Email sent April 27, 2009

Hi everyone,
Wow.... we have been so busy the past several weeks, that I don't remember when I wrote you last. It has been nice to visit with most of you on Instant Messenger.
Congratulations Nicole, on your mission call to San Bernadino, Calif. We think that will be a perfect mission for you. Maybe you will be in the Area that Lucy lives in so you can teach her the gospel.
Wouldn't that be neat!
How beautiful little Sadie looked in her beautiful white blessing
dress! Everyone looked so happy, and we were sorry we couldn't be
there in person. But certainly we were in our thoughts. Thanks so much for the pictures.
Zach we are enjoying your letters and it is fun to read them. We are
so proud of you. We want you to know that you are in all our prayers.
We know it is hard to write us separately, and the letters you send your
mom and dad are great for us too. We do enjoy the personal ones, but
don't worry, if you don't have time. We know our missionaries only have about 1/2 on the internet... So we do understand.
We have had what is called special changes here in the mission. On
Tuesday, we received 4 more temporary missionaries that are waiting for their Visas to come through so they can go to the country that they have
been called to. The United States and Venezuela are not accepting new
visas right now from Chile. So it is making it hard to get these missionaries out to their assignments. We are loving them, so we don't care if they leave or not. I know they are anxious to go, we are loving
having them in our mission for now. We are up to 164 missionaries in
our mission now. That is a large number for a mission. The average is
130 +.
About a week ago, we were able to go to the city of Valparaiso for a day and look around. It is a city built on a hillside along the
coast. It reminded me of San Francisco in the old parts. Windy
roads. And of course being built on a hill, the streets were steep for
walking. We did a lot of walking!!! It was interesting. They also
have these little "funicular cars" that take people up and down the hillside. We road one up and down at one point. It was kind of interesting how they work. They are little enclosed cable cars. We
found a cute place to eat with a great view. I tell you, some of
these restaurants have some pretty fantastic food presentation. We
need to find time to send some pictures. It takes so long on our computer, and at the office, I have a hard time finding the time.
Sorry... about that. We went with the Davis, Boydens and the Dixons.
Elder Boyden is a lawyer, so now we tease that we have a lawyer to keep
us out of Jail. We sure have a good time together.
Tonight we are going to Talagante to a Fireside being put on by the Riggs. Elder and Sister Riggs will be going home in two weeks. They have served a 2 year mission. The people of Talagante will miss them, that is for sure. They have done so much for them. Sister Riggs was in the last issue of the Ensign. Showing her teaching music. She has taught many young people to lead music and to play the piano. That will
be such a great benefit to the wards in the Talagante area. They
were really good to us also.
Last night we went for a walk to town and went out to dinner with the Boyden's. The Dixon's and the Davis' are down south with the
penquins! They have 5 zone conferences to teach at. They are lucky
to see so much of Chile while serving a mission.
Lynn it was good to get your letter. And know you are doing
good. I will get a letter off to you soon.
Gary, I understand you haven't been doing well. We are a little
worried about you. Hope you are feeling better now. I hope you are
remembering to take your medicines. Keep us posted on how you are
doing okay, please.
For those of you that don't know, Gary could use your prayers. He has been having a lot of heart problems.
Well, I need to run, we have to leave in a minute.
Love ya all,
mom and dad... (grandma and grandpa.... Ron and Eileen..... Elder and Sister Gonzales.. :)
P.S. I forgot to tell you, that we have been having little
earthquakes! It is funny, dad is like a dog... he senses them long
before I even know we are having one. He keeps saying... do you feel
that, and I say no! But Saturday early morning -4 am... that one woke
me up. Our bed was just a rollin.. (4.2) We have had 4 this past two
weeks. I don't like being on the 6th floor! They haven't had a bad
one since 1960's and I hope it stays that way. Anyways... don't
worry, just think it is funny, how dad knows about them before anyone else can feel them.
Have a great day... love ya all