Temple Day for Cochabamba Mission Missionaries

[October 13-19, 2015] Another week

In a missionary Family Home Evening a week or so ago, President Jensen's wife showed us how she uses Personal Historian (it's a software program written by the Roots Magic folks) to keep her personal journal and family history. It looked like a good idea, so I'm trying it out. One thing that it will help me with is writing this blog. Each day, I open Personal Historian, and write a quick journal entry for that day. So, here I am with a week's worth of daily entries, and I can extract and summarize them as I see fit for a digest of the week for the blog. One additional benefit is that I don't have to put everything in the blog - just what might be interesting to others reading it.

So, here's the scoop for the week:

Wednesday
About once a quarter, the young missionaries who are here in the Cochabamba wards (that includes the Punata ward, Sacaba, and Quillacollo wards) come to the temple for an early morning session. Since there are over 130 of them, we spread them across two sessions on two different days.

Since this is out of the normal routine of the temple, one of the missionary couples is assigned to coordinate the sessions. Since the couple who used to do it left last month, we received the assignment. I had to get workers for a variety of tasks, some of whom needed to be at the temple at 5:30 am. All in all, it went pretty well, but since the sessions are only a half hour apart, we were scrambling a bit at the end when needs collided. But, it was fun seeing all the missionaries, and the Mission President and his wife at 6:30 am each day.

Molly is still feeling a bit under the weather from the GI disturbance from the weekend, but she felt blessed that it didn't stop her from helping out with these early morning sessions.

Thursday
We had a second early morning with the Cochabamba Mission missionaries this morning. Two sessions, like yesterday. Today, to adjust for the quick turn around between sessions, we made the first session smaller (only 30 participants), and started the second session about 10 minutes late. That gave us enough time in between sessions to get things reorganized, so it went much more smoothly.

Molly still isn't up to snuff, so I put her to bed after the session, and walked over to the Mas Vida pharmacy across the street. The pharmacist suggested using something that looks like the old charcoal tablets we used previously, but has an antibiotic as well. It's called Estreptocarbocaftiazol, and it has Ftalilsufatiazol in it. She said that one dose should cure it, but if not, take a second eight hours later. I asked if there was a maximum, and she said she was sure that three would cure it for sure.

So, Molly took the first dose at about 3:30, and by 10:30 still was passing liquid diarrhea, so we gave her the second dose. We'll see what she feels like in the morning.

Friday
Good news! Molly woke up this morning feeling much better, and had no further diarrhea through the night.

We had a pretty normal session this morning. A group from Santa Cruz and another from La Paz came in today, so the second and third sessions were pretty full. There were four nuevos in the second, and three in the third. After we were done, and I was waiting in the foyer for Molly to get changed, I visited with a lady and her son in the foyer. They were from Santa Cruz, and the son had just been baptized last week. He is 22. His mother has been a member for 2 years, and his brother was receiving his endowments this morning so he can leave on his mission next month for Columbia.

I also got to spend some time in a sealing session with a young lady and her mother - both received their endowments today. The daughter is leaving on her mission in a couple of weeks to Ecuador, if I remember correctly. These are sweet experiences.

After we got home at 2:00 pm or so, we decided to go walk through "El Pueblito". It is a more original area of Cochabamba that has been kept more like it's original state. It is only a couple of blocks square, but it was very quaint - more what Punata looked like 40 years ago, except the roads in El Pueblito were paved. Here are a couple of pictures:

 

It seemed like a quiet enough place, but we saw some stuffed animals trying to escape from one building. :)

Saturday
We had a regular morning shift at the temple today, and due to Sawyer's upcoming surgery, decided to start fasting at 3:00, since we have a dinner appointment at the same time tomorrow with the Chalmers. That kept us from the regular Saturday evening group restaurant activity with the other missionaries.

So we stayed home and worked on family history a bit. I upgraded Roots Magic to version 7, and reviewed what we haven't gotten entered, yet (Violet Josephine - so we added her basic birth/blessing data). Then Molly and I printed out sheets for each of the kids and their families so we could verify, update, etc. the information for each of them and their children. For instance, we didn't get Riley's baptism/confirmation dates in, so we need to clean all of that up.

Then, I set up a Personal Historian file for Molly to start consolidating her journal information. Right now, she has some in Evernote, some in Google Drive, and some in SimpleNote on her iPad. We figured, after having a demonstration of Personal Historian, that it might be worth seeing if we could conform our various methods to a single paradigm, just so we could have a central, unified place to track  our info from day to day. Each week, when we sit down to do the weekly blog, we're questioning what we did each day, and wondering what we missed. So, I'm going to try to do a daily journal entry to help me keep things straight, and Molly is going to see if it will work for he as well.

