This past Monday (June 16) we finally went up to see the Christus.  Here are the pictures.

The Christus stands at the top of a hill southeast of the temple.  The road up to the statue goes way south and then around behind and comes up the back (the east side) the hill.  As we were climbing, I got this good shot of Laguna Alalay (Lake Alalay) which is on the south side of Cochamba (and now surrounded by city.)

Here we're on the road up the back side of the hill and to our surprise, we saw this golf course.

Here's a closer look.

I guess there are several golf courses in Cochabamba,

but this is the first one we've ever seen.

Eventually we got to the parking lot.

Elder Westover took this picture of us:

President and Sister Jensen, Farron and me, and Sister Westover.

A van load of Asian youth pulled in beside us and their leader, who is from Korea by way of Virginia (!) took this picture for us.  Behind us on the left you can see the steps leading up to the Christus.

This is a closeup of the back of the statue,

taken from the parking lot.

From the parking lot looking east, you can see how the city just goes on and on, as far as you can see.

The church members in this area are in the Sacaba Stake.

It is far enough from the temple that they have to ride 2 different trufis to get there.

This was taken about halfway up the steps to the Christus.

If you note how small the cars in the parking lot appear, you 

can guess how high the hill was.  I think Farron said it was 150 steps.

 As we climbed we were coming up the east side of the hill, which means the temple would have been somewhere to our right and further west.  We finally spotted it, although in the haze it was difficult to see.  (There is much air pollution in Cochabamba, unfortunately, plus we were looking into the afternoon sun.)

Here's a closeup.

Also behind the statue is a park-like area with benches and a few picnic tables, as well as these two plaques.

This one explains that Cochabamba's Christus is the biggest statue of Christ in the world and it gives all the dimensions.  I did the math (aided by Google) and this is how big it is.

The statue itself is 112.4 feet high.

The pedestal is 20.2 feet high.

So the total height is 132.6 feet.

And it weighs - believe it or not - 2,400,000 pounds!!

This one is a tribute to the organization that built (or rather paid for) the statue,

La Asociacion Cristo de la Concordia.

For this reason, the status is actually called Cristo de la Concordia. 

It was completed and "dedicated" (if that's the word) in December 1994.

Walking around to the front of the statue, we saw where the trams come up.  Here's a picture of Farron at the tram stop.  They don't run on Mondays; that's why President drove us up instead of our riding up in one of the gondolas.  You are looking west over the downtown area.

 

 Here's a distance shot of the view from the steps in front of the statue.

(The steps lead down to the tram stop, which you can see if you look very closely.)

These are the Asian youth we mentioned who were here in Cochabamba

as 2-week missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention.

 President Jensen took this picture of the Westovers and us.

If you can get your screen big enough to see us and the statue's head at the same time,

you will see how really gigantic this statue is.

As we walked around the back of the statue to leave, Farron and Elder Westover went up to look inside the locked door at the foot of the pedestal.  When it's open, you can climb stairs inside to the very top of the statue.  However, we have been told it's really, really stinky and dirty inside, so we were not disappointed that it was locked.  Of course it was much darker on this side of the statue so you can just barely see the two men at the locked gate.

The statue is very, very impressive - the face is absolutely beautiful - and I'm glad we finally got up there to see it.  The 360-degree view is also impressive.  (From Wikipedia:  Cochabamba is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with approximate population of 1,938,401.)  I can believe it's that big.  It's a little like being on a hill overlooking any part of Los Angeles -- the city just goes and goes, as far as you can see.  One reason it keeps growing (I think) is the wonderful climate.  For being at 9,000 feet the weather is remarkably mild.  As Wikipedia says, Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round.  Compared to how cold the rest of Bolivia is in the winter, it's no wonder people move here.  We also know several people who have moved here because they have heart trouble and 9,000 feet is much healthier for them than the 12,000 to 14,000 foot elevation of the other big cities.  I don't know if that means our hearts (and lungs) will be stronger by the time we come home to sea level or not; what do you think?

