1-25-25 MORE CHILE!!!
Retired Life. Sunday. In Chile.
Happy Sabbath. Here's a Jesus Picture!
We experienced waking up in Bulnes, which brought back memories. The first sounds outside are Roosters crowing and dogs barking. There are both, usually running loose, every where.
We attended church with the Bulnes Branch. More about my history with the Branch later. We used to meet in an old house converted into a church building. Now, 44 years later, they have a beautiful chapel. Yes, we took some pictures. As we entered, this lovely woman literally ran down the hall way towards us, gave us hugs and cheek kisses, and told us how happy she was to see us. Not that many people ever have been that excited to see me. But that is how Chileans operate. To them, it's about relationships and people instead of time and schedules and things. I try to learn that lesson. We entered the chapel, and the entire Branch Presidency hurried down off the stand to greet us. Once the meeting started, they introduced us to the entire congregation and welcomed us. Incredible experience! There were two sister missionaries there, but we could only talk to them for a moment because they were so busy. They had five people there that they were teaching!
After church, we did something I've wanted to do decades ago. I took a nap. After lunch each day, the entire country of Chile takes a Siesta. Everything shuts down. Everyone takes a nap. Except us as missionaries. We were expected to spend the time studying and preparing. I always felt more like napping. So, today I did. And it was a beautiful experience! Chile does a lot of things right and Siesta is one of them!
After the nap, we ventured off to Saltos Del Laja, a famous waterfall/tourist trap that is a short drive away. It was mostly a fail. Given that it is the weekend, Summer at that, the place was packed. No place to park. Everything full. So we didn't get out of the truck. Hanna did manage a shot of the waterfalls from the bridge. And it was a nice drive. Took a picture of a cool tree-lined road.
Back in Bulnes, we went back to the same place for dinner. This time I had ribs, Hanna had pork roast. Great Food.
Back at the apartment, I decided, just for fun, to try to hack into my Roku and watch US TV. Success! And the Eagles were on! (Imagine that...)
Bonus pictures of the "bring your own TP" restrooms. This one has one container of TB in the bathroom. You must decide how much to take with you into the stall.
And a couple of the running around dogs I heard this morning, now taking their afternoon Siesta.
Now, about my history in Bulnes. When I arrived, the church had been there for 9 months and already had 80 members, albeit mostly women and children. There really was no leadership at all, other than my companion and me. Most folks there were severely uneducated and were farm workers or construction. My companion served as the Branch President and I served as his Secretary. On Sundays, we both would bless and pass the Sacrament. Then I would give a talk and then he would give a talk. Then he would teach the Adult Sunday School Class while I taught the Youth Sunday School Class. Third hour I would teach Priesthood while he taught the Relief Society. We felt lucky if 15 people showed up. We worked hard to build up this branch. By the time I left there, two men had received the Priesthood (Brothers Erices and Rios), and were starting to carry part of the leadership load. Just before leaving, we baptized Bulnes' 100th member.
Today we weren't sure what to expect. We thought maybe it would still be a small branch with few people. We prepared to be asked to provide a message since we would be new blood. I even taught Hanna how to bear her testimony in Spanish. But as I sat there in the Sacrament Meeting, watching the chapel fill up, watching them bring more chairs in, and then even more, I was amazed. Probably 80 or more folks filed in. There was a bunch of people taking charge and helping out. The meeting started. They had a complete agenda and had things under control. I was hurt a bit that they didn't need my help, my message. But then I rejoiced because they REALLY DIDN'T NEED ME! They have this. They can now lead themselves. It was wonderful to see.
Old retired men get emotional. That's a fact. But I was not going to cry in front of this people. I did well until the opening hymn. So many people in what was once a tiny little branch singing so beautifully in Spanish. It was like an angelic choir. I could not contain myself.
