Back to work in Tupiza

[29 July 2017]

We have been very busy since we've been back from Cochabamba.

There are a couple of sisters we have been trying to track down to verify their records. We finally succeeded. The one sister, Martha, seemed happy to see us and even let us come to her home to talk about her records. It's more than just talking about the records. As with most things we do in the church, it seems there is usually more than one thing accomplished when we are doing the Lord's work. 

This sister has been away from the church for a number of years. Charlie has a way of asking hard questions with love. The one being asked the questions usually feels comfortable enough to answer, as did this dear sister. I think she was waiting for something like this to give her the push she needs to come back. She thanked us over and over for visiting her in her home. She has a flower shop in town and so we have visited her there, several times.

Our other sister is not quite ready to receive a visit from us. However, she and Martha are good friends and maybe they will be good influences on each other.

Another sister that we have grown close to is our produce vendor at Mercado La Paz, Jeaneth. We have met her whole family at the Mercado. She keeps track of us and tells us when we haven't been there in a while. She seemed happy to see us after our trip the week before. While I was digging through and climbing on things to find what I wanted, Charlie was giving her the first discussion. I kept looking for more things while I listened to their conversation. She said we could bring her a Book of Mormon next time we came, but she wasn't quite ready for us to go to her home yet. 

We had a family home evening with the Arumburo family.  We talked about the Holy Ghost. I was impressed with the whole family. The mother is a member. The sons, a 17 year old and 11 year old, have been coming to church for a while and would like to be members. The Dad is not a member and has not been coming to church until recently. I was impressed with the dad. He was patient and loving with his kids. He seemed to be receptive to our message and had good comments. It was good to be there. The mother was passing out oranges and I gave her the cookies that we brought with us. They seemed to enjoy our being there. 

They live in a very small room with a set of bunk beds and a double bed. The 10 month old baby sleeps in her stroller with lots and lots of coats, sweaters and a big furry plush winter cover all. Even with that big fuzzy thing on, her mother was going to put another stocking cap under the cover all. It does get cold in their houses at night. It was great to be with them.

On Saturday we took a rapidito out to Charaja to visit our friends, the Martinez family, that we have mentioned before. They always feed us when we come, so this time we brought some home made cookies to share. When we got there no one was home. Their niece, who lives next door, was outside and she told us they were at the river washing their clothes. We visited with her dad a bit and he told us how to get to the river. 

It was a fun adventure. We did find them, but they were on the far side of the river. We looked for a crossing that wouldn't require us to roll up pant legs and hike up my skirt. There really wasn't any place. We were happy when they came across the river to talk to us. I was glad we could share our cookies with them to add to their fun day at the river. They are such a sweet family and seem to enjoy being together.

The river near Charaja. Doesn't look like the best place to wash clothes.

Rama América had a Noche de Hermanamiento or night of fellowshipping. It is for the whole branch and I think they do it regularly. We had an opening song and prayer then the missionaries gave a short lesson. After the closing song and prayer, we all went outside to play games. It was fun. There was one other adult outside playing with us, a young father. Charlie was inside talking with the Branch President and helping a sister with her records. She has been a member for 30 years. Her family (because of Charlie's questioning mind) is finally getting connected on the records of the church. I think she was very happy when he got through with her. I was happy that I didn't break anything as I ran around with the teenagers in the dark.

And last night, we had another Noche de Hogar with two families - the Maizes and Alemans. The wives are sisters. They have young children, but they were at the church practicing for the Pioneer Day activity at the church tonight, so we were able to talk to them in depth about being spiritually self-reliant. Hna. Maiz has been a member the longest, maybe two years. The Alemans have been members since January. Just as we finished talking about the Holy Ghost and how to learn and grow through its influence, the kids showed up, so we had cookies and played games before coming home.

These are just a few of the experiences we have had this past week. We are enjoying the work and loving the people. There is a lot to do and we are so grateful to do whatever we can to help and support the good members and leaders here in Bolivia. 

Here's a recent picture of us, just to scare you all.

Us outside the Tupiza Branch chapel.

