Laymans in Santiago Chile: A great week in the temple with the Calama stake

Last year in June the Calama Stake came to the temple and I was able to get to know them. This year they came again and was great to see them. Last September Joe and Dixie Bowler and Millie and I went to church in the Calama Norte ward where Aniceto Perez who I and Doug Pulsipher baptized attend church. Well this year Aniceto came with the group. It was very spiritual to participate with him in temple ordinances. President Acuna the stake president brought 140 men, women and children to the temple. They stayed in the Hospedaje on the second floor just below us. We are on the 4th floor. What makes their trip so unique is that they have to make a 3 hour plane trip to Santiago from their city. In reality it is like a temple trip from Seattle to Phoenix, Arizona. What further makes it unique is that young people 12-18 participating in the baptisms for the dead are pulled out of school. President Acuna reasons that if they are going to come he wants the youth to have as much opportunity for baptisms as possible. He had 46 youth 12-18 participate. They did 4 hour baptisms in the morning and in the afternoon on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Then on Friday morning did 1 session and flew home. This way all the kids did 10 names in each session. What an inspiration to us all.