Yesterday, I had a privilege I hand't expected. For the first time in 43 years, I baptized someone in Spanish.  Meet José and Carmela. (Elders Tambito and Little are included. Guess which one is Elder Little.)

They are delightful people and I think they are going to bless many people in Gorbea, if not elsewhere.

Just some quick items to keep you in touch with our world.

A kitchen appliances business near us is showing creativity in how they water their small lawn.

A plastic bottle with holes in it seems to work pretty well.

I will now introduce you to a "friend" with whom I spend a lot of time lately.

Our financial secretary is finishing his mission and I have been asked to pay the utilities for all the rentals in the mission. I can pay over 90% of them at this kiosk in a grocery store. Sometimes I have to take breaks so other people can use it.

A couple of items...

We don't get together as a whole mission much so I think I should capture a photo when I have the opportunity.

Also, Carolina, who was baptized last Saturday came to our English class Thursday early and we had a chance to visit with her about her conversion story.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I was having a hard time getting her to be in a photo.

She is 18. Her dad died just a few years ago from a brain hemorrhage. That sent her into a tailspin which resulted in her seeking relief from a number of different sources, including substances and piercings. She said she always felt cold and hollow inside. Eventually, she attempted to take her life. Her friend introduced her to the missionaries and, as she visited with them, she felt a great warmth inside as she did in subsequent visits. She loves to point out how much she has changed since meeting with them and you can tell she feels real joy. 

Some good friends in the branch where we used to serve lost their house to fire this Sunday.  Many came to help and we were able to get the contents removed on Sunday and the worst part of the house taken apart on Monday.  Here is a view of four bedrooms from an outside window part way through taking the back half apart.

They lost a lot of possessions - some irreplaceable. Some irreplaceable items were spared. For instance, the dad/grandpa found the following note from his grandson. ("You are my best friend.")

Here are a couple of other photos.

These are burnt clothes before they were removed.

These are some of the burnt contents of the house that we removed to the other side of the street.

We had some excitement on the little dead-end street we live on.

We aren't sure what went on but a lot of Carabineros were deployed in full riot gear. There was also evidence that water canons had been used. I'm glad we didn't have to go anywhere because our road and the big one we turn on to were blocked by the Carabineros.

We teach an English class each week. As part of that class, we play a portion of a video and ask the class members to listen for the answers to questions. As directed by the teaching materials, we use selected videos from the "I'm a Mormon" collection.  Here is a screen shot from this week's video.

Here is a man who REALLY believes and puts his money (a ton of it) where his mouth is. Until today, I thought I was sacrificing to serve a mission.

Today I return to a couple of previous themes.

First: no-owner dogs

Again, this is the main entrance to probably one of the top ten busiest malls in Chile. Here we have two dogs choosing to sleep on the stairs leading to the main entrance. They were there when we went in and when we came out. Maybe I am jealous that I can't sleep this soundly.

Second: Eagle Rock Lookout

These photos were taken bay someone else in our group and they were too beautiful not to share.

There is a lot of ugly stuff going on in Chile these days but there is certainly much that is beautiful.

I thought I would share with you a little of how things have changed around here since the riots/demonstrations started a few weeks ago.

Did I mention that, generally, businesses and citizens aren't able to count on the police much to protect their property?  Here is what some businesses have done on Avenida Alemania on which we travel or walk daily.

This bank has covered all of it's lower windows with a form of sheet metal. The deviants were glad to have some fresh space on which to paint their graffiti.

This travel agency put metal plates on the lower widows and plywood on the upper windows.

This is my personal favorite. It is a grocery store. As you can see, they have welded steel plates over all of their lower windows. The have a steel plated door to close when they leave. The white lettering on red says, "Hello! We were waiting for you." That catch phrase now has new meaning.

I don't have a picture of the most troubling change from riots. I had to walk downtown a couple of days ago and noticed that the rioters had torn down many street signs. Not only do I rely on those to let me know what street I am approaching but I really need them to tell which direction(s) one can drive on the road. Roads can go from two-way to one-way to the other-way here so those signs were important to me.

Once every six weeks, more or less, we get to hang out with the elders and sisters of the southern zones.

A good-looking group indeed.

Yesterday, we went to Victoria early for our English class so we could say goodbye to the Sanchez family.

We ministered to them during our tie in the Tolhuaca branch and very much enjoyed our association. Their six-year-old twins helped fill some of our grandparent needs.

We hope to join them in the temple for their sealing before we leave Chile.

We had a good week and I will start with the most exciting of the news.

This is Owen holding his new baby brother, Davis King Lunt, with the help of his mother, McKenzi. He was born Nov. 1 and we are so grateful that he is here and well and that his mother is doing well. Kevin, the proud father, is taking the picture.

The other news of the week is that we went to Eagle Rock Lookout with the office couples of the mission.  I have never seen a more spectacular view.  I will share pictures but they don't do it justice. The heavily wooded mountains in the forefront and snow-covered volcanoes in the background were amazing. The clear, breezy day added to our experience.

These are the people we went with. The sister standing next to Mary has serious leg problems yet she persisted and made it all the way. We respect her determination. Behind them are very old and large Araucaria araucana trees that are the national tree of Chile. They are different than anything I have seen. Wikipedia says, "Because of the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory, it is sometimes called a living fossil."

I must say that you had to be there.  The pictures don't begin to convey the feeling.

Today was our last Sunday in the Tolhuaca branch. Mary and I both spoke in church and I taught the priesthood lesson. I guess we made the most of our last Sunday. Afterwards, the branch members were nice enough to have a linger-longer for us.  Here is a look at the spread.

