I promised a picture from the annual Devotional we had at the temple on August 11th.  Here it is:

As far as I know, these are ALL the temple workers, though there may be some who come from far distances once a month to serve and couldn't be here for this meeting.  There are several couples in the picture who make the trip from La Paz (8 hours on the bus) once a month, and scheduled their service in August so they could be here for the Devotional.  IF you can make the picture bigger, you can count in from the top left and barely see me (fifth person in) and Farron (sixth person).  Actually, what you will see is the top half of our faces - that's all.  Front and center of this group are the temple presidency.  Again counting from the left:  the 4th and 5th persons are Elder and Sister Cabrera (he is an Area 70 as well as the Temple Recorder).  Next President and Sister Diaz (he is first counselor in the temple presidency.)  Next Sister Crayk and President Crayk, then President and Sister Norman (he is the second counselor.)

Below is a much better picture of the temple presidency and the Cabreras, taken before they changed out of their whites.  This is our "outgoing presidency" - President Crayk is being released on November 1.  The Normans are actually going home this Thursday.

On Monday, we (all the temple missionaries) were invited up to Elder Cabrera's home for a BBQ.  His home is about 1/2 mile north of the temple in the foothills.  It's a steep climb and consequently, their view is breathtaking.  Unfortunately we don't have a camera that can do it justice, but here are a few attempts.  This first one is looking southwest across the city.

This one is looking southeast, toward the Christus statue.  (It's on top of that hill in the center.)

This one is looking straight south and down to the street below.  I'm standing at the edge of the retaining wall. There is quite a steep drop-off down to the next street (and so on, for each level, very much like the hillside building in the canyons around Los Angeles.)

This is looking southeast again, from the carport past the edge of the house and their beautiful, bougainvillea-shaded veranda.  Imagine sitting there at night with a balmy breeze blowing and the lights of the city below.   On the right you can see the steps going down to the flagstone (or tile?) patio area they built.    That's where  we had our get-together.

This is looking from the BBQ area back up to the house.

And finally, the view of the temple and city center from their veranda.  At night when it's all alight it must be a spectacular sight.



Here are some pictures of our festivities.  First a shot of all the hermanos.  Left to right, front row:  Elder Cabrera (with the blue baseball cap), Lynn Crayk, Elder Mogrovejo, President Diaz, Elder Otondo (with the cap on backward.)  Back row, left to right:  Eldon Hurst, Bill Johnson, John Norman, Farron, Elder Gironda, and Elder Perez.  For some reason, President Crayk is missing from this picture.

Next a picture of ALL the hermanas.  Front row, left to right:  Sister Perez (Venezuela), Sister Delgado (Chile), Linda Johnson (Spokane, Washington), Sister Mogrovejo (La Paz, Bolivia), Elizabeth Diaz (first counselor's wife, from Cochabamba), Modesta Gironda (from Tarifa, Bolivia), Sister Otondo (also from Tarifa).  Back row, left to right:  Dawn Hurst (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), Diana Crayk (President's sister-in-law, from Salt Lake City), Teresa Cabrera (our hostess), Me, Adriana Monroy (born in Ecuador but now from Denver, Colorado), and Connie Crayk (President Crayk's wife).

Here's a casual picture of the outgoing temple presidency - a little contrast to the picture of them in their temple whites.  They aren't in quite the same order, either.  L/R - the Normans, the Crayks, the Diaz', and the Cabreras.  I do think the Cabreras are a handsome couple, don't you? 

 Lastly, a picture of us missionaries eating lunch (so naturally a bunch of us were caught with our mouths full.)  Most of us were at this long table - you can see me about halfway down on the right and Farron beside me.

Here's the small table, though the grouping may have been different. Bart Eames (Mesa, Arizona) is facing us, with his wife Suzy on his right.  Elder and Sister Perez have their backs to us.  Lynn Crayk in the black shirt and Elder Gironda with the baseball cap.

Altogether there were 27 of us there.  You can see the patio area is large and beautifully appointed.

It was a lovely couple of hours.  The weather was perfect - about 80 degrees with a mild breeze blowing.  I told Farron, "I wish we could clone this house, pick it up and set it down on our lot in La Verne."  Alas, we don't have those powers!

This last week we have seen the grass from much of the temple grounds removed by hand and they will replant.  About every 7 years they do this because there is a weed that they can’t control. 
These workers are just north of the hospedaje.  We had to remember to keep our windows closed so the dust wouldn't blanket everything.  They use mattocks to tear out the grass, but they do it in big chunks so it can be replanted elsewhere (where the people don't care about the weed, I guess.)

Here's a section that's all-but-completely cleared.

Here's a truck hauling away the sod to put in a soccer field.  It's free for the taking; I don't know how many different organizations/schools came and got some. 

I guess when we get back from vacation all the new planting will be in and the temple grounds will look like the Garden of Eden again.

That's all for today.  Take care and have a great week!