Chancho and Majadito

[February 21, 2016]

The Temple was closed for maintenance this last week, so we've spent it getting to know Bolivia a little bit better.

On Thursday, we had a Bolivian lunch with the Paredes. They are the missionary couple from La Paz who are finishing their mission this week. They are really sweet, fun, humble people. He and I have a running joke about eating "chancho" after our temple shifts. "Chancho" is pork, cooked with certain condiments.

So, Thursday morning, we went with Hno. Paredes to the market, and bought the pork at one of the regular, open meat markets. When we got it home, Hna. Paredes showed Molly how to clean it, which they thoroughly did. Molly cooked the meat in our oven, and Hna. Paredes cooked the bananas, potatoes, and sweet potatoes (camote). It was fun eating with them and visiting over lunch. 

[This is Molly.

"I just wanted to add how much I enjoyed spending the day with the Paredes. I felt like a real Bolivian buying even the meat at the open meat market. Hermana Paredes cooked for many years at a pension and she taught me a lot. We had chancho (pork), papas (potatoes), camote or sweet potatoes, postre (the big bananas when they are green you call them platanos, when they are yellow with black spots they are postre). Postre usually means dessert and they are sweeter and much softer than the green ones. We also had an ensalada (salad) of iceburg lettuce and tomatoes and hierba buena (mint) leaves chopped fine. We baked everything except the salad of course.

I learned that you shouldn't eat certain things with pork such as, avocado or milk products. They will make you sick." ]

On Friday, we took a taxi out to Cliza, just to see if I remembered anything. Cliza is a small town about 6 miles from Punata. We used to walk over there from time to time to proselyte, etc. After Demetrio Carballo had contacted us at church in Punata, we walked to Cliza to teach him.

[Molly again:
"Cliza was a darling small town. They haven't had missionaries there in a while and I don't think they get many North American visitors. We must have looked like "white giants" to them. We got some surprised and and interesting looks."]

We walked around Cliza a bit, and I didn't remember anything. Here are a couple of pictures from Cliza:

Central Plaza in Cliza.

The enclosed, modern market in Cliza.

A regular street in Cliza.

After wandering around Cliza for a while, visiting the cathedral, etc., we took a trufi to Punata along the road that my companions and I walked so many years ago. The feel was similar, but again, I really didn't remember much as far as the environs.

When we got to Punata, we visited the market where I had breakfast every day. Here's a picture:

Market in Punata.

I wanted to take more pictures, but the cholitas demurred and wouldn't let me.

We walked from there to the home of Jeaneth Sanchez and her family. We found it pretty easily. We had called ahead to let her know that we were coming. She was there with her granddaughter:

Jeaneth and her granddaughter cooking lunch for us.

She really wanted to cook us lunch, so as we visited, she prepared and cooked a Bolivian dish called Majadito. It is basically rice with spices, vegetables, and meat cooked in, served with fried bananas and an egg on top.

[Molly:
"I loved watching her cook and hearing her talk. Her happiness bubbled out in everything she did and said. She is a real example of someone who is truly happy living the gospel. I learned a lot from watching her cook as well. Her little granddaughter Charlotte was scared of us at first, but eventually warmed up to us. Jeaneth is a fun grandma and they have a sweet relationship.  

I love sharing these experiences with my sweet companion and seeing the love he has for these people and the love they have for him."]

Here is a picture of Molly (seated), Jeaneth, and the Majadito:

Jeaneth was so excited to cook for us, and as she cooked, we visited. I wanted to know more about the history of the branch/ward here, and kept asking questions. She was so happy and excited to share her experiences and testimony with us.

Jeaneth was born in Trinidad - very hot and humid. Her family moved to Punata in about 1972, when Jeaneth was about 11. From what I could gather, she and her mother (she called her father an atheist) had been looking for a church to go to. They had attended the Methodist, Adventist, and Baptist churches, but didn't feel inclined to continue. When they moved to Punata, they moved into an apartment attached to the building where we held church meetings in Punata, so she started coming to church.

From what I could gather, she felt very good about the church, but her father wouldn't let her or her mother get baptized. 

After three years or so, her father apparently relented. She told us that the missionaries really didn't teach her - she learned everything she needed to know by attending church for those three years. I got the feeling that she finally prevailed on her father, and got baptized - the day before I got to Punata.

Over the next few years, Hna. Lopez took Jeaneth under her wing and helped her learn more and more about the church and the Savior. Jeaneth's testimony strengthened, and she loved what she was learning.

She was active continuously, from what I could tell, until the branch closed. Her father wouldn't let her go to Cochabamba to go to church, and eventually she took a job teaching children out in a small community away from everywhere.

