Since we couldn't be home for the 4th of July, we decided to celebrate it in style down here in Chile.
Elder Streadbeck made patriotic place setting cards for the tables and printed off patriotic signs to hang up. Hermana Balden brought red, white and blue balloons to blow up.
I strung up streamers all over the place. The office looked quite festive.
Elder Streadbeck, an office elder, made yummy 7-layer dip.
We had baked beans, potato salad, tossed salad, jello salad, chips, dips, fried chicken and pan. For dessert we had apple turnovers.
All of us pitched in to make it a wonderful American 4th of July picnic.
The Balden's and the Kennington's seem to be solving the problems of the world.
A very patriotic group enjoying dinner.
We are with some of our favorite hermanas, Hna Peterson & Hna Heslop, wearing our traditional red, white and blue.
After lunch we stood and sang the "Star Spangled Banner".
Not to be outdone, Elder Calizaya, a Peruvian, stood and sang the national anthem of Peru.
Since we could not have fireworks, we ran around and popped the balloons. However we did save a couple for balloon volleyball.
We had a great time and really enjoyed each others company.
It is Zumba time in Chile. Hermanas Peterson & Heslop got this activity going in their ward.
The sister on the far right teaches the class. It is so fun.
Elder L had fun watching this man unload his meat for one of the local meat markets.
By the way, it is not beef.
This is Elder Layton, a great elder who went home this month. He was an office elder before we came.
This Elder Nielson who also went home this month and was one of the assistants.
This is a cute little house in Chiguayante. Previous elders did not keep it in good repair and had caused some damage in the building.
However, Elder Maidana and Elder Hoopes decided to clean and fix it up and make a friend out of their landlord. Hey, what a GREAT idea! This is Elder Maidana painting one of the inside doors.
After they repainted the living room, we bought new curtains for the windows and I made them a rug to wipe their feet on.
Elder Hoopes was quite pleased with how everything looked.
It all came together quite nicely and they made a friend out of their landlord.
While Elder L and I were driving around Chiguayante we came upon a pretty piggy neighborhood.
We got quite a kick out of the natives.
Here we are inspecting a house where the hermanas live in Tome.
They have a gorgeous view of the ocean.
This is Hermana Fisher and Tejerina. They actually live in Coelemu and were on a mini combio with the hermanas that live here. We took them back to Coelemu, which is about 40 minutes away, and inspected their apartment also.
Such a beautiful view.
I was glad to see that the hermanas were putting their rug to good use.
These are some of the pretty wintertime flowers that were growing by their front walk.
I had a fun time attending a breakfast for the local hermanas, held at the Arrington's house.
Hermana Hannah Peterson and Hermana Hannah Peterson
Beautiful landscape on the road to Chillan, again!
Random pictures from the market.
This is the place were all of the missionaries like to buy souvenirs to take home.
We had lunch at this little restaurant and it was mighty tasty. I think they were kind of nervous having to serve a couple of gringos. The place was very small and we shared the table with another hombre, but they made every effort to make everything really nice.
This is the paper mill that we see every time we drive to Chillan. It is about 2 1/2 kilometers long.
This is Hermana Fisher and Elder Dabell, both are great missionaries and I am proud to say that they are from southeast Idaho.
This is another great missionary from southeast Idaho, Elder Barnes.
It was sad to see these great missionaries leave to go home. We keenly felt the lose of them in our mission.
Hermana Rane, from Rexburg, was a great missionary!
Out with the old and in with the new - another great bunch of new missionaries!
Happy yellow flowers to brighten up a winter day. Thanks Elder L.
This is one of the sculptures in downtown Concepcion, not to far from Liter.
These are some of the interesting graffiti found in Concepcion.
Back to work Kenningtons!
One Saturday in July Elder L and I decided to go on a little adventure. We decided to go to the mouth of the BioBio.
We parked the van and walked down to a little beach where the BioBio meets the Pacific Ocean.
It was a beautiful beach and not many people.
We decided to hike up to the top of a little mountain so that we could get a better view.
The mountain was covered with what looked like aloe vera plants of all different shapes and sizes.
The view of the ocean was incredible.
After the little hike we visited a museum that was close to the beach.The museum was the former home of a man named Pedro Del Rio Zanartu. When his first wife and two sons died he decided to make 4 major trips around the world to help overcome his grief.
On his travels he acquired many items and they are now displayed for the public to see.
Elder L had to take a picture of this old red firetruck in the parking lot.
On of the old trees found on the estate.
It is kind of hard to see, but this is a picture of a huge spider web.
Elder L at the entrance to the museum. I wanted to take pictures inside but it was not allowed.
This cannon is at the back of the house.
Elder L was gazing at the cows in the field below.
They had a huge maze on the property but is was one of those things you do at your own risk and since I can't hardly remember my own name, we dared not venture in to far.
You can see the house in the background. We had fun roaming the house and the grounds, it was just fun!
On our way home we took a little side trip to Chome. Apparently it used to be a little fishing port until the earthquake and tsunami wiped it out.
Fun stairs down to the ocean.
Chome still has a few houses and people like to come here to picnic.
We saw a couple of small fishing boats out on the water.
The government placed a bunch of big boulders along the beach as a water break.
Even Chile knows what kind of cow is a good breed.
Another rug finished!
More graffiti.
This is a nice wall display of children's art in the Banco de Chile in downtown Concepcion.
Grafitti
Grafitti - even though I can relate to feeling like a big blob sometimes.
More happy yellow flowers and a very tired hermana.
Hermana Balden and Hermana Peterson at zone conference in Talcahuano
A full elder is a happy elder.
The office elders are enjoying Apple Crunch, an old family recipe that I made for Pioneer Day. We also sang a couple of pioneer primary songs.
A selfie picture with Hna Heslop at the Tome zone conference.
A great group of missionaries.
A large ship out on the horizon in Penco.
This is graffiti in Penco.
The town square in Concepcion. Winter is really starting to bloom.
The shoe shiner, they are found at every town square.
The traditional Chilean cowboy hat.
A Saturday trip to Dichato to meet with a landlord. We stopped for lunch at this nice little restaurant.
The cook, waitress and cashier.
Elder L had fun visiting with her.
On the boardwalk in Dichato, in the summer it is quite the resort town.
Across the bay from Dichato and another adventure with Elder L.
It is raining, getting dark and the roads are muddy. Can we please go home.
Elder L needed a few more night photos before we could go home,
Elder Pendley from the south mission had a birthday. His wife fixed a nice dinner for everyone.
We all sang happy birthday to him.
Sister Bluth was so kind to offer her house and kitchen to host the surprise party. President Bluth is over the Concepcion South Mission. They are very nice people.
The group - and we had an enjoyable time that night and that is July in a nutshell!
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