More Baptisms!

Dear Family   (Sent October 12, 2016 from Antofagasta, Chile)
   
   If you want to view the photos you will need to go to the blog.  Thanks to Mackenzie!

         We appreciate the phone calls and emails we have received over the past while. We have been ever so busy and the days go by so fast, we hardly can keep up. Just knowing we have a little over four weeks of actual missionary work we are really now in high gear as we have so much to do, in working with our current contacts, and what we still do at the office.
       We surely appreciate your prayers and feel the help from those prayers as well as help coming from our Heavenly Father with little miracles here and there that we never anticipated. Just like yesterday we invited Monica and Ben and Monica's father over for lunch as she had helped George translate at the recent fireside he did on the Book of Mormon (more on this next week). Well, anyway during the lunch Monica said she and her mother had recently visited Valiiprasio and a stake president  (speaks English and Spanish) there had showed them around. She is going to call him to see if he will take us around when we go there in the upcoming future. What a nice surprise for us.
      We do hope you are all WELL and doing whatever you are doing with the least amount of conflicts or problems, of which those kinds of things seem to always be in all of our happenings, and probably in yours too. George wrote the following stories for this week, and I added the titles. ENJOY!

Story 330:  WATCHING GENERAL CONFERENCE  (Oct. 1 & 2, 2016) We enjoyed watching conference with many of the missionaries.  In the chapel they have a large screen in the Chapel area where everything is translated into Spanish.  Naturally all of the Chileans navigate to that room to hear the messages in the native tongue.  Sadly it is only a translation of what is being said by those speaking.  They miss the inflections and presentation given directly by the General Authority.  They also have what they call a "Gringo Room" where those who go who would want to listen to the messages in English.  A number of the missionaries go to that room to watch conference.  We joined the missionaries in that room even though we had investigators in the much larger chapel area.  I took a picture of the backs of the missionaries who are standing watching the conference on TV.  Since we were sitting in the back, the picture shows what we were seeing when they stood up.   We had Mary Elizabeth and her daughter Melissa at the conference.  We have pictures of them as they were scheduled to be baptized on the 8th of October.

Story 331: CLEYDE VISITING from OVALLE  (Our son, David, served in Ovalle when he was on his mission) We were happy to have Cleyde Colome back in Antofagasta to visit her sister.  She was one that we helped teach and see that she was baptized in April 2015.  She seems to be doing well and active in the church.  We have pictures of both Margaret and I with her.  She is single, Margaret is trying to line her up with a man in the MIramar Ward who is also single and about the same age.  She just graduated in nursing and he is a medical technician at the Antofagasta Hospital.  Margaret is pretty excited about getting those two together.  We will have to keep you posted as to how that turns out.

Story 332:  TWO BAPTISMS from MY OPENING MY MOUTH (Sept. 2016)   Mary Elizabeth and her daughter Melissa were baptized on the 8th of October, 2016 They were really excited about their baptized and so were we along with the missionaries who taught them.  Elder Holland indicated that the missionaries were to open their mouths at the last devotional at the MTC in Provo.  We have tried to do that while we have served in the mission.  While waiting in line at the bank, (they have chairs to sit on while you wait in line) I started talking to the person sitting next to me.  She was not overly interested in talking even though I was trying to practice my Spanish.  Just before she left, the person behind me could tell I was not Chilean and asked me where I was from.  I told him and then he saw my name tag and called me Elder.  I knew he was a member of the church, but apparently not active.  He said his wife was not a member.  She was up being helped.  When she returned I started talking to her about the church and got their names and addresses.  They said they would be willing to listen to the missionaries.  I went with the Elders to meet with them the first time and we invited them over to our home for dinner.  The missionaries continued to teach them and they were baptized on October 8, 2016.  This is a picture of the Mary Elizabeth, Melissa, the missionaries, and Margaret and I just before their baptism.  It was a happy day.

Story 333: CHILE and CHILEAN PROTESTS  ( End of Sept. 2016) There is always something going on in Chile.  I could hear a band playing and lots of noise and look out and there is a march going on in the main thoroughfare through Antofagasta.  Cars were backed up behind them as they are protesting something.  I took took a picture out of the window of the protest.

Story 334: MORE PHOTOS on CHILEAN FOOD "CONCHA SHELLS"   We have had some interesting food in Chile.  Some of it I have really liked.  Some things are not quite as attractive.  We have had Octopus a couple of times.  If I didn't have to think what an Octopus looks like while I ate it I would be Okay, as it is not too bad.  It is the Thought that makes it hard to eat as you see the tenacles and suction cups on the food you are eating.
       The other night at Ideide's home she and Wilson had made Concha shells.  They buy them at the store, break them open and scrape out what is inside and then cook it.  After it is cooked, they put it back int he shell and put some seasoning and cheese on it and serve it.  Margaret and I both thought they were potatoes.  She picked it up to eat it and  bpth her and my teeth clanked on a shell I took this picture of them so you could see what they were like.  I probably would not order them in a restaurant, but they were not bad.  I also took a picture of the Pizza that they fixed.  They are pretty attractive, have a whole wheat crust for health, and are not bad.  We have learned about a lot of new kinds of food in Chile.

