P Day, La Cancha, and Big Feet

[June 29, 2015] Monday

President Jensen and Elder Chalmers took me to their preferred peluquería for their every other week haircut, so I could decide if it worked for me. It looked great, and I trust their judgement (having very little experience here), so I got a nice trim. Quite a bit shorter than I have been used to, but Molly says it looks fine. Since she has been my barber for nearly 36 years, I suppose it will do. And it only cost $5!

Afterwards, we went to La Cancha again, to replace my router (which I can't seem to make work), and get a USB3 cable for my USB drive (I thought I had put one in my bags, but haven't been able to find it...)

La Cancha is about 5 km (a little more than 3 miles) away. We've been told that some missionaries have walked there, and since we walk to the grocery store, various other stores, etc., I figured I'd like to compare distances to something our children will be familiar with.

Since I've always been a fan of maps, I figured I'd give you some perspective on distances here around the Temple via Google maps. Here are two maps - one of the area around our American Fork ex-home, and one around the Temple here. Both our old home, and the Temple are in the upper right corner of the maps:

American Fork at 100 m scale from Google maps.

Our old home is in the upper right hand corner,

100 North and 100 East are at the lower left.

Cochabamba Temple area at 100 m scale. 

Temple is at the blue dot in the upper right hand corner.

Av. America is at the bottom.

Now, for perspective, here's a map showing La Cancha. It is at the very bottom. It is not really well defined as far as boundaries, but the ellipse gives you an idea. This map is at a 500 m scale:

La Cancha. About 4.7 km, or 3 miles.

Roughly equal to the distance to Wal-Mart, on foot, from our old AF Home.

So, off to La Cancha.

This time we took the #3 Bus line - quite an adventure. There are a number of different classes of buses. There are what we called "Micros" when I was here before - a bus much like the small sized school buses you might see in the United States. I'll get a picture eventually, but they are plastered with all kinds of information. We haven't used them, yet, so I'll see what we learn eventually.

Then there are the "Trufis". They are are basically minivans, but a bit on the smaller size. They go all over the place, have a fixed route (I think), but you flag them down like a taxi. Someone said that they heard the record was 20 people in one, but the ones I've seen, fully stuffed, have maybe 10. If you get in one when it's empty, and end up in the way back, everyone has to get out to let you out when you get to your stop. To get the driver to stop, you have to yell something like, "A la esquina bajo", or some such ("I get down at the corner".) From the looks of them, you wouldn't want to take one if you had any bags of groceries.

The type of bus we took was smaller than the Micros, but larger than the Trufis. We squeezed about 20 in, seated, with room for another half-dozen standing without being too claustrophobic. These buses have fixed routes as well, and come on a pretty regular schedule.

The #3 route goes right by the Temple, across Avenida America close to where the IC Norte grocery store is, crosses the Rio Rocha (which actually had water in it today) / Av. Uyuni, and then proceeds down Av. Lanza to La Cancha. It's route goes down a very narrow, one way street (Av. Lanza), that was completely packed. It probably took us 30 minutes to go the three miles, with most of that in the last mile waiting for the bumper to bumper traffic to move. We probably should have gotten off the bus and walked that last mile or so. Instead, we went all the way to Av. Honduras before exiting, to take our chances in the narrow streets and passages from there.

La Cancha is pretty organized, while seeming chaotic at the same time. Each type of product is concentrated in a specific section. Here's the "tourist" section (aka Artisan products):

One section of La Cancha - Artisan music products here.

That's Sister Runquist in the bottom left corner

One vendor in La Cancha. Touristy stuff here, too.

As we were driving into La Cancha, I tried to get a picture of a meat vendor. It isn't very good, but you can see the buckets of raw chickens. They were all dyed orange for some reason:

Whole chickens for sale. Plucked and cleaned!

So we went over to Av. Esteben Arze, where the electronics are. We found a group of computer stores, all packed into one little hallway. Each one occupied less than 100 sq. feet, and had printers, computers, USB drives, routers, etc. Pretty much what you'd expect to find in a computer store in the United States, minus the selection. They had one brand of router - TP-Link - with two choices: one antenna or two. The two antenna version cost over 400 B's (about $60), and the one antenna version cost a bit less than half that, so I took the cheaper one. Since our apartment is only about 650 sq. feet, I really don't need the broadcast strength of two antennas.

I needed an ethernet cable, too, to run from the wall or router here at the hospedaje to my desk, so I asked about that. They don't have pre-built cables - just the raw materials. So I asked for a price - about $0.12 per foot with the connectors added, so I got 2 of them, each 12 feet long, for about $3.00. Not bad. They even tested them for me before I took ownership. Connecting the ends always worries me because you have to make sure the 8 wires are arranged in the right order, etc.

But the USB3 cable I needed for my USB hard drive was a different matter. They finally found one, the little pigtail size (less than a foot), and charged me 50 B's, or $7.00. Interesting.

I brought them all home and hooked it all up. The router works great, good WiFi, and now I can have Molly talking on the phone with her mother (it's a VOIP phone with MagicJack), while I Skype on the laptop. Before, I had to hook the phone to the laptop, and we could only do one at a time.

With the WiFi, we can connect with our iPads and FaceTime with Holly as well. So, we're now back to being "connected".

We visited with Becky and Emily last night as well - much better connection than we've had in the past, and we were running just on the WiFi. Once I get everything connected and arranged, I'll have the laptop wired as well, I think.

One last thing about La Cancha that we learned. As we were leaving on Bus #3, Molly was sitting against the window, and I was next to her. I had my Nexus in my left shirt pocket (I'm just using it as a camera since I don't have a cellular plan here), which is pretty normal.

All of a sudden, Molly saw something come in the window, thinking it was some big bug or something. I felt something hit my chest, and then it was gone. It was a pick-pocket, who had probably seen me take the phone out and put it back, and had waited for his opportunity. Fortunately for us, he didn't get my phone (which I will now carry in a more secure place). The Bolivians on the bus were concerned, and very ashamed that someone would try such a thing. They were concerned for us, and were glad, too, that the pick-pocket had failed.

In the afternoon, we walked down to a shoe store where we had been told they had shoes big enough for me. I have two pair of dress shoes, and no real walking shoes. The one pair of shoes I bought last seem very durable, and are comfortable to walk in, but I'd like to get something else to help make them last the 23 months we'll be here.

So we walked into the store, and they said that they had one style in size 47 (that's 13 for you internationally handicapped souls). They brought out a size 45 (US size 11), expecting it to be good for me. Hmmm....

