MS and I spent three visits juicing the mandarins from her large mandarin orange tree. They are sweet and juicy (lots of seeds), but I love them fresh and they make wonderful frozen juice. Two glasses of water and a drop of 'splenda' (sweetener) to 1\2 cup of frozen juice makes a delicious drink.
M is a collector. She especially loves rocks. She gave the three stones above to Elder D when we first arrived in Nunoa to our apartment. I believe one is onyx, one is ebony, and the purple could be amethyst, maybe.
Almost every week I go visit our delightful duena (landlady) for about an hour. MS is a very special friend. Today we worked to clean out dead leaves around her many pots of geraniums, ferns and calla lilies along a stretch of ivy climbing the wall. We enjoy visiting all the while, we mostly speak our own language and help each other with the translation. We are great friends.
The front doors of the Temple are flanked by two large pots of camelias. The blossoms are beautiful and measure about 3-4 inches across.
These stained glass windows at the front of the Temple are very colorful and modern looking.
Stained glass window at the back of the Temple.
The back of the Temple is a favorite photo shoot for visitors.
This walkway links the Temple grounds to the Church offices.
This fountain is centered between the Hospidaje and the back of the Temple. The background looks to the Church offices and a chapel.
The Hospidaje (spanish for lodging) is situated across from the back of the Temple. It houses the temple missionaries, the spanish MTC, and has overnight rooms for temple patrons.
We just came home from having a special Family Home Evening with Elder Richard G. Scott of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Acosta of the Presidency of the Seventy.
The Chile Area Presidency Secretary, Elder Heaton and his wife arranged the meeting, and asked me to organize a special number.I decided we’d sing “Help me Teach with Inspiration”.Sisters Lyon and Burke to sing soprano, Sister Walton, alto, Elders Day and Walton – tenor, and Elders Burke and Runquist on bass.We started out with two other singers, me for one, and a different accompanist.Our first rehearsal wasn’t bad, but it didn’t feel quite right (a week ago).Today I got a phone call that the Limburg’s were sick, so I took over the piano for Sister Limburg and we reduced our 3 basses to 2.Now we had 4 men and three women.They looked beautiful together, the heights were perfect, the blend was splendid and it felt exactly right.
Elder Acosta spoke to all the (young) missionaries (and those of us seniors who are proselyting) on Saturday morning - it was soooo inspiring, but tonight he also told us a story about a senior couple who did work in a Spanish mission where he was president - neither of the couple knew any spanish - but they ended up starting a branch where there wasn’t one, and then it split and then split again – all with limited or only essential Spanish.
Tonight it was a treat to have Elder Scott speak to forty of us senior missionaries for an hour and a half. We sat in a circle around him - we were very close to him - at his knee, so to speak. The first thing he said was that we needed to be obedient.It really struck me what he said.Elder Acosta had said the very same thing, the first thing, in our meeting on Saturday morning – that we needed to be exactly obedience.It is the first law of the Lord.
(An aside)Last month in the temple I realized that the first law that God gave to Adam and Eve was the law of obedience.Then I realized why.Because without obedience, why would the Lord give us any more laws, which would result in blessings, if we would not first be obedient!Earthly laws are made to keep order and to keep us safe.It is this way with the temporal laws of the land.If humanity will keep the laws, we can all be safe and happy.Likewise, the Lord never gives a law without it being tied to a blessing we will receive, if obedient to the law.
Elder Scott made some marvelous promises to us, including that our families would be safe and some of our children would be brought back into the church and blessed because of our service. He invoked the gift of tongues upon us. But then, he told the women they did not need to worry about that, because we have a special sensitivity that made it so we could communicate just fine. I was disappointed he "qualified" the gift of tongues to the men, but I believe after thinking about it on the way home on the bus, I feel much less pressure to speak well, and no longer afraid to try to speak from my heart and rely even more on the spirit to help me. The biggest benefit of all is to know that the feelings I've had in speaking with other women - that is, of feeling that I knew exactly what they were talking about, even though I did not know but a few key words they said, the feelings I had were actually valid and I did understand. Also that in my limited Spanish, I could convey an answer - I have felt this to be true - but didn't trust my own intuition. Now I actually feel a lifting of the burden of the language. He told us to ask the Lord what he would have us do - in a way that was very impactful to me.
Elder Scott is a very kind man, he asked us questions, about our experience on the mission, and was very patient in listening to those who shared experiences.Then he told us about the first presidency and how “well balanced” they were as a presidency in their strengths, he also spoke about Elder Packer, how he has a special, well developed gift of being a seer and can see trends far in advance of when they become manifest and how valuable he was in that area.He also talked about mission calls, and how the committee of apostles and the first presidency have a meeting where they are looking at a computer that shows the missions and the requested needs of the missions around the world, and how they go about matching the missionary applications to the needs.He said the Lord truly directs them in the work.They have to do a lot of work on their own, but when it doesn’t feel right they go back and look again, make a change, and finally have the feeling of peace that the match is correct.See this interesting article in the Liahona for a front row seat in seeing how missionaries are called to serve by the presiding authorities.(A talk by Elder Rasband; Liahona May 2010 Conference Issue – The Divine Call of a Missionary. Cut and paste into your browser:
Elder Scott then bore a strong testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ, and that He directs the work of His Church.He also spoke to us of His love which he has felt and how tangible it is for him, and of his inability to adequately describe it, but that it is very real.
