For all of those who have been following our blog, you have probably been wondering what has happened to us. If you have not already heard, Richard had some severe back problems which required us to return to to the United States for back surgery. Due to the fact that we were past our half way point of the mission and the recovery time necessary for the surgery, we were released from our mission.
Although heartbreaking to have to terminate our mission early, we are grateful for the opportunity we had of being in Chile and serving and coming to love our wonderful friends there. Thanks for following our blog. We are both still on Facebook.
Love the Popes
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Summer day in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar
Saturday, February 15We spent the day in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar -- two lovely beach towns. The middle of February is like the middle of August in the US so everyone in Chile was on vacation at the beach! We drove to the center of Valparaiso and then up the hills to the quaint homes overlooking the bay. We went to a house of the Nobel Prize poet -- Chile's most famous poet -- Pablo Neruda-- then back to the center of town to a giant fresh fruit and vegetable feria that had a "food court" of local Chilean foods. It was so fun to eat with the locals! We then drove to Vina del Mar to stroll along the beach. It was a day of fun people watching!
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View from the patio |
After a number of weeks of abandoning our blog site, we felt that we better get back on track and try to catch up on all of things we have been doing. When we last wrote, we were trying to update you all on a little trip we took over to the coast of Chile to a town called Vina del Mar/Valparaiso. We were having such a difficult time downloading pictures that we got frustrated and finally gave up. We then got very busy with our new office location and trying to launch a new initiative as part of our calling, that well, what can I say, we just ignored our site. Please forgive us.
With our change to a new location of work, we now have about a 2 mile commute to work each day. Evone walks to work nearly every day, and then back home in the evening. I was walking with her, but a month ago I herniated a disc in my back and had a number of other issues with my back and now my left leg. On good days I walk with her, and on not so good days I take the bus and meet her there.
One of the true pleasures of living here in Santiago are the wonderful street dogs. There are literally hundreds of dogs who just live on the street and have become part of the human population. They are very passive and never bother anyone. They are quite cute little dogs but as you would imagine look a little unkempt. They wait at street corners and usually don't try to cross the street until the people begin moving. They then step right in and cross with the rest of the humanity. People put dishes of dog food and water out on the side walks to feed and water them. The dogs act like they own the place. They lay down wherever they get the notion and take naps in the middle of the sidewalks. People are very careful not to disturb them and walk around with great care. I saw one of the cutest sites I have seen since being in Chile. I was waiting for Evone at a bus stop and began visiting with a local lady who had a terribly scarred face from burns. We were just visiting when one of these cute street dogs came up to her and began nuzzling and loving her. As she was petting him a bus came along and stopped for passengers. The dog walked away, got in line with the people and boarded the bus. Who knows where he was going, but the people and driver just accepted the dog as though it were nothing. Evone and I have seen dogs on buses before and thought they must belong to the driver or one of the passengers. We now know that they just take a bus whenever the notion hits them. Evone walks three mornings every week with a couple of other senior missionary sisters. They usually have one of these little dogs who follows them on their entire walk, as though he were their guard dog. It's all very cute. You would love it. We certainly do.
We have had some wonderful experiences in our new offices. We have taught several career workshops for missionaries returning home and for individuals who are looking to upgrade their employment or just to find work. Our news offices are called Self-Reliance Centers where we offer many resources such as career workshops, employment services, school and career counseling, self-employment workshops, school loans, etc. One of the hardest things to get used to here in Chile is the slow pace at which things get done. It is a culture where North Americans find it very difficult to wait and be patient. It is very different from the United States in that regard.
Well, enough babbling. We have had some wonderful meals in the last few weeks, and have seen some fun street events. There always seems to be some kind of entertainment going on in and around Santiago. Here are a few pictures that will hopefully catch the essence of this beautiful city.
With our change to a new location of work, we now have about a 2 mile commute to work each day. Evone walks to work nearly every day, and then back home in the evening. I was walking with her, but a month ago I herniated a disc in my back and had a number of other issues with my back and now my left leg. On good days I walk with her, and on not so good days I take the bus and meet her there.
