temblors and temples

The trees were swaying, the floor was bouncing, the crane was dancing, and the pictures on the walls were swinging grandly. The temple with Angel Moroni atop was firmly on the ground, and the angel proudly blew his horn. Where do I put my trust? The trees bent to the will of the earth. The crane and floor moved according to the will of the earth. The pictures yielded to the will of the earth. The temple and angel Moroni remained firm and unmoving even though the earth was trying to take command. Should I depend on the flexibility of the earth and live the life of indulgence, or should I put my trust in that which is firm and dependable. This is how we live IN the world, but not OF the world . It was comforting to see the temple and Angel Moroni standing there so firmly. I will set my sight on the temple, I will remain true to the teachings of the Savior, for there is my salvation.

vertigo?

Last night there was a farewell potluck dinner for one of the couple missionaries. They are leaving the mission in two weeks. As we were just finishing up and most of the people had left, I suddenly felt a little dizzy. It didnt go away, but got worse, so I sat down. That made the chair feel like it was bouncing and I was still dizzy. The others also sat down with surprised looks ontheir faces. We all looked out the window. We saw trees waving, the construction crane a block away was bouncing up and down. The pictures on the wall were swinging widely. But the Angel Moroni atop the temple did not move an inch. We were sitting out an earthquake! They dont get worried unless things get broken around here, so nothing happened. After what seemed like 10 minutes, but was probably only 30 seconds, the tremors stopped. This morning as we were going down the stairs (because the elevator was broken again), I noticed a horizontal crack about 10 feet long and 2 inches wide above the windows in the stairwell. Today in the paper we read that the temblor was 7.0.

free time

Friday we did not go to the office. Jays hair was looking scraggly, and mine was way out of control. We walked the three blocks to the Caracol. This means snail. It is an indoor minimall that consists of many little shops that wind around and around from the bottom to about four stories above. Jay got a good haircut from a lady who says she cuts lots of missionaries' hair. I got my first foreign color and cut. I showed the lady the pictures I took of my last cut in Smithfield, and she did a really good job of duplicating it. Since we looked so good, we didnt want to just go home. We walked the entire caracol just to see what they had to offer. Probably half of the shops were hair salons with three stations. I wonder how they stay in business! We found a little yarn shop with a fair amount of yarn, and she sells knitting needles and crochet hooks. I didnt buy any. Yet. She doesnt have patterns. We found a few more things we were in need of, then had a nice sandwich in a cafe that had six tables about 18 inches square. Since Lider was just next door, we also bought a few things like milk and chips, etc. In all, we probably walked two miles. That's more than Jay has walked in years. Today 11 missionary couples (Sister Memmot is single) took a bus and subway to a place called Santa Lucia in another part of Santiago. At one time long ago, this was just a steep hill that Pedro de Valdivia used as a look-out for bad guys who might threaten his little town. Later, as the city surrounded the ugly little hill, someone decided to beautify it with a "building" and paths, and plazas. We climbed about 100 steps to a nice shady plaza with park benches around it. Jay and I and Sister Memmot sat and watched a class of karate, kata, and fencing students while the others hiked the steeper part of the hill. Jay got up and walked away, and I didnt see where he went, but knew he wouldnt go very far. When the others came back, we couldnt find him anywhere. The brethren all went different ways to find him, all armed with cell phones. (We dont have a cell phone because the area president (?) doesnt think we need one. We are the only senior missionaries without a phone). Jay was found "just around the corner." We werent ready to go home yet, so crossed the busy intersection, underground, to a large open-air market of clothing, jewelry, etc. I bought a panflute, occarina, and a pair of silver and lapis earrings. Jay bought an apron. We were getting hungry at this point (it was 2:30) so we took the subway back to familiar territory and found a Burger King. As if this werent enough calories for a couple days, we then walked a couple blocks to the best heladeria (ice cream store) in town. They served us each a little glass of carbonated water for a chaser. I was thirsty and drank it all in one breath. BURP.

