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| Our Christmas Tree and Nativity. |
Merry Christmas Everyone
Thursday, November 29th:
This morning we went to the mission home to help package cookies for the
Elders and Sisters. Mom spent the time
wrapping new white shirts for the Elders and I and Elder Winkfield spent the
time wrapping cookies. Each Elder and
Sister will get a package of six cookies and some candy. Some of the Elders are the only member in
their family and will not be getting anything from home. It is so nice that Pres. and Sister Dyer are
trying to make sure that every missionary has something from the heart for
Christmas. It really made me fill good
to be able to help. We then worked the
afternoon shift in the Temple.
Saturday, December 1st: We were at the temple just after 6:00am
and we got done with our shift at 1:30pm.
A couple of times this week the scheduled sealer did not show up or
needed to leave early, so I got to do a lot of sealing this week. What a special opportunity and blessing this
is for me. I treasure these
opportunities. After lunch and a rest we
went with Pres. and Sister Crayk and Elder and Sister Cardon to an open house
for the daughter and son-in-law of one of our workers, the Sandoval’s. We were told this was just to meet their daughter
and new son-in-law. Well it was a sit
down dinner and kind of a belated wedding reception. The food was late and we were told that the
affair would start at 5:00pm we arrived at 7:30pm and at 8:30pm still no
food. We excused ourselves without
waiting for dinner. The picture of the
temple at night was taken at the club house of an exclusive neighborhood.
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| The Temple from the Wedding reception. |
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| Sunday Pot Luck Dinner. |
Monday Dec. 3rd: We had the employee session at 7:00am. Mom and I attended the session. Then I went and played racquetball. I also went and had my tooth fixed. I didn’t have to have a root canal so I am
very happy. We had a combined Family
Home Evening and watched a Christmas movie.
I can’t believe that Christmas is almost here.
Wednesday, Dec. 5th: We
went up and did initiatory this morning. Then we spent 2 ½ hours waiting in lines to get an appointment to get our
carnet. We need our carnet which is a
card with our picture on it that says we are a resident. Without a carnet we can’t get our visa extended
for the second year. We had the Winkfields
and the Crayks to lunch. They had to
cancel the English session because 10 of us Americans were standing in line waiting
to get our appointment.
Saturday, Dec. 8th: We
went and attended the early session. We
then drove Pres. Crayk’s car to pay for a ticket for one of our old missionary companions,
Doug Thayne, who is coming to visit us in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see him. Pres. Crayk and I then took off for the
airport to go to La Paz for a stake conference.
He had promised this stake president that he would be there. Well, he has to be back in Cochabamba Sunday
morning for a coordinating council meeting with Elder Cabrera and all the Stake
Pres. and District Pres. in the Cochabamba Mission. So I am going with him and he will leave me
to speak in the Sunday morning session.
We both got to speak in the Priesthood Leadership meeting and the Adult
session. Right after Pres. Crayk spoke
he left for the airport. This stake is
in El Alto, which means “the high one” and it is at 13,615 ft. above sea
level.
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| El Alto |
This used to be a suburb of La Paz, but it now has over 1 million people
living there. It sits on the altiplano
above La Paz. In the picture to the
right you can see buildings starting down the hills. That is La Paz and the houses extend down the
hills to the bottom of the valley and they up the other side.
Sunday, Dec. 9th: I
woke up at 2:30am with a splitting headache from the altitude. I had the same problem in August when we went
to La Paz and Lake Titicaca. I didn’t
get much sleep after that. But after
being up for a couple of hours my headache went away. Maybe it is something about lying down. When I got to the stake center I found out that every Sunday there is a furniture market on the street in front of the church and I found the front of the church blocked by furniture. We found the owner and he moved enough that the gate was not blocked.
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| The front of the church Sunday morning before conference. |
I gave my talk in stake conference and had to
leave right after to catch my plane back to Cochabamba.
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| Stake Conference Sunday Morning Los Andes Stake in El Alto. |
I think my talk went well. There was a ward choir from the Alto Lima Ward. They sang before the meeting started and I
took a little video of them before the meeting.
Right before I spoke, they sang “I Believe in Christ”. They did an amazing job of bringing the
Spirit. I thanked them and added my
testimony of Christ. There is not a
better way to start a talk. Of course I
was sobbing and pretty much cried through my whole talk.
