May 12th through May 18th

Sunday, May 12^th through May 18^th:  Sunday morning I picked up Kory and Carolyn at 7:30am. Mom and the rest of our group took taxis to the Villa Graciela and Frutiar Wards.  Mom translated for the Katseanes’ during the 2 sacrament meetings we were assigned to speak in.  In the first one, Bob and Tammie, who came on this mission without speaking a lick of Spanish, gave two of the best talks and then Sister Monroy, who is originally from Ecuador but now lives with her daughter in Brighton, Colo. (Rex Johnson, Becky’s, my brother Van’s daughter, husband is her stake president.) spoke and did a great job.  The Spirit was strong, but then Tammie played a medley of hymns on her violin.  I sat on the stand and watch person after person wipe tears from their eyes.  I joined them. Many in the congregation felt the power of the Spirit.  There wasn’t time for mom to speak, so I used the rest of the time.  My heart was full and I added my witness of the importance of the temple in our lives as a place to help us prepare to return to our Father in Heaven.  After the meeting, I felt like I had just attended a general conference.  Wow.  We then did it all over again at the ward that started their sacrament meeting at 10:00am.  This time the Vallenas’ spoke, but they had had 3 converts confirmed at the start of the meeting and once again we were a little short of time.  But I insisted that mom as least bear her testimony.  She did a great job and then I finished out the meeting.  Sister Monroy translated for the Katseanes’ while mom and I spoke in the last meeting.  I think that this was the best thing we have ever done.  It was more powerful than when we would take all of the missionaries and sing as a choir and we had missionaries in every ward of the Sacaba stake doing what we had just done.  We had Mother’s day dinner at President Crayk’s house with the Eames’, Hurst’s, and Harrison’s.  Pres. Crayk had found a ham and it was delicious.  We spent the evening talking to our kids and grandkids on Skype.  Monday we picked up Kory and Carolyn and took them to the Carmelite convent, Santa Teresa.  They really enjoyed that.  We then walked down by the post office where there are a lot of souvenir shops so they could buy a few things to take home.  We had lunch together and said that we would meet them at the Tuesday’s for dinner around 6:00pm and then we would go with them to the music school, where Kory was going to be a guest conductor of one of the orchestras.  The Cardon’s went with us to dinner and the rehearsal. 

The orchestra.

Kory conducting the orchestra.

Kory teaching how to use the bow.

Tammie brought her violin and played with the orchestra.  Kory had the musicians eating out of his hands.  He is a great conductor.  For those of you that don’t know him, he was the assistant conductor of the Utah Symphony for years.  After the rehearsal Kory handed out BYU tee shirts to all the musicians.  The kids were really excited to get a tee shirt. 

Some of the students with their BYU tee shirts.

Some of the students with their BYU tee shirts.

Fito, the director of the music foundation.

Left to right, Bob and Tammie Cardon, Kory and Carolyn Katseanes, Mom and I after the rehearsal.

Tuesday, Kory called and asked if we had a Book of Mormon.  He had gone early to a TV station with the Director of the music foundation.  The director, Fito, had asked him why he did not smoke or drink coffee and alcohol.   He had explained to Fito that it is because a prophet had told us not to and that we believe in living prophets and we have a prophet and 12 apostles at the head of our church.  The conversation continued to the point to where he asked Fito if he would like to read the Book of Mormon and he said, “yes” and he also asked him if he would like to attend church.  He again said yes, so Kory said he would have the Norman’s come and take them to church on Sunday.  We of course said we had a BofM and they came up and got it and gave us Fito’s address.   We can’t wait for Sunday.  Thursday, we had a young man come with his parents to receive his endowment.  He is the last of 3 sons to go on a mission.  His mom and dad were so cute we just had to get a picture. 

Left to right, the new Elder, me, his dad, and his mom.

That same day a man, who is a bishop by Arequipa in Peru, in his 40’s and his sister and brother-in-law brought their parents to receive their endowments and to be sealed as a family for eternity.  His parents were from the countryside.  He had made the comment to his sister that they needed to get their mom and dad to the temple before it’s too late.  They are in their seventies and their mother was quite deaf and spoke little Spanish. 