mmm, Good

I am back to cooking by scratch again. I am back to learning how to cook for just two again. We have a little grocery store just two or three blocks from home where we can get what we need to make simple meals. I have learned some tricks, such as cutting up and freezing onions so that they are always on hand. You can do the same thing with chopped celery and green peppers, too, so even though we have a very small fridge, I have managed to stockpile a few essentials. Yesterday I seared a thin steak, removed it from the pan and cut it into small bite-size pieces. Into the pan with the meat juice, I put in garlic (which I cut and dried), onion, celery, carrot chips, a handful of cut up cabbage,one potato cut into bites, green bean bits, a little leftover corn (cut from the cob), broccoli, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt and a little water. I put the meat back in, and simmered the whole thing for an hour while we worked with our tutor. Jay kept saying, "This is Good!" And it was. Tonight, I cut up another piece of the same carrot, added another handful of the cabbage, onions, garlic, slices of green pepper, thin strips of green beans (raw), and chunks of pineapple (fresh), some of the barbecued chicken from another meal, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes to warm the pineapple. I had a bottle of sweet and sour sauce that I added just before serving over rice (not instant). It was really good. The best thing is, is that Jay finally has the time to taste his food and is discovering that I am a good cook. So with basically the same vegetables and choice of meat, you can come up with meals very different from each other.

Goodies Store

Friday after work we went with another missionary couple to a store they had found that has all kinds of nuts and dried fruits and lots of other things like popcorn. There were big bins of walnuts, almonds, dried strawberries, pineapple,papaya, kiwi, coconut, candied peanuts, peanuts, salted dried bananas, sweet dried bananas, and a couple of trail mix bins. We bought a whole bunch and will make our own mixes. Then we walked down the street to a "caracol". This is an inside shopping mall that has a winding uphill walk with little shops on one side. These shops are hardly big enough to hold a sales person, a tiny display counter, and two customers. On the other side you can look down into the center (which is a shoe shop) down at the bottom. They were looking for a digital clock. These are in short supply and they ended up buying a wind up clock with two large bells on either side. The clock/watch store was right next to the barber shop where a boy was getting a buzz, and a lady was getting her hair dyed. Her shop was next door, a place with a few buttons, lace, four knitting needles, and a bunch of other stuff. Next to her was a Tarot shop, and next to that was a foot doctor. I want to go back along that street. We passed a little kioska that had a few books out for sale. One of the books was a Book of Mormon. We walked back a little way to big Lider. It is about as big as Smiths and has a lot better selection of things than our little Lider has. Across the street from big Lider is a Chinese restaurant we might try. On our way back, we passed Burger King and KFC. I'm glad we are learning where these things are because we will be the "old and wise" missionary couple in a few months. A lot of couples are finishing up their missions and the Area assignments are in consolidation. Since we are here for two years, and the others are only here for 12 to 18 months, that leaves us to be the ones who know everything! Hah!

AGAIN???

This morning started out fine. We were on time for the devotional. We were going to be early at the office. We caught the bus after waiting only a few minutes, and it wasnt particularly crowded. After a short wait for the next bus, one drove up and it didnt have an overly large load. I got on and Jay was right behind me. The driver was distracted by someone talking to him and I guess he didnt see Jay. He shut the doors and started up. Jay's arm was caught in the door and he was pulled about 15 feet before he could get his arm out. I got off the bus at the usual place, and AGAIN sat and waited for him to come on the next bus. He didnt. It was the next bus he came out of. I think our mission has so far been one of stories about the buses. Is this what our mission is???

I Lost Him

The bus was really full again today. Jay and I got separated, he nearer the front, and I, near to one of the doors. When we arrived at our destination, I got off and turned around to wait for Jay. He didnt get off and the bus started up again. Oh, well, he'll get off at the next stop and walk back about a block. I just stayed at the stop. After about 10 minutes, I thought maybe he had been mugged or suffocated. It didnt help that I heard sirens in the distance! My next thought was that he probably got off the bus, went to the bus stop going the other way. Now I had to watch the corner on my right, and the bus stop down a block on my left. Oh, yeah! Maybe he'd take a taxi, so now I have to watch left, right, and check all the taxis driving from my right to my left. After about 10 minutes more, a bus came and left. I saw a man in a suit pulling a red cart. That's him! I walked quickly toward him and we met at the door to the office building. We didnt get to work till 11:00!!! The red cart is a wonderful invention. We carry our lunches, books, cameras and nobody knows all the valuable things we have in there. We take it everywhere: grocery store, open market, work...