First Zone Conference and Campo Visit

Our biggest challenge continues to be communication, as expected. We spend a couple of hours everyday on Spanish lessons, and progress seems slow at the present time. Chilenos are wonderful people but sometimes they speak very fast, and it's difficult for us to keep up.

At the moment, we are more or less ambassadors at large. We are visiting the seven branches in our missionary zone and getting to know the members. We are replacing a Chilean couple, los Ramirez (he is a former stake president from Santiago) who are moving to another part of the mission. They helped introduce a Book of Mormon reading program that will be expanded to other parts of the mission.

Zone conference in Osorno on Wednesday, December 11:  The conference, with more than 100 missionaries present, was very good, followed by lunch and a Christmas sing-along.  President Rappleye talked about talking to everyone about anything, as that is the start to missionary work. The Rappleyes gave every missionary a hand carved fish bowl, one of the things we’ll be taking home.

In the evening, we went with Sis. Alverez and Sis. Saens to visit a menos active (less active) family in the campo.  We had a good visit and they invited us to a light supper of ECCO (Nestle hot drink like Postum), sopapillas, and bread and jam. We learned the family is inactive because they live five kilometers outside of town and don’t have a car or money for a taxi.

Don Luis, the landlord of our place at Las Cabanas, gave us keys to the new house and said it was ready to occupy. We went to house and I promptly locked ourselves out because the key to the front door opens the door but does not actually unlock the lock. So when I closed the door thinking the door was unlocked, it locked us out with the keys inside. We learned more Spanish trying to explain to the dueno (landlord) and his senora Carolina what happened. The house is not actually ready to occupy (no gas, no telephone, no furniture), but he wants us out of the other apartment by next Wednesday because the cast from Holiday on Ice is coming to town and he is all booked up starting on that day.  Elder Poulsen, the senior missionary in charge of the office, called to say that he is sending a load of furniture that should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. So hopefully we will have furniture, a stove and refrigerator when we move on Tuesday.  Don’t want to sleep on the floor come Wednesday!  Such is life in the mission field.