From right to left, me, the father, his son, the wife, their daughter, her husband, from by Arequipa, Peru

It was a good day in the temple to be able to help these two families.  Friday, as we were out for our morning walk, I slipped and fell 3 times on the sidewalk (you would think after falling once I would have stopped walking).  It had just stopped raining and I had on a pair of shoes with a hard sole.  I really sprained my ankle and cut up and bruised my elbow.  After our shift Friday night, my ankle was really swollen and hurting.  I pretty much stayed off my feet Saturday.  It’s a good thing it was our day off.

May 2nd through May 11th:

May 2^nd through May 11^th:  Other than Saturdays, the temple continues to have small sessions and this will continue for another month or two.  We can’t wait till their winter break when the kids will be out of school and we will begin to have large groups come from all over the temple district.  Last Saturday the 4^th we had 2 large sessions, one at 6:30am and one at 7:00am.  Most of the patrons were from the newly formed Sacaba stake.  President Crayk had talked to the stake president about the possibility of having the temple missionaries come and participate in all of the sacrament meetings in his stake.  He was excited about the idea and they agreed on the week of May 19^th.  The stake president called back the next day and said they could not wait and wanted us to come on the 12^th.  So I got the assignment of dividing up all of the temple missionaries so we had 4 groups, each with a musical person, a Latin couple, a member of the Temple Presidency or our trainer Elder Perez, and then divide the rest with missionaries that can speak Spanish well and those that are working on learning Spanish.   Since I was making the assignments, I wanted the Cardon’s, so that Sister Cardon could pay her violin as our musical number.  The rest of the groups will have to sing together.  We had a meeting Sunday afternoon to explain all of this to the missionaries.  I think for the most part everyone is excited for the opportunity to try and help this stake improve their understanding of the temple and as a result their attendance.  We had decided to attend the University ward for our Sunday meetings, but Sunday morning as I was in the shower mom said she wanted to go to the Villa Moscu ward.  We rushed to get ready because it started an hour earlier than the one we had planned on attending.   We had a lovely testimony meeting and then we decided to attend the temple preparation class that the Cardon’s teach.  Bob had wanted to show a video on the temple and had brought his computer and everything, but had forgotten the DVD.  They only had one student who was planning on going the following week to the temple for his first time.  Bob and Tammie came on this mission not speaking any Spanish.  They had done a great job of learning the basics and for the most part can get by, but they struggle to understand and answer questions.  We had the opportunity to answer all the questions that this young man had about the temple and help get him a little better prepared.  On Friday we had the opportunity to attend the session with Bob and Tammie where this young man received his endowment.  We had a nice Sunday dinner at Pres. Crayk’s home with the Hurst, the Eames, and the Harrisons.  I cooked a beef roast.  The Crayk’s had been in Yacuiba the week before and had roast beef that was tender and Connie had asked how she had cooked it.  The secret was to soak the roast in grapefruit juice overnight and then cook it slowly with a lot of soy sauce.  I made a sauce with soy and rice vinegar.  It turned out very tender and now we know how to get the meat down here to not be so tough.  Monday the 6^th we went to a dinner with the other members of the temple presidency and the Club Deseret, a group of temple workers, employees (gardeners, security, engineers, kitchen, laundry, and custodial).  They play soccer and have other activities.  There is a real friendship and love between all the workers at the temple. 

Mom and I waiting for the dinner to start.  We were on time which meant we were almost the only ones there.

Pres. Diaz and his wife, Pres. Crayk and his wife, me and my wife.  Dinner with Club Deseret.

Some of the people at the dinner of Club Deseret.

Mom and Sister Diaz at the dinner with Club Deseret.

They served Pique Mixto, beef tongue and chicken with a spicy sauce.  I was a good boy and ate all of my beef tongue, mom not so much.  It is a real favorite here.  Friday Pres. Crayk let us take the car to go and visit Willie Escobar, one of our shift coordinators, and his daughter who had been in the bus accident a few months ago.  We decided that the Hursts needed an adventure and so they went with us.  First we had to stop and buy a present for Ximena, Willie’s daughter; she has just gotten home from the hospital in La Paz.  Mom also bought a present for Dayana’s new baby daughter and her 1 ½ year old son, so he would not be so jealous of the baby’s present.  Dayana was one of the women that mom visited when we attended the Ticquipaya Ward.  I also had the opportunity to seal Dayana and her husband Rudy.  Our second stop was the Ticquipaya Ward House.  It is under renovation.

