Shoes, Punata again

[July 21 - 27, 2015] Tuesday through Monday

Tuesday
Since Hna. Valdizon had identified some locations for "big" shoes in La Cancha, we headed that way again. This time we went down Av. Brasil - and had success! The first couple of stores had size 13's, but they were too tight (I'm thinking they size them a bit small in Brazil, not that my feet have grown.)

A couple of stores later, we found one with size 14 (that's 48.5 European), and although they were a bit too big, they fit well enough that I bought them for 240 B's, or about $35 USD. I got a set of gel insoles at a Bata store later, and the combination makes them fit a bit better. They are very comfortable, so I figure, even if I wear them out in a year, it was a good deal.

And I know where to look for replacements!

My new size 14 shoes. Molly's are on the left for comparison.

On the way back, Molly couldn't help but notice all the school kids. The last three weeks have been their winter break (they got an extra week because it was so cold - it actually got down into the 30's F one day and snowed up in the mountains. Nothing here in the valley, though.)

So this week was their first week back to school, and our first week of wandering around Cochabamba (some might say aimlessly, but we at least imagined we knew where we were and where we were going). She was very impressed by their clean-cut uniforms, and how well-groomed they all were. It was quite impressive to see all these Bolivian children in modest white dresses for the girls, and shirts and ties with sweaters for the boys.

Wednesday
We walked to the Cine Center - a big social gathering place with food, and movie theaters (8 or more) between here at the temple and the real downtown (by street addresses, the intersection of Av. Heroínas and Av. Ayacucho is the center of Cochabamba). There is a "Fridays" restaurant (looks like TGIF in the United States - we ate there a couple of Saturdays ago), an ice cream place called "Flavor Burst" (yes in English), a hamburger place called "Tuesdays" among others.

In order to cross the two major avenues and the river (?) running across town, they have built this big elevated "tube" that you can walk through (if you get there during the right time of day. We've tried it again since, and it was closed the second time.) Here's what it looks like inside (I'll get a picture outside sometime - much less impressive outside):

Inside the "tube" walkway to Cine Center across Rio Rocha, Av. Uyuni and Av. Del Ejército.

We had hamburgers at Tuesdays, and good news, they were tasty, and didn't make us sick to our stomachs!

Thursday
A week or so ago, I bought a casual shirt, since we spend most of our time in casual attire, and I only brought two casual shirts. I have a dozen white shirts, as one would expect for missionaries, but I only wear them on Sundays, and at the Temple. When we go shopping, restaurants, etc., we just wear casual clothes with our nametags on.

The problem (you'll never guess) is that my height is a bit unusual. I did find a shirt long enough, but it was about twice as big around as I am. So, today, Molly spent the morning altering it so I wouldn't look like I was swimming in it. She did a really nice job.

I'm also looking into how to get my Nexus 4 onto the Bolivian phone network. There is an Hermano in the Distribution Center here who has a brother who does all the telephone stuff for the missionaries, so we figured we'd see if he could help us. We're not sure when he might show up, though... Apparently (just as I had read before coming), you just buy a SIM card, and then charge your account with minutes/GB's through an online website. Much like the StraightTalk approach we had been using back home.

Friday
Molly mentioned to me sometime last week, that we would miss the 24th of July (I think she was implying the celebrations, but you know us literalist Lyons...). I worried that the calendar here in Bolivia might go from the 23rd to the 25th.

But, guess what, we didn't miss it! Even the celebrations! OK, the celebration weren't actually on the 24th, and they had nothing to do with Pioneers. But, we had fireworks shooting off south of the Temple here two or three nights last week. It seems to be nearly a daily occurrence for some festival or celebration.

Since the 24th of July is Sawyer's birthday, we called him and sang Happy Birthday (or some almost identifiable rendition of it.) Six years old! It was fun talking to him.

Also, we took a long walk downtown (yes, this time we walked all the way to Av. Heroínas) to find a paper store that sells photo paper. Our next-door-neighbor missionaries have an inkjet printer, and are willing to print up pictures for us if we supply the paper.

So, we walked down (about 2.5 miles), couldn't find the store, and headed back. About a mile along the way, we figured we'd better take a bus, since it was uphill, and we were afraid of getting back later than our shift at the Temple. So, we jumped on a bus that was completely packed. Molly squished inside, and I stood in the door well, hanging onto the frame. Memories of old times here in Bolivia.

We found another store closer to home, and bought a small supply that will last us until we get back to the downtown store. I was able to get some pictures printed off to give Jeaneth out in Punata. (see Sunday entry below)

Saturday
This Saturday was pretty usual - a trip to the Feria for fruits and veggies, and the afternoon in the Temple.

On Saturday evenings, we get through before 7:00 pm, and all the missionaries and President Jensen and his wife (and sometimes President Hansen and his wife - the Mission President for the Cochabamba Mission) get together and go to an up-scale (usually) restaurant for dinner.

This week, Sister Chalmers had made reservations at a restaurant called Kansas. When we got there, the logo outside was the Kansas band logo, but there was no music lending any credence to an association, and the decor, etc. pretty well indicated that they had just "borrowed" the logo.

The food was very good - immense proportions, very tasty, and well-prepared. To top it off (I know, dessert really should come first), Molly and I shared a huge brownie with vanilla ice cream on it. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out for some reason. Anyway, it was as "Stateside" as you could get here, I imagine.

Sunday
We had been planning to get out to Punata again, and today seemed the best time to do it.

So, we caught a taxi at the Temple at 7:00 am, and headed for the parada (stop) for the Punata taxis, trufis, and buses. There was one sitting at the corner, so we jumped in and waited. It seems that they don't want to go with a half-filled bus, so it waits until it's full. I asked the driver as we got off in Punata how often they left there, and he assured me, "cada 15 minutos". (You can figure that one out without my translating it, I'm sure.)

So, after we had waited 20 minutes or so, it was full, and we took off. Talk about a flash-back. There were two women who had small trees with them (taking them home to plant them, I assume), and another with a parrot on her shoulder. On the way to Punata, we stopped every couple of minutes to pick someone up, or let someone off - this is not just a destination bus, but a regular carrier for the entire route. Here's a picture of the inside view:

Inside the bus to Punata.

We got to Punata with about 15 minutes to spare, and headed off for the church. We had to go through the main plaza (18 de Mayo - I can't find what significance it has at this point).

Here's what the Catholic church looked like 40 years ago:

Templo San Juan Bautista in 1975 (Catholic Church on the plaza in Punata).

