John and Christine's Adventures: July 3rd through July 8th

July 3^rd through July 8^th: After this post, I am afraid that you are all going to think that all we do here is eat. (You might already think that!) On the 4^th of July after everyone was done at the temple, we all met in the apartment of the Perez’ for cake and ice cream to celebrate not our country’s birthday, but to celebrate Franklin’s birthday. He turned 68. Franklin and Lilia are very special people and we love them a lot. They are from Venezuela and have been here about 16 months. They have great testimonies and are very dedicated workers and are just fun people to be around.

Happy Birthday Elder Perez.

Lilia is trying to help him have the first bite. This is a Latin American tradition. The person usually comes away with cake all over his face.

Friday we had a very full temple. We had 180 youth from the Satelite Stake in La Paz, who were having their youth conference close to Cochabamba, come to do baptisms for the dead. They were camping out in tents and had walked about 5 miles to the temple. They all showered and had lunch here at the temple, then spent the afternoon and evening in the temple. We had other groups that we had to send away because they did not have reservations. But they all came back on Saturday.

Some of the many youth waiting for the Baptistry to open.

The youth group from Satelite Stake. This is 8:30pm. They are getting ready to go back to their camp-out.

Friday morning on our shift we had 4 couples sealed from the same ward, Villa Victoria, in La Paz. They had many ward members with them to support them and it was so cute to see them in front of the temple getting their pictures taken. Their bishop and one counselor were here also. I told them, “good job” on getting these couples to the temple.

The Mamani Family. She is waring a traditional pollera skirt with layers of ruffles. These are usually a very bright color and are warn by the Aymara people.

The Mamani's and some of the Ward members. The man to the left of Brother Mamani is the Bishop.

The Dorado family after their sealing.

On Saturday, after the afternoon shift, we all went to Pres. Dyer’s home for a pot luck dinner to celebrate America’s Independence Day. Sister Dyer had red, white, and blue decorations and she had made a flag from old ties and white shirts. Very creative for a mission mom!

Sister Dyer made a flag out of old ties and the front of out shirts.

All of Latin couples came except one. We didn’t want to exclude them from this important celebration. Elder Eames, who gave the prayer, did a nice job giving thanks for freedom and the blessing it is in our lives. It became a celebration of freedom and not just America’s freedom. We, of course, had way too much good food and Elder Cardon had fireworks. There are no restrictions here and he had some really good ones. Sister Dyer posted on Facebook that we were doing things with the fireworks that we would certainly not permit our children to do.

Buen Provecho

This is the desert table after everyone had been served.

The Roman Candles were especially fun to shoot at people and things.

These would shoot up in the air about 150 feet and then explode. Very good fireworks.

Those enjoying the fireworks.

Sunday we went to church at the Tiquipaya Ward to visit all of our old friends there. It was fast day, so I didn’t have to speak. It was a pleasant day and it was nice to talk to some of our children and catch up. Monday, many of us were invited to lunch at Carmen and Oscar Soto’s home to say good-bye to the Cardons. They leave on August 1^st. The Sotos have a lovely home and it was a lot of fun to sit around and talk and laugh. The Cardons extended and will have been here 21 months. They got here just a few weeks before we arrived. They have served valiantly. They are great friends and we will really miss them, not just as workers, but as friends and people whom we love.