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| The choir from the Ward Alto Lima. |
When I got home at 1:30pm I didn’t feel like
lunch and we only had a few hours to get ready for the Christmas Devotional and
Choirs that is hosted by the temple each year.
It started to rain about 2:30pm and rained really hard for about 30
minutes. I went up about 3:00pm and started
greeting people. There were a lot of prayers said and it had just stopped raining.
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| Mom with Lillian and Christian our friends from Tiquipaya. |
We had set up 2000 chairs and had 6 porta
potties and expected over 3000 people to come.
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| The Temple Presidency and Elder and Sister Cabrera. |
The program started at 4:30pm and I can’t describe the feeling. Tears rolled down my cheeks during many of
the songs. There were 14 different
choirs, many from Santa Cruz and La Paz.
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| Choir from the Santa Cruz Equipetrol Stake. |
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| Youth Choir from the Santa Cruz Puerto Suarez District. |
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| Choir from Santa Cruz La Pampa Stake. (my favorite) |
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| Choir from Santa Cruz Canoto Stake. |
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| Choir Cochabamba |
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| Choir from the Santa Cruz Paraiso Stake. |
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| Choir from the Santa Cruz La Merced Stake. |
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| Choir from the La Paz, Constitucion Stake. |
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| Choir from the Santa Cruz Piray Stake. |
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| Choir from the Cochabamba, Jaihuayco Stake. |
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| The live nativity from Jaihuayco Stake. |
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| The Choir from Cochabamba, Los Alomos Stake. |
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| The Choir from the Cochabamba Cobija Stake. |
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| The Cumorah Choir form La Paz. |
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| The Choir Zion from Cochabamba and La Paz. |
They all sang their hearts out. It
was an amazing program and lasted for 3 hours.
It was dark when it ended and hundreds if not thousands stayed and lined
up to have their picture taken sitting in front of the stable with the nativity
scene in the background. Wow what a
day. Over 4100 people came to the
program. The missionaries set up a booth
and said they had received over 500 referrals.
Video of the Crowd
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| The Crowd. |
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| More of the Crowd. |
Feliz Navidad the Choir from La Pampa.
Those from La Pampa sing to you today at the temple of the Lord.
We wish you a Merry Christmas.
Cochabamba Choir singing Carol of the Bells.
Choir from Jaihuayco, Cochabamba
Cumorah Choir from La Paz
Choir Zion from La Paz and Cochabamba
Monday, Dec. 10th: We
went to lunch with all the employees of the temple today. It was kind of a thank you lunch for their
hard work this last year. Each one of
the presidency and their wives and Elder Cabrera and his wife were at a table and
so all the employees had to sit with one of us.
It was a nice affair and well attended.
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| Our table. |
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| Pres. Crayk's table. |
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| Sister Crayk, mom, Sister Cabrera, and Sister Diaz. |
Mom cut my hair today so I’m good to go for another couple of
weeks. We went to Pres. Crayks’ house
and helped put together a Christmas present for each one of the temple
workers. Connie figures we need about
250 gifts. They have a really good
chocolate bar with peanuts here called Sublime.
We had notes and a bow we stapled on the candy bar that read. “When we work together in the temple life is
Sublime.” We only were able to do about 100 so we will have another work party
this week. As we walked around the
temple grounds this morning we talked to Pres. Dyer and his wife. We have included a couple stories they have
written up about their missionaries.
Elder Vinces: December 2012
Elder Vinces suffered an accident while working a few months before his
left for his mission. He was determined
to serve a mission so he continued his application even though he had not fully
recovered from the accident. The doctors told him that he may experience some long-term
loss of sight.
Elder Vinces received his mission call to Bolivia Cochabamba. He said that he was beginning to lose his
site at the time of his final interview with the Stake President, but he did
not admit his impending concern. Shortly
after arriving to the mission field, he began to lose his sight very rapidly. Within weeks he became blind and unable to
read. He did not have time to learn
brail. He did not know how to type well.
He did not know Preach My Gospel.
Various companions were assigned to Elder Vinces. Each supported him in extraordinary
ways. They read to him from Preach My
Gospel. They helped him learn the scriptures
associated with the lessons. They held
practice sessions with him so he could master the principle, door approaches
and lesson techniques.
