Merry Christmas from Santiago Chile.

We are happy for Christmas to come around once more with the spirit of kindness and love that it brings.  We wish all of our family and friends a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

This year has been a very good year with lots of excitement, miracles, change, and blessings.  We are in a different environment this Christmas than last years' experience in cold Omaha,Nebraska.  As we visit the malls and shopping centers here in Santiago the holiday fashion is swim suits and beach wear.  Summer is just around the corner except today it did not seem to be, it was cool and rainy this morning.  The weather is wonderful with fresh breezy mornings and warm sun very much like California in the Summer. 

Our children are doing well and seem to be blessed each day.  They are doing fine without us, maybe because we are able to talk most weeks with one or all of them with our Skype phone.  We also are able to talk to our parents and family.  So it doesn't even seem like we are gone to them, for the most part. 

We had a blessed time with Tanya and her family although scary at times, last year.  We got very close to our grandson Nathan, as his caretaker while his mom was recovering from leukemia.  It was hard to leave them and go home, but the Doctor said she needed to get on with life and take care of her own family.  Tanya and Nate are doing fine this year.   Nate is busy with his residency in psychiatry and Tanya is busy being a great mom.  Nathan, is a fabulous two year old (no prejudice on our part). Nate was called to be a counselor in the Bishopric.  With the miracles in their family, I guess it's payback time. 

Jake and Liangzi graduated from BYU-Idaho in April, Liangzi in tax accounting and Jacob in sociology (criminal justice) with a minor in Mandarin.  After a few days in Houston, they flew to China for six weeks.  Jacob taught English in a private school for four weeks.  He enjoyed the kids and they brought him little gifts to show their appreciation.  When they came home Jacob started working as a security guard.  He investigated joining the service and finally decided on the Army.  He is in basic training right now, but should graduate the first of February.  He has two weeks off for the holidays right now.  After he finishes basic, he will enter specialized training at Fort Benning, Georgia.  He should finish the end of May 2015.   Liangzi is working as the head accountant for a start up company that specializes in compounding drugs for doctors.  She likes her job and is very good at what she does.  She created a program to simplify the accounting for them and to make her job easier.   She is living in our home in Houston, we are so blessed to have her.

Mandy and Jason sold their home in August and moved into a one bedroom apartment at his Father's house.  They have a new home under contract that should be finished the first part of May 2015.  They have all sacrificed to make this dream come true.  Jason recently changed to the day shift at his work.  So things are good for their family.  They are planning on moving into our house after Christmas for a few months until their house is done.  We won't know where they live when we do get home to the States.  They aren't moving too far away though, the kids will still be in the same ward and schools.  Rian is excelling in music, and Ray and Reese are doing well in sports.  We are so proud of them.  They are great kids. 
 

Chalice and Jhonny have been improving their home this past year.  They have painted, replaced the fence, built a large dining room table and turned their family room into a home theatre area.  Last year Ammon was about six months behind in his physical development.  He has caught up this year, but is still behind in his language skills.  But the doctor found that his ear was plugged and was able to drain the fluid.  He should start picking up more words now that he can actually hear them.  Last fall Chalice and Jhonny got an exchange student from Denmark.    Sally moved into the family at the beginning of the school year.  She rooms with Jessica.  She fits right in and is a big help to Chalice.  Jessica is first chair in her choir class.  She has a very nice voice.  Lily is in soccer, and Gavin tried football.  Chalice is the girl scout leader for Lily's age.  As you can see, they keep very busy.

Ginger and Eric in (Grants Pass, Oregon) bought a home this year.  They were so excited to finally have a place of their own.  The home needed some work and Ginger worked hard getting walls painted and wallpaper removed.    They are adjusting to being home owners and watching their paycheck go to house payments and bills.  But they are loving it and the boys seem to like having their own space where they can be boys.  Ginger is working in a job that she really likes. She works with businesses and students helping them find opportunities for employment.  Kind of what we do as missionaries.  Weston is in school full time this year.  Rigby is growing up fast as well.  They are both active in sports.  Erik is coaching Rigby's basketball team.  How great is that. 

Spencer and Shelly are in Provo, Utah.  Spence travels to all the football games and is gone a lot for work but finds time to spend with his girls.  They are busy with sports, school, and also an exchange student from Korea.