So we walked down the street a bit, and saw another store. When I asked if they had a size 47, the young man at the counter first exhibited surprise, with wide eyes, and then started to laugh.

We tried one more without success. Oh well. we'll keep looking. Elder Paredes, another worker here at the Temple, said he thought that I could find a Brazilian brand down at La Cancha, so maybe I'll take another trip that way next week.

We're really enjoying it here! Here's a panorama from right in front of the Temple. I'll try to get one from a better vantage point to actually see the city below. Maybe someone will let me on the roof of the hospedaje to do that.

Mi Corazón Está Lleno de Alegría

[June 28, 2015] Sunday

We had such a beautiful day today. It started with a long trip (an hour and fifteen minutes or so) to Punata. For those who haven't lived with me from day to day for the last 40 years, I'll give you a bit of a history. I told some in a past blog, and I may have to correct it since I have been reading my journal to refresh my memory of some things...

On October 1, 1975, I was working in La Paz, in Branch 4, and received a change notice. Here it is:

To this day, I'm still not sure why this assignment to Punata was so impactful in my life and my mission, but the feelings I have had for this small town in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Bolivia changed me forever. For the uninitiated, the information in this "Letter of Change" is as follows:

• Date: October 9, 1975
• New Companion: Elder Tapia - from Montero, Bolivia. He was very short in stature - Bolivian after all, but had the biggest smile, and biggest heart of anyone I knew. He knew how to work hard, and give until it hurt. He was so patient with me and with everyone. 
• Address: Plaza Alberto Montaño #105
• Assigment: District Leader, Branch President, Public Relations Coordinator

The only thing I knew at this moment, was that Punata had not been known to be the most desirable spot to be sent as a missionary. But I knew, too, that President McCallister was trying to change those kinds of feelings among the missionaries.

On October 6th, in my journal, I noted that I visited with President McCallister about Punata. I remember that he expressed his desire to have us work hard and strengthen the branch there. There had been some rumblings that it should just be closed, but he didn't want to do that. Later that evening, I got on the bus, ready for an all night ride in the dark.

I arrived in Cochabamba in the morning of the 7th, and took another bus out to Punata, arriving around 9:00 am to meet the Elders there. I learned about Sister Elva Lopez, who was the strength of the branch, her two children, and an investigator, Jeaneth Sanchez a fourteen year old girl, who was going to be baptized the next day.

On the 8th, Elder Tapia arrived (without his baggage - it got misdirected in Sucre - sounds vaguely familiar), we had the baptism for Jeaneth, and Elder Mangum and Elder Gibson split. Now the branch was our responsibility.

Punata sits in a valley much like Heber Valley where I grew up, but the climate is nearly perfect. Daily highs, year round, were between 65 F. and 80 F. Nightly lows in the winter might get down into the 40s', but most of the year they were in the 50's and 60's.

There were two other cities of note in the valley: Cliza and Arani, and there was a member family that lived a ways farther down the road from Arani, up a little valley called Pocohoata. Over time, we got to know all these areas.

So, we served there for four months together, and had many great experiences. I was reassigned to another area for six months, and at the end of that assignment, President McCallister asked me if I had any preference where I would finish my mission, having three months remaining by this time.

I felt that he was going to ask me that, and in the deepest recesses of my soul and heart, I wanted to go back to Punata. I had so deeply fallen in love with the people there, and I knew how much good they had in their hearts, I wanted to go back and continue the work we had been doing.

But, it was very rare for a missionary to be reassigned to the same branch a second time. I'm not sure of all the reasons, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be in the cards, so I told President M. that I would really like to serve my last three months in Sucre - another beautiful area in Bolivia, with a strong branch, and good members.

He surprised me by indicating that he wanted me to go back to Punata and continue the work there. I was deeply moved that he had come to know my heart and my love for that branch.

I finished my 2 year mission in Punata, this time with Elder Johnny Chambi, who was another native Bolivian from Oruro.

So, that's a bit of the back story. While I was there, Sister Lopez shepherded Jeaneth, and helped her, but I worried that without any support from her family (her parents were pretty antagonistic towards the church), that she would struggle to continue to attend. Join to that the fact that the branch had been closed from 1981 to about 1996, I would not have imagined finding her in Punata today.

I was very wrong.

As we arrived at the chapel in Punata, I was amazed at it's size and beauty. It is now a ward, with about 130 members. As President Jensen and I entered the building, we were greeted by Bishop Rojas. President Jensen introduced me, and told the Bishop that I had served there forty years previously. Bishop Rojas said, "Then you must know Jeaneth Sanchez." I'm sure my eyes got wide with a bit of surprise as I answered that I certainly did.

He then said, "She's right here", pointing down the hallway. As she approached, I easily recognized her, despite the intervening years. She still hadn't recognized me, though.

The Bishop started introducing her, and she, in the very polite Bolivian way, shook each of our hands and greeted us one by one. She shook my hand and then went to shake another, but I held her grip, bent down a bit, and asked, "Do you remember me?"

She looked at my face again, then my name tag, and the realization struck her. "Elder Lyon - Elder Léon!!" She jumped up and down, squealing in delight, and then hugged me, completely enveloping me. She soon was in tears, as was I. Molly and Sister Jensen were in the restroom when this happened, and could hear all the excitement. Sister Jensen said to Molly, "I think someone has just recognized your husband."

The Bishop asked me to share my testimony in Sacrament Meeting, so I had to compose myself during the opening song and prayer. After the Sacrament was administered, I just shared my love for them and for my Heavenly Father, that such a beautiful people could have so much faith to make this day possible. There were probably 60 members in attendance, which is quite the change from the five or six from 1975.

After the meeting, I spoke with her, and she introduced me to Georgina Grageda - another of the few that were members so long ago. Another women stopped me and told me about her aunt whose last name was Villaroel, whom I remember, as well.

Then Molly and I took some pictures of the chapel:

The inside of the Punata chapel

Two strange people

Outside the chapel

Two strange people again

We had to get back to Cochabamba, so I didn't have time to visit anymore. I'm hoping we'll get back soon to visit, encourage, and share our experiences and testimony more.

On our way out, we stopped long enough to get a picture of the view we had every day from the front door of our old meeting place. This is the Cathedral just to the east of the central Plaza:

Punata - Templo San Juan Bautista - just off plaza 18 de Mayo

After we got back to Cochabamba, we walked around the temple and took some pictures, just to make you all jealous - this is the middle of winter here.

