Highlights of the Folks' Trip

How can we describe the trip here with Mom and Dad? We've been having so many great experiences together. I'll try to re-cap some of it.

-We took them to the Cerro San Cristobal to climb up 100 steps to the Virgen Maria statue. Great view and lookout from on top of the mountain.
-Spent the day in Pomaire, which is a artsy pueblito, with simple designs and native influence. They bought a few things and we drove on to Sto. Domingo and into San Antonio. The folks liked the sights and took lots of fotos. They bought more souvenirs, and had ice cream. Then we went for Chinese food for dinner.
-We went to our LaDehesa ward in Lo Barnachea area. We had a funny surprise. The "Quasimoto Parade," typical of Chile was going on, so we parked a few blocks away, crossed over the parade route riddled with horse droppings and tiptoed into church. They enjoyed it, but didn't understand much of it in Spanish.
-We took them to the Mission Office on Monday, where they could experience how the staff, office meetings go, and especially since for the first time all of our office elders speak English, they could understand the whole meeting. Usually we do it ALL in Spanish, always.
-Mom was able to meet Elder Baum, who she is related to his grandmother. That was fun.
-We went to Parque Aruaco Mall, and they enjoyed eating at a Peruvian Restaurant for lunch, called "El Otro Sitio." It was delicious. Dad had "Lomo Saltado," and mom and I had "Aji de Gallina."
-We attended 2 of Sarah's Nido Girls' Basketball games. She won 1 and lost 1. They walked around the campus and could see where she attends classes and the layout.
-Went to 2 different days of zone conferences. That was interesting. Mom and Dad both spoke with Translators and shared great messages and their testimonies. We enjoyed letting all of our missionaries line up and meet them. They loved that part. The missionaries loved talking with 'a grandparent again,' and were thrilled if they had something in common. Dad stood at the door at the end of each day and handed out Chocolate Costco candy bars, which received raves and muchas gracias de todos!
-We drove to Vina del Mar on Saturday, because we decided to stay here and let Sarah go the Prom dance at the Ritz-carlton, without dates of course!
The folks loved Vina, the drive, different views, and beach. We took them to Santa Brasa, a restaurant we love in ConCon, and then Dad surprised us and treated the meal! We had even tried the dessert, with was so good. They enjoyed the food too.
-This week we went to Lampa for a Ward Conference with Mike. We both had to speak and the folks said they could understnad much more of our talks, of course. Then we drove to a tiny town, called TilTil, where Mike had to set apart the new Branch President. We sat in the car and ate our picnic lunches together.
-Monday, the folks bravely got on the TURBUS to Concepcion, where believe it or not, ran into Elder May as someone called him while they were leaving the office, and he was in town. What a small world. I'll put on fotos when I see them!
We will be anxious to hear the report of their trip.