She always asked about the church, and the missionaries, but wasn't able to find them until she moved back to Punata to take care of her dying father (her mother had died some 20+ years before). The first week back in Punata, she asked for and found the missionaries, and attended church there for the first time in many years. When they found that she was a member, they called her to teach Primary. She said that she just cried and cried that Heavenly Father still remembered her.

Since that time, she has been to the temple, and said that she had done the ordinances for her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, but still had others she wanted to work on. She doesn't have a computer, and needs help with this, so we invited her to come to the Family History Center here at the temple, and we'd help her in any way possible.

So, it really feels like we are continuing the work done so many years ago to find and baptize people by helping them complete the work in the temple for themselves and for their families.

Adventures

[February 17, 2016]

I have had some good growing opportunities in our wards lately. One Sunday, Hno. Delgadillo, a member of the bishopric who was conducting that day, asked me if I would say the opening prayer. I said yes with a bit of a cringe. I figured I'm a missionary, I should say yes, even if it makes me nervous. I made a lot of mistakes but I felt good about it and these sweet people are very kind and forgiving.

The next Sunday  I heard the bishop (of the other ward) say over the pulpit, that Hna. Lyon would give the closing prayer. No opportunity to say no to that one. I did a little bit better that time.

Then this last Friday we got a call from Hno. Delgadillo inviting Charlie and me to speak in church in two days. Charlie asked me if I would be willing to do it on such short notice. I said, of course, because I know that The Lord will help me. He did. My topic was "The Great and Spacious Building represents the vain imaginations and the pride of the world" and Charlie's was "Don't seek after the vain things of the world because you can't take them with you".

I told about us and then I compared the Great and Spacious Building to the Temple and how Satan always has his counterfeit. What the Pride of the world offers compared to what the Temple promises. I felt good about it and I know the Spirit helped me to get through it.

Charlie's talk was amazing. He spoke with such love, enthusiasm and testimony. He didn't read any of it but just spoke freely from his heart. I love to hear him speak. He made me cry. He shared things that the congregation could relate to and they were listening to every word, you could hear a pin drop it was so reverent.

Then we taught our class. The students in our class participated with good comments and questions. Charlie is a very good teacher. They trust him and feel loved by him. I'm grateful that I can give a small part of the lesson each week, not too overwhelming but participating in my own way.

Here at the Temple, we will have seven of our missionaries completing their missions within this next week. We will miss their friendship and the temple will definitely miss their service. If you are reading this and considering a mission we could use you. It is like a paradise here. Anyway, Sister Valdizán is one of the missionaries going home, so we had her over for dinner Sunday night. She cuts all the missionaries' hair at no charge. She is one of the most serving, selfless people I know. It was fun to have her here for the evening.

She and the Parkers (our across the hall neighbors) left Monday morning at 4:30 am. We got up to see them off. It's a tradition here to give a send off to the ones who are leaving, even if it's at 4:30 am. The Jensens always drive them to the airport, we all hug and get teary, very sweet.

The temple is closed this week. So you guessed it, we went to La Cancha again. One of the sister missionaries wanted a hat like the cholitas wear. I don't know if you can get them anywhere other than La Cancha, but you can get everything there so we told her we would get it for her.

We are always up for an adventure so we took the #3 bus through La Cancha, past the airport, but not all the way to the end of the line. We got out and walked a couple of blocks to the water park. It was closed and some boys told us that it is only open on Saturdays and Sundays when school is in session (school started a couple of weeks ago). We walked all the way around it and didn't see anything in the way of water activities until the very last part, we did see a lake (very small) with boats and two big swan paddle boats as well as some slides and what looked like splash pads in the distance. It would be fun to come back when it is open. We walked to La Cancha from there.

As always we enjoyed our adventure at La Cancha. I asked a Cholita where I could buy a hat like hers and she smiled and said "La Pampa". So we asked another younger worker where La Pampa is. "Más alla." Or "over there". Well we did find it and they had lots of hats, several different vendors.

After trying on a lot of them, I found one that I thought might fit the sister missionary, and if it didn't I would just keep it for me. It was so cute. It's a straw hat with a wide brim that they paint white or tan which makes them very stiff. I discovered in trying it on that most of these hats have an elastic that you put behind your head to hold them on.They also have a trim and cute flowers. We brought it home and it fit her just right.

As we were sitting on the bus I had an overwhelming feeling come over me and it made me smile. I loved the people, the scenery, my companion, everything. I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be here. I want to make every moment count. I want to be an instrument in the Lord's Hands. I want all the people here to know that they are loved. I know that my mission here is to serve in the temple, but as we are out and about we represent The Lord Jesus Christ and wear His name on our chest. I hope as they read my badge they will feel my love for them and connect His name with that love.

