Good friends Chilean and American alike are priceless

This week found us working hard in the temple but with a different missionary couple on our shift.  Gone are Joe and Dixie Bowler now training the new missionary couple the Pardo's on the afternoon shift.  The Lee's remain on the afternoon shift.  Rudy and Betty Figueroa are now on the morning shift with us.  It really is nice to get to know them.  In reality, those not on your shift, you don't see very much except on Sunday and Monday.  Rudy was born in Mexico and moved to the United States as a very young boy.  Betty was born in Puerto Rico and also moved as a young girl to the States.  They lived the majority of their married life in Indiana near Chicago.  Rudy worked in the Chicago temple for 10 years and Betty for a few less.  His Spanish is like a native speaker.  Betty says everyone expects she speaks like a native speaker but she has a small accent and doesn't understand 100% of the time.  I kid her probably 98% of the time.  It is great to work with them.  They are very dedicated to temple work and we will learn from them.

Our good friends the Bowlers and us will be going to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile in August for a week.  It has many geological formations, geyers, lakes etc all at 10-14,000 feet high.  Will have our prescription for altitude sickness pills filled for sure.  I also served as a missionary in Calama where we will stay for 3 nights and go to one of the largest open copper mines in the word in Chuquimata.  The temple will close for 2 weeks so we will have 1 week to rest and relax as well.

On Saturday after the temple shift was over we took Eduardo and Soledad Rojas to lunch at the La Hacienda restaurant for lunch.  They work on the Saturday morning shift.  He actually is the shift coordinator.  We had a great time.

Millie and Soledad

Soledad's big smile

What is Eduardo doing?

All 4 of us

Van, Eduardo and Soledad Rojas

Married 16 months and still in love!!

On Sunday we went to stake conference in San Antonio with Gary and Debbie Davis.  Gary and I served there as missionaries and have very close friends there.  We took the opportunity to visit our close friend Rodolfo Acevedo's gravesite.  Very touching for all of us.  Leonardo Santis took us there in his club cab pick up.  After we went to his home for lunch.  He has a recording studio and is a professional musician.  So we took a moment to look at that.  Millie and Debbie want to go see his group "Magic Band" play.  Search youtube for Magic Band,  Drive is the song posted. 

Millie and Van self photo on way to San Antonio

Gary and Debbie Davis

Memorial to firefighters at Cemetery in San Antonio

All 4 of us at Cemetery to honor Rodolfo Acevedo

Another picture of 4 of us at cemetery

Leonardo Santis, Millie Debbie at Leo's recording studio

We also went shopping to Costanera Center Mall. Dixie is a super shopper but Joe hates it with a passion. So I went along to help him thru the ordeal. Here are a couple of pictures to show the experience

Joe and Dixie Bowler at Costanera Center

Millie and Dixie

Joe enjoying the shopping NOT!

I told him 2 more hours

Then Monday night we took Soledad Villanueva Acevedo out to dinner at Mamut for her birthday. We had a fun time.

Debbie, Soledad and Millie at Mamut for Sole's birthday

Gary and the girls!

Debbie and Soledad Sisters!

All 4 of us

Birthday girl

The 3 girls!

Costanera Center, Pardo's are here and the Gospel is True

While I will never win a Pulitzer prize for writing, I do enjoy writing about our time here in Chile.  Chile is a very unique country at this time in history.  It has a very robust economy and as Millie and I walk the streets in Providencia we find lots of apartment buildings we would love to live in.  The temple was dedicated in 1983 and now within 3 miles of it is the largest mall in South America and the tallest building in South America.  The Costanera Center Mall opened last weekend and it is 6 stories tall.  It has the big grocery store Jumbo, the Nordstrom like stores, Paris, Ripley and Fallabella.  And soon to be opened Hard Rock Cafe among other restaurants.  It is a good walk for me about 35 minutes one way. 

