This week we finally received our crate of belongings from home that we packed and shipped a few months before leaving. We had the things we’ve needed for the past 7 weeks in our suitcases we brought down, but now we have a few more things from home such as our family photos, books, Monica’s favorite throw pillows and blankets, clothing donations we collected for the missionaries, etc. It definitely helps our house feel more like home.
On Tuesday Monica went with Hermana Bensfield (one of our senior missionaries) to get hair cuts from a member in one of the San Bernardo wards. While they were there, I stopped by a few district councils that were happening in the nearby chapel and enjoyed being with some missionaries.
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| Monica's new peluquera! |
In the evening, we went to Carolina Sandoval’s bday celebration (wife of my counselor Jaime) at their house. They have 4 daughters - ranging from 5 -14 years old. I sat and chatted with the parents, while the girls surrounded Monica and loved hanging out with her. Thursday night we were back at their house for their 3rd daughter, Tamara’s 9th b-day party. We’ve introduced our mission to our Bartholomew family tradition of singing Happy Birthday off-key on purpose. The Sandovals thought it was the best thing ever and jumped right in to participate with us. We also call each of our missionaries on their birthdays to sing to them and they’ve loved it too. It’s fun bringing a bit of our family back home to our mission family! We also stopped by a church building on our way home on Wednesday for the birthday celebration of Elder Gutierrez, one of our service missionaries which was great.
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| With the Sandovals on Carolina's birthday. |
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| Tamara's 9th birthday! |
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| Birthday celebration for Elder Gutierrez (to the left of President) |
Our power went out briefly on Thursday evening due to a strong rainstorm - that eventually left a light dusting of snow in Santiago too. It was beautiful to wake up to a familiar sight of snow, even if it was in August instead of December!
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| First glimpse of snow in Santiago! |
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| Making a snowman to show the nietas (granddaughters) 😁 |
On Friday we hosted our 6 elders who are going to finish their missions next week for a “Day of Honor.” It was a very spiritual and fun day filled with final interviews, lunch, games and a testimony meeting. It’s always rewarding to hear about the growth each missionary has experienced during their time in the mission field.
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| Left to right: E. Iverson, E. Juad, E. Hawley, Presidente & Hermana Bartholomew, E. Nelson, E. Ditto, E. Hoch |
Saturday morning I had an appointment to get my car serviced, and after dropping it off I walked home and took some photos of the snow capped Andes with the rare clear skies from all the rain and snow this week. Reflecting on this week, I sent a message to our missionaries encouraging them to keep working even when the days are hard (or just really wet). I included some of these photos and reminded them “the field is white already to harvest” - a common phrase from scripture to describe missionary work - meaning that there are people here in Santiago that are ready and waiting to hear the message of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel from the missionaries - they just need to be found!
Saturday evening we went to the stake center in Los Aviadores to participate remotely in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square concert that was held in Argentina celebrating 100 years of the Church in South America. In 1925, Elder Melvin J Ballard dedicated the lands of South America for the preaching of the gospel, and it was amazing to be here to celebrate 100 years later and see all the growth and progress of these dedicated followers of Jesus Christ. Before the broadcast started, local members showed off the decorated chapel with displays and dances. The theme of the concert was “Canciones de Esperanza” (Songs of Hope), and we loved hearing the Choir and seeing our dear friend from Draper, Vanessa Crowshaw play the violin in the orchestra. They had some special guest artists, including our good friend from our daughter Megan’s mission in Argentina - Julian Mansilla. He played the bandoneón and also helped arrange many of the numbers for the choir and orchestra to accompany other artists. Overall, it was a beautiful night full of culture and music. (Check out this link if you want to watch the recording)
Throughout the week I probably spent about 30-40 hours working on transfers when possible. Everything needed to be done by Sunday, so Saturday night we finished working on transfers really late - Monica went to bed at 2am, and I finally followed at 3:30am. While It’s a very long, time consuming process to consider the needs of each missionary and try to make the best assignments, I’ve found that I’m really enjoying this part of our calling. I’m constantly amazed at how God is directing us and helping us make these changes.
On Sunday we attended the Jose Miguel Carrera ward, and Monica enjoyed making friends with Elena, a sweet 90-year-old lady and convert of just 2 years. She and her daughter shared a blanket with Monica during sacrament meeting since it's often pretty chilly inside the church buildings during the winter. It's been fun to see how quickly Monica makes friends with the members here without speaking much of the language still. We truly all are brothers and sisters in Christ and can feel that shared love no matter the language we speak!
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| We got a kick out of seeing them leave church in their motorized scooter. |
We stayed after church for 3 baptisms. Then we headed to Paine to see Elder Dangl & Wilson’s ward where they had 8 people getting baptized! The bishop in their ward has only been a member for 4 years himself, and he and the other members do such an amazing job at rallying around the missionaries and all the people they teach and bring to church - it really is a group effort. We ended the day with one more baptism service in another area for Paula, so in total we got to see 12 people be baptized today! Sundays are quickly becoming our favorite day of the week as we get to go support our missionaries and their new friends that are choosing to follow their Savior and be baptized. The field truly was white today!
