COANIQUEM
This week we visited COANIQUEM. This organization operates outpatient rehab facilities for burned children and treats 75,000 children each year in Chile. We visited the facility in Santiago to discuss a donation of equipment to their new site in Concepcion that will open next spring. They treat the whole child with a multidisciplinary approach. Included in the Santiago campus are a school, chapel, and apartments for out-of-town patients to stay in with a parent. There is a sewing center where individualized compression bandages are made for the children with a doll to match. Patients pay what they can.
CHILE SANTIAGO EAST MISSION
As humanitarian missionaries, we serve under the South American South Area Presidency located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Because we live in Chile, we are also assigned to the local mission in which we reside, the Chile Santiago East Mission. We were able to participate in a wonderful day with the young missionaries and President and Sister Bohn and their family to celebrate Christmas. The festivities began in the chapel with a spiritual thought from President Bohn. The missionaries spent the morning enjoying indoor and outdoor activities: basketball, ping pong, corn hole, making Christmas cards, wrapping copies of the Book of Mormon, decorating Christmas cookies, etc. Some brought musical instruments and there were impromptu concerts. Many just sat around catching up with an old companion. We noticed that one sister and elder spent the whole day together. In talking to them we found that they are cousins serving in the same mission. How fun is that! A food truck served yummy anticuchos (skewers) for lunch. The afternoon was filled with impromptu skits. Each zone drew a scripture story out of a bag and was challenged to put a Christmas twist to the story with a bag of props. These young missionaries were creative and had us laughing all afternoon. The day concluded with a spiritual discussion of the lessons in humility we can learn from those who were characters in the first Christmas story: Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds, and wise men. It was a very thought-provoking discussion.
CUMORAH CASABLANCA
One day we drove to Cumorah Casablanca, our church youth camp, to scope out where we will be supervising a youth service project assembling school kits for rural school children. Beginning mid-January, we will spend each Friday there for six consecutive weeks. Élder and Hermana Mora, the missionary couple that lives and serves at the camp, care for 1500 acres with multiple fruit trees. They are from southern Chile. They welcomed us into their home for a Christmas treat and an impromptu saxophone concert. They sent us home with lemons and a basil plant.
ALMACEN del OBISPO
We drove on to the Bishops Storehouse in Viña del Mar to check out a possible place to store these school kits until they are shipped across the county. A bishop’s storehouse is a place where those in need can go to obtain food and other supplies at the recommendation of their bishop. The storehouse is filled with commodities provided by tithing (members of our church donate 10% of our earnings to the church) and fast offerings (explained in previous post- members of our church abstain from two meals on the first Sunday of each month and donate the money we would have spent on those meals to care for those in need.) These supplies are also used during natural disasters or emergency situations. Those who receive assistance are asked to work for the help they receive in any way that they can.
CHILE VIÑA DEL MAR MISSION
Right next door to the Bishop’s Storehouse was the Viña Del Mar Mission office. We poked our heads in to tell them they are going to receive a great elder in January (our friend Elder Golding) and ended up taking the eight office elders to lunch. It was a delightful afternoon getting to know these capable young men who manage the finances, visa paperwork, housing, and everything else the mission needs to function smoothly.
CHRISTMAS EVE
On Friday we were glad to have a catch-up day in the office after all our travels. We were the only ones there as it was Christmas Eve. Elder and Sister Crockett (the office couple for our mission) invited us to their apartment for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. Their upstairs neighbors, Elder and Sister Gammon joined us. They have been in the country for a week and will be serving in the capacity of MLS missionaries (member, leader support) strengthening local church congregations. They are from Idaho Falls.
As we were leaving our Christmas Eve dinner at 9pm, Chileans were just arriving for theirs. Instead of waiting until Christmas morning, Chilean families gather to open their presents at midnight on Christmas Eve, or La Noche Buena (the Good Night). A traditional Christmas Eve dinner served at 9 or 10pm consists of turkey or chicken with sides of potatoes and vegetables or a traditional Chilean Asado (barbecue), always accompanied by pan de Pascua (Christmas Cake), like fruitcake except with a dry texture. After dinner, many families attend Christmas Eve Mass or Misa de Gallo (midnight mass) at their local church where traditional villancicos (Christmas carols) are sung. They return home to open presents from Papa Noel (Old Man Christmas). Because of the late night on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day is a day to relax with family and eat the leftovers from the night before. We saw Papa Noel all week in his red suit riding around town in the back of trucks or in fire engines. Each tree on our street is wrapped with lights. It makes for a stunning sight at night.
CHRISTMAS DAY
On Christmas morning we read the Christmas story in 3 Nephi, Matthew, and Luke. We watched Miracle on 34th Street and then “zoomed” with the kids while they opened their presents. They are all together in Louisiana at Josh’s home. That is the best gift of all, that they want to be together! We did something different this year and called it The Christmas of Giving. Since Christmas celebrates Christ’s birth, who is the ultimate giver of good gifts, and since we are focusing on service during our mission, we decided to donate gifts in their names as their Christmas gift from us. We thought carefully about each person and each donation and tried to find a cause that fits each of them, their personalities, passions, their season of life, or their professions. We hope they felt as much joy hearing about their donation as we had finding and giving them. The donations included vaccines, school uniforms so children could attend school, mother and newborn support kits, leadership training for adolescent girls, sets of library books for refugee camps, a lucky iron fish, funds for startup businesses, water filters, counseling for abuse victims, mango trees, sheep, honeybees, ducks, rabbits, and chickens to people in Kenya, Haiti, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and various other parts of the world. Along with the animals comes training and education on their care and business mentorship. Thanks to Elder and Sister Jones (missionaries who served in our ward when we lived in Corpus Christi, Texas) for this idea. We stayed on zoom with our children and grandchildren most of the day. They placed a computer on a bookshelf, and we were able to watch them enjoy each other’s company and chat with them all through the day.
It has been a week of wonderful Christmas celebrations with good food and good people. Didn’t we say the same thing last week!
As we watched some 80 plus young missionaries (ages 18 to 21) depart the chapel after the Christmas party, heading to the metro to disperse back to their areas, we were overcome with the feeling of how much Heavenly Father trusts each of us to do our job in our part of the vineyard. As we ate lunch with the elders in Viña del Mar, we marveled that these eight young men were running an office! What trust Father has in us and what opportunities He offers us all for growth.
We have been so impressed meeting so many missionaries, young and old during the last two weeks. They are serving in such a variety of capacities to move the Lord’s work forward. Their examples of love and devotion and cheerful service will be etched in our hearts forever!
Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!
With love, Elder y Hermana Lamb, (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 