One Month Down! (How Many To Go??)

This week can best be described with one word - interviews! Tuesday - Friday this week I had the chance to start the process of individually interviewing every missionary in our mission. As a Mission President, I’m asked to do this once a transfer (every 6 weeks), with the purpose of checking in on each missionary and seeing what Monica and I can do to help them. The previous mission leaders (the Rosenlunds) planned these interviews for about 15 mins each, so I figured that would be enough for me, but let’s just say time got away from me many times and after spending 20, 25 or even 30 mins with some, at the end of each day I was running a good 2-3 hours behind schedule. We’ll figure out a better system for next time, but I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each missionary one-on-one. I got through about half of them this week, so we'll finish up next week with the rest. We have an amazing group here in Chile Santiago South! 

That doesn’t mean that they come without their own challenges and struggles though. There’s a variety of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual challenges they are going through, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet with them to be aware of each one. This week, Monica was able to personally call all the new missionaries that arrived last week and chat with them and their companions to see how they are adjusting as well. There’s a few that are understandably homesick, but overall I think they can feel our love and concern for them as they are just starting out their missions. 

Friday evening my mission presidency counselors joined us for dinner with their families, and we had a lot of fun! The Miranda family has 2 daughters (and Hermana Miranda’s sister joined us too), and the Sandovals have 4 daughters - so we loved being surrounded by all these sweet girls. We fed them waffles, served with ice cream on top as my mother, Barbara, has taught us to do, and they loved them! Before they left, Monica asked them if they would sing the Primary song Gethsemane for us. It was one of her mother’s, LaVern’s, favorite songs - in fact when she passed away last October, it was one of the last songs she listened to in the hospital. Monica felt very close to her mom as they sang. It was tender seeing the youngest of the daughters who is 5 years old and imagining our oldest granddaughters, Jane and Lily being that same age (or almost) when we return home from serving in 3 years. Time is definitely going to fly! 

The Sandovals, The Bartholomews, & The Mirandas.

All the chicas 💜

Dinner with our chilean family :)

All squished into our elevator after dinner. 

Today (Sunday) for church, we were invited to attend the ward conference for a ward called Viluco - in a small countryside town called Maipo. The ward has been growing there for the last several years, and the church recently completed construction on a new church building that they are waiting to move into, so right now they still meet in a house they rent for Sunday services. They invited Monica and I to share a short message with them. They were very grateful that we would take the time to go visit this area and we really enjoyed being there. During the ward conference we met a guy named Samuel who is actually from Otavaol, Ecuador. He’s been living in Chile for a long time though. He used to live in a different part of Chile called Quinta Normal which is an area next to where I served at the start of my mission back in 1989. He said he recognized me from when I served here as a young man! Sadly I don’t remember him - I don’t remember much from the first part of my mission honestly, but it was a fun connection to make. 

Brent & Samuel

We enjoyed seeing the missionaries that serve in the Viluco ward during ward conference. 

This evening, we went to a baptism for a young man named Benjamin. Here’s a little bit of his story: He works at the local grocery store, Jumbo, and he has a coworker there that he noticed was always super upbeat and happy. At some point they started talking about religion and she told him she’s a member of our church. She invited him to attend sometime, and 3 weeks ago, he showed up on Sunday by himself. He found the missionaries at church and asked to be taught, and now 3 weeks later he got baptized. It was touching to hear him share his story and testimony at the end of the service today. He’s a very impressive young man, and he may even decide to serve a mission one day. 

Benjamin's baptism

Benjamin & Elder Bunker

The baptism was extra special today because it was two of our office missionaries’ last day in the mission - Elder Bunker and Elder Sheppard - and they were the ones who taught Benjamin along with Elder Miles and Berrett. So tonight we took them to the airport to send them off. Elder Bunker was supposed to leave last week, but he arranged with the previous mission leaders to stay an extra 10 days to train his replacement in the office. And Elder Sheppard was going to hit his 2 years at the end of August right in the middle of transfers, so he got to end just a couple weeks early. We are so grateful for all their help as we’ve been settling into our new roles here. 

Left to right: Monica, Brent, Elder Sheppard & Elder Bunker (returning home), Elder Miles & Elder Berrett (replacing them in the office).

Hard to believe it’s already been a month living down south. We’re excited to see what’s in store next! 

Beautiful view of the Andes from my morning walk.

Another week, another trip to the feria for produce!

 

Out with the Old, In with the New - Transfer Time!

