September 3, 2010

Dear everybody we love in los Estados Unidos!!!


It is Thursday night, our third day in Chile, and this is the first time we've turned on the computer, but we have no internet connection, so we'll draft this tonight and send it tomorrow from the mission office.

Today the Pres. gave us all day to unpack, clean, put away, put up towel bars, curtain rods, etc. We've worked hard and almost have it done (ten suitcases is a LOT of stuff, plus a ton of household stuff they got out of storage for us) and tomorrow we will probably start working in the office. More about our neat little apartment, but let's start at the beginning.

We met a woman in Dallas who was going to Chile, and with some of our three hour layover we did our first missionary work. She knows Mormons in California and knew about wards, and temples, and such, so we had a nice conversation about her exposure (all good) and our mission, and before we boarded we gave her a pass-along card and invited her to find a ward and come to church or call the toll free number. It was sweet and natural.

We didn't sleep much on the plane from Dallas, but we had an empty seat between us which was nice. They fed us supper and breakfast and were very helpful. It was a wide body jet with 8 seats across, tvs in the ceiling, free movies, etc. We were three pounds over on one of our big bags, but under on the smaller ones, so they let us pass without extra $$. Our third bags were $100 each. When we landed Mom and I got separated at the passport windows; she had to go somewhere else and pay her entry fee; I had already paid mine when I came with Kevin. It was anxious time for a few minutes. Finally we found each other and headed to customs when someone told us to look up at the catwalk. There was our Mission President and Sister King and our Chilean friend Andres, waving to us. What a sight for sore-tired eyes. The airport guys helping us with our ten bags on two carts bypassed customs and we were free to move about the country, no questions asked.

Pres. and Sis King drove us around the city a little, showed us a view from San Cristobol Hill, let us nap an hour, fed us and took us to see our apartment, the mission office, and meet the office elders and the Asistentes. We stayed the night in their very nice mission home (fotos will follow as soon as I teach my computer to talk to my camera) with meals prepared by Emilia, who has been the domestic help for now four mission presidents.

Yesterday (Wed) we measured and shopped for drapery rods, towel bars, etc. and started sorting through stuff and cleaning. Pres. King and Blair went to Sodimax Homecenter (think Home Depot) to get plumbing and gas parts for the stove and washer (YES!!), but we can't get the dryer to heat (Boo). May have to buy one, but all other appliances (microwave, but no dishwasher) work great. It's a small three bedroom-two bath ,clean, neat, newer, carpeted, first floor, unheated and not cooled (actually it's very cool right now) but with an instant water heater like Beth and Ronnie have. Plenty of HOT water. It is about 600 ft. half the size of the barn apartment, just big enough for the two of us and some guests. Actually, we have seating for twelve; beds for four extra, plus floor space.

(Mom just said "I’m tired of hanging up clothes; I wish I hadn't brought so many.") I'm sure neither of us will need all we brought, but who knew? We'll have a lot to give away. I gave about two dozen white shirts and ties to the bodega (mission storeroom) for the asistantes to give to Latino (or otherwise) missionaries who need them. They thought it was a great idea and were very thankful. They also complimented my español. Elder Simmons, from Bountiful, said I spoke better than many of the elders who come from the MTC. I'm feelin' good right now; just wait 'till tomorrow when we actually go to work for the first time. The missionaries we've met so far, here, at the MTC, in airports, are just amazing. We have a lot to learn, but we have the best teachers in the world, including the Holy Ghost. We've had his witness in our hearts many times already. Can't imagine what lies ahead. Can't wait to get to the real work!

We have two space heaters which warm it up enough to bear--we were very comfortable last night--the electric bill couldn't be any worse than Mississippi, could it? The elders who came by this morning to check on us pay up to $150 per month for electricity; our rent is $400/month plus utilities--not bad. The asistantes (one Gringo and one from Uruguay, who live a floor above us and have a car) and the senior couples (us for now) get the best pensions(apartments) and furnishings. We are not complaining. Later we went to the Hiper Lider (think Chliean WalMart), for groceries with the office elders--three gringos and a Chilean. It was jam packed with shoppers and looooog lines, but all registers open and moving along. They helped us find everything on our list except a simple alarm clock and helped us choose the best tasting and (sometimes) least expensive brands. Some things are cheaper and some more expensive than US, and we've had four tasty meals of our own making. BUT....there is no fresh milk to be had in this city of about 7 million,,, nada, ninca, none. Milk comes in a box, needs no refrigeration and tastes a lot like canned milk. I don't know if we'll ever get used to it. Tomorrow we (dad) will try it on oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon--we'll let you know. (Report: not bad with granola, raisins, and bananas.