Here it is (on the left, with a view of the plaza) today. Across the way you see evidence that the two story limit on buildings back in 1975 has been violated. :) There are a lot of 4-5 story buildings out there now, but they appear to be constructed in a similar way to the concrete frame filled with bricks as I saw in La Paz in 1975-76. Lots of worries if there were an earthquake:

Punata plaza and San Juan Bautista in 2015.

We walked around the plaza, and down Calle Potosí, and across Av. LIBERTADORES to the church. 

(Note that there are two Av. Libertadores, one lower case, and one upper case on Google maps. I'm not sure why they are named that way, but if you leave the plaza headed south on Calle Potosí, you won't find the lower case version. The two intersect and become one just east of town, on the way to Arani. I'd figure that it should be called Av. LiBeRtAdOrEs, or some such, but it appears that lower case ruled.)

We got to the church at about 8:50 - plenty of time! Just for comparisons, here is the outside of the building we met in 40 years ago:

View of the outside of the LDS Chapel in Punata in 1975.

And here is the inside:

Hna. Lopez leading a Christmas Program in Punata, 1975.

As you can see, it's pretty bare-bones. A few chairs, and some rickety wooden benches. The Christmas "tree" in the corner was just a branch we cut off from a big evergreen tree we found a ways outside of town. Pretty creative.

Here's the outside and inside of the chapel in Punata now:

The Punata Chapel in 2015.

View of the rear side of the Punata Chapel in 2015.

Inside the Punata Chapel in 2015.

 We found Sister Sanchez (Jeaneth), and sat with her. We had printed some pictures for her of the people in the Branch in Punata in 1975, and gave them to her, along with some pictures Elder Steven Gibson, one of the missionaries that taught and baptized her, had sent me of him and his family. She was touched.

Again, for comparisons, this was a pretty good representation of church attendance back then (this was at the baptism of Hna. Irma Rojas - in the center). There were a few other people that came with some frequency to church, but not a lot. An attendance of a dozen would have been amazing.

1975
Hna. Lopez, Jeaneth holding Irma's baby, Bebita (Hna. Lopez's daughter),
Irma Rojas with her other two children, a neighbor boy,
Jeaneth's little sister Nancy and brother Antonio (I think),
Harry (Hna. Lopez's son).

Attendance on this Sunday was pretty close to 100 people. They actually have a real piano (not like the electric one in Barrio Linde where we were last week), and a sister who can play it. They sing a bit slow, but it felt like it could have been a ward anywhere in the world.

Jeaneth gave the opening prayer, and it was very sincere and powerful. It's evidence that she has deep faith, and is fully committed to the gospel.

Afterwards, we attended her Primary class - she teaches the Valientes (yes, that's spelled right for Spanish). She was amazing - she taught about Tithing, and bore her testimony of it repeatedly. The kids responded as well as any class of that age I've seen. 

Mom attended the Sociedad de Socorro afterwards with Jeaneth, and thought she had lost her brains when part of the discussion took off in Quechua. It appears that there is a pretty strong mix of native Quechuistas here in this ward, who don't speak Spanish. Jeaneth taught herself to speak Quechua during her career as an elementary school teacher. She indicated that she had taught out in the campo for many years, and her classes were typically all grades combined. She had to teach every subject. 

Molly and I were both so very impressed with how intelligent, and well-spoken she was. I'm sure her students loved her.

After the meetings, we took some pictures

Jeaneth with Hna. Lyon.

Jeaneth with Elder Lyon.

Then we went with her to her home. It was far enough that we had to take a taxi. Which speaks to her dedication as well. Every Sunday, she has to take a taxi both to and from church. And it's pretty clear that there are few forces in the world that would stop her.

She lives in a 2 bedroom "house". The bedrooms and bathroom are accessed off a central "plaza" where she had lemon, cherry, tangerine, and peach trees growing. The "main" part had a big living room, and a kitchen and dining room. 

She and her husband live there with their youngest daughter, their son-in-law, and their grand daughter. Her daughter is studying to be a nurse, so Jeaneth takes care of the toddler most of the week. It was a happy, content home. Here's a picture of the family:

Jeaneth's family:
Son-in law, daughter, grand-daughter, Jeaneth, and her husband
in their home in Punata.

As is custom here, they wanted to provide us with something to eat, so her husband left just as we arrived, and came back a few minutes later with something. The hospitality of these Bolivians is incomparable. He brought back a bottle of soda pop, and plate full of chicken churrasco (barbecued chicken), with mote (big kernals of corn) and spices. It was very tasty, but I worried about whether or not it was safe. Trusting in the Lord, and remembering I'd been blessed in these situations before, we ate along. [Monday morning - we're still alive, although our stomachs are a bit delicate. Maybe we aren't living completely right, yet.]

After, we headed back to Cochabamba. We first tried to catch a taxi (7 B's each) from the main plaza, but there were too many others in line, so we walked two blocks to where we had gotten off the bus, and saw a "micro" or small bus waiting to leave for Cochabamba (only 6 B's each!). We hopped on that one, and waited until it filled up - 14 people counting the driver. Mind you, this wasn't a 15 passenger van, but something about the size of a regular mini-van with extra rows of seats, and extra seats squeezed into each row. On the way back, we stopped and picked up two more people - it wasn't quite packed tight.

When we got back to the "parada" for the buses and such, we didn't see any taxis, so we asked around, and were directed to the next street over, where the buses up to town all started their routes. So we walked over. We realized we were right on the south edge of La Cancha, and it looked like Sunday was the biggest day of the week to go shopping there. It was really crazy.

We found our Bus #3 eventually, and got home safe and sound at about 3:30. What an interesting day!

We Skyped with parents, and most of the kids today. We'll catch the rest of them tomorrow, hopefully. It's so fun to see them all. We hooked the computer up to the TV with an HDMI cable, so we could see them bigger-than-life-sized.

My first "selfie" - see the picture in the upper-right corner.

Monday
So, here we are on Monday again. Molly and I walked down to IC Norte for the weekly groceries, and caught a taxi back up to the temple. This afternoon, we're having a pot-luck dinner for Hna. Lara, who is completing her mission and returning home, for Molly's birthday (tomorrow), and Sister Delgado's birthday (yesterday). Molly is cooking a pot of her chicken tortilla soup for our contribution. It should be fun.

That's a wrap for the week, I think.

Home, Burger King, Cold Stone, Choir

[July 16-20, 2015] Thursday - Monday

Thursday:
Molly and I mostly just lazed around the apartment this morning, doing some studying and catching up with things. Molly still felt a little under the weather from her bout on Sunday. So I figured I'd give you a view of our abode:

Apartment 303 - The Lyons

The Dining area and Living Room - Molly is blogging, I think. 

The Kitchen is to the left here.