View from front door of the Cochabamba LDS Temple

Christo de la Concordia statue in the distance

It is the tallest Christus statue in South America

A second view of the Christus statue from the Cochabamba Temple fountain

Temple grounds - palm trees, flowers, etc.

You'd think our day was full, but not yet. Hna. Lopez's son, Percy "Harry" Avila, works with temple security, and he was at the guard station when we got back. He drew us a map of where his mother lives, and gave us her phone number.

So I called her, and told her it was Elder Lyon - "Charles Lyon?" she asked. She remembered me.

Molly and I took a taxi to where she is living with her daughter, Ivana "Bebita". Such a sweet reunion. We talked for an hour about Punata, what she had been doing, children, grand-children, and even her two great grand-children. She told me how she had been blessed to sit right across from President Hinckley at the Temple dedication in 2000, and how she had been able to teach Seminary to many, many young church members. Such sweet things to hear from such a faithful sister.

I asked her about the members from my time there. Brother Mendez's family is active and faithful, living in Santa Cruz. She said that she had lost touch with Jeaneth, but had seen her in the temple one day. Demetrio Carballo is active and serving as a secretary in a ward near her. Needless to say, my heart was full of love for this sweet sister who had worked and served others so selflessly for so many years. She is now a Temple Ordinance worker, so I hopefully will see her often.

As Molly and I walked home from Sister Lopez's home, we encountered two sister missionaries out visiting members and investigators. One was from Colorado - a tall, red-headed sister, and the other from Lima Peru. I'm not sure if she or I was the most unnatural sight in Cochabamba, but it was nice to see them.

So, that was our Sunday. Such joy I couldn't even have anticipated. I had hoped to see some of these people, but to see and hear of so many, and see how the Punata area has grown was heart warming.

First Week in Cochabamba

[June 21-27, 2015] Sunday to Saturday

Sunday:

Here's a picture of the Hospedaje from the south side, near the Temple President's home:

Our Apartment - third floor, slightly to the right of the middle

[We'll give you some interior pictures in the future. Our apartment  is really quite spacious, with a kitchen, dining area, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Probably about 650 square feet.]

We're still on an adrenaline high, I think. After our long flight, and less sleep than we would like, we're due for a crash, but fortunately it didn't happen today...

We went with President and Sister Jensen to the Colón Ward. It's about a mile and a half from the Temple, and their meeting started at 10:00, so President Jensen figured it would give us a break to let us sleep in a bit.

The chapel was beautiful. Quite an upgrade from what we had met in forty years ago. The people, though, were as humble and loving as I remembered. Everyone would greet us warmly, and kiss Molly on the cheek. One thing I always remembered, though, was their politeness. Before walking away from you after a greeting, they would always say, "Con permiso" - the equivalent of "excuse me" in English. They still do that. Everyone was so gracious and kind.

For their Sacrament Meeting, they had a young sister speak, and then a young couple. They gave wonderful talks - very appropriate for their ward, and very uplifting. Mom understood nearly every word, and went over after the meeting to thank them. It was very sweet.

Their Sunday School meeting was amazing as well. Lots of participation, good comments, etc. This ward appears to be very strong.

After that, we came back to the Temple, and we crashed for the afternoon for a while. Afterwards, we Skyped with the kids. It was a bit crazy, but fun. We might want to do the whole group Skype a bit more selectively in the future. We talked to everyone but Holly and Becky. 

In the evening, we had a pot luck dinner with all the Temple Missionaries, President and Sister Jensen, and President and Sister Hansen - the proselyting Mission President. We had lots of good food and good visiting. It's clear that all these people are here to serve, and love doing it.

Here's a picture of the temple. You can probably tell, the weather is great. This is the middle of the winter, yet the temperature in the daytime is in the 70's. At night it get's down into the 40's.

Monday:

Monday is Preparation Day, so we got an introduction to shopping for food today.

Some of the other missionaries here, the Parkers and the Runquists, walked with us down to a "supermarket" called IC Norte. I first attempted to get some cash from the ATM with my Wells Fargo Visa Debit card, but it was blocked. Brother Parker floated me a loan so we could survive until I got that figured out.

The exchange rate is about 6.9 Bolivianos ("B's") per US Dollar. So, after shopping for an hour or so, the bill was about 900 B's, or $130.00. You might think that is high for a weeks worth of groceries for two people, but it also included a lot of "nesting" things as well. Laundry detergent, dish soap, wash cloths, plastic bags, foil, etc. It turns out that food is probably a bit cheaper here, but not if you buy it all at IC Norte. We'll get to the fruits and vegetables later...

IC Norte had just about anything you could imagine at a North American supermarket, from bread, cereal, meat, sauces, paper products, shampoo (including Head and Shoulders), and so on. Many brands that are familiar to us were there, but were more expensive. According to the other missionaries, many of the South American brands are just as good in quality and taste, and much cheaper, so we're going to try them and see.

One of the very interesting brands is PIL. When I was here before, the only milk we dared drink was "Leche PIL", the PIL standing for "Productos Industriales de Leche", or Industrial Milk Products. It was very good, but as I understood it then, it was reconstituted powdered milk, and the powder had come from the United States.

Now, though, it appears to be real, fresh, pasturized milk (the milk is the blue bag above). I may be wrong - I'm going to look into it. It is very tasty, and the standard bag is close to 3% in feel, taste, etc. In addition to milk, they have very good yogurt (the bottles - you can drink it), butter, and fruit drinks. So, I don't think we'll lack for milk and milk products.

As for produce, there is one brand of lettuce that appears to be carefully grown, washed, etc. We're going to try that as well. Agua Pura is the brand, and it is sold prepackaged. As for fruits and vegetables, we'll cover that on Saturday's entry.

After gathering our stuff together, we caught a taxi back to the temple. It cost us 12 B's, or about $1.75. If I'm remembering right, any taxi in Salt Lake costs you $2.20 to open the door, and another $2-3 per mile after that. Since the weather here is so beautiful all the time, and things are pretty close, we don't anticipate needing to use the local taxis for the normal, day to day things.

In the evening, we had a Family Home Evening with the other English-speaking missionaries and President and Sister Jensen. We talked about about the efforts here around Family History work, and some of the tools that are available. It is so nice to have reasonably good internet functionality so we can access the Family Search and Family Tree sites.

Tuesday:

This was our first day in the Temple. It is really pretty good sized considering that it is here in Bolivia - one of these "less than first world" countries (I really can't call it third-world. We really haven't figured out what we'll be going without, other than family. Communication, availability of food, shopping stuff, etc. It's pretty good. Road etiquette is another thing, though. Later on that.)

