Sally's Take

This past week is almost a blur. On Tuesday we drove 11/2 hours to a district meeting with just 4 Elders in Cauquenes. They loved the homemade cookies and ate them in a nanosecond. We then checked out their apartments and took them to lunch. In this small town there is not a fast food, "Top Dog" or anything, so the Chilean Elder said he knew of a place to go. It was owned by a member of the Branch. So, you walk in and it looks like a banquet room, with the tables all set with cloth napkins and everything! There were even deflated Halloween balloons in the corner.  There was not another customer to be seen.  We sit down and they don't bring a menu, they just ask what you want. We let the Elders order for us. There wasn't a smell of anything cooking, but when the owner went back to the kitchen you could hear the knives chopping like crazy. I think they started the whole lunch from scratch. The final result was a huge pile of fresh french fries piled with sliced chorizo and some other kind of unrecognizable meat, sauteed onions and a sunny side up, fried egg on top!  Oh, man, the missionaries loved it. I will never eat it again. The Chilean Elder squirted mayo all over the top of his platter of fries and meat. The next course was right up my alley. It was freshly chopped lettuce with some parsley chopped in it and tossed with oil and lemon. It was delicious. I eat the lettuce here and I've never been sick. We hardly ever go out to eat. I'd rather have a tomato and avocado than anything in the town. The Chilean salads are the best thing I've found.  They usually consist of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  They also slice up beets with your salad platter.  They are also delicious.

After our lunch, we went with 2 of the Elders to visit an investigator. We are showing Bible videos on our Xoom wherever we go. They are short and so good. This woman, (Norma), was really impressed. She wants to get baptized but has to leave home and work in the fields to make some money. She is a Grandma and about my age. She also needs to quit smoking. She was very nice and I had a chance to bear my testimony--again.  They all seem to like my awful Spanish and 4 sentence testimony.  Less is more, right?  

We went with 2 Elders on Saturday to visit another investigator.  She is getting baptized on Friday.  We showed her the Restoration video.  She loved it.  I bore my testimony again and tried to change it up and called her a grandpa.  Yes, I'm having a blast learning Spanish!  We then took her to the Stake Relief Society "show off your crafts" activity.  The pictures below will tell it all.  

On Sunday we went back to the Branch in Cauquenes and Doug and I both spoke.  I carry my 1 page talk around just in case.  They asked me to say the closing prayer in Relief Society and it took me half the lesson to figure that out.  Not what I would say but that they had asked me to pray!  I don't pray very good in Spanish.  I guess I had better learn!  They told me they got my intentions.  Oh, well, my head aches by the end of Sunday.  Other than that, Spanish is great!!  For a good perspective on learning Spanish read this blog.

We are here on the Lord's errand.  He has many things for us to do and the little miracles happen every day. It seems we are always ready and able to accomplish  whatever comes each day.  This morning we had 3 calls from missionaries needing something.  Off we go....