SANTIAGO , CHILE

We arrived back in Buenos Aires  from our Argentina trip on July 3.  We had been on the road about thirteen days and had seen an enormous part of Argentina, mostly the Patagonian region. We met with many wonderful Argentine people and experienced first hand the sincere dedication of these warm and kind people, their dedication to the Gospel and each other.  We drove into Buenos Aires around noon on July 3 and were scheduled to leave for Santiago, Chile very early in the morning of July 4!  After unloading the car,  and eating some of our homemade chicken soup from the freezer, ( it tasted delicious after 13 days of restaurant food!) Michael went into the office to do some work for our trip to Chile and I stayed home to wash, dry and iron clothing and get packed up.

The remis came at 6am and we were ready and waiting in  the foyer of our apartment building!  Our flight to Santiago was amazing and flying over the Andes Mountains was definitely a thrill.  I had a window seat which was terrific.

Our friend and fellow worker in the Buenos Aires office, Dante Roig was scheduled to give a special financial training to the Chile Assistant Auditors so Michael and I along with Elder Perry (he helps us with the Chile assistants)  had planned for this training to take place in the afternoon of the day we arrived in Santiago.  We had six of our assistant auditors from Chile here and the training was very successful.  Many questions were answered as new systems have been installed and there was alot of information to disperse!  After the training meeting, we had a lovely little catered dinner in a small room in the church office building here just a few doors down the hall from the meeting room where we had spent the afternoon.  The dinner was catered by a very amazing couple and their daughter.  The salmon dinner was absolutely delicious and the twelve of us enjoyed the food and the great conversation.  Afterwards, we had a meaningful "question and answer " time and there was a great discussion.  All of the Chile auditors really get along well, and their "esprit de corps" is amazing!  In all, there are nine assistant auditors in Chile.

Michael and Claudio Rosas from Puerto Montt, in Southern Chile.  We traveled later in the week to spend time with he and his wife and attend one of Claudio's training. Wonderful couple!

The next day, on Friday, July 5, we checked out a car from the church fleet here at the church office building and headed out early in the morning for Southern Chile where we would meet up with several assistant auditors.  Our first stop  was in Concepcion, about five hours south of Santiago.  We met with Hermano Acuna there in the evening and had a great and meaningful visit with him.  The next day, on Saturday we again arose early and headed very far south to Puerto Montt where we would meet up with Claudio Rosas and enjoy some time with he and his darling wife, Adriana.