Okay, that's all for today.  Until next week, vayan con Dios!

Hello, All --

Again it's been an "ordinary" week at the temple - nothing new or exciting to report - so I thought I'd show you some of what makes our temple grounds so beautiful.  First, though, a picture of an unusual repair job being done.

These are some of our wonderful temple employees holding an enormously-heavy lamp-pole which they had to "lay down" to change a bulb.  One of the engineers (the guy in the dark blue jacket) is in charge of connecting everything properly at the base.  I don't know how much that thing weighs, but it must be super-heavy because it took 4 of them to hold it.  Incidentally, of these 5 men, 3 are bishops.  Our personal (and wonderful) Bishop Tarqui (Jaihuayco Ward) is the one in the white shirt facing us.  The engineer (furthest away) is Bishop Hinojosa of the Cobija Ward.  Bishop Apaza is the one in the tan hat, but I don't know his ward.

 Here they have managed to stand it up again

and you can see from their size in relation to the pole,

how big it really is.  Farron says there is both a light and a camera at the top.

Okay, next are some pictures of our winter flowers.  At least twice a year and maybe more often, the gardeners are instructed to take all the flowers out of several different beds and replace them with new ones. We had zinnias and snapdragons and I can't remember what else, but since last week we have pansies. Here's a shot of one of the beds.  This is to the right of the front steps as you approach the temple doors.

And this is to the left.

Now here are some closeups of all the beautiful pansies.  They are HUGE and many more different colors than I ever dreamed were possible.

  

I've never seen an orange pansy before, have you?

 

Last night almost at dusk we took a walk up to the temple, just to look at all the different flowers and get some fresh air.  There are several kinds of lilies alongside the driveway that are year-round.  Here they are . . .

This one is a true orange, but in the dusk 

it didn't come out as bright as it looks during the day.

 

As we walked down, I realized I had never shown you the other half of the hospedaje.  This was taken from the western fence and I hope gives you an idea of how big the hospedaje is.  The double doors at the lower right are the doors to the Distribution Center, which sells temple clothing and all kinds of church books and materials at VERY low prices.  This (that you can see) is only half of the building - the half which has patron housing on two floors as well as (on the ground floor) a large kitchen and dining room, a huge laundry room, a small nursery, restrooms, a fairly-good-sized assembly room (with a piano, a podium, and a flat-screen
T-V where the Latin missionaries can watch General Conference), and the manager's office.  The other half of the hospedaje (which you can't see because it's stretching equally far to the east) has the missionary apartments as well as a laundry room on each floor.

This is looking straight east from the northwest corner of the building.

The tree you can see in the center is at the foot of the steps coming down from the temple.

The front door of the hospedaje is to the right of the tree.

And lastly we took a picture of the temple from the hospedaje steps,

with the late afternoon sun shining on the Angel Moroni.

I can hope you can see how very bright he is when the sun hits at this angle.

Okay, that's all for today.  We're hoping to go up and see the Christus later today - it is the largest one in South America, maybe the largest in the world - so I'll have some good pictures for next week.  Until then,
vayan con Dios.

Hello, All --

Not a great deal to tell you today, because it's been a quiet week at the temple - well, quiet in terms of low attendance.  This morning about 6:00 it was anything but quiet.  There are about a million stray dogs in Cochabamba, and I think 1/4 of those were having a fight right outside the temple grounds.  Bob Cardon, one of our missionary friends here, said:  "The dogs in Cochabamba bark all night so they can sleep all day, right where you want to walk."  And that's about as true a statement as you'll ever hear. We are so used to the barking that we don't hear it during the night anymore (thank goodness), but when Elder Carbajal visited from Salt Lake, his first comment was:  "How do you sleep at night with all the dogs barking?"  Mostly I only notice them now in the early morning when I'm already awake. Here's a picture of a typical "pack".

