Chillán, and Missionary Moments

Chillán Cathedral 1969

1969 - new model car and truck

Chillán Cathedral 2013 - 44 years later.

We have moved to Chillán which is about 175 km south of Talca. We now live in the Bio Bio Region of Chile (VIII).  Talca is in the Maule Region (VII). After 2 days of packing, 8 elders loaded the truck in a little over an hour. In Chillán 8 additional elders unloaded the truck and brought everything up the elevator to the 13th floor, with the exception of the bedframe which they had to bring up the 13 flights of stairs. Great workers! When they were done our apartment looked like this -

After Sally put her magical touch to everything it looks like this - We call it "Our Penthouse".

Sally loves the kitchen! We actually have drawers! And look at all that counter space. An oven at eye level (although we haven't figured out how to get to a temperature other that 400° F. We spent 4 hours cleaning the kitchen top to bottom and finished the day cleaning the rest of the apartment.  There are very few people who can clean things well enough for Sally's standard.  It looks great now.

 

We even have a laundry room (it is a good thing because the building doesn't have any laundry facilities).  We bought a combo washer/dryer (Daewoo) that only uses about 2 Tbs of liquid detergent which we found out the hard way. We had suds coming out of every seam on the machine. We had to wash the clothes 2 more times to get rid of the suds.

We have purchased a couple of recliners which is a great blessing for all of the computer work we do.  The couple who replaces us is going to have it made! We really feel blessed to be able to have this apartment.  We pay $400,000 pesos versus the $350,000 pesos for the apartment in Talca. In Talca we were on the 2nd floor and there was a lot of street noise and roudy people until 3 or 4 in the morning. It was less than a block from the main plaza. In Chillán we are on the 13th floor and we have a 3 bedroom apartment.  The HOA is about 50% more, $95,000 vs $63,000 pesos. and the utilities will be higher.  But the apartment is way better. The owner is a 75 year old dentist who is still practicing dentistry. He has the tiniest office I've ever seen. It was no more than 200 square feet. You open the door to 5 ft hallway with chair and the operatory is on the side with a combination business area and sterilization. The whole place was about 10 X 20 ft. A little different than our 3300 square foot office in Coeur d' Alene.

Chillán is also famous for its great outdoor produce market.  $475 pesos = $1 US.  1 Kilo = 2.2 lbs.  These pictures are from this last December at the start of Summer.

 Their produce is huge, gorgeous, and delicious. The Chileans love avocado and so do we. Our favorite meal is smashed avocado with sliced tomatoes on warms Chilean bread. The bread tastes great when it is fresh and warm.  It is made with lard instead of shortening (you can't buy shortening here in Chile).

All the new hermanas (sister missionaries) have been arriving to the mission and they are working hard. It is a huge adjustment but I think it is especially hard on them as the living conditions are pretty poor. Hermana Rane (Rexburg, Idaho) has been working in Talca and doing a great job.  Her mother learned about our project of looking for the lost sheep from this blog and volunteered to help. We sent her the documents for the Rauquen Ward in the Curicó Stake and she has been doing a fabulous job in spite of being a busy mother and wife. Hermana Rane knew that her mother had volunteered but didn't know anything more than that.  During a break at the Newbie Missionary Conference, I invited Hermana Rane to come and look at my computer screen.  She saw her mom's initials, where she has been working on finding the lost members, and it was a very tender moment. Her eyes welled up with tears and I just enjoyed the moment.

Hermana Taylor, hugging a crocheted dish cloth as though it was the best gift ever!   Missionaries love things that remind them of home.