A New Year in Tupiza

[13 Feb 2018]

Here we are beginning a new year in Tupiza. One of the things that is different here is their celebration of the Día de los Reyes Magos, or Wise Men day on January 6th. To some it is more celebrated than Christmas.  In some families, the children will put out their shoes or a sock and the wise men will come and bring them gifts like they did to the baby Jesus. All celebrations in Tupiza include parades, things to buy such as treats and souvenirs and lots of balloons.

Christmas / Wise Men day treats

Baloon vendors

This year there was even more excitement in Tupiza around this time as the whole town was preparing for DAKAR. DAKAR is an international race. This year, it started in Peru, passed through Bolivia, and ended in Argentina. It occurs over a couple of weeks. Racers come from all over the world. They don’t race on regular roads and they drive non-conventional vehicles. Tupiza is a perfect place for DAKAR, however this is the rainy season and the dirt roads and riverbeds where they race would have been too muddy, so they didn’t race from Tupiza into Argentina. They just drove in a caravan on the regular paved road. We did get to see things we never see here, though, such as helicopters and airplanes. It was said that Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, was flying over in one of the helicopters.

Bolivians don’t seem to get discouraged by these kinds of disappointing upsets. They are patient appreciative people. “They get what they get, and they don’t throw a fit.” I love that about them.

As for the rainy season, this one has been one of the worst in recent memory. Since we came last year, we had been told that the dry river actually filled up during the rainy season. Well, it rained pretty solidly for a week. Then, one day, we started getting announcements that the river was topping its banks, so we went to look. It was fuller than we had ever seen it, and they closed the pedestrian bridge for fear of it failing. There were trees and all kinds of debris being washed down the river and getting stuck on the bridge pylons. It looked scary.

Pedestrian bridge over Rio Tupiza

Main bridge

Then we heard that about 50 houses built on the banks of the river upstream had washed away. Below the city, we heard that a dike had broken, and water had flooded a neighborhood to a depth of about 2 feet. A couple of member families live in that neighborhood.
   

Flooding in Villa Florida (picture credit Henry Duran)

Neighbors helping to move family possessions (picture credit Henry Duran)

Homes destroyed in Barrio Quechisla (picture credit Henry Duran)

A damaged home (picture credit Henry Duran)

The flooding only lasted through one day, but we’re still helping clean things up. The 50 or so families are living in a tent village, and we’ve helped one of the branches provide dinner for them. The city is organizing, and the government has promised the families that they will rebuild their homes. The problem is, they want them in the same place, and fortunately, the government is telling them that they won’t rebuild them again close to the river. People here say they haven’t seen the river this high in many, many years, but you never know when this kind of thing will happen again.

Missionaries helping out

Tent city (picture credit Henry Duran)

Donated mattresses and blankets

The missionaries also helped muck out the houses of the members in the neighborhood downstream, and we’re still planning to do some repairs to their houses. Members in Potosí donated food, blankets, mattresses, and clothing to help, and the branches have been distributing these things.

Then, just a couple of days ago, there was a river that overflowed in Cochabamba that impacted the wards where we attended last year when we were in the temple. Crazy weather.

On to happier news. Molly got to lead the council meeting in Relief Society on the first Sunday in January. With the new curriculum guidelines, Relief Society and Priesthood have council meetings the first Sunday to discuss needs in the branch. It went well, with good participation. It’s a different approach, but we can see how this approach will involve the members more and will help Tupiza.

We were sad to learn of President Monson’s death, but we were happy to be able to watch the funeral on the web. We even got to watch it in English. It was a very sweet memorable meeting. We’re so grateful for modern technology that allows us to be a part of things like this. We were also able to see the announcement of our new first presidency. Again, we got to see it in English along with the six English-speaking missionaries here in Tupiza.

As for the missionaries, we invite them over every six weeks or so (the length of their cambios, or assignment changes) for dinner. They like the change in diet that this provides, since Molly cooks a bit more like what the gringo missionaries are used to from home. Molly made chicken pot pie, lots of fresh fruits and veggies and a peach batter pie for dessert. Molly says It doesn’t matter how good it tastes, just so you make a lot of it. They cleaned it all up. One Elder even asked if he could scrape what was left in the pan and eat it. Of course.

