Visiting Arica

Last week we were in Iquique and Arica for the week. First stop was Iquique for Zone Conference and then a flight up to Arica (the farthest city north in the mission and about 1 hour south of the border of Peru) for a Zone Conference the next day.

Then we were in Arica for the weekend to speak at a Stake Conference. Leland spoke three different times and I got away with only speaking twice. The theme for the conference was Families so on Saturday night I told the members how we all fought for families in California with the Prop 8 Initiative. It was an emotional topic for some reason and I started crying at the end of the talk. I hate it when I do that. On Sunday morning it was a calmer more gentle talk about families and I actually got the congregation to laugh which is so out of character for these Chileans.

We had Preparation Day with the two Arica Zones on Monday and I got a few pictures of our great missionaries up there. Of course they played futbol and of course I just watched. But it felt good to be in jeans and loafers (yes Mom I wore my purple Top Siders).

The best part of the mission is spending time with our great missionaries. I feel so much joy when I am with them. Elder Smith, the one with the string, is from Huntington Beach and we always chat about "home". He is holding a top that is a popular game to play in Chile. The missionaries tried to teach me how to throw the thing. You can imagine my skill level there.