Catching Up

I think the best way for me to succinctly write about the last six months or so of my life without writing a short novel is through pictures. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words.

In February I snuck down to Chile for the first time in over eight years, since I left as a 21-year-old missionary. My air-line, LanChile, had extremely good service but was often late taking off.

A photo of the Andes Mountains shot by a nice Lebanese lady who had a window seat.

My friends the Billikopfs had rented a house in Llanquihue, a little town in the south within my mission boundries. Here is a mediocre picture of a magnificent volcano that we could see looking out the back window.

I stopped of in Temuco, which is no longer in my mission boundries, to buy a few souvenirs that I was too poor to get when I was a missionary eight years ago. Here is a picture of a fountain in their famous indoor market place.

This is one of my prized possessions: a Chilean chess set made of volcanic rock with Spanish conquistadors on one side and Chilean Mapuche Indians on the other.

I traveled mostly by bus once I got down to the south. I really tried to take advantage of being in Chile by talking to people and had some nice conversations with my fellow passengers. Chileans are usually great conversationalists.

 

One of the highlights of my trip was my impromptu visit of the Guzman family. I remember wrestling and making funny faces at these now quiet teenagers. Their dad, Leonardo Guzman, is a prince among men and someone who I greatly respect. Their mom, Rubi Guzman, isn't even a step behind their father and Jubitza, the oldest, is a wonderful young lady who now plays the piano in Church. The boys also play instruments, not something too common in Chile so these kids are a cut above the average.
 

This was another highlight of my trip. My good friend Neryn was the first person I taught as a missionary. I had the pleasure to spend most of the day visiting and playing with her wonderful children Vicente and Fernanda. Fernanda taught me how to sing "Arroz con leche," which I still remember.

While many things have changed in Chile, some things have not. I have another picture like this from ten years ago from more or less the same spot in Osorno and it looks the same.

Luckily, somethings change for the better. When I served in this congregation at the beginning of my mission, at the end of 2000, we were meeting in two large containers. Now they have a beautiful chapel in the same spot.

 Since Becca has been Young Women's President I've gone quite a few temple trips. This picture is from a display in the Oakland Temple Visitor's Center which has copies of the Book of Mormon in some fifty languages.

This is from a little Norwegian celebration that my friend Cameron and I went to in San Francisco.

This is from the same park where they had the Norwegian celebration. I have been meaning to take Becca back there.

 Cameron and I wandered off into Little Russia in San Francisco. I didn't even know they had a Little Russia.

This is from the last bloodless bull fight that we went to.

 I haven't chosen these events no necessarily because they are the most important events of my life in the past few months but because I have pictures of them on my phone. Becca has more pictures which I should get from her. Overall, life has been very good.