Elder and Hermanita Weatherford: Early October in Bogota

We arrived in Colombia on October 4!

Editors note: this blog is based mostly on letters that Jenny sent to our 7 kids, & pictures that we both took. Larry's journal also has 20 entries full of stories and spiritual insights for those who are interested.

(October 11, 2019) Elder Weatherford and I have now been in Colombia for almost one week, and what an adventure it has been! Today is our day off, and we are grateful, because on Saturday we will work nonstop from 6:00 AM to typically 3:00 PM. Saturday is when the most patrons come and we add endowment sessions if the participants need them. Tomorrow is stake conference, and the tradition here is that all the new converts come to the temple to do baptisms on Saturday morning before conference. We are expecting about 160 people in the baptistry. We work until everyone goes home. This Monday is a national holiday in Colombia, so the temple will again be open from early in the morning until the afternoon. The saints here are very dedicated and come to the temple on their holidays. Tuesday will go back to a normal day, working from 7:00 AM to 8:30 PM with a long lunch from about 1:00 to 3:00. On Wednesdays we provide a temple session at 6:30 AM so Larry and I wake up to prepare at 4:45 AM and then we work until 1:00 PM. Last Wednesday night at about 7:30 I had to go home because I was dizzy. But I felt great again the next morning. The work is hard, but the people are amazing. Even with my very limited Spanish, I can feel their love and friendliness. The people here have welcomed us so lovingly.

On most days and on most shifts, there are only 6 or 7 men and 10 women, so we tend to run (reverently, of course) from place to place in the temple helping everyone with the work. Ha ha! Workers here do not have schedules or assignments because it is impossible to know who will show up. The presidency just takes those who arrive and asks us to begin in a certain place, and then when that is finished, they tell us where we are needed next. My favorite place to work is the baptistry because the youth are so cute! Now I can also serve as witness and that will be great! I love helping the young women on the computer. This week is spring break here in Colombia so we have had busloads of youth come to the temple. For example, last night, three huge buses came to pick up the 100 youth who had finished their temple work and take them back on an 11-hour drive over the mountains to their homes. At the same time, the next three buses dropped off another 100 youth who came from Bucaramanga, 8 hours away. The youth stay here in the temple housing with us. There are beds for everyone and there is a cafeteria. Larry and I are on our feet for about 6 hours in the morning shift-- we try to help 100 youth do baptisms. But the youth all smile at us and express their joy; it is pretty great. We collapse into bed after our last shift at night, trying to decide whether we crave food or sleep more. Ha ha! Sometimes dinner at 8:30pm wins, sometimes sleep takes over.

The weather here is gorgeous, and the mountains are right outside our apartment. We love it! We can walk to a small grocery store where we buy milk that does not need to be refrigerated and lasts for months. (?) We can do laundry in the basement. Ha ha! So we have everything we need to survive. On our first day serving, the hot water in the temple complex was broken, so we took cold showers just like Larry did on his mission 40 years ago. So, yes, we call every day an adventure. And like Amy said about Brazil, we do love this wild and crazy place we call Colombia. And if we can avoid being run over by one of the hundreds of motorcycles that own the roads here, we will thrive here. Ha ha! Bogota has 8 million people and the traffic is crazy. I'm trying so hard to learn the language. The presidency asked me to raise my hand anytime I did not understand their instructions. I told Larry that if I did that I would walk around the temple with my hand permanently up. Ha ha!

We love the temple presidency. They work so hard and they have welcomed us with open arms. Thank you all for supporting us, for all you have done to make this mission possible for us, and for your love and prayers. We are loving this experience so far! This would not be possible without your love.

(October 14--note to MTC tutors of Jenny) Oh, yes, this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! We are LOVING it here! We are meeting people every day and I'm speaking with them. Ha ha! I tried to ask a man in the laundry how to find the garbage. I'm still trying to figure out what he said about basura. He said something about jovenes getting it. I have been looking for a dumpster, but I cannot find one. There is not much English here so I'm going to continue to learn. That's great news! Tonight, we have our windows open because it is always cool. We can see the temple and it is beautiful. Everything that I saw on the google map is here, but the Dunkin Donuts is across the puente and that part of town is not safe. Ha ha! La directora de obreras del templo (Matron) told me that the security guards will go get donuts for us if we share with them. Isn't that great!? What an amazing place and what an incredible experience!

(October 13, 2019--note to Elder Joshua W) Wow! What a week we had. I’ll be honest. Not knowing the language is so frustrating! I can only imagine how hard your mission was for you those first few weeks. I think you are amazing! I am so proud of you!

Today we had a Seventy visit in stake conference (Elder Falabella from Guatemala). It was wonderful. He said that he always asks people if they would like to know more about the gospel, and so many say no. But he asked one man who let the missionaries teach him. He decided to go to church the next Sunday. He was lonely because his wife had left him, and she and their daughter were living with her parents. So he met the missionaries at church. He looked across the room and he saw his wife and daughter. From that day they began working on their marriage. They all joined the church. Every so often we have that sacred opportunity to change lives. When that happens my heart is so full.

I had a few moments in the temple this week when the spirit was so beautiful. This mission is the hardest and most wonderful thing I have done in my life, except for having children. And as for my children, they make me deliriously happy.

Here at the Bogotá temple, and also at the San Diego temple (and a few others), there is this symbol.

It was discovered on a fresco in Italy in 550 AD and the basic symbol is 2 squares, 1 tilted at 45 degrees, and is called the seal of Melchizedek. To turn it into the 8 pointed star, you just extend the lines a little outside the basic squares.

You can Google that term and find some interesting ideas that relate to the symbol and the Temple if you’re interested.

Our lovely apartment

Look where we keep our microwave!?

Cedulas

(an email we received from the Bogota Colombia North mission office)

Muy buenas Tardes,

Según Conversación telefónica, Tendremos la Cita con migración Colombia a las 9:00 am del día Martes 15 de octubre de 2019 Con Jennifer Lynn Weatherford y Lawrence Robert Weatherford (Favor de llevar consigo sus respectivos pasaportes)

Enviaremos un Taxi que los pueda recoger en el templo y llevarlos a migración Colombia y lo mismo de retorno, La misión se encargara de pagar por los tramites de la cedula de extranjería.

Muchas Gracias.

Cordialmente,
Elder Josept Rosales from the Bogota Norte Mision

This trip, including a taxi ride and long wait to be processed for the cedula took about 4 -5 hours. Traffic in Bogota is the 2nd worst in the world.