We Love Being Missionaries

[19 Sept 2017]

We've been very busy these last three weeks. We've had visits to members' homes, helping them with their Family History work and updating their records. We've listened and encouraged a couple of families having problems to be patient, listen, love first, and work to understand God's plan for us and all his children. Piano lessons are becoming a bit more successful with two members - Claudia from Rama Tupiza and Gelvin from Rama America. Both are very motivated. We've had lunch with the missionaries at a member's home, dinner with the missionaries here at our apartment, and get to help the sisters with lunch each day this week. We've been to baptisms, a birthday party, a funeral, spoke in church in Quiriza again - what a fun trip - and continue to be able to wash our clothes in a real washing machine due to the generosity of a lovely sister here in Rama America.

Megan Cuiza at her birthday party. She was baptized

earlier in the day. She is one of Molly's dearest friends.

 So, on to the details.

[Molly]
It's always enjoyable going to Quiriza. The scenery is spectacular (looks like southern Utah, especially Capitol Reef Nationl Monument) and the people are wonderful. They always appreciate us coming. This particular trip was a bit of an adventure. We were about half way to Quiriza on a windy, narrow, dirt road when we saw some rocks strategically placed in the middle of the road warning us not to go any further. Our taxi driver got out and looked up the road a ways. He didn't see any problem so he moved the rocks and we continued on the road. It wasn't long before we found the reason for the roadblock. A piece of the mountain had fallen onto the road making it impossible to pass. We were able to find a spot to turn around and headed off into the river bed. We had to cross the river twice, luckily it wasn't very deep. There was one place that had some deep sludgy mud that would have been easy to get stuck in, so our driver got out and scouted around and found us a better route through some tall weeds. It was fun and we made it to church with time to spare. We took a different route home. We had to cross the river again. We went through some little villages with cute names like Chacopampa, Espicaya, and Pilquiza. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery from a different perspective.  

Rocks blocking the road to Quiriza - no way around due to the cliff.

Off-roading through the riverbed.

The Quiriza branch.

Diogenes and Isabel Martinez - two of the first members in 

Quiriza, along with a great-granddaughter.

Miguel Martinez, son of Diogenes and Isabel, with three of his children.
The son in the middle is getting baptized this week, and wants to
be baptized in the river like his dad and grandpa.

Two cute sisters after our meetings, eating the sandwiches
provided by the sisters of the Relief Society.

The attendance in the Quiriza Branch was even more sparse than usual. A lot of the men were out hunting wild oxen (kind of like our deer hunt, I guess). There were 5 sisters in Relief Society, counting me. I enjoyed participating with them and hearing their comments and testimonies. The Relief Society President is a good teacher and inspires a lot of sharing. Charlie got to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting, and it turned out completely different from what he had prepared.

After the meetings, a sister brought us all something akin to a hot dog. Some of the members walk a couple or more hours to get to church, so the sisters in the branch often provide a light meal.

We got home in plenty of time to put the chicken lasagna in the oven for our dinner with the missionaries. Elder Fiero, who has been our District Leader is going home this week and since we haven't had this group of missionaries over before, we thought it would be nice to invite all 8 of them for dinner. It's always fun to spend time with them. They are like our children. I gifted him with a song that is always sung when missionaries go home, "Placentero Nos Es Trabajar", played by me on the zampoña (a simple wooden Bolivian instrument.)

[Charles]
Today, we spent some time with Hno. and Hna. Mamani. He is the Elder's Quorum President, and is doing a great job in organizing Home Teaching, and encouraging the brethren to be involved. She has a great desire to do her family history, so we went over and helped enter her grandparents and an uncle in FamilySearch. She has some dates to verify, so she is going to take us to the local government offices and show us how you find death dates, birth and baptism dates, etc. As we were talking about death dates, I told Hno. Mamani that we needed to find dates for about eight people that I had been told were dead. He told us that he had lunch yesterday with one of them, so that crossed him off our list (we want to meet this fellow!), and told us that he had known the other seven, and that they really had passed away. So, that will help quite a bit.

We spent this evening with Hna. Vicente and her family and brother-in-law. Her husband was killed last week (see the next post) in a mine accident. Since Elder Fiero is leaving tomorrow, she wanted to share dinner with all of the missionaries here in Tupiza. She is working towards taking her family to the temple next summer (they were baptized in May), getting Alejandro's work done, and being sealed as a family. She is an amazing member. 

Hna. Vicente with two of her children
(and two of the missionaries).
The caption on the picture of the temple is "Our Goal".

We love being here. Some days, we try to just be in the background, encouraging, listening, and enjoying it all. Other days, we are in the middle of things, speaking in church, teaching, feeding missionaries, and enjoying it all. Either way, we feel like this is where we need to be. We are learning while we teach, being loved while we love, and appreciating more each day the beauty of the gospel plan in the lives of all of God's children. Especially these humble, wonderful people in Tupiza.

Flowers blooming at Plaza Leon. Spring is coming.