On Saturday, June 28th we said goodbye to our kids and grandkids at the Salt Lake Airport. Our son Brandon traveled with us, helping with our 8 checked bags and 3 carry-ons— packed full of hopefully all we'll need for three years in Chile. While we waited for our flight, we saw a large homecoming group for mission leaders returning from Honduras. It was touching and bittersweet to see their joyful reunion as we tearfully said goodbye.
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| Our luggage helpers, Jane & Lily! |
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| Last picture with the Bartholomew clan for 3 years. |
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We'll miss our nietas (granddaughters) the most!
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| Boarding our flight with Brandon. |
After a layover and delay in Atlanta, we finally boarded our 9.5-hour flight to Santiago overnight. We arrived early Sunday, June 29th, where we were met by the Rosenlunds (outgoing mission leaders) and the Clarks (a senior couple serving in the mission office). Driving through Santiago was surreal. The airport is in Pudahuel, which was one of the ares I served in as a young missionary, and our new home is in Lo Barnechea—another familiar area from my young missionary days. A lot has changed here in the last 36 years, and I'm excited to finally be back!
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| Welcomed in the airport by the Rosenlunds. |
Our mission home is lovely, located in a quiet, safe neighborhood. It’s a spacious two-level condo with three bedrooms, an office and lots of gathering space. After some rest and unpacking, we drove to the mission office in San Bernardo. It’s a former chapel now converted into offices for the mission. Monica and I have our own offices, and there are desks for the Clarks, and three young office Elders who handle visas, housing, and travel (Elders Miles, Berrett and Bunker). We got to meet them along with our three AP's (assistants to the President)—Elders Ditto, Sanchez, and Bray. Another senior couple, the Wrights, also joined us that evening. They are serving as MLS (member leader support) missionaries here in Chile. They happen to be friends with the Bristols from our neighborhood back home, so it's fun to have that connection to them.
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| Elder & Sister Clark (left), Monica, Sister Rosenlund (right) - taken on the back patio of our condo. It's winter time in Chile right now. |
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Sister & Elder Wright (left).
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Dinner with our office team!
Top Row (left to right): Elder Ditto, Elder Bray, Hermana Bartholomew, President Bartholomew, Elder Miles, Elder Berrett, Elder Bunker
Bottom Row (left to right): Elder Sanchez, Hermana Wright, Brandon, Elder Clark, Hermana Clark, Elder Wright |
On Monday we had a Zoom meeting with Shane Littlefield, our Area Mission Specialist. He gave us an overview of the mission and helpful data to guide our efforts. Afterward, we got to spend about 4 hours with the Rosenlunds who walked us through mostly mission administration and Sister Rosenlund specifically shared health information to help Monica support our missionaries’ medical needs as that will be one of her primary roles here. That afternoon, they left for the airport and we were on our own! We then had a full debrief meeting with our assistants to plan the week ahead. That evening we drove ourselves home—my first time driving in Chile! Despite a few wrong turns, we made it, and ended the night with a Zoom call to introduce ourselves to all 158 of our missionaries.
Tuesday was full of preparation for our first Mission Leadership Council (MLC) meeting. For those unfamiliar, the mission is divided into zones (larger geographical areas) and districts (smaller areas within zones), each with leaders who help support and train their fellow missionaries (called zone leaders, district leaders and sister training leaders - who help out the sister missionaries specifically). Our monthly MLC includes all these leaders and is an important time for counsel and training. I spent most of Tuesday night (and well into the early morning) preparing for our first one.
On Wednesday we held our MLC from 10am–2pm. We focused on our shared missionary purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We watched videos, had discussions, and practiced teaching skills. The goal is for these leaders to now go out into their areas and pass along the same training to the missionaries under their jurisdiction. We have been very impressed with these young leaders and look forward to working with them to help the rest of the mission thrive. Later that day, we reviewed finances with the Clarks and then did our best to prepare for the next two days—our first in-person meetings with all missionaries!
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Our first Mission Leadership Council (MLC).