We were set apart as Temple Workers this morning, and then got a tour of the temple.

The Temple has two ordinance rooms, two small sealing rooms, and one large one. There are about 6-7 men workers on each shift (one morning shift from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, and an afternoon shift from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm), and about 12 women workers (obreras). There are three ordinance sessions for each shift. Everything is beautiful, and clean. You'll see pictures over time of the outside, but the inside is even more beautiful and peaceful. It is a joy to be here.

During a temple shift, the workers are very creative in making sure all the various needs are filled, and there is very little time to take a break (make that absolutely no time.) Getting a drink of water often feels like you might be leaving something else undone. 

But the work is sweet, the people are amazingly committed, and it is so wonderful to meet and visit briefly with people who have come from far away to be here. More on that later.

Molly wants to add that she was both pleased and frightened with her mastery of Spanish as she had to communicate all afternoon in Spanish. She understands nearly everything, usually, but is still working hard to speak correctly. The beautiful people here are so understanding and forgiving that you can really butcher the language and they will not blink an eye, but understand and help regardless. The workers love to ask about our family, and love to help her learn how to communicate better.

Wednesday:

La Cancha - cultural experience in spades!

President and Sister Jensen took us to La Cancha this morning. Since our missing suitcase hadn't arrived, we figured we'd better get a few things (like a white belt and a blowdryer), and since they needed some knitting needles, they figured they'd show us one of the sources for those kinds of things.

La Cancha covers an area of a number of city blocks. It is completely packed with small vendor sites - maybe 3-4 feet wide by 10 feet deep for the majority, somewhat larger in some cases. Each is filled to the brim with a single class of product - shirts, dresses, pants, leather products (thus, the belt), yarn and knitting supplies, electrical equipment, computer supplies, meat (don't even think about getting your meat here), cheese (same), etc. There are a few streets squeezing through, so you have to be very conscious of traffic so you don't get run over. It is absolutely packed with products, people, cars and buses, etc. There are many women in native dress (puffy skirt, bowler hats, multi-colored aprons, etc.) - just watch where you are going. We Googled it, and it says there are a few thousand vendors squeezed in here. 

If you are willing to stand the crush of people, the smells and noise, I'm told you can find anything you want here. From what we saw, I suspect they are right. Molly got her hairdryer, and I got a white belt to use in the Temple. As for the belt, it was a pre-punched length of leather, painted white, and the vendor attached my buckle of choice with rivets while we watched. It cost me 50 B's - about $7.00. Molly's hairdryer wasn't a great bargain - about the same price as the one missing in our luggage, but it was a Phillips - same brand you could buy in the States. 

We spent the afternoon in the Temple. Close to the end of our shift, one of the workers, Sister Valdizan, asked if we had heard anything about our missing suitcase. We hadn't. She indicated that her son worked for Delta Airlines, and she would have him check on it. 


About 10:30 or so, we heard a knock on our door. It was Sister Valdizán, and she said her son had located the suitcase. It had somehow been routed through Miami on American Airlines, and was, at that moment in Santa Cruz. Amazing! She said that we could call the airlines tomorrow to see when it could be sent to Cochabamba. There is still hope!


Thursday:

Since we are now seasoned veterans of shopping in Bolivia, we figured we'd go and fill in some of the gaps with food and supplies that we had missed on Monday all by ourselves.

We walked from the Temple down to the Avenida America to the location of the IC Norte, and decided we wanted to look for shoes (it would be nice for me to have some more comfortable walking shoes), and check out a pharmacy just in case we need something.

We walked down Avenida Pando, visited a Farmacia and asked about some medications that we might run out of down here eventually, and a shoe store further down the street. They didn't have anything in my size (that's a size 46 down here), but directed us to a store where they would carry the aircraft carrier size of shoes. It was fun to feel that we were free enough and could communicate well enough to do things on our own.

We then went back up to IC Norte, and bought some more groceries. While there, we met some students from BYU who had come to teach music here for a month. Lots of fun!

We did get a call from LAN (the airlines), asking us to identify the contents of our missing luggage. One call asked if it had blue and black bras. Nope. Try again. Later, we got a call, and they asked the combination to the lock. That was a good sign. Once I told them about the white jackets (quite distinctive), the white shoes and belts, they confirmed that they had our bag. We got the number, flight, and time that it would arrive in Cochabamba - 8:00 tonight. So we made arrangements with the Temple staff to take us to the airport on Friday to recover it. Things are looking up.

Another sweet shift in the Temple. Molly spent the whole time assisting a sister in the Baptistry who spoke no English, so that was interesting. She also was asked to speak to a group of young people who had come to do baptisms. It was sweet for her to share her testimony with them in Spanish. She feels truly one in spirit with these wonderful people.

Here's anther picture to break up the boredom:

Sister Lyon at the front door of the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple

Friday:

Success! We were driven to the Jorge Wilsterman (born in Punata in 1910 and was the first Bolivian pilot, so his name lives forever on the airport sign) Airport by Hermano Hinojosa. He's part of the Temple Staff. He helps with both Security and Engineering. We had fun talking to him all the way to the airport. When we got there, he took charge, and eventually a worker let Hno. H. and me into the "missing luggage" room (Molly was left to fend for herself). 

There it was - blue suitcase with a distinctive purple tag. We dragged it over to Customs, opened it up, and after the Customs agent had satisfied himself that it only had clothes, shoes, and toiletries, had me sign the receipt so we could leave. Whew! Only 6 days late. It felt like Christmas. Given that we are on the 26th day of the month where the winter season officially starts, it would actually be more like Christmas one day late. Except for the weather, it doesn't feel anything like Christmas time, though...

Now Molly has two hairdryers. If both last for the whole 23 months, we'll leave one of them for the next missionaries whose luggage goes missing!

Saturday:

Is this getting boring, yet?

This morning, we went to the Feria with President Jensen and his wife. This is much more focused and restrained than La Cancha. Each Saturday morning, a number of vendors (predominantly fruit and vegetables) set up their stands on both branches of the Avenida Gualberto Villaroel, starting at the Avenida American going north. It's more like a farmer's market than anything else. We walked around, and President and Sister Jensen pointed out their favorite vendors. All the while the vendors are shouting, "Caserito, papaya, manzanas, naranjas!" to catch your attention.

We bought Molly a cute apron so she could look like a native in the kitchen, papaya, platanos, guineos (small, sweet bananas), manzanas, apio (celery), limones (really limes), zanahorias (carrots), tomates, green beans (don't know the Spanish version yet), and papas (potatoes). The fruits and vegetables were only $12.00, and the apron was less than $4.00. We felt like it was quite a successful experience.

