Mom's adventures

At our FHE last Monday, President Dyer shared a very tender story about one of his missionaries. President Dyer had received word that the father of this elder had been killed in a car accident. They called the elder into the mission office and he was told the sad news. He was invited to stay overnight at the mission home where he could talk to his mother and other family members on Skype. His mother encouraged him to stay in the mission field and he wanted to stay and complete his mission. The President said the whole family demonstrated such faith and love, both for the elder and for the gospel. The elder asked for permission to go to the temple and at the end of the session, he and his companion stayed in the Celestial Room for some time. As they left the room, a temple worker stopped them and asked if they were the last to leave the Celestial Room. They said, “Yes”, but she opened the door anyway and looked around puzzled. She said, “Oh, I was sure that I saw another man sitting next to you.” The elder felt it was the spirit of his father and was so comforted. His only question was, “Why could she see him and I couldn’t.” There are so many tender mercies in the temple and it is one of the reasons we love serving here in Cochabamba.

Now I want to tell you about the amazing celebration that I attended for the 170^th anniversary of the founding of the Relief Society. This was organized by our Stake and the meeting started at 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. I received permission to leave the temple early in order to attend and I had to go alone because I am the only missionary in this stake. When I arrived at the stake center they had about 200 chairs set up in the cultural hall facing the stage. The stage was decorated with yellow and blue balloons and the number “170”.

I recognized Sister Garcia, the one who taught us how to make empanadas and sat down by her. I kept looking for sisters from my ward. The meeting began about 20 minutes late, with only 30 people in the audience. There were some greetings, a talk by a high councilman, and 3 sisters were invited to bear their testimonies. More people had arrived by then and they announced that now we would have a presentation by each ward. Suddenly I heard my name called out. I turned to Sister Garcia and said, “What did they just say?” She smiled and said that they just made me a judge with three other women and led me to a table at the foot of the stage.

For the next two hours there were performances of every kind. . .

Bolivian dancers, girls in top hats, women dressed as wind-up dolls that danced, Spanish dancers, women dressed as characters from a TV series, and the sisters from my ward were dressed as Japanese geishas and did a fan dance. I was so surprised and impressed that I forgot to take a picture of them! I was so mad at myself. The finale of the program was the Stake Relief Society presidency dancing to ABBA songs (See Video) from “Mama Mia”. By now it was about 7:00pm, but there was a lot more to come. I found the sisters from my ward and told them they did a wonderful job. We sat at some tables that were in the hall and waited for dinner to be served. But soon we were called back into the cultural hall to be serenaded by some young college students who were dressed as Spanish balladeers, playing guitars and mandolins. They had the crowd, which by now numbered 200 or more, clapping and singing. At the end of their performance, we were handed tickets for dinner and they brought plates out to each person. Piled on the plate were two roasted red potatoes, a roasted sweet potato, a baked banana, a breaded pork cutlet, and everything was topped with shredded carrots, tomato, and onion. (See picture)

It was delicious. It was now about 8:30pm and several of the young mothers from my ward said, “Goodnight” and left with their babies. I went to look for Sister Garcia, to say goodbye, and she said, “Oh, don’t go, you will want to stay for the dancing.” Sure enough, they cranked up the music and almost instantly, women of all ages were on the dance floor. They formed two lines facing each other and everyone was clapping and laughing and “shaking their booties”. I was more than happy to jump in and they seemed very impressed with my “moves”. I finally said my goodbyes around 9:30pm, but they were still going strong. Now that’s what I call a Relief Society celebration!