Second Round of October Cambios . . .

We received a couple of extra missionaries this cambio out of cycle. We were very excited to get them as we lost a couple of missionaries who had to go home early. This was a real blessing for us. Pictured above l-r are Elder Miner our assistant, Elder Muñoz and Elder Pereira, both from Santiago, Chile and Elder Matorell our other assistant. Both of these Elders had originally been called to serve in Venezuela, but Visa problems resulted in their being reassigned to our mission.
And today we welcomed Elder Gatica from Rengo, Chile. He was scheduled to come so we had been planning on his arrival. It is especially nice to get a group of Chileans to help in the missionary work in Chile. Our number of Chilean missionaries is now up to 20.

The current contingent of missionaries is as follows. This is quite a change from a year ago when our USA missionaries made up only one-third of our missionaries.

Argentina - 9 ........................... Bolivia - 4
Canada - 1 ................................ Chile - 20
Colombia - 2 ............................ Ecuador - 5
El Salvador - 5 ........................ Honduras - 8
Nicaragua - 2 .......................... Panama - 4
Paraguay - 1 ........................... Peru - 5
Uruguay - 2 ............................ USA - 78

P-Day with the Sisters . . . .

Yesterday was Preparation Day in the Mission and Susie invited the Sister Missionaries in the Osorno area over to enjoy baking in the kitchen and having fun. I was able to get a few pictures of them enjoying the day together. We have 22 sister missionaries in the mission now and it was fun to have these 10 at our home for a few hours. Those on the bottom from l-r are: Hna McClellan from California, Hna Stout from Indiana, Hna Whisenhunt from Las Vegas, and Susie. On the second row from l-r are: Hna Aguilar from El Salvador, Hna Alvarez from Argentina and Hna Bourne from Salt Lake City. On the third row from l-r are: Hna Aponte from Argentina and Hna Rivas from El Salvador. On top is Hna Burningham from Utah and standing to the left is Hna Porter from Arizona. (note the school girls next door laughing as they watch our missionaries play) We are blessed with great missionaries and our sister missionaries are the best.

October Cambios . . .

We have a new group of missionaries that arrived this week. All of them are from the United States and they seem like the most wonderful group of young men and a wonderful sister. We are very excited to have them in our mission and we expect big things from them.

Here are the new missionaries. Seated from l-r are: Elder Lugo - McAllen, TX, Hna Bourne - SLC, UT, Elder Jefferson - SLC, UT. Standing l-r are: Elder Matorell one of our assistants, Elder Miner - Morgan, UT, Elder Christensen - Thatcher, AZ, Elder Welling - Beaverton, OR, Elder Hansen - Hamden, CT, Elder Sheahan - Hamilton, MT, Elder Coles - SLC, UT, Elder Walker - Idaho Falls, ID and Elder Miner our other assistant. Elder Welling is one of triplet brothers who all came to Chile at the same time to serve their mission. I believe his brothers are in the Santiago East and Rancagua Missions.

Unfortunately, with new missionaries arriving it means we will be losing missionaries who have completed their service. We lost some incredible missionaries in this cambio and I just can´t express how difficult their leaving is for us. Seated from l-r are: Elder Trejos - Columbia, Hna Vallejos - Peru, Hna Torrico - Bolivia, Elder Villanueva - Peru. Standing l-r are: Elder Bleuler - Argentina, Elder Cudahy - Washington, Elder Bazan - Argentina, Elder Callaú - Bolivia, Elder Miner and Elder Matorell our assistants, and Elder Wohlfart - Germany. There are not words nor sufficient space to express my love and appreciation for these wonderful missionaries.

Additional changes this transfer include releasing Elder Dudley from Boise, ID as our mission secretary. He has been such a wonderful blessing to our office and to me personally. He will be one of our zone leaders in Valdivia now. We will miss him but are grateful for his continued service.