Story 335  CONTINUING the PIANO LESSONS  for DANIEL (no photos) We will have to send some photos next week. But thanks to Julie, Stephanie and Bryan we have received beginning music so we could teach Daniel beginning piano. It is SO different in teaching when you do not have a piano book to work with. We cut large squares of Card Board and then glued a piano song on the front and then on the back. When he learns a song he gets a sticker on the piece. Then each day he plays ALL of the cardboard songs, one after another about one time each.  
         Bryan sent some "folk songs" that were one liners and we added some CHORDS for his to play with both hands. He is really starting to enjoy the piano and jumped up from supper last night and went to play his songs. We told him he was playing our dinner music. The little keyboard he has has a "window" like place that shows a music lines and spaces and shows the PICTURE of the note he is pushing on the keyboard.
        This has been a fun experience, and actually the father WILSON is so proud of his son (age 10)  for learning how to play the piano that he even consented to come to church with us last Sunday. We do not know where this will all go, as we only have FOUR more weeks. We teach him a new song each time we go to their home which is about three times a week. A different approach to teaching piano but it is working. We have RUN out of music again, and hope to receive some more BEGINNING songs. Stephanie sent us alot but the file was TOO big to send over to the office to have it printed. She is in the process of sending those again as they looked really fun. Bryan may send us some more FOLK songs too.  The mother actually went looking at pianos this past week.
PS  We will take photos of the cardboard songs this coming week to send next week.

LOVE to all  MOM and DAD




Dear family,

We provided lunch for Monica Cruz (left) her father George, next to her Margaret and I and Ben Cruz on the left, Monica's husband.  Monica translated for me at my presentation and her Father is very interested in Book of Mormon geography and is leaving to go back to Columbia on Thursday, so we had them over to our home.    It was a nice visit and we learned some things we needed to know about Buenos Aires.  Also she knows someone in Valparaiso that will help us there.

Love,

Dad

 We watched conference with some of the missionaries.  This was the English speaking room.  When the missionaries stood up, this is what we saw.

 Cleyde Colome came back to Antofagasta for a visit.  It was nice to see her again.  She was baptized April. 2015.

  Another Foto of Cleyde with Margaret

 Melissa and her Mother Mary Elizabeth at Conference.  I Met the Mary Elizabeth at Banco Estado and referred her to the missionaries.  We had them for dinner as well.  As you can see they attended conference.

  Elder Perez and Elder Burnthorn with Melissa and Mary Elizabeth.  They were the Missionaies who taught them.

 All is well that ends well.  Melissa and Mary Elizabeth were baptized Saturday, October 8th.

 Elder Burnthorn, a member of the Quito Ward who baptized Melissa, Elder Perez who baptized Mary Elizabeth and Margaret and I.  It was a happy day.

There is always something going on on the street where we live, which is the Costenera.  This is a demonstration of sorts and was playing music and making noise.

  We had dinner at Wilson's and Ideides.  These are Concha Shells They break open the shells and cook what is inside and then put it back in the shell with cheese etc.  That was very interesting to eat.

 Wilson and Ideide also made a Pizza.  They use whole Wheat crust for health purposes.  The Pizza was very good.

New contacts because of a broken Water Heater

DEAR FAMILY                  Sent September 30, 2016 Friday from Antofagasta, Chile

            We missed sending out photos and stories for last week so this presentation is covering September 18 to September 30 (2016)  in which a lot of things have taken place including: 

          Our apartment water heater went out and flooded apartment wood floor, repair people coming several times, holiday dinners at several homes, visiting many investigators homes inviting them about General Conference, teaching piano lessons, a classic dog photo, brownies for former missionaries who worked in the office, George giving a talk at the Mission Leadership Meeting on how he finds investigators, teaching Idedie's family about "Scripture Time", Evening Family Prayer, and Singing the song "We are a Happy Family", marking scriptures in the New Testament Bibles,  then to top it all off Kristin Talbot (our granddaughter) received her mission call on Sept. 29 to Hawaii.  

          We pray daily for all of you and know you each have your own challenges you are dealing with. Also we so enjoy the emails we have received and phone calls from  our children over the past 14 days, and also love the emails from our missionary grandchildren, and a few other family missionaries. 

           We had our next to last BIG day for the monthly Missionary Leadership Day, plus have been so very busy as our days are getting fewer and fewer with less than 50 remaining to do missionary work.

                                                   STORIES 315 to 329

Story 315  CHILEAN HOLIDAY DINNER at Richard and Laurietas.  

            Richard is the father of the former Area 70 who now lives in Nevada. They are such kind people but are NOT interested in learning more about the church. However, they like us and invite us to their family holiday dinners. While at the dinner they were showing some photos and one was of a BUILDING the family owns going back 3 generations to when Richardo's grandfather left Spain and came to Chile. He was a "tailor" created a very good business, and made a lot of money. 