The Temple shift was quite interesting. We had a couple of busloads of people here. One from Santa Cruz, and another from La Paz. In addition, we had some equipment failures in the Temple that added to the normal load of things to do. Despite it all, everything got done, and many sweet people were able to participate in the Temple ordinances. 

Once we got done, we changed our clothes and went out to eat at a "Mexican" restaurant with the other missionaries and Pdte. and Sister Jensen. The food was pretty good, and the company was even better. 

What a week! We are tired, but so happy to be here. All the people are so sweet and helpful and amazing.

One more picture to round out the week:

Long Flight to Bolivia - Flight, Sprite, Plight

[June 19-20, 2015] Friday and Saturday

Well, we're on our way. Lisa, Andrew, and Nicholas came and picked us up right at our doorstep. It was so fun driving to the airport with them. Nicholas talked about every truck he saw, and Andrew talked to Moggie (their name for Molly) the whole way, and even sang very quietly to her. We said goodbye to them at the entrance to the airport. We so much appreciated their sweet willingness to help us out. Here we are at the curb - last time we saw all our luggage for a while.

We checked our bags (3 of them - that will become important later...) at the Delta counter in Salt Lake, and proceeded to the proper gate to wait for our flight. While we were waiting, a mother with her 10 year old daughter came and asked if we were flying to Atlanta, which we assured her we were. Her daughter was going to fly alone, and was hoping that there would be missionaries on the flight, because then she would feel safe. She didn't need us to watch over her - just be on the same flight.

We boarded the plane and left right on time - just before 2:00 pm Utah time. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful, landing in Atlanta at about 7:30 pm Atlanta time (5:30 Utah time). Just for later comparisons, all announcements were in English with no particular accents.

As we exited the plane, and started looking around to figure out which terminal our next flight to Santiago, Chile would leave from, a young couple asked us if we knew anything about the Atlanta terminal. We asked where they were going, and they indicated that they were going to Santiago. That was our next destination, so we worked together. Turns out, they had just gotten married, and were heading to Santiago to celebrate with those in their families who couldn't come to the United States. They were both BYU students, and were excited about life and marriage and everything. Their last name was Brunovski. He was from Brazil, and she was from Chile.

We spent the next two and a half hours visiting with them while we found our next gate, and got ourselves situated to wait for the flight. They were really cute.

At 9:30 pm (7:30 pm Utah time), we started to board. As I approached the attendant checking boarding passes, she asked if I would like a row with more leg room. You better believe it! So she moved us to a row with plenty of room. Thank you, thank you!

As the plane was boarding, we found it interesting that the nature of the announcements had changed significantly. Everything was still in a North American English accent, but every announcement was repeated twice - once in English, and then again in Spanish. It helped to get us into a different mindset. We really were doing this!

Just after we took off, we were served dinner. It was pretty decent for coach level airplane fare - Molly had a pasta dish with cheese while I had chicken teriyaki with rice. We both had a salad, vegetables, a roll, a brownie, and a can of Sprite. The can looked like it was meant specifically for us:

I'll let you all figure out what Sprite meant by that, but the first two lines seemed meant just for us. We tried to sleep after "dinner", but weren't really able to. Molly watched the new Cinderella movie while I tossed and turned, and she even got up and paced a bit. I just gritted it out, trying to sleep in whatever position I could.

About an hour before we were going to land, we were served breakfast - an egg and cheese sandwich, orange juice, and 4 tic tacs each.

We arrived in Santiago at about 7:30 am, Chile time (4:30 am Utah time). In looking at our watches, we were majorly confused.  It appeared that Santiago was three hours ahead of Utah - which would make it a time zone east of Eastern time. We didn't figure out until later, that Chile is in the same time zone as Argentina and Brazil.  If you look at a map of time zones, they clearly don't fit the pattern. We didn't get that all figured out until Sunday, but it really had us scratching our heads how Santiago could be east of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz Bolivia (it isn't).

We said goodbye to our friends, and started trying to figure out our next leg. My, it would have been good to have some instructions. It was a very good thing I spoke adequate Spanish, because very little English was spoken. We knew we needed to find the LAN Airlines desk to check into our next flight to Santa Cruz, but couldn't find any signs for it. We followed the crowd (since there were no clear signs indicating we shouldn't), and eventually found it way at the end of a long walk.

We checked in, and the agent instructed us to go and pay our "impuestos", so we went downstairs and got in line. Another agent there told us we weren't Chileans, so we didn't need to pay the impuesto, we needed to go to "inmigración" and pointed the way. Another line.

When we got to the front, we showed passports, etc., and the police officer stamped our passport that we had arrived. We then left the international area, and sought instructions for the flight to Santa Cruz, which was routed through Iquique, Chile. We had to go through the security check again with our carry-on bag, computer bag, and Mom's purse. We finally found the gate, with not a small amount of barely understood questions and answers, and sat down to wait again. This flight would leave at noon (Chile time, 9:00 am Utah time), so we relaxed.

To this point, I had made one attempt to purchase Bolivianos, but they only wanted to sell Chilean pesos, so all I had was Dollars. We decided to just eat our Belvida snacks, and not try to negotiate food purchases in Santiago.

The plane left on time, but now, the announcements were in Spanish first, followed by English in a Spanish accent. it was still pretty much intelligible, but it was clear we had left "Kansas".

This leg flew to an airport in the middle of nowhere, 25 miles south of Iquique, Chile. It would have been a great place to film the desert scenes from Star Wars. The northern part of Chile is one of the driest deserts on earth, and it looked like it. 

We could no more figure out why we landed in the absolute middle of nowhere than fly to the moon. Fortunately, a young man from Santa Cruz was sitting next to me on the flight (by the way, the LAN seat configuration clearly wasn't meant for North Americans. There was even less knee room on this flight than any I have ever experienced. Very miserable for the hour and three quarters we were on it) and helped me understand that it was a central place to collect people flying to Santa Cruz from Chile and Peru. It was a port town, but we never saw the city or the port.

Upon landing we all had to get off the plane. I asked the young man what was going on. He said we had to go through "inmigración" again, and that we'd be wise to take all our belongings with us.

So, we got off, stood around for an hour or so, and got our passports stamped that we were leaving Chile. I felt like the whole experience was more meant to be inconvenient for anyone going to Bolivia, since I've heard that the Chileans really don't like Bolivians, than anything else.

