October 29th and Tarija

October 29^th: Today was P-day.  I played racquet ball this morning, then I blogged for a few hours.  In the afternoon I drove Mom out to Tiquipaya so she could do her visiting teaching. 

October 31^th: We had presidency meeting this morning and I got my reservation for this weekend’s trip to Tarija.  We had the Crayks to lunch and after lunch, Pres. Crayk drove us to BOA, the Bolivian Airline and I bought a ticket for mom so she could go with me to the stake conference in Tarija. 

November 1^st: We worked the morning shift today and afterward Pres. Crayk called and asked us if we could talk to a group of people from Puno, Peru.  We said, “Sure”,  so we spent the afternoon preparing to speak  that  evening and also preparing new talks for the stake conference in Tarija.  The talks went very well and the people from Puno were very grateful that we would take the time to talk to them.

The group from Puno, Peru.

November 2^nd: I spent the morning finishing my new talk on the meaning of the word sweet, as in “Sweet is the work”. The patron housing is full and the temple was very busy today.  We did more than 2200 ordinances. 

November 3^rd.  I went up early to help with the early session.  Pres. Crayk is going to Oruro by car to another Stake Conference later today and we have to be to the airport by 10:30am for our flight to Tarija.  We had to leave things in the hands of the recorder, Elder Cabrera, until Pres. Diaz would get there at 1:00pm.  Our flight was only an hour and uneventful.  We were met at the airport by President Copa, the second counselor, who drove us to our hotel.

View from our hotel of Tarija.

He said someone would be back to pick us up at 3:30pm and drive us to the Priesthood Session.  We got settled and had lunch at the hotel. The hotel is kind of a resort and is very nice.  We went to the lobby at 3:00pm just in case someone showed up early.  No chance.  At 4:10pm President Copa drove up and said that  President Duran, the stake president, had problems at work and could not get away when he had wanted to and so he had called President Copa to please pick us up because he was going to be late.  We arrived at 4:25pm.  Mom found a room and we went into the chapel and waited until the person speaking finished.  While we were sitting there Pres. Duran showed up and the three of us walked up to the stand after the speaker finished.  But in the end everything worked out ok.  I gave my talk on sacrifice and I felt like the Spirit was there and that it was well received.  We then had an hour to kill between sessions.  I walked to the corner store and bought bottled water for the hotel.  The adult session began at 7:00 pm and Mom gave the best talk I have ever heard her give in Spanish.  She talked about having the light of the gospel in our faces.  I spoke about what we can do in order to have a better experience when we come to the temple.  I have given this talk now a few times and it is starting to feel very natural.  It was a nice meeting.  We got back to the hotel about 10:00pm.   We had been told that we would be speaking to the JAS group, young single adults at 7:30am in the morning and they wanted us to speak about marriage.  So we both had to figure out new talks.  They said we both had 20 min.

November 4^th: Up early and we were picked up at 7:00am.  At 7:30am there were about 15 young adults, so we didn’t really get started until 7:45am when we had maybe 30.  By the end of the meeting there were more than 100.  Mom talked and did a great job and then I started talking about the importance of marriage and when I was done I had talked for 40 minutes.  They had to skip one of the talks by Pres. Copa.  I apologized for talking so long, but they were very gracious and acted like it was no big deal.  That is what I get for winging it and talking without knowing exactly want I am going to say.   We then held the general session at 10:00am and I gave my new talk on the work Dulce (Sweet) and used the letters of the word as the basis for my talk.  D was for Dedicarse a Dios, dedicate yourself to God,  U is for Unirse a los santo o ser uno con ellos y Jesucristo y Dios el Padre, unite yourself with the saints and be one with them and Jesus Christ and God the Father.  L is for Lavarse o llegarse limpio, wash yourself or become clean.  C is for Cumplir con sus convenios, keep you covenants.  E is for Expiacion, the atonement.  I felt like it was very upbeat and explained how if we do those things we can have that sweet feeling in our hearts and souls. 

Stake conference in Tarija.

 

 The Stake Choir in Tarija.

When we bought mom’s ticket we found out that there was no space on the plane to return on Sunday,  so we changed my ticket and we will both go back to Cochabamba on Monday.  So when the stake presidency found out that we were not going back this evening, they asked us to have a Family Home Evening with all the members of the stake presidency, their wives and children and they wanted us to provide the lesson and they would fix dinner for us.  They took us back to the hotel about 1:00pm and said that they would be back for us at 5:00pm.  We went to Pres. Sullca’s house.  It was very nice and very modern.  We had a great dinner.  They BBQed some beef and we had potatoes and salad. 

Dinner at Pres. Sullca's house.

We then had a family home evening.  We talked about how hard it is for the wives and families of leaders of the church to always have their husbands and fathers gone, but that how when we do it well, we receive many blessings in our families.  It went over very well and the Spirit was present and strong.  We got back to our hotel about 10:00pm.

Pres. Copa and his 2 children.

Pres. Sullca and his 3 children the one in the blue strip shirt is waiting for his mission call.

Pres. Duran and 2 of his children he has some that are married.

 

 

 

Mom and 2 week old Ezikael Copa.

Ezikael Copa

November 5^th:  We had breakfast at the hotel and arrived back to Cochabamba about 12:30pm.  We then went shopping for groceries.  We had our combined FHE.  Pres. Crayk had asked Elder Cabrera to come and teach us about the resurrection and how the rock was rolled away not so that Jesus Christ could leave the tomb but so that we could enter in and partake of the atonement.  He did a much better job than I can explain. 

November 8^th:  We are off today and we are invited to go to a multi zone conference with all the missionaries here in Cochabamba and hear Elder Steve Allen teach the missionaries.  He is the executive director of the missionary department of the church.  He taught at the mission president’s conference that was held in Quito last week.  We arrived just before 9:00am and he taught for more than 5 hours.  We got home at 4:00pm.  He had some great stories and he helped write Preach my Gospel.  He really is a good teacher.

Elder Allen teaching the missionaries.

 

Multi zone conference with 120 missionaries.

November 9^th:  As we went on our walk today, two buses arrived from La Paz and when we returned we were asked by the stake president from Mira Flores stake, President Vasquez, if we would speak to his group this afternoon at 3:00pm.  We worked the morning shift and the temple was really busy and I got to do sealings for an hour.  We came home and had a quick bite to eat and went and spoke to the group from La Paz.  Mom did a fantastic job and really brought the Spirit.  I did an ok job as well.  We are getting pretty good at last minute preparation for talks. 

Pres. Vasquez and his wife.

The group from Mira Flores stake in La Paz.

At the end of the meeting, the Relief Society went around and gave everyone a small blue badge to commemorate the last trip to the temple before the stake is divided next week. 

The blue badge to commemorate the last trip to the temple before the stake is divided.

We have been asked to go and help serve dinner to Elder Allen and all the stake presidents and their wives, President Crayk and his wife and President Dyer and his wife at Pres. Dyer’s house tonight.  We spent from 7:00pm till 10:00pm helping with the dinner.

The Temple and orange clouds on the way to the Dyer's.

 

The hired help at the dinner.  Elder Cardon and mom.

Dinner at the Dyer's with Elder Allen

We got to eat also and listen to Elder Allen talk about the changes in the missionary age and how it will affect the missionary work in the stakes here in Cochabamba and what the stake presidents need to do to help the missionary work move forward.