Some firsts, some lasts

Some farewells and some firsts this first week of December....

This is not the first time I have missed, sadly, our wonderful Palo Alto, CA creche exhibit (the 31st as explained in my last blog), but wanted to share this photo of special guest artist Nnamdi Okonkwo from Nigeria, pictured with Marguerite Gong Hancock (chair of the event, not for the first time!) and Jean Gong (sister and mom of Elder Gerrit Gong who came to visit us in Santiago in November).

Fond farewells to.... We have loved the Castros (of the temple presidency), Muntzings and Downers (both leaving next week...Monday is our official send-off), as we have worked closely at the temple together, and have played together when we have had time. It is hard to say good-bye after one year (next week for me) together.

Elsa Muntzing's (left) favorite activities are missionary work and shopping at "la Vega" market...I think she goes every day (almost!) Her "carro"and bags are full....how does she tote it all??

We are enjoying the new couple, the Wallaces, and teaching them to navigate Santiago, a BIG city....so many firsts for them...

I think this is a "soup kitchen" (the first I've seen) for the homeless, of which there are many in Santiago.

We had our favorite empanadas; my first chicken/cheese there

This area was founded by some of the first immigrants from the Middle East, but now vendors come from all over. There are a lot of Haitians selling mostly produce outside

and everyone selling wonderful cheap

food inside

Chileans bake first-rate and beautiful cakes (German influence?)

One of Chileans' first loves is their palta (avocados), which they eat with about anything...so delicious!

First cherries of the season...(these are guindas, the light ones are cerisas) both  are cheap and delicious. I also bought my first large container of delicious and cheap blueberries which I freeze for my breakfast smoothies

 

chili peppers, ginger, pansies

Police car in front of La Merced church

Temple workers generally work 1-2 shifts, either AM or PM per week. We missionaries work 5 days, either AM or PM shift. The Tuesday shift, after we finished at 10:30 PM, enjoyed a fun party to say good-bye to ....

Juana and Florencio Castro. Not only has it been wonderful to work under their leadership in the temple, but we enjoyed their generous hospitality in Concepcion, where the new temple stands

Swedish Ulf and Argentinian Elsa Muntzing are quite a couple: lots of fun!
I traveled with them on my first 10-day road trip last February to the beautiful Lake district (mountains, lakes, waterfalls, volcanoes)

Nina and Clara,who
is going home to her
11 children and 43 (?)
grandchildren in
Henderson, Nevada.

Clara (who has bravely struggled with Spanish, but has decorated, cooked and provided lots of fun at our parties) and Jim Downer (who has studied Spanish with great success, and is a happy greeter [among his other work] at the temple).

First class sisters Rivero, Corro, Bravo, Cuadra, Davila, Berrios (in the temple sisters use their husbands' names, but outside, their fathers' names).

Corros

Anita Diaz is waiting for 
(not her first) mission call

We love our young and older fellow workers. Many young missionaries serve in the temple, first before they leave, and again after they return.

Bravos danced the cueca
and sang a beloved song written
about Chile by a missionary
in the 70's

"Candy-man" Rivero at the temple, and providers of cakes, etc. at the party

We are also sad to see the Missionary Training Center close here with all the wonderful young missionaries and current presidents, Brian and Leslie Carmack, who go home to SLC for a few weeks for Christmas and to get their new visas for Bogota, Colombia, where they will head that MTC for a year.

The first time the whole class has been present so I had to take a photo. I love my Friday English class with these great women:
Ljubica Chamorro, Fabiola Torrejon, Nelly Jofre, Gema Morales, me, Cecilia Espinoza, Guille Guerra, Carolina Sanders

This week I felt my first real tremor (5.5 earthquake) here this week. It was very short but quite a jolt as I was sitting in a chair.

I also made my first trip to a doctor (dermatologist) at first-rate clinic in Santiago. Unfortunately this first was not the last.

I had the opportunity this week to substitute for the Blacks who were away, as facilitator of the addiction recovery (12-step program) meeting...my first time. I was touched by the sincere desire of those attending to make changes in their lives. I felt a little of the love our Heavenly Father must feel for each of us as we stumble our way through life.

I love Christmas but have room for my first and only albeit tiny tree and new creches in my apartment (no other surfaces, and will have to move them if I have company). Below I was delighted to have Angela and Luis Gonzalez for the first time for lunch when they came to the temple. I stayed with them and spent a few great days in La Serena in September. (I'm a bad selfie subject!)

Young women waiting to do baptisms in the temple. It is especially delightful when they, as they turn 12, or recent older converts, come for the first time. As I sit writing this blog this Saturday morning, the bus that pulled into the parking lot is definitely not the first today. It looks like we will be very busy. I think next week is the first week of 3-month summer vacation.

Down the street the Municipalidad has a large tree and a beautifully restored life-sized painted wood creche, which they just put out for the first time after several years, they told me.

Christmas is a magical time. I remember my first Christmas away from home when I was 18, and attended a civil rights conference in Illinois (where I was always moved to tears by the civil rights song "We shall overcome someday"... I'm not sure we have overcome the prejudices and racial discrimination that we young idealists wanted so badly); and my first fairytale-like Christmas outside the US, when I was studying in Germany at age 19. My first-born son arrived soon after my 24th Christmas, 50 years ago...how can I have gotten so old so fast?
Mostly Christmas means family, music, lights, the birth of Jesus Christ. As I start to receive my first Christmas cards, bake my first cookies, listen to the first carols* of the season, I reflect on that miraculous first Christmas in a rough cave or stable in Bethlehem, when the Savior of the world (often called the "first and the last") brought light and a formula for peace into a dark and discouraged world. He came to teach us by word and example how to value and treat others and ourselves, and gave us commandments, not to restrict our happiness, but to protect us and those around us from harm and evil, to show us the way to find joy today, and through His sacrifice, make it possible to return to live with Him after this life. My heart is filled with gratitude and I want to pay back in my small and limited ways.
As we celebrate the season, may we all have more humility, compassion, respect and understanding for others, act on our impulses to do good, and recognize that all our blessings come from God.
The last verse of "Away in a Manger"applies to all of us, God's children:
Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me I pray.
Bless all thy dear children in thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven to live with thee there.

* I have been listening to wonderful Christmas music for the first time on a site called Spotify (brought to my attention by my dear friend Monica in Sweden): https://open.spotify.com/