We got back on the plane, and as I squeezed back into my knee-crushing seat, the flight attendant asked if we'd like to move to a roomier row. Certainly. So we got to sit on the exit row, which was much better for the next leg. We left Iquique at about 3:30 Chile time (12:30 pm Utah time), and arrived in Santa Cruz at 4:15 Bolivian time (now only 2 hours ahead of Utah - 2:15 Utah time). Are you confused yet. We were.

At the SC airport, we had to stand in line to get our passports stamped that we had arrived in Bolivia. We went to collect our luggage, because we were leaving the big boy airlines, and now were in the Bolivian airline space. We saw one of our bags, and collected it, then another, and then..... nothing. We waited until all the bags were off the plane, but our third bag wasn't there. It was the one with my white ties, temple jackets, temple shoes, Molly's jeans, medicines, blow dryer, brush, and various other miscellaneous sundries. 

We contacted the LAN representative, and filled out the paperwork for a missing luggage item, and proceeded to check on our next flight. Not much we could do but report it and hope it could be found. The young man who had sat next to us let me use his cellphone to call the Temple in Cochabamba, so they knew we were coming, and I alerted them to the missing luggage. They assured me that we had done right to get it reported. By now, everything was in Spanish. If I had not been marginally adept, we would have been in real trouble, I'm afraid.

[This is Molly: Charlie was my hero as he so lovingly and patiently and capably spoke with the people he needed to using his Spanish. He never got frustrated or impatient, just remained calm and took care of me. I felt very well taken care of.]

Fortunately for us, there was a travel agent that works with the church there to greet us after we passed through customs. He took our remaining two bags, and helped us get them checked in, and helped us figure out where we needed to go next.

Our last flight left from Santa Cruz at 7:00 pm their time (5:00 pm Utah time just to keep things straight), and arrived in Cochabamba at about 8:00 pm. It was interesting to note that their were two flights from the same airline listed as leaving at the same time from the same gate, ours to Cochabamba, and the other to La Paz. There was a third flight at the same time, this one to Cochabamba, but on a different airline.We had to check carefully to make sure we got in the right line.

While we were waiting, a young sister missionary greeted us. Her name was Hermana Via. She was on her way home to Cochabamba from a mission in Mexico. We hoped she would be on our flight, but she was headed for the other one. She was excited that we were headed for the temple as missionaries, and hoped that she would see us there.

Needless to say, Molly gave her a big hug.

So, we arrived in Cochabamba at about 8:00 pm (now I'm going to quit referring to Utah time - you all can figure it out from here) after a total of 28 hours of transit. Whew! President and Sister Jensen met us warmly at the airport. What a sight for sore and tired eyes.

They took us to our new lodging on the temple grounds. They call it the Hospedaje (Lodging). Members who come to the temple from far away can stay the night, much like a hotel. Others might use it just to change clothes before going to the temple. It's a hundred yards or so down the hill from the Temple entrance.

The other missionaries had left us homemade soup, bread, cookies, and jello, and fruit, milk, and yogurt so we wouldn't go hungry. They even left flowers for us.


We quickly unpacked our depleted luggage, had some dinner, and fell into bed.

Training in the Salt Lake Temple

[June 15-17, 2015] Monday - Wednesday

We spent three days in the temple, with President and Sister Walker directing the seminar. They were the Temple President and Matron a few years ago. She is President Hinckley's oldest daughter, and they married about 12 years ago following the deaths of their spouses. They look like they are perfectly suited for each other.


I'd tell you there was a highlight of the three days, but in reality, it was all a highlight. We reviewed the administration of the temple ordinances, but each review was followed by a discussion of the significance of them, and the power of the covenants and ordinances there. It was renewed time and time again of how powerful the impressions and inspirations that I have had have been as I have participated in Temple ordinances.

There were 34 missionaries in our group, in total. Their destinations spanned the globe, from the Hong Kong Temple, the Apia Samoa Temple, the Laie Hawaii Temple, two temples in the Phillippines, four in South America (Trujillo Peru, Santiago Chili, Cordoba Argentina, and Cochabamba Bolivia), Washington DC, Madrid Spain, and London England.

Elder Brimhall, the Director of the Family History Department spoke to us, and had some very interesting things to say about how technology is enhancing and accelerating the work. The computers are even taking on larger parts of the researching components of family history work, leaving us to verify correctness, document accurate sources, and then complete the work for our ancestors.

So, these three days energized us, confirmed again and again that this is not only what we desire to be doing, but what we are supposed to be doing, and got us even more excited to help in this most sacred and meaningful work of bringing God's plan to all of His children.

Farewell Talks and Setting Apart

[June 14, 2015] Sunday

Well, we're nearly there.

We spoke today in our old Ward - the American Fork 12th Ward. It was really hard sitting on the stand seeing all of our dear, sweet family and friends walk in and sit down.

My mother and father were there on the front row with my sister, Jayna and her daughter, Cindy. Kirsti and Dave and their kids came (Ralph's family), and Susi and Dan (Steve's family) were also there along with our Stacy, Emily, Sam and Sawyer, Becky and Paul with Gordon, Ellie, and Henry, and Matt and Lisa with Andrew and Nicholas. Lee Pierce, from work, and his wife were there, Miriam Alvez (who taught Molly Spanish) and her family were there, along with many other friends who aren't in the 12th Ward. We couldn't possibly mention all the special people by name who have been such amazing friends and influences on our family.

The opening song was particularly difficult to sing because we were feeling so many emotions. Debi Holley offered the opening prayer, so she was there next to Molly to give such loving support while we struggled to sing.

Jimmy Valverde spoke and talked about tithing, which was perfect for what Bishop Merrill had asked me to talk about - sacrifice and consecration. Molly followed, talking about adversity in our lives and how we overcome it and how we can grow from it.

The ward choir then sang "Que Firmes Cimientos", except they sang it in English. I finished by talking about how we really aren't sacrificing when we are giving of our time and talents in the Lord's work - we are immediately blessed. I've posted the contents of both of our talks over in the "Ramblings from the 'Rents" blog so family can read the entirety.

Later that evening, our children came with their families to our Stake Center, where we met with President Mark Duke - the Stake President in our new ward, his wife, and President Walker, the First Counselor. I went to school with President Duke in Heber, and he even remembered me! Bishop Merrill came with his wife. President Duke set me apart first, and then I was able to participate as he set Molly apart. That makes us official missionaries now!

Our blessings assured us that our children and grandchildren would be taken care of, that our health would be good, and that we would be able to accomplish our assignments as missionaries.

