He's still smiling :)

Elder Lott is doing well!  His companion is recovering from a knee infection which has limited their ability to be out this past week.  He is on the mend and they were hoping to return to the field this week. 

I love random picture uploads especially when they have a sweet and timely message.

Elder Lott and his companion were able to go to the Santiago Chile Temple.  They traveled their by Taxi—not an Uber but a regular yellow Taxi.  He did the entire temple session in Spanish and was able to understand almost everything!

He has new scripture cases complete with a picture of the Santiago Temple.

They hadn’t been able to reconnect with the family they were teaching since their hospital stay.  They notified the family and are planning to get back over there as soon as possible.  Elder Lott was looking forward to going out on some splits with the AP’s this week if his companion still needed some more healing time.

He had been studying about the words “Urim” and “Thummin”--Urim meaning light and Thummin meaning perfection.   He was also following up on a debate from the CCM about if the Earth would be the Celestial Kingdom or not.  He was studying that topic as well knowing the Celestial Kingdom would be the place where God would reside and that the Earth would be celestialized.  He was still bringing it all together in his mind.  I love the learning that takes place when questions are asked and answers are searched for.

They had been to the Bishop’s home.  He has a very musical family and had a drum set.  He asked the Elders if either of them played and if they could help his son with some basics.  Elder Lott was happy to sit down at the drum set and play. 

We started out with him being four hours ahead of us.  They still haven’t gone to Daylight Savings Time so we were only three hours behind.  This week they will go into Daylight Savings Time and we will only be two hours behind. 

Riley was worried about being confined to his apartment before he ever left.  It’s funny how the Lord often allows us to face our fears and then grow in the process of overcoming them.

There has been some civil unrest in Chile.  School is back in session and some of the rioting has started back up.  The government has now limited gatherings there to 500 people so that may help…haha!  The mission president has done a great job of keeping the missionaries calm and well informed.  We asked about the masks that we were seeing in the news.  Apparently the government throws tear gas into the crowds to break up the riots.  The missionaries are avoiding all dangerous areas. 

We received a sweet email from Elder Lott’s mission president explaining what they are doing to protect the missionaries with regard to the current civil unrest and threat of Coronavirus.  Because of the civil unrest, missionaries had already stocked their apartments. They have purchased supplies and are prepared.  They have been well instructed on how to take care of themselves and what to do if anyone is not feeling well.  They are having conference calls when needed to share information and have mission devotionals.  They have a good communication system.  I love that he said most companionships have one or both missionaries who have experienced these conditions before and now have the advantage of experience, wisdom and perspective.  This is all new to Elder Lott.  Perhaps we too are gaining experience, wisdom and perspective during this time of uncertainty.

His closing paragraph:

Please know of our love for you and your missionary. Please also know of our testimony. What a great thing it is to know that the Church is directed by the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful comfort to see that He and His leaders here have made the preparations by which the Church and all who will listen are prepared, even in unusual and potentially challenging times. This is His work. He has prepared the way. Through His saving grace in the Atonement and the doctrines his servants teach, all may know and none needs fear. He lives. We know it. And we are grateful to declare it.

We love this good mission president and his sweet wife and pray for them daily as they have a great responsibility to protect and watch over our missionaries.