Sunday
We got up early this morning for our normal Sunday meetings. We walk down the street to Av. Circunvalación to catch Trufi 134. We leave an hour early (at 7:00 am) just to be sure we get there on time. Today was a "Good Day" (Thanks, Stacy for the reference) - we caught one quickly, and got out to Tiquipaya at about 7:20. As we walked up the hill to the Linde/Rosedal chapel, we met a little tiny lady who walks with a cane. She takes nearly 30 minutes just to walk the one block from the trufi stop to the chapel, and she didn't want us to miss anything, so she told us to go ahead. She is so faithful and diligent - she's there every Sunday.

After Sacrament meeting, we waited in the chapel for the Linde Ward to start at 10:00. The Rosedal Primary children were practicing for their Primary program in a couple of weeks, and it was amazing how they acted just like kids in any other ward - hijacking the microphone, singing really loud when they know the words, and really softly (or not at all) when they aren't sure, yelling out the parts of their talking opportunities that they know well and have practiced, etc. Lots of fun.

As usual, I played the electric piano/organ for the Linde Ward, and we went to their Gospel Doctrine class. The members know the gospel as well here as anywhere else, and make good, solid comments about their responsibilities in the church, etc. As we sat there, a sign up list for Temple night was circulating, and had lots of signatures. Hopefully they will all be able to come. We love seeing the members in the temple, and we are getting to know more and more of the regular attendees. Last week, I even got to help with a new missionary taking out his endowments - turns out he is the son of the First Counselor in the Bishopric in the Rosedal Ward.

After dinner with another missionary couple, the Chalmers, we came back to our apartment to Skype family. We really enjoy talking to everyone. Sometimes it's just a phone call, and sometimes we get the real face-to-face Skype experience. Either way, we feel blessed that we can communicate this way.

Monday
Preparation day. We started late, since we haven't been sleeping terribly well for the last week, due to the GI disturbances. Since we feel back to normal, we think this week will be better.

We're a bit on pins and needles hoping that Sawyer's surgery will go well. We really appreciate it that so many of our family help us keep in touch through this stressful time for him and Sam and Mollie.

We took a three mile walk this afternoon, out to see if the Parque Bicentenario was open - it wasn't, but the walk was fun. We'll try it again another day. On the way, we saw this place to eat chicken, and figured the name was intentional. Do the Bolivians understand the implications? We didn't think we wanted to try it out today!

And here is one last picture of the temple. The day was a bit threatening, which added some interesting texture to the sky:

Molly's Minute

[October 18, 2015] Sunday

When I learned that we would change our assignment in the Temple from el turno de la tarde (afternoon shift) to el turno de la mañana (morning shift) in October, I knew it would provide a new challenge for me, which I was excited to take on. We would be the only English speakers on the morning shift. I have really grown close to the afternoon sisters and feel very comfortable with communicating with them. I would miss seeing them every day, but was also looking forward to meeting new people.

Well it didn't take long to fall in love with the turno de la mañana sisters. They are all happy and warm and took me under their wings. I felt very welcomed. A lot of these sisters serve 2-3 times a week and one sweet, faithful sister serves every day.

Now that we have served in the mornings for two weeks  I feel very comfortable and am able to communicate pretty well thanks to their patience. In fact on Saturday there is no break between the morning and afternoon shifts so we have some overlap. In talking with two of the English speaking missionary sisters (from the afternoon shift) in Spanish, they finally said "just speak in English, it's faster" - they were anxious to get to their preparation meeting. Which made me appreciate the patience of my Bolivian sisters. They don't seem to be frustrated at all with me. I love speaking in Spanish and listening to them speak and especially participating in the temple ordinances in Spanish.

There are opportunities on our shift to visit while we wait for our next assignment. I enjoy this time to learn about their lives, families, testimonies, etc. Some of the sisters I have grown close to are Lily Orozo, who loves to make people laugh. She was an ambassador in England when she was younger. I can imagine her lightening things up. She and I exchanged tongue twisters to help each other with the other's language. Bertha Mendoza is teaching me Quechua (Indigenous language) words like "Anchata munucuiki"- I love you; "Ganri" - And You;  "Imaynalla Canqui"- How are you"; Wallelejlla"-Good; among others that I don't remember off hand. Hermana Soto has the most luxurious hair, long, thick and full of body and slight curl. She taught me a better way to make papas rellenas and also makes me laugh. These sisters and many others have become very dear friends in such a short time. Part of that closeness comes from serving in the Temple and sharing spiritual experiences together.

