14 Reasons to Serve: Happy September!

I was supposed to do the one in August, but here we are beginning September, hard to believe.
We think that we are probably most of the way through the winter here. It hasn’t been too bad – has got down in to the 30’s at night but is generally in the 40’s and low 50’s, but it is a wet cold so you feel it more. It’s pretty protected by the tall buildings, but when you get a long side street, it makes a wind tunnel which is pretty interesting.
Helen got up in fast and testimony meeting and bore her testimony in Spanish, no notes, just got up there and spoke from the heart. You could see the entire congregations sit up on the edge of their seats, just smiling and cheering her on silently, so happy that she was talking in their language. It was wonderful to see, the spirit speaks to the people no matter what language you are talking in.
They even had me speak in sacrament meeting. They were very polite – oddly enough, here you don’t see a lot of people sleeping in church, so hope that it went well.
We are involved in setting up a pilot program where the missionaries or members can take members on a tour of the chapel without the need to have banners. They will use the art in the building to teach the major points of the first lesson in Preach My Gospel. Most of the art work in the buildings is conducive to teaching about the Savior with a picture of Christ, baptism with a picture of John the Baptist, modern prophets with a picture of the first presidency, the original Church with the apostles, the restoration with Joseph Smith, etc. That way, a church that is centrally located in a busy area with a lot of foot traffic can be staffed to be open more time in a week. English classes, family history classes, etc. can be held to have people going in and out and give more opportunity. We have a mission president in Santiago who has the chapel on the Santiago temple block who is very excited about starting it there, since there are always many people touring the temple block and would be prime candidates for a tour.
We had a chance to go to Casa Rosada (pink house in Spanish) which houses the executive offices of the government and where the president of the country works. It is, not surprisingly, pink stone and is known for the balcony where Evita Peron rallied the workers of the country. Her character is shown in the movie “Evita” singing from that balcony. We got to go out on the balcony and look out over Plaza de Mayo. I broke out in a few bars of “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” and the tour guide quickly hustled us on to the next part of the tour.
We also had a chance to go to the National Cathedral there on the plaza. An amazing building with a monument to San Martin, the George Washington of South America.
We went to a couple of open chapels in August in different parts of the city. We went to a very small chapel in Canuelos which houses a small branch. There are only a few active priesthood holders, the chapel just has a couple of long benches in a room that serves both as a chapel and a gathering place, maybe the size of a relief society room in the states. The branch president said that branch presidents generally serve about 10 years here, due, in part to the difficulty in finding good, involved priesthood brethren. The event really went well, with good attendance and several tours.
We continue to have great experiences with things that seem to come together, members who come up with answers to problems other members are having, etc. One of the mission president’s wives asked me “Tell me one thing that you have learned on your mission”. Didn’t take but a second to respond that I’ve learned that the spirit really will talk to you and give you impressions if you are trying to do better, fulfill a calling or trying to help your family. I’ve learned that it is important to write them down when you feel them if it doesn’t call for immediate action, because going back and reading over them reminds you of things that you need to do and reinforces the things that you should be doing.

We have a powerful testimony of the truth of the gospel, that Christ lives and knows and loves each of us.
Thank you, all of you, for your love and support. We couldn’t do it without it.
Love you all,
Abrazos,
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Elder y Hermana Dalby