The Kitchen. Nice stove and refrigerator. Hot and cold running water,

adequate storage, etc.

Our bedroom and desk.

Dresser and mirror.

Closet and another dresser. Bathroom in the corner.

Bathroom from the door.

Looking back the other way in the bathroom.

There is a shared laundry down the hall with four nice washers and four dryers. So, there you have it. It's perfect for us.

As part of our language study, we take one of the articles in the Liahona magazine. One of us will have it in Spanish on our iPad, and the other in English. We read through a paragraph in Spanish, and make sure our pronunciation is good, and then we try and translate it to English. Once we think we have it as good as we can get it, we check it against the English version. We're getting better, but we still come across words that we need to learn.

We went up to the temple at 4:00 pm, and my assignment for the day was to run the Baptistry. Each group that comes is asked to bring enough endowed men with them to help do all the work. A number of the men were fathers of young men or women in the group, and they wanted to baptize their own child(ren). So, we made sure that happened.

One of them was visibly moved as he performed the ordinance. That's one of the really neat things about working in the temple - you get to participate and help with ordinances that bring families together, and it doesn't always mean just ancestors that have passed away. It works to bring living family members together, too. It was special to be able to share this experience with this father and his daughter.

After our afternoon temple assignment, Molly was feeling worse, so she used one of the UTI dipsticks that we brought from home. Sure enough, it looked like she was headed for a UTI, so we started her on a three-day dose of antibiotics (that we also brought with us) to get in front of it quickly.

Due to our experience just before coming here, we were well aware of what to look for, and were well prepared, so we just did what we'd discussed with the doctor back home. As the week progressed (see Saturday...), we realized that we really had been instructed in how to manage things without having to find a doctor down here (yet!)

Friday:
Since I still haven't found a source for size 13 (US) / 47 (European) shoes, we tried following another lead. There is a street called the Prado, or Avenida Ballivian, where there were supposedly some stores that cater to tourists. We were told that this was the most likely place to find something. So we took the bus down to the middle of Cochabamba - about 2 blocks away, and went walking.

We walked up the Prado, and back down without any luck. For shoes that is. But we did find a Burger King, and a Cold Stone:

Burger King

Cold Stone (look closely on the right)

Since we were here, we figured we'd take a look around, so we just started walking and looking. We had heard that there was a shirt factory on Av. Sucre, so we headed that direction. No luck, but we did find a little place selling nice shirts, so we got one for me for about $7.00.

The streets downtown are a bit narrow. That traffic moves, pretty much without regard to pedestrians, so make sure you don't step off the curb:

Av. Sucre (I think)

Then we remembered that someone told us where to find Alpaca sweaters. Since Molly needed something when the mornings or evenings are a bit chilly, we headed that way - the intersection of Av. Ayacucho and Av. Heroinas. It was a real touristy area, but we found a very cute sweater for her:

Then we walked east along Av. Heroinas, and stumbled across a fun looking pasteleria:

Ice Cream - remember how you can tell how

long a missionary has been out by what he/she

does when a fly lands on their ice cream cone?

Could they possibly taste as good as they look?

We also got some good pictures of interesting looking places:

A building on Av. Heroinas

Plaza 14 de Setiembre (I think)

We'll have to come back down here when we have some more time.

On the way back to the bus stop, we stopped to get a bottle of water. As I paid the vendor (a little lady with the traditional braids, etc), she looked up at me and just started laughing. She said she'd never seen anyone as tall as I was. I do stand out a bit here (see the picture on this Sunday for proof.)

All in all, we walked about 3 miles/5 km. A nice day's exercise.

Molly also started getting a cold sore - shades of our experience in the month before we came here. In the US, you have to have a prescription for good stuff (acyclovir), so we treated it then with Abreva - $17 for a .07 oz tube. Here, we ran to the nearest pharmacy, and for $3, we got a .5 oz tube of Acyclovir. Hopefully that will clear it up quickly.

In the temple this afternoon, Molly was asked to pray for our preparation meeting. Since the group is mostly Bolivian, she got to do it in Spanish for the first time with a big group (15-20 people). She was a bit intimidated, but did it like a trooper. I wasn't there to hear, but I'm sure she did fine. I got called out right at the beginning of the meeting to go get the Baptristy organized again.

Since this is the last week of school break, there were a lot of young people again. It's so fun to seen them come every day - I am getting to know and recognize some of them, and they are so happy, and gracious, and appreciative of this opportunity to do temple work. As I've indicated, some of them come from Santa Cruz and La Paz, spending the whole week doing baptisms for their ancestors. Pretty neat.

Saturday:
We went to the Feria - our usual Saturday activity. Lots of fruits and vegetables again. Fresh. Bananas are sweeter here, tomatoes seem to always be in season, etc. Molly bought some flowers to brighten up our apartment. Hopefully they'll make it a bit less drab, since we're hosting the missionaries on Monday - FHE, as it were. She's going to make some Cocadas (coconut macaroons) to highlight a Bolivian treat. I get to come up with a lesson.

After our shift in the temple, we went to a very nice restaurant within walking distance called Cayenna (or something close). The food was very good - and priced in the same range as the other Saturday night restaurants have been. Pretty swell.

While we were there, I got to talk to President Hansen - the Cochabamba Mission President - for a bit about how the missionary work is going, my experiences here previously, etc. One thing he told me was about the New Mission Presidents' seminar that was held in June. One of the General Authorities talked about how important it was that new members have a Temple experience as soon as is possible after they are baptized. That will typically be an opportunity to do baptisms for the dead - exactly what I have been helping with this week. According to the research, retention is significantly enhanced - as much as 30% better - if the temple is taught early, and experiences to do Family History and Temple work are provided within the first year of membership. It gives me a good sense that what we are doing is really closing the circle on the missionary work I did 40 years ago, but with new members of the church.

As we got done at the restaurant, Molly's mouth was hurting - Thrush symptoms, again, just like she'd had before we came here. Since we'd gone to the clinic in West Valley, and been given a prescription for Nystatin, we knew just what to look for. So, at 10:00 pm, we headed for the pharmacy down on Av. America. Sure enough, we were able to get a bottle of Nistatina - $3. At Smith's in West Valley, it was closer to $70. Hmmm....

On our walk back up to the temple, we asked someone about all the fireworks that were going off. It was a celebration for the Festival de la Virgin Carmen. He didn't know exactly what is was that she was being celebrated for - just "milagros". They kind of like to celebrate anything they can, here. Lots of nights with fireworks going off. And they aren't just the little ones. Some really light up the sky. I suppose I'm happy we aren't up on the Altiplano near the mines. I understand their fireworks are more along the lines of dynamite, if that's all they can find.

