a big miracle.  We got her name, address and phone number and gave it to the Elders.  They have made an appointment with her at 5:30 p.m. this coming Wednesday.  We will plan on going with them.  It is beyond coincidence that we would meet the same person twice in  in a city the size of Antofagasta.  We will give a future update on this (Post Office contact).

OUR PROVO HOME  It looks like we will have a young couple move into our basement for six months.  Heber Olsen is moving out the end of September.  We have hired Dan Bishop of Mountain View Management check on our home monthly.  When he learned Heber was moving, we called him, and he said he knew of a young couple from his ward  that might want to move in. We were very hesitant, as we have left everything of ours out on shelves, as we knew Heber would not bother them.  Dan Bishop vouched for the couple, so we agreed to let them move in.  It will help quite a bit financially, as we have to spend money here as well as at home.  We hope Heber will be moving back in again in May of 2016, but he said he is not sure at the moment due to some new health concerns.

WEATHER HERE  The weather is getting warmer here.  They call it Spring.  I have not noticed that we have even had much of a winter.  It is getting warmer each day. We are surprised at how many people have (coats for their dogs) and (coats for themselves) and we are hardly wearing a jacket.

TEACHING ROOK  (Friday Sept 25th PM)  We had Maria and Mark over for dinner last night and taught them how to play rook and wrote down all of the (spanish words) in order to do that which became our (spanish lesson) for the evening. Then we had a religious discussion. It went on for over an hour. They both speak English but Maria is very happy with her own Church. She does not understand how a 14 year old boy could be called as a prophet. We hope they will come to Conference with us next Sunday for the afternoon session.

CONFERENCE  We do have Rodolpho and Martha and their son committed to come (Rodolpho is a half bro to Maria). Another small miracle was running into Martha at Liders on Saturday where we were shopping. She was very friendly to us. We need a lot of help from our heavenly father with these contacts to soften their hearts so they will want to have the lessons and want to learn ore about the church.

THE BIBLE  Mark asked us last night if our church even uses the bible. That was a strange comment to us as of course we do. But he felt like we push people to read the Book of Mormon so much that we must not use the bible. We got our bibles out and showed him that we do have and use the bible. It is amazing what people think. Mark is an avid reader but we still haven't convinced him to read the Book of Mormon.

ANTOFAGASTO HOSPITALS  They have city hospitals and private hospitals. The same is for schools - city and private.  The people we have met so far all prefer the (Private schools and hospitals).  We went to a private hospital to see one of our contacts this past week (see photo). We were impressed with the hospital and care she was being given, however we went after visiting hours and they allowed us only (5 minutes) and sure enough the nurse meant what she said and came after 5 minutes and asked us to leave.

DIANA'S HOME  We went to visit Diana at her home in the North, after she was re leased from the hospital. Her mother had an old old man who was visiting them named Leonardo. He is 90 and walked very slowly. Then suddenly the power went off and it was pitch black in the home. Then the father of Diana came down stairs from his office up stairs with a big flash light and sat down by us. George showed him the picture we took and the hospital of his daughter,  and then we wanted to see all of the photos from the parade that George had on his I Pad. We wondered if the power went off just so we could get time to talk to his father. We need our Heavenly Father's help with this family too. We simply cannot do this alone.

FOOD WE EAT  We feel like we have never eaten better in our life. We have very little sugar - hardly none at all.  The oranges, pineapples, celery, red cabbage, beets, pears, and everything (except Idaho potatoes that we miss) are better and bigger and sweeter than what we can buy in the states. We have really enjoyed going to the (Farmers Market) weekly and buying our fresh fruits and vegetables. We walk there from the office during our lunch break on one of the week days. I bought some red colored jam in a bag and it was not very good, so I bought strawberries at the market, cooked them and put with the jam from the bag and it became very yummy!

MAKING BREAD at the OFFICE  (Friday Sept 25th) I told the Elders I would make them bread (rolls) one day and last Friday I did it. They all were interested in learning how to make bread but it was an all day event. I made it at 10:15 am (took about 15 minutes) and then told the Elders to be sure and punch it down, etc. Then we left George and I to run errands and did not return until 2 PM as everything takes longer than you would even imagine. I was worried it was ruined but they kept punching it down. I finally got the bread made into rolls and then the gas oven was a (hoot). No heat regulator so I just had to feel the heat with my hand and guess if it was about right. I was suprised they even turned out but they did and the Elders loved them and the homemade strawberry jam I had (concocted) the evening before.

WE PRAY FOR ALL OF YOU DAILY  It is so strange to be so far away from all of our children and grandchildren. We worry about each of you and miss you all so very much. Know that you are always in our daily prayers. We simply could not give anymore to this mission. We arise early in the morning, work at the office and then work with investigators after our office hours, put on dinners for them, make dozens of phone calls keeping in touch with different ones of them, and it is like we are working every minute and then sandwich in working on Spanish when we can. We both feel like going the (extra mile) on this mission will bring extra blessings to each of our children and their families. We feel so blessed that we have the health to even do what we do do at our ages of 73 and 75,

LOVE to each and everyone. We are buying things bit by bit to get small Christmas packages off in the mail to each household to mail sometime in October. Won't be much but will be something.

Mom and Dad