Cochabamba Again

[28 July 2017]

We are having some wonderful experiences with the young missionaries.

We had a big zone conference in Sucre and officially met our new mission President and his wife. They are delightful people and seem to have a good rapport with young people. 

To get to Sucre we (14 of us missionaries) left Tupiza on a bus around noon and arrived in Potosí about 4 pm, where we picked up some 20 more  missionaries. It is so fun to see their camaraderie and their enthusiasm. We got into Sucre about 8:30 pm. We were met by the zone leaders, who took very good care of us. They walked us all to our hostels, carrying the two sisters' and my luggage. I'm so impressed with their leadership. They take charge when it is their responsibility and they are confident and caring and give us confidence that we are in good hands.

We are very spoiled when we travel, even here in Bolivia we have stayed in some very nice places. Well, this time we were not in charge and we stayed in a hostel. It was different, not luxurious, but comfortable enough. They even had breakfast of dry bread, yogurt and juice. Not yummy, but felt good in our tummies. This is the first carpet I've seen in Bolivia outside of the temple. Isn't it lovely?

Hostel room in Sucre. A bit run down, but adequate.

It actually had carpet! (if you can call it that)

Zone conference was wonderful. We were taught by the Assistants to the President and other missionaries. Our mission president's wife shared about their family. President Montoya asked Charlie to take some time to share his insights and wisdom. He talked briefly about the wonderful Bolivian people, and how these missionaries will be grateful throughout their lives to have been here. He talked briefly, as well, about how the blessings that come when we serve are far greater than any sacrifice we may offer.

President Montoya then taught us beautiful, powerful truths from the scriptures. The missionaries ate it up. It was time well spent.

One of my very favorite things about these big zone conferences (three zones were in attendance), is the singing. Wow! The young missionaries sing with gusto and feeling ... so beautiful! I love being a part of that music.

A member family from Sucre served us a wonderful, yummy, traditional meal called pique macho and a traditional, colorful cake for dessert.

We had some free time after the conference, so we went sight-seeing. The Elders suggested going to El Castillo la Glorieta. It was built by a man and his wife who achieved great wealth here in Bolivia, and were appointed to represent Bolivia in Europe. They were made a Prince and Princess in Italy, so they are considered something like royalty here in Sucre. The buildings were impressive, but in bad repair, without furniture or fixtures. One fun thing, though was the narrow spiral tower with 108 steps that we ascended. They were charging for the "right" to take pictures, so we only took pictures from outside the gates. There wasn't much inside worth photographing, really. 

The "Principality of La Glorieta". 

You can see that tower we ascended in the center.
It was the most interesting part.

We took a bus back, walked around the central part of the city. When Charlie was here as a young missionary they called Sucre the "white city". All of the buildings in the center of town are white and it is beautiful. Sucre is one of Bolivia's bigger cities.
   
We spent another night in our hostel and flew out the next morning with 3 elders and 3 sisters to Cochabamba to complete the paper work for our visas and our identification cards.

Once in Cochabamba we were on our own. The elders in charge now know they don't have to entertain or worry about us in Cochabamba. We got the same room at the hospedaje that we had a week or so ago. It felt like we had come home. We didn't have much to do while in Cochabamba except our "tramites" -- paper work. 

We flew from Cochabamba to Sucre Friday afternoon, dropping off a couple of the missionaries and picking up the companions of the missionaries who went to Cochabamba with us. We took two taxis to Potosi, arriving at about 8:30.

The road from the airport that we took bypassed the city and it was basically a wash. It got so dusty I don't know how the driver could see out the window. He was definitely used to driving this side road because he went very fast and knew all the sharp turns. It did cut off a good portion of travel time.

In Potosi, we stopped and had dinner before taking another rapidito to Tupiza. We all slept a little. We got into Tupiza about 2:30 am. It was a very long drive.The taxis were all lined up to pick up anyone that came in on a rapidito. We got to bed about 4. We slept till about 10.  

One thing that impressed me about the missionaries, wherever we were, was that they were missionaries. They talked to the people in the rapidito on the way to the airport and in the airport while waiting for the flight. I was very proud of our missionaries.