On our walk down to the Pharmacy and back, we were accompanied by our "guarda espaldas" - body guard - Hna. Marina Valdizon. She's originally from Peru, but has lived in Provo, Utah for the last 20 years. She speaks Spanish better than English, and has no fear. She promised that she would take care of us, if needed. As usual, though, we had nothing to worry about.

After we got home, we Skyped Seth's family. Riley was baptized today, and Shalana reported that Seth had given Riley a special blessing along with his confirmation. It was fun talking to them.

Sunday: 
We left early to get to the Barrio Linde Ward Conference, taking a trufi. We got there early enough to practice with the choir, but, by the time everyone showed up, it was time for the meeting. It was really nice. The choir did fantastic with a special arrangement of "I Love to See the Temple" and "Families Can Be Together Forever." They sang "Let Us All Press On" as a prelude to the meeting. Very well done.

The talks and lessons were amazing. The Bishop and Stake President spoke, and their messages about eternal families and temple work were so perfect. The Sunday School teacher is a young man who is probably less than 5 years back from his mission. He did a fantastic job teaching about how we are all witnesses of Christ - easy to understand, involved everyone, and communicated very good points with the spirit.

Afterwards, the choir director wanted a picture with all the choir. See if you can spot the gringo in this picture:

One of things is not like the others...

[Out of sequence, but applicable - one of the other gringo missionaries made some joke about not doing anything amiss. I said that it would be hard with so many people watching over my shoulder. He commented, "What do mean watching over your shoulder? It's more like they are watching under your armpit!"]

Also, the Bishop came up to me afterwards, and wanted Molly and I to take one of the floral arrangements that they had used to brighten up the chapel:

Very sweet of them.

We finished off the day Skyping with kids. It's nice that we can communicate so easily with everyone. They all seemed to be doing well.

What a fun day.

Monday:
You had hoped that you were about done with this week's posting, but not yet!

We really spent the bulk of the day prepping for our Family Home Evening assignment tonight. I put together a presentation about the history, geography, people, etc. of  Bolivia, while Molly cooked the coconut Cocadas. They didn't quite turn out as expected, but they were very tasty. They just didn't harden up much, so they were more like squishy macaroons (really squishy...) than the ones we've tried elsewhere here. But, we'll keep trying (everyone loved them, squishy or not!)

I'll see what I can do to make the Powerpoint presentation available - I can't see an easy way to attach it to the blog at this point, so I'll see what other methods I can use. It did turn out to be pretty interesting to do all the research about Bolivia.

On the shoe search front, Hna. Valdizon went to La Cancha with an outline of my shoe, and claims to have found three or four places that have ones that are big enough for me. The most expensive is a Reebok branded shoe (who knows if it is the same as in the US), for about $50. I think the last time I wore a shoe that cost that little was 35 years ago.

There, I think I'm done now. Feel free to post your comments below. They are moderated, but as long as they are pertinent and interesting, I'll let them through. :)

Another picture of the temple:

Tramites and Forever Families

[July 14-15, 2015] Tuesday - Wednesday

Tuesday: 
We got dressed early and went down to the "Garrita" or guard station to meet Bishop Davila who would take us to do some more tramite work for our Visas. Turns out we would be doing it on Wednesday, so we went home, changed out of our Sunday clothes and into our jeans and went on an adventure.

We had heard of a store that might carry some large sized shoes. We headed East on Avenida America, which was a new route for us. We passed by a bunch of buildings that looked like a campus and sure enough on one building were the words Universidad Catolico. The area had a college feel to it with lots of papelerias or stationary stores. There were young adults wearing back packs, as well. Also a lot of eating places.

However, no shoe store. We never did find the store. We saw where it might have been at one time, but the stores were empty. We didn't mind, it was a lovely walk after all.

We stopped off at IC Norte on our way home to pick up some things. We even bought a coconut chocolate bar to share on the way home.

Charlie has been doing some research on my family line and he found some information that needed to be cleaned up as well as some names of people who were ready for their temple work to be done. There is a Family History Center right here on the temple grounds but it is only opened on Wednesday and Friday so we will make a trip there tomorrow to print up our forms to take to the temple.

Wednesday:
We met Bishop Davila early and did our Tramites. It took about two hours. We went to Migración where we got a number and waited in line. We signed our names and put our passport number on forms and got our pictures taken again.

Next we got in the car and went to the bank. Bishop Davila's wife Anita often helps him with these tramite ventures (he does this with the young missionaries as well). She ran into the bank while we drove around to find a place to park and wait for her. The purpose of going to the bank was to deposit money for the blood test and bring the receipt back to Migración to show that the blood work had been paid for even though we didn't have to get the blood work done.

On the front lawn of Migración under a canopy was an old copy machine (an independent vender, who sets up their copy machine there). After getting copies made we got a number and waited in line. The place was more crowded this time. We met some nuns from Korea and exchanged greetings with them.

Our tramites are nearly complete. In two weeks Bishop Davila will go back to Migración to get our passports back and we might have to do some more things. This process has improved greatly. The other missionaries' tramite work took 6 months to finish. And when Charlie was here 40 years ago he had to check in with the policia (police) every 90 days.

There is a little Church Distribution Center here as well. Their supplies are pretty limited. We bought a Children's Songbook and a full slip for me. The only size slip left was an extra large, so I spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to make it fit and stitching by hand.

We were able to go to the Family History Center and get our form printed to take to the temple. It was sweet to be able to see the whole process through. We did the work for my dad's cousin Vester (Aunt Rosie's boy) and his wife Bessie. We also were able to do the work for Rinse Davis and his wife who was Sarah Jane Chester from my mother's line. And Joseph Smiley and Jane Simpson were sealed together for time and all Eternity.

My assignment in the temple today was in the Guardaria. The Guardaria is a place for children who are being sealed to their parents to wait while their parents are receiving their temple ordinances. These ordinances need to be performed before the family can be sealed, like getting baptized before receiving the Priesthood.

The family being sealed had three boys. I met them at the front desk of the temple and their Dad helped me bring them to the Guardaria. The youngest boy was asleep in his arms. They live in La Paz, so they had traveled on a bus for 8 hours to get to the temple. They got to the Guardaria at 4:15 pm and their sealing was about 9:00...so late. Even though they were tired and it was late, they didn't complain, because they were going to be a family forever.

I was so impressed with Rrussell, the oldest brother. He was so sweet with his younger brothers and so respectful and handsome. He reminded me of Gordon, same age, oldest of three, handsome and spiritually mature. I told him (as best I could) about my grandson Gordon. We also talked a little about receiving the Priesthood. So sweet.