One of the true pleasures of living here in Santiago are the wonderful street dogs. There are literally hundreds of dogs who just live on the street and have become part of the human population. They are very passive and never bother anyone. They are quite cute little dogs but as you would imagine look a little unkempt. They wait at street corners and usually don't try to cross the street until the people begin moving. They then step right in and cross with the rest of the humanity. People put dishes of dog food and water out on the side walks to feed and water them. The dogs act like they own the place. They lay down wherever they get the notion and take naps in the middle of the sidewalks. People are very careful not to disturb them and walk around with great care. I saw one of the cutest sites I have seen since being in Chile. I was waiting for Evone at a bus stop and began visiting with a local lady who had a terribly scarred face from burns. We were just visiting when one of these cute street dogs came up to her and began nuzzling and loving her. As she was petting him a bus came along and stopped for passengers. The dog walked away, got in line with the people and boarded the bus. Who knows where he was going, but the people and driver just accepted the dog as though it were nothing. Evone and I have seen dogs on buses before and thought they must belong to the driver or one of the passengers. We now know that they just take a bus whenever the notion hits them. Evone walks three mornings every week with a couple of other senior missionary sisters. They usually have one of these little dogs who follows them on their entire walk, as though he were their guard dog. It's all very cute. You would love it. We certainly do.
We have had some wonderful experiences in our new offices. We have taught several career workshops for missionaries returning home and for individuals who are looking to upgrade their employment or just to find work. Our news offices are called Self-Reliance Centers where we offer many resources such as career workshops, employment services, school and career counseling, self-employment workshops, school loans, etc. One of the hardest things to get used to here in Chile is the slow pace at which things get done. It is a culture where North Americans find it very difficult to wait and be patient. It is very different from the United States in that regard.
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A group of missionaries from the Santiago East Mission taking the Career Workshop one week before finishing their missions and returning back home |
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Sabastian, a young man ringing the bell at the Self-Reliance Center indicating that he found a job after several weeks of hard work |
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Evone and I with 3 wonderful people who just finished taking the career workshop. The tall girl in red is a lawyer from Paris. The tall fellow on the right is an architect from Venezuela, and the shorter girl next to Evone, a secretary from Santiago. What a wonderful group of young people they were. We thoroughly enjoyed working with them. It is amazing how you grow to love people as you work and serve with them. A wonderful feeling of joy! |
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This sign captures the essence of Chile. Carpe diem (sieze the day), MAÑANA (tomorrow). Evone and sister Evelyn Candland saw this at a mall one day. They were so tickled to find the essence of Chile on a store window. |
Well, enough babbling. We have had some wonderful meals in the last few weeks, and have seen some fun street events. There always seems to be some kind of entertainment going on in and around Santiago. Here are a few pictures that will hopefully catch the essence of this beautiful city.
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This something you will not see in the United States. "Pizza A La Pobre". Basically means a fried egg on top of what ever you're eating. A cheese pizza with a stake and fried egg on top. |
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A stack of bread in 12 inch circles about 1 1/2 inches thick, baked in an outdoor over. Absolutely delicious. In Pomaire, Chile |
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A typical Chilean food. Empanadas cooking in an outdoor oven. Meat, onions, boiled egg and olive on the insides. Like a little meat pie. Very tasty! (Pomaire, Chile) |
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Another typical Chilean food. Pastel de Choclo. Sweetened ground beef and boiled eggs covered with a cream corn, cooked in a bread dough (Pomaire, Chile). |
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A pottery maker in Pomaire, Chile. This little town is known for it' s pottery. They particularly like to make little piggy banks. They also make wonderful cooking pots which Evone was so sorry she could not buy. We couldn't figure out how to get it back home. |
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Just in case you thought you couldn't get chocolate in Chile. It took Evone and I two days to finish this piece of cake. It was absolutely amazing. The restaurant had 25 different cakes. I guess you know where we will be going back to a few more times -- 24 more cakes to sample! |
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One day, Evone heard a band playing very lively music outside our apartment. She went outside to find this band and dancers. Someone told her it was a group from Venezuela, but we could never confirm. They were having a great time celebrating something. We just never really found out exactly what. |
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Same group as above. |
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This is the Roberto Vega family. They are in our ward, and we have become wonderful friends. We are enjoying a wonder Korean meal with Roberto, his wife Maria, and his two oldest Sons, Roberto on the right and Rodrigo on the left. We love this family. We had dinner at their home a couple of weeks before this dinner, and it was one of our funnest days in Chile! |
Sunday, February 16, 2014
This is Evone writing to report on our Valentine's Weekend and our 38th anniversary. I always have to check with Richard to find out how many years we've been married. We didn't any special plans for the day, but Friday morning I thought to myself, "We're in Chile, and we won't be here next year for our anniversary, so we should do something special." It was a beautiful summer day and as I walked between our new office and our old office (about 2 miles) around lunch time, many people were obviously celebrating the day. So I snapped pictures all along my walk -- there were people selling flowers and balloons on nearly every corner, and may street musicians.... So after work we boarded a bus and went to a different shopping area that Richard had not seen before and went to a wonderful seafood restaurant for dinner. Then we walked around and had cake at an outdoor cafe -- a simply lovely evening!