We found out just as we were leaving on our trip that we were giving talks in Sacrament meeting the day after we got home. So we spent a good portion of the day working on our talks. About 5, we went looking for an object lesson for Charlie's talk. We found brightly colored Jenga blocks that were PERFECT to show the balance between our sacrifice and the Lord's blessings in response to our sacrifice. It went great. In fact, in Sunday School the Branch President referred to it and in Relief Society a couple of sisters reminded us of things from Elder Lyon's talk. 

It's great to be back in Tupiza.

Temple Trip

[9 July 2017]

Cochabamba Temple. Photo taken by Angel Vasquez, a friend from the temple.

When you think of a temple trip, what does it mean to you? Take off work a bit early, dash home, get a bite to eat, pick up the babysitter, drive maybe 20 minutes to the temple, and get home by 10:00 pm? On the way home, you stop for ice cream, maybe? Pay the babysitter when you get home, and find the kids all in bed, asleep? OK, maybe the babysitter and the kids in bed asleep are a fantasy, but otherwise, in terms of time, cost, real sacrifices, etc., the trip is less expensive than a date night out with your spouse would be. A movie, dinner at Arby’s or Texas Roadhouse if you’re feeling flush?

Now, let me give you the perspective of a member here in Tupiza. Not taking into account many things, like how difficult it might be to get a week off from work, imagine that the temple is 20 hours away by whatever means of transportation you have available, and the cost to you is between 2 and 4 weeks of your gross salary – not net. To maximize the time you can spend at the temple, compared to the time in transit, you leave on Monday before noon and arrive at the temple Tuesday morning at 5:00 am, having traveled all night without really any sleep (I assure you, sleeping on a train or bus in Bolivia isn’t as easy as you might think), planning to leave Friday afternoon so you can get home early enough to wash clothes and prepare for Sunday.

Imagine, too, that you are a single mother with four children, ages 8 to 16. You can’t really leave them home – you don’t have the luxury of babysitters, and your extended family all live hours away.

Knowing that you have limited sessions and a number of family names to do the work for, you show up at the temple at 9:00 am to do baptisms for the dead with your teenage daughter or son. It’s their first experience, even though they are sixteen. They have helped get all the information needed into FamilySearch, so they feel connected to these grandparents and great-grandparents.

The train station in Tupiza.

Molly next to the train in Oruro.

Continue to imagine that you come back to the temple Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and afternoon, and Thursday morning and afternoon to do as many sessions as you can, so that you can do sealings on Friday and complete the work you have planned. You know that you might not be able to come back until next year, or even later, due to the cost, family circumstances, etc.

Real leg room on the train.

That’s a small view of what last week was like for us. What a joy to be able to go and help at the temple for members from our branch here in Tupiza.

We left Wednesday afternoon on the train from Tupiza to Oruro. We had seen the train, and read about it, and felt like it would be more comfortable than one of the flotas or buses with restricted leg room. It did have ample leg room, bathrooms, and even a dining car where we had a very nice, but simple dinner.

Flamingos.

The downside of the convenience of the train, though, is time. The distance from Tupiza to Oruro is about 310 miles (522 km). The distance in time was 14 hours 40 minutes. That’s about 20 miles an hour. The speed, I’m guessing, is due to the quality of the tracks. Due to lack of money for maintenance, the train goes slowly to avoid problems. It swayed and bounced incessantly. It was very dangerous to try and get up and walk between cars to get to the dining car, for instance. Very interesting, and well worth it once. We did it twice – the second time to get back here to Tupiza.
Just outside of Oruru, we passed a lake filled with flamingos. This picture doesn’t do it justice – there had to be thousands of them.

The dining car on the train.

Dinner.

Once we got to Oruro, we took a taxi to the bus station, and took a flota to Cochabamba – about another 130 miles, and we went at an astounding speed of 30 miles an hour. The road to Cochabamba was under construction most of the way, through mountain passes at 14,000 feet. Very beautiful. It was amazing to see little tiny “towns” (collections of two or more adobe houses) miles and miles away from anywhere else. Sometimes they would have potatoes spread out on tarps so they would freeze overnight. They call those freeze-dried potatoes chuño. Not the tastiest of things, even when adequately re-hydrated.