I am grateful every day for this opportunity to be here, to serve in the Temple with these dear people. I know that this work is important. I know that it is truly The Lord's work for His Children. I am honored, humbled and grateful. I'm also grateful that I can share it with my dear companion and best friend. I love watching him serve and love these people. One of our children said that Dad looks happier than he ever has. He's doing something he believes in every day and making connections with people and places that changed his life 40 years ago. And I get to watch and be a part of it.

People and Food

[October 6-12, 2015] Another Week

Before diving into any daily details (good papas rellenas found!), I wanted to talk about some of the people I've met on the morning turno (shift).

Hno. Spurrier is a North American who met and married a Bolivian at BYU, after his mission to a Spanish speaking mission in California, and has moved here. They have been working to open a little restaurant down close to the University (Universidad Mayor de San Simeon - UMSS). He's the coordinator for the morning turno on Tuesdays. In visiting with him, it has really helped me understand better what it's like living as a middle class Bolivian.

He and his wife live in an apartment across the street from the temple here. It is very nice looking, and their apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, with an additional small bedroom and bathroom that are designed for use by a live-in maid. They don't have a maid, though, and currently don't have any children, either, so the apartment is comfortable for them.

Water is provided from the city water system, but it doesn't quite work like we are used to in the United States. Two days a week water is provided, and someone has to open the valve that allows two very large tanks at ground level to fill. There is a pump that pumps the water up to tanks on the roof of the building to provide water pressure to the people in the building. The water is metered, but appears to be reasonably priced (some places aren't connected, and they pay 180 B's - $25 USD or so - for a full tanker truck of water pumped into their tanks). I'm not sure how long that would last, though, so a cost/value assessment is a bit difficult right now. There are times when the city water system, though, doesn't allow the tanks to be filled. He says they have been without water for a couple of days at a time.

As for potability, they do boil their water, although Hno. Spurrier says that some people don't, and don't seem to suffer GI upsets from it.

They are renting, but in Bolivia, there is an interesting mechanism that is used for some portion of that rent called "Anticredito". It works this way: There are two components to the rent - an actual rent-like component of $75 USD per month (pretty cheap), and an "anticredito" piece where the renter provides a sum of money (say $10,000 USD) that the landlord can use as he/she sees fit for the duration of the lease (investment, etc.), returning it to the renter at the end of the lease. Given that even a very good investment of $10,000 would not return more than $100 USD per month generally, their rent is very cheap. According to Hno. Spurrier, many places like his, without the anticredito piece might go for something up to $350.

For comparison, the minimum wage is 1656 BOB per month here. That works out to be about $240 USD per month. So, many people are forced to find some way to come up with the anticredito amount to be able to keep a monthly rent payment reasonable.

As for their restaurant, we tried it out on Monday of this week, and it was pretty good - details below.

Hno. Quiroga is a sealer here at the temple. He worked for Intel here in Bolivia, and is retired now. I'm hoping I got the details of his story straight - he told me all of this pretty quickly when we were waiting in the temple for our next assignment.

He lived in Oruro with his wife and four (I think) children, and the missionaries started visiting them there. His wife was interested, but Hno. Quiroga wasn't. He drove a taxi in the afternoon to supplement his income, and used that as a way to avoid meeting with the missionaries. For example, if the missionaries scheduled a visit at 3:00 pm, Hno. Quiroga would make sure he didn't get home until 5:00 pm. But, he told me, often, the missionaries would still be there waiting for them.

After a couple of years of this, he moved with his family to Cochabamba, and wouldn't you know it, the missionaries found them again. His wife started inviting them, and Hno. Q. says he was very mad. After some discussion, though, he allowed the missionaries to continue visiting his family, and at some point, he started visiting with them as well. Hno. Q. told me that during this time, he really was "muy duro" - very hard.

He continued to not want to have anything to do with the church, in spite of allowing his wife and family to pursue their interest, and after a number of months, the missionaries decided they needed to quit visiting.

So, one Friday evening, Elder MacPheters came prepared to tell them that the missionaries were going to stop. But, before he left, he looked directly at Hno. Q., and asked him if he was sure he didn't want to be baptized. Hno. Q. indicated that Elder M. looked him in the eyes, and the gaze seemed to bore right into his soul. Hno. Q. said that he felt the strongest, most amazing feeling come over him, and he realized that he really did believe what he'd been taught. Tears came to his eyes, and he said that he did want to be baptized.

He and his family were baptized soon after, Hno. Q. gave up smoking and drinking on the spot, and has never touched them since. He indicated that he has never been without a calling in the church since his baptism, and now is a Sealer in the temple.