Today marks the end of week 3 in Chile and we couldn’t be happier - unless we had our granddaughters living here with us of course :)

This week was the official end of the 6-week transfer cycle, so we got to see everything come together. Monday we prepared things in the office to receive the new missionaries. Monica worked on organizing a supply closet that has extra clothes/supplies for incoming missionaries - Hermana Wright was a big help in this endeavor. 

Tuesday we went back and forth to the airport 3 different times to drop off our missionaries that are returning home. It started bright and early at 1:15am with Hermana Rivera, followed by a quick nap back home before dropping off Hermana De La Cruz at 6am. Tuesday evening we took the rest of the missionaries to the airport. With a few different flight times we ended up being at the airport from about 5-8pm sending them all off. 

During the sendoff, I was chatting with one of our departing missionaries, Elder Landon Allred, and then turned to go talk to another group. Shortly after, I turned and saw Elder Allred right near me again. I was confused, but eventually saw our Elder Allred again and realized that his identical twin brother, Elder Brandon Allred, was also at the airport on his way home from serving in another mission in Chile. It was fun to see these brothers reunited and heading home together. I actually have a fun connection to these brothers because their uncle, Darrin Allred is a surgeon from St. George that I had the chance to work with during my time at Ortho Development - small world! 

Elder Landon Allred (left) and his twin Elder Brandon Allred (right), both heading home from Chile.

Tuesday night we only got about 4 hours of sleep, and headed right back to the airport on Wednesday morning to greet our first new missionary arriving, Elder Shumway from the Peru MTC. The next group was coming from the Mexico MTC a little after, so we waited there and greeted 11 new hermanas. We then dropped them off at the mission office to get settled, and headed right back to the airport to pick up the last group of 3 missionaries that was coming from the Brazil MTC (2 hermanas and 1 elder). 

We got them all back to the office around 12 and had a little “reveal” meeting where each new missionary had the chance to introduce themselves, and then after they finished, we announced who their first trainer (first companion) was going to be. The trainers brought lots of fun energy that made the new missionaries feel very excited!

One unique experience I had when assigning these new missionaries to their trainers came last week when I had a strong feeling that Elder Ditto - one of my APs - should train this transfer. I was really hoping to keep him as an AP, knowing that he was heading into his last transfer of the mission, but I couldn’t shake the feeling, so I went ahead and added him to the list of trainers. Well, long story short, I ended up assigning him to train Elder Shumway and as I let Elder Ditto know before the new missionaries’ arrival, he told me how they grew up in the same ward (in fact - Elder Ditto’s dad is their bishop back home). They were very happy and surprised to be paired together to say the least!

Elder Ditto (left) & Elder Shumway (right)

After the meeting and feeding them, I had the chance to interview each of the new missionaries for 10-15mins each. We are so excited to get to know and work with these new missionaries. 

Then at 8pm, we went back to the airport to pick up one last new missionary who was coming from the DR - Hermana Sanchez. We took her trainer, Hermana Holt with us. Hermana Sanchez actually started her mission a year ago, but there was some issue with her visa in immigration when she arrived and they turned her away and sent her home. She’s been serving in the DR until her visa finally cleared and she got to come to her original assignment here in Chile. She’s already an amazing missionary and we’re so grateful we get to have her with us now! So in total we had 14 hermanas and 2 elders arrive this week.

Hermana Sanchez finally made it to Chile!

Thursday we went to the office to prep for our new missionary orientation happening the next day where all these new missionaries and their trainers would come together to learn about the mission, and to specifically review some health things - like what to do when you get a dog bite (since that is the most common thing the missionaries experience here).

That afternoon Monica had the chance to go to the “feria” which is similar to a farmers market, but on a much bigger scale - about 4-5 blocks long. They sell lots of fresh produce, clothes, etc. for a much better price than the supermarket, so we’re happy to have that option while we’re here!

View of the feria.

That evening I had a meeting with some local leaders of one of the stakes in the area - the stake presidency, other stake leaders and the missionaries that are serving in that area all attended. While I was at that meeting, Monica stayed home and had the chance to send out photos and emails to the parents of the new missionaries with the info about who their companion is and which area they are serving in. 

On Friday morning as we were heading to the office to do the new missionary orientation, we were reading through some of the replies from these parents of the new missionaries. Hermana Anderson’s family specifically, reached out to tell us an amazing connection she had with her grandpa - he served in Chile years ago when the mission was just the whole country of Chile. While he served, he had spent time in one part of Santiago called La Cisterna. Without knowing this background, I had assigned her to serve in that same area. So they were touched by the connection. She also had an uncle that served here in Santiago South, so she’s looking forward to making more connections to areas and people he served with while she’s here. 