These are all items very traditional for a gathering here - including Coke and fruit juice.

They gave us a gift as well.

We will display it at home and will be reminded of many happy memories gathered in our 11+ months in the Tolhuaca branch.

The protests have kept up all week. It seems that anybody that has a cause can join in to promote that cause which approach seems less effective to me.

I hadn't been downtown since it all started and I needed to check to see if the immigration office had modified hours so I went today. Several large banks and retailers had their windows and doors covered with wood or they left down their roll-up protection they usually just roll down at night. There was plenty of graffiti but the rain seem to have subdued the crowds. (I saw people there trying to sell the horns, flags, etc. that protesters have been using but there weren't many people buying.)

I saw one march while I was there.

 This one seemed to have primarily an indigenous people's complaints theme although there were many different flags many of which didn't seem to have a connection. The smoke is from a road flare being carried by one protester.

We hold a special fast tomorrow and will pray for calm to be restored.

So, we have had some excitement in Chile over the past several days.  It seems that a protest which started because of increased fares for public transportation expanded to include grievances in a number of different areas.

The missionaries were advised to stay inside unless they had fixed appointments. We stayed inside until the early evening and then went out to see what was happening.

The busy street we use all of the time was blocked off and there was a large group of young people gathered close to the intersection with the busiest street in town. We got up close but Mary was uncomfortable so we backed away before taking a picture. Stores, including the very busy mall close to us, and restaurants that are never closed during business hours were closed. Most of the vandalism we saw on Sunday morning was cleaned up. 

Here's hoping things calm down soon.

Yesterday, we took some things to the sisters in Pitrufquén and saw these Azaleas in the neighbor's yard.

It is a wonderful time of year.

Thursday evening, we taught our first English Connect class. There will be 25 classes in all.

It should be an interesting adventure.

This is a very beautiful time of year to be where we are. Everything is greening up and many of the farms are covered with yellow Canola flowers.  Here is a picture we took on our way home from Victoria.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited with a family and the father accepted our challenge to prepare to be sealed to his family. Before I left, I asked his 6-year-old twins to draw me a picture of the family and bring it to church.  Here is what the little girl drew.

I sent it to her father pointing out that, without my prompting, she drew the family in white. From the colored pencils of babes.

This week we say goodbye to seven missionaries who are finishing up - five of whom we interacted with.  We were able to go to the temple with four of them and two of their companions on Tuesday.

Of the five we worked with, three are Latinos, including the two sisters on either side of Mary. As noted before, we are particularly sad to say goodbye to the Latinos because odds aren't good we will see them again.

As I have stated before, one of the great blessings of our mission is the opportunity to interact frequently with the young missionaries. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to interact with a companionship while helping one with his BYU application.

Please meet Elder Zuniga (Honduras) and Elder Prophete (Haiti). Both are highly intelligent men to whom you are drawn by their cheerful demeanor and contagious smiles. I call Elder Prophete "Elder Colchón" (Elder mattress) because he asked for new mattresses twice when we were new to the mission. He is such a delightful man that I couldn't tell him "no." (Also, the president told us to be responsive to mattress requests so the missionaries get their sleep.)

OK. This recurring theme may be getting worn out but us old guys like to tell our stories.

Yes, the trunk and back seat are jammed full, so full that our seats had to be moved all the way forward. On top we have all the components of a metal bunk bed - wrapped in a tarp because it was a rainy day and we didn't want the hermanas to have to sleep on wet mattresses. Most of the space inside was taken up by a third bed and some large, heavy suitcases. We were so full, Mary had to carry something on her lap again. We drove just over 50 km this way and I am pleased to report that the load was very stable.

This post may not hold up to my usual high standard of being very interesting to some of you. However, it is interesting to me.

As we drive around Chile, we see many automobile makes of which I have never heard. I found an auto service company that displays the logos of all the makes it services.

This isn't a complete list but it gives you a sense. Additionally, we see models from the makes we recognize that are foreign to us. For instance, we see a lot of VW pickups here.

No need to thank me for making this one of the most special days of your life.

I mentioned in an earlier post that they do their independence day celebration big here - stretching it over several days.

The biggest celebration in Temuco was on the grounds of the local soccer stadium. As best as I can understand it, the above sign is saying "The celebration of Chileness."

I didn't take very good pictures but it was like a fair with many food stands, jump houses, entertainment and places to try win prizes throwing balls, darts etc.

This was an attraction we hadn't seen before. 2 or 3 kids got inside this inflated round thing and made it move around by trying to climb up the walls.

Today (Sept. 18) is Chilean independence day and they celebrate it big. Part of the celebration is dressing up "de Huasos" and dancing a traditional dance.  Here is a mother and her son dressed up for the occasion.

And here I am kind of dressed up for the occasion.

Eating is a big part of the celebration, too, and I celebrated as much as anyone.

Closest to my right had is an empanada - one of my favorites since my Argentina days. Next to it is a little bread thing with icing. The pink drink is called a terremoto (earthquake). I told them I was surprised that people in Chile would name anything they enjoyed an earthquake. The other drink is Mote con Huesillo. Mote is wheat that has been softened and huesillos are dried peaches that get reconstituted when added to the drink. This drink is very popular and is sold roadside through the summer and fall. I don't feel the need to try it again.

For some reason I couldn't upload a video which is too bad because it was the highlight of the evening. Two men provided live music and the little girl below, with Downs Syndrome and dressed in the holiday garb, was dancing and having a great time at it.