DONATIONS
In our calling as humanitarian missionaries we have the privilege of connecting people. For instance, this week a bishops storehouse called to say that they had lentils that were getting close to their expiration date. We connected them to the Salvation Army who gladly picked them up for their soup kitchen. One of the mission offices had a used washing machine to donate. We noticed that a bomberos station (fire station) we visited did not have one. Viola! The physical facilities department emailed to say they had furniture to donate which the Salvation Army received with gratitude and will use in their schools.
And then there is the miracle of the bicycles – This week twenty bicycles were picked up at the North mission office in Santiago and delivered to the Haulpen Adult School, over 300 miles away.
Bicycle miracle recap from March 6 post: A senior missionary at one of the mission offices in Santiago called us in early March to tell us that their young missionaries will no longer be riding bikes. They will be walking or using public transportation. This means they have bikes available for donation. They asked if we might know where we could donate them. Frankly, I (Sister Lamb) felt annoyed. I feel so overwhelmed at times with all our responsibilities, I didn’t feel it was our job to find a home for these bikes. We talked about it, reviewed all our projects (hospitals, clinics, assisted living homes…we thought -maybe our children’s home but no, these are adult bikes) and told him none of our projects put us in contact with people who needed bikes. My kind husband told him we would do some research and I rolled my eyes because trust me he does not have time to do bicycle research. With a less than ideal attitude, I asked Heavenly Father to guide us to people who could use bicycles if He wanted us to find a home for them and crossed it off our list of things to do. Fast forward two days where we were sitting in a meeting with the faculty of a school for adults. They shared that transportation for their students is an issue. Ding ding ding…we looked at each other. And so, the bicycles found a home in less than 48 hours.
We no longer see these requests as irritating. Instead, it has become a joyful part of our service. As we are out and about, we try to be “quick to observe” (Mormon 1:2) to match needs with resources. It feels like a privilege to be the connectors. During the last three months, the kind senior missionaries at the Santiago North Mission office gave each bike a tune-up, complete with replaced innertubes, and this week they were delivered!
DIGGING FOR DEALS & MOVING FORWARD
One of our quests this week was to purchase an industrial refrigerator for our homeless shelter project. Let us describe the process: online research to find a vendor, drive one hour to the outskirts of Santiago to the warehouse, cross two gates/checkpoints where we are asked COVID questions, have our temperature taken, and required to show our passports. We are issued an ID card on a lanyard and then attempt to find a place to park. We enter the warehouse, find a similar fridge that they have in stock, wait while a lot of paperwork is completed, say a silent prayer that our credit card will work (because for various reasons it randomly does not), and 45 minutes later exit the building. As we leave the compound the trunk of our vehicle is opened, and our car is checked (like a checkpoint to enter or exit a military base). One item purchased, five more to go! We drove on to the next factory/warehouse to purchase a wood stove for our project with the indigenous people only to find out that they only sell online. Back to the office to begin that process which involves simultaneously being on the phone with the credit card company and vendor while each individual purchase is made so they can push the charge through. Sometimes it feels like we are walking through tar.
We have been studying the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The parallel to our lives this week was unmistakable. The children of Israel had to step into the river Jordan and get their feet wet before the river miraculously parted. We feel the same way every day. So much of what we do requires waiting for someone to follow through: our buyer to price items, a stake president to coordinate the ceremony date, an organization to get us the solicitude and details required for a humanitarian project, a communications director to send pictures of the service project for our report, a financial person to up our credit card limit, etc.! If we waited for them, we would be paralyzed and never get anything done. So, we have learned to move forward in faith and watch the miracles unfold. For instance, we had asked for an increase in our credit card limit to purchase items for two of our projects. A week later we still did not have approval. We had an appointment for a prospective project close to the warehouse where we needed to purchase the fridge, so we got in the car and started driving. The approval email came as we drove to the warehouse. This happens to us every week. Elder Bednar says, “Like the Children of Israel who carried the ark of the covenant into the river Jordan, knowing the waters would part, we must press forward with fortitude, courage, and the expectation that miracles will follow. If we exercise faith to press forward then in the Lord’s way and according to His timing, the water will part.”
DATES ON ZOOM
We had several Zoom calls this week. We feel so thankful for technology that connects people from three different countries in seconds. We are trying to understand the daunting details to get a waiver from paying custom fees for our wheelchair donation. We have also been in contact with the Benson Institute to research the best way to preserve seeds – a follow-up to last year’s donation of seeds to the Mapuche people.
DROPPING BY & AH-HA MOMENTS
We made a visit to the Santiago suburb of San Ramon to discuss a possible project with their health clinic. Every CESFAM we meet with asks for the same three items: autoclaves, clinical refrigerators for vaccine storage, and mobile clinics. The first two items are in short supply and high demand and take at least five months to import. The mobile clinics are out of our price range. But we had an ah-ha moment at this visit. We were in the parking lot and saw their mobile dental clinic – a trailer that has been outfitted into a dental space. We have seen several of these, but nothing clicked until this week. The requests we have received for mobile clinics have been for trucks. As we looked at this trailer the thought came into our minds – could a trailer be outfitted into a mammography unit? It felt like inspiration – like President Hinckley’s small temple revelation – taking the temple (or the health care) to the people, which is only possible if smaller, less costly options are explored. We shall see where this idea leads. We would like to develop a country-wide project surrounding mobile clinics.
DAMPNESS
We had a wonderful day of rain in Santiago. That clears out the smog for a few hours and we can see the snowcapped Andes mountains from our apartment window. Even though the temperature is not that cold, it feels COLD because of the humidity. We move our little space heaters around the apartment with us. As I (Sister Lamb) moved it to the bathroom door this week, I had a flashback to the house I grew up in on Aldea Ave. in Northridge California. We had central heating but no vents in the bathrooms. We had a built-in wall heater in the main bathroom. And so, for a moment I was transported to my childhood. We also discovered this week that we cannot have the space heater, the iron, and the vacuum on simultaneously or the breakers flip. I can have the heater on when I straighten my hair but not when I blow dry it.
DINNERS
We look forward to our weekly temple trips and enjoy our Friday dinner dates with Élder and Sister Lindquist.
We had Matrimonio Ruiz at our home for dinner. They just arrived in Santiago from Mexico City. Élder Ruiz is a physician and serves as the medical advisor for missionaries in Chile. This is their seventh mission.
A year from now we will be on our way home. We are halfway through our mission! Sometimes that feels like an eternity when thinking about how long it will be before we see children and grandchildren again, and sometimes it feels like a very short time to accomplish all we want and need to before we leave.
Abrazos, Élder y Hermana Lamb, (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 