Quite an inspirational missionary experience. I'm trying to get in touch with Elder MacPheters now, to put them back in touch with each other. It's always strengthening to my spirit to see that people I knew have found strength, power, love, and success in their lives as a consequence of having the gospel influence them in such positive ways.

So, on to the weekly update:


Tuesday
We started on the Morning shift/turno today. Lots of new people to get to know and love. Everyone I've met is so positive and encouraging. Little by little, I will blog about some of their stories (Hno. Soto makes ice cream for a living, for instance). Hno. Quiroga's story is above.


Wednesday
I've written a bit about papas rellenas (deep fat fried mashed potatoes with meat and vegetables inside) before (I think), and how much I liked them in Punata 40 years ago. We had them for breakfast at the market every day. Molly has been trying to figure out where we can get them, and how to make them. A lady at the temple told her about a place called Calamas, so we took a walk there to try them out. They are over on Av. Gral. Galindo, by the Universidad Catolica, between Av. America and Av. Circunvalación.

They were closed (they run out of papas at about 3:00 pm, apparently), though, so we walked back over our way, to a place called Donal's (no, there wasn't a clown there) and got a papa rellena there, just to see if it was any good.

It was, but it seemed a bit stale. We've decided that it probably is a morning kind of thing. So, we'll try again and see.

Thursday
We walked to Calama's again, this time before 3:00, and they were open. We got a chicken papa rellena, and a cheese/queso rellena. They both were very good. We're going to try again earlier in the morning when we have time, because I still think they will be even better when they are most fresh.

On the way over, we walked past the slide, so I dared Molly to slide down the taller one this time. She did! Here's the proof:

Molly on the tall slide

Hno. Spurrier had told me that the B Bus route, that went past Calama's,  ended close to the temple, so we took it back. It is one of the bigger, colorful buses (this one isn't a B route bus, but they look very similar):

It did bring us within a block of the temple, so it appears to be a promising route. We'll take it the other way to see where it goes headed the other direction tomorrow.


Friday
After our shift at the temple, we took the B Bus south. It goes down Av. Gral. Galindo, then down Av. Aniceto Arce to Av. Heroínas, across to the Correo on Av. Ayacucho, and south from there to the Bus Station (for the flotas between major cities) and La Cancha. It looks promising as an alternative route.

While at La Cancha, I wanted to see if the old train station still existed. I remembered riding the train from Cochabamba to La Paz on my transfer, and really enjoyed it. On the map, it says that it is buried in the middle of the La Cancha vendors, so we started looking around.

We found it! Here are a couple of pictures.

Train Station ticket window - apparently not used anymore.

Current trains at the train station.

I talked to a young man there - the only trains that run now are basically converted school buses that run from Cochabamba to Aiquile - the home of the Charango museum. (A Charango is a small guitar/ukelele like instrument, that apparently is native to Bolivia.) The train runs to Aiquile three days a week, and returns the day after. The route is about 200 km, so it doesn't go very fast. We're imagining that we might try it, maybe in February when we'll have a week or two free. We'll see.

To see a better picture of the bus/train, go to this site: http://nos24.com/44539/


It seems that a former president of the country contracted with a Chilean company to maintain the train system, and they eventually sold it all off and did no maintenance. So now, there are few trains, and few places to run them if they did exist.

While at La Cancha, we bought Molly some flip flops.

Saturday/Sunday
Somewhere along the line, we must have eaten something bad, because we woke up with the gomboo. It hit after our morning shift, so after we got home at about 2:00 pm, we just laid around and stayed close to the appropriate facilities. By Sunday afternoon, I was feeling better, and we'd run out of Imodium, so I walked down to Pharmacorp to resupply.

Monday
We took the 209 bus to Hipermaxi this afternoon, and while we were waiting to cross a street, a big caravan of important looking vehicles (black Suburbans with guys in the front seats that looked like security types, etc.) went whizzing by. There had been a big "Mother Earth" conference on the environment out in Tiquipaya over the weekend, so we imagined that this was some important official (President Morales) headed for the airport.

We also got some ice cream from the member who makes it here. It is pretty good, but also quite expensive, and not really that much like what you would buy at a good ice cream shop there. Bolivians don't have the same taste for creamy, salty, or sweet things, so it's interesting to see what they think tastes good. We're pretty willing to try some of their different tastes, but we do take care to try and make sure the food we eat is clean. Sometimes (this weekend being an example) we miss, I suppose.

We also ate at Hno. Spurrier's restaurant. It's called Mexicali, and the food was pretty good. We'll try it again in the future. It's an attempt to introduce some real United States style Mexican food. We hope they succeed.