Last Monday evening (June 2) we had our monthly "Latin and North American Family Home Evening". Elder Rene Cabrera (speaking in the picture below) talked to us about some of the great instruction he received when he went to Salt Lake for leadership training the Thursday and Friday before General Conference in April.  He is the Area Seventy over all of Bolivia as well as being our Temple Recorder.  He is a wonderful person (as you would expect), has excellent English (which is a nice bonus for the North American missionaries who don't speak Spanish), and is an outstanding speaker in both languages.  I love to hear him speak in Spanish because his diction and enunciation are so perfectly clear that I can understand every word.

For my own records I want to identify the people in the picture below.  They are, L/R starting with the back row:  Teresa Cabrera; Celia and Eduardo Benitez (originally from Bolivia and Ecuador, more recently from Pleasant Grove, Utah); Adriana Monroy, from Colorado; Rosa Lara, from Argentina.  Next row L/R:  Juan and Teresa Delgado from Arica, Chile; President and Sister Dyer of the Cochabamba Bolivia Mission, from Reno, Nevada; Glen Westover (Lynda was sick and couldn't come) from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  Next row L/R:  President and Sister Jensen (our temple president and wife); Flora and Hugo Otondo from Tarija, Bolivia; and Farron.  Front row L/R:  Martin and Isabel Paredes from La Paz, Bolivia.

Because it was the last FHE for several of our missionaries, each of them was asked to share his/her feelings about their mission.  This is Adriana Monroy, a retired nurse from Fort Collins, Colorado.  She has been here for 18 months and will be going home June 22nd.

This is Flora Otondo.  She and her husband Hugo (next picture) will be going home to Tarifa 

(a city in the far south of Bolivia) on July 2nd.  They have been here one year.

This is Christy Dyer, the Cochabamba Bolivia Mission "Mom".

They are just finishing their 3-year call as Mission President and wife.

This last month (they leave on June 30th) is so hectic for them,

we were both surprised and happy that they were able to join us.

President Dan Dyer - a wonderful leader! 

He was one of the first missionaries sent to Bolivia back in the 1960s.

I asked him how he felt when he was called to come back as a mission president,

and he said:  "I cried for joy."

Another wonderful leader - our temple president, Jay E. Jensen (Emeritus General Authority).
He spoke for a few minutes thanking all the departing temple missionaries and the Dyers for their service and dedication.  We are immeasurably blessed to serve with President and Sister Jensen in the temple.

Now for a complete change of pace . . .

Last week I shared pictures of the ugliest taxi we've yet ridden in.

Here are some pictures of one of the very nicest,

which we were lucky enough to ride to church in yesterday.

The car is 9 years old (a Toyota station wagon),

but inside it looks and feels like new.

I wanted you to see  the natural gas tank

and also how clean the storage area was.

This was our driver (and you can see the nice upholstery on the seats as well as the nice, clean "ceiling" - what do you call that part of the car, anyway?)  We're used to shredded or plastic-taped upholstery with holes in the ceiling and everywhere else.  This was really a pleasant experience!

Lastly, one of the lovely sights we see every time we walk up to the temple gate 

(to go grocery shopping or whatever).

This poinsettia tree is at one end of the lower parking area 

and is just beginning to bloom again after being ruthlessly pruned a few months ago.

I don't know if you call these "double poinsettias" or what,

but aren't they absolutely GORGEOUS?

It makes me happy just to see them.

The temple grounds are simply beautiful - we are tremendously blessed to live here.  Not only are there lovely flowers and trees and lots of green grass, but also everything is completely, perfectly CLEAN.  It's like living in the Garden of Eden compared to the world outside the grounds.  Nothing but beauty, purity and peace.  I wish you all could zap yourselves here for a few hours, just to enjoy it.

That's all for today.  Have a healthy, happy, safe week . . . y vayan con Dios.