             He had the building  built in down town Antofagasta and it is now a "heritage site" and cannot be torn down. However, due to NO parking, only the bottom floor is used. We hope to get to go and take a tour. We had a long family history discussion with them at the dinner. Then George asked Carolina (the daug) while I was helping with the dishes, etc.  WHY she left the church. It is sad but she said she read alot of things and just decided she did not believe the teachings any more. She does believe in the Book of Mormon., so it is strange how to believe it and not the rest. We haven't given up, but BRINGING a church person back into the church is generally harder than getting a new person to believe, but for us it is a toss up, it is hard in both situations.

See the Building  the family descendants (12 cousins) owns (2 photos)

Picture of Richardo and Laureta; Carolina & Francisco & daug. Sol. (1 photo)

Story 316  NEW CONTACT  FRANZ (inactive member) and wife MARIE ELIZABETH  

           Franz (member) and his wife Marie Elizabeth. George found Franz at a bank where he was in line waiting to be helped. Actually he was talking to the person behind him, and Franz was the next one in line and over heard the conversation and told George he was a member of the church, but inactive. They talked more and George was invited to his home. He actually works in New York City but flys to Chile for a month leave from time to time. His wife (who is older than him has an older 18 year old daughter). After several meetings with the missionaries the wife and daughter want to be baptized. They have attended church several times too. If the baptisms take place as planned on October 13, it will be our 2nd and 3rd actual baptisms since we have been here.

See Picture of Franz and Marie Elizabeth, and her daughter Melissa age 18.

Story 317 HOME EVENING with PURISMIA & JIME and SON.  

           We have been to this home before but were invited again. The son just returned from a mission in Brazila, Brazil the capitol of Brazil. We would like him to correspond with our grandson Spencer in the future by email. Their daughter went through several close relationships headed to marriage and finally left home and married someone in Puerto Montt. We could feel their sadness at her leaving the Antofagasta area. She is a "fantastic" cook and we had wonderful ";empanadas" that she had made herself and deep fried them. Our son David wants to learn how to do these and we will be returning to their home next monday and will get more information on this.

See photo of  Purismima & Jime and son returned from Brazil Mission Brazila

Story 318 TEACHING PIANO LESSONS to DANIEL and PASCAL  

          This has been an interesting adventure to say the least. They had a very small "keyboard" that worked and I offered to teach the two children until we leave. Our daug. Julie has been emailing me pages from a beginning piano book or I would have not been able to do this. Daniel has now learned (FIVE) of the songs Julie has sent me. It has given us an opportunity to go to their home almost every day for the past week (1 new song a day). Then we do other things took that we go into more detail on in STORY 327, so it has been a way to work teaching many other things as well as the piano. We have NOT found hardly any homes that have pianos (maybe one home) and music lessons are almost "NIL".

See photos: "Teaching Ideide about the piano, Teaching son Daniel on the piano

and some Piano Materials I have made or Julie emailed to me.

Story 319 STATUES of a BOY and GIRL on a SMALL TABLE  

      These two copper statue were so lovely and so beautiful that I asked George to take a photo of them. They weight so very much there is no way I could every have something similar, but they are simply outstanding work. It has been such a thrill to see copper work like this is the very place that copper is made. We have seen several TRAIN loads with car after car loaded with copper sheets in piles. Never had a chance to take a photo of these trains but they run through the middle of the city of Antofagasta, and cars all have to wait when they pass through.

See photo of the Copper Statues from Ideides home (1 photo)

Story 320 THE MOST POPULAR DRINK DESSERT in CHILE (SEE GLASS).  

       We have been served this several times but have never made it ourselves. It is made from dried peaches that are "cling peaches". Then you purchased these dried peaches in bags at a store. Then you soak them and probably heat them on the stove and let them sit, and maybe add some sugar to the juice.Then you purchase another bag of wheat that looks "puffed up and has been bleached as it is cream color".  Then you put one or two peaches, the puffed up wheat and the juice in a glass. LOOK at the photo and this will make more sense.  You eat it with a spoon. You have to chip away at the peach and then if desired suck the pit of the peach, then eat the puffed up wheat. I would be very SURPRISED if Jonathan and David did not eat this kind of (drink with peaches and puffed wheat) when they were on their missions here, or perhaps it is a NEW food invention?

See photo of Chilean Desert Peaches and Puffed Wheat in Glasses

Story 321 SHOPPING AGAIN at the VEGA FRUITS and VEGETABLES  

        We have been so busy we have not gone to the Vega for a long time, and did go this past week.  The cauliflour was SO BIG that we took a photo of it along with the other food we purchased before putting it away. We will REALLY miss the fresh fruits and vegetables that Chile has to offer. You can get a whole large bag of Kiawi for about 2 dollars or less (in our money).  I know the Vega prices are cheaper than anything we can get in the states.  It is SO good and we have never eaten better in our lives as far as what we have eaten here. I would say the WHEAT end of our diet has been less, but oat meal and fruits and vegetables and very little meat has been our main diet.  We hope we pass our medical exams when we arrive home. However, we will have to find a NEW place to shop for these kinds of foods, however MANY of the things we see here, we have NEVER ever seen before.  

