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.