So as you can see they are doing great and really are doing fine without us around which is a good thing and allows us this time to serve in Chile.  We are finding many of the Christmas traditions a bit different here.  Most Chileans stay up most of the night on Christmas Eve and open presents from Father Noel at midnight.  They then party until two in the morning. They sleep most of the day on Christmas.  They do not have a big dinner  but eat snacks and candy on Christmas.  The kids just got out of school for the summer down here. I was thinking, they get school graduation and Christmas all at the same time.  The U.S. kids get Christmas and then 5 months later school is out.  My Spanish teacher told me they do get a two week break during their winter (our summer time).  As you can imagine, the malls are packed and the traffic is crazy.  This year doesn't exactly feel like Christmas because the weather is so nice.  We are enjoying the season with a little less stress.  We bought a few small gifts for the other missionaries and some folks that really helped us get settled into our apartment. We have a small Christmas tree that was left here from other missionaries.  We have some other decorations, but not anything like we did in Houston.     We are excited to Skype with the kids on Christmas.  We miss them very much, especially around the holidays.  We are invited to a gathering Christmas Eve, and a dinner on Christmas.  We will be among friends, so don't worry about us. 

The missionary work is starting to pick up.  We are teaching self reliant classes every week.  They are going well.  We have been called to work in the Temple baptistery Tuesday nights from 6-8.  We hope you are all doing well.  We look forward to a fulfilling year in 2015.

 Life is good and we are happy.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Sunday Dec 14,2014

We have had a real nice week this week.  The members of the church are really getting into the Christmas Spirit which is truly a Christmas in July.  We had the great opportunity to have a Seminar with the returning missionaries of the Chile Santiago North mission. There were 17 young missionaries returning home on Monday.  They had a seminar of how to be self-reliant when they get home and those who were returning to countries of poverty how to get into the classes to tap into the resources of PEF. 

The missionaries are so amazing and so fun.  They tried really hard to get as much as we could pour into them in two hours.  I could tell, they are very nervous about returning home.  Yet, they are excited as well.  Each of the missionary groups we have met with are just the cream of the crop.  They have had some amazing experiences and worked so hard to be successful.  It is easy to see if they will but continue the great habits they have formed in the mission they will be successful and be leaders in the church and community when they return home.

On Wednesday we were pleased to meet with Cleber Oliviera, who is from Brazil.  He came to Chile like so many other Brazilians looking for a better life.  He said it is really hard in Brazil to find work because of the socialists who have taken over much of the country.  He is a recent convert of about a year and went through the Temple on Tuesday to take out his endowments.  On Wed. he came to be trained in how to be a mentor and facilitator for the Group seminars.  He has 6-7 Brazilian friends like him that have moved here from Brazil to find work.  He has invited them to come to the SRC (Self Reliant Center) to go through the seminars to help them become self-reliant and teach them job search skills to find work and support themselves in Chile.  None of the Six are members of the Church but are coming at his invitation.  I told Cleber that a lot of what we teach is to rely on the Lord for direction and guidance.  He said "I know, that is why I have invited them, so they can feel the spirit as I have felt it."  He is amazing but,I feel a bit inadequate and pray that I can hold up my end of the deal.

We also had a wonderful luncheon and Devotional where President Alder, the Temple President, and Elder Vinas spoke to us and gave powerful insight on the Birth of the Savior.  On Friday the members of the church performed a  a wonderful Christmas pageant on the Temple Grounds.  It is quite and extravaganza and very professionally done. There is a parking lot that was turned into a Stage and seating for this concert.  There was a youth choir and vocalists from Chile and the US.  A sister from Phoenix who's first name is Venessa, I do not know her last name, and Mark Goldstien who is a Jewish convert to the Church, performed about an hour concert that was just wonderful.  The crowd was tremendous for all three productions.  We went down there tonight and there has to be over a 2,000 people in attendance.  The whole property is full of people. 

Some of the dancers from the pageant

Some of the many nativities on display.