See photo food we purchased for one weeks food at La Vega - frutis and vegetables

Story 322  THE WOWES of HAVING a WATER HEATER GO OUT PLUS 2 CONTACTS

        One big problem we had was we left the apartment on Tuesday Sept. 20 at 9:30 and returned at 1:30 to a flooded wood floor full of water. This was a  huge problem requring every towel  we had in the apartment to mop it all up. Then living through several days problem of having NO water, and then some more days with water but NO hot water and having to heat water on the stove. ONE good thing was I had a water storage where I had saved large drink containers and filled them with water for a time of emergency. I would say CHILEANS need to do this. I was amazed at how much water you need, to even wash dishes, bathe, or even flush a toilet. The water has been turned off on occasion, but this was the REAL test of no water for several days, and using my supply.  Finally the apartment owner came and along with a helper they installed a new heater. But George as usual got TWO new referals for the missionaries by talking to them. Only time will tell IF they were really interested or just being polite. We felt bad about the wood floor areas that were damaged.

See photo of the Owner (Dueno) and helper who installed water heater

        . 

Story 323 THIS IS A CLASSIC SLEEPING DOG PHOTO  

       We could not pass up taking a photo of this dog, when we were walking in down town Antofagasta to  go to the post office one day. Other people were taking a photo of this dog too.  Our grand daughter Ally loves dogs. I do hope she looks at this photo. It is a real hoot!

See  photo of a dog sleeping in a very strange position.

Story 324     MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING BROWNIES  

       This takes place once a month and it is a TON of work for us. We have the shopping, the food prep, and set up, and the actual day, and the serving and the clean up. If we were not 74 and 76 it may be easier, but we do feel very tired at the end of this big big day. To top this day off we were at Idedie's home and Elder Morales called us and needed a ride to the bus station. It is now 9:30 and his bus leaves at 10 for Iquique. We wondered why he did not take the city bus with his companion until we arrived at the office to pick him up and their were two elders, two large pieces of luggage filled with mail for their zone, and three microwave ovens to take back to some of the apartments. We loaded it all in our car barely and barely got them to the bus station to catch the bus. George and I both wondered how they FIT it all in, but they said because they are "ministers" the bus companies let them bring MORE than usual. We love the OFFICE elders and when they leave we always single them out and do extra treats for them as most generally after leaving the office, they are made ZONE LEADERS.  Elder Morales and Elder Walker are two of our favorites. Two sister missionaries came and asked "Why are some of the Elders going around eating chocolate brownies?"

See the Picture of Elder Morales and Elder Walker with brownies we gave them.

Story 325  BROWN SPAGETTI  

          Now this is new to us. We were served this at Ideide's home and had never seen it before. She told us where to buy it, so we bought some. George took a photo of the brown (whole wheat spagetti) that she had cooked and then served a fried egg on top for her children.

See Picture of Integril  (Brown) Spagetti in the store package.

See Picture of Integril (Brown) Spagetti Cooked

Story 326     CHART TO KEEP TRACK OF OUR CONTACTS 

          This is an ongoing process of adding names (RED CIRCLES) and ones we are working with, and crossing out names (ORANGE Xs) that do not work out, and GREEN LINES  members who are inactive who we are trying to activate, and dotted red lines WITH MISSIONARIES, and also the (Ms) are with missionaries.  We really do work very hard at being missionaries and serving the Lord as best we can. It is very disappointing in relationship to how hard we work in comparison to how many actually join the church, but we just lkeep at it. Ghen the mission president asked George to give a talk to the Zone Conference missionaries on "HOW he finds and talks to Contacts."  We both spent half a day getting ready for this presentation, but it went well and George does such a good job at this he should be a full time missionary the rest of his life,  BUT not in Provo, Utah, as it probably won't work there. We have number 1 to 70 on this chart, and probably 50 more not on this chart.

See the Picture CHART of our Investigators names for us and the Missionaries

Story 327     SCRIPTURES, STORY BOOK, SONGS -  

        This is going to be hard to explain, but we are ending missionary work in 7 weeks and even though this family is not probably going to be baptized, we wanted to teach them about : SCRIPTURE time, SINGING our church songs, and evening FAMILY prayer. Her husband "Wilson" is not religious and does not particularly even like blessing the food before eating. Therefore he was on the (7 day gone shift) and we went to the home every day.  It brought tears to our eyes as we have held scriptures,  family evening prayer "kneeling" , and singing a song now three nights in a row.  It is so strange to people who have never done these things. They are looking for pillows to kneel on (wood floors), but the two children loved the song. (English)  I love mother she loves me, we love daddy yes sir ee, he loves us and so you see we are a happy family. Then we sing it again using the children's names. Their eyes light up and they loved it. We are amazed at HOW many things we do as members of the church that most people in the world have never thought of doing. We just keep trying to teach and hope it will continue when we go home.

See photo of the primary song book.