Pepe and Ximena Pardo from Calgary, Alberta, Canada arrived Saturday to serve 18 months in the Santiago Chile Temple.  Pepe is related to our friend Sean Woods wife Ovi.  They are excited to be here.  We had a dinner for them on Monday night.  Our Temple president and his wife, President Otay attended along with the other 4 missionary couples.  Bowlers, Figueroas, and Lee's.  and of course Millie and I.  Also sister Onate who is Chilean from Concepcion, Chile.

All of us eating at the Bowler's

Preident Otay and his Wife

The Otays

Sister Onate

Pepe and Ximena Pardo

Millie, Pepe, Ximena, Van

The Pardo's are so excited to be serving in their native country Chile.  They moved to Canada in 1978.  A great addition to the temple.

Another experience we had this last week, we skyped with Pierina Bressan and her husband in Italy.  Mike Dalton and I baptized her and her mother and brother in Chile in 1969 when she was a young girl.  Her husband made a very profound statement to us when he said "how all of our lives changed with 1 missionary companionship being good missionaries".  I thought about that.  How true it is for me as well.  Many may not know but I am member of the church because 1 young man invited my sister Dianne to go to church.  She went and eventually 1  missionary companionship of Elder Leroy Berry and Elder David Swalberg "being good missionaries" didn't give up on the Layman family.  And eventually on June 1 1963 I was baptized along with my mom and dad and sister.  It is a day etched in my memory never to be forgotten.  That allowed me to be in Chile in 1969 with the Di Lenardo family and in 1972 to meet Millie Hollingsworth.  All because 1 young man asked my sister to go to church.  It changed my life forever.  There are no coincidences in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It says in the scriptures that we all were with our Heavenly Father before we came to this earth.  I testify that we can all live  again as Families can be together forever.  That is what I see every day in the temple.  Families being welded together by being sealed by the priesthood in the temple.  I am humbled to be a part of it.

Calama, Ovalle and San Antonio and another despida

This last week flew by!  We had a 130 people here from Calama which is 20 hours by bus north or a 3 hour plane ride.  Some came by both modes of transportation.  It was a special week because of them.  I served in Calama in 1970.  I have people that I baptized that still live there and some friends I met when I visited in 2008.  I was in charge of a couple of their 7 4 hour baptismal times over 4 days.  They came with 40 youth and generally 12 to 14 men to help with the baptisms.  They brought family names to do their own baptisms for their ancestors.  When I told the group that I worked in Calama as a young missionary, they were very surprised.  Even more so when I told them at that time there were only about 35 members coming to the church.  I got to know the stake president President Acuna pretty well.  They were a very reverent group and very organized.  Here are just a couple of pictures of them.

This Saturday I saw 2 people that I knew as young people in Chile in 1969-70.  One Sister Diccter was 10 when I knew her family in Ovalle.  She and I looked at each other's names and knew exactly who each other was.  What a nice treat.  Another was Marcela Zapata from San Antonio.  I actually have been in her home with Gary and Debbie Davis.  It was great to give big abrazos(hugs) and kisses to them.  In Chile you greet everyone with hugs and kisses for the sisters and hugs for the brothers.  That made for a very nice Saturday in the temple.

This Saturday our dear friend Debbie Davis arrived to join her husband Gary in Chile.  They are very close friends and while they are not on official missions for the church, they are very active with the church here in the Pocurro ward.  The four of us went to visit our dear friend Soledad Acevedo.  Her husband Rodolfo passed away earlier this year.  So it was good to be in her home and have lunch.  She is a wonderful cook and we enjoyed the visit.  She has costume business in her home and she does pretty well.

Debbie Davis and Charles Acevedo

Millie Layman, Soledad Acevedo, Gary and Debbie Davis and Charles Acevedo

Soledad and Millie looking at costumes

Millie Layman, Soledad Acevedo, Debbie Davis

Monday ended with a "Despedida" going away dinner for Elder and Sister Welch of Mountain Home Idaho.  He has been the Chile area Doctor for the last 18 months.  They are wonderful people and he is a good Doctor.  Didn't even feel his flu shots!!