We felt enriched, loved and adequate as missionaries after being taught by Elder Scott.He shook hands with each of us before we parted.This is one of the many great blessings we are receiving while on our mission.
A and her lovely family were special friends to us from our first day in the Pirque Branch. A is a piano student of Sister D and Elder D helped her perfect her conducting of the music for church services. She is bilingual and helped Sister D a lot!
The Branch President M, his wife and two daughters, a ward member on the left and a newly returned missionary Hermano S on the right.
Hermano B, counselor in the Branch Presidency and his beautiful family.
H age 10, F age 12, S mom, and D age 14 - a very special family.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Once we arrive in Puente Alto, we walk several blocks to the chapel. It is only 9:25am when we arrive, and the town is quiet except for a few people on the street - no businesses are open yet.
We often see this religious group walking down the street singing together and periodically stopping to take turns preaching - calling out to whoever wants to listen.
They were happy to let us take pictures of them from across the street. We waved thanks and good-bye as we continued on to our chapel - and they waved back - all of them!!
We finally arrive at Pirque (peer kay) Rama (branch) chapel in PA in time to have Elder D post the hymns and Sister D to plug in the teclado (tay-klaw-thoh) or electric keyboard, 20 minutes before the 10am meeting begins (or there abouts :).
On our way home we stopped at a quaint little "hot chocolate" house. It felt like we were in an enchanted cottage. It was delightful. (The pot of hot chocolate for the three of us was $8 US.)
A lovely rose walk-way. The cemetery was vast, we could not see one side from the other.
The cemetery grounds are very beautifully arranged and well kept. The lavender was particularly fragrant in the warm spring sun.
It was the weekend of the Chilean Memorial Day in September 2009. She drove us to the cemetery. It is close to the Cordillera mountaings which are a part of the Andes range.
We visited her mother and father's grave. Her mother died just 2 weeks before Elder D met her in her restaurant "Pagua", as he was trying to find a good place for the senior missionaries at the office building to go out to dinner together. She saw his plaque with the name of the church on it and wanted to know if he knew what happens to a person when they die. At the time she was mourning the lost of her mother.
Visiting P in her home. We played the piano for each other.
Our wonderful friend PA. She is a delight.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
? Who ?
Settling in.....
Flowers and Alfajors from Pres & Hna. L
Breakfast in bed.
Friday, April 30, 2010
All hooked up.All the options, including WIFI.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
After staying with Elder D in the hospital for 3 days; and making sure the 19 staples across his abdomen from the prostititis surgery were going to hold - thought I'd better spend an afternoon at the office to get caught up. On the way back I took a bus to within two blocks of the bridge pictured below. On my way to the bridge, I decided to take a short cut by angling across the street to the next corner. The street was oddly quiet in the big city, I thought maybe something was up because I saw first what really looked like a plain clothes policeman or two on the walk, then I noticed some Carabineros (Chile Police) in full uniform. I guess I was distracted by wondering what was going on, when all of a sudden I tripped (I think on the tip of my shoe) and found myself on all fours in the middle of the street! I really hit hard, and tried to get up immediately, but just couldn't, it hurt so bad and I was so shaken. A Carabinero came quickly to help me out of the street and he had me sit on a little 12" raised ledge next to the sidewalk. My knee was scraped, (ruined my nylons) but not bleeding much - my palms were burning from using them to break my fall, but happily no skin was broken. My arms really, really hurt, because they broke my fall, and I remember pushing back from the pavement mightily as my face came within one inche of the black pavement. I said a little open-eyed prayer to be able to walk away from this mishap and then sat there for, I think less than 10 minutes, tested my knees a bit, and then decided to try to stand, the policeman approached me as I got up and I assured him I would be okay. I was on my way to see my husband in the hospital. I kept a stiff upper lip, but felt really deflated about the whole incident. Anyway I finally got back to the hospital room where Elder D gave me some TLC, and listened to my teary story. My prayer was definately answered. The wounds healed nicely, thanks to lots of alcohol gel (ouch!) in the hospital room. I had no further aches or pains or even stiffness. Definate Tender Mercy and answer to my prayer!
Close up shots of the INDISA Clinic.
Rio Mapocho Named for one of the indiginous indian tribes here. See the hospital in about the center, just below the high point of the hill behind it.
Bridge across the river.
First time I've ever seen a park with adult exercise equipment!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
I zoomed in on this asymmetrical (to say the least) building downtown. We've seen more unusual building shapes in this city than I've seen in my entire life!
The area around the hospital is a lovely park, well kept, beautifully landscaped.
Overlooking the city from Elder D's hospital room. You can see the traffic on the bridge over the river.
This is the park down below and between the hospital and the river, Rio Mapocho.
The city below us was a fascination for me from our 8th floor room. Here's a quick video from the windows that flanked one entire wall of the hospital room.
Aftermath - never really thought about that word before. But I would have to say the earthquake aftermath was a big minus figure in pesos here. However, the Temple was completely untouched, except the Angel Moroni lost his trumpet! It was back up in a few days.
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