Oct. 16th and Primary Program

 October 16^th: We had a going away lunch at the Chinese restaurant Lai Lai today for the Delgados. 

Going away dinner for the Delgados.

The Delgados

Her health has not been good for the past 6 months.  She had surgery and really hasn’t gotten well.  They are going to leave tomorrow and fly back to their home in Arica, Chile.  They have been good missionaries and we will miss them.  We had worked the morning shift and hurried down to the restaurant so as not to be late.  The afternoon shift people were already there and Pres. Crayk had ordered for everyone so the food came quick.  This is a really good group of missionaries and we get along well together.  We work hard and play even hard.

October 17^th:  We had presidency meeting this morning and I received the assignment to talk in the Coordinators meeting on Sunday the 25^th about how to use our time more efficiently and complete the goal of at least 50 initiatory ordinances every shift.  Also Pres. Crayk will be out of town this weekend so he told us to pick a ward in the new Sacaba stake and we could take the car and Sister Crayk to whichever ward we decided.

October 19^th:  We worked the morning shift today and then went downtown and got mom’s watch fixed.  The band on her watch had broken.  We took a cab downtown and found the place that Kevin had said would do a good job.  We left the watch and went to Haus for some groceries that we can’t find anywhere else.  We came back and the watch was fixed and it cost $1.50.  You have to love some things about Bolivia.

October 20^th:  We were up early and at the temple about 6:15am.  We didn’t have a big crowd this morning so there wasn’t a second session.  So we did not officiate and were home by 9:15am.  We went to the Saturday open market.  Sister Crayk went with us so I drove the car since Pres. Crayk is out of town; he really hadn’t left yet but didn’t want to go to the market.  Mom bought flowers and we got some fresh vegetables and candy peanuts.  Since Pres. Crayk had to fly to Cobija for a district conference he had also asked me to seal a couple for him.  The announcement said that it would be at 11:00am in the temple.  Well at 12:30pm there were myself and 5 couples waiting for the bride and groom to show up.  Finally Kevin called down to the patron housing building and found out that they were down there having the civil marriage and they wouldn’t be sealed until 2:00pm.  Since we were on for the afternoon shift, I had lunch in the cafeteria and just stayed until my meeting with the coordinator at 1:00pm.   We were pretty busy and I got to seal a couple at about 3:00pm.  This is always such a special experience.  You know the Spirit is present when you look at the bride at the altar and tears are running down her face and the groom is trying to wipe them away.  This of course doesn’t help me and so I’m also sobbing,  just like I am now remembering the sweet Spirit that attends these sealings.

October 21^st: We decided to go to the Esmeraldes Ward.  I drove and we took the Johnson’s who are assigned to that ward with us.  I asked the counselor if I could have a few minutes to speak.  This is a ward which has not had a bishop for about 6 months.  The last bishop moved and the stake president knew that the stake was going to be divided and he thought it would be best if the new stake president was involved with the selecting of the next bishop.  A counselor in the stake pres. was there to sustain members of the high council.  So I spoke and then he spoke and admonished the ward not to speculate on who would be the next bishop.  It was good council.  Connie invited us to dinner, so we didn’t even have to come home and cook.

October 23^rd:  We are supposed to be off today, but Pres. Crayk called and said that Pres. Diaz and his wife could not find any transportation because of roadblocks and asked if we could take their shift in the evening.  So instead of going to Pres. Meeting in the morning, we went up and did initiatory, then worked the evening shift.  Pres. Diaz called during the shift and said that they would work for us the next day.  So we will have tomorrow off instead of today.

October 24^th:  We went up and did some initiatory before we had presidency meeting this morning and reviewed our meeting that we will have with the coordinators this Sunday at 3:00pm.  Then we went and had lunch with the Crayks at Tuesdays.  We also went up in the evening and attended the 5:30pm session.

October 27^th:  We were at the temple early today and we had good attendance (48) for the 7:00am session.  We are on shift this morning.  There is a group from Santa Cruz here and a young man asked Pres. Crayk to seal him and his wife today right after the 7:00am session.  When we got the group together, many people from their ward and stake, it filled the largest sealing room.  There was a young woman in the group who  wanted to be sealed to her deceased mother and father right after.  Pres. Crayk said that I should do the sealing of the young woman to her parents.  So I went in and was able to seal her parents ( she represented her mother) and then seal her to her parents.  Some of the ward members from this big group represented her parents and her deceased older brother.  To be able to be part of these sealings is such a blessing.  She cried through the whole ceremony and I know many were  touched.

October 28^th:  Pres. Crayk dropped us off at the Las Quadras ward and he and Connie went to the Tiquipaya Ward.  Mom was jealous, she wanted to go to our old ward.  It was the Primary program and it was so cute. 

The boys side of the Primary Program.

The girls side for the Primary Program.

 
 Primary song "I will go I will do"

Then we taught our lesson to a group of maybe 12 people who either wanted to or the Bishop wanted them to take the temple preparation class.  We came home and I made stir fry and mom wanted mash potatoes, so we had stir fry over instant mashed potatoes.  Yum Yum!  I got a short nap and then we went to the temple for our coordinators meeting.  It went well and they accepted the changes we want to make in how we will schedule the limited number of workers that we have.  We made caramel popcorn for the first time down here.  The brown sugar is not quite the same as we have in the states but all in all it tasted pretty good.  We had the Cardons and the Hursts over for popcorn and to sit around and talk.  Called most of the kids and mom got homesick.