Here is our report of our time with the
Gibson family who visited us for Christmas….The Metro de Santiago is beautiful
and immaculate. This was our mode of
transportation using the bip! card. Kris
(and the tour book) was our guide to the sites and feel of Santiago. Before our joining them on 23 December – Brett,
Kris, Sadie and Colton had been in Buenos Aires and Bariloche, Argentina - then
with Kris’ former mission companion just inside of Chile – and now with us.
From our hotel widow we saw The Gran
Torre Santiago, the tallest building in Chile and in South America at 980
ft. Area around it is referred to as
Sanhattan for its glitzy skyscrapers and North American feel. Brett and Kris enjoy and treated us to very
wonderful and delicious meals at amazing restaurants… and treated us all to fun
flavors of helado whenever we felt the need….
December 23: took metro and saw Pabellón
Paris Bldg which was designed to represent Chile at the 1889 Universal
Exposition in Paris. Then in to Parque
Quinta Normal where was the Museo
Nacional de Historia Natural, many picnic areas, playgrounds and an artificial
lake. Also there – the Museo Ferraviario
– with collections of steam locomotives that served the Ferrocarril Transandino
that until 1971 connected Los Andes to Chile with Mendoza in Argentina (154
miles) across the precarious peaks of the Andes.
December 24: Visited Plaza de Armas so many including Casa
Colorada, the Catedral Metropolitania, Correo Central, and Palacio de la Moneda
which is Chile’s presidential headquarters.
We also went to the Alcántara stop which
is the neighborhood of Las Condes to visit the casa de Santiago Sur Misión where
Bruce and Rowene Gibson served with daughters Julie and Vickie and later Gloria
after her mission in Peru (1977-1980).
Christmas Day we had a buffet breakfast
and sliding fun at the hotel and checked out at 11:30 to head to the bus
station for Valparaíso. There Brett
began as our tour guide: Up an ascensor
to Museo a Cielo Abierto , a maze of winding streets and passageways painted
with giant, colorful street murals by some of Chile’s best-known contemporary
artists.
Friday, the 26th, Geff and Brett
headed to Cementerio N1 (Catolico) for work.
Brett was an able assistant until Carol came with the gang later. Then Brett
again was tour guide down the hill where we catch the bus home every day. Eating our helado on the stairs, we learned
about Plaza Anibal Pinto – the small, chaotic square with the old Cinzano café
founded in 1896 which features live tango shows. On the other side of the plaza is a street fountain sculpted as Neptune in 1892. We pass by these “points of interest” every
day. We greet the shoe shine man that
sits behind the fountain and never even noticed the old café….
We walked toward Sotomayer Square. Brett pointed out the building where the El Mercurio de Valparaíso founded in
1827 – the oldest newspaper in continuous circulation in the entire
Spanish-speaking world. Up the Funicular
Concepcion (Valparaíso’s first funicular).
It seemed very rickety, very steep and scary…to the Casa Mirador de
Lukas. A 1900 house that hosts a lovely
museum dedicated to the life and works of Chile’s best-loved cartoonist, Renzo
Antonio Pecchenino Raggi, popularly known as Lukas. Then on to Plaza Sotomayor where you find the
Monumento a los Heroes de Iquique, Comandancia Jefe de la Armada, the Bomberos
and a walk to the port where we went on a boat ride on the Bay.
Saturday, Dec 27,we went
by micro bus to Viña del Mar to meet a sister who served in Kristi-Lynn’s
mission. She has 3 children, and Sadie and Colton had instant friends.
“Founded in 1874, Viña del Mar (Vineyard
of the Sea) has its origins in a Colonial hacienda whose vineyards faced the
ocean.” We had a fun daywith pictures at
the Viña Clock, to the Casino and Wolff Castle and up Avenida Peru, lunch and the
Viña beach with the 5 kids and home by micro for a 6 pm baptism of a Sister who
is 73 and a surprise farewell for Hermana Rivas who was leaving on Monday for
the Salt Lake Temple Square mission. Then Sunday, we all attended the O'Higgins Ward and then it was time for Brett, Kris, Sadie and Colton to meet their flight in Santiago. What an effort. We had a wonderful Christmas in the mission.... Thanks!
New Years Eve was spent at the home of
the Hidalgo family. An authentic Chilean
meal prepared by Sister Hidalgo, the wife of the ward mission leader, included
soup, many grilled meats, potatoes, rice and salads and a delicious dessert
with fruits, ice cream and dulce de leche drizzled over the top. Then back to the Smith’s apartment for
fireworks which spread all up the Valparaíso Bay to bring in 2015.
Many greeting and hugs for the Año
Nuevo. Daniela practiced for 5 weeks,
and on the first Sunday of the year,
played Come, Come Ye Saints
for prelude and the opening hymn, There
is a Green Hill Far Away for the Sacrament hymn, and Abide with Me for the closing.
A
fun Himno we don’t have in the Hymn book:
Himno 142
Otro año más queda ya atrás; Another
year has passed;
evaluemos lo que pasó. Let’s
evaluate what happened.
¿Puedo mejorar, puedo progresar Can I improve, can I progress
este año que ya
comenzó? this year that
has just begun?
Therefore,
dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power;
and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of
God, and for his arm to be revealed.
D&C 123:17
If you haven’t already read the article, “Hastening
the Lord’s Work Within Our Own Souls”, take time now:
Article by Robert L. Millet (professor emeritus of ancient
scripture and former dean of religious education at Brigham Young University in
Provo, Utah).
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