The orientation went well overall! We enjoyed being with all our new comers and their trainers.

New missionaries (left to right): Hermana Frischknecht, H. Halls, H. Wistisen, H. Sloane, H. Pratt, H. Heap, Elder Silva, E. Shumway, H. Platt, H. Peterson, H. Woodruff, H. Andersen, H. Shurtleff, H. Zarpan, H. Kloverdanz, H. Sanchez, Hermana & Presidente Bartholomew

New missionary orientation meeting

All the new missionaries and their trainers. 

Lots of hermanas this transfer 💛

Saturday we had our P-day, and this week we decided to take it easy and finally catch up on some sleep. I also got my first haircut in Chile at a barbershop, and I’m happy to say it turned out well. While there I had some good conversations with the barbers - specifically with one who is a member of the church but hasn’t been to church for a while. We had a good chat and I invited him to go back. Who knows if he will or not, but we always encourage our missionaries to talk to everyone and invite them to come to church no matter their situation, so I was glad to put that into practice.

First haircut in Chile.

Today (Sunday) we went to church in Valencia Valea. After church, they had 5 baptisms in that ward. It was amazing to participate and be there to support them all! 

This week Monica drove the car alone for her first time! It was a short drive to the Killgores apartment (mission leaders over the Santiago West mission) to get her hair colored - before coming to Chile, Hermana Killgore and Monica made an agreement that they’ll color each other's hair for the next 3 years - so far it’s going great!

Hermana Killgore & Bartholomew's hair salon day. 

That’s all for now. We’re still tired, but it’s a good tired! Enjoy a few other pics from the week:

Quick visit to Elder Hoch (right) & Elder Christensen (left) on his birthday. 

First Sunday waffles for dinner here in Chile! 

Taste just like they do at home.

Watching the livestream of Elder Andrew Witt's homecoming back home in Draper, during our Sunday School class in Chile. The Witts have been our neighbors and friends for 25+ years.

Got our pictures added to the wall of all past mission leaders of the Chile Santiago South mission.

Still so surreal to have this calling!

Getting Into the Swing of Things

This week I started off with a meeting with my 2 counselors in the mission presidency. Each mission president has counselors that are members of the church who live in the mission boundaries. They know the area and the local members well, and help mission presidents to keep an eye on the safety of the missionaries. My counselors' names are Mallen Miranda and Jaime Sandoval - they are actually brother-in-laws! This week they orientated me to the mission. I look forward to working with them and getting their help and insight. 

Chile Santiago South Mission Presidency: Jaime Sandoval, Presidente Bartholomew & Mallen Miranda

Every Tuesday morning we have a mission-wide zoom call with a short devotional with everyone. It’s a chance for us to review our goals and achievement of key-indicators, as well as share pictures and experiences from any baptisms that week. As part of the meeting this week, all the missionaries that are leaving the mission next week had the chance to share some final thoughts and testimonies with everyone. 

I then spent the rest of the day beginning our preparations for transfers next week. Every 6 weeks we have transfers - where we will have some missionaries finishing their missions and going home, and then we will receive new missionaries that have just finished their training at the MTC and are beginning their missions. This first transfer we were losing 17 missionaries total, and receiving 15 new ones. Preparing for transfers is like a big jigsaw puzzle. We have to take a look at which areas the missionaries are serving in, and who their companions are. Depending on how long each missionary has been in a particular area, or with a companion, we move them around in addition to pairing up each of the new missionaries with a more experienced missionary to be their trainer. I felt a great deal of responsibility making these changes and helping them to be in the right place with the right people. This took a lot of time throughout the week, and a technology glitch made it a little more complicated than I had hoped. Moving forward it should be a little bit smoother of a process. 

Tuesday night we headed to the airport to drop off Brandon for his flight home. It's been great having him here with us for the first week and a half as we got settled in - although we've been so busy since day one, we wish we could have spent a little more time with just him! He actually flew home on the same flight as Elder Averett who we mentioned last week is heading home a week earlier than the rest of the missionaries who are ending this transfer. We were glad they had each other as travel buddies on the way home!

Goodbye Brandon ♡

First airport drop off for a missionary heading home - Elder Averett.

This week we also got to attend a district council meeting with some missionaries in the furthest south part of our mission, in an area called Buin. Each of our districts (groups of 4-5 companionships, or about 8-10 missionaries) meets together once a week for a district council meeting. Led by the district leader, the missionaries review goals and get the chance to dive deeper into topics from Preach My Gospel. It was great being with them, and they were happy to see us and even happier to get some treats we brought to share!