I am compelled to relate a miracle that has happened here with one of the Senior missionaries, Elder Irvel Mortensen.
Four weeks ago today, woke up at about 7:30 AM with a shortness of breath and some paralysis in his left side.  Fearing a stroke he called Elder Johnson who is the Mission Doctor who went straight over to his apartment.  It just so happened that Dr. Johnson had a wheel chair and after giving Elder Mortensen a Blessing wheeled him to his car and drove him to the hospital.  It so happens that John Hopkins has just built a new hospital in Santiago which has all of the latest a greatest.  When they arrived at the emergency room he was diagnosed almost immediately with an aorta aneurysm. That is it's self is a miracle. Within a half an hour he was in surgery with the best heart surgeon in South America.  When he was opened up he saw that Elder Mortenson main aorta was leaking blood from his heart to his pelvis.  When he saw the issue he said he had no idea what to do.  He said every patient that he has seen with anything close to this was dead before he even diagnosed them.  He was about to give up when in his mind he was directed to do something he has never seen, or even performed on any patient before.  He continued not knowing the next step until he got to it and continued to put in a whole new plumbing for the blood flow to the lower extremities. When he finished he said that the whole experience was a miracle, that there had to be some divine intervention.  He was not expected to live through the night but here four weeks later he is alive alert and they are saying he will be able to go to his apartment before Christmas.  What a miracle. 

He needed a lot of blood and had at least one complete transfusions and several partials.  Many of the missionaries donated blood and all of the employees who were able went down to donate blood.  When he awoke from the coma he was told he sure has a lot of brothers and family here in Chile.  Missionaries from three different missions donated blood.  What an experience to witness as to the power of the priesthood in the life of a missionary of the Lord.  I could not donate because I am to old, WOW, but Chris was able and donated.

We love Chile and are starting to see some real success in the work that we are doing here.  It can only get better.

What a life to be grateful for, and what an opportunity to serve our father's children in Chile.

I have tried to think about what to write this week and have decided that a it might be ok to insert our talks from last week only in English.  I know there are some who would enjoy the Spanish version but the majority of those who would read this blog would not be able to understand it.  If you would like a Spanish copy just send me and email at: ellisrm26@gmail.com.

 

Many years ago when I worked on a ranch, I had a cow dog who’s whole life was to herd cows and do what I asked her to do.  I would send her out into the field to bring in the cows from the pasture.  As she ran out into the field she would look back so that I could guide her with my hand signals as to which cow I wanted her to bring in.  Thus with direction from me she would cut out the cow that I wanted and bring her into the corral.  As we were herding cows out into the field she would run ahead and keep the cows bunched so that they would not stray.  She knew her job well, but would always look back to make sure she was taking them in the right direction.  I loved that dog and she loved me.  She would go everywhere with me, to town, to neighbors, and would be very sad when she had to stay home when we went to church. 

After years of service and showing great skills and training I went to a cattle auction to sell some calves.  Of course my dog went with me and while there she helped pen the cattle and herd some cattle into their pens.  She loved to do her job.  At the end of the sale I had to stop at a grocery store for some purchases for our family.  When I returned to my truck my dog was gone.  I never knew what happened to her and I looked and looked everywhere for her but she was lost.  For months I mourned the loss of my dog because I loved her so much.

Now, why do I tell this story to you?  There are three principles that I would like to point out from this story.

1.   We are children of our Heavenly Father and his love is great for us.  We cannot comprehend his great love.  As I loved my dog and loved to be with her.  God loves us and wants us to stay close to Him always.  He does not want us to stray away and be lost.

2.   We must work to be happy.  As my dog was happiest when she was working cows and making her own way by providing an important work, work that she really enjoyed and was good at.  We must find a useful job that we can really enjoy but will provide for us and our families a good living so that we can be happy and have enough and to spare. 

3.   We must always seek direction from our Master as we work, play, and serve in this life.  As my dog would always look back to me for direction we must always look to our Savior for direction through the perils of this life.  If we do not look to Him we could become lost and find ourselves as lost and fallen souls living this life without any direction or spiritual goals.  I see many dogs laying in the streets of Santiago that are dependent on the good will of others to survive.  This also happens to good people who once had purpose and direction but have become dependent on others for their sustenance.  These people have become lost without joy or happiness in their lives.

Elder David Bednar of the 12 Apostles came to our stake conference in Houston Texas a few years ago.  He spoke to us very bluntly and directly that the Lord is not happy with us when we are dependent on anyone, anything, or any organization for our support.  Being dependent is the same as being a slave or in other word an addict.  We become addicted to laziness, substances, bad behavior, debt, or living off from the work of others.  The Lord has told us:

D & C 42:42

“Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer.”

