Barb lost her Spanish Book of Mormon in a collectivo (taxi) on our way to a teaching appointment across the street from our chapel - hence the saying “no good deed goes unpunished”. She was pretty sad. Several days later she made the 2-hour trip from Rancagua to Santiago by train-subway-walk to the Temple/Church Headquarters/Distribution Center to replace her scriptures. It was one of the few warm, sunny days we have had since arriving in Chile 6 weeks ago (most days here are cold, overcast, foggy, and/or rainy). Santiago is large metropolitan city. The temple is located in La Providencia, a clean, beautiful part of the city. Surprisingly, a week later, Barb´s lost scriptures turned up at our chapel.
Our Apartment
Our 5th floor apartment is approximately 1000 ft2 and consists of a living room, 3 bedrooms (one we use as a study and another as a guest bedroom), 2 bathrooms (one we turned into a laundry room), and an “efficiency kitchen” (1 person maximum). All of the rooms are small. We have made numerous improvements in the past 6 weeks, including extensive cleaning, a new table/chairs set, a new tiny washer and dryer, a study table, a small storage cart in the kitchen, a CD player, and numerous repairs to the electric and water systems. We also have two small balconies. I am thinking of planting a small container garden when spring arrives (hopefully in September). We have hosted several visiting parents who were picking-up their “go-homer” misioneros. Currently we are housing Elder Garcia (from Argentina) who is recuperating from a severe dog-bite to a very private part of his body – Ouch! He is helping us with our Spanish.
Observations of Life in Rancagua
Two blocks west of our apartment is the city plaza with a central walkway – about 3 blocks of shops, restaurants, banks, and other businesses. It is a busy place, especially during “almuerzo” or lunch time (2:00-4:00 pm). Almuerzo is the main meal of the day. The photo shows Hermana Mason in the Plaza de Los Heros. Notice the old men enjoying their daily chess game. To Barb’s left is a gypsy women. A number of gypsies populate the plaza. Also notice the sleeping dog. Dogs are everywhere. These “perros vagabondos” (for want of a better term) seem to be ownerless and oblivious to humans and, totally absorbed in their own social life.
New Office Elders
Life in the mission field revolves around missionary changes or “cambios” which occur ev
ery six weeks. Departing Elders leave on a Monday (they are called “go-homers” or “the dead”), new Elders arrive the next day (they are called “Greenys”) and immediately meet their trainers. The Greenys are the trainer’s “kids” or “hijos”, and they will be companions for the next three months. In our last change, two office elders Elders Oakes and Arrevalos were go-homers, and were replaced by Elder Rosales (born in Costa Rica but raised in Tennessee) and Elder Pallas (from Uruguary). Also new to the office is Elder Hall (from California and a baseball player at BYU) and Elder Del Guercio (also from Uruguary). So, the apartment across the hall is overflowing with 6 elders. In this photo, our amigos (from left to right are Elders Casper, Oakes, Hall, Latimer, Pallas, and Rosales with Arrevalos in front) had devoured a box of See’s candy and were serenading us with candy wrappers over their teeth.