Afterwards, several folks wanted to talk to us. One asked me who I might know that would be there. I mentioned "Erices" and he said "Sister Erices is right over there...". She was! Her husband had become the first non-missionary Branch President. She told me he had passed away some years ago. It was great to see her at church, still serving, after so many years, decades. Another guy asked me the same thing. I mentions "Rios" and he responded "as in the Former Stake President Rios?" Are you kidding me!!!!????
It was obvious that many of the folks there now have educations and many have served their own missions. A Service Missionary working with Pathways BYU-Idaho was there. Impressive. How things have changed! How the church and many missionaries like myself made a huge difference in this small town.
I was touched to see the fruits of my labor, even though my part was probably a very small piece of the puzzle. Today was a huge blessing and more feelings of gratitude.
Retired Life. Monday.
We furthered our tour of places I served, today we visited Parral and Linares and then drove to Talca to spend the night.
I was in Parral for five months. The church had been there for 3 years. To start, my companion was the Branch President and I was his Secretary. But, within a few months, we were able to prepare a local member to serve as Branch President. I trained a young accounting student to take my place as Secretary. While there, the church also started building it's first church building there. It was finished and I got to see it before going home. I helped convert three complete families in this small town. In Parral today, we found that the strong earthquake had wiped out a lot of the places I hung out at when I lived there. The house I lived in? Destroyed. The home we used as a church? Destroyed. Many of the homes I taught in? Destroyed. But, the town looked new, more commercialized, and busy as ever. We did see the church building, which was HUGE. It didn't look like the one that they originally built while I was there, but was a newer, larger one. Perhaps the old one was damaged by the quake too and replaced.
On to Linares. There I also served for 5 months and the church had been there for 15 years. There were two branches, both with local Presidents, and each had their own building. One was an actual church building and one was an old, large house made into a chapel. I was the District Leader of the Missionaries there and we had quite a few successes. In Linares, the Lord used me as his hands to convert two complete families to the Gospel. Today in Linares, we visited the church building that was there. It appeared larger than it was 40 years ago, so either was built on to or torn down and rebuilt from scratch since I was there. The home I lived in was still there and in tact, although the front was remodeled. The "old building used as a chapel" had been replaced with a nice new chapel. And we were able to find several home of folks I taught, still in tact. I did notice that some of the poor sections of town where I taught people were now nice, gated communities. Times change and so do the homes.
Part of our experience has been reading out loud about my experiences in these areas from my journal. It has brought a lot of stuff to life.
The pictures today:
- Bulnes sunset last night.
- Two of the view off our Airbnb deck in Bulnes of the neighborhood we stayed in.
- Two of the huge church in Parral.
- Two of the church in Linares.
- Me in front of the house I lived in in Linares.
- Two of the other, newer church on the other side of town in Linares.
- A Cool bridge we crossed over in Parral. This used to be nothing but a narrow footbridge with no handrails. Times change.
- We could see the Andes in the distance most of the day. Tried to get a picture of their snow-covered peaks.
- And just because we miss Frivvy, a couple of picture of him having the time of his life with Justin.
- And we found another authentic Chilean restaurant for dinner. But they were honored that Americans were in their restaurant and served our food American style. No steak on top of the fries and no eggs. Oh well. We are getting good at speaking to the wait staff and making our needs known. Many times the waiter says "just a minute" and returns with someone else that speaks English kind of. We tip the heck out of them for working so hard which makes us all happy.
Today and the rest of the trip is no doubt a bit anticlimactic after the powerful experiences the past two days. And we are missing our awesome home, truck, dog, life too. So today seemed a bit slow. Regardless, we are still retired and it's mid-January and we aren't doing taxes and meeting with clients! So even a slow day seems really really good!
Retired Life. Tuesday. Talca. (Or perhaps I should rename today's edition "Retired Wisdom...")
Our Airbnb was great, but like most things in Chile, it ain't made for folks as tall as me. <clank> (See Picture).
First up was to find a Geocache. It happened to be one no body had found yet, so we got First To Find on it. And we left a USA Travel Bug just to entertain the Chilean Cachers out there.