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Florist shops on every corner selling red and white flowers |
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I listened to this man play the harp on two different streets -- I was amazed how quickly he changed locations! |
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This woman was standing outside a cafe singing Opera |
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Balloon salesmen were everywhere |
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This cute doggie was waiting for the bus! |
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We often see violin players -- but I saw two a short distance from each other. |
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Inside the seafood restaurant -- scenes on all the walls of Valparaiso-- our destination the following day. |
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We started the meal with the most fabulous cevichi of salmon, shrimp and avacado (palta in Chile) |
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Richard had congrio a la pobre -- Congrio is the most popular fish in Chile and a la probre is any meal like steak, rice or fish that comes with french fries, fried onions and a fried egg on top! Mine was a delicious fish smothered in creamed corn! |
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Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Hello to all of our family and friends. It has been a few weeks since our last post, so we decided we better get on here and let everyone know what we have been up to. Contrary to popular belief, we have not been doing much VACATIONING lately. In our last blog, we mentioned we had just returned from Argentina where we learned about many changes that would be taking place in our missionary call. We were advised when we were in the MTC (Mission Training Center) last summer that these changes would be coming and that we would need to be patient in those first few months. Well, our days of tribulation (waiting) are over, and we are indeed very busy.
We have moved to some new offices about 1-2 miles away from the church headquarters here in Santiago (where we have been working). It takes Evone and I about 45 minutes to make the commute each morning. We take a bus for part of the way and then walk the rest. At the end of the day, we walk all the way back to the apartment. Very good exercise for us. Our new offices are in a very typical large city business area with many new high rise buildings. Our office for example is on the 13th floor of I don't know how many. It's big. We have been told that they are trying to get out of that office and move us back to the church headquarter building, but that could take months, and we will probably be through with our mission before that change takes place.
We are very busy developing a calendar of workshops which we will be teaching. Our responsibility is to coordinate all of the activities of the office (career workshops, planning for success workshops, accelerated employment work groups, English classes and beginning computer skills workshops). We have people who are members of our church and many people who are not members of the church who come into our office looking for help. We are also still very involved with the church's Perpetual Education Fund, which is a program whereby the church makes loans to help young people get technical degrees which hopefully leads to them finding jobs and becoming self reliant. The work is very rewarding, especially when you receive emails and phone calls from participants who are having much success in their endeavors be it work or the their studies.
We will be conducting our first of many career workshop in just 3 weeks. I have done training my entire career and ordinarily this would be a fairly easy workshop to do. However, having to do it all in Spanish has certainly caused a little angst with me. Evone keeps saying "What are you worried about, you've done this a million times". I then quickly reminder her, yes, but not in another language. Oh well, very exciting and busy times ahead.
We have moved to some new offices about 1-2 miles away from the church headquarters here in Santiago (where we have been working). It takes Evone and I about 45 minutes to make the commute each morning. We take a bus for part of the way and then walk the rest. At the end of the day, we walk all the way back to the apartment. Very good exercise for us. Our new offices are in a very typical large city business area with many new high rise buildings. Our office for example is on the 13th floor of I don't know how many. It's big. We have been told that they are trying to get out of that office and move us back to the church headquarter building, but that could take months, and we will probably be through with our mission before that change takes place.