The sealing was going to be around 8:30 so we started getting them dressed in their white clothing around 8:00. Imagine three very handsome, dark skinned, robust boys all in white. They looked like angels.

We all sat on the couch and talked a bit and then I read to them some more. They were so tired from their big day. Franklyn, the three year old fell asleep on my shoulder right away. Joan fell asleep too.They called for me to bring the boys up to the sealing room around 8:50. I carried the three year old( I bet he weighed 40 pounds). I got to attend the sealing. I actually didn't notice they were speaking in Spanish. I just felt so much love and gratitude for being there. The sealer had the boys stand on the bench to look in the "forever" mirrors with their parents. They had a lot of guests and I loved watching Rrussell's tender expressions as he welcomed everyone's hugs etc.

I carried the "little one" downstairs (I'm afraid he won't remember much) but the other two will. They changed their clothes and we quietly played with puzzles till I got the call to bring them out front about 10:00.

So what do you do with three boys ages 11, 5 and 3 and you don't know their language very well. I'll tell you what you do, you just love them like they were your own grandkids. And I love playing with my grandchildren. We played hide the toy. We colored. We read all the children's books...then I discovered a cupboard of toys and puzzles. Those kids were amazing with the puzzles, especially the 3 year old.

It was an honor to get to be their Abuela Blanca (white grandma) for the night.

I wish I had known more Spanish kid words However I was very grateful for the times I played with my friend Miriam's children. She taught me Spanish for three years in her home. I'm grateful for her every day.

There are families that make that long bus trip with their young children on a regular basis. They stay here in the hospedaje (where we live) on the temple grounds. They take turns attending sessions and tending children. Their children are dressed in their Sunday best. The temple is a part of their lives. It will be interesting to see the good that comes from this generation of Bolivians.

Molly's Musings

Charlie is such a good writer and he has the history here to make an interesting story but I feel like I better add some of my own story to this blog.

First of all, I am loving everything about being here. Here are some interesting cultural observations.

• The streets are crazy, very narrow and packed with cars, buses, trucks, etc. Stop lights are not always observed (if it's clear why stop, right?). But you never see any accidents or policemen giving tickets. 
• To earn money, children as young as maybe 10 (I would guess) do cartwheels, walk on their hands, juggle, wash windows, etc., at the busier stop lights (where people usually stop). 
• There are dogs that wander the streets everywhere. They never bother anyone and they seem well fed but I don't know if anyone owns them, they are just there. Occasionally they will all start barking at once (like the barking patrol on 101 Dalmatians). 
• People set up awnings or just a table on the side of the sidewalk and sell food that they cook right there, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
• I love to see the women in their native dress with full skirt, two long braids and hats. They use their colorful blankets to carry things on their backs. 

Any way that's probably enough for now.

The people are so gracious and respectful. They don't come into your presence or leave your presence without acknowledging you with a kind word or hand shake or hug and all the women kiss on the cheek. Even the youth and young children greet you this way. My kinda people.

I have felt encouraged by these dear people as I practice my Spanish on them. They are kind and patient and very helpful. My assignments in the temple have put me in front of groups of youth where I have had to welcome them and give simple instructions. At times I need to learn a new assignment and what is expected of me from someone who doesn't speak any English. We just keep at it 'til we understand each other. We've been here long enough that we see people in the temple who come on a regular basis as patrons. It's so sweet when they recognize you and are so happy to reconnect.

One day when we came on our shift we saw Hermana Lopez, an older sister from Charlie's mission. We had visited her in her home. I felt so much love for her and from her as we reconnected.

I'm understanding more everyday. However I still have days when everything sounds like a totally different language that I don't understand. But those are getting less and less. I love it all!

I love Skyping with our children, grandchildren and parents each week. We are so proud of our children and the good things they are doing with their families and with each other.

Thank you kids for including us in your busy lives.

And of course I love spending everyday with my companion. I love hearing him speak the language and communicate with these dear people. He takes good care of us and he is fun to be with. I feel like we are both growing as individuals and as a companionship.

Polite people, Beautiful children, Sickly Sunday

[July 8-13, 2015] Wednesday- Monday

Wednesday:
We made the trip to La Cancha this morning to look for shoes. I've been told that some of the Brazilian vendors there have the larger sizes, but no success.

The more amazing thing was that I forgot to bring a map, and we didn't get lost! We did buy some rugs to place next to the bed so our feet won't get so cold on the tiles in the morning. I also bought an HDMI cable so I could connect the laptop to the TV. That came in handy on Friday for President Packer's funeral.

We took the #3 bus down and back - it was really packed. On the way down, Molly sat next to a lady who talked her ear off, and Molly said she really was pleased that she understood most of it. She is really doing great with learning the language and communicating. She is losing her fear little by little. Given that we've only been here three weeks now, I think she's made tremendous progress. She really works on not letting the Gringo accent get too strong. I realize we'll always sound like Gringos, but we both are working on our accent and improving each day.

On the bus, Molly was really impressed by the politeness of the people - old and young. As she got on, a young woman stood up and offered her seat without any asking, etc. Molly doesn't really look like a senior citizen - it was just a polite effort on the part of this young woman. The children always greet us with smiles on their faces. Some of it may be the uniqueness of seeing these foreigners here, and realizing we aren't great at communicating, but everyone is so friendly and helpful. It makes every day enjoyable.

In a prior post, or posting some pictures, our son Matt asked if these trees on the temple property were gum trees. I figured I'd get a close up of the leaves so he (or someone else) could answer the question properly:

Trees on the temple grounds - Gum trees?

Leaves of said trees

Thursday:
Another family I'd like to reconnect with, if possible, is the Alvarez family from Santa Cruz. There's another sweet story I'll post at some future time. In talking with President Garcia here at the temple (he's the First Counselor in the Temple Presidency), I found that he had lived in Santa Cruz, so I asked him about the Alvarez family.

It turns out that Hno. Alvarez was a Bishop at one point, and President Garcia had been his counselor. Hno. Alvarez, though, passed away about three years ago. Pte. Garcia told, me, though, that his wife was still active in the church, and lived in the same ward as Pte. Garcia's daughter. He told me that if I wrote her a letter, his daughter, who is coming to Cochabamba next week, will make sure it get's delivered.

So, I started writing letter to Hna. Alvarez. In Spanish, no less. We'll see how that goes. I'm excited to hear about her and her children.

Also, this morning, Molly got a haircut and color from Hna. Valdizán. Hna. Valdizán is one of the temple missionaries. She's from Peru (lived there for 36 years), but moved to Provo and owns a home there now. She was a hairdresser in her former life, and enjoys helping the sister missionaries here at the temple. She speaks Spanish natively, and speaks very good English as well, so she helps us understand things while we're still learning.

