It's All About Family, vacation, and missionary work!

John and Jessica came to visit us and while we waited for them at the Santiago, airport, I found this long observation window, up one flight of stairs.  You can see down into the baggage claim and get a glimpse of your loved ones after they clear customs.  People would wave and blow kisses and were so excited to see their family.  I watched for about an hour before I found John and Jessica.  I could hardly wait!

It takes about 20 hours to get here.  They brought us 2 duffel bags full of goodies!  Thank you!

Our first stop was the Vino Bello restaurant in Santa Cruz.  

Santa Cruz is in the heart of the "wine country".  It is a small, cute town, and worth going through.  The food is delicious here.

Grapes, grapes, grapes!

I'm holding the center piece; darling, isn't it?

We had to drive far and wide to see some great things in Chile.  Now that it has been over a week ago, I think it was totally worth it.

Sunday morning we had to get up early to drive to Constitucion so Doug could give a presentation on, "Working in Union".  We are going to all the wards/branches, in our area, to encourage the members to be the "finders" and the missionaries to be the "teachers".  He has done this every Sunday for the last 6 weeks.  Only 26 more times and we'll be done!  Doug has created a very good power-point presentation with a couple of videos and He does a wonderful job of motivation.  He is like a tiger out of its cage on this mission.  Give him an assignment and he doesn't hardly rest until everything is done.  I set up the tripod and focus the projector.  After that, I shut the curtains and greet the people.
After church we took a stroll on the beach and had lunch.  We skipped eating the seaweed.

Chileans eat this.

 It is some kind of seaweed and grows attached to the huge rocks.  They cut it off of the rock and bundle it up and sell it.

What a cute couple after a good nights sleep

We are waiting for the water to go back so we can dart through a cave.  Maybe we would, if it wasn't Sunday.

Our next stop was Villarrica.  There is a beautiful lake, volcano, German village and these thermal pools.

Termas Geometricas

You walk along these red walkways to get to the different pools.  They range from freezing cold to too hot to get in.  We really enjoyed our time here.  The pools were lined with slate and there was trickling waterfalls and larger ones all along the way.  The pools are only about  2 feet deep.  You can sit on the bottom and the water goes up to your neck.

This pool was probably over 100 degrees.

In a little village close to Villarrica there is a horse drawn milk wagon.  How about that! 

Here is another.

This part of Chile is beautiful

The Park Lake Hotel is where we stayed.  This would be a great place to spend 2 or 3 days.

The beach at Vina del Mar

This is the famous clock of flowers, where everyone takes a picture.

The "Ascensor" in Valparaiso.  A city built on hills.  This is a quick way to get up a very steep hill.  This was built in the 1800's.

After lunch we walked down the hill.  

 Sometimes the best pictures are found when you turn around and look where you've been.

Colorful Valparaiso

On our way to Santiago we decided to turn around and get one last picture of Viña del Mar.  We parked the car on a busy street, jumped out and I left my bag on the floor of the car.  In 15 minutes, when we returned, the window of the car was broken and glass was everywhere!  There was a rock on the drivers side.  The seat was covered with glass. I scraped the glass off the seat before we took this picture. The bag is gone, our tablet (Xoom was between the seats and that is gone, the little mobile WiFi device is gone.  It was a bitter lesson to learn.  Don't tempt people.  The good part is that we are alive and didn't get mugged!

Doug has always been resourceful!

We drove back to the hotel, changed passwords, reported stolen items, and got some cardboard and tape from the front desk.  This new window made it all the way to Santiago without blowing off!  We got to bed very late and felt very bad.
  The next day we were able to find a place to fix the window and get John and Jessica to the airport.  It was hard to say "good-bye", and I wondered if I could get back into the missionary mode after 6 days off.

Not to worry!!  As soon as we got home our phone started ringing.  We went with the missionaries to visit some investigators, helped with cambios, Monday and Tuesday, and met some new missionaries at our zone meeting.  I've been visiting teaching with an Hermana in our ward.  She was an example of the perfect visit.  She gave the message and we read the suggested scriptures together.  After the message, the mom and daughter looked at me and said, "Habla Hermana".  I tried to say how the mission was a great blessing in my life and how I loved the ward and the members.  I told them that I have 6 children and 18 grandchildren and they about fainted over that and then they started their "machine gun" Spanish and I didn't need to hablar anymore!  It was a fun experience. We helped the new hermana missionaries in our zone to get settled.  They had no food because the Elders had left the cupboards bare.  We had them for breakfast, (I mean, we invited them to eat breakfast with us), and took them grocery shopping.  They are the first hermanas in Talca in 30 years.  Their ward is so happy to have them.
We spoke at a noche de hogar, outside, with lots of mosquitos, about the Book of Mormon, attended a baptism and a "going away" party for a missionary leaving for Paraguay this week, attended a ward council meeting, and gave our Sunday training.  There were many other little things sprinkled into all those activities.
Sooo, it is easy to get back into the missionary mode.  Just be available!

Our new zone in Talca

I can't tell you how much I love these missionaries!!  Some Elders that have been with us our whole mission got transferred.  We will miss them.  If I ever start to feel "down", I just get a "missionary fix", since being around them is all I need to get a boost.
Hermana Lovell is the "gringa" in the middle.  Her parents are mission presidents in Argentina.  Her twin sister is on a mission in Spain, and her other sister is serving in Italy!  Five in a family!  Our mission is half and half, Latins to gringos.  Our zone is exactly that.  Hermana Chavez is sitting by me, and is from San Diego, so I think of her as a mix.  She can speak perfect Spanish and English, although she already has a funny English accent.  She has been here 3 months and serves in Constitucion.  The little latina on the left, just got here on Tuesday, from Guatemala.  She is wearing her Young Womanhood recognition award.  She does good with her English.