Today, we went with 3 other missionary couples to a beautiful park in the mountains called Pairumani. We took Trufi 209 out to Quillacollo, got off at Plaza Bolivar, and caught Trufi  211 up to the park. Everything was so beautiful!!! The countryside is beautiful, well kept farmland.

At the park, there were giant eucalyptus trees, lush greenery, a camping area, picnic tables and at the top, a waterfall.They have diverted the water from the waterfall to use for irrigation.It runs through the park in a very aesthetically pleasing cement walled canal. The walls of the canal are about 2 feet high and a foot thick, just perfect for sitting on and wading. The other sisters and I put our feet in the cold water before we came home. We hiked up a beautiful trail - a bit steep and rocky in places - to the waterfall. We went through a little tunnel and part of the trail was very narrow with a pretty steep drop off on the one side. But it was all beautiful. We brought our lunches and picnicked on a log. As we left to go back to Plaza Bolivar we counted the people in our Trufi - there were 21! We left about 8:30 in the morning and got home about 2:45. A great adventure with good friends.

Here are some pictures from the Park:

The canal with the diverted water running through the park.

This little lady was preparing to lift the headgate to let the water flow
down a separate canal. That's Elder Hill talking to her, and
Elder Russell walking past.

You know who just at the entrance of the tunnel.

Molly walking along the trail with the drop-off to the right.

Another view of the trail with Elder Angle.

Finally - the waterfall. Really, just a diversion dam with an overflow.

A view of the Cochabamba valley from Pairumani. It was a hazy day, but very beautiful.

Through the fence at the waterpark.

Not the best picture of a 21 passenger van, but I was crammed in the back seat when I took this.

Tomorrow we are we are looking forward to preparing a traditional Bolivian meal for the Paredes. They are completing their mission next week and going back home to La Paz. They have children and grandchildren and even a couple of great grandchildren in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Brazil. After visiting their family for 6 months, they plan on coming back to Cochabamba, renting a place and working in the temple every day. There are quite a few couples here who have moved far from family to serve in the temple. Charlie has mentioned the Paredes in the blog before. They are both very humble hard working dear friends. Neither one speaks any English. Hno. Paredes and Charlie are doing the shopping in the morning and Hna. Paredes is coming over at 11:00 to teach me how to prepare it. We plan on eating at 1:00. We are having pork, sweet potatoes, fried bananas, I don't remember what else, but I am looking forward to it.

The Temple in the evening.

La Cancha 4 times in 4 days

[February 4-8, 2016]

I've been having problems with the printer, so we went down to La Cancha on Wednesday to get some parts and ideas. I also needed some black ink (30cc's, or about 7-8 times what a single cartridge costs. The cartridge costs 100-150 Bolivianos, or $15-$20. The 30 cc's of ink, which I can add to the refillable cartridges myself, cost me 35B's, or $5, for a discount of about 95%). The technician at the computer place showed me how to clean my problematic printer cartridge, so we headed back home with some ideas.

Since school all started this week, it was really crazy with people getting school supplies, clothes, etc.

On Thursday, Molly needed some fabric, and one of the ladies we work with told us about a fabric store in La Cancha, so we headed down again. What a find. The picture below shows about a third of the store:

La Casa Victoria in La Cancha - fabric, fabric, fabric!

We found what we needed, and came back home.

By Friday, I had done everything I could to resuscitate the printer cartridge without success, so we figured we'd go down to the computer store and buy a new cartridge. We hadn't taken into account how much the strike by the transportistas would affect things. Folks told us that La Cancha would be open, we'd just have to walk all the way down, which we've done before without any problem.

So we headed off, and found the streets amazingly empty. Quite the change from Wednesday. There were no trufis or buses, and no "official" taxis. On some of the plazas, like Plaza Colon, the taxi drivers had parked their cars to block all the surrounding streets, so the only vehicles that got through were motorcycles. Quite interesting. 

We got all the way down to La Cancha (5 km/3 miles), and found out that the transportistas' strike had closed off the street where all the computer shops are. Lots of the other shops were open, but not the one we needed. Then we walked back home. Lots of fun seeing all the people, etc.

We tried again on Saturday, but caught a bus down, so we didn't have to walk. It started to rain while we were there, so we ducked in and out of little shops to stay kind of dry. We got a new cartridge, and the computer tech also sold us a new refillable cartridge as well, and when we got home, everything worked with the printer, so we're good again. I really needed it this week, since Hno. Paredes wanted me to print pictures of all the missionaries so he could put them in his book of memories before he leaves in two weeks.