The basketball court is now where they are bending all the rebar for the footings.

The basketball court is now where they are bending all the rebar for the footings.

Me, the architect and mom.

The old chapel.

We will have our meetings in the Linde ward in the afternoon.  There will be a bus in the Tiquipaya square.  1:00 to 1:30

The field next to the Tiquipaya ward building.  They will build a larger building in this field and use the old building for offices and class rooms.

They will be constructing a larger building next to the old building to house a larger sacrament meeting room and more and larger classrooms.  It is much needed.  Next we stopped by Dayana’s home.  You can see by the pictures how humbly they live. 

Me, Casey, and Dayana in their kitchen.

Dayana's new 2 week old baby Casey.

Dayana and Rudi's kitchen.

Dayana and Rudi's kitchen.

She was so glad to see us and both mom and I got to hold her cute new baby.  Then it was on to Apote where Willie lives.  Willie was not there but we had seen him at church 2 weeks ago and we really wanted to see how Ximena was getting along.  It is a miracle she is even alive.  She seems to be in good spirits and it was her birthday.  We gave her a diary and some candy and colored pencils and pens.  Mom was so glad we were able to visit her and Dayana.  Thanks Pres. Crayk for letting us take your car.  Saturday we were on shift in the morning so we began our day at 5:45am.  We knew from last week that a lot of the Relief Society from the new Sacaba stake wanted to have an earlier session at 6:30am.  We put up 14 chairs and it started at 6:34am, not a bad start for the day.  The next session at 7:10am had 50.  We ended up our shift with 208 endowments, 17 new endowments, and 8 sealings.  I was helping in initiatory and I was looking into the face of the man and tears were rolling down his cheeks.  We had 4 sealings on the 10:30am session.  I assigned myself to do the sealings for the brother I had helped in initiatory.  It was so sweet, they had 2 small boys.  After the sealings he said to me with tears in his eyes “I will never forget you John Norman, thank you for everything.” Of course this reopened up my tear ducts as I gave him a big hug.  That makes everything good for at least a couple more months.  We got done at 2:30pm.  We were exhausted and hungry.  I had received a call earlier in the day.  In fact Pres. Crayk came in while I was giving the instructions to some new missionaries and said to me, “ you have a call from Salt Lake you have to take right now.”  The call was not from Salt Lake, it was from Kory Katseanes the director of the music department at BYU.  He is here in Cochabamba and had gotten our name from Kirt Saville who we had met in China and again here in Bolivia last year.  Kirt was the director of the music students from BYU that studied in Tianjin while we were there.  Kory is here with his wife Carolynn and BYU will be sending 5 music students here in July to teach music.  He wanted to get together and have dinner and talk.  We were more than happy to go to dinner with them.  We had a nice dinner and talk.  We were almost neighbors while we were raising our children.  They lived in the lower Aves.  Our kids probably knew each other. Small world don’t you think?  We will be taking them with us to church tomorrow.

April 22nd through May 1st

April 23^rd through May 1^st:  The temple continues to not have a lot of patrons.  During the last few weeks we see some sessions with only 4 or 5 patrons, but other with about 20.  We are always happy when we have enough patrons on the sessions to make a complete prayer circle.  On Friday the 26^th, President Crayk and his wife left for Yacuiba, a small district in the interior where it is hot and humid.  He assigned us to speak to the single adults, 30 years and older, in the Cobija stake.  We were on shift for the afternoon, so we had to leave the assistant registrar in charge for the last 1 1/2 hours.  President Crayk did leave us his car and in the morning he had driven me to the chapel to insure I could find it.  We arrived and there were only 6 single women there.  We waited for maybe 15 minutes and the person in charge got a call saying the stake president would be another 30 minutes, so we started.  Mom talked for maybe 15 minutes and then I spoke for 20 minutes.  Just as I was ending the stake president arrived.  They had the stake single adult leader and the stake president talk.  By the time we were done there were maybe 20 in attendance.  After the meeting they started moving all the benches in the chapel and were preparing to have a dance.  We didn’t stick around for the dance citing the fact that we had to be in the temple by 6:00 am. 