It was a sweet experience to be there.

Two Days to Go

[June 12, 2015] Friday

Getting all the last things done...

We had someone come and check on the water heater, since it was about 10 years old, and we'd noticed that the volume of hot water was not what we'd expect with only the three of us here using it. Sure enough, it needed to be replaced, so we had that done. Hopefully that's one less thing for Sam to be bothered with in the next two years.

After that, we went to Orem for some last business, and on the way home, got a call from Stacy. She'd had someone sideswipe her car, and ended up with a flat tire. So we headed her way, but someone had helped her replace it with the spare by the time we got there. We helped her unjangle her nerves, made sure her car was still runnable (minor fender damage was all), and then headed homeward for a dinner appointment with Richard and Karen.

They came over to the condo and we gave them the grand, three minute tour (usually two, but they are older than us so we walked slowly from room to room. That's right, just room to room. That's all there are... :)

They treated us to dinner at Appleby's here in West Valley and we visited. Very enjoyable. When we get back in two years, it will be our turn to treat them. We truly appreciate and will rely on the strength and support of all our family and friends. You have all been wonderful to us.

Immersion - Molly

[June 8-10, 2015] Monday-Wednesday

I was a little nervous about the Immersion experience, not knowing what to expect ... only speaking Spanish for 3 whole days. My coach and my tutor both informed me that I would love it. However, they also told me that I would be in charge of what we would do during immersion. It's hard to know what you want to learn when you need to learn everything.

So Sunday night I sat down and I wrote some goals of what I would like to accomplish or work on during Immersion. Here they are:
1. Bear my testimony in Spanish.
2. Meet, converse and share the gospel with a non-member
3. Give a lesson or talk.
4. Give and get directions

From 8:00-8:50 I was in a little room in a chapel in Provo. I had personal study, which was great so I could prepare for my next hour when I would meet with a Spanish speaking volunteer. During that hour I decided the goal I wanted to work on was bearing my testimony. I studied vocabulary etc and started to write my testimony in English and translate it into Spanish. I didn't like that method and decided to just write it in Spanish. I ended up just speaking from my heart.

From 8:50-9:00 we had Prayer Meeting. There was another couple getting immersed in Spanish, a young man who was "in charge" and a Senior Couple who were also "in charge". I think the couple took care of scheduling the volunteers and the young man was in charge of everything else. We sang a hymn in Spanish, said a prayer and the Sister gave us a sweet spiritual thought.

9:00-10:00 I spent with a darling young returned sister missionary named Olimpia. I told her my goal and she asked me to bear my testimony about serving my mission. It was such a sweet experience to share these tender feelings with her in Spanish. Then she bore her testimony and I got to listen. She gave me some pointers with grammar and words I was using incorrectly and said to keep practicing.

Olimpia with us

Wow! I'm liking this and it isn't even scary, and I'm learning already!

10:00-11:00 I was visited by Sister Cox who had just spent the previous hour with my companion. She learned Spanish when she and her husband were called to serve a mission in South America. She had some specific things she wanted to share with me that worked for her when she was learning the language, such as, use variety in studying, flash cards, children's books, listen to the radio etc. Then she drilled me on my vocabulary and conjugations by giving me a simple sentence in English to translate, then she added to it and added to it again changing things up so I had to think. It was fast and fun.

At 11:00 my learning coach Brother Gerber came. I had been Skyping with Brother Gerber every week for the past 6 weeks. It was fun to meet him in person. I told him my goals and what we had done so far and he wrote out my schedule for the rest of the week on the board:

Picture of schedule on board

We didn't always stick to the schedule, but I feel like I met my goals and a whole lot more.

I got to meet my tutor, Hermano Rodriguez. I really have enjoyed Hno. Rodriguez from the start. We have been Skyping every week for the past 6 or so weeks. He was a lot taller in real life. He came all three days. One day, to help me with my goal to learn to give and receive directions, he told me we were going to walk to the library. I didn't know how to get there from where we were so he gave me the directions in Spanish and said when we walked out the door he would forget them and it was up to me to get us there. We made it. If I ever said anything to him in English, he would look at me as though he didn't understand a word. We had a good time in the library discussing the art and reading all the signs etc. We walked home a different way under my Spanish directions. We made it.

On a different day he helped me with my goal to meet and introduce someone to the gospel. He went outside and knocked on the door and we went on a tour of the chapel discussing rooms, pamphlets, pictures etc. It's amazing the doctrinal topics that come up as you walk about the chapel. I wanted to bear my testimony to him and I did as we were touring the building.

He had me listen to "I am a Mormon" on the church website, only it was "Soy Mormon". I had to answer certain questions about the video.

Everyone was so helpful in a different way. Brother Jarman came one day to help me. He had been a BYU professor in Spanish for 40 years. He was very helpful in giving me grammar tips. He also taught me to open my mouth when I talk because Spanish is an open vowel language.

The last day Brother Jarman met with Charlie while I had personal study time. They had me come in and join their session, which ended up being mostly for me. I learned so much from him.

One of my goals was to give a lesson. I changed it to give a talk. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by writing my farewell talk and translating it. It was good to write the talk, but the translating took way more time than I had. However, I did get the first part of it translated and shared it with one of my Spanish volunteers who listened and helped me to use words that would fit better. I tend to make sentences too complicated. I am learning to say things in a more simple way. It was a very good exercise for me.

One volunteer was a young woman from Argentina. She was harder to understand at first. Her accent is very different from the others I have listened to. My experience with her was mostly listening and asking her questions.

Another interesting accent was Zack who learned to speak Spanish on his mission in Spain. They talk with a lisp. All their Ss are pronounced "th". It was funny at first, but he was dead serious.

It was so good to hear different accents and to meet these dear people who give of their time. I learned something from each one and felt their love for this work.

All in all I felt very spoiled to have so many people helping me to learn Spanish. I loved this experience and feel better prepared to serve the sweet people of Bolivia.

Spanish Immersion

[June 8 – 10, 2015] Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

The resources and support given by the Senior MTC to us to help us refresh/learn Spanish have been nothing short of amazing. We spent the first three days of this week at a chapel in Provo immersed in Spanish, with all kinds of volunteers, young and old, there to help us.

We started on Monday morning at 8:00 am. Since Molly and I are at different levels in our learning, we worked separately with the instructors and volunteers. Every hour, we would get a different person to help us, or have an hour of study time to assimilate what we were learning. It was actually more intense than I remember my old Language Training Mission experience to be, with the realization that this was only three days, not eight weeks. 

