Yesterday I headed back down to Vina Del Mar, Chile. 12 years ago, I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in this exact area. I loved my mission and I am very glad that I had the chance to do it. I would gladly serve my mission again, even if I knew I would end up where I am today in my life. I may be a little “Cuajito” as my friends from my mission now call me, but at least they still let me come back to visit. I have been back to visit my old mission areas five times now. On my first time back, I brought my parents and Rick back down here with me to show them around one of the most incredible areas in South America. During that trip, Rick decided to attend a Rotary meeting at the local Vina Del Mar Rotary Club. Those Rotarians are always wanting to hang out and do good things together, so we figured out that we would come together and do some service projects with a local special needs school on the outskirts of Vina Del Mar.

The School that the Sugar House Rotary Club and the Vina Del Mar Rotary Club partnered up on is called La Escuela Especial de Rapa Nui. It is a school that helps kids with special needs such as Autism and Down Syndrome. Most families in Chile do not have government support to help them with Autistic and Down Syndrome children. Many children, with these types of needs, are placed into the care of government agencies or these children are isolated to their houses. La Escuela Especial de Rapa Nui was formed to help the parents teach their special need children how to function and be a part of a working society. The school now teaches them the basics of an education along with skills to help them socially survive. Some of those skills include how to interact with neighbors. The Rotary Club created a replica of a typical Chilean house and this enables the children to learn how to make their beds, clean the floors, use a stove, wash dishes and the other skills they need to become more independent at their own homes.

The first big project that The Sugar House Rotary Club helped on was to build a working bakery at the school. Three years ago we came down and built the new bakery. Many of the families of the children that attend this school were having financial difficulties. By building a working bakery onsite at the school, we were able to teach the children a trade that now helps them contribute to their families financial situation. Breads and pastries are baked everyday at the bakery and sold to the neighboring public. Chileans eat fresh bread and pastries for every meal. It was a great project that not only helps the families of these children but also helped the children gain a new found confidence.

This year we are building an enclosed playground for the children. We are also bringing down school supplies, donated by Red Apple School Supply and Leez Osterstock. We are also providing each family with a new Spanish/English Dictionary. I will post pictures and maybe some videos from our adventures building the playground area and interacting with the children at the school. Of course there will be a lot of fun along the way so I am sure to capture some of that.

On our flight down from Chile, we sat across the isle from Angel Cabrera. Mr. Cabrera had just won the 2009 Masters Champion on Sunday and was returning to Cordoba, Argentina. It was fun to sit and talk to him about his recent big win. He was actually very humble about it. He talked about his crazy shot hitting the tree and bouncing off and him not able to see where the ball went. He signed my copy of the USA Today with a full page picture of him on the front page of the Sports section and yes he had his “Green Jacket”. However he kept it in a bag that was embroidered with “2009 Masters Champion”. I asked him if I could try it on and he wouldn’t let me.