General Conference Weekend, My Birthday

[September 29 - October 5, 2015] Tuesday through Monday

A couple of sections of lawn here at the temple had some wild grass in it, and needed to be replaced. The temple grounds crew sprayed it with a herbicide, and covered it all with fabric. Once it was all dead, they hired some workers (they looked to be campesinos - workers from out in the countryside where they plant and harvest potatoes for a living) to come in and remove the sod and till up the ground. We were so amazed to see how hard they worked.

They did it all manually with hand tools. There were even a couple of women helping them, and one of them had here toddler there. The picture below shows them working in one section. They took less than a day to completely remove the sod in this section, and then till it up 8-10 inches deep, just with their hand tools. The pictures below are of different sections, but they give you a feel for the amount of work these people did. It looked to be back breaking work, and they just blazed through it. It reminded Molly of her Dad, and how hard he would work. We could just imagine him here with us, seeing these workers, and going out there and helping them.

We're scheduled to change from the afternoon turno (shift) at the temple to the day turno next week. We've really come to love the workers on the afternoon shift. They are such sweet, hard-working, humble people, and we imagine that they even love us! (At least, I'm pretty sure they love Molly.) It will be fun to get to know a different group of workers.

As for the rest of the week...

Tuesday
Today was my 60th birthday. Time has sure flown by. I so vividly remember my 20th birthday here in Bolivia. I was working in the Obrajes area of La Paz at the time, with Elder Chatwin as my companion. We lived in a single room in a house there. The lady of the house would cook us dinner, but didn't like to feed us much (trying to eke out the most from our room and board payments, I suppose).

I remember eating a dish made from potatoes (big surprise here in Bolivia), and at the end, remembering that it was September 29th - my birthday. No celebration, etc. (my kids will understand that that was pretty much in accordance with my desires), but I remember distinctly thinking, "20 years old - that seems so old." That was the extent of it.

But, today, Molly cooked pancakes for breakfast, and treated me to a very nice day all day. The workers at the temple all wished me a Happy Birthday as well, so it was somewhat more memorable than my 20th. But, the real gift to me, both times, has been that I have been able to be here with these lovely, loving, sweet people. And this time, I got to be here with Molly as well. Who needs anything more?

Wednesday
A new missionary couple arrived yesterday, just as we were leaving to go up to the temple. They are the Thomases. They told us that this is their eighth mission. They have served as the Mission President in Argentina, in the Santiago Chile, Madrid Spain, and Preston England temples, among their other service.

We got to take them down to IC Norte to do some shopping, and got to visit with them and get to know them a bit. They already know Spanish very well, and are well-acquainted with temple ordinance work, so they'll make an immediate impact.

Thursday
We spent the morning catching up on the blog and studying. It's nice to have the freedom to make our own schedule as senior missionaries.

Friday
We ran over to Hipermaxi to get some fixings for lunch tomorrow and Sunday. The Temple Missionaries all get together and watch General Conference at the President's home via satellite (that means in English), and have a pot luck lunch each day in between sessions.

Saturday - Sunday
We walked over to the Feria to get some fruits and vegetables, as is usual on Saturdays, but this one was different - it was raining. So, we got to use our umbrellas for a change. It was a pretty good storm, which is very much needed around here.

At noon, we went over to the President's house, and watched Conference, then had lunch together back here at the Hospedaje, and then went back over and watched the afternoon session. The brothers watched the Priesthood Session there as well, later in the evening. Since we are two hours ahead, we wrapped up at 10:00 pm.

Sunday was a repeat of the morning and afternoon sessions together, and lunch.

As always, the messages and feelings from Conference give us lots to think about and feel gratitude for. As Elder Bednar so eloquently pointed out in his final, afternoon talk, we are led by seasoned men of God, who have dedicated their lives to service. They are clearly inspired, wise, loving leaders. Listening to the Sisters speak, as well, demonstrates that Heavenly Father is watching over us, and loves us. It was a good two days spent hearing, feeling, and recommitting to living correct principles, and sharing our love with those around us - family, friends, and neighbors.

Monday
We went down to La Cancha with the Thomases to help them find some rugs for their apartment. On the way back, we introduced them to Salteñas at Los Castores. As we walked up, we met a Sister Missionary who was finishing her mission. Her family had come to take her home, and it was sweet to see her interaction with her little sister. As we got to Los Castores, there were a number of members who had come to wish her well. We really love interacting with these young missionaries and seeing their obvious love for the work and for the people here that they serve.

