September 22nd - 28th, 2025
Monday morning we had our regular weekly meeting with Shane Littlefield. Afterwards we went to Cerro San Cristobal and climbed up the hill to the statue of the Virgin Mary. We went there with Brandon when he was with us in July, but it rained over the weekend leaving us with clear skies, so we went again to see the views. When we got to the top we stopped to buy some mote (dried peach & wheat drink), we were surprised when all of a sudden some of our missionaries came up behind us. There were about 16-18 missionaries there that were there for their p-day, so it was fun to run into them.
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| Cerro San Cristobal from below |
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| View from the top |
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| There are many beautiful crosses like this one on the way up |
That evening we took Hermana Perez to the airport. She got approval to go home for 3 weeks to care for her mom who is sick and needs surgery. She doesn’t really have anyone else that can help during her recovery, so we’re glad Hermana Perez can go be with her. That night I had a mission presidency meeting followed by a meeting with our AP’s.
Tuesday we joined a weekly district council meeting in San Miguel. Wednesday I had interviews with the missionaries in the San Miguel zone all day, followed by a meeting with the president of the San Miguel stake that evening.
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| The missionaries enjoyed their Dunkin donuts this week during interviews. |
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| Physical evidence of a hard-working missionary. |
Thursday we had interviews in San Bernardo, followed by a meeting with the stake president for me, so Monica got to join 2 of our sisters for the evening. We recently added sisters to that area - it had been 8 years since sister missionaries had served there. In that zone we typically only have elders serving there since it's the most dangerous part of our mission, however, there are a couple areas that are safe enough for sisters so we put them in this transfer and things are going great so far. Monica accompanied Hermana Jensen and Hermana Lobos for the evening and spent lots of time knocking on doors and chatting with a few people. They also visited a part-member family and had a brief message on their doorstep, and ended the night at the house of a recent convert who was baptized 6 months ago. She was going to have an interview the next day in English, so Monica got to help her practice her English a little bit in preparation for that.
Friday I wrapped up interviews in Los Alerces. Afterward, President Sandoval’s daughter, Elisa turned 14 so we stopped by to celebrate her birthday with a little gift and our classic off-key rendition of happy birthday which they get a big kick out of every time! Later that night President Miranda’s ward was having a 18 de septiembre party, so we joined in on that. I somehow got roped into being a judge for a food competition to see who made the best salsa. We’ve been really impressed by all the ward parties we’ve attended here - the Chileans go all out!
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| Feliz cumple Elisa! (second from the left) Also, notice their youngest daughter, Pia who fell asleep on the couch during the celebration :) |
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| Winner of the salsa competition! |
On Saturday morning, I got a phone call from some Elders while I was working out and found out that one of them got bitten by a rat. They were participating in a service project with their ward in connection to the church celebrating 100 years in South America. They were cleaning up the banks of a river in a super dirty area where people just dump all their trash. The ward members told the missionaries to avoid the rats, but one Elder decided that it would be “cute” and “cool” to catch one and take a picture with it. Luckily, one of the members there was a medical professional, so they immediately took him to the hospital to get a rabies shot. Moments like these just reminded me that these missionaries are still very young and don’t always make the smartest decisions.
Saturday night we attended President Sandoval's ward party for 18 de septiembre and it was so impressive and very over the top. So many people wore their traditional clothing and performed dances from lots of different areas of Chile. At the end they opened it up to have everyone dance the national dance the cueca. It was a blast!
That night I also stayed up late to watch the BYU football game over zoom with Brandon, so by the time I was going to bed I got the news that our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson had passed away. We were obviously sad to hear the news, but we also felt peace and comfort to know where he is, and are joyful to think of his reunion with the Savior, his first wife, all the past prophets and other family members. I took the time to write a message to the missionaries to let them know when they woke up. President Nelson lived an incredible life and left behind quite the legacy. He passed away at age 101 and served as the Lord’s prophet for 7.5 years. During that time he announced the construction of 200 new temples, and overall did all he could to help us all focus more on Christ in our lives. At church on Sunday many tears were shed by us and the congregation as we sang “We Thank Thee, O God for a Prophet” and “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.” We love President Nelson and will miss him!
After church we attend baptisms in Hospital (the name of the ward, not the actual hospital), and Paine. Monica helped the sisters teach Maria a few weeks ago so it was great to attend her baptism today. As a mission we had over 20 baptisms this week which was incredible! We love being able to attend baptisms at the end of each week. It really reminds us why we’re here, to help God’s children come unto Him.
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| This little friend wandered into the chapel - reminded us of the scripture about the hen gathering her chicks (Matthew 23:37)! |
