An old Double mint Gum commercial used to say, “Double the pleasure, Double the fun, with Double mint gum.” All our adventures this week seemed to come in two’s.
2 CEREMONIES
Residencias de Acogida Transitoria
Under the Ministry of Social Development, the National Office of Family Religious Affairs promotes the temporary reception of migrant families who are living on the street into temporary housing and provides links with the social services available to immigrants. The ministry has reached out to local church leaders to ask for help in providing families with housing and food for two months while they work to obtain jobs and permanent housing.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints collaborated with Cuarta Iglesia Bautista de Santiago to provide help to a Venezuelan refugee family- a single mom and her four daughters. The Baptist church renovated a bathroom, added a shower, and offered a space to house the family on the grounds of their church. Congregation members donate food to them weekly. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provided a washing machine, stove, electric water pot, heater, and two sets of bunk beds. In two months when they move to permanent housing, another family will take their place.
CESFAM -Family Health Center Lampa
Lampa is number five on the list of impoverished suburb communes in the Santiago metropolitan region. Immigrants from Haiti, Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia have built shelters for themselves on the surrounding hillsides. These camps have no running water, sewer, or electricity and slide off the hills after big rainstorms. These immigrants have chosen to settle in Lampa because of the open land, a rarity in Santiago, thus the growth rate here is higher than the average for the rest of the country. These immigrants bring with them many health concerns including tetanus and tuberculosis.
In addition to the main clinic, there are five health posts. This CESFAM system is caring for 72,000 people, triple the number the facilities were built for. One fascinating thing about this campus is the inclusion of traditional Mapuche medicine. The physicians work with a Mapuche healer, in a holistic approach to healing body, mind, and spirit. A Ruka (a traditional thatched roof, dirt floor hut) sits right next to the clinic. They requested the donation of seeds to implement a medicinal medicine garden and a device to make oil from the medicinal herbs for arthritis workshops for the elderly.
Dental chairs and gynecological exam tables will replace existing nonfunctioning equipment. Their computers had multiple malfunctions due to age and use. The donation of new computers will ensure timely access to patient files and improve patient safety by reducing the risk of manipulation in clinical records and improving administrative and clinical processes. Laptop computers will allow remote access to clinical records in rural posts and ensure continuity of care.
It was a beautiful ceremony complete with the traditional Chilean dance- the Cueca. The venue took place in the open air under a hand-built pergola made from fallen trees on the property. They tied flowers in various places and served fresh fruit for refreshments. It was lovely!
2 PROJECT VISITS
On Wednesday morning we left Santiago at 7:00am for a 12-hour round trip drive south to have documents signed and to visit prospective project sites.
First stop: Hospital Pichidegua. This rural hospital/clinic sees 90 patients each day in their emergency room with one attending physician. We toured their facility and reviewed their solicitude. We will begin processing their requests for approval.
Next stop: Molina Health Department. This rural health system has 2 clinics, 5 rural postas, and 4 medical stations. We await their solicitude.
2 SIGNINGS
Hogar Betania
Then on to a residential home for the elderly- Hogar Betania, sponsored by a Pentecostal congregation. The Betania Nursing home has 20 residents over 60 years of age. 45% have severe disabilities; the rest have some degree of physical and cognitive disability associated with deterioration caused by chronic disease. In June 2020 all the residents and 80% of the staff contracted COVID-19, leaving residents with long-term effects that reduced their physical abilities even further. Betania only had 2 hospital beds. Our church donated 17 clinical beds which will help greatly in the care of their elderly residents. Because of a change in leadership at the Hogar during the donation process, we opted for a simple signing of the legal documents in lieu of a formal ceremony.
San Fernando Fire
Our last stop for the day: San Fernando. Last February 35 families in the community of San Fernando lost their homes in a fire. Community members rallied to help them get back on their feet. Our church provided the basic cooking implements needed to start over: a frying pan and various sized cooking pots for each family. Our local church members assembled these items along with food, clothing, and hygiene products and delivered them to the 35 families.
2 SHOPPING TRIPS FOR 2 PROJECTS
While we shopped for trays, eating utensils, and mugs for one of our soup kitchens we found a bakery down the street.
While buying tables and chairs for the same project and carpentry tools for our drug rehab home in a Home Depo type store called Sodimac we saw evidence of the upcoming Chilean Independence Day with traditional colorful children’s clothes for sale.
2 LUNCHES + 1 DINNER
Monday was a National holiday in Chile- The Assumption of Mary. We like to work in our office on holidays because we are alone without our WhatsApp and email inboxes dinging with activity. We did have a pleasant mid-day interruption though- the Ramirez family invited us to lunch. We took a break and enjoyed a couple of hours with our friends.
On Sunday our sweet sister missionaries came to our home for lunch: Hermanas Riz (Guatemala), Gonzaga (Ecuador), Allred (Cedar City, Utah), Burr (Kamas, Utah)
Friday night date with the Lindquists
2 SETS OF SISTER MISSIONARIES FROM THE USA
On Saturday evening our local church women’s group (called the Relief Society in the US and Sociedad de Socorro here in South America), had an international activity. Sisters in our congregation sponsored booths from their home countries of Columbia, Chile, Peru, Haiti, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Sister Allred and Sister Burr joined sister Lindquist and me at our booth where we played square-dancing videos and served Chick-fil-A nuggets with biscuits, mini apple pies, and chocolate chip cookies.
2 MOUNTAIN VIEWS
It’s been a little like Camelot this week in Santiago- raining at night and clearing up for a beautiful day. The snowcapped mountains that surround the city are spectacular morning and evening!
And the monk parakeets are busy and beautiful.
2 KINDS OF MISSIONS
One of our church leaders, Dallin H Oaks, said last May “We are sometimes asked why we send missionaries to so many nations, even among Christian populations. We are also asked why we give enormous humanitarian aid to persons who are not members of our church without linking this to our missionary efforts. We do this because the Lord has taught us to esteem all of His children as our brothers and sisters and we want to share our spiritual and temporal abundance with everyone.”
Abrazos, Élder y Hermana Lamb, (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 