General Conference

On Friday night one of my assignments in the Temple was Silla Uno "Chair One". The chair is situated behind the Mesa "Front Desk" and the assignment there is welcoming and directing people as they come in and hugging and kissing them as they leave (my favorite part).

When Bolivians greet you whether they know you or are meeting you for the first time, they don't just say "Hola" or "Buenos Días" or "Mucho Gusto" etc. They say several salutations quickly one right after another. So I thought I would say as they left "Buenas Noches, Vuelva Pronto,  Disfrute Conferencia General." while shaking their hand, kissing them on the cheek, hugging etc. When I would mention to them to enjoy General Conference I would often get a very animated response. Sometimes they even followed with a testimony. Such faithful people. One young sister kept hugging me and telling me how happy she was to be able to listen to the Prophet and Apostles.

It's amazing to me that even though we are here in Bolivia, supposedly the poorest country in South America, we were able (thanks to satellite TV available at the Temple President's home) to watch General Conference "live" in English in a comfortable home environment. It was sweet to share that experience with the other Temple Missionaries. There were 14 of us in all.

It was special for me to watch conference as a missionary. I have always looked forward to and really enjoy General Conference, to hear the inspired words of counsel from our leaders. But it felt different being a missionary. So many tender feelings, gratitude mostly, to represent The Lord Jesus Christ and His Church in a foreign land. When they talk about missionaries, I am one of them.

I am honored and humbled to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and to wear a plaque with that title under my name. I am so grateful to serve the sweet people of Bolivia in the Lord's Holy House. It was also very tender to me to see Utah in the Fall as they show the grounds and the people coming and going to Conference. I felt a closeness to my family knowing that they would be watching Conference as well.

The tradition here is that between Conference Sessions the Temple Missionaries all get together and have a meal. More like a feast, with lots of good food. Extra tables are brought up from the comedor, the cafeteria here at the hospedaje. Two are put in one of the apartments for all of us to eat at, while another holds the food in a different apartment. We have come to love these missionaries that we serve with. Such good faithful people. All of them, except me, have served more than one mission.

The rest of the evening was spent Skyping our sweet family. A wonderful ending to another great week in Cochabamba.

More Friends, Sawyer Walk, and Pineapple

[September 22 - 28, 2015] Tuesday - Monday

At the temple this week, I've had some very interesting conversations and experiences with the workers here, and some of the members who have come.

This week a group came from Santa Cruz and Montero. There are still some people I would love to cross paths with again - Hermano Rúben Peña, and Elder René Tapia.

Hno. Peña was one of the first members I met in Santa Cruz. he always invited the missinoaries over to his house for lunch. Here's a picture of us at his house for lunch one day:

Lunch with Hno. Peña and the missionaries in Santa Cruz Rama 1, 1975

Hno. Peña was always smiling. He seemed to have limitless energy, and even more limitless (?) energy in sharing the gospel message. He had a little business, and it took him to Buenos Aires from time to time, and he would tell us of the missionary work he would do on the plane with each visit. He shared everything so graciously - as you can see with lunch. He didn't hold back anything. The first truly fresh coconut I ever ate, was off one of the trees in his yard.

Since I've returned, I've learned even more about him. He was called as Bishop of one of the first wards created in Bolivia in 1979. He was instrumental in organizing groups of members to go to the Sao Paulo temple, including the Alvarez family that I've written about before. He's currently the Stake Patriarch. I've thought a lot of him since my mission - such a faithful, cheerful, giving person.

So, I was at the recommend desk greeting members as they came to the temple, and a younger man with the last name of Peña came to the desk. He was with the group from Santa Cruz, so I asked him if he happened to know Hno. Rúben Peña. He said that he was his Uncle! He said that his uncle comes here to the Temple frequently, so we'll see if we can connect. Sweet memories.

Another time, there was a couple just leaving the temple as I was at the recommend desk, and I happened to ask where they were from. The husband said they were from Montero (65 km north of Santa Cruz). Since Elder Tapia, one of my companions in Punata, was from there, I just asked if they happened to know him. He said that Elder Tapia lived in Barrio Guabira in Montero. In fact, his wife grew up in that ward, and knew his family. So I gave him my name and phone number, and he said he'd love to see if he could get us in touch. More sweet memories. Here are some pictures of Elder Tapia in Punata in 1975:

Elder Tapia helping make Christmas decorations, December 1975.

Me with Hna. Maria Irma Rojas, her toddler, and
Elder Tapia at her baptism, Jan. 31, 1976

Tuesday of this week, we had a pretty busy day in the temple, and right before the end of our shift, I was asked to help in a sealing of a family as a witness. There was an older lady who was being sealed to her husband who had passed away, and to six of her children, two of whom were still living. It was a neat thing to see them all together.