Our big event of the week was hosting all the outgoing missionaries at our home for a “day of honor” on Friday, celebrating them and all they have accomplished during their missions. I had the chance to interview each missionary one-on-one starting at 10am and ending around 4:30pm. It was a great experience - these missionaries are so mature and experienced and it was amazing to talk to them about how they have grown and changed. One of the Elders asked for Monica to join us for his final interview, and she loved being a part of that. Throughout the rest of the interviews, Monica was on entertainment duty - she loved talking to all of them, and taking pictures and videos as they played some spikeball, ping pong, etc. We had pizza and snacks available throughout the day. We ended the evening with each missionary sharing their testimony about how they’ve grown closer to Jesus Christ throughout their time here in Chile. We are sad we only got to know them for a few short weeks, but we’re grateful for the chance to see them off and give them some advice as they head home. In their final interview, I really tried to emphasize that while their mission has been an incredible experience, they shouldn’t let it be the spiritual high of their life. They need to continue to focus their life of Christ and following His gospel and they’ll be blessed with the help they need to make their next life decisions. 

Left to right: Elders Bair, Bunker, Barney, Brown, M. Anderson, Christensen, President & Hermana Bartholomew, Allred, West, Shepherd, Chipman, K. Anderson, Shiflett

Left to right: Hermanas De la Cruz, Rivera, President & Hermana Bartholomew, Johnson

Intense game of spikeball.

They played ping pong forever!

That evening after the missionaries left, we had a meeting with some area-wide leaders of our church, specifically Elder Bravo of the quorum of the seventy. All the stake presidents and their wives from the 6 stakes in our mission were also there. They had a translator for Monica so she was grateful to not have to rely on Google. The meeting lasted from 8-9pm. We then ate a late dinner, referred to as “la once” in Chile. A few members of the church down here have started their own BBQ company, so they catered some delicious food for us. We stayed until 11pm and got home by midnight - we’re still getting used to a typical Chilean schedule. 

Saturday is normally our preparation day, but with transfers coming up, I really felt like I needed to review everything one more time. Each week the missionaries write me letters/fill out a form to let me know how they are doing. It includes things like health problems, how well they get along with their current companion, etc. I hadn’t had the chance to read any of these letters yet since arriving, so I had over 200 ready to read. Going through each letter gave me extra insight and helped me make a few changes before submitting the transfers. 

That evening we met up for dinner with The Killgores who are also from Draper - they are the new mission leaders over the Santiago West mission, and we live only about 5 mins from each other. We met them before coming to Chile, so it was good to see each other again. It was therapeutic to share our stresses and successes with someone else who knows exactly what we are feeling right now. 

P-day work from our home office.

Today (Sunday) we attended the Vicuña Mackenna ward for their meetings from 10-12. At 12:30, there was a baptism service for Claudio and Carolina. Afterwards, we went out to our car and ate some lunches we had pre packed for ourselves in the car. We drove over to the other side of the building to leave, and found the gate locked. We had to call some missionaries who live 10 mins away to come back and open the gate for us, so that was a funny experience!

The missionaries that came to save us!

Then we headed to 2 more baptism services in another town called Paine (one at 3pm and the other at 5:30) for Lia and Thania. Afterwards, we drove down to Buin to attend one more baptism service for Eliana. She has been investigating the church for 16 years. In 2008 and 2018 she actually traveled to Utah and attended General Conference in person. She has been taught by countless sets of missionaries over the years, but has never decided to commit to being baptized. On July 4th (just 9 days ago), Elder Allred, was on exchanges one day with Elder Munk (in Elder Munk’s area) and they had a lesson with Eliana. Elder Allred shared his testimony about the temple and shared some experiences he had when he worked in the temple. She started getting emotional when he was sharing and he testified to her that she was feeling the spirit. She agreed that God was helping her to feel Him in that moment and she decided it was time to be baptized! 

Carolina's Baptism

Just after Claudio's baptism.

Lia's baptism

Thania's baptism.

Eliana's baptism.

Today was the highlight of our mission so far! Seeing 5 people choose to follow the Savior’s example of baptism was truly a beautiful experience. We got to share a few remarks at each of their baptisms, and reminded them that this is just the beginning of their journey to follow the Savior every day. What a special day to witness!

Well, that’s it for this week - We are exhausted, but we’re happy! 

We brought some dehydrated sourdough start to Chile and it's back to life! Let the baking begin :)

Beautiful flowers on our balcony.