Week 4

Week 4:

Tuesday, Jan. 10^th: After our shift at the temple we were taken with one of the Latin couples to the police station to be fingerprinted and photographed so that we could be registered with Interpol. This is the start of a very long process of getting a resident visa that will last for a year. We are now illegal in the country, because we entered with a tourist visa that was only good for 30 days. The church pays a fine for every day we are here without the correct visa. I think it is about $5.00 a day. It takes over 3 months to get the visa and about 10 visits to different agencies. This visit took most of the afternoon. In the evening I went with Pres. Crayk and bore my testimony at a Stake Bishop's training meeting about the change that happens to you when you attend the temple on a regular basis. This was the stake where the Sunday before he had challenged the one ward, where the choir had sung, to come to the temple on Saturdays at 7:00am. He extended the challenge to the entire stake.

Wed. Jan. 11^th: Today was my first day to stay at the recommend desk from the end of our shift at 1:30pm until 3:30pm when the afternoon people take over. Everybody has to take a turn so in about 2 weeks it will be my turn again. I officiated a session today for the first time, only a few mistakes. After I got to the apartment, we went to find the mission office. We took a bus from just outside the temple gate, cost 1.7 Bolivianos or about 25 cents to one of the major roundabouts and then we had to walk about 5 blocks. It was fun to get a tour of the office and meet the office Elders. On the way home we stopped and had dinner at a restaurant that Mom and Tammie had seen on an earlier outing. It was very Bolivian but good with very large portions. We only got one entre and we took home enough for both of us to have another meal. Cost with drinks and dessert for both of us, $9.00 USD.

Fri. Jan. 13^th: You all know that we don’t have our Visa card, thanks to Dad’s stupidity. So we called American Express to try and get a pin so we could get some cash. That took about an hour. Finally they gave us a temporary one and said it was good for $500.00. We thought great that will hold us over until we get our new cards. Wrong!!! In the afternoon we went to 4 different banks and none of them accepted AMEX and none of them knew anywhere that would. I decided to go and ask for a telephone book to see if there was an international bank like a BSHS or something. I went into a bookstore where I had purchased a dictionary. I knew the owner spoke good English, when I explained that I was looking for a place to use my AMEX she just laughed. I explained the whole problem with the lost card and then asked if she thought we could cash a check at a bank. She then said, “I will cash a check for you. I have an account in the States and I am always trying to get dollars to deposit in this account.” I thought great our problem is solved. Three trips to her store and 9 days later she did cash a $500.00 check. She was really nice and helpful. She just was not at the bookstore when we tried a couple of times. Before we went on this adventure we had a different policeman come to the guest house and fingerprint us again and we had to sign a bunch more papers.

Sat. Jan. 14^th: I was asked to officiate the 7 am special session so I was up at the temple at 6:30am, it was a completely full session. At the temple I met a man named Mike Linstrom from Boise, he was here for a mission reunion of his missionaries from Bolivia, he had been a mission president in Peru and many of his missionaries were from Bolivia. Turns out he knows Alice, my sister, in Boise and knew Bob and we had one of those small world experiences. After our shift we hurried home and ate lunch and then jumped into a taxi and headed for our ward building in Tiquipaya. We had an appointment at 2:30pm with the Elders to go on splits. The Elders showed up about 20 minutes late and had not arranged for a sister to go with my wife. So the 4 of us head west to Apote in a trufi to try and visit some members who might be candidates for our temple prep. class that will start on the 22nd. 5 doors and 3 hours of walking later mom is grumpy and tired and her feet hurt. She was not prepared for the cobblestone streets and we had no success in getting to talk to anyone. It is after 5 and we all 4 had been invited to the wedding of the first counselor in the bishopric and the woman who cooks meals for the Elders during the week. It was to start at 5:00pm. We try and get the son of one of the members to call us a taxi. I don’t think a taxi could have found us we were out in the middle of nowhere. So the other Elder, flags down a woman in an SUV and asks her for a ride into Tiquipaya, because that is where the house of the man getting married is. We arrive about 5:30pm just as the bride is arriving. We are not late, we are some of the first ones there. The groom is 72 and the bride is late 40’s. Very interesting wedding. An official from the local town read the sections of the law regarding marriage and then had them sign a document and then said ok you are married. You have to get married civilly before you can go and be sealed in the temple. After the ceremony, we were served dinner. Pork, which we found out is against the mission rules for the Elders. Something about is can make you sick. We enjoyed it a lot. We got home late and very tired.

This baby is wrapped so tight she could not move finger.

Sun. Jan. 15^th: Mom played the piano for opening exercises. A little slow but better than nothing. She can’t play fast enough to sing with her yet, but she keeps practicing. In the afternoon mom had a 3 hour training meeting in the temple.