The next day, I met the younger man who had stood in as proxy for the husband. We talked for a few minutes. He is the Bishop of the ward in Trinidad (550 km north of Santa Cruz, 900 km from Cochabamba by road), and the lady that was being sealed to her family was his mother in law. One of the daughters being sealed to her was his wife. He told me that his mother in law had been baptized 15 months ago, and this was the first chance they had to come to the temple since then. It just made it that much more special to me to get to know this wonderful family all together in the temple, receiving this sealing ordinance and blessing.

So, that's the fun stuff. Just to document the comings and goings of the week, here's a daily recap of the rest:

Tuesday, 22nd
We walked down to get salteñas for breakfast at Los Castores, and walked down to Av. Padilla to check out a pasteleria called Olivias. Another missionary couple indicated that they had good sweet rolls, so we figured we'd try it out.

The front door (a roll-up kind of garage door that is common on many businesses here) was partially open, and someone was inside, but it didn't look like they had any rolls to sell. As we looked in, the lady came out and said that the rolls would be coming shortly, so we sat down on some chairs outside to wait. Sure enough, a few minutes later a car pulled up, and the rolls were delivered, along with a number of other breads and sweet rolls kinds of things. We bought a couple of things and brought them home to eat. They were pretty good - compared to normal Bolivian breads, but we probably won't fret much if we don't get back down that way soon.

Wednesday, 23rd
There is a sister obrera, Hermana Flores, whose birthday was today. Molly has a special friendship with her - she has suffered an illness recently, and missed some days - so she spent this morning making a birthday card for Hna. Flores, including some special quotes translated to Spanish. I'm sure Molly will blog something about her soon.

Thursday, 24th
We spent the morning studying and relaxing. It seems that we sometimes kind of hit a wall in learning Spanish. We understand what is being said pretty well (unless we are talking to someone from Chile or Trinidad, for instance, where they speak faster and don't pronounce their "s" sounds very well), but it is still a bit difficult to formulate the right words and conjugations on the fly in normal conversation. So, we're working on that right now.

Friday, 25th
Our grandson, Sawyer, went through a real tough time with his aplastic anemia, ending up in the hospital with neutropenic enterocolitis (basically, that means he couldn't eat anything by mouth in order to let his digestive system rest for a couple of days.) Although we know that everything that can be done is being done for him, and that his sweet parents love him and are making sure he knows that everyone loves him and cares about him, it is still a bit hard being so far away and not being able to tell him those things personally.

So Molly had an idea that we would take a "Sawyer" walk this morning, thinking about what things would make him smile or be happy here, and take pictures of those things. Here are some of the pictures we shared with him:

Molly going down the little slide.

Play place at Panchito's

Toy display

A puppy that posed for us

Pastries at Globos on Av. Pando

More pastries at Globos

Ice Cream at Globos

More Ice Cream at Globos

Baloons at Cine Center

Toys at Cine Center

Our prayers are with Sawyer every day. We saw an update from his mom earlier this week with him eating a Nutella sandwich, so it looks like his GI tract is improving. As always, he has the sweetest smile:

Sawyer with his sweet smile (picture stolen from his mom's Facebook post)

On the way home, we saw a mattress store, and bought a pillow for Molly. It's a curvy one that may make it easier for her to sleep. She sometimes has problems with her ear hurting, so this hopefully will help.

Saturday, 26th
Molly spent the evening with the other sister missionaries here, and Sister Jensen, watching the Women's Conference. It was live via the internet, which worked really well. I think they all enjoyed it - President Uchtdorf spoke, which is always a treat. We're looking forward to General Conference next weekend.

Sunday, 27th

On the way home from church this morning, we saw this:

We've seen this a couple of times before - it is a little Quechua lady, herding her sheep along the street leading up to the temple. We're not sure where she starts or ends, but it's amazing to see her get them to go where she wants them to go.

We spent the afternoon visiting with family on Skype.

Monday, 28th
We went to Hipermaxi this morning for groceries. We've had a hard time finding a good pineapple at the Feria, but we think we found a good one at Hipermaxi. Here it is after Molly cut it like we've seen in the markets:

We had FHE with the missionaries and talked about some of the things we do to preserve our family history. For now, this is pretty much it!

So, that's a wrap for the week!

Sawyer James

[27 September 2015] Sunday

This blog post is devoted to our grandson Sawyer James, son of Sam and Mollie.

Sam and Sawyer - August, 2014

Sawyer - September 2015 - from Mollie's Facebook page.

