Its a Family Affair!

Man! Its been awhile! Sorry about that... same old excuse... this past month has flown by! How is everyone doing? How was all the District Conventions? I've already seen some of the publications..so looks like in November it won't be such a huge surprise what we are receiving! Its great to hear that so many of you are coming out for the Int'l Convention here in Santiago! We are going to have an overwhelming amount of representatives from California. Yahoo! Ideally...we would love to see all of you. Unfortunately looks as though instead of ONE stadium in Santiago...there will be THREE. Meaning...everyone gets divided up. Jenesia and I are still unsure of which stadium we will be at...but we will keep you posted. As far as plans before and after the Convention: A few days before the Convention we will be staying in Donihue most likely... (its about 2.5 hours from Santiago) I believe we will be travelling to and from the convention from there the first couple days. Jenesias parents will be coming down that weekend too. The very next day after the Convention..(Mon Nov 16th) we will leave immediately for Concepcion for training for the next Convention which is Thursday Nov 19th-Nov 22nd. So we are pretty tied up for those few weeks...but hopefully something can work out..especially if you are at the same Convention location as us! If you email us...we can give you our # here, etc.

Okay... so the past month.. what have we been doing?! Well we finished up in Puertezuelo...very satisfied how the trip turned out overall. We would love to go back...we will see what the future brings! In the beginning of August we went back down to the South to get some good service days in weather permitting. We brought even warmer clothes than before knowing we were in for some EVEN colder weather. I think our wool leggings and 3 layers of socks saved our lives. A few days it rained pretty hard..and even snowed! Those days we didn't go out in service, but we were able to reflect on Jehovah's beautiful creation. Cochrane is beautiful in all seasons I have decided. They are building this new plaza that reminds Jenesia and I of Lake Tahoe...North Shore. Its great! Felt like we were at NorthStar when it started snowing. Service was a little more difficult because of the weather this time..but I managed to get a couple good calls! Even demonstrated a study to a young mother who had questions and participated freely in the conversation. She was visiting Cochrane like us. Its funny, there are dogs that hang out in front of the Kingdom Hall/House. About 3 or 4 of them. The brothers here call them the "Special Pioneer Dogs". They accompany Fredi and Juan regularly in the preaching work. They go to all the doors and walk alongside the group ALL day long. Even when we are in the vehicle..they chase the car up to the point that they can't run anymore. Jenesia and I even had a special bond with one of the dogs...a yellow lab..his name is Kaiser. He would accompany us to the house we were staying at and would sleep in front of the house..and lead us to the Kingdom Hall. We even played in the snow with him...he was great at catching snowballs in his mouth. Quite entertaining...posted some pictures of him. In Cochrane...we even at a dancing party this time. Lots of fun! Played some cards, some games..and danced. Got 4 hours of sleep that night!

After 2 weeks in Cochrane we were to pick up our Siblings in Santiago...Brad and Jenelle! We stayed a few nights in Santiago and left really early in the morning to greet them at the airport. Jenesia and I had to wait at different ends of the passenger exit to greet them. An hour went by as we waited anticipating their arrival. I found myself nervous and holding my breath everytime an American came out of the doors...or when I heard someone speaking English. I could see Jenesia at the other end with the same reaction and suddenly I look over to see 2 others with her. They came out on her end! I could hardly hold in my excitement...I grab my stuff and start running towards them dramatically pushing people out of my way! Tears of joy pervaded the scene. It could have been in a movie. Brad and Nel then showed us their lugguge and pointed to the biggest one saying it belonged to Jenesia and I. Presents from home!! Yahoo! We got even more excited. Thank you parents and friends! :)

We had a few bus rides ahead of us...got to catch up and talk to our siblings. Only thing: pouring rain. Not so fun with all our lugguge...but we managed. Jenesia and I had to sort out things with our Visa too. Not incredibly fun...but necessary..and glad we have it all dealt with now! We took Brad and Nel back to Donihue with us where they were warmly greeted by the Ponce Family. They had their own little Studio apartment fully stocked with conveniences. Even a little welcome party with cake, ice cream, and champagne! The week in Donihue was a lot of fun. We were able to do a few days in service, hike a mountain, and do KH construction a day at a nearby town. We were so happy to have our brother/sister meet all the people we had been talking about.

Which brings us to what is going on currently. We are in a big city called Vina Del Mar. Its a beach town that reminds me of Monterey/Carmel. Its beautiful. We all had visited here before...and Brad and Nel knew they wanted to come back. Brad found a great apartment for rent for a week. Ocean view and everything! We feel spoiled. Hot showers...Dishwasher..Washing machine...Cable..Wi-fi. Many modern-day conveniences! Not to mention a gym downstairs and heated pool that we have been taking advantage of. Its beautiful outside..but we have just been so content relaxing here. Yesterday we were able to go out in service with the English group here. There are about 32 publishers in the congregation. They have a HUGE territory that goes up the coast. We were able to encounter a few English speaking people from the States. We are going out with the group again tomorrow..and Brad has the public talk! We have a few friends that are living here. 3 girls we met from Florida...and 2 that we already knew that live here in Vina. One girl, Miriam was on the construction team with us. She came out with us in service yesterday. Brad worked with a brother from Texas that is here for a few months. Tonight we are having a small group over here for dinner. Should be pretty fun!

Next week we leave for La Serena ..another beach town up the coast!... None of us have ever been there...so we are anxious to see how it is. We have heard nothing but good things! Finally the weather has been great... I'm actually wearing flip flops and a short sleeve shirt! Summer is not that far away.

Love to all! Hope everyone is doing well! Talk with you soon!!

Abrazo grande!-

Steph