Story 328     NEW TESTAMENT BIBLES and MARKING THEM  

          New Testament Bibles and Marking Them. I do not have time to go into this in great detail, but I can tell you it had created a BIG amount of interest in the people we are working with. Therefore I will go more into it next week, but here are the copies of the bibles we bought from the store in Santiago (via mail) and give to people. It is the NEW TESTAMENT ONLY, but in the back the church has put almost 80 scripture entries of the changes made to the old and new testaments. It is a NEW thing they have done, and since it was in the back of the bibles we are giving out we have now had to explain WHY Joseph Smith did this. It has been very very interesting. I had a good conversation with Norman my brother on this subject this past week. The contacts help mark three kinds of Scriptures:  1) Plan of Salvation scriptures,  2) The Church Jesus established when he was on the arth scriptures, and 3) Scriptures that have changes and you can find them in the back of the (2013) editions of the small New Testament scriptures.

Story 329   OUR GRANDDAUGHTER KRISTIN'S CALL to HAWAII MISSION.

          This was such a highlight we had to send three photos and tell about Jonathan and Melanie Talbot's daughter Kristin who opened her mission call on Thursday evening September 29 at 8:30 pm at her grandparents home (the Davis family) in Provo, Utah where she is attending BYU. We shared the evening opening via our daughter Amy's phone. She will enter the MTC on January 25, 2017. 

See Photos of Granddaughter Kristin' and the day of her Mission Call to Hawaii

END (Sent Sept 30, 2016) Stories 315 to 329)

           Sorry this is longer than usual but this is for two weeks. We love all of you and do appreciate your prayers for us and what we are trying to do before we return home. It seems so strange that our time is about up. We have LOVED serving this mission, meeting so many WONDERFUL young missionaries, finding PEOPLE, and trying to share the GOSPEL. We hope you all enjoy Conference and can view all of the sessions with your families. We love all of you so very much and appreciate your good lives.

      We now have OCTOBER birthdays coming up for our daughters JULIE Oct 1, and  AMY  Oct 8., grand daughter ZOEY the 12th, daughter in law DEBBIE the 16th, and granddaughter MACKENZIE the 26th.

Love  Madre y Padre,    (George and Margaret Talbot)

Story 318 - Margaret teaching Ideide on the piano.  She had no knowledge about music.  Margaret is helping her so she can help her children.

 Story 319 - Ideide has these beautiful copper statues in her home.  They are very heavy, but beautiful.

 Story - 320 Chilean dessert.  A soaked dried peach in a glass with dried wheat that is bleached and puffs up in the water.  It looks a little gross, but it tastes pretty good.  The peaches are a little tricky to eat.

 Story 320 - Another view of the dessert.

 Story 318 - Margaret helping Daniel on their small keyboard piano.

 Story 321 - We just returned from the La Vega vegetable market, and this was out purchase

 Story 322 - These men came and gave us a new hot water heater.  Juan Susdedes is on the right and is the owner of our apartment.  We in turn gave each of them a copy of the Book of Mormon and gave their names to the missionaries.

 Story 323 - Dogs are lying down anywhere and everywhere in Antofagasta.  Sometimes I can't resist taking their picture.

 Story 324 - Elder Morales and Elder Walker came to the Lidership council.  Margaret made brownies for them since they both served in the office.  Elder Morales is on the left.

 Story 325 -- An evening meal in Ideide''s home.   Integral Spaghetti with an egg on top.

 Story 325 - Two types of spaghetti that can be purchased in Chile.  The dark tastes good but looks a little like eating worms.

 Story 326 - A picture of our investigator chart

 Story 326 - Scriptures in the Doctrine & Covenants telling us to open or mouths.

 Story 327 - Picture of the books we read to some of the children.

 Story 327 - Song book we use to teach some songs to the children.

 Story 327 - Teaching tools.  Basis for the church and the Doctrine of Christ.

 Story 318 - Julie e-mailed some music and Margaret has prepared some things to teach pianos to Ideide's children.

 Story 327 - We have purchased New Testament scriptures for some of our investigators and then have helped them mark some of the key scriptures.

 Story 329 - Kristin received her mission call to Honolulu Hawaii.  That is hardly fair that we get sent to the Atacama Desert which is the driest desert in the world and she gets sent to a tropical paradise.

 Story 329 - The Internet picture tells the story of the Kristin's opening the call.

 Story 329 - Kristin with her call

Our investigators came to church!

                                    STORIES  303 to 315 and PHOTOS

Dear Family    Prepared Saturday September  17, 2016   (Sent Tuesday Sept 19, 2016)

       Another week passed by, and so  very much took place that we can hardly believe we actually lived through it all. Mainly COMBIOS, which means changes in Spanish which takes place every six weeks. We had  7 missionaries go home and 16 arrived, plus we had a big meeting for 140 missionaries who came together to hear a General Authority on Wednesday September __, 2016, (Elder Bragg & his wife) arriving at 12 noon with a meeting from 2:00  to 5:20, and then this past weekend was (like 4th of July in USA) as it was the Chilean Independence Celebrations on a: (1) Antofagasta city level,  (2) family level (investigators), and (3) ward (barrio) level. 

        We are also among those waiting to hear about our granddaughter Jennah Grant's mission call which has "BEEN ASSIGNED" to her area of service, but she has not received the call. Our daughter Stephanie's husband  David Stuart had a birthday this past week too, plus we enjoyed reading family emails, and receiving phone calls.