- Me outside the Talca Stake Center (two pictures)
- The pension where I lived over 40 years ago. Looked a bit run down and abandoned. But in the day it was a great home. They put up me and my companion and about eight or so college students.
- Two pictures of a chapel that was built while I served there. (Huge story to this building's construction...see below)
- And now there is a chapel less than three blocks from where I lived. Amazing! Took a picture of it too.
- Hanna was impressed with their system of garbage disposal. Just put your trash in these handy metal containers that appear a few per block and someone comes and gets it.
- DESTRUCTION!! We saw a lot of this in Talca. I'm guessing it's remnants from the earthquake, still being cleaned up. In fact, most of the downtown area had been destroyed then and looked brand new today.
- We ordered dessert at dinner tonight. Fruit Salad. Cheese Cake.
In the afternoon, we drove the 3 hours back to Santiago where we are staying at a hotel at the airport.
The thrill today was when a bunch of missionaries walked into the hotel while we were checking in. Come to find out, they were fresh from the MTC in Sao Paulo and were on their way to Antofagasta. They looked a bit nervous. We told them why we were there and wished them well. Hanna gave the two Sisters in the bunch really tight hugs. They'll do fine. We also ran into two Elders today on the streets of Talca. Working on the same streets I did 40 years ago. We stopped them and talked a bit. They were both from Texas and said the work was going well. We saw two sisters in Parral yesterday too, but were in traffic, so didn't stop. It was awesome to see these young people out doing the Lord's work where I once did the same work!
We had great success in Talca. The Bishop was in charge of the chapel construction (the one in the picture). Many of the workers asked about the church as they worked on building it, especially the baptismal font. (We were more than happy to talk to them about that!) We ended up converting the Construction Manager and his sweet young family and he too started referring people to us from the construction site to teach. Things kind of exploded and we were soon teaching a lot of folks from "the building". Thus the picture of the building that changed the lives of so many people.
My history in Talca. As we read through my "Talca" journal and drove the streets of Talca, it brought back good memories and some bad ones. Before my arrival, Talca was what they called a "hole". No work was taking place there really, even with ten missionaries in the town. (Talca was a Stake with five wards). It was the worst producing zone in the mission. The Mission President transferred all the Senior Companions out and replaced them with new ones, including me, with a mandate to open the work back up. I was a district leader there again. My sector had had 7 baptisms in the past 12 months. The neighboring sector had not had a baptism in 3 years. (I was fortunate to baptize 16 people in one month in Linares, for perspective. So Talca was a hole in deed.) We all pulled our boot straps up and dug in. I had four baptisms my first month there. The other companionship had their first one not too long after that, breaking the three-year drought. Things were going great. And then everything went into a tail spin.
I fully believe that my success in Linares resulted in me being arrogant, over-confident, and boasting in my own strength. In 1981, I was the highest baptizing missionary in the mission, which was the highest baptizing mission in the entire world. One of my missionary friends called me the "Michael Jordan" of missionaries. The Assistant to the President (who is now a General authority by the way) called me "John the Baptist" at the annual Mission Conference in front of Marvin J Ashton. (I can now say a General Authority called me John the Baptist, right? I try to be humble about that...) And now, a couple of months into Talca, things were on fire again. We were having baptism meetings twice a week sometimes. We were teaching 16 families! The ward loved us and were sending us people to teach. The Mission President kept sending missionaries from outside our zone to work a bit with us so they could see how we were doing it. I really thought I was all that. And bragged about it.
