Two weeks in Santiago

The courtyard between the "hospedaje" where we live and the backside of the temple.

Our first dinner out with other senior missionaries at La Hacienda.

A welcome cake from the "El Fondo de Perpetuo para la Educacion" folks

Municipal building of Providencia near where we live

Dulce de leche gelado with chocolate chips!

The "feria" or farmers market that we've gone to every Sat. morning

Wares at a shop we visited today.

Front of Santiago Temple

We can't believe we've been in Santiago two weeks and a day!  After waiting months and months to get here it seems like we've been here forever.  We LOVE it here -- everything about it:
We love looking out at the temple every morning
We love seeing the young missionaries who are here for their mission training (currently 90 are here)
We love the other "senior" missionaries who are here for humanitarian work, medical and mental health, welfare, employment, and temple service
We love seeing the Chilean families who come by bus and stay at the "hospedaje" to attend the temple
We love pulling our little shopping cart to the local grocery store and the "feria" farmer's market
We love walking along the streets and taking the crowded city bus
We love the mild winter weather, especially when the skies are clear and we can see the Andes
We love getting to know the people at the Perpetual Education Fund Office (El Fondo de Perpetuo para la Educacion)
We love attending church and the temple
We love eating out -- we've had some fabulous meals
We love eating dulce de leche and empanatas (two foods Richard loved from Argentina)
Richard loves speaking Spanish and everyone is amazed at how conversant he is already.

First trip to the feria I wore a coat, today it was 75o

A giant circular shopping mall with ramps inside going around & around

Kiosk with darling crocheted items--need a new grandbaby to shop for!

The "hospedaje"

A quaint little church by the "feria"

I walked around the block today near temple taking pictures of interesting "Casas"

...and interesting "autos"

On Friday, August 2, 2013, Evone and I arrived at the airport in Santiago Chile.  Our trip began the day before with a flight from Salt Lake City, UT airport to Atlanta.  We then flew through the night (about 9 hours) from Atlanta to Santiago.  During our layover in Salt Lake we had the opportunity of catching up with some of our very dear friends, Bob and Deb Chiapelli, who had just arrive at the airport shortly before we arrived.  We had a wonderful lunch and visit before we headed off in different directions.  The flight was uneventful and long. 

During our layover in Atlanta, we met another senior missionary who was returning to Chile after accompanying a sick missionary back home the US.  She was so helpful to us as we arrived in Chile to help us get through all the check points (passport check, customs, etc.).  We were met at the airport by the missionary couple (Richard and Norma Graham) who we will be replacing,  They are a wonderful couple from Springville, Utah who have been so wonderful and kind to us.

Santiago is a beautiful city of approximately 7,000,000 people.  It lies right at the base of the Andes mountains, but the smog is very bad at this time of year.  We are told that it gets better in the spring and summer.  WE ARE GLAD TO BE HERE AND TO GET GOING WITH OUR ASSIGNMENT!!!

Our first trip to downtown Santiago (Plaza de Armas) where the Bolivianos (there are many in Santiago) were celebrating Bolivia's Independence Day

Some Bolivian women and children

Richard and Norma Graham (the couple we are replacing) and a beautiful Boliviano girl (Ingrid) who has been living with them for the last couple of months

Evone with one of the Bolivian dancers

The famous picture of the world map at the MTC which every missionary posses in front of to show where they will be serving

"The District" - Our district during our 10 days at the MTC (Popes - Chile, Colemans - Nebraska, Thaynes - Washington State, Wylers - Cambodia

Some of the 800 new young missionaries who arrived at the MTC during the week.  Each week, somewhere between 500-800 new missionaries arrive at the MTC.

Evone and I in front of the MTC on the day the new missionaries arrived (July 24, 2013)

On Monday morning, July 22, 2013, Evone and I entered the MTC (mission training center) in Provo, Utah to begin our 18 month mission to Santiago, Chile.  This has been a dream and a goal that Evone and I have had since the day we were married.  37 years later, here we are.  Our son Mike and our son-in-law Travis  Nye dropped us off at the MTC at 10:30 in the morning, and we have not stopped since.

Our mission assignment is to work in the church's Perpetual Education Fund and Self Reliance Center.  Without getting into too much detail, we work with young people in the church from the ages of 18-30 to help them gain an education and good employment. During our two weeks at the training center, we received training and inspiration from the most wonderful people you could possibly imagine.  We ate all of our meals along side the some 2,500 other young missionaries from the ages of 18-25 who were also there being trained for their various missions that would literally take them to the four corners of the world.  We had about 80-90 senior missionaries (that's what they call us old folks) in our particular group.  In that group, we had people going to China, India, The Philippines, Africa, Iceland, Cambodia, Honduras, Mexico, Moldova, and the list goes on.  While only together for 10 days, we truly bonded and developed some wonderful friendships.  Below are just a few pictures of our time at the MTC.