Hello All!
My my my. How the time flies. Seems like just yesterday we were in Chile and now we’ve been back 4 months already. The rest of our trip went quite well. November was fun-filled with more visitors and good times. 2 of our weeks were pretty much dedicated to the Int’l conventions. Santiago was a blast. Ran into many California friends and made new friends from all over the world. Cameron arrived. Rick and Kim arrived. We sat in the beating sun as we listened to Brother Losch give amazing talks. An English tent was set up and we could tune into the parts in English. None of the new releases came as surprises..(downfall of having a convention in November). We got to witness the Int’l united brotherhood firsthand as gifts and hugs were exchanged freely. We got slightly reprimanded for doing the “wave” throughout the outdoor stadium. Without stopping..It went around 10 times! After the announcement everyone had to appease themselves with the umbrella spinning instead. I’ll try to attach a video for you to visualize the amazingness.
After Santiago we went to Concepcion. In Conce we were supposedly supposed to help with the English delegates from the states…but no one showed up!! There were delegates from surrounding South American countries, but NO ONE that spoke English. The first day Jenesia and I sat at the Information table, but I don’t think we were as much help as we hoped. Some would ask for directions and they would start walking in the opposite way of where we directed them. Ooops!! Concepcion had about 12,000 in attendance in contrast to Santiago’s 40,000 something! In our hotel we ran into a professional soccer team (Colo-Colo) of Chile who actually played in the stadium where we attended the convention. Saturday we encountered Tatiana and Juan Carlos and made plans to hang out later. We were reunited with all our construction friends and the families we stayed with during the projects. The last day was incredibly sad. Saying our goodbyes was harder than I thought.
The last week of our trip was filled with relaxation in the lovely town of Pucon. I’ll try to get those pictures up as well. Its beautiful there. Jenesia and I went there 4 years ago, but this time we went to a different part. It reminds me of Truckee. We stayed in a little cabana. The Legnons, Juanito, and I. After our relaxation there we went back to Donihue for a few days. The Ponce children were planning a dual Goodbye Party for Ness and I and an Anniversary party for their parents. Both sides of people were surprised! It was super sweet. Some of our closest friends from Chile were there to bid us farewell. You don’t realize how attached you get to people until you haveta say goodbye!
And now here I am planning my next trip down there. I leave in 9 days. Yes. I’m going back. You ask…how long? A year…indefinitely?...what? Nope..not this time…only 3 ½ weeks…almost a month. Don’t worry. I’m coming home. I’m a little nervous to see Chile in a different light with the aftermath of the Earthquake. My heart hurts for Chile…but the brothers there seem to be doing okay. They have help. They are definitely not left on their own. I will be visiting Donihue for a few days and then straight down to the south of Chile again. Travel time…I believe in total…24hours. Yikes. Am I prepared? I hope so! I’ll try to post a blog from my next trip…in the meantime enjoy the belated videos and photos from the past year!
Think this is my shortest post yet!!
Abrazooooos to all!
-Steph
My my my. How the time flies. Seems like just yesterday we were in Chile and now we’ve been back 4 months already. The rest of our trip went quite well. November was fun-filled with more visitors and good times. 2 of our weeks were pretty much dedicated to the Int’l conventions. Santiago was a blast. Ran into many California friends and made new friends from all over the world. Cameron arrived. Rick and Kim arrived. We sat in the beating sun as we listened to Brother Losch give amazing talks. An English tent was set up and we could tune into the parts in English. None of the new releases came as surprises..(downfall of having a convention in November). We got to witness the Int’l united brotherhood firsthand as gifts and hugs were exchanged freely. We got slightly reprimanded for doing the “wave” throughout the outdoor stadium. Without stopping..It went around 10 times! After the announcement everyone had to appease themselves with the umbrella spinning instead. I’ll try to attach a video for you to visualize the amazingness.
After Santiago we went to Concepcion. In Conce we were supposedly supposed to help with the English delegates from the states…but no one showed up!! There were delegates from surrounding South American countries, but NO ONE that spoke English. The first day Jenesia and I sat at the Information table, but I don’t think we were as much help as we hoped. Some would ask for directions and they would start walking in the opposite way of where we directed them. Ooops!! Concepcion had about 12,000 in attendance in contrast to Santiago’s 40,000 something! In our hotel we ran into a professional soccer team (Colo-Colo) of Chile who actually played in the stadium where we attended the convention. Saturday we encountered Tatiana and Juan Carlos and made plans to hang out later. We were reunited with all our construction friends and the families we stayed with during the projects. The last day was incredibly sad. Saying our goodbyes was harder than I thought.
The last week of our trip was filled with relaxation in the lovely town of Pucon. I’ll try to get those pictures up as well. Its beautiful there. Jenesia and I went there 4 years ago, but this time we went to a different part. It reminds me of Truckee. We stayed in a little cabana. The Legnons, Juanito, and I. After our relaxation there we went back to Donihue for a few days. The Ponce children were planning a dual Goodbye Party for Ness and I and an Anniversary party for their parents. Both sides of people were surprised! It was super sweet. Some of our closest friends from Chile were there to bid us farewell. You don’t realize how attached you get to people until you haveta say goodbye!
And now here I am planning my next trip down there. I leave in 9 days. Yes. I’m going back. You ask…how long? A year…indefinitely?...what? Nope..not this time…only 3 ½ weeks…almost a month. Don’t worry. I’m coming home. I’m a little nervous to see Chile in a different light with the aftermath of the Earthquake. My heart hurts for Chile…but the brothers there seem to be doing okay. They have help. They are definitely not left on their own. I will be visiting Donihue for a few days and then straight down to the south of Chile again. Travel time…I believe in total…24hours. Yikes. Am I prepared? I hope so! I’ll try to post a blog from my next trip…in the meantime enjoy the belated videos and photos from the past year!
Think this is my shortest post yet!!
Abrazooooos to all!
-Steph
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