Friday:
We were able to connect the laptop to the TV, and watch President Packer's funeral through the Internet. The connection was very good, with only a couple of times where it hung up and missed something. It was so sweet to see President Monson speak, and communicate such sweet things about President Packer. All the talks were powerful and moving. President Packer has been such a forthright teacher of correct principles. His book, "Teach Ye Diligently" was one of my favorites, and I took it with my on my mission as a young man because the principles were so meaningfully related to the work I had been called then to do. He was (and is) a very great man and a wonderful example to all of us.

The temple has been very busy this week. The schools all have there winter vacation right now, so families take the opportunity to come to the temple together. The young people do Baptisms for the Dead, while the parents participate in the other temple ordinances. The hospedaje is packed from Wednesday through Saturday. Buses arrive early in the week, and families stay through Saturday, doing work each day, often for their own ancestors. It is really sweet to see.

They often bring their children, and they take turns watching out for them. The children, even though they are too young to go in the temple, are usually well dressed, and always well behaved. They are so happy to be here.

As we were walking back from a trip to the store, this group of children came running up to us, wanting to shake our hands, and greet us. They were so fun. I figured I had better get their picture with Molly:

Bolivian children at the temple with Molly

Someone made the comment that these children are being "raised" with the temple. It is central to their families' experience to come here. It really is a powerful testimony of the faith of the members here.

Saturday:
Another trip to the Feria. The fruits and veggies are plentiful and inexpensive. This amounts to about $8.00 of produce:

We had another very busy day at the temple. It's wonderful to be so busy, and see this temple being utilized so fully. There are six endowment sessions each day, five days a week, and every one of them has a good number of patrons, usually. This week, we've been averaging over 30 per session (the capacity of each endowment room is 50 here, so that's pretty good.)

When we got through, Molly wasn't feeling very well, so we passed on the Saturday night restaurant run with the other missionaries, and just came home. We're not sure what got into Molly, but she had a pretty miserable night.

Sunday:
Mom still was not feeling well. President Jensen came over, and we gave her a blessing. We weren't able to attend the Linde Ward this morning, but I knew they were counting on me to help with the Choir, so I called the Bishop to let him know what was up. A little while later, I got a call from the Choir Director, indicating the practice would be at 6:00 pm.

Molly still wasn't up to making the trip, so I asked President Jensen if I should just invite another missionary couple to accompany me. He said it would be fine if I went alone, so I did.

I caught a Trufi (2 B's - 30 cents), and made it out there in plenty of time. We practiced for nearly two hours, so the sun had set when I finally got away. I had hoped to catch a Trufi back, but waited for 15 minutes or so without seeing one. So I finally caught a Taxi. I really didn't feel any danger, but I'm always happier to be with Molly as my companion. Even though it is only about four miles away, I wasn't really excited to walk home alone!

Monday:
We started the day by walking down to Los Castores with Hna. Valdizán to get some salteñas for breakfast. We decided to get the "super picante" ones this morning. They were really tasty, and not as "picante" as we had hoped. 

We walked back up the street to IC Norte to get some groceries. Molly needed to get some stuff to make cookies for our FHE tonight. There is a group of students here in Cochabamba from BYU, who have come to teach music in one of the schools here. They come to the temple each week, so we've had the opportunity to visit with them, and ask them to come and share their talents with our group of missionaries. They willingly agreed.

So, we got the groceries we needed, and decided to bring a taxi back, since we had 5 bags of groceries. It was good to have Hna. Valdizán with us, because she can get much better deals, especially on taxis. Since she is a native Latin American, they don't treat her like a "rich American". The taxi pulled up, and where they would have charged me 15-20 Bolivianos, she got them to only charge us 8 B's. Hmmmm....

And, on a last note before the obligatory blog ending pictures, we've been pushing ourselves to learn how to use the FamilySearch website to do Family History better. Today, I was able to find source documents for one of Grandpa Glidewell's cousins that gave his birth date, death date, and death location, along with his wife and her information. As a result, their work can now be done to be sealed together. I also found documentation for their three children, all of whom could be living. We'll have to see if we can connect with them to get the work done.

Lots of learning, and lots of fun.

So, here are some Cochabamba and temple pictures to wrap this week up.

Cochabamba (in the distance) from the temple.

View of the temple from our walk home from IC Norte (groceries).

View of the temple through the fence around the temple grounds.

Demetrio

[July 7, 2015] Tuesday

Let me cover some history before I tell you about a sweet experience in the temple this afternoon.

In December of 1975, I had been in Punata for about two months. The valley where Punata is has three main towns - Punata, Arani, and Cliza. All of them were fairly small, and we tried to spend time in each town. At the time, the people in Cliza were more receptive to our efforts than Arani, so we would go over to Cliza quite often.

The road between Punata and Cliza was dirt, and it was about 10 miles between them. We'd leave in the morning, walking, and sometimes be able to catch a ride in a cattle truck (in back with the cows), or some other vehicle hauling fruits or vegetables or other freight. I don't know how many times we walked the whole way, but I don't think it was too many. Visiting Cliza was pretty much an all day affair.

In reviewing my journal, I'm surprised at how often we made that trip. There are notes of quite a few people who were interested, and we had a lot of discussions over there with them.

In my journal, on December 6th, 1975, I made a note that a young man named Demetrio Carballo had come from Cliza to Punata to attend church. Unfortunately, I don't have any notes about how we met him over there, or what we had said, so I'm thinking it must have been a brief visit, or even a visit with someone who knew him and referred him to us. He was about 18 years old, and very quiet, but very intelligent.

On December 13th, my journal reports the following:

"Went to Cliza today - had a great Charla "C" (the one about the restoration of the gospel, the Book of Mormon, prophets, etc.) with Demetrio Carballo. Super - ate everything up - prayed great etc. It was so good, I walked off without my camera. Then we went to [another family] who own the heladeria (ice cream shop - I didn't remember this one), and set them up for a discussion on Saturday. Then to [another family] - they weren't three, so we turned to leave, and Demetrio came up to us with my camera. He'd followed us to give it to me, and I hadn't even thought about it 'til then when I saw it."

I was impressed by his honesty and diligence. He came to church the next day (all the way from Cliza), and participated in everything.

On December 20th, my journal reports:

"Went to Cliza - had a great Charla with Demetrio. We challenged him to be baptized. He accepted like that had always been his goal!"

