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Tuesday morning early our bus arrived. A taxi took us to the home where we ate breakfast, at Moisés and Mirsa's house. Boy, we were glad we brought boots. This climate is a little different than in Arizona. ;)
Jon was telling us that there are 3 meeting homes here in Villarica. Even though it isn't a very big city, there is lots of tourism because of the volcano nearby. It is an active volcano but the last time it erupted was in 1947, I think. Villarica is right on the edge of the lake so many times, people will own a huge estate but only live there a couple months out of the year during the summer. Other people will live there during the year and take care of the house and property for them.
Anyway, lunch here is called almuerzo, and they usually eat at 1pm. Almuerzo is the biggest meal of the day and the rest of the meals are more like snacks. So Tuesday we went to eat lunch with one of the friends here in Villarica, Debora. 4 of us traveled there together: Jon, Belermina (a sister who labors here in Chile), Elisa, and I. There was so much food we felt like we didn't need to eat for the rest of the week! Onces, or the afternoon "snack", was at Yano Herrera's home around 5:00pm. Yano lives in one of these "lakeside estates". His home is beautiful, right by the water. Jon stayed the night here, and we stayed the night at another home not 5 minutes away.
Belermina stayed at Gaby y Miguel's house, and Eli and I stayed at the home of Roxana y Ramòn. Ramòn and Miguel are brothers, and Gaby and Roxana are cousins. They live walking distance away, so we had breakfast at Gaby's on Wednesday. Roxana y Ramòn have 2 daughters, Barbara is 15 years old and Coni is 11. It sure was neat to get to know them, they were very hospitable and we wished we had a little more time with them.
So Wednesday we had breakfast at Gaby's with Belermina, Jon, Brendan (a worker that works in Argentina who came in that morning), Gaby, Roxana, Ramòn, Yano, Elisa, and I. It's kind of interesting trying to eat here because Chileans sure do love their bread! For breakfast they had pie, toast, some kind of sweet bread, and glutenfull yoghurt. But I'm making out just fine with lots of chicken and potatoes. :)
Wednesday lunch we were all at different places. I got to eat lunch with another visiting worker, Patricia, at the first home we were in - Mirsa's home. Elisa and Belermina ate lunch at the home of Luisa Manríquez. Abuelos, I'm not sure if you recognize any of these names..Jon said you might remember a few.
Wednesday after breakfast, Roxana took Eli and I on a walk around where they live. It was so pretty it almost looked fake, like a picture in National Geographic. She explained to us that she is taking care of 3 houses right now while the owners are away, and they won't return until the summer months in January and February. Then it was time to go, we all were going to eat lunch at different houses.
Jon picked us up at 12pm and off we went. I don't remember all the names of the people where we ate and slept, ill have to look at my list and maybe later ill get a chance to share. For now ill just say that Wed night I got to stay at the first house we visited in Villarrica, Moisés and Mirza's house. I was glad to get a couple nights with them - Mirza took good care of me while I was still trying to get over my cold! So Sue Weichert and I spent Wed night and Thurs night there.
Thursday night there was a gospel meeting for the friends of Villarrica. Brendan Pring, a visiting worker from Venezuela, shared a thought that I really enjoyed. He said that sometimes there are little things that we can say or do that unintentionally offends someone. But the best way to avoid offending a child of God is to have the spirit of a child!
Friday was special - Jon took Brendan, Elisa, and I up into the country to a place called Huincacara. The convention grounds are there in Huincacara. It was beautiful up there! The folks who live there, Sergio y Marisol, are caretakers of the grounds. The friends who own the land live in Santiago. Abuelos, Sergio and Marisol send special greetings your way. :)
We are lunch at another home, and all the friends who live there in Huincacara came to eat with us. Again, there was SO much food and we ate way too much! But it was all fabulous. :) Onces was in another little town in the country, Conquil. We were all still too full from lunch to eat again, but they managed to gulp down some sweet breads. ;)
Saturday was a lazy day, which was just perfect. All 6 workers were getting ready for the meeting on Sunday, so Elisa came over to the house where I was staying and spent the afternoon. It was raining all day and we decided, we are tired of the rain and want the sun to come out!! :)
Sunday was special meeting. It was nice to get to see everyone one last time before heading south for the next special meetings, sad to say goodbye! We were surprised when Eric and Sandy Hazelrigg walked in! It was great to see them again. Jon was saying that evening when we were eating onces that there was close to 170 people at the special meeting!
Anyway, that was our week. Sorry for the great long post! Hope you all are having a great week - I'll post this when we have an Internet connection, along with the last ones from Peru.
- comments
Jon Five star entry! And you two are five star visitors here in Chile!
Bob and Nancy Garrett Love your posts and so happy for you and your adventures. Bob and Nancy