         Also, we WROTE the big "PROMPTINGS" story that took place at the General Authority missionary meeting in regards to our helping get 25 missionaries on their way to Iquique and Alto Hospicio by the "hair of their chinny chin chin." Will not repeat here for the blog, but it is available via email.  

         Then we also had a dinner at our apartment for the TWO sisters that it has taken a "YEAR" to finally have that happen, and to their "delight" we served "Artichoke!" They were so pleased with this food choice that they demonstrated to us how to eat them and George took some photos. Then after the meal we demonstrated to them "about our church and about its teachings." So it was a good trade off, plus we have another scheduled appointment for next Tuesday. 

            So hope you Enjoy this weeks offerings!  Thank you to grand daughter Mackenzie!

STORY 303  OUR  INVESTIGATORS COME TO CHURCH

       This is the first Sunday that we finally (got Gabriella age 8 and 3/4s) to come to church along with her father Claudio (who has come two other times). It was such a thrill for us to be sitting on the church bench with Claudio, Gabriella, and also Cleyide who was in town from Ovayee (to the south in Chile) who is a member. We also brought Gabriella her own little "New Testament:" but Claudio took it and was reading in it during the sacrament. We both had tears in our eyes as Claudio has never had any religious education in the home he was raised in. He may not be baptized, but he certainly KNOWS about our church and its teachings, and will have scriptures to read after we are gone. (see photo of them in front of the church)

STORY 304  MAKING LUNCHES for 140 MISSIONARIES TO BE COMING SOON

      This was an interesting experience to make (again) lunches for the missionaries who were coming in from all over the Northern part of the mission for the yearly "general authority" visit and talk. This means they come in on a bus, take local; buses to the church where the meeting will be held, (receive a lunch to eat) and then sit for the meeting talks, etc. We purchased the 140 apples, mandarine oranges,  small juice boxes and bagged them in plastic bags along with a napkin, plate and plastic fork. Then two days later (day of the meeting) we PICKED up the 140 hot empanadas and 140 completos {with a hot dog in side) and put them in another plastic bag and slipped the hot food bag into the other bag. The photos taken were of the missionaries helping do all of the pre lunch bagging, and they had to make a GAME out of it and stacked the 12 boxes one on top of an other (the empty boxes) to see how high they could get them. We DO enjoy these missionaries. They keep us YOUNG!  (see several photos)

STORY 305  SEVEN MISSIONARIES Go HOME on SEPTEMBER 12, 2016.

     At the mission home on Monday evening it is the rule to take a photo of the missionaries going home. George became the photographer for this event, and also took a photo for us to show you. The new missionaries come "bright eyed and bushy tailed" the leaving missionaries are more "contemplative and wondering about returning home" and are generally sad to be leaving their missions.  We always MISS -  particularly the office elders who we have becoming more closely acquainted with when they leave. the office, and then finally leave to go home. This time Elder Brydon ANDERSON was leaving. He had been an AP since last June. He is from Meridian, Idaho and will be attending BYU Idaho. We are giving him our grand daughter Jennah Grants' name to have him look her up when he arrives to school.  Another bonus of serving in a mission office, is that we have been on the "look out" for GOOD husbands for our granddaughters. Obviously, our choices probably won't happen, but we have found some good candidates for them (Jennah, Kristin, Hannah, Michaela, and Heidi), if they want our opinions! (see 2 photos)

STORY 306  MAKING THREE FRUIT & VEGETABLE TRAYS

     This new presidents wife is very conscious of  wanting to serve "healthy food" to the missionaries. This means NO pop, but only bottled juices such as  = pineapple, orange, peach, etc. Juices in plastic bottles (large sizes) is very popular here, particularly due to the fact people are drinking bottled water all of the time. Therefore NO more ice cream and cookies, but now "fruit trays" for desserts, etc. We purchased: pineapple, apples, grapes, celery, carrots, brocolli, etc. and all of this had to be washed, CUT up and arranged. It took me way over an hour to prepare these three trays of food. The missionaries ate TWO complete trays at the lunch meal and the other tray was out on a table for them to snack on. Missionary parents would like this new emphasis on "healthy" foods to serve missionaries. (see 2 photos)

STORY 307  PREPARING WATER BOTTLES for NEW MISSIONARIES

      No one here in Antofagasta drinks the "tap" water. Everyone, as far as we know purchases water in large containers and put them over some type of dispenser and that is the water you drink, or you drink bottled water. When the new missionaries arrive they are each given a small bottle of water. We purchase those water bottles and keep a large supply in the closet for (1) per each new missionary, plus (2) more for when they receive their companions to have to drink on the bus when they travel to their 1st assignment. When 16 new ones arrived this time we needed  16 + 16 + 16 = 48 bottles of water. It is important to PRINT name labels and apply with tape to each bottle (ones given when they arrive) as the bottles all look alike and this way they will not get mixed up as they all look alike. After we brought the bottles to the mission home, Gina the president's daughter must have arranged them this way on the freezer that is in the kitchen area. George took a photo of them. Having big name labels also helps the new president and his wife to look at and get acquainted with the names, of which  obviously they also have printed lists too. (1 photo)