One missionary companion, in particular, impressed me. He dedicated his
efforts to make Elder Vinces successful.
They practiced the missionary
lesson daily. They taught together, baptized and enjoyed the gifts of the
Spirit. This Elder found joy in serving
Elder Vinces.
My heart was soften by the faith of Elder Vinces and I am filled with emotion each time I think of his companion, Elder Silva, who thought more of the growth and success of Elder Vinces then he did of his own desires.
Both Elders have returned to the native lands now but the success of those two missionaries is well remembered. They were Christlike.
My heart was soften by the faith of Elder Vinces and I am filled with emotion each time I think of his companion, Elder Silva, who thought more of the growth and success of Elder Vinces then he did of his own desires.
Both Elders have returned to the native lands now but the success of those two missionaries is well remembered. They were Christlike.
The story of Elder Vinces did not stop there. A few months before Elder Vinces
was released he came to me to ask for my recommendations. He said he did not have a home to return to
after his mission. I promised him that
he should continue to be a faithful missionary and the Lord would bless him. He left my office fortified but not
satisfied.
Elder Vinces recounted the expanded story at the time he bore his final
testimony in our mission conference just a week before he left Bolivia in Noviembre
2012. He said that he had only been a
member for about three years, two of which were during this mission. He is the presently the only member of the
church in his family. His mother and
father were not happy that he was baptized into the church. They pleaded with
him not to leave the family and go on a mission.
Elder Vinces was determined to serve the Lord. When Elder Vinces left home his mother called
out to him that he should never return and she added, “We want you to
change your name. You are no longer a
part of our family.”
Elder Vinces added the following as he bore testimony of Jesus Christ
and the blessing of serving a mission. I
have been in the mission almost two full years and I have never received a
letter from my mother, not one….until this week. I received my first letter. It says, “I love you son. We want you to come
home to us. We have moved to a different
home but we have a place for you.” She
continued to express her admiration for him.
She recognized that the church had changed him and she would like to
know more about his church.
For the last 14 months of his mission Elder Vinces called me each week
to give me his weekly report because he could not type. He served as a District Leader where he
taught a weekly lesson to other missionaries on how to do the work of the
Lord. My life was changed because of
him. He was a powerful missionary who
loved the Lord Jesus Christ. As written
by President Dyer.
December 9, 2012-Two Tall North Americans-a story for family home
evening
This is a particularly sacred story, the kind that can be misconstrued
and exaggerated when shared with others. We share it with you in that light.
Elder Herrera, an elder from Bolivia wrote Dan this week. This is his
story. Dan called Elder Herrera to get the details and to make sure what he
read was correct. The thing I am most humbled about it that God cares about
each of His children and helps them when they desire to know the truth.
When Elder Herrera went to church an old man from the campo outside of
Sucre, came up to him. The old man spoke only Quechua, and asked him where the
other elders were, the two North Americans, who taught him in Quechua. Elder
Herrera knew for a certainty that there are no North American elders who spoke
Quechua, there are only a few South Americans who do!
Upon further investigation, the man told Elder Herrera that two “tall,
North Americans” dressed just like Elder Hererra with white shirts, and name
tags, came to his house and taught him about the Book of Mormon in his native
tongue of Quechua. The old Quechua man wanted to know more about the church. He
had in the past gone to church, but did not understand the gospel.
The old man had been out of town. It was upon his return that he said
that not only had the tall North Americans taught him in Quechua and he
understood them well. That morning, they had come by his house, and walked him
to the home of the counselor in the bishopric who took him to church in his
car. The wife of the counselor in the bishopric speaks Quechua and translated
for him and others also helped to teach him, but no one ever saw the tall North
Americans again. The old Bolivian man set a date for baptism and was baptized
last night, December 8, 2012.
You can draw your own conclusions, but this I know: God does hear our
prayers, and they are usually answered by another. Miracles happen every day in
missionary work. Elder Herrera said this is not a singular incident in his
life, he has had had an experience like this before in Cochabamba, where an
investigator was taught by someone in Quechua, that could not be found later.
The church is true and it is truly a stone cut out of a mountain without
hands and is rolling forth to fill the whole earth as Daniel saw in a vision.
Miracles are taking place before our eyes. By Sister Dyer.
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