Jan. 24th and the Group from Pando

 Thursday, Jan. 24^th:  While we were out walking early this morning we saw a bus pull into the parking lot above the patron housing building.  We could see that ½ of the windshield was missing and had been replaced with some plastic and some boards to hold it in place. 

The bus has seen better days.

We asked at the gate where the bus was from and they said Pando.  Pando is like a state, the one furthest north in Bolivia.  Mom said, “Why don’t you go and get the camera and get a picture of the bus.”  So dutifully I did.  I began to talk to the members getting off the bus and I came to find out that they had started their trip Sunday night and had been on the bus for 3 ½ days.  The road between Cobija and Trinidad is unpaved and it is now the rainy season.  They said that all the men had to push the bus through the mud for more than 5 hours.  Many of them still had on pants that were caked with mud almost to their knees.  As they got off the bus, many looked like their legs didn’t know how to work. 

The Group From Pando 47 in all.

As I talked to the District President, I came to find out that they had 17 youth with them.  I explained that they needed to provide 3 endowed men to help in the baptistery.  He also explained that they had many adults that had come to receive their own endowment and that they had 5 marriages in the group.  I knew at that point we were going to be really busy this morning.  I was really touched by the sacrifice they had all made to come to the temple, spending 3 ½ days on a bus, losing their windshield after only 1 day and having to help push the bus for more than 5 hours.  They looked exhausted.  My spiritual thought in preparation meeting was to tell all the workers about the sacrifices these saints had made to come to the temple today.  They will only be here for 2 days.  They will get back on the same bus tomorrow night.  I quoted Pres. Monson talk from General Conference a few years ago.  

“Why are so many willing to give so much in order to receive the blessings of the temple? Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure. They understand that the saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort.”    April Conference 2011

I had a hard time holding back the tears as I made the connection between this quote and what these saints had just been through. 

As the day, started the youth and their leaders arrived early and we got the baptistery going.  None of adults made it to the 9:30am session.  I guess they were getting showered and were trying to find some breakfast for their small children.  They finally started showing up for the 10:30 session.  We had 2 new missionaries and a new sister who was going to be married on the 10:30 am session, but none of them were from the group from Pando.  Then I found out that the 5 couples that were going to be sealed from Pando all wanted to be together in the 11:30am session.  In fact, 3 of the women were sisters.  So we had 10 new endowees, 5 men and 5 women, who were all couples with children, 15 in total, who wanted to not only be on the same session, but also wanted to witness each other’s sealing.  We really had to be on our toes to get all of these people ready and have enough time for mom and me to give them their explanation and answer their questions.  We did have to start the session almost 10 minutes late, but we got everyone that needed to be on the session on the session.  The nursery was chaos.  The couple which was on the 10:30am session, had 2 children in the nursery and then the 15 children from the 5 couples from Pando made for a record as far as I can remember.  Brother Ugarte, the assigned sealer, wanted some help with the sealings, so I sealed the 3 sisters and their husbands.

The family of one of the 3 sisters I sealed.

The family of one of the 3 sisters I sealed.

The family of one of the 3 sisters I sealed.

One by one I sealed the husband and wife and then their children came in and I sealed their children to their parents.  Then Brother Ugarte did the same for the last 2 couples.  After each sealing, the parents and children had a group hug and most were in tears.  Mom said that the last couple had 5 children and the 3 oldest left the sealing room with tears still flowing.  The mother of the 3 sisters was with us and she didn’t stop crying for the whole time. 

The 3 sisters and their mom.

We ran out of tissues.  The final morning session is usually done at 1:15pm and we are home by 1:30pm.  Today we got home at 3:30pm.  We got done with the sealings at 3:00pm and then I hurried home and got our camera so we could get a couple of pictures of these 5 couples. 

The Family with 5 kids.

The 5th family that were sealed.

Most of us that were together for the 5 sealings.

The Cardons had made us some lunch because we needed to take them to show a company how to get to the school for Down-Syndrome kids.  The Cardon’s stake in the USA had donated money to purchase a new swing set for the school from said company.   After this outing we got home at 6:00pm and after a bowl of popcorn I was asleep in my chair by 8:30pm.