All This for Your Table

Perhaps a bit of news to some of you, though others will already know, but I have always been a farm boy at heart.  I loved my summers as a boy when my brother Dave and I would spend time on our cousins farm in Idaho. We rode horses, drove tractors, swam in the ditch and enjoyed hidden rooms built into the straw stacks by our cousins. My dad had us milking cows during our teenage years as we helped a widow lady provide a living for herself. By the way, milking cows and rebellious teenage years didn't always go together real well, but now looking back I cherish the memories and the opportunities to learn to work.
That is a long way to go to get to this statement, "I am really enjoying my time here on the farm, and the process is thrilling to observe." This is big time farming, from soil to your table basically at one location. Most all the oil produced will be sold to other companies for them to package and market, but I will show you one of our own bottles later.
I love big equipment and trucks. This first piece of equipment is probably a little out dated, you will probably find something real similar at your local gym.

Some old timer had a set of quads.
 







Pruning time. These guys run several tractors
for months to get the work done. Keeping the
trees narrow is important.



Olives ready for harvest. Aren't you glad you don't have
a welfare farm project like this that has to be picked by hand.

Harvest time for these young trees, only about 4 years old.

Evidence of Bravery

In our first post I chose the title, 'Let the Adventure Begin." Little did I realize the extent of what was in store living in a new country with no language skills. Travelling about and shopping have presented some anxious feelings. But, it had to be done. Last Thursday was our first real time alone in Santiago. We had to go get our National ID card. We had help to that point, but from then on it was just us Gringo's. We saw an old palace that the citizens want restored. It looks like a total redo would be better.

We then found our way through town with the help of modern technology called waze. Some of you are familiar and may even know our voice lady named Jane. She can give directions, but she is not a spanish speaker. Barbara and I find great humor in how she pronounces some of the street names. But, she gets us there. Once at the mall we were greeted with a bit of home town feeling and it took off some tension from the shopping that was about to take place.

When shopping was complete, the three of us, Barbara, Jane and I made our way home without getting lost in Santiago. Thank you app designers.

Later that day great bravery was presented by Barbara. She was in the wash room and when she heard me in the driveway she calmly called for me to get the camera. As I went in the house to get the camera I was thinking, "That must be some clean towel." But there was something else she wanted to preserve.

Her first tarantula had made it's appearance. She was calm and interested only in getting a good picture. Later that day I installed a piece of cardboard on the door to keep out any returns.

Our next big adventure came of our own choosing. Many of you may know that we love hot springs and hot tubs. Being on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Chile is prime for hot springs. In fact there are over 270 in the country. So, we decided to take our first non essential excursion to check out a hot spring. The trip was about 144 km, that's 90 miles for you in the states, to get to the hot springs. We didn't know anything about the place and although it was pretty cool, we were disappointed. I'll let you figure out why.

A cool little church on the property.

A beautiful outside dining area off the courtyard.

Our first look into the hot spring area. Around 2 hundred years old.

And here to solve the question you have all been waiting for. . . one of the tubs.

Not what I had envisioned!

But it was in a pretty setting with some real charm.

A hanging and bouncy bridge.

Jane brought us home again, and I might say we tried a different route. . . . either brave or stupid.

One last picture for my brother in England on his current Farmland mission. I remember him talking about these cars from his original mission. So for him, some long ago memories.

We are taught about faith!

I wanted to add a few pictures from the iPad I am using to write this blog, but I can't figure out how to insert them. I need another lesson from Denali (my awesome daughter-in-law) but I bother her too much so this post is just talk, sorry.

Elder Bagleys took us to see the Santiago, Chile temple on the 4th day we were in the country. That was going to be my picture. So in your mind imagine Barbara and I standing in front of the temple.
It is small, but greatly valued by the people.

Jump ahead two weeks. This area has been in a drought for months. Several stakes called for a combined fast on the 1st Sunday in July. During the night prior to Fast Meeting it started to rain. It has now rained on and off since that time. The farm roads are muddy, as are our shoes, but the many crops raised here that are sent around the world are getting a drink. And the people give thanks.

We went with the stake to the temple again yesterday (Saturday) to do some temple work this time. As we pulled into the parking lot there were several busses parked. I commented on the number of people that must be in the temple based on the number of buses. Our friend Poncho (nickname for Fernando) said, "It's like this every Saturday, we only have one temple in our country."

So think on this for a bit. If you took Chile and laid it horizontally across the United States, it would just about reach from L.A. to N.Y.C. and at its widest it is only be about 240 miles wide. If that is your country and your only temple is in Kansas City, how often would you attend?

These are good, good people. Whether members of the church or not they are humble and grateful for whatever they have. We see many people patiently standing on the side of the road waiting for a bus that might be on schedule, but probably not. They are just happy for some transportation to wherever, be it work, shopping or home. They love their families above all and treasure their humble homes. Even though there isn't insulation or much heat. Life goes on with a big smile and a wave.

May I always be grateful for my many blessings and stay focused on what is important. We are blessed my friends, very blessed.

Picture Tour of First Days

Our welcome to Chile luncheon

An olive harvester displayed at lunch

New tree for planting and precision hand work behind

All of this effort and expense for these

The Hills on a hill in the farm with the new olive mill in the background.
The ground around the mill is all planted but the trees are small as you
saw in the last picture

Olive trees for as far as you can see. The little white dot at
center left is the new olive mill and the dark hill to the left
is where we stood for the previous picture

Trimmed trees all the way to the base of the hill

Oh Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

Speaking of whirlwinds, our first week has our heads spinning! It has been non-stop since we landed in Santiago. The farm (fundo) management scheduled a three way party for Saturday afternoon. The fundo workers were invited to bring their families for a tour of the new oil mill; it was a going away party for the Bagleys who we are replacing; and it was a welcome to Chile for us. We were treated to a wonderful BBQ with lots of wonderful people. The mill is absolutely amazing, but I will do an entry on that later. We were put up in the guest house for the week. You will see by the pictures that it is a beautiful home and looks like a resort. It just needs a furnace! We have little space heaters that keep you from freezing, but not really keep you warm. Houses here are not insulated much at all and only have a small heater. Beyond that our accommodations are luxurious. Here are a few pics.

Back to the whirlwind. Up early, in bed late, lots of travel on crazy roads and streets, shopping for some initial basic supplies at Lider (WalMart), and more traveling to homes to meet people and teach lessons. Today, Thursday, is our first chance to catch our breath because Bagleys are packing to go home tonight.

Sunday was an interesting experience. We didn't understand most of what was said, but the spirit was strong. Everybody wears coats all the time even in church. Here is the deacon's row.

Shopping was also not of Kansas. Some things we could figure out, but we need to greatly improve our language skills to get all we might need.

We are very overwhelmed at surviving in a place where we can't communicate effectively and we are nervous at the responsibility we have been given, but welcome to the missionfield. We are well and all is good. We just have some things to learn.

Love to all, Elder and Hermana Hill.