El Barrio Compañia

Since we came to Chile in March, we have been attending the Barrio Compañia (the Compañia ward of our church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I would like to share some thoughts with you I have had recently.

On July 25th, I marked 5 years since I returned from my mission in Brazil. I fell in love with South America and it's people while I was there. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true and special, but to me, it feel betters, makes more sense, is easier to share, and maybe even more a personal experience when I have lived it among the wonderful people of South America. Of course, there are challenges and differences, but when I am attending church here (in Chile or Brazil) it always feels like how it was supposed to be. There are amazing promised blessings for the South Americans, and all people of the Americas, but it has been apparent and powerful for me to watch those blessings being fulfilled while we have been here.

Our ward, the Barrio Compañia, is one of the oldest wards in Santiago, apparently. There are many strong and long-time members here, in fact a former president of the Santiago Temple is in our ward. Our bishop was newly called the week before we came in. He is a young family man who served a mission in Las Vegas. He is visionary and has organized a powerful group of leaders. This ward functions like a mostly perfect ward you read about, or hear church leaders describe. They really are able to make things work with the goal of bringing people to Christ.

Missionary work here is burning like a California wildfire. There have been MANY baptisms in our ward since we came in March. However, Sunday I attended Petar Saric's baptism. He came to a church activity by himself our first week in March. It was a simply an open house that invited people into the chapel to become familiar with it. He came to church the next Sunday and never stopped. Before his baptism, he was completely integrated in the ward. He participated in classes, came to English classes (even though he speaks English very well). There were about 60 or 70 people at his baptism, the ward choir sang, the messages were perfect and tailored to Petar, the leaders welcomed him in the most loving way, and the Spirit was so strong that almost everyone was crying. I felt so lucky to be there and witness one of the best baptismal services I have seen so far in the church. Petar bore his testimony and it was moving. This ward has followed the counsel of modern day prophets, and the Lord blessed them. I was sitting with a person named Juan who is investigating the church with whom I have developed a friendship. He told me that now he wants to be baptized because he wanted to be in a church where the people were so loving and where he could feel these feelings all the time.

Alexis and I have been able to share the gospel here as well. It almost feels different in South America. Maybe is seems this way because everyone we meet is new to us, and we both learned about being missionaries in another language. It's exciting and fun. This attitude is going to follow us home for sure, but there is just a special sweetness in the hearts of the people that you don't have in the United States. These people are blessed in a special way, and most don't even know it.

We have become good friends with some neighbors here, Sandra and Nur. We brought them to church a few weeks ago and introduced them to the missionaries. At their first church service, they were immediately embraced by the members of the ward. They were invited to several of the weekly activities. Alexis and I have been able to go to all of their meetings with the missionaries, the Bishop has visited them, and they love all of it. Last night, I was at a lesson with the missionaries and we were able set a date they want to be baptized as members of the Church. There wasn't anything special that we did, except to follow what we have been taught by our prophet. This family is now able to clearly see a path to happiness.

Thomas S. Monson
President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I have felt so lucky to see how this ward works. The members aren't perfect, but they try to live the gospel, and the gospel is perfect. The Lord's hand is at work here and we have felt like instruments in His hand. The promised blessings to the native people of the America's are strong and real. If they just try and live it, great things come to pass. I might be ready to come home next week to the States, but I will surely miss living the gospel in South America. My love of South America has grown to include Chile now as well.

The Santiago Chile Temple

Our version of bergmanvideos.com for Kody

C's friend Kody recently asked his mom if he could find video's of her on bergmanvideos.com. Well, since we don't have that website, we thought we'd do our own version of it for Kody. We have accumulated a few videos of C in the past few weeks that we thought people might enjoy. Well, at least Kody might enjoy them...

This is a video of C learning to say, "sup?" She of course learned it at the dinner table a few weeks ago.

Some of C's favorite things are: wearing glasses, washing her hands, wearing make-up and dressing up, looking "pretty," and being in these silly videos. Well, this next one is essentially all of those put together.

Enjoy Kody!

Exploring the coast

Yesterday, J finally had a day off from work. It was his first day off since May (except Sundays). We took advantage of it with two friends from the orchestra, Johannes and Paulina. We rented a car and set off on a huge exploration of the west coast of Chile. It was a lot of fun to get a map and find our way through new fun cities and places, and even some places that we had been to before.

We left in the morning and took a south-western route out to a small city called Pomaire. Pomaire is a small villiage about 60 km from Santiago. It is famous because everyone in the entire city either makes or sells pottery. You litterally drive into this basically 2 street town and both streets are lined with little booths where these people sell their pottery. There are flower pots, cooking pots, decorative pottery, piggy banks, and an endless supply of various objects hand made by these people.

The main road in Pomaire

J and C walking in Pomaire

Johannes, Paulina, C, and A outside a shop

A and C buying a Maraca

Pomaire is also famous for its empanadas. They sell empanadas that weigh up to a kilo. This picture shows an empanada chef demonstrating his creations.

The Empanada King

What very well might be the worlds biggest empanada - at least 1 kilo

After we left Pomaire, we headed back on the road for an out of the way excursion to the coast. We were provided many spectacular views and scenery. We stopped in Isla Negra which was home to the famed Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda. There is a museum at his beach home which tells of his story and amazing life. He is even buried there with his wife. He was an amazing man, who wrote inspiring poetry, and who is a beloved figure in Chile's history. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and was the first South American to recieve an honorary doctorate to Oxford. His political leadership also influenced this country and as ambassador of Chile, he helped many countries around the world get to know Chile.