About mid-month, Sylvana, a 10-year-old girl was baptized. Molly has gotten close to her as we often are the first ones at activities, so she has had lots of opportunities to get to know her. She is very diligent and committed to living the gospel. We were grateful that she chose to have her baptism in the morning, so we could attend before we left for Cochabamba for our temple trip (more below). She asked Molly to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. The best part of the baptism was after the talks and before the closing prayer, when her mother asked if she could say something. She told us she is Catholic and loves Jesus Christ and thanked us all for loving and accepting Sylvana and that she is happy Sylvana has made this decision. The Spirit was very strong as she spoke.

Sylvana, her mother and brothers, and the missionaries.

As indicated, we had a temple trip scheduled for the branches here. Molly and I left early so that we didn’t have to sit on the flota for 14 hours. We like to take a 4-hour trip to Potosí in a minivan, stay overnight in a nice hotel (hot water from the tap, good water pressure for a shower, etc.), and then fly to Cochabamba early the next morning. The flight only takes about 45 minutes. All in all, much better than a 14-hour bus ride without bathrooms.

The problem is, that there have been a number of political problems here, due to a new bill that was passed that created prison sentences for all kinds of controversial things (including inviting people to come to your church and trying to convert them.) We figured if we got to Cochabamba early, we’d be OK. We got to the temple on Thursday and heard that things were getting worse. The Temple President told us that they were going to close the temple on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday due to the shutdowns, protests, and blockades. He counseled us to go back to Tupiza on Saturday, but there were no flights out. So, we ended up having to stay. The Temple caravan for the members in Tupiza was cancelled, though.

On Sunday, we were able to attend the two wards that we attended when we served here as Temple missionaries. It’s always good to see these dear people. Some that were in our Temple preparation class came up to us with smiles and hugs, thanking us and sharing with us their experience of going to the temple.

On the way back to the temple, we got out of the trufi about 3 or 4 blocks too early because we’d kind of forgotten all the cross streets leading up to the temple street. It was a fortuitous mistake.

We crossed the street after a block or so, and just happened to walk past the home of the Zambrana family. We love this family and have spent time in their home while on our temple mission. Three generations of Zambranas live in this very nice house. Grandpa Zambrana is a worker in the temple, his wife taught English in high school, and laughs that she really doesn’t speak it. His son (who was also a temple worker when we were here) and his wife and their 10-year-old son all live happily with the sweet grandparents. As we passed by, the older Hermano Zambrana was standing at the gate (they may have just gotten home from church). We had a lovely visit with him at the gate. He invited us to come in and hear his grandson play the piano. He played three songs in church today. Between the piano concert and the cookies and pop, then the ice-cream, we had a wonderful conversation.

As is a typical Bolivian custom, they had us stay for a lovely meal. We especially enjoyed the very interesting and adventuresome stories of Grandpa Zambrana.  We felt like it was one of those Divine Rendezvous that President Jensen often talked about.

Three generations of the Zambrana family

    For a   bit of a height perspective.

The problem with the protests was resolved on Sunday by a proclamation by the President, so it was OK that we had to stay, after all. The temple was closed on Tuesday, but we were able to do sessions, baptisms, and ordinance work on Wednesday, and on Wednesday afternoon, the temple President set us apart as temple workers – good for two years. So, anytime we can make it to the temple, we can pitch in and help. There is a significant shortage of workers – they really scramble to get everything done each day, and still do so with an immense amount of love. The spirit in the temple is always so special.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Friday morning, and we were hoping to be able to help one family from Tupiza that made it to Cochabamba on their own. They arrived Thursday afternoon at the temple, and I was able to baptize them for his parents. The father isn’t endowed, yet – their goal is for him to be endowed and for their family to be sealed in May. We visit with them each week, teaching them the temple lessons. So, it was a big milestone for them. He has only been a member about a year or so. Very fun and fulfilling.

Marcelo and Vanessa Reynaga at the temple

Their children,  Maya and Emanuel – 6 years ago

On February 5th, 2017 we arrived here in Tupiza. After a year we can say it’s been such a wonderful learning experience, filled with the love of the members and other friends here in this small town. We are so grateful for this time. Our lives have been so blessed to be here and we hope we have been able to contribute in some small way in strengthening the members and leaders here.

Rio Tupiza – fuller than we’ve ever seen it.