We are to act and not be acted upon. 

2 Nephi 2:26

“And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.  And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.”

When we are acting for ourselves we, are self-reliant.  But when we are not we are slaves and not free to progress spiritually or temporally.

The new initiative of self-reliance has been given to us through revelation.  It is a guide that can help us throughout our lives in becoming and maintaining self-reliance.  Two weeks ago we held a seminar for the missionaries returning to there homes.  After completing 18 months to 2 years of serving the Lord they were faced with the realities of life.  They were going home to determine the direction of their futures.  Many had desires to attend the university and pursue studies that would help them in their lives to deal with the reality of supporting families and to better themselves for service both temporally and spiritually.   Some had a plan, others did not know what they were going to do when they returned home. 

The seminar we gave to them was called “My Path to Self-reliance”.  In this manual they were able to get an idea of what life will be like and make a plan on how to be self-reliant.  They could see what it would cost to live on their own and what they would need to earn enough to be comfortable and have all that they needed.  It was a revelation so some of them, something that they had not ever considered previously. 

Next we discussed what their experience was and how it could be applied to providing for their needs.  We discussed their strengths and how to present those strengths to a prospective employer to gain employment. 

At the end of the seminar they must choose what they will do to become self-reliant from three choices.  They would join a group to learn on of three paths to self-reliance.  Those choices are:

1-  Starting and Growing My Business, Where the group members learn how to create or improve a functioning business.

2-  My Job Search, Where the group members identify good job opportunities and practice networking, presenting themselves powerfully, preparing for interview questions, and excelling on the job.

3-  Education for Better Work, where group members identify a preferred job of skills that will help them become self-reliant, and how they will obtain that education.

At the end of the seminar we discuss the importance of maintaining a working relationship with our Father in Heaven.  Why it is important to continually look to Him for direction and guidance.

Brothers and sisters it is the desire of the first presidency of the church that every member of the church participates in the seminars of self-reliance and that they teach those principles to their children.  Our area presidency two weeks ago told us that it is also their desire that the church in Chile becomes self-reliant and not dependent on others to support the activities of the church.  That means that all of our missionaries from Chile are funded by Chile, all our buildings in Chile are maintained by the members of the church, and all of the operations of the church are performed and funded by the members of the Church in Chile.  That will probably take several years but it can and will happen.  Their vision is that Chile begins to help others and serve others.

Our Lord and Savior would have us be agents unto ourselves serving the Lord and our fellow man.  He would have us be self-reliant that we would have enough and more to build the Kingdom of God on the Earth. 

I know this is true and testify of it to you.

In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Chris's talk

I would like to tell you a story entitled Cast Thy Bread upon the Waters

Ecclesiastes 11:1

“Cast thy bread upon the waters:  for thou shalt find it after many days”

Milk Day
Among the many wonderful people we met when we lived in a small town in Utah years ago was a family named Williams.  They were a good family of strong faith and testimony.  But Brother and Sister Williams had five small children and struggled to make ends meet.  Then Brother Williams’ back was broken in an automobile accident and he was hospitalized for several weeks.

As counselor in our ward Relief Society presidency, I went with our president to visit Sister Williams and her young family.  What a blessing the Church welfare program is at a time like this!  As our president explained how the program worked, Sister Williams was relieved of many anxieties.
When I arrived home, I couldn’t get the plight of this young mother out of my mind.  I could identify with her because we had six young children at home, and they really kept me busy.  I kept wondering what I personally could do for her.  My thoughts went to milk.  I was sure her family drank milk by the gallons, as mine did, and we had found a dairy that sold milk cheaper than the stores or home delivery.  I called Sister Williams about it, and she told me she got her milk there too, so I arranged to get hers when I went for mine.  When I went to pick up her cans, she had them and the money ready for me, but I told her I would like to buy her milk that day.  She resisted, but finally relented.

I went back a couple of days later to get her cans again, but she was hesitant—she didn’t have any money.  I told her not to worry, that I wanted to buy the milk for her.

I went back a couple of days later to get her cans again, but she was hesitant—she didn’t have any money.  I told her not to worry, that I wanted to buy the milk for her.  This arrangement went on for several weeks, until I began to feel the strain on my own budget and found myself borrowing money from my children.