STORY 308  SERVING the NEW MISSIONARY  LUNCH to TWENTY=NINE PEOPLE

     This event takes place at the mission home. George and I came early and set up the tables and chairs. The past president liked everything moved UP to the higher lawn, which was a lot more work. Since we are 74 and 76 and had no instructions we set the tables and chairs this way;. Turned out good as it was in the shade too. PLUS I decided to serve the meal (family style) and not the line buffet style. We put the three fruit and veggie trays one per table, and platters with the empanadas etc. This missionaries LOVED visiting and their wide eyes and bushy tails were so evident having just gotten off the air plane. We LOVE meeting the new missionaries, and TWO on the left photo of them eating were from TEXAS.  We will give more on their names, and where sent next week. (2 photos)

STORY 309  TWO SISTERS  Claudia and Daniella COME for a MEAL & LESSON

    This event was historic.  Claudio only speaks Spanish, but said she had a sister who "speaks ENGLISH fluently." This was a year ago. We kept trying to get the TWO of them to come at the same time for dinner and it took 12 months to have this finally happen. It was a wonderful evening and we have another appointment next Tuesday for lunch at our apartment. Finding a TIME to meet is the big problem, as they are both so very busy. Daniella is age 22, her sister Claudio is age 35 and she  has a daug. age 13 and another daug age 4 (both by different fathers. Claudiais the one who is now attending CHURCH even before having the missionary lessons, and found out the first time she liked our church and l particularly likes the 4 year old primary class for her daughter. (1 photo of the 2 sisters)

STORY 310  THE PROMPTING to "PURCHASE" ARTICHOKES

      Promptings from the spirit are so "subtle" and so quiet that sometimes and actually most of the time, you do not know you are receiving a prompting. This was the case when we were in the grocery story the same day two sister investigators were coming for evening meal and a lesson. I just saw the file of "artichokes" and the sign (3 for 1 mil). Wow a good price, I will purchase 9. I quickly started picking out the best ones to purchase. George came back and was surprised but did not say anything. I came to the apartment later and looked up how to cook them and prepared and cooked 4 for the evening meal. When the first sister arrived she was SHOCKED that I would be serving artichokes as it was a "favorite food" of hers. She then proceeded to demonstrate how to eat them and George took several photos as it was such a "surprise" to us that she made such a BIG deal out of us serving artichokes. Now, was that a prompting or what????

STORY 311   MISSIONARY MEETING with a GENERAL AUTHORITY ELDER BRAGG

      We mentioned this meeting last week, and he and his wife did arrive. This is WHY we needed the 140 lunches for the missionaries who were bused in from the North, plus including the two zones of missionaries from Antofagasta.  It was a VERY busy time for us, getting the 12 boxes of pre prepared lunches (an apple, mandarine orange, juice box, plate, napkin etc.) then we PICKED up 150 hot empanadas  and 150 completos "have a hot dog inside" and the car was full of 15 trays holding all of this. We got to the church and started "bagging" into the prepared sacks the hot empanadas etc. It was a real rushed time, as things were running behind. Then we finally sat down for the meeting in seats Geoge had earlier picked out. Then we found out the missionaries had bus tickets to leave at 5:55. For a BREAK they sent all 140 missionaries outside for a photo session, then returned for more talks, etc. The General Authority Bragg spoke again. His talk went on and on, so we sent one of the missionaries up to tell the President that the Iquique and Alto Hospicio missionaries had bus tickets in 25 minutes and it takes 20 minutes to get to the bus station. Obviously the talk ended (fast), a (fast) closing prayer and 25 missionaries were rushed off to the bus station.  It was said around that the"Talbots" saved the day for them. Longer account written in an email.  (see group photos)

        

STORY 312   A FIREMAN WAS KILLED and FUNERAL CARS PROCESSION

     George was at Central (name for main downtown area) to get the mail and found a big funeral procession. It was for a fireman who had been killed while working on putting out a fire. The big "bombarro" (firetruck) was first in line, followed by the casket that was on top of another vehicle and followed by another car that was full of flowers. It all happened so fast he did not get the firetruck in the photo. The firetrucks here are "white with blue strips of trim".  They are NOT red!. (see photos)

        Incidetllley we heard an amazing true "Christmas gift firetruck story" from Rodolfo a few nights ago that we will have to WRITE at another time. An amazing story, with a catch 22 ending, and a lesson on a father's kind patience with a 7 year old son who set the living room on fire early Christmas morning while playing with his new firetruck. Child's logic: I I have a firetruck I need a fire to put it out with so where are the matches!!!!.