Dr. Welch

Sister Welch

Yes if you look closely you will notice they are in their 70's.  What a wonderful example to us all of service and love.  They truly loved the people of Chile.

We had a treat as well at this dinner.  President Larry Corbridge, South America South Area President came and shared with us some of his "Cowboy Poetry".  He is in the quorom of the 70 and he is really quite a gifted writer and poetry reader.  Just like the cowboy poetry people I have heard.  It was one of the many highlights of the evening.

President Larry Corbridge reading his poetry

President Larry Corbridge preparing his poems to read

The rest of the evening was alot of visiting which was great.  The missionary couples are fast becoming our good friends.

So I must say I was a little homesick today as it rained and was cloudy.  Just a nice day in Seattle!  We get a new missionary couple next Saturday, the Pardos from Canada.  It will be fun to get to know a new couple.  We are happy here in Chile.  Every once in a while we use the Slingbox Daryl has at his house.  Hallmark movies are still good.

A slow week in the temple but a great Sunday!

This week was our 7th week here in Santiago and we are getting used to the country and what we are here to do.  There were not very many patrons that came to the temple this week.  And another problem this week was the lack of workers on Friday and Saturday morning.  President Otay, the temple president, started calling brethren that weren't there like they should be to see where they were.  I got the feeling he was not happy.  But the work of the Lord goes on and we accomplished what we wanted to.  It just took a little longer than normal.

Millie and I are starting really grow close to some of the workers from Chile.  A young couple who work are brother and sister Rojas.  She works Thursday night and he works Saturday morning.  He is a shift coordinator so I get my assignments from him.  He is about 25.  Really sharp and is very good working with people.  Reminds me of my 2 sons Philip and Adam.  In the same situation, they would win the hearts of the people.

This Sunday morning we got up and left at 8:30 A.M. to go to church.  A taxi ride to the Parque Bustamante subway station.  Then get off at the Barrancas station 40 minutes later.  Where we got on the bus J01 that let us off in front of the church in Pudahuel.  We met Roberto and Claudia Castillo and their 2 children Alicia and Laura for church.  Their ward is pretty big for here.  They had about 130 people there.  To our surprise, Brother and Sister Martin who work in the temple are in that ward.  What makes them special to me is that my first companion in the mission field Mike Dalton baptized sister Martin. 

Millie and Sister Martin

Brother and Sister Martin

They served 6 years in the temple presidency previously and now continue as workers.

Millie and Claudia Castillo in Relief Society

Laura Angelica Castillo 3 months old

Van and Millie Layman, Claudia, Alicia, Roberto, Laura Castillo

We then went to their house for dinner and to see Sister Baschman, Claudia's mother.  I baptized Claudia's mother and father 43 years ago.  She is now 74 and in final months of her life.  She has Alzheimer's and is very feeble.  It was touching to watch the care her 21 and 13 year old granddaughters gave their grandmother.  Roberto and Claudia care for her along with an in home nurse during the week.  I have such fond memories of her family. 

Proud father Roberto and Laura

Millie getting pretend Grandma time!

Alicia is a cut up!

More pretend Grandma time!

Claudia feeding her mother.

Star of the show Laura

Today is Monday our preparation day.  Wash clothes, go to the grocery store, clean the apartment etc.  Nothing too exciting.  There are people already here waiting to get into the hospedaje(rooms for them to stay in) which is on the 2nd floor.  They can get in at 5:00 P.M.  They are from Calama 27 hour bus ride from here.  I served there as a missionary and in visiting with some of them there is a possibility that one of my baptisms Aniceto Perez will be coming.  I saw him in 2008 when I visited Calama.  So we will be busier than normal during the week in the morning at least. 

The Bowlers and us are planning to go on a tour of the northern desert during the month of August.  You can look at it on Chiletraveltours.com/Atacama Desert 5 days 4 nights.  I hope we can do it.  Money always plays a part.  Also one of destinations is 14,000 feet high so we would have to take altitude sickness pills.

Time for Family Home Evening with the other 10 couples here on Temple square(at least the Santiago Temple Square).