The young men from Tupiza.

Some members from Villazon. 

We got to Cochabamba Thursday afternoon, and checked into the hospedaje at the temple. What a paradise. Hot and cold running water (to experience the joy of this, wash your hands in cold water – near freezing just to make it real – for six months every time you would normally wash your hands. You can have a bit of respite by using hot water to do your dishes, but you have to boil that water yourself. Then one day, you can turn the hot water tap on when you wash your hands. What a luxury.)
On Friday and Saturday, we took care of some things that we needed to get done – like buy pillows and a mattress pad that we have been seriously missing in Tupiza. We also went to the temple for a session, and met many of our old friends there.

On Sunday, we attended Sacrament Meeting in our Barrio Linde and Barrio Rosedal wards. What a joy. Three of the people that we taught the temple lessons to came up to us to tell us, joyfully, that they had been to the temple, two of them being sealed with their families. Our dear little friend, Eva Cruz, was there. Despite her paralysis on her left side, she comes faithfully every week. She told Molly that she was going to get her long, luxurious hair cut short like Molly’s, because it was so heavy and it is difficult to brush and braid it with one hand.

On Monday, we visited Elva Lopez. She looked healthier this time, and it was such a joy to visit with her and tell her all about the branches in Tupiza. She lives with her daughter Ivana and her family. She has a grandson, Benjamin, who is maybe six years old. He was so excited to show us how he helps take the garbage out to the garbage truck when they hear the truck playing music as it comes down the street.

On Tuesday, through Thursday morning, we went up to the temple to help in the Baptistry with all the youth. Since this is the winter school break, or vacations, many branches and wards send their youth to the temple. The baptistry was full every day. One stake from La Paz had brought 120 youth, and most every one of them had a family name card to do the baptism for. Quite impressive.

Wednesday afternoon, Hna. Rivas, from our branch in Tupiza, asked Molly and I if we would stand in as proxies for her grandparents to be sealed. We were happy to do that for her. She is such a faithful member, with her four children. She is working hard to provide for them in every way possible – temporally and spiritually. They are such dear, dear friends.

On Wednesday, as we were going up to the temple, one young boy (13 years old) from Rama Villazón stopped me and asked me if I could help him figure out why he couldn’t print off family name cards for his grandparents. He told me that he had entered everything in FamilySearch, but it wouldn’t let him print that ordinance cards. I tried to help him on my phone, but decided it would be easier on my laptop, so we arranged to meet in the comedor (cafeteria) at 7:30 Thursday morning to figure it out.

He was so excited. When he showed up, we logged in and found out that he had created his account with a wrong birth year. As a result, it wouldn’t connect with his member account. So we created a new account for him, connected him up, checked the box for showing LDS ordinances, and wallah! It worked. We located his grandparents, connected them to him in FamilySearch again, and printed off the ordinance cards. Only after they printed did I realize they were in English! No worry, the temple work is not constrained by language, so he just took them up to the temple and did the work. He was so appreciative.

Thursday evening, we washed our clothes, packed our bags, and tidied up the apartment. Friday morning, we took a plane to Oruro (30 minutes vs. 4 to 5 hours on the bus), and caught the train back to Tupiza, arriving at about 3:00 am. Fortunately, taxis are still running at that hour here. We dropped into bed at about 4:00 am, not caring that much that our apartment temperature was only 51 degrees. We turned on the heater, and fortunately it warmed up to the mid 60’s by 9:00 am or so when we got up. Quite the change from Cochabamba. What an exciting week.

So, compare that temple trip to yours. When we lived in American Fork, and were temple workers, it felt like such a commitment to be at the temple at 5:00 am on a Saturday morning, serving until noon. Quite the comparison. We sometimes talk about sacrificing to go to the temple. Now I have a much clearer comprehension of what sacrifice really means in that context. We have so much to learn from these sweet people.