Top Row (left to right): Elders Kulbacki, Medeiros, Ditto, Sachetti, Munk, Sanchez, Mason, Rodrigues, Gibson, Albujar, Olsen, Klein, Harris, Anderson, Bray
Bottom Row (left to right): Hermanas Garn, Holt, Franco, Klegg, Hermana Bartholomew, President Bartholomew, Hermanas Peña, Berrett, Cavalcante, DeVries |
Since December, Monica and I have been studying the photos and names of each of our missionaries. We were encouraged to memorize them before our mission began. It was not an easy task, and at first I tried focusing on last names but eventually found that memorizing full names was a bit easier. My family even quizzed me back home! I reflected on how meaningful it is that God knows us by name and decided to share that message with our missionaries.
On Thursday and Friday, we met all our missionaries in person! It was both exciting and humbling. I was hoping to greet them all by name (without looking at their name tags), but many didn’t look like their photos - with some being much taller/shorter in person or having a different hair cut to trick us. So even thought we were stumped a few times, it was still a joy to greet them - we feel like we've already known them for a long time. We showed pictures of our family, shared our testimonies and messages with them, and Brandon even hosted a fun Kahoot quiz to help them learn more about us. Questions included things like “Which Bartholomew child got lost at Disneyland?” The missionaries loved it!
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| Meeting half our missionaries on Thursday. |
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| Meeting half our missionaries on Friday. |
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| Introducing our family to the missionaries. |
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| Brandon leading the Kahoot quiz about our family. |
Thursday night we attended the Santiago Temple—dedicated in 1983. During my original mission, I only attended once at the end. While there, we ran into two of our service missionaries from Santiago who volunteer in the temple. Service missionaries live at home and participate in missionary work in other ways than proselytizing.
Friday evening we did a bit of sightseeing around Santiago with Brandon. Our first stop was the Costanera Tower—the tallest building in South America (62 floors). We reached the observatory at sunset, and although the view was smoggy, it was still stunning. Since it was the 4th of July, we found burgers for dinner at a nearby restaurant inside the most pristine mall we’ve ever seen.
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| View of Santiago from the Costanera Tower. |
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| Google image of the Costanera Tower. |
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| 4th of July dinner! |
Saturday is our preparation day each week. We explored San Cristobal Hill, which offers panoramic city views and has a large statue of the Virgin Mary at the top. You can hike, bike, or ride a funicular or cable car to reach the summit. We also visited Santa Lucia Hill and the Museum of Modern Art, finishing the day with a grocery run at Jumbo, a major supermarket chain here.
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| San Cristobal Hill. |
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| View of Costanera Tower from the cable car ride up to San Cristobal Hill. |
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| Our new favorite grocery store - Jumbo. |
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| Brent found his granddaughters favorite snack - pouches! |
Sunday was a beautiful conclusion to our first week. We attended church in the Portales 1st Ward in San Bernardo, where over 100 people attended. Being the first Sunday of the month, it was fast and testimony meeting. The heartfelt testimonies—many focused on Christ—were inspiring. During Sunday School, Monica used her iPad and Google Translate to keep up with the discussion. We laughed when the name “Nephi” from the Book of Mormon was mistranslated as “Netflix.”
The highlight of the day was participating in two baptisms. Eugenio, an older man who walks with a cane, met the missionaries outside his house and was eager to learn more. The other was Roberto, a young man about 15 or 16 years old. In talking to them both afterwards I could feel the joy they felt in their decisions to follow Christ. Across the mission, 12 people were baptized this week.
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| Baptism of Roberto (white jumpsuit on the left). |
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Baptism of Eugenio (white jumpsuit on the left).
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| Ward members supporting Roberto & Eugenio on their baptism day. |
We also spent time with Elder Averett, who is returning home a week early for a family event. I had a sacred final interview with him and afterward we had dinner with him and his companion, Elder Robinson, who happens to be from our hometown of Draper.
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| Elder Averett - our first missionary to head home. |
We couldn't have survived our first week here without Karina, a wonderful Chilean woman hired by the Church to help us in the mission home. She cleans, and helps with laundry, and bakes the most delicious cookies for our meetings with the missionaries—we are so grateful for her! She comes over three times a week and has become a dear friend to us. Her daughter lives in Utah, and we met their family during their visit earlier this year. Though Karina and Monica don’t share a language, their friendship has blossomed—with a little help from Google Translate!
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| Monica & Karina |
We feel humbled, grateful, excited (and a bit tired) for the weeks ahead!
Con mucho amor,
Presidente y Hermana Bartholomew