J and C climbing rocks at the ocean

Outside Pablo Neruda's House

Pablo Neruda's Grave

We then continued our journey through the random mountains which felt like the middle of nowhere and ended up in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. It was beautiful, as is always the case in those cities. Rain and clouds eventually caught up to us at the end of the day. And we then ventured back to Santiago.

The beautiful hills and mountains on the way

The beach with the incoming storm

Looking towards the Pacific

Chile is a beautiful country that is rich in nature. It seems that in every 10-20 minutes of driving the scenery changes and you are introduced to many new and beautiful marvels. The south of Chile houses the famous Torres del Paine and the beautiful Patagonia. Farther south are the Penguins and Antartica. The north is a huge dessert and the central region is famous for its wine. The Andes mountains are breathtaking. The ocean is spectacular. We have been so lucky to be here and to see some true natural beauty. Plus, it was great to leave smoggy Santiago for a day and explore on our own with friends.

Run to Jumbo

Every time a Chilean asks me how I'm liking my experience here, I tell them that we are enjoying ourselves, the people, the culture, etc. The only thing that I can't quite get over missing is the food! It sounds so ridiculous, and there we have been to a few good restaurants, but there is a large part of me that misses American food almost everyday; more than I ever thought I would.

The good stuff is in the details...like chocolate chips, cream of chicken soup (or fill in the blank- really, what is a good Mormon housewife to cook if she doesn't have a can of cream of mushroom soup on hand!), maple syrup, salad dressing (not mayonnaise), cheddar cheese (macaroni and cheese goes right along that same path)...things you can't just make from scratch, and are harder to find than imaginable!

Shortly after returning to Chile, a friend gave C a chocolate chip cookie- big deal, right...no, it was a BIG DEAL!!! Where in Chile were they hiding chocolate chips from me! (and brown sugar for that matter too!) She told me that at the bigger, Wal-mart type stores, and in the wealthier areas, such coveted American products were to be found.

The very next week, the quest began. The long awaited day had arrived as we discovered...JUMBO, the happiest place on earth!
(Okay, so I'm being over ridiculous here, and I realize it too...it's just for effect.) Because we are seeking out the imported items, they are always name brand, on top of imported, and tend to be rather pricey...almost always double the normal price, which translates into one expensive, yet joyful trip. This means that we hold out as long as we think we can, and then race to Jumbo for our monthly American binge: refried beans, salsa, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Italian salad dressing, barbecue sauce, A&W and Dr. Pepper, chocolate chips, pretzels, cream of chicken soup, and some cheese slightly resembling cheddar.

So, moral of the story...this whole post makes us sound like junk food junkies, but know that we would eat fruit leather and granola bars if we could find them! When in Chile, do as the Americans in Chile do...run to Jumbo!

Not for the Weak

Last night, J and myself ventured to the most fun, unique and expensive dinner we have ever yet experienced as a couple...which of course translates into a blog post must. In the orchestra, there are quite a few Spaniards from the Basque country. They are very proud of their heritage, and set up a dinner at an authentic Basque restaurant. Despite being a very expensive venture, we decided it would be a one-in-a-lifetime experience. Warning be to those who would rather not eat meat...there is meat to follow.

A tour of our meal is as follows. Welcome to the Basque country!

Appetizers:

These first resembled fried mozzarella, but we knew better than that, because mozzarella doesn't exist in Chile! They were filled with cheesy, potatoes and ham. Pretty good...hmmm.

Next came pimientos rellenos de balacoa, or red peppers stuffed with cod. Due to a language difference, we finally figured out it was cod. We both really enjoyed these and wished for more. We are both from the midwest, and therefore were mostly exposed to fish sticks or other forms of frozen fish. We were pleasantly surprised how much we liked a fresh fish dish.

Before arriving, a Spanish friend told us that they would have tortillas, and being fairly stupid and unaware, I asked if they would be corn or flour! Ha! He was slightly confused, and asked what I meant- then we came to the realization that I was speaking of Mexican tortillas, and he was referring to Spanish tortillas, which are deep omelettes filled with potatoes and other unique vegetables. We wish we could have had more of this!

Main dishes:

After the appetizers, then out came Babe, or his sibling. Yep, a whole pig, with skin, hair, and all. I saw similar things as a missionary, but not quite complete.

The gal next to me was from Sweden and looked at her plate of pork, and then at me, and back and forth. She then explained that because her mother is a vegetarian, she wasn't exposed to much meat growing up, and had no idea how to go about getting the meat off the bones and all. Such an delicious adventure!


Salt-encrusted sea bass came out next. There were two fish, and they had to be at least 18 inches long. The Spaniard across from us explained that they take the whole fish, and then cover it in 2-4 pounds of kosher salt- yes folks, that is 2-4 POUNDS of salt, each! The idea is that by covering it in so much salt, it helps keep the juices in and cooks as a very moist fish. Let's just say it kept quite a bit of salt as well! Once they knock off most of the baked salt, they serve the fish topped with an olive oil and lots of fresh garlic. If you ever have the chance to try this, we highly recommend it- it is called Congrio (or pescado) a la Sal.

Dessert:
After having a few different dessert choices explained in spanglish, I chose the dish closely resembling creme brulee, and J chose the safe, but not so great ice cream. Ice cream here leaves much to be desired, mostly because it's almost always made from water and milk. Creme brulee won out without even trying.

Beverage: Chile is known for it's wine selection, yet we, being non-drinkers, opted for other choices. To top off such an authentic meal, what better to accompany than the world famous, Coca-Cola!



Lesson learned...Basque food is worth the adventure and to be repeated when possible!