STORY 313  SHOPPING for GEORGE and " Chilean PONCHO and a Chilean HAT"

     I was the one pushing to get him a poncho and hat. We had both been so busy that we had never had any time to go shopping. Then to our surprise we met "Jose Perez" in the main big mall store all dressed in his Chilean Poncho and Hat. We stopped to talk to him to ask where he purchased them, and found out he was an "inactive baptized member" of our church. His wife and (her daug. from a former relationship) were with him. Of course we asked them (in Spanish) if they wanted to learn more about the church. We took some photos and had a good visit at the store. Then we parted and they left and we went to go and find the poncho and hat for George. It was a long walk, but we found the place and after trying on "many" different hats we finally found one the right size. (see photos)

STORY 314  ATTENDING TWO CHILEAN LDS BARRIO's NATIONAL HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS

       We are in the Origenes Barrio but our contacts Marta and Rodolfo live in the boundaries for the Quito Barrio. These two barrios (wards) were each having their celebrations the SAME night and at the SAME time so we went to both of them. We met our investigators  (Rodolfo, Marta and Guga) at Origenes, shared in with the games, watched the Cueca Dancers, ate empanadas and chorpian (like hot dogs), plus the Chilean drink which is (peaches - whole- with sort of a grain that is puffed up, and peach juice). This drink that you EATwith a spoon is very popular. 

      Then we both got in our separate cars and drove to the Quito barrio, where we introduced them around and had more empanadas and watched dances and games. See the photos for this story. George wore his "poncho and hat" which was a hit with the young missionaries too. We had 3 contacts to Origenes, and 5 to Quito who came. (see photos)

        END  We hope you each take every opportunity available to you to SHARE the gospel. We were talking to  our daughter Stephanie this past week and asked her how many children were in her son Tanner's four year old primary class. She said 10, but some do not come. We told her we hopes she takes on those inactive families  as "projects" to help them return back into the "gospel fold." We know it is hard when a young mother has 3 small children, but we are certain that each of us can do SOMETHING, even in Utah, and more so will be opportunities in Texas, Indiana, or Virginia, to help "bring back" those who have strayed away. We also  know that we will certainly be more anxiously engaged in this kind of effort when we return home. We are totally convinced that you do NOT have to GO on a mission to BE on a mission, we can ALL be missionaries where ever we live and where ever we go. Even being a diligent visiting teacher or home teacher is like being a missionary bringing a message to lift, inspire, and bless the members of the church.

Amor, Padre & Madre; or Tia or Tio; or Amigos!

Cleyde Colome who we found and helped get baptized, Margaret, Claudio and his daughter Gabriela.  This was their first time to attend church.  Story 303

Boxs prepared to carry lunches for the mission conference with the General Authority. Story 304

 Story 304 - Office Elders stacking the lunch boxes.  Elder Huffstutler, Elder Rios, Elder Prada and Elder Roberts.

 Story 305 - Missionaries who are departing for home the following morning.

Story 306 - Food trays prepared for the new missionaries.

 Story 307 - Water bottles with their names on them prepared for the 16 new missionaries.

 Story 308 - Setting up the tables in the back of the mission home for the new missionary lunch

 Story 308 - New Missioinaries arrive for their luncheon.  President Ferreira is in the back and the two Texas missionaries are on the far right.

Story 310 - Claudia Ulloa came to our home for dinner (She is an Investigator) and gave us a lesson on how to eat Artichokes.

 Story 310 - Eaten from the leaves until she is down to the Artichoke heart.

 Story 310 - Ready to eat the Artichoke heart.  She loves Artichokes.

 What is left of the Artichoke.  They are delicious.

 Claudia's sister Daniela ready to eat an artichoke.

 Story 309 - Claudia and her sister Daniela pose for a pictures.  It has taken us a year to finally get them to come together for dinner.  We have another appointment on Tuesday.699

Story 304 - 140 lunches prepared for 140 missionaries for the mission conference with Elder Bragg.00

 Missionaries waiting for their picture to be taken in at the Origenes Church.  Margaret is on the front row on the far right visiting with a sister missionary.  Story 311

 Story 311 - The other half of the missionaries at the Origenes Chapel.

 Story 312 - Apparently a fireman passed away and they have had the funeral and are taking him to the cemetery.  Note the fire truck just turning the corner.  The casket is on top of the vehicle just above the white car.

 Story 312 - The fire truck has now rounded the corner.  You can see the casket on top of the car between the white and red car and in front of the white hearse.

Story 312 - While the fire truck was passing, a talk was being given at the main plaza in Antofagasta.  Some of the those attending were dressed for the occasion.

 Story 313 - While shopping we met a couple and their daughter.  This is the daughter Andrea.  We did not get a picture of the mother.  The father said he was a member of the church.

 Story 313 - This is the father, Jose Perez. Who says he is a member of the church.  He is dressed in a Chilean cowboy outfit.   He told us where we could go to purchase those clothes for me.

 Margaret took a picture of me in my new Chileano cowboy outfit. Story 314

Story 314 - At the Quito Ward Barrio Fiesta with Elder Rios on the left and Elder Huffstutler on the right.  September the 18th is their Independence Day celebration like our 4th of July.  Many wear this outfit to represent the Chile tradition.

Story 314 - At the ward party at Quito, Margaret found a friends for Gustavo (Guga) who is on the right.  Vicente, in green is on the left.

 Story 314 - At the ward party Marta found a little baby to hold.  She would like another child so that Guga could have a sibling.

 At the Origenes ward party Rodolfo had this picture taken.  Unfortunately, I went to sleep in this pictures.  These were fun parties.