Whew.... four visits to La Cancha in four days. There are some of the missionaries here who avoid La Cancha at all costs. The crush of people, the massive amount of vendors and products, the smells, etc., can be a bit intense!

Followup on the Puno group:

The members from Puno finally found flights out to La Paz on Saturday morning at 6:00 am. They got help from their Stake and the Area Presidency, but still had to walk across the border between Bolivia and Peru on their way home. The blockades were finally lifted (with a bit of police/army intervention in the one at Parotani between here and La Paz) late Saturday night. Estimates were that the traffic was backed up for 20 km, four lanes wide (the road is really only two official lanes wide), and would take quite a few hours to clear. 

Sunday

We had a pretty normal Sunday - attended church out in the Linde/Rosedal wards as usual, and reviewed the first Temple Preparation lesson with our class. Hno. Zacharias Flores was baptized Saturday morning while we were working in the temple. He and his wife were so happy when we saw them on Sunday.

Here are a couple of pictures we took in our wanderings over the last week or so:

Typical construction. The facades can be very fancy, but the basic structure is the same - concrete floors and pillars
(note the way a new floor is laid with the forms being held up by multiple "sticks"), with bricks laid to fill in the spaces.

Summer flowers. Very pretty.

Flowers at the temple.

A strange tree at the Temple - note the thorns. You wouldn't really want to climb this one.

The Temple on a cloudy day.

27 Miles to the Temple on Foot (correction - 25 km or 16 miles)

[3 February 2016] Wednesday

We started our month (actually just two weeks, since the temple will be closed for the last two weeks of the month) of working in the mornings yesterday. It's really nice to visit with these workers, whom we haven't seen for a number of months, now. Everyone we work with is really sweet.

We had a really sweet experience today with a group of members from Peru and some apparently from Chile. But first, a little bit of a Bolivian back-story.

Here in Bolivia, when someone doesn't like something, and they have a large enough group to actually create an impact, they block traffic to make their point. We ran into one of these traffic stoppages a couple of months ago in downtown Cochabamba, where a group from a neighborhood was protesting the lack of paved streets in their neighborhood. They blocked the main intersections downtown, and shut down traffic for a couple of hours.

Well, on Sunday, the transportation workers union decided to shut down all the highways coming into and going out of Bolivia over taxes and tariffs imposed on their cargo, and to make it even more painful, to shut down all of the roads between the "departments" or states in the country. They do this by parking their big rigs sideways on the highways, and traffic backs up for miles. 

They started this current "bloqueo" on Sunday, but apparently, it wasn't quite complete, because this bus full of members got all the way to Parotani, which is about 45 km (27 miles) from the temple before they could drive no further. They got stopped there sometime in the morning, and rather than just wait (which could be days or weeks before the government decides the pain is bad enough to negotiate), or try to go back, they got out and walked, luggage and all.

[Correction: They walked 25 km/16 miles to Quillacollo, where they found transportation the rest of the way to the temple. And, it really hadn't started raining out there at that point in the day. Nonetheless, an inspiring story.]

What's more impressive, was that yesterday was one of the rainiest days we've had in quite a while. When we got out of the temple at 2:00 pm, it was raining, and it didn't stop until after 8:00 pm. Also, this group wasn't just a bunch of youth coming to do baptisms for the dead. There were 75 people in all, ranging from "ancianos" (basically anyone older than Molly and I), to parents with infants, and youth.

From the report I got, by talking to the Bishop, the youth made it here in six hours, with the older ones coming in after ten hours of walking, carrying their luggage, in the rain.

When we got up this morning, we heard about these faithful, diligent saints, and figured that they had showed up, and just dropped into bed.

Nope! The youth showed up in the baptistry, couples that had come to be sealed came to the temple, individuals who had come to receive their own endowments came, and they all showed up again this morning.

In fact, the first person at the temple at 8:30 this morning was one of the older ladies in the group. Her story was that she had walked 125 km (78 miles) in 10 hours. Pretty impressive! I think she is the one that Molly worked with in Initiatory this morning, so I'll let her add her two bits.

[Molly: I had heard about these faithful saints walking to the temple, so when I saw a sister from Chile with a stack of family cards I asked her if she was one that had walked all the way to the temple. She said yes and her arms hurt from carrying her luggage. I hugged her and thanked her for her example of faithfulness and that her ancestors must be very grateful for her sacrifice in their behalf. It was hard to hold back the tears as I helped her through the initiatories for her ancestors. It gave me a whole new perspective. I am humbled and grateful to be able to serve these dear faithful saints.]

Anyway, this is just a small example of the kinds of faithful, dedicated saints we work with every day here in the temple. This group just went the extra 27 miles to do it.

The Cochabamba Temple - 22 January 2016