We have now been home about four weeks from our wonderful adventure in Santiago Chile serving in the Chile Santiago East Mission.  It has been a difficult transition for us and I have struggled with the reason of our release.  We were sent home after the mission Doctors reviewed MRI scans of my knee injury that I sustained in the mission.  They felt that it was sufficiently damaged as to need surgery.  Surgery in Chile would have been very difficult in our circumstances in Santiago.  So we left with the understanding that the damage was grave and I needed surgery.  However, as we visited the Doctors here in Houston we found out that the pain I was having in the knee was not due to injury but my Rheumatoid Arthritis. This increased my frustration with the release, but as we have been home for almost a month, I realize that there are immediate needs for us at home.  I know that the Lord knows us and where we are most needed and will do what He needs to do to put us where we are needed.   We left the Self-reliance center in the hands of the Los Condes Stake.  The center was functioning and giving service to several individuals and groups on a daily basis. 

 We have heard from our friends in Santiago that the Center is open and still functioning very well without us.  This news makes us very happy and a bit more satisfied that all we accomplished in setting up the center, has not gone in vain.  We knew that the members in the Stake were capable and that there were those who could be called that would function even better then us.  We are grateful for those who have accepted the call to serve in the center. 
We left there unsettled but now are much more settled and our testimonies have been strengthened as to the ways of the Lord.  I know now that the Lord is in charge and that we fulfilled our mission in Chile. 

 There are three men who helped to make our stay  so delightful that is would like to remember in this blog.  In our apartment building we had a door man who was in charge of taking care of maintenance issues in the building and who  stood as security for our  building 24 hours a day every day of the week.  Alejandro was the head doorman and was always so helpful.

He would greet us every morning wish us a Buenos dias and ask if everything was ok.  While is was in a wheel chair he would assist us in getting to our apartment and to the where ever we needed help.  That however only lasted a couple of days.  As we would come in with groceries he would open doors for us and was  so delightful.

Guillermo who was the afternoon doorman was always happy and talkative.  He would bring us up to date on all of the news for the day.  If there was anything from the US that was in the international news he would make sure we got the information.  He was especially worried about the state of our federal government officials and would ask us why they were doing what they did. 

The day we moved into the apartment I was telling him who we were and what we were in Chile for.  I and Alexis, who was the Maintenance Technician from the real-estate department, offered him a Book of Mormon.  He accepted it and was reading it.  On many occasions he would ask questions and we would have a discussion about the things he was reading.  He especially enjoyed reading the sermon of King Benjamin. 

Jose worked every night and when we came in late he would great us and offer any assistance.  We found out after we had been in the apartment for about a month that he was an less active member.  He asked if we could get him a copy of the Book of Mormon as well, which we did and had many great gospel discussions with him.  He would always great us as "Mis hermanos en la fe".  Before we left he informed me that after knowing us and having our discussions on the Book of Mormon he decided to go back to church and take his family with him.  He thanked us for encouraging him to return and said that they were accepted into the ward even though they had not attended for almost 15 years.  I was grateful to have known these men and felt their goodness.

Left to Right: Sister Sally Goulding, Sister Chris Ellis, Elder Holtkamp, Elder Johnson, Sister Johnson, Sister Olson, Elder Olson, Sister Holtkamp and Elder Rob Goulding (standing) Elder Ellis is taking the picture.

 
This picture is of our really good friends and fellow Senior missionaries who worked in different capacities in the Church office building.  They comprised our district and we had so much fun and many inspiring times together.  Of this group only the Gouldings and the Olsons remain in the mission. 

As were are now just member missionaries we have fond memories of our time in Santiago.  We were able to serve many young people with their Education Loans from the PEF and many more of the Lord's sons and daughters directly and indirectly through the programs of the self reliance. I believe I am finally at piece with the return home and the termination of our mission.  We have found that there are family members who need our assistance at critical times in their lives and many other opportunities to serve here at home. 