And then calamity hit. All 16 families dropped us within a week. We had absolutely no one to teach. My fiance dear johned me. (I thought my life was over. Seriously.) My passport got stolen. The Faulkland Islands broke out into war and folks told me that with no proof of what nationality I was, I would certainly be drafted and go to war with my Chilean Brothers. It turned super unbearably hot outside. Real tough to work in. My companion decided we were working too hard and just plain stopped doing anything. He had to be transferred out and replaced with someone new. Within a few weeks, my new companion had his list of tragic struggles too. He was dear johned, his parents divorced, and his branch at home told him they were out of money to send him and that he may just have to end his mission and come home. We both got sick. Valentine's Day and my birthday went by with nothing coming from home. My family quit writing for a while due to the awkward situation with my ex-fiance. And many other things happened too that I don't need to mention. I started taking sleeping pills to be able to sleep at night.
Be humble or be humbled. Right? That is what happened. In the end, everything worked out, but it was tough for a couple of months. I found that three things worked to get me through my difficulties. First, prayer, and a lot of it. Second, keep working, doing what I'm supposed to do, staying committed to the work. And third, having good, strong friends to lean on. (One in particular is still a great friend. He even, out of the blue and unexpectedly, showed up at my dad's funeral last summer because he knew I was giving the Life Sketch and he wanted to be supportive. He encouraged me and wished me well. It was incredible.) This was a great life lesson learned that I have used the rest of my life. Turns out, those difficult challenges during those two months were nothing compared to what was waiting for me in later life. A huge bunch of my closest friends leaving the church. Messy divorce. Suicide of my son. Ransomware attack on my business's data, almost putting it out of business. Near bankruptcy due to stupid financial decisions. Cancer. Wife Cancer. Folks in the church saying and doing stupid things that offended me. (I refuse to abandon my religion because it would be a complete denial of the sacred and powerful spirit I felt, especially during my mission while I taught all these people. Plus I'm too freakin' stubborn. No way would I leave after spending so much time and effort defending my beliefs and teaching others about them...) And I'm sure this ain't the end of my life's challenges. I got through/am getting through those life challenges partly due to what I learned on the dusty, hot, lonely streets of Talca. You see, the mission wasn't just about me changing the lives of dozens of people. It was about my life being changed drastically as well. Pray. Serve. Lean on others.
We worked hard the last few weeks of the mission, trying to go out with a bang. On my last night in Talca, when most would be visiting folks and celebrating, I insisted that we knock doors. That more people were waiting to hear our message. My companion was not excited about that, but he went along. By then, I had sold all my rain stuff. And of course, we got caught in a huge downpour that evening and I got drenched. No matter. We pressed on. At one house, my companion got bit on the thigh by a huge German Shepherd. He wasn't happy (neither was the dog), but we still pressed on. Then after several hours, the success came. Someone invited us in. Then another family did. And yet another. We found THREE complete "we want to hear your message" families that night! And my now overjoyed companion went on to baptize them all after I left the mission field. BANG!
When I left Talca, it was the top producing zone in the mission. All of the missionaries were being successful. And blessed.
Retired Life. Wednesday.
First on the agenda was to worship in the Santiago Temple. Google Maps says it was a 33-minute drive. We allowed 75 minutes and barely made it. Why? Because Chilean traffic is unpredictable (it is clear that the streets here were made for mules and horses, not cars and trucks...) and we never can figure out the parking lots. I did not drive here while on my mission (thank goodness..........it would have depressed me every day of my mission.) So it was a new experience for me. Challenging, but we got through it. We had a hard time with parking though. EVERY lot in the country charges. So, you push the button on the machine, get the ticket, and the gate lets you in. Easy. The hard part is getting back out. Every lot is different and requires more Spanish than I have to figure it out. This morning, the front desk stamped our ticket and said the parking was on them. They said instead of going thru the gate, go to the lady in the stand. OK. So we drove to the gate, looked for the lady or the stand, saw nothing, and then were stuck. Trapped by the gate with bunches of cars behind us. Only one option. I put it in reverse and started to back up. Chileans are generally very accomodating folks and they all moved out of the way, but I did get some annoyed looks. We went to the Kiosk to just pay for it. And while walking to the Kiosk, I saw...yup...the lady in the booth. Hardly visible. No signage. You're just supposed to know she is there. We always hold our breath until the gate goes up, then we squeal for celebration. Nearly 30 minutes of our drive time burned up right there.