We have 13 amazing, beautiful, intelligent, kind, loving, wonderful grandchildren from Gordon who is 11 years old down to our newest, Violet Josephine, born to Matt and Lisa on August 4, 2015.

I could and might even write about each one of these wonderful grandchildren, but this time is about Sawyer James.

Sawyer is a very smart, mature six year old. He is the only child of our youngest son Sam.

First of all, it is my belief, because of a blessing that Mollie received from her father before Sawyer was born, that Sawyer chose his parents. I also believe with all my heart that Sam and Mollie are the best parents Sawyer could ever have.

Sawyer is a delight to be around. He is almost always happy and quite entertaining. He can tell funny jokes and interesting stories. He is also very fun to play games with. When he was very little, barely talking, he would make up games and we would play them over and over.

As he got older he enjoyed playing Skylanders on the Play Station. Now this grandma doesn't hardly ever play video games, so when Sawyer wanted to teach me, I was a little nervous about my ability to learn. However, through his patient tutelage, I learned well enough to play. He didn't even get frustrated with me but kept encouraging me with words like "you can do it Moggie".

I mentioned that Sawyer is very entertaining. When he was about three or four, he and his dad were having dinner with us. My sister and mother and probably Emily were all there too. Sawyer told us we all needed to think of two things, he made a cute gesture with his fingers and said "a couple of things". We all in turn said a couple of things. We still quote "a couple of things" using his cute gestures.

Sawyer loves and remembers people. Even when he hasn't seen someone for a while, he remembers them, name and all. He makes us all feel important and loved. His smile could melt your heart. He is sensitive to those around him. When I have coughed or sneezed in his presence, he always makes sure I'm OK.

Sawyer is inquisitive and has always asked questions. A "questionable character" like his Grandpa Lyon. When he was quite young, I remember him asking questions or figuring things out. I often heard him say, "Right, Daddy?"

Sawyer can do hard things. I have seen him get woken up very early, even before the sun gets up, even when it was very cold outside, to go to his other Grandma's or his Mom's house. He never complained or got cranky, he just was happy to be with his dad and obeyed and loved him. Or when his dad has been sick, Sawyer has taken care of him. He is also always willing to help with cooking or cleaning, etc. even if it's hard.

Sawyer is doing something very, very hard right now. Since July 29th, Sawyer had been baffling the doctors at Primary Children's Hospital. He was finally diagnosed with VSAA, Very Severe Aplastic Anemia. It's a very rare and very serious deficiency of all types of blood cells caused by failure of bone marrow development. He has had 12 transfusions and 3 bone marrow biopsies  He just finished ATG treatments intravenously through a PICC line which took four days in the hospital. The treatment can take up to six months to see the full effect. He is considered transfusion dependent probably for the next month. If the treatment doesn't work they will most likely do a bone marrow transplant.

Upon returning home after the ATG treatment, he was experiencing severe pain so back to the hospital they went. He was diagnosed with a bacterial  infection called Neutropenic Enterocolitis and will be in the hospital at least another week.

All through this ordeal he has kept his sweet happy attitude. He wants to know everything they do to him and asks very good questions which the medical staff seem happy to answer. He is a light to his parents and all around him. He doesn't complain, he just does it. He is very brave. Sawyer is a little hero.

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon found in Mosiah 3:19 that says:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

We gave a Family Home Evening lesson to the missionaries here about that scripture. I told them about our Sawyer. I believe his sweet personality and the experiences he has had have helped him develop these qualities and will help him get through this hard trial in his life.

Sawyer is an example to me, he is brave, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things, and he's happy just being with his dad. I want to be more like him. I also want to be happy just being with my Heavenly Father and doing His will, without complaint, the way Sawyer is with his Daddy.
Thank you Sawyer. I'm so glad I know you. I love being your Moggie.

Last of all, yesterday in our preparation meeting at the beginning of our Temple shift President Jensen mentioned this quote, which touched my heart: "Recuerdo también las promesas" or "Remember also the promises".

It's hard for grandparents to be away when our children are going through hard things, but we have been promised that our children will be taken care of while we are serving. That doesn't mean they won't have trials, but that they are in the Lord's hands. I believe that with all my heart. We have felt that.

I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father who has a wonderful plan of Happiness for His children. I'm so grateful that Jesus Christ atoned for everything that can beset us in this life, sin, suffering, pain, heartache, everything. I know He experienced it all individually for everyone who has ever and who will ever live on the earth. I don't know how He did it, but I know He did. I know it because a wise and loving Heavenly Father gave us the Holy Ghost to testify to us of these truths. This is my testimony to you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.