Elder And Sister Lyon: Stake Conference, Villamontes Members

[November 24-30, 2015]

Nativity at the Temple at night.

Tuesday 24 November 2015
There was a good sized group of men from Villamontes at the temple today. Villamontes is at least 18 hours away, southeast of Santa Cruz, past Camiri. It was clear that, for some of these brethren, it has been a while since they were last here From what I can determine, they try and have a temple trip for their stake once a year. It's really a sacrifice for them, and shows their faithfulness and determination.

Saturday 28 November 2015
At the temple, the sessions were pretty slow, but I officiated at the first one, with only three brothers. The couple that I invited to help in the session was so cute. They are from Oruro, and she looked like she didn't understand Spanish very well. It was cute to watch her husband whisper to her so she would feel comfortable helping. She was so humble. She hardly ever looked up when I looked at her, and she was so respectful throughout the session. She was 100% attentive, though, trying to learn and understand everything she needed to know. It was sweet to be there with them.

Sunday 29 November 2015
We went to the Cobija Stake Conference this morning. We took the Rojo B Bus downtown, planning to just walk the extra six blocks or so. As we walked, we met Hno. Salazar, who lives downtown, and walked the rest of the way with him.

When we got to the Stake Center, there weren't many there, yet, but it filled to capacity by 9:00 when it started. We saw so many people that we knew - it was fun to greet them.

The Stake President, President Arias, spoke first. He was a bit harder to understand, but he is such a good Stake President. It is clear he loves the people, and knows how to communicate with them.

The second speaker was a young mother, and she talked about the Proclamation on the Family, and how it was such a good guide for her, for women, and for her family.

The next speaker was a member of the High Council, and he talked about his family.

President Mogrovejo from the Temple Presidency spoke about the temple and how important it is. He told the members that he really would like it if each of them came to the temple just once a week. He mentioned that if they did, the workers wouldn't have time to eat lunch (we don't eat lunch on our shifts now, anyway), but that would be a good problem to have.

Elder Moscoso, our Area Seventy, spoke last. His message was very good, about the temple, family, FHE, finding our direction (like GPS, or the Liahona in the Book of Mormon) through the scriptures and the gospel. He told about his family, and how, when their fourth child was born, that he realized how much work his wife was doing to keep everything juggled. So, he encouraged fathers to help more, and recognize how critical their wives were. His message was very good and timely.
All in all, there was lots of counsel about the importance of wives and mothers.

This is Molly. I just wanted to mention the wonderful choir that sang in Stake Conference. They were from JAS (Jovenes Adultos Solteros or Young Single Adults). There were about twenty of them and they sang out with feeling. The songs were all Primary songs including the medly of "Army of Helaman and Sisters in Zion." They added another song to the medley which I cannot remember at this time. They also sang one of my favorites, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." The director was a girl that comes to the temple to do baptisms regularly. Sister Copa, the new obrera (mentioned previously), and her younger sister also sang in the choir. The accompanist was Michael Salazar, the son of the couple that had us over for dinner a couple weeks ago. He is so talented. I think he arranged the accompaniment for most of the songs. I love to hear the Primary songs sung in Spanish. It really added to the spirit of the meeting.

Here are some pictures for the week: