We got some pictures from Bob Cardon and thought you might enjoy them.

Some kids waiting to be sealed to their parents.

We bought the blue one.

On one of our choir trips.

May:

 Now after a month on the morning shift we are in a grove.  We get home from the temple at about 1:30 pm and we then fix lunch and sometimes I will take a nap, then it is back to the temple at 4:00 pm.  The temple was open 23 days this month and I went after our morning shift and did initiatories 21 of the 23 days for an average of 2 and ½ hours each day, total for the month 507 names.  When Pres. Crayk asked us to do 3 endowment sessions and 30 names per month, I thought, "Ok, that should not be too hard".  In Jan. I finished with 27 names but I had to do 20 of them in the last few days of the month.  In Feb. it was about the same I did 30 names but again most were completed in the last week of the month.  In March I went once a week and had my 30 by the 15^th and ended with 60 names.  In April I started going 2 or 3 times a week for about an hour to an hour and ½ and finished with 202 names.  At first it was difficult to do just 30 names, but by the time I finished in May with having completed 507 names, I felt like I was missing something when I didn’t get to go and participate, or I found myself trying to hurry and get something done so I could go to the temple.  Now I really love participating in the initiatory.  Mom sometimes comes back to the temple too, but she is trying to learn how to do indexing with Family Search.  She started by working on the 1940 Census in the United States. The images of this census were recently released and are being indexed my volunteers so that they will be searchable on the internet for free. See: https://familysearch.org/1940census/  She is also working on indexing some Bolivian records from the 1600-1700's but these are much more challenging.  She wants to be able to help people prepare there family names for temple work when they come to the temple.  Then when I get home from the temple at 6:30 or 7:00pm we will fix a light snack, my favorite is popcorn, and then we study and get ready for bed.  There is a new app for my Ipad that lets you listen and read the conference talks at the same time, so we sometimes listen to a talk before we read the Book of Mormon.  
 But things are not going to be the same from now on.  On June 7^th, in the evening, I was watching TV and mom was in the auditorium practicing the piano.  The phone rang and I answered it, on the line was Elder Waddell of the First Quorum of the Seventy, he is in the Area Presidency in Lima, he asked if my wife was with me and I said no she was in another part of the building practicing the piano.  He asked if I could go and get her.  I went and got mom and then Elder Waddell talked to us one at a time because we only have one phone and only one person could hear at a time.  The long and short of it is we have been called to be the new Second Counselor in the Temple Presidency and mom as an assistant to the Matron of the Temple.  The Matron is always the wife of the temple president and she has 2 assistants the wives of the counselors to the president of the temple.  So everything is going to change including our schedule.  We will work one day in the morning, the next in the afternoon and evening and the next we will have off.  That way the 3 members of the presidency rotate through all the different days and shifts so that they get to work with and get to know all the temple workers.  I have to admit I am a nervous about being the one in charge of everything during the shifts that I am working on.  There is a lot I am going to have to learn how to do and my Spanish will get challenged to improve really fast.  This is a great opportunity for us to stretch ourselves and grow and I know with the help from our Father in Heaven we will enjoy this new assignment once we learn what we have to do and once we feel comfortable doing it.  But for the first few months we will be living at the temple trying to learn our new responsibilities.  The other thing that will really change is the number of speaking assignments we will have.  We both have assignments for next Sat.  Mom will be going with Sister Crayk to talk to all the wives of the Bishoprics and the wives of the Stake Presidency and High Council on how to support you husbands in their callings.  I will be going to a different meeting and talking to a group of members who are preparing to come to the temple for the first time.  Pres. Crayk gave me this assignment because he will be traveling to a Stake Conference and will be out of town and so I will cover for him here in Cochabamba.  At least I have some time to prepare,  when I have to talk on the spur of the moment I am quite nervous and feel my Spanish is not good enough to express myself the way I would like to.  

 A couple of highlights during the month were our paseo to the Champare and a night out at a ward party.  Mom was in charge again of our paseo.  We rented a bus and left early in the morning on P-day, the 21^st and drove east into the jungle.  It began to rain, but most of us went on a 2 hour hike down into a valley to a suspension bridge and then to the river.  We then went to a trout farm and had lunch.  We returned about 5 pm.  We had lot of fun and you should watch the video of me on the bridge.  We almost did not make it back because the bus got stuck on a wet dirt mountain road.

Mom and I on the bridge.

Trout Farm

On the 18^th we went to a ward party to listen and dance to a band called the Red Socks.  They play American 50 and 60’s music and we had a blast.  I wish I had taken our movie camera.  It was a real hoot.  Mom continues to give away Book of Mormons and we are even getting references to turn into the proselyting missionaries.  Mom has been the shift coordinator a number of times in May, that is a big job, but she always does a good job.  We found out that Ginny and Kirstin will both be having baby girls in Oct.  Katie will find out in about a month what new addition will be coming to their house.  Life is good we love it here.

Dad and a swinging bridge

I made a lot of people feel uncomfortable to be on the bridge with me.  But I had lot of fun.