But just as I decided I would have to tell Sister Williams that I could no longer buy her milk, I noticed that every “milk day” some little miracle would happen.  I remember one day there simply was no extra money and I was ready to reach for the phone when I was prompted to go to the mailbox first.  I did; and there was a little check-just enough for the milk-for some jury duty I had performed earlier in the year.  I continued to buy milk.

One evening several weeks later Brother Williams was released from the hospital.  He was in a brace, but he insisted on coming by our home to thank us personally for buying their milk.  However, their compensation checks were coming in now, and everything was going to be all right for them.

After they left, I leaned against the door and silently thanked the Lord that I had never told Sister Williams I couldn’t get her milk.  Still, that very day I had only had enough money to buy their milk, but not ours; and our littlest, Chuck, would be awake at six o’clock next morning, wanting a drink.

The very next morning, before Chuck was even awake, there came a knock on our door.  On the step stood a young man from our ward holding two big jugs of milk.  He said, “Sister Cutler, I understand you have a big family.  For some reason or other our cow has started giving more milk than we can use, and we just hate pouring it down the sink.  Would you be insulted if I dropped it off here each morning on my way to work?”  I couldn’t believe it!  Immediately, into my mind flashed a saying I had heard my mother quote often when I was a little girl:  “Cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it will return-buttered”  (Ecclesiastes 11:1)  By the time that cow got back to normal production, we had received two or three times more milk than we had ever given away.  Ensign, June 1981

 In I Nephi 7:12 it says Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him?  Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

We receive no blessing until after the trial of our faith, and we are blessed for our obedience.

I have been called on a self-reliance mission which includes the Perpetual Education Fund.  The first principle of this program is faith in the Lord.  The Lord loves all of his children.  He wants them to be self- reliant able to provide for themselves and their families.

I hope many of you will take advantage of the new program. 

I have a testimony that God answers prayers.  When we keep the commandments, he blesses us with the things we need.   I am thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am thankful  that we have a prophet and apostles to guide us in these latter days.  

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen 

It is thanksgiving day 2014 in Chile.  It is a day with business as usual but would you know I received a notice of "Black Friday" sales starting tomorrow at the mall.  They do not celebrate thanksgiving here but they have the American Christmas Spirit with the major stores blowing up the marketing for the Holidays.  The tradition it seems is to finish most of the shopping before this Friday instead of starting.  It will be interesting to see how they do the Christmas holidays here in Santiago.  I wonder if the celebration is the same in the rural area where there is not as much commercialism. 

Tuesday we decided to put the Christmas tree up.  I caught Chris doing her artistic work on the first section making it look like a tree.  I must say it turned out pretty good.  I know we jumped the gun but my bearings are a bit off because of the lack of Thanksgiving.  Black Friday is the day I decorate and this year it looks like this is it.  They are putting up the lights on the Temple and Office grounds so when they light it up I think it will be impressive.  Not like Salt Lake but impressive. 

We hope all of our family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to get closer and feel the love of family, friends and neighbors.

As I was going to bed last night I looked out our window and decided to take a picture.  We have no curtains yet and I thought is might be interesting to show the sight from our window.  We are getting curtains tomorrow so the view will be gone behind the privacy of curtains. 

The weather has been so pleasant in Santiago and the city streets are alive after 8:30 pm with families out walking their dogs and children around in the night air.  They stay up late here because most of the people do not return home from work until after 7 or 8 in the evening, so they stay up till midnight. 

It is interesting to watch the people going to work in the morning.  There are two ways for us to walk to the office one way which is very pleasant but we have two busy streets to cross without lights and that is perilous.  The other is congested with pedestrians and bikes.  There is a bike road along side of the sidewalk and it is almost as congested as the streets.  If we are not careful an anxious cyclist will cut over into the pedestrian walk and weave through the crowd.  So it is a choice of which peril to choose bikes or cars.  The bikes usually seem less perilous so that is the way we usually take.
 