We are very busy developing a calendar of workshops which we will be teaching. Our responsibility is to coordinate all of the activities of the office (career workshops, planning for success workshops, accelerated employment work groups, English classes and beginning computer skills workshops). We have people who are members of our church and many people who are not members of the church who come into our office looking for help. We are also still very involved with the church's Perpetual Education Fund, which is a program whereby the church makes loans to help young people get technical degrees which hopefully leads to them finding jobs and becoming self reliant. The work is very rewarding, especially when you receive emails and phone calls from participants who are having much success in their endeavors be it work or the their studies.
We will be conducting our first of many career workshop in just 3 weeks. I have done training my entire career and ordinarily this would be a fairly easy workshop to do. However, having to do it all in Spanish has certainly caused a little angst with me. Evone keeps saying "What are you worried about, you've done this a million times". I then quickly reminder her, yes, but not in another language. Oh well, very exciting and busy times ahead.
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| Observing a master teacher Maurico teach a Career Workshop to a group of missionaries from the Santiago East mission getting ready to go home from their mission in less than a week |
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| A group of missionaries from the Santiago West mission at the end of their Career Workshop. The group includes three "gringo's" who have to "re-learn" English before looking for a job! |
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| The church office building where we were working... now we bus and walk about 2 miles. |
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| Never a dull moment walking home from the office -- this day there was a street band! |
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| Last Saturday a group of Senior Missionaries went to a Chilean Antiquities Museum -- Richard stayed home and did the "feria" run for our fresh fruits and veggies |
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| We stopped in a market area that had the most amazing array of foods. We all decided to try a "Completo" which is a favorite Chilean fast food -- a hot dog smothered in smashed avacado, chopped tomato and lots of mayonnaise! |
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| My first Completo -- probably my last one! I was not impressed. |
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| Just one restaurant and its dishes... and we chose HOT DOGS! |
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
January 21, 2014
We took a short trip to Argentina last week! We attended a 2-day training session with the other senior missionaries serving in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to launch the new Self-Reliance Centers. This is the event we've been waiting for since arriving in Chile 6 months ago. It's hard to believe we've been here 6 months! Getting out of Chile was as difficult as getting in! We had to pay a "reciprocity" fee to Argentina and the police officials didn't like our travel documents since we still do not have the all-important "Carnet" card that anyone living in Chile is required to have. (We hope to have ours in February.) So with only 10 minutes to spare we made our flight! We arrived in HOT and HUMID Buenos Aires. We immediately wished for the wonderful climate of Santiago! Richard had three wishes while in Argentina: to eat Milanesa, alfajores and empanadas--he enjoyed all three! My one wish was to buy something leather and red!
We took a short trip to Argentina last week! We attended a 2-day training session with the other senior missionaries serving in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to launch the new Self-Reliance Centers. This is the event we've been waiting for since arriving in Chile 6 months ago. It's hard to believe we've been here 6 months! Getting out of Chile was as difficult as getting in! We had to pay a "reciprocity" fee to Argentina and the police officials didn't like our travel documents since we still do not have the all-important "Carnet" card that anyone living in Chile is required to have. (We hope to have ours in February.) So with only 10 minutes to spare we made our flight! We arrived in HOT and HUMID Buenos Aires. We immediately wished for the wonderful climate of Santiago! Richard had three wishes while in Argentina: to eat Milanesa, alfajores and empanadas--he enjoyed all three! My one wish was to buy something leather and red!
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Richard's first wish while in Argentina -- a meal of Milanesa! The serving was so large it was cut in half by the waiter -- half on the serving platter and half on his plate! Of course he ate the WHOLE thing! |
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Our excursion on the "Subte" with the Kennington's and Livingston's to the Casa Rosada -- The Argentine Presidential Palace |
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Heading into the Subte --The Subte is not nearly as well-kept as the Metro in Santiago! You wouldn't see pealing paint in the Santiago Metro! |
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Casa Rosada |
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Downtown Buenos Aires |
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A friend snapped this photo and liked the way the Pope is posed! |
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Self-Reliance Training Meeting |
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Just before heading to the airport to return home we took a quick taxi ride to the leather district where I purchased a fabulous red leather jacket -- sort of like the one in the shop window!
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