On December 27th, my journal reports the following:

"We baptized Demetrio today. Interviewing him was  a pleasure. He knew what he was doing, he's got a testimony, and wants to be strong in the church. I baptized him - the water was cold! I feel he'll be a good member - I sure hope so!"

When I returned to Punata some eight months later, he was still active, and had been recommended to be ordained an Elder. I felt fortunate that I was able to be there and participate in that sweet ordination with him.

That's the back story. On returning here to Bolivia, I had hoped to be able to meet Demetrio again. Over the past couple of weeks, I have asked around, and I had found that he was living here in Cochabamba, attending the Universidad ward, and serving as a secretary in the Stake. Hno. Carlos Pedraja knew him, and told me he would get an address so I could go and visit him.

So, this afternoon, as I was serving in the temple, I had an assignment that required me to talk to each brother who was attending the temple for the last session of the day. In the course of the conversation, I needed to know each brother's last name.

As I introduced myself, I asked this one brother what his last name was. "Carballo", he answered. Obviously suspicious now, but not recognizing this brother, I asked, "What is your first name?"

"Demetrio", he replied, with a grin on his face. He had recognized me. Hno. Pedraja had told him that I was a temple missionary, and he had actually come last Saturday to meet me. He had seen me, but I was busy working with someone else, and he didn't want to interrupt, so he came back today.

After I finished my assignment, I had 20 minutes or so free, so I sat down with him and visited. He is now married with three children. He baptized his wife, and they, along with their children, have been sealed in the temple. He teaches math, and has a Master's degree. He still knows a number of the members of the little Punata branch - Brother Mendez and his family moved to Santa Cruz. He has been a Bishop, and one of his sons is a Stake President there.

What a sweet reunion with another one of God's choice, humble, sincere children here in Bolivia. I feel amazingly blessed to have known, and been so influenced by these sweet people.

Laundromat, Flowering trees, Salteñas and a BBQ

[July  6, 2015] Monday

I'm going to try to compress the whole week here into one blog. Our Mondays are Preparation Day, so we try to get most shopping done, clothes washed, blog written, etc. But, every day has some excitement to share...

Monday - July 6th:
We started the day walking down to do shopping as usual, and caught a few sights along the way.

This is the economy version of a laundromat. There are basins with water along the middle, and the cholas sit along the sides and wash their clothes. They then hang them up on the pipes surrounding the water basins:

Laundromat

There are other services for washing your clothes - you can take them to a business where they charge by the pound (I'm hoping it isn't by the count of how many times they pound your clothes, and I'm hoping they don't use the above facility, either), and there are dry-cleaning services as well. As for us, we're grateful to have access to washers and dryers here at the temple hospedaje.

As for being the middle of winter here, you'd never know it. These are some of the beautiful blooming trees that we see all around us. Molly got into one of the pictures.

Molly posing with a flowering tree

Trees on the temple grounds

Along the way, I caught this picture. You don't have to forgo your soda habit here:

Coke, Sprite, Fanta being delivered

Before we went to the grocery store, we thought we'd get some salteñas for breakfast. There is a little place on Avenida Pando just south of IC Norte, so we walked down the street. It's called Los Castores. I stole this picture from their website:

Los Castores - salteñas

As you can see, salteñas are little meat pies. They are filled with beef, chicken or pork (or a mix), potatoes, an olive, onions, etc. They are very tasty. They are served here with a little spoon to help you extricate the contents without squirting all over yourself. Basically, you bite off one end, and then scoop the contents out as you eat the container. They are very tasty.

After we got back from shopping and eating and walking, Molly made a tasty fruit salad for the afternoon BBQ at the home of the Cochabamba Mission President and his wife. It is just across the street to the north of the temple. They invited all the missionaries here at the temple, along with President Jensen and his wife, to celebrate the 4th of July (for us Estadounidenses - US citizens) and for the 1st of July (for the Canadienses - Canadians - for the unititiated, see Canada Day.)

President Hansen has been here for a year now as the Mission President. He and his wife have quite the stories to tell of visiting the branches and missionaries throughout the mission. Access to some branches is nothing better than a four-wheel drive dirt road.

So, we cooked our meat of choice, and had salads and desserts that the missionaries had provided. Very tasty, and lots of fun to just relax.

Afterwards, we all gathered in the living room of their home, and had a Family Home Evening lesson about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Since there are 6 missionaries from Chile, Argentina, and Peru here at the temple, it was all in Spanish. Molly and I understood most everything, and she made me do the talking to explain the scripture we were assigned. I think they understood my attempt to communicate.

Then, to finish off the day, we Skyped with the kids we had missed on Sunday night. It's fun to see them and talk to them.

Whew. And this is our day to relax!

Another Week in Paradise - Trámites, Rain, Mountains, Piano!

[June 30 - July 5, 2015] Tuesday - Sunday

Tuesday:

We got our wires crossed a bit with the office - we thought we were supposed to go and start our "tramites" - visa extension paperwork - but found out we are going to do that tomorrow. So we went for a walk, studied, and just hung out until our shift at the Temple.

Wednesday:

Tramites - This is the word everyone uses to communicate the process of getting our visas extended for two years. It translates to "red tape". From what we've heard, there has been a recent change that allows them to last for two years. Missionaries that have been here a while report that they had to renew their visas every year. I seem to remember that when I was here forty years ago, we had to do it every 90 days. So, we're grateful for progress!

Apparently the process includes paying to start the process - that's what we did today - and then having medical and dental checks, report to the police department, among a few other steps I'm forgetting. 

The first step involved getting our official pictures taken - they will appear on our "carnet de identidad"- and then going to a government office and waiting in line to have them take copies of our passports, get our signatures, and tell us "it" would be ready tomorrow. There is a brother who takes care of all this for all the missionaries (temple and proselyting), so I'm sure he's greased the skids a bit to make it more streamlined.

It only took an hour to get this done, so Molly and I decided to go for a long walk and check out another grocery store - Hipermaxi. Everyone says it has North American brands, and even lots more stuff then the IC Norte market that is close to the Temple.

So, we headed off. it's about 2.5 miles away, so we figured, since it was such a nice day and we had time, we'd just walk. Here are some pictures we took along the way:

The corner vendor - just down the street from the Temple.

We aren't going to be lacking for fruit or vegetables here.

Location of the Saturday farmers' market - the Feria

(I'll get a picture of it on Saturday for comparison).

[Saturday was rainy, so we'll wait and get a picture]

Winter in Cochabamba - flowering trees!

A beautiful house. There are quite a few of these in our neighborhood.

You can't even get away from GE here in Bolivia!

A Trufi stop. you can see the size of them - 

They reportedly hold up to 18 passengers.