Some of the volunteers were native speakers, some had served missions in Spanish speaking areas, one had taught Spanish at BYU for 40 years. Each one helped us in a different way. In addition to those helping us learn Spanish, we also had the assistance of Learning Coaches who helped us focus on how we learn best, and how to outline a study plan to help us make the most of our time with the volunteers. I'll outline the sequence for me, and let Molly outline hers. 

First thing on Monday morning, I got to work with a young lady named Olimpia. I indicated to her that the thing I needed to work on most was just conversational Spanish at a normal pace. She was wonderful. She had me talk her through a number of situations that I would experience in a normal day in Bolivia, and made me stretch both in vocabulary and grammar.

Following the hour with Olimpia, a Sister Cox came in. She and her husband had served in Uruguay as a Senior Missionary couple, and she had worked very hard to master the language. She pointed out some resources that she had used in her two hour daily study session, and gave me ideas on what had been particularly useful to her - all, mind you, in a conversation between us that used no English.

I had an hour to study on my own, where I focused on the Subjunctive tense, and triggers for its use, then got to spend an hour with another young lady named Aline. Again, no English, and conversation as I would expect it in Bolivia. All these sisters were delightful, cheerful, and so eager to help.

For lunch, my Spanish Instructor, Jamison, came and we (he, Molly, and I) went to lunch together across the street from the chapel. Jamison introduced us to the monster sweet roll at Zubs Subs there in Provo. It was so big the three of us couldn't finish it, and we even ate it first (Thanks, Emily!) while we waited for our sandwiches and salads. Way too much food!

Jamison with Elder Lyon

After lunch, I got to work with Sister Cox's husband. I was so impressed by his commitment and diligence. We talked about all kinds of missionary things, again, all in Spanish. He and his wife both give service in many ways. If I recall, he and his wife basically are serving three different service missions right now. Needless to say, my head was full by now.

But, it was only 2:00 pm. The last two hours were spent with Jamison in an intensive review of the use of the subjunctive tense, and another hour of personal study. 

Tuesday was similar, but I got to work with McKay, my learning coach, Brother Jarman, who had taught Spanish for forty years at BYU (great insights and help), Juan, who is a native of Columbia, and Grace. I'll tell you more about Juan in a second - what a joy it was to work with him both on Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me tell you about Grace first.

Grace with Sister and Elder Lyon

Grace is from Salt Lake City, and served a Spanish speaking mission here in the United States (I forget now where that was, though.) When she came in, we started talking, and I asked her her name. Grace Bertch, she said. I asked if she knew a Fred Bertch, who used to teach math at Orem High.

Just as an aside, Mr. Bertch was far and away my favorite teacher in High School, and ranked above most of my college professors as well. He had such a wonderful personality - always smiling, with a dry sense of humor. But most of all, he was a master teacher. He made Calculus not only interesting, but fun. He could write out differential equations on the chalk board with either hand equally well, whether he was facing the board or facing the class. Needless to say, he kept us on our toes. I enjoyed that class more than any other in High School, and actually learned enough Calculus that I didn't have to take it again at BYU, despite taking classes in Physics and Physical Chemistry which both relied pretty heavily on an understanding of Calculus.

Sister Bertch - Grace - told me that he was her grandfather, and was touched when I told her how much I appreciated him, and what a good teacher he was. She told me that he had passed away just three years before, and had ended his career teaching at BYU. I was so grateful that he waited until I had had the opportunity to learn from him before he stepped up the the university level. She told me that her grandmother would be so pleased to hear that his skills and personality were such an influence on me.

Juan studying with Sister Lyon

Now for Juan. What a joy. He invited me to go for a walk while we talked. We walked up around the lower BYU campus on Tuesday, and down to the Provo Library on Wednesday, never pausing the conversation (all in Spanish) except to point out the ducks, or some particularly beautiful view. We talked about all kinds of things, including the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown. I'd never used that kind of vocabulary, but he helped me along with such ease and grace, correcting me gently when needed. What fun.

Wednesday was a repeat, with Olimpia again, Brother Jarman, who worked with Molly and I together, Jamison again, and Juan one last time. This was truly a very productive three days, and prepared us both for next week, when we fly to Bolivia.

Condo Closed - Memories of Mother Living Here

[June 8, 2015] Monday

Phew! Cutting it close. The papers were all signed today, and we no longer have to worry about what's going to happen with the condo. We have lots of sweet memories of having Mary, Molly's mother, living here and sharing her life with us.

We bought the condo in August of 2006 when Mary moved out here to Utah. It has been such a sweet blessing to be able to visit with her, hear her sing to us, laugh with us, and share all kinds of chocolate treats. Molly really has appreciated being able to spend so much time with her sweet mother. 

As the years have taken their toll on her eyesight and balance, we have been truly grateful that she has maintained her sharp mind and wit. It has been such a pleasure to be part of her life.

Mary Glidewell - Spring 2015 with her favorite trees in full bloom (her "copse")

This is Molly now. I just have to add my part here. Having my mother live so close has been a dream come true for me. My parents went on a mission right after we got married and I never lived close to them again after that. If I had known they were not coming back to Utah I would have spent more time with them. But being a new bride, I wanted to be independent. I was giddy when I learned she would be moving just 2 miles away and that giddy feeling never diminished in the 81/2 years she was here.

We had so much fun together. We swam most everyday, sang to everyone whether they wanted to hear us or not. We tried to be of service every day. She helped me tend grandchildren, who loved playing with Super Grandma. She is the best listener and all of us have needed her loving, compassionate non-judgmental ear, as well as her wise counsel. I even got to drive her and her boyfriends on some dates.

We attended the temple together and tried to do family history. I would attend her parties etc. and she would attend all of mine. My friends would tell me how lucky I was to have such a wonderful mother and I better appreciate her. Her friends would tell her how lucky she was to have me for a daughter. We both knew how lucky we were and I don't think we took each other for granted. I learned so much from her and continue to learn from her everyday.

My sisters and I have a name for the one that gets to be with mother, "TOTH" meaning The One That's Here. Sometimes I would call myself TOOTH because I was the only one that was here and she was stuck with me. I will always cherish the time I got to be TOTH. If I didn't know a mission was the right thing for Charlie and me to do right now I would not give up being TOTH. But I have wonderful sisters and any one of them would be a great TOTH.

It is Nancy's turn now and her family will be blessed to have Mother so close. I love you dear Mother. You have blessed my whole family more than you will ever know. We are so grateful to
have you in our lives. You are my SHERO!!!!!!!