Two of our Granddaughters arrived unexpectedly from Utah to spend the summer with us.  It is a rare treat for us in that we have not had a lot of opportunity to know them.

Sidney and Samantha are our oldest son's two oldest children and we are enjoying them.  I think they get a little bored with us and are really happy to visit their cousins who live in Texas.  They are beautiful and helpful most of the time.  We are having a challenge just figuring out activities to keep them busy during the summer while they are here. 

We also had a great surprise from our youngest Son Jacob.  He is currently serving in the Army and came home on a weekend leave to visit his dear wife and surprise us with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, India's.  It was a treat to have lunch and then return to their apartment and visit for a while. 

We met them first at the  airport and then to subway for a short visit before we headed to Round Rock to take the girls to visit Chalice and her family for the weekend.

We are so grateful to all of our friends in the mission and here at home who have supported us while we were away. 
We a grateful to the Lord for allowing us the opportunity to served in Chile.

This is the end of the final week of our Chilean Mission.  We received the decision on last Tuesday (April 21st) that the missionary department sent word that I needed to return home to Texas and have my knee operation to repair the damage.  It appears at this point that i am looking at another knee replacement.  I am not looking forward to that but i do need to get it done so i can go on to serve in another assignment.  It was probably the hardest thing we had to do when we left Santiago and the people we had grown to love so much.  We learned so much from them that it is hard to think about just one experience that is the most outstanding.  

I have asked myself over and over what purpose did we serve in our short time in Santiago.  I know that we were able to touch many people and help many.  We were able to see many young people qualify and apply to the Perpetual Education Fund for student loans.  We were able through the workshops to qualify for the loans to help them see the great role that the Savior plays in their lives each and every day as they traverse the pathways of this life.  I have seen weak testimonies strengthen and become solid, making the individuals who bore them strong servants with desires to study and become self reliant.  We have seen stronger testimonies become even stronger and the commitment to the Lord even greater then before.  We are so grateful that we were able to go and serve.  We pray that the Center will continue to be a place of assistance to those who seek to become self-reliant and strong in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our mission family of the Senior missionaries are missed so much and we think of them every day.  I miss the trips to the faria to purchase the fresh produce that we loved so much.  We miss so much, and are so grateful to those wonderful loving friends that we left behind.  I pray we can stay close for we would really hate to lose contact with them.  

We were scheduled to leave Santiago on Friday the 24th of April but the day before we had a volcano erupt blowing huge volumes of smoke and ash into the atmosphere.  The airport suspended all flights into and out of Santiago.  We were then rescheduled to fly out on Sunday the 26th at 8:30 PM. However, because of all the cancelled flights and the fact that the flight crews who flew in on Sunday morning were the only crew available to fly out as well but needed to have a certain number of hours rest before they could make the return flight.  Our flight was delayed until 2:45 AM on Monday morning.  Thus we had to reschedule the connecting flight from Atlanta to Houston.  But, after 36 hours of airports, waiting, and flying all night we arrived in Houston at 4:30 Monday night.  It made for a tiring day.  

On our trip home i was worried about the logistics of traveling with a lame leg.  I never realized how fast and easy it all is for those who travel be wheel chair.  There is someone there to take you everywhere.  They help with the luggage, take to the front of the line, put you on the plane first and take care of you all the way to the baggage claim.  I told Chris if we travel international again it is her turn to have the injury so we can get the royal treatment.  Seriously, i am so grateful for all of the help that we had coming home.  We really were treated well by all of the people from the airport personnel and the staff of Delta Airlines.  

It is good to be home in Houston, sleeping in our own bed and staring at our own walls, but i need to find something to do quickly before i go crazy.  So we are hoping for the surgery to come and get over soon.  So we can start doing other things.

I am looking forward to seeing our friends in Houston so any who read this and want to contact us, we have new phone numbers.  Chris 281-733-7944 and Randy 281-733-6013.  Feel free to give us a call.