Special Sunday

On Sunday we headed to church to attend Sacrament meeting in one of Jim's old mission wards. Since our kids don't speak Spanish they were a bit nervous and kept asking..."How in the world are we going to understand what is going on?" I told them just to enjoy the experience and that they might not understand the words, but that the Holy Ghost feels the same in every language.

According to lds.org, Sacrament Meeting started at 12 noon but when we got to the church Sacrament meeting was over. The ward had already dispersed into classes. So I went to Relief Society, Annie and Ryan went to Primary, and Nick, James and Jim went to Young Men and Priesthood. I wish I had a picture of my kids' faces as we sent them their different ways. Priceless.

Although in Spanish, Annie and Ryan recognized some primary songs. Nick met a few 12 year old friends in Young Men. It was cute to listen to them try to communicate. For example...Nick would say "do you play futbol?" They would all just laugh and then Nick would say, "I play football Americano." And the boys would nod and answer..."Si, Si!" Side note: It is customary in Chile to kiss the left cheek of the person you are speaking with. Nick and James met quite a few cute little Chilean girls and seemed to enjoy that little custom. Too bad it is not customary in the United States.

When Jim and the boys walked into Priesthood, Jim was instantly recognized by Hermano Funes, the man who served as bishop while Jim was a missionary in the ward. He and his cute wife were so excited and invited us over to their house for the Chilean version of ice cream and cake. Oh...and of course, Fanta orange. They were so sweet.

Next, we drove to a little city up in the hills called Valparaiso. We were amazed at how steep some of the hills got. They put Lombardi Street in San Francisco to shame. Jim told us that when he served here he lost a bunch of weight while walking up and down the hills knocking on doors. Ironically, while driving around we spotted a pair of elders walking down the street in their white shirts and ties. We pulled up to them and Jim said, "What's up?!" The elders were very surprised to see an American family in a mini van. It was kind of funny.



We then headed back to our hotel to meet a young man named Pablo Munoz. Jim and one of his companions, Elder Hoopes (Ron), baptized Pablo and his family. Pablo was a little boy at the time, maybe 6 or 7. Jim and Ron would see him out playing on the streets almost every day and would go play soccer with him. Pablo became their little buddy. After a couple of months, Jim and Ron told him to run get his parents. Pablo ended up taking them to his house. Pablo's mother was not happy that he had brought home 2 mormon missionaries. His older sister told him to tell them they weren't home. To make a long story short...the Munoz Family got baptized. It was so fun to see the impact that just one missionary can have. When Pablo turned 19, he served a mission in Columbia. While there he was able to baptize 2 men that later became bishops of their different wards.

Pablo took us back to his parent's house for more food and Fanta orange. This is Pablo and cute wife and then the next photo is with Hermano and Hermana Munoz.