For our night snack we're having crunchy Great Value (WalMart brand, imported, and $3 for 18 oz.) peanut butter on bananas (about 25cent/lb), yum, yum. Today we never left the apartment. It's cloudy cold and raining tonight. Remember? It's the end of winter here. Warming up this weekend. You can check our weather on your i-thing.

While shopping in Lider our cell phone rang (we'd already received two other calls) and it was our Stake President with some urgent financial business regarding our Visa card being used for big purchases in Provo and Chile. Imagine that? The Visa card and a US passport work for all purchases, but the card company forgot we told them we were moving to Chile and wondered if it had been stolen. All is well. We can't give you our cell number, but somehow President Pack got hold of it when he needed it. We can email and Skype within reason and will do so whenever we can connect, but can not use the cell phone for international calls. They have an ethernet cable we can hook to in the mission office. The car we were told about isn't available until Oct. So we're hoofin' it and catchin' rides--haven't ridden the Metro train, or the buses or cabs yet, but will soon have to learn how. That's normal mode of transport. Gas is 627 pesos per litre; rate of exchange about 570 pesos per dollar--you figure it out. It's expensive. Public system is cheap, reliable, and often, so we're told. Time will tell. Some things I thought I knew about Chile haven't been exactly accurate. More later.

There are a lot of families with small children in our 5 story U-shaped building, so we hear them in the playground outside our windows. They sound just the kids at play at home--I like it. Now it's bedtime and they sound just like kids at home this time of night--lots of protesting and crying. Ahhhh, the pitter-patter of little feet, otherwise not too noisy. We are gated (electric fence) and guarded 24/7 and have secure underground parking, when we (hope to) get a car (extra $40/month for parking). About 100 apartments in our edificio. Apartment living at its finest. Our neighborhood doesn't look like neighborhoods at home, but it's safe to walk to the left toward the mission office/stake center/Ward, Lider, and downtown Maipu (there, I said it), but they warned us not to go to the right when we come out the front gate. We don't know what that means exactly, but we'll stay to the left. Sometimes one side of the street is safe and the other isn't. Lots of stray dogs--do not pet or feed--fleas, but otherwise not dangerous.

They say it's about 20 minute walk to the office/ward, a little farther to Lider, and a few blocks more to downtown, which at 4:00 PM yesterday was swarming with people, students, shoppers by the thousands. We saw a two-story McDonald's, a Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Belle, and Kentucky Fried Chickie. Might find out tomorrow what ward or branch we are assigned to. Not necessarily the one we live in. We're preparing to bear our simple testimonies, and to smile and nod when spoken to.

We're ready for bed but it's only 9:30 pm. We're on a new schedule: up at 7:00 am, bed by 11:00 pm(our mission's own rule); we can handle it.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Here we are in the mission office. They don't seem to know what to do with us, so we're using their internet to finish and send this along. We walked the four blocks from our apartment to here without incident or fear. Now there are a dozen elders in the office. I think they are all going to lunch with members at 2:00. Don't know if we're invited, but they close the office during lunch, soooooooooooo..... They say the members feed them everyday. So far we haven't met any members except one at Lider and one at the office. One of the elders here said he would take us on some visits later today. That would be good. This morning we found a leak from the apartment above wetting our bathroom rug. Andres Toledo just came by; he is very solicitious of our welfare and comfort. He is arranging for a repairman to come fix our dryer, which runs but doesn't heat. We were up early this morning, breakfast and study time, didn't know what we were to do, so we walked over here. It looks like we will walk over here again Sunday for church until we are assigned a ward. No one plays the piano in these wards and the elders say the singing is awful. See what we can do. Sister Pack is talking up the idea of a missionary choir for the all-mission Christmas celebration.

We need to walk to the bank this afternoon to exchange some money; the utilities need to be paid in cash, as does the repair man. Pres. King said we could use our Visa for everything, but that isn’t exactly the way it is for the rest of us. Just learned that the area Dr. has cancer and is going home next week. He bought the car we were originally going to buy, so we might be able to get it sooner than we thought.

My batttery is dying. So long for now.

Love, Mom and Dad