World's Largest Open Pit Copper Mine

We took a tour of the world's largest open pit copper mine outside of Calama, Chile. The mine is 5 km long, 3 km wide, and 1 km deep. We agree...it's HUGE!!

This little town, Chuquicamata, was once filled with the mining families. Then they learned that exposure to the elements from the open pit mine were creating lots of health issues with the children born and living there. So they moved everyone out and it's now an abandoned town.

                                         Copper!!

This beautiful cathedral is still maintained at the town plaza at Chuquicamata.

This begins the outskirts of the mine. All red trucks are related to the mining industry - the mines and the contractors. And they're all over the place throughout our mission.

These large trucks are humongous!!! The driver is on the top right corner. All drivers drive on the left hand side of the road because these trucks have a 24 meter blind spot.

Can you see the trucks moving along the roads leading up and down into the mine?

This rock has copper all through it.

We had to wear our hard hats even while on the bus! Great trip!!

Alto Hospicio Zone

Our great zone of Alto Hospicio

We love serving with these great elders and rubbing shoulders with them, sharing their love of the gospel, their enthusiasm for missionary work, and their determination to follow the mission rules. We have quite an international Latin group, too!

Front row: Elders Jaramillo/Chile, Camino/Argentina, Lawsons/CO, Palpa/Peru, Masariegos/Guatemala
Middle row:  Elders Jara/Chile, Erickson/UT, Phillips/NV, Barrington/UT, Parpal/Argentina, Duke/CA, Reyes/Nicaragua, and Shill/FL
Back row: Elders Court/UT, Scoffield/UT, Reid/UT, Ercanbrack/UT, Prada/Columbia, Adams/UT

Flamingos at Salar de Huasco

We spent a P-day driving out to Salar de Huasco, which is up in the mountains toward Bolivia, as we'd been told there are flamingos at the lake. We loved the drive, loved seeing the flamingos, and were treated to seeing llamas and vacuñas and even a little memorial church along the way. To get there we drove to Pozo Almonte and we just love that little town. We included their "downtown" area at the end.

September 18th - Chile's Independence Day

The Chileans really know how to celebrate and do so for many days. We even decorated our condominium a little bit to join in the festivities.

                         Costumes were the style during the celebrations - and for all ages.

                                We loved the pinwheels on this house!

See all the flags all the way down their street? We loved it!!

This roundabout is at the bottom of the hill we take to get down to Iquique. We loved see all their flags and figure they'll stay up until they start decorating for Christmas. 

A couple pictures of our zone in Alto Hospicio

Front row: Elders Solis/Chile, Palpa/Peru, Phillips/NV, the Lawsons, Beltran/ID, Jaramillo/Chile, and Barrington/UT
Back row: Elders Reyes/Nicaragua, Rodriguez/Mexico, Mazariegos/Guatemala, Reid/UT, Walker/UT, Camino/Argentina, Parpal/Argentina, Adams/UT, Prada/Columbia, Ercanbrack/UT, Court/UT, and Joos/UT

 Same group once again.  Transfers are next week and Elder Rodriguez returns home to Mexico.  We'll miss him! We hope the others can stay awhile longer. They're a great group.

Noah's Arc and the children in our district

Wow!  I can't believe it's been a month since I added any pictures here.  Time to repent!

Our district in Alto Hospicio had a district Primary activity last month celebrating Children's Day. They had a skit about Noah's Arc and all the children came dressed as an animal.  One of the sisters there made up their faces and they were all adorable!

Our cultural hall is very small in this building so the chapel is used for larger activities.

                                               Juan and Nidia Hipolito family.            

Noah's Arc and the children in our district

Wow!  I can't believe it's been a month since I added any pictures here.  Time to repent!

Our district in Alto Hospicio had a district Primary activity last month celebrating Children's Day. They had a skit about Noah's Arc and all the children came dressed as an animal.  One of the sisters there made up their faces and they were all adorable!

Our cultural hall is very small in this building so the chapel is used for larger activities.

                                               Juan and Nidia Hipolito family.