A Time of Thanksgiving

We just finished fall in Chile. Fall at home means harvest and cooler temperatures, just the same as here. Fall at home also means special holidays and family. The special holiday of Thanksgiving is missing from our plans and activities here, but events have reminded me to give thanks.

First, we had a little incident the other day that at first seemed such a bother, but it made me feel grateful for a few things.

City car on a muddy farm road. Up to the axles.

You can see why I might be a little bothered. It was cold, it was night, and I needed help. Here are the things to be grateful for: No. 1 We have a new car to drive. It is reliable and usually fits our needs. No. 2 We were trying to get to our neighbors house to take his wife shopping. We have enjoyed opportunities for service. No. 3 This road was such a mess because of a brand new electronic gate. For the last year I drive to our gate, park the car, get out, unlock the gate, get in, drive through, park the car, get out, lock the gate, get in and drive away. No more, just push a button.

The new gate blocked Pancho's driveway so the driveway had to be repositioned.
This is the muddy road I was stuck on.

The electronic gate is something to be thankful for, no complaints about being stuck. Lastly No. 4 The guy that came to pull us out knew about a new fangled thing. While I was worried about lying in the mud and searching for some safe place to hook the chain, he went right to the trunk, retrieved an eye hook and used this nifty little hatch door.

In my accessory bag in the car is a special eye hook that screws into a socket inside this little hatch. I have washed the car many times, but had no idea what this was for. I was very grateful not to lay in the cold mud and risk bending up the car.

We have finished harvest. I am so grateful to have been here to witness this amazing process and to associate with such hard workers. If you have read the last couple of blogs you know it has dominated my attention. (Sorry the videos didn't play) These pictures show the first part of a post harvest fiesta for the workers. They were gathered in the mill to watch a brand new video that has been produced to highlight this farm. Maybe someday it will be shown between conference sessions.

Since it is a food processing plant while inside the mill everyone
wears hairnets. Even me for some reason.

They finished the celebration by eating as many empanadas as they could. It is a favorite here with the locals. The management let them sit and relax and enjoy a little down time. We have some good farm managers.

There are three houses on our side of the highway. We are blessed to have a backup generator for when the power goes out. That is almost every time it rains. The grumbly part of me gets a little annoyed that I need to keep it filled with fuel and test start it from time to time, the generator is in my yard. No one on the farm thinks about it until the power is down.

With the onset of winter and the cold damp weather, Barbara and I enjoy the fireplace we have. I could have never been a pyromaniac. Starting a fire for me is a mystery. I asked my friend here to explain the steps to start a fire that he followed; paper, little sticks, bigger sticks and then logs. All things I have tried. He said he just puts in a few big logs and then adds magic. With my puzzled look he smiled and held up a bottle of diesel fuel. "Magic!" he said.  Can you see that red can by the generator? It is filled with magic. I can now start a great fire.

I am thankful the generator is in my yard and I am responsible for keeping it full of magic.

We live on a very dangerous road and have to travel it many times a week to teach our students, shop for groceries or go to church. Besides all the pot holes that need to be avoided there are a wide range of vehicles of all speeds and driven by a variety of crazy people. We have seen some scary vehicles as well and have thought, "There evidently is no safety inspection program here."

We had a very troubling event here the other day that again made me very thankful for a few things. Chile has tons of buses. They drive me crazy with how they stop anywhere, anytime. Flashers make everything OK. One of these buses was traveling north through the farm headed for Santiago. It was nighttime and hazy as the fog gathers for the night. A truck traveling in the opposite direction lost a set of wheels and they started bouncing down the road heading for the bus. I am amazed that the bus driver saw them in time to redirect his bus off the road, over a ditch, through our fence and then into our young trees.

Some people were hurt, but no one lost their life. The driver deserves a great deal of praise.

So what makes me thankful here? We have a wonderful family that prays for us everyday. My grandson Krew never misses a day to ask his Heavenly Father to bless grandpa and grandma. Each of our kids, grandkids and friends has us in their thoughts and prayers. We also give daily prayers for safety and gratitude. We will continue to drive this dangerous road and trust in Heavenly Fathers response to faith filled prayers for our safe return home.

Thank you for all your support.

A New First and More

Our very first blog was titled "Let the Adventure Begin." We had a new adventure to experience the other day. I'll back up just a bit.

A few months ago we went to the Santiago temple and met a couple that are here on a medical mission. Elder (Dr.) Branson and Kathy Call are serving as the medical resource for several missions here in Chile. We hit it off and look forward to meeting each month. They called us the other day and invited us to go to a "cute little French restaurant" before our monthly temple session. "Great" we said before thinking about our decision.

As I thought more about our plans I became concerned. First- I could only name 5 French foods, and I don't think toast and fries really count. I wondered what I was going to order. For sure escargot was out, so that left baguettes and croissants. Second-  Every town I know of has a Mexican restaurant. They also have Chinese, Italian, BBQ, Thai and an occasional place for Greek. I couldn't think of a single French restaurant. There has to be a reason. We had to come all the way to Chile to go to a French restaurant for the first time in our lives.

Eventually cheese and wine came to mind, but that much cheese would really stop me up. We went, as you can see, and because we were in Chile our choices were limited for supper. If we had been there for lunch we could have had quiche. Oh yeah, QUICHE, food number 4. But because it was the evening meal in Chile we were limited to salads and sandwiches; I don't really consider those French. As we walked in I could see I was saved by a full display of French pastries.

I'm being a little sarcastic, because we really had a great time with Calls as usual, but quick, name me a French restaurant. See what I mean?

The highlight of our month was a visit from our Mission Directors. They came in on a Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday evening. We toured the farm during harvest. Last blog I included many harvest pictures, but let me give you a few fun movie clips.

Barbara with the Hynes

Removing the olives

Filling the box

Loading a full box

We went through the mill to see the extraction of the oil, (see last month). We held a Zone Conference about the Leadership of Christ, traveled to the walnut farm in Alhue -

and lastly went to the tourist town of Pomaire, remember the pottery. The best part of their visit was in the evenings we sat around the house and visited about families and life. We thoroughly enjoy the Hynes and are grateful for their support.

The week after Hynes headed for Argentina, Barbara and I took a Saturday to go see the reason for one of our biggest challenges. Most every weekend we get into some terrible traffic going or coming from Santiago. Remember this line? "If you build it, they will come." Many times at night as we are on the road trying to get home, we find ourselves in the middle of an endless line of headlights and taillights crawling south towards Lago Rapel or going north to Santiago. About twenty five miles south of our home is a lake that must have some magic magnetic pull on the people from Santiago. They will spend hours on the road in bumper to bumper traffic to go swim in frigid water.

Here is the cause of the lake.

This was built and all the people come

Not the lake, just a look downstream

Lastly, we were invited to the first birthday party of a sweet little angel, Emilia.

This is Emilia's first English lesson. Push the button and it says "I love you." in English!

We have made some great friends and feel blessed to be included in their family activities. We get to go to holiday gatherings, school concerts and dance competitions as well helping with shopping trips. Our service mission is a lot of fun and we hope to develop a habit of serving others for the rest of our lives.

TTFN

(that's from Tigger)