Arriving in Chile

Our first week has been interesting, with lots of adjustments.  We arrived here in Chile on Tuesday around 2 pm after nearly 26 hours in the air or in airports.  We were greeted by a group of missionaries, senior couples and the mission president and his wife.  They had a big sign welcoming us.  We spent the rest of the day with the mission president and his wife after taking a shower and a nap to catch up with the sleep we missed on the plane.  I only slept an hour on the plane and Dad not that much so we were both tired, to say the least.

We spent the night at the mission home and then went to La Union, the small town where we are assigned.  There is another senior couple (los Ramirez's) here to train us and then they will move on to another town in the mission.  

Chile is very green and we are going into summer but it is still cold to us.  I am wearing a sweater indoors and a lightweight jacket outdoors. 

In La Union we went to our new home, a small cabana (for the tourists) which has two bedrooms, one with a queen bed and the other with 3 twin beds (they fill the room!) and two bathrooms -- one for Elder Stott (Keith) and one for me!  It is the best part of the place even though both are tiny!  The main room is small and has the "kitchen" (a small gas stove that is lit with a match, un “fosforos”), a small sink with a drainer tray attached (think London, Marne), a tiny microwave, an apartment sized frig, a table that seats 4 (two to a side), and one small stuffed chair.  It has a small desk that is our pantry.  I have cooked two dinners on that stove and have singed my fingers both times!  I am getting better though.  This place is a vacation place and it is obvious that it is intended that you should only eat breakfast (and that should be cold cereal) here.

We are moving into a new, very small house in two weeks so our time here will be limited -- I hope.  The new house is not finished yet and as construction everywhere is somewhat slow so I am not holding my breath.  However we do have a maid here so I don't have to do any cleaning!

And we have a car!  It is a Toyota Corolla so we feel very comfortable in it.  And we can get around now.  We had to make our own map of La Union as we could not find one, but it works well.  We can find just about everything with only getting lost once per drive!

Life is interesting, very different from Arizona, but we are enjoying the work.  More to come.