Hermana Conference - Beautiful Faces

Our home was filled with beautiful angels all day. Enjoy these beautiful faces.

More beautiful faces to come.

Hermana Conference - Breakfast

The first thing on the agenda was breakfast: 6 dozen baked muffins, three egg breakfast casseroles, fruit salads and juice.

Egg, Cheese, and Ham Casseroles.

There was plenty of chatter during breakfast. The assistants were our servers.

A few extra muffins. Don't worry: they'll be gone by dinner.

After breakfast we all headed downstairs for some training from Presidente Bruce. It was crowded in our training room but they sisters did not seem to mind.

Hermana Conference - Welcome to the Mission Home

On July 4th we hosted all of the sister missionaries in our home for an Hermanas Conference. Most of them traveled overnight from their cities, arriving in time for breakfast. They all changed into P-day clothes for a casual conference. We all commented on how strange and fun it was to wear jeans for the day. The conference has been divided into several blog posts and of course they are backwards because I'm not the greatest blog organizer. But enjoy the many pictures of our "Independence Day" conference.

Twenty-four hermanas arrived at 9:30 a.m. on the 4th for breakfast.

Many of these hermanas haven't seen each other for months or even their entire mission. Some had never even met each other. So when they all began arriving at the mission home there were plenty of hugs and LOTS of screaming.

Hugs and screaming.

Don't they look happy to be in jeans? Hermanas Arriaga and Young.

Our four assistants shuttled the sisters from the bus terminal to our home. 

We had to rent a shuttle bus for the day because our three mission cars weren't enough to transport all of the sisters. This is transportation Antofagasta style.

Don't these sisters look happy to be together?

Rain in Antofagasta

"It Never Rains In Antofagasta." These are the words we heard when called to this mission. Murphy's Law would say if it isn't supposed to rain, then it will. Well...Mrs. Murphy (Hermana Bruce) arrived in Antofagasta and so has the rain. We woke up Thursday morning to raindrops. What a strange sound in this dry desert. We quickly dressed so we could run outside before the rain stopped. Little did we know the rain would continue on and off for two days. Wish I had dressed with more forethought...oh well, it's all about enjoying the moments.

Presidente Bruce outside our front door enjoying the rain.

This picture shows what we both felt as the rain hit our faces.

Hurrah for rain. (Never mind the hair and outfit.)

We quickly got into our car to dry our dear Nery home. She was worried about her house in the rain. The houses here are not built for any water and so many of the roofs leak with the least amount of moisture. We captured a few moments during our drive home.

Surfers are the same around the world. If there is a rainstorm, there must be waves.

It's been two days since the rain stopped and this puddle is still around. And the water is Muddy. Because there are no drains in the city (because of no water) the rain runs down the hills onto the coast highway creating puddles. And with the water comes dirt so our cars are filthy from the splashing of water.

Many people from Antofagasta have never seen rain. This was a first for some. I have to say the drivers did well with the wet roads. Today driving home from church I enjoyed the freshly washed down plants. There was no dirt or dust on them and the green was vibrant. Everything looks fresh and clean. Thank heavens for this blessing of rain.