This temple was announced just before I left on my mission in April 1980. Construction completed in 1983 after I was home. It was under construction during the last part of my mission. I visited the construction site on one occasion when I was in Santiago to get a new passport. President Kimball did the ground breaking while I was in Parral. Missionaries were told not to attend so there were would be more room for the Chilean members. As I talked to the locals that did manage to go, two things stood out. 1, President Kimball called Chile a Holy Land. And 2, it was raining furious that day, but they had a large tent over the stand and podium. President Kimball gave his talk, then stepped down from the stand to break ground with the first shovel. When he did, it stopped raining immediately. Once he was done and returned to the stand, the rain continued. They considered it a miracle.
We enjoyed being in the temple and feeling the spirit there. The temple workers took very good care of Hanna as she doesn't speak very good Spanish.
After the temple, we turned into official tourists and went to San Cristobal, a large hill in the center of Santiago that has a 45-foot statue of Mary on top of it. We rode the tram to the top where we could see all of Santiago in all directions. Afterwards, I bought an Empanada and we also had some ice cream. (Hanna tried Lemon/Ginger/Mint Flavor...I took a bite and it cured my cough immediately). I bought a cool new Chile hat and Hanna bought some Chilean fridge magnets.
After turning in our rental truck and getting shuttled back to the hotel, we walked over to the terminal to make sure we know where to catch our flight tomorrow morning and found another gift shop. More Chilean stuff was bought. Hanna loves to shop and so we went and I obviously get man points for taking her.
Dinner was Steak and Salad and Ribs and fries. We were amazed what the Chef did with the Avocados.
Spent the rest of our last evening in Chile repacking and organizing our stuff from "haul around in the back of a truck" mode to "airplane" mode. We both love to organize stuff...
Retired Life. Thursday.
Today's objective was to fly all the way to the United States of America (Orlando). The pictures tell the story and they're all from the airports and airplane because that is where we spent the entire day. It was a 9-hour flight on a huge Boeing 787-8. Nine seats across. Largest plane I've ever been on.
Found the sign that said Orlando. Woo Hoo!
A couple of pictures of the Andes just after take off.
Airline food. Beef with onions, fries, bread, and a chocolate bar. They served us the exact same meal twice, once after take off and again over 7 hours later just before landing.
Our bags made it to the USA also.
We're tired and it seems really late here in Orlando. It'll seem even worse tomorrow after we cross three more time zones.
'night ya all...
Retired Life. Friday.
The whole point of today was to fly from Orlando to Denver and then to Spokane. Then drive home and have a reunion with Frivvy. Point checked off.
See the yummy airplane food. Mine was some sort of burger. Hanna's was some sort of grilled chicken.
And then the reunion was awesome!
See my cool Visa Stamps from Chile on my Passport. Sweet souvenir.
Once home, we unpacked, found food to eat, made up a menu for the weekend. And that's as far as we got before we crashed. In Chile right now it is 2am. And it feels like it here even though it is 9pm.
Fortunately, since we are retired, we don't have to worry about working tomorrow. Or Monday. Or ever.....a restful vacation from our vacation.
Retired Life. Saturday.
Dang Jet Lag. I was wide awake at 5am this morning. Not a bad thing. I got to see the sunrise and got a lot done.
In the afternoon, we drove into town to go to a baptism. My good friend, Bill, has been preparing for baptism for years and finally got baptized today! I was thrilled to be part of the process and to be there for him.
At the baptism, we met our Mission President. He was excited that we're coming and will find a great spot for us to serve and we are just excited period. Getting the call. Seeing my old mission stomping grounds in Chile. And now Bill's baptism. Excitement!
86 more days!! And because we're excited, I downloaded some pictures of me on my mission in Chile. Enjoy!
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