5 Feb 2014 Wed. Kelly and her
Mom Mirella and one of Kelly’s old childhood friends, Luis came to Los Vilos to
visit today. Kelly and her Mom were baptized in Illapel soon after we
arrived in July of last year.
They arrived arrived around noon while we were still in our weekly
district meeting with the missionaries. Carolyn left to attend to
them. They decided they wanted to cook us almuerzo (lunch, but more like
a big dinner). Almuerzo is a big, formal affair every day. They
went and bought some fresh reineta (a mild, popular fish) and were busy cooking
up a feast when I got home around 2 p.m.after the meeting.
They called and told me my job was to
buy lemons on my walk home from the church. The chileans will always have
fresh lemons on the table for almuerzo. They squeeze them on
everything. They had the table spread out with colorful food, mostly
vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, corn cut off the cob, avocados, honeydew
melon, prickly pear cactus fruit (called tunas). The tunas are FULL of
very hard seeds. They say they’re good for your digestion and clean out
your pipes. The fish was wonderful. The best reineta we’ve had, and
we’ve had it a lot here. Luis, Kelly's friend, is not a member of the
church but a very very nice guy.
Afterwards, Kelly, Luis and Mirella walked
along the beach in our back yard. People from the "interior"
(the country is only 50 miles wide here so its not very far inland) or
inland, like to come to the beach here because the weather is always about 20
deg. F. cooler than up in the mountain valleys. We often get cold here on
the coast, with the stiff, cool ocean breezes. The latitude is like southern
california, but it stays very cool all summer. I don't think the temperature
has gotten above the 70's in the day, and at night it goes below 50 at
times.
I went on visits w/ the branch president in
the evening. He seemed excited to go this week (maybe these visits are
helping him get excited about getting out and visiting his “flock”) He seems to
be listening to the things I’ve been telling him he should do. He
surprised me by telling me several things he had done (finally), such as
dividing up responsibilities within his the presidency and making assignments
to his counselors, setting up meeting schedules for presidency meeting, PEC,
branch council, etc. Wow. Just when you think nothing is going to
stick.
He also picked (on the spur of the moment) some
very good people to visit, because they were all needing a visit for one reason
or another: Pete, a YSA who has been missing in action lately, Danny, ex
missionary, recently married, 3 kids, on church probation needing interview
which was arranged, Mary, new convert and her non-member husband we had never
met. She was suffering from a panic attack/ and severe depression and
migraine and looked terrible. Pam and kids, who was mad because when the
missionaries went over to help her move a couch they told her they couldn’t go
in (due to a mission rule) because her husband was not there and she was home
alone (I guess her 3 kids don't count). She sarcastically asked if WE
were sure we were ALLOWED to come in. Pres. Alfaro gave her daughter a written
copy of her patriarchal blessing. She’s only 12.
It is amazing to see how the Spirit of the
Lord works with the priesthood leaders here like in any other place in the
world. The branch president is a small old fisherman with little schooling who
walks with a limp and has little self confidence in himself and little
experience leading and directing others. Yet none of that matters to the
Lord. He is the one who has been called to preside over this little
branch of the church, and it is plain to see that the Lord inspires and directs
him to reach out and accomplish his purposes. Does he even realize it?
I don't think so, yet. But I can see how the Lord does inspire him
despite what others might say are many shortcomings. The more he tries, the
more I see that he is inspired.
16 Feb 2014 We were in the
middle of a family night when President Marambio called to see if we’d felt the
earthquake that was quite a jolt in Illapel and he’d heard that the epicenter
was Los Vilos. It was about a 5 magnitude. We did not feel it.
But we did hear a guitar in the other room fall over when it hit. It was
leaning up against the couch on the wood floor. These 4 and 5 richter
scale earthquakes happen all the time here. We’ve felt 4 or 5 in the 7
months we’ve been here. If I look on line, they are happening almost
daily somewhere within a couple of hundred miles of here. No one really
pays much attention to them.
Since the weather has warmed a tad (from
freezing to just cold), I’ve been plagued by flea bites. Hot humid
climates have mosquitos. Here, cool and dry, I don’t think I’ve seen a
single one. But they have millions of pulgas....fleas. You rarely see one,
except the bite they leave. At first I thought they were chiggers,
because the bite and tremendous itch are very similar. They leave a big
welt, sometimes the size of a quarter. Now I know they are flea
bites. They are so small you hardly ever see them. I’ve only seen
two.
They are pretty darn aggravating, especially
when you get about 50 bites in a single day. There are millions of stray
dogs all over, and they are flea bags. You cannot walk anywhere without
passing these dogs, and so it is very easy for fleas to get around and hop on
your clothes without you seeing them and start munching. Later you start
feeling all the bites. Some people are allergic to the bites (me) and others
are not (Carolyn), though she gets bit too, she rarely sees or feels it.
I am about to go crazy.
One of the Elders gave me a flea collar his
uncle sent him. There are no flea collars here. The Chileans don’t
seem to be bothered by fleas, just the gringos. This Elder said he no
longer is allergic to fleas and they no longer bother him, but when they did,
he would hang the flea collar in his closet and the smell would get on his
clothes and keep the fleas off and from biting. Hey, I’m willing to try
anything at this point. I had one in my fleece pajamas once and it bit me
about 20 times in 20 minutes before I figured out what was going on. I
never found the bugger. They can burrow down in thick material and even
survive a washing that way. I put my PJs in a pot of boiling water. I’m
sure that got him.
Calvin had problems on his mission in one apartment
in Italy with bedbugs. He sent a picture of he and his companion covered
with bedbug bites. That is what my arms and legs and neck look like, only
they’re flea bites. At least there is hope. Hope for colder
weather. Hope that I will become immune. Hope that they get rid of
all the stray dogs.... well, not much hope in that. They love their stray
dogs here.
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