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to spend about two hours with two brothers.  They came into the center wanting some direction on how they could become self-reliant enough to move out of their mother's home and start their own families.  One was in his mid twenties the other close to thirty.  Their names are Mauricio and Elias.  Mauricio joined the church about three weeks ago and the missionaries told him about the center  for self-reliance.  I went through the seminar with them and in that they were the only two in the group of which we try to have five or more in a group.  So they did all of the exercises with each other.  Mauricio gave the opening prayer and they both went through the plan together.  As we were going through the exercises Elias said, "I see why God is so important in our lives and why we should give him our reverence".   At the end of the lesson they are to choose which path they want to pursue, 1- find a better job, 2- create and build a business, 3- or education for better employment.  Mauricio is a baker and makes really good bread while Elias likes to work with steel and weld.  Mauricio wants to start a bakery, of which there a many here, but realizes that he needs to save some money to start his business.  So they decided to join a group to find better employment.  They were excited at the end of the lesson to go find people who were working in the fields they were interested in and talk to them to find out what they need to do to become successful in that work.  They had real hope and direction and a plan when they left.  They each had chosen mentors from people that they know and headed out the door with purpose. 

To me if we have purpose and direction in our life we can overcome many obstacles and attain much success.  Elias told me as he left he was going to church with Mauricio so he could talk to the missionaries because he could feel the spirit while we were talking about the importance of God in our lives.

It has been three days since I started this post so much has happened in the last three days.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the other senior missionaries who work in the church office building.  We all brought part of the meal and it really gave me a sense of the holiday spirit.  Chris made her wonderful dinner rolls, fruit salad and banana cream pie.  We do miss our family but know that they are all well and moving forward. 

I really got the CHRISTMAS spirit last evening when Elder and Sister Goulding called us up with the news they had an extra Christmas tree in their Bodega and gave it to us.  I almost ran to pick it up and started the decoration.  I love to decorate for Christmas.  It is what puts me in the real spirit of the birth of the Savior.


This is our little tree but it has the makings of a bit better then a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and it works for us.  We hate to purchase a lot of decorations to leave behind but we may get a few more as the month progresses.

We are looking forward to a whole day of Skype with the children and grandchildren on Christmas so they better get ready cause we expect them to be available some time during the day to spend some time with us.

We also decorated a tree in the office to enliven the spirits.  It is much bigger and much prettier but we had a bigger budget to work with.  We still need to buy some adornments for the open house which is scheduled for the 12th of December. 

Chris and I were invited to speak in the Los Platanos Ward for Sacrament meeting today.  We have been working on our talks for  two weeks and finally delivered them today.  Our talks went great and many of the sisters came up to thank Sister Ellis for delivering her talk in Spanish and complimented her on her Spanish and her message.  She did great.  Our message was of course on self-reliance. 

Last night we traveled by bus in the rain to Saturday session of Stake Conference.  It took us about an hour to get there and we were all a bit wet when we finally arrived.  The theme was missionaries work and was very well done.  The end of the meeting was topped off by a beautiful musical choir number.  It was breathtaking and made my skin fill with goose bumps.  Truly it was amazing and worth the trip if for only the musical number.  We took the subway home which was faster and warmer. 

We are happy and healthy and enjoying our work as we get to know more and more of the people that we were called to work with.  

We hope ya'll had a happy Thanksgiving and feel the Christmas Spirit.

Today Monday the 1st of December 2014, we accompanied the other Senior Missionaries on an excursion.  We seem to have one of those once per month to see as much of Chile as we are able.  Today we rode a bus to a popular Ski resort, on the Chile side of the border with Argentina, called Portillo.

It is a popular place for international ski teams to train in the summer, because it is winter here.  At the base of the mountain is a blue, clear, cold lake.  It is called Largo de Inca.

 

 What makes it so stark is that there is no vegetation anywhere close to the Lake.  I suppose that is for two reasons.  One is that it is at such a high elevation it is above the vegetative line and the other because they get no rain in the summer.  It is rugged and has a rugged beauty. 

Chris looking at the lodge from the lake side

This is the switchback road coming up to the resort and a main road between Argentina and Chile.  29 switch backs.

We really enjoyed the trip and on the way home President Alder and I had a very interesting discussion on the birth of the Savior.

 

It was interesting as we read from the writings of Bruce McConkie from the Mortal Messiah.  God chose Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zacharias because of who they were in the pre-existence and had orchestrated their ancestry to be that of royalty and the blood line of David so that in reality Jesus Was the rightful heir to the throne of king of the Jews.  But the prophecies of Christ's birth really make your skin tingle as you read them again.  I love the Savior Jesus Christ and am eternally grateful for his sacrifice and atonement.