Temporary Living Quarters

Whoever gets to live on temple square??? Well if you arrive in Santiago, Chile, and dont have a home to go to, you get to live on temple square! There is an apartment building used to house people from far away who go to the temple here. Some have come from Argentina because it is closer than Buenos Aires. There are a few temple missionaries who get to live here too. We are in room 401 and have four security keys to get there. Even the elevator has a security key because some floors are private.
The apartment is really nice. We have been told more than once that our real apartment wont be so nice. There is even air conditioning (which we also wont have). The living/dining area is about 25'X15'. There are a couch, two leather chairs, a flat screen tv, desk, computer desk and a small table. The dining table is round, and has six chairs with padded seats. The kitchen is a closet, about as big as the area of our big bathroom at home, with stove, cupboards, sink, fridge, microwave.The fridge and cupboards had enough food for a few days. It is fully furnished, but the knives are not Cutco.The bathroom is half the sizer of the middle bedroom at home, the tub is deep like the European tubs. The toilet's flush handle is a knob on top of the water closet. You pull it up to flush. Nice sink with large counter around it, nice big mirror. Towels are furnished and they are thick and big. I guess people here dont use washcloths because there arent any. Now for the bedroom: two nice closets with built in drawers on one side. Shelves between the closets. Full length mirror. Picture of Christ above the...............KING SIZE BED!!!!!!!!!! Last night Jay was snoring and I put my arm out to poke him and I couldnt reach him! WOW!
Church this morning was also on temple square. We walked out the front door of the apartment, down the sidewalk about half a block and into the chapel. It was a LOOOONG day, as it was all in Spanish. Sunday School was a relief, though, as there is a Brother Sorge who taught our class in English. This brother used to live in Smithfield, and was our home teacher many years ago. He moved to Chile with his Chilean wife and we lost touch with him. We did see his daughter when we went to the bank, though. And about two years ago, his son moved into Louise's ward in Eau Claire, Wisconsin! Small world??? He came to our apartment after church for a while and we had a wonderful visit with him. We hope to see him and his wife more as time goes on. We will be permanently here in Santiago as far as we know, although, we may be invited to other branches outside Santiago to present our workshops.
We have been called as Welfare workers, mainly to assist in the job placement area.