Zone Leader´s Council

This past Friday was zone leaders council in the Mission Home. This is always a great event and being with these wonderful missionaries is the highlight of our month. They bring such great enthusiasm and love to the work. We are truly blessed with great leaders and when some complete their missions, there are always other missionaries ready to step up and do their part.

First Row (l-r) Elder Castillo-Honduras, Elder Hogan-Texas, Elder Silva-Panama, Elder Moser-Missouri, Elder Aspitia-Argentina, Elder Malca-Peru, Elder Navarro-Peru, Elder Uceda-Florida, Elder Barra-Chile, Elder Silva-Honduras
Second Row (l-r) Elder Bateman-Oregon, Elder Araneda-Chile, Elder Nash-Utah, Elder Coles-Utah, Elder Walker-Idaho, Elder Riches-Utah, Elder Cuesta-Ecuador, Elder Moncada-Honduras, Elder Service-Utah, Elder Gimenez-Argentina, Elder Diaz-Chile, Elder Vargas-Honduras, Elder States-Utah, Elder Welling-Washington, Elder Poujol-Honduras (AP) and Elder Seager-Utah (AP).

July Cambios . . .

We had two groups of missionaries arrive this past week. The group of latin missionaries arrived on Tuesday, as planned, but the missionaries from the United States were delayed until Wednesday.

In the first group are Hna Nava from Mexcio (seated on the couch). Standing (l-r) are: Elder Romero from Ecuador, Elder Seager one of our assistants from Santaquin, UT, Elder Poujol our new assistant from Honduras, Elder Opazo from Chile who is leaving as our assistant and Elder Gomez from Columbia. Hna Nava is an incredible young sister with a great story. She is actually 37 years old and is one of 7 sisters ranging in ages from 39-22 that are serving from her family. All seven submitted their applications together and their calls arrived on the same day. One is serving in Guatemala, and another is serving in Honduras. Two of the sisters came to Chile, including our sister. The other sister is serving in the Chile Rancagua Mission. Two other sisters report to the MTC in September and will both be serving in Argentina. The youngest of the sisters reports to the MTC in October and will be serving in Costa Rica. Their story is so great and I hope to get it to the Church News for consideration. It is so inspiring.

In the second group that arrived on Wednesday is Hna Herbert from Boise, Idaho (seated on couch). The others are (l-r) Elder Jones from Cooperas Cove, TX, Elder Seager and Elder Poujol our assistants and Elder Epperson from Arlington, VA. They were exhausted when they got here having been delayed in Dallas for a day and getting into Santiago at 2:00 am and then getting into Osorno at 1:30 pm. They were delayed at almost every turn. The important thing is that they arrived and are out in their sectors working.

As always, we have to say goodbye to some excellent missionaries, and this cambio was no exception. Seated with us from l-r are Hna Earl from Mount Pleasant, UT and Hna Guevara from El Salvador. Standing l-r are: Elder Seager our assistant, Elder Shumway from Mesa, AZ, Elder Riquez from Santiago, Chile, Elder Campozano, Elder Zhunio and Elder Castelo all from Ecuador, and Elder Poujol the other assistant. We love these missionaries so much and will miss their powerful influence in our mission. Hna Earl comes from a great missionary family. She has a sister serving in Guatemala, a brother in the Philipines and her parents are serving in Lima, Peru. Thankfully, she has a grandfather and friends to welcome her at the airport when she returns home.

Elder Opazo has served as an assistant for six months and only has one more cambio left in the mission, so he left this week to finish his mission as a district leader in Purranque. He has been such a wonderful leader in the mission since he first got here and I will miss him very much. He will be a future leader for the church in Chile. Elder Poujol from Honduras was called to take his place and will serve with Elder Seager as the new assistant. Besides being a great missionary, Elder Poujol speaks great English and plays the piano incredibly well. Elder Seager goes home next cambio, so this will be his last cambio as an assistant.

Record snow in Coyhaique . . .

A couple of weeks ago they had record snow in Coyhaique. Apparently, it was the strongest storm in over 30 years. It was obviously a great adventure for the all the missionaries, but especially for those from Honduras, Peru and Uruguay, who had never seen snow. In spite of the snows, which came on Friday and Saturday, many of the members showed up for church meetings. It is great to see their faithfulness. The following week, the missionaries had lots of service opportunities clearing the roofs of members and investigators. To add to the adventure, the water pipes froze and they went without running water for several days.

Zone Conference June . . .

We took pictures of each of the zones in our past zone conference. They didn´t turn out very well, but you can get a good idea of how wonderful our missionaries really are.