We bought a few things, but were pretty amazed at all the North American brands - Sprite, Mt. Dew, Barqs Root Beer, Heinz catsup, and many others. Pricey, but if you have to have your daily fix, here's where you'll find it.

The walk was nice, but a bit longer than we were prepared for, so we came back in a Taxi. The other missionaries say we were overcharged - $2.75 USD. We'll figure out the culture eventually.

Thursday:

President and Sister Jensen took us to another market where the North American missionaries like to go called Que Barato. It is particularly appreciated for the selection of spices. We finally found real black pepper here that was ground, not powdered. We had found some at IC Norte, but it was milled so fine that it was a powder, making it difficult to restrict portion size.

Here's an example of products and prices. Remember that 1 B is about $0.15 USD. I'll leave it to your interest to figure out which products are overpriced.

Dried Onions - 156 grams - 22.8 B

Loaf of Bread - regular size - 10 B

Granola - 400 grams - 30.7 B

Pineapple juice - 1.5 liter - 12.5 B

Yogurt - 1 liter - 13 B

Salsa Ranchera - 475 grams - 25 B

Milk - 1 liter - 6 B

Jello - 230 grams - 5.5 B

Zuko Limon (like Kool-Aid) - makes 2 liters - 2.3 B

Oreo-like cookies - 456 grams - 4.5 B

That's about 137 B, or about $20.00 USD.

For comparison, we paid 63 B (abt. $9 USD) for the following fresh fruits and vegetables at the Feria:

1 dozen bananas

1 green pepper

1 locoto pepper (hot)

8 roman tomatoes

1 small cucumber

1 medium pineapple (fresh)

2 lbs of red grapes

1 lb of strawberries

4 apples

It will take a week or so to figure out what a normal, weekly grocery bill will be, but we think it will be very reasonable compared to our Utah experience (especially since we can't remember very many weeks when we weren't feeding more than just us two.)

On the way home from Que Barato, we stopped at IC Norte for a few other things, and decided to try the Empanadas Arani. I should have taken a picture, but they are a cheese, onion, and pepper filled bread that is about half the size of a dinner plate. We took a couple of them home, heated them in the microwave and had them for lunch. Very tasty and filling. And they had a little bit of spiciness to them that we really liked.

Friday:

Basically a down day. We took care of some studying, recording expenses, and went for a short walk (about 2.5 kilometers - about 1.5 miles). Hopefully, if we walk consistently, we'll eventually adjust to the altitude. We're doing OK, but we want to be better.

Saturday:

We went to the Feria this morning in a pretty good rainstorm. We used the umbrellas on the way there, but chose to just use the hoods on our jackets on the way back. That way we could carry the bags with the fruits and veggies. It was the first rain we've seen, so it was much needed. It was very cold, too, for the first time we've been here. We think it got down into the 40's during the day, but it must have gotten very cold up in the mountains. (The road to La Paz was frozen, according to accounts, so the group of people who had come to the temple in a Flota (bus) on Thursday were delayed in returning to La Paz until Sunday morning.)

One sweet experience in the temple was to witness a live sealing of a young lady (probably 20 years old or so), to her parents, who had both passed away. She came to the temple on Thursday with the group from La Paz, and had done the work to get her parents' information prepared so she and her husband could do all the ordinances needed first, in order to be sealed to them on Saturday before they had to leave. It was really touching to see how committed, and prepared they were, and how happy they were as they left the temple Saturday evening. It really makes it worth whatever effort we have taken to see the joy and fulfillment in the eyes and hearts of these sweet people. Their strength, commitment, and dedication is a real lesson to me.

After we finished at the temple, the temple missionaries went out to eat at Fridays. A real North American restaurant (except the menu descriptions were in Spanish, despite the fact that the names of the menu items were all English!)

I decided to take a picture of my meal after I had eaten half of it. It was very tasty - Miami Cuban Chicken and Rice:

Dinner at Fridays

It really wasn't much different than you would find at a Friday's restaurant in the States. Except for the price - 63 B, or about $9 USD. Dinner for Molly and I, including some very tasty fruit drinks, with tip, was less than $20. Not too bad.

Sunday:

I got to play the piano for the Linde Ward this morning. President and Sister Jensen drove us out there - about 3.5 miles away - to introduce us to the Bishop and ward. We've been assigned to attend there, and to encourage, teach, and assist in the Family History work of the ward. 

They have a very nice electric piano (with all the bells and whistles, including the Hymns all programmed in.) President Jensen told the Bishop that I could play (that was part of the reasoning of assigning us there, I think), so I turned it on and gave it a whirl. The biggest problem is that they've positioned it so that the pianist's back is to the pulpit, the chorister, and the Sacrament table, making it a bit difficult to know when to start and stop. Since I'm going to be there a while, I'll see if I can gently persuade them to let me move it a bit.

The First Counselor in the Stake Presidency was there, and afterwards, we talked about the needs in the ward and Stake for Family History work. It will be fun to work with them.

Then the Bishop asked me if I'd help with their Ward Choir. As long as they are OK with me accompanying, I think I can do that. 

On the way back from Sacrament Meeting, we saw this view, and thought a picture would be more helpful than a bunch more words:

You'd think (for the mountain, at least) that we were 

right at home on the Wasatch Front.

The mountain is over 15,000 feet. Beautiful.

This afternoon, we returned to the ward to help with their choir. They have a director who is very cheerful, and she had recruited 20+ people to sing. She had an assistant who teaches music, and was very good in helping the choir members to know their parts and sing out. It was fun.

To return to the hospedaje, we decided to take a Trufi - it only costs 3.8 B (less then $0.60 USD for the both of us) to go the same distance that the taxi charged us 20 B for ($2.75 or so), and all the missionaries say it is a good way to go. So, Molly and I crammed into it (it was pretty tight with 10 people - maybe 11 - it was dark), and off we went. There are no fixed stops - it will stop anytime there is an empty seat (definition of that is flexible) and someone flags it down. Everyone was very helpful in making sure we got off at the right corner!

As Molly reported elsewhere, the adventure of the stoplights was even more interesting in the Trufi. Because it is so small (smaller than a Dodge Caravan, maybe the same size as a regular sedan, with 3 rows of seats), the driver dodges around everything else. Red lights only mean stop if there is no cross traffic for these folks, and they drive like maniacs. Interestingly, though, you never see fender benders. Lots of cultural fun!

So, that's pretty much our second week in Bolivia. We're so happy to be here, we're eating well and feel very healthy. The people are so kind and giving - it's easy to love them.

One last picture of the Cochabamba Temple for your collection. This was taken earlier in the week before the rains moved in: