We trust that you all have had a very pleasant Thanksgiving and that you are, by now, totally recuperated from all the things that you ate on Thursday! I know that some of you were enjoying the nice “cold days of autumn”, and therefore were grateful to go from a nice warm house, to a nice warmed up car, to your destination which was nice and warm. Well, we kind of had that same problem. we Got up and walked to the cemetery – shirt sleeve weather, although I wore my sweater; left about an hour early so we could stroll over to our friends for dinner – of course we took the scenic route and walked along the boardwalk for about four blocks before arriving at the Daniels. And naturally, it was totally short-sleeve weather by then. I don’t want to complain, but it was really hard to get into the Thanksgiving theme with such terrible weather to have to contend with. Oh well, somebody has to do it!
Our Thanksgiving was as indicated above and we loved it. At the Daniel’s, Jennifer had made quite the spread: turkey, stuffin’, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, salad, pumpkin pie, apple pie, fresh strawberries, homemade rolls, etc. They had also invited over some Chilean members of the church and a navy fellow that has been here on an exchange program with the Chilean navy. Similar to what Scott is doing except that Scott is a P3 pilot, and Tom is in the finance arena. One of the girls also invited her friend over so there were 13 in total. We had a good meal and wonderful discussions, sometimes in Spanish and mostly in English. We are grateful for the Daniel’s hospitality and friendship.
The week at the cemetery went really well. We were about 22 images short of hitting 9000 for the week. The books we are doing now range about in the 450 image area. It takes us about 2 to 2 ½ hours per book. Sometimes it goes by faster, depending on how much we have to prepare the attached letters or move the book so we can capture the image. Wednesday, we got an email from Salt Lake that said all of our reworks that we had sent in had passed the audit and also that the first 12 books of this new series also passed. So that was encouraging. Nothing like doing a lot of work and not knowing if what you are doing is right or wrong. So it built up our confidence a little. Colleen was a little concerned with a procedure called LSI because our friends in Valparaíso who are working in the cemetery there, had all of their work fail due to LSI issues. In short, LSI is an image of a representative thin line that is in the document, and the camera and computer are calibrated to recognize this thin line with the current focus and lighting settings. So we were thankful that we didn’t have that problem with the first books. Our concern now is that we don’t have a “shuttle” disc to transfer what we’ve done and send it to Salt Lake. Right now we have over 50 “folders” that we’ve captured and are waiting for a “shuttle”. It gets a little bit frustrating at times, but it will all work out in the end. We just have to be patient and keep on truckin’.
The cemetery has already put up their small Christmas tree and the stores (where we usually shop) are into the full swing of Christmas things. It’s going to be different for Colleen to experience Christmas without the thrills of winter driving, snow, and cold. But we’ll survive. After all, it’s the spirit and for whom we celebrate that we have Christmas. We will probably take that day off.
Today we jumped on a Micro (bus) and just rode until it came to the end of the line. We ended up in Reñaca Alto (High Reñaca) way up on top of the hills. It wasn’t as scenic as we wanted it to be, but, we were able to see some of the other side of the living quarters that the people live in. There were some apartments being constructed and their rooms weren’t much larger than one of the big storage rooms that you see in the states. Cracker box size comes to my mind. One could really see the class distinctions compared to how the more fortunate live nearer the coast than the less fortunate live in the higher parts of the hills. I’ve noticed this in most of the 3rd world developing countries that I’ve visited. It makes one feel totally grateful for what you have. Anyway, like I said, we got to see some countryside we wouldn’t normally see and probably won’t see again, but it gives a better “big” picture of life at all arenas of the Chilean economy. After we got back to Viña del Mar, we stopped and ate a small Chinese/Chilean restaurant. I had some Pollo Asado & papas fritas and Colleen had some Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Both were very good and we enjoyed our meal. Then we took the “pat & bend” and headed home. What’s “pat & bend” you ask? You know “pat dem feet and bend dem knees” commonly referred to as walking.
Well that’s about all that we have to report. We are grateful for all of your prayers on our behalf and want you to know that we really appreciate them. May each of you enjoy the blessing the Lord has given you and enjoy your winter while we take advantage of our summer. Thanks to all. Love. Elder y Hermana Smith
PS: Lasts Sunday a story was told by one of the members.
My family owned an apple tree. I needed a place to play as a child and so the apple tree said come you may climb and play in my branches. As I grew I no longer had time to play in the branches of the tree and I went to the apple tree and told him that I could not play anymore that I needed to build a home for my family. The apple tree said come take my fruit and you can sell the apples that you may provide a home for your family. So I took the apples to sell to build a home for my family. Later in life I needed a boat and I told the apple tree about the need to build a boat and the tree said come and use my boughs to build your boat. Then the boat was not large enough and so the tree gave it’s all and gave its trunk. The whole talk was on how we should be willing to give our all to help others. Sometimes we are so ungrateful for what we receive from the Lord.
Tonight in FHE a member told a story of a man going to heaven. He did not know what he wanted to do. He went to one room and there were many angels working very hard and typing away. They were working long hours and when the man asked what they were doing they told him that they were recording all the blessings that were asked for. He decided that they were working too hard so he went to another room and there were many more angels working very hard and typing away. He asked them what they were doing. They told him that they were recording all the blessings that were given. He decided to try one more room and when he entered the last room he saw only one angel and he was very bored. He asked what he was doing and the angel told him that he was recording what people were really grateful for. Sometimes we forget to tell the Lord all the things that we are grateful for and just ask for the blessings. He knows what we need, He knows what our families need and sometimes we just need to let Him know that we put our trust in Him give us and our families what we all need. May the Lord bless you with all that He sees you are in need of. I am grateful for a wonderful family and wonderful friends. I am grateful for everything that I am learning here in Viña del Mar. I am grateful for the church and the gospel in my life. I know that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do at this time of my life. Thank you for all your prayers.
Hermana Smith
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