July 27^th:  I went up to the temple and did some names in initiatory of Norman ancestors that I have been able to find.  I have about 5 men and 8 women and when we get all the work down we will have 4 sealings of couples and a bunch of children to parents.  We were off today but President Crayk asked us to speak with him tonight to a group of Young Adults from La Paz.  Mom and I both spoke and it is a lot of fun to share our love for the gospel and the temple with young people who want to live the gospel.  We come away from these experiences buoyed up by the Spirit and with a lot of hope for the future of the church here in Bolivia.  Things don’t always go the way you want them to or the way we think they should but if you look for what is going right you always can find things that leave you with joy and hope for young people like these we talked to tonight.

Young Adult group from La Paz

July 31^st:  The temple was so busy today that President Crayk postponed Pres. Meeting.  On the morning shift they had 19 new endowments and 5 sealings.  We were on the afternoon shift and had 1 new endowment and 3 sealings.  I think that that is pretty close to a record for new endowments. 

August 2^nd:  We were up early in order to be ready for our meeting at 7:00am with the group from Juli, Peru.  We arrived about 10 minutes early and they were all there waiting for us.  We were surprised that they were all there waiting.   Most meetings never start on time.  We started as soon as we arrived.  Mom talked for about 10 min. and then I talked about how to prepare to have a better experience in the temple.  Mom said I talked for about 35 minutes.  I think it went well.  We had to hurry up to the temple to be there by 8:00am.  Things were a bit slow in the temple today although we did have quite a few youth in the baptistery. 

August 4^th:  We went to the temple early today.  We were there by 6:30am.  I opened up the safes and got everything ready for the early morning sessions.  We are off today so we will officiate the first session.  Just before the session was to start a temple worker from La Paz came and said a group from La Paz had just arrived and were changing their clothes and could there please be another session start at 7:30am for this group.  Pres. Caryk on hearing that in this group were the entire stake presidency and most of the high council, said yes and asked if we would change and officiate the second session instead of the first.   Of course it didn’t matter to us which one we did.  There were 21 on the session.  14 men and 7 women.  Pres. Crayk latter asked the stake president why such a group had come together to the temple.  It had been the first time he had seen just the presidency and most of the high council together at the temple.  The stake president said that they were going to be having their stake conference in 2 weeks and they had come to the temple to receive inspiration about what they should talk about for their stake conference.  It really makes me feel hopeful when I see things like this.  So many of the saints here are trying their best,  I have to keep telling myself that the church is only 45 years old here in Bolivia and that in another generation or two things will be much better.  After our session, Pres. Crayk asked if I would go with him tonight to the Los Alamos stake and speak with him and he asked if I would prepare a talk about the fact that we need more workers in the temple.  So we went home and mom went and got a haircut and I went and got my blood results, not good my blood is too thin, I will have to cut back and only take a half of a pill a couple of times a week.   When we got back I started a new talk, we left about 5:00pm and drove for about 45 minutes to the west of Cochabamba to a city called Quillacolla.  Pres. Dyer had also been asked to speak.  It was their stake general priesthood meeting.  My talk was very direct and to the point.  But after the meeting 2 men came up to Pres. Crayk and said they wanted to be temple workers.  Pres. Crayk told me to tell my wife that my talk had been a success.  We got home after 9:00pm, it was not much of a day off but I enjoy doing things like we did today instead of not having anything to do.  I feel the Spirit much more giving talks and going to meetings and officiating in the temple than sitting in the apartment studying and trying to keep busy. 

August 6^th:  Today is p-day and so we went shopping and I bought stuff so I could cook a Mexican meal for the Flores and Gutierrez couples who are finishing their time here at the temple.  They are both Bolivian and have been living at the guest house for 2 years.  The Flores are from Tarija and the Gutierrezs are from Montero by Santa Cruz.  I spent most of the day cooking .  We had a nice dinner with them and then we all went to FHE.  The first Monday of the month is a combined FHE with both the Latin missionaries and the North American missionaries.  The Flores gave the lesson, the Gutierrezs had given it the month before.  We then had refreshments.  The Perezs made the treats and they were more like orderves, tuna fish on bread and baked little rolls with cheese in them.  She said we eat too many sweets.  She is right of course.

Brother and Sister Flores

Brother and Sister Gutierrez

August 7^th:  We had the morning shift today.  The temple is slow.  All the groups have gone home and the group from La Paz didn’t arrive today, some problem with blockades.  There was one cute couple who had come from Cusco Peru to be sealed.  They had gotten married 3 days ago in Cusco and had spent a whole day traveling to come to the temple to be sealed.  The brides’ mom is a member but not endowed so she had a friend with here.  The young man was a returned mission.  His name was interesting, Silvestre Israel Antatajuna Tutucayo, very Quechua.  We helped them through the veil and then I was a witness for the sealing and mom attended the sealing.  After the sealing mom told me to hurry and change and go and get the camera so we could take their picture.  So I was obedient and now we have their picture.  I spent a few hours catching up on this journal and figuring out how to get pictures off my I-pad and on to the computer.  I figured it out, so you will see some of the pictures I took of the groups we have spoken to.  We ate leftover Mexican burritos.

The couple from Cusco Peru