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.

Hello, All -- sorry for the hiatus with the blog.  We are back to full health now, and though we haven't had any unusual adventures in the last week or two, here are a few random pictures of places and "events" . . .

On May 5th, we had our combined Latin/North American Missionary Family Home Evening (we do this every first Monday).  We always have departing missionaries bear their testimonies, so this first picture is of Elder Chalmers doing so.  I realize you're looking at the back of everyone's head, but I'll tell you who they are anyway.  L/R, back row, President and Sister Jensen and the Delgados (from Arica, Chile).  Middle row L/R, you can barely see the back of Sister Chalmers' head, then President and Sister Dyer of the Cochabamba Mission, the Westovers (from Coeur d/Alene, Idaho), and Sister Lara (from Mendoza, Argentina).  Next (2nd row from front), L/R, the Paredes (from El Alto, Bolivia) and the Otondos (from Tarifa, Bolivia).  Directly in front of the speaker, the Benitez from Pleasant Grove, Utah (though she is originally from Bolivia and he from Ecuador).  Out of sight on the right are Sister Lara's companion, Sister Monroy from Colorado (whom you can see in the picture below this) and Farron.

President Dyer was our speaker and his presentation was WONDERFUL.

He told us about the growth of the church in the remote village of Quiriza, Bolivia.

He served there as a 19-year-old missionary, back in the 60s.

The missionaries and the members BUILT the chapel there, from scratch, 

with only $2,000 worth of materials.  (See picture below.)

It is still in use and is a beautiful building,

the only LDS chapel in South America with a bell tower and a bell!

This picture of the chapel and the members was taken in 1968, but it looks the same today.

Now to other miscellany . . . this is primarily for my family (our children especially) who know that I have a "black thumb" where plants are concerned and it is really "planticide" to give me a living plant of any kind.

HOWEVER, this is proof that under extraordinary conditions (i.e., here), even I can keep a plant alive.

This is a picture of the plant the Hursts gave me when they left on May 4th (almost a month and I haven't killed it yet.)

Furthermore, it has put out a new shoot (or leaf, or whatever you call it).

See it there in the center? I call that downright amazing.

I don't expect this good fortune to last when we return to California,

but for now I am actually enjoying have a live plant in our apartment.

A week ago we were walking the mile or so down to the grocery store and this street crew were getting ready to start their day.  They didn't look very happy when I took this picture, so I waited until we got past them to take the other two.  Notice that almost ALL the workers are women!  (I haven't figured out why or I'd tell you.)

 Also notice the very primitive tools they are using.  Talk about hard labor!

A block further down we passed this parked truck,

and Farron wanted to show you a picture of it 

because that is a natural gas cylinder underneath it.

Almost all of the vehicles here have dual-power, if that's the right word.

They are made to run on both natural gas and regular gasoline.

Not yesterday but the previous Sunday we rode home from church in the ugliest taxi I've yet seen.  I wasn't quite rude enough to take a picture of the outside (with the driver watching me), but I took these two pictures of the inside (this is looking back at the hatchback space) while we were driving.

This is the inside of the back seat.

Not all taxis are this bad; we have ridden in some very nice ones, actually.

But many of them range from beat-up to downright scroungy, which is what I would call this one.

I seriously wondered if it was going to get us home because the engine sounded as bad as the inside looked!

Next some pictures of my FAVORITE tree here in Bolivia.  I thought maybe it was the national tree, but they don't have one (according to Google).  I did find out the tree is called the "African Tulip Tree" and is considered an invasive species - how about that?  Apparently once it takes root it is exceedingly difficult to get rid of.  (I wish I could figure out how to get one home to our backyard.)  Anyway, to me there is nothing more beautiful than one of these trees in full bloom.  Unfortunately, whenever I see one covered in flowers, I am seeing it from a taxi and can't get a good picture.  This is the best I could do on the way home from church a week or so ago.

This one is right on our way as we walk down to the grocery store.

Unfortunately it has been trimmed lopsided because of the power lines on the right.

And here's a closeup of the flowers.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I really want one of these trees!!

On May 30, we had a huge group of young people come by bus to the temple from Santa Cruz.

That's a 12-hour trip.  It was their Stake Youth Conference, and they came to do baptisms.

That evening, Farron was invited to speak to them.

This is about 2/3 of the group; the others are in the hall, waiting to come in.

Eventually about 30 of the boys sat on the floor (the empty space you see in front),

so the girls could have the chairs.  The adults stood at the very back.

It was a wonderful meeting and Farron did a great job speaking to them.

Lastly, a couple of pictures that I didn't take but that are precious to me.
The groom in this picture is Elder Richard Córdova of Otavalo, Ecuador.
He was a truly remarkable missionary (all the Otavalans were), and this is his wedding picture.
He was married in May at the temple in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  Luckily I am friends with him on FB, so I could copy these pictures.  What I wanted you to see was the traditional Otavalan Indian clothing he is wearing. Notice the shoes as well as the hat and vest.  I think the other couple are the bride's parents,
and you will notice the father is wearing the same kind of shoes. The mother is wearing the traditional Otavalan dress.

One other note . . . Elder Córdova is only about 5'2" tall and that is typical of his tribe.

I used to wonder how these Otavalan elders would find anyone shorter than they,

but of course the lovely Otavalan girls are really tiny.

This beautiful bride is probably only 5' tall, if that.

Aren't they a wonderful-looking couple?

When I saw this picture on Facebook, it made me SO happy I just had to share it with everyone.

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