Moving the benches for the dance.

Saturday, President Diaz did President Crayk’s shift and we did President Diaz’s shift.  After the evening shift, a group of us went out to our favorite fried chicken place for dinner.  It was fun to sit and talk and spend time together.  Sunday we had invited 2 couples from the Ticquipaya Ward to dinner.  We found out late Saturday night that the Ticquipaya Ward building was being torn down, they are finally going to get a larger building and they really need it, and they were going to meet in the Linde Ward building at 2:00pm.  We called the two couples and changed the dinner appointment to 12:30pm.  We had a nice dinner with them, Christian and Lillian, who I had sealed maybe 6 months ago, and Alina and Jorge, a couple who are engaged to be married.  We teased them that I would only be here for 6  more months, so if they wanted me to seal them they had to get moving.  After dinner we drove Alina and Jorge out to Ticquipaya and we went to church with them.  The bishop knew I was coming so he asked me to speak.  The stake president also came so he and I were the speakers.  I think it was a nice meeting.  We also saw Willie Escobar, one of our shift coordinators, who had been in a bad bus accident with his daughter on their way to La Paz.  He had to have a plate or rod put in his leg.  His 13 year old daughter almost died and after a month is still in the hospital in La Paz.  He is mending well and they say his daughter will be able to come to Cochabamba this week.  We still pray for their recovery.  I got home in time to pick up Pres. Crayk and his wife at the airport.  Monday, we went shopping for mom’s birthday.  All she wanted was for me to buy a new pair of pants.  We actually found a pair of slacks that fit and that I liked.  She’s happy and so am I.  We had a nice Family Home Evening with Elder Cabrera, our recorder and Area Seventy.  He spoke to us about his impressions of attending conference in Salt Lake and his meetings with the First Presidency and the Twelve.  I was impressed with his feeling that the purpose of everything that the church does points to the temple.  He said that at the close of their meeting with the twelve, just before the closing prayer, Elder Packer raised his hand and said that after the meeting he would like to shake everyone’s hand.  There were over 300 seventy in attendance, and even though he cannot stand any more, he indicated he wanted to shake their hands and he invited the other members of the twelve to join him.  When the senior member of the twelve invites the other members to do something they all comply.  So he said the twelve lined up and shook the hand of everyone who was in attendance.  He said that was really special and several of them called him by name and asked about his wife by name.  He was impressed that they remembered him and his wife.  We then all had a treat.  Mom had made 2 big apple crisps.  I didn’t take any pictures because I am coming to the conclusion that you might think that all we do here is eat and have parties.  Tuesday  April 30^th:  Moms birthday and the anniversary of the dedication of the temple here in Cochabamba.  We were on shift this morning.  I spoke in preparation meeting about the anniversary of the temple dedication and read a part of the dedicatory prayer given by Pres. Hinckley.  Quote, “We remember before Thee the sons and daughters of Father Lehi. Wilt Thou keep Thine ancient promises in their behalf. Lift from their shoulders the burdens of poverty and cause the shackles of darkness to fall from their eyes. May they rise to the glories of the past.  May they recognize their Redeemer and be faithful and true Saints of the Most High. May they seek learning out of the best books (see D&C 88:118). May the enlightenment of education bring new and wonderful opportunities into their lives.”  I then talked about what a blessing it is for us to be able to serve the sons and daughters of father Lehi.  Of course I was a mess by the time I was done.  When our shift was over, we went to have lunch with a few of the other missionaries at a restaurant call Tuesdays.  They have a special 2 for 1 on Tuesdays, what luck for me.  Mom didn’t want the special so I ordered 2, one to eat and one to eat tomorrow.  Mom got a lot of nice emails and well wishes.

A birthday gift from the Vallenas.

Birthday gift from the Dyer's.

She is a real blessing in my life and I thank my Father in Heaven for her and I am so glad she is my eternal companion.  Wednesday we had an English session.  It is always nice to hear in your native tongue the beautiful and so full of meaning the words of eternal life.