All in a P-day's work

We are having such a wonderful mission.  We have gotten to know such great Elders and Hermanas.  We become good friends as we visit their District Meetings and watch them teach each other and implement what they have learned in their training meetings from President and Hermana Humphrey.  I love baking something delicious to take, (recipes fail here), but the Elders are easy to please and everything that is remotely"like home" is delicious to them.  We check their living quarters, and our favorite activity is going on visits with them.  This last week we had such a great day in Constitucion, with 4 Elders and 2 Hermanas.  We love all the missionaries but we do develop a stronger bond with some.  They are always the ones that we have gone on visits with or the ones who translate for me.  Here is my favorite missionary in our mission.

What a handsome guy!  Doesn't he look happy?

On our P-day, we checked all the apartments of the Elders in Talca, San Javier, and San Clemente.  It was 3 p.m. before we knew it, and we were suddenly starving.  Thankfully the only Hermanas in the 2 Zones offered us a bowl of ice cream with a huge strawberry on top and shaved chocolate!  It was delicious!

Here is a sampling of what we saw on our inspection day.

This looks like a nice place.  What a lovely flower garden.

A lovely kitchen curtain!  These Elders even have oranges!  This is all the food they have.

Nice, big kitchen table with no chairs.  Be grateful for what you have!

My favorite kitchen.  Notice the missing oven?  How about that disintegrating wall?

This is a full refrigerator.  Some of them are pretty empty.

This makes me want to go camping!

Count your blessings, name them one by one!

The Elders like to make no-bake cookies and Rice Krispie  treats with Coco Krispies, (no Rice Krispies in Chile).
I really like the surface the cookies are on.  The Elder offered me one but I declined.

On the day you arrive in the mission, you are given a bag of wool blankets.  Hopefully you packed 2 sets of sheets.  Members do the wash for the Elders and sometimes it takes 2-3 days to get your laundry back.  Some missionaries bring a down sleeping bag.  You won't want to know how often they wash that thing!  The homes are really cold in the winter with no heat except for tiny portable heaters.  There is no insulation and many gaps in the doors and windows.

Elder Pulsipher is giving some instructions concerning the Elders, Carpeta de Area.  That is a notebook with the history of the Sector the Elders work in.  It has all the information about investigators, less-actives, contacts, and all the work the missionaries do in their area.  It is very important to be kept up-to-date, so the next Elders have a record and can get right to work.

Four Elders live here and they had a big place with this nice back yard.  You can see that they are creative and have fun.

This is how the closets are.  They use a whole room to put their clothes and maybe their study table.  There are no closets in these houses.

This is a map of the sector that the Elders work within.  Doug has to check to see if they are using this resource effectively.  It is a great help to them as they plan their day.  They are taught how to stay in one area and not track back and forth across the map, wasting time.  They are supposed to plan their day to the half hour!  These Elders are awesome!

Every set of companions has a white board where they keep track of more of their work.

In 1968 we had our own version of a "white board", a poster board with names, addresses, progress on 6 discussions, baptismal dates, etc.  We also tracked Group Meetings - when members or investigators invite their non-member friends to be taught by the missionaries in their home.  We actually used the ear muffs in the winter.  The aftershave lotion is interesting.

My favorite missionary, checking and teaching these Elders.  He always gives them a "pep talk",  (I think; it's all in Spanish here).  Then they will all laugh about something.  I know the Elders like Elder Pulsipher.

Onto the bathrooms!  As you can see, some showers don't have enough tile!  It is hard to keep the mold off of those walls!

Not a lot of room between the toilet and shower!

This bathroom is upstairs and is quite nice!  They knew I was coming to inspect!

After all the inspections we went home, ate some yummy palta, tomatoes, and beets that I had cooked, peeled and sliced and then you drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over it.  It is delicious.  Before bed, I took a long shower!!!