Elder and Hermanita Weatherford: Late December in Bogota

Two Months in Colombia

(December 15, 2019) Well, you would think that after about two months of working in Colombia we would have most of this figured out. Ha ha! No . . . not even close. Every week is a new adventure with lots to learn.

On Monday, we were invited to a Christmas lunch with all the full-time workers at the temple, about 50 people (see pictures). The lunch was scheduled for 11:30 AM, and there was a lot of confusion about whether that meant to leave the temple at 11:30 or to arrive at the restaurant at 11:30. We rode with the president and he decided that we should leave the temple at 10:30 and assumed that the lunch would begin at 11:30. Ha ha ha! I HAVE lived here long enough to know that the lunch would not start at 11:30. Also, we did not know if we needed to wear suits and ties, so we asked. The answer was "causal" so we thought we might wear t-shirts and jeans. Well, we learned (ahead of time, fortunately) that "causal" means "business casual" and that we were expected to dress up, but not with a necktie. Long story short, our lunch began at about 1:30 and we got home at 4:30, worn out. In addition, our president also invited a large Venezuelan couple to ride with them, so Larry and I sat in these tiny "jump" seats in the back for an hour each way because the Venezuelans needed the bigger seats. We were so tired.

Speaking of the lunch, I am so happy to be vegetarian here. Larry usually tries the favorite meats of our friends here, and so far, they have been a little gross. The Colombians like the brown chicken meat, and the ham and ribs are very different from what we are used to. On the other hand, the fruits are completely different from the ones I know so my non-meat dishes are amazing and exciting! I ordered a salad with all sorts of fruits and vegetables which I loved, but thank goodness, the dressing was on the side. It was pure mustard. Ha ha! It would have made the fruit taste so strange to me. For dessert, I had a traditional Colombian dish, canned figs stuffed with caramel. It was amazing! You can't even taste the figs; they are just an excuse to eat mounds of caramel. :)

Back to the "timeliness" of Colombian meetings. Ha ha! On Saturday, Larry and I showed up for our 7:00 AM shift, having eaten a big breakfast of eggs, cheese, milk, fruit, etc. We worked until noon 30 (wrapping-up time), when we got a call that a busload of Colombians were on their way to the temple. We had no break that day, and we opened the door to these 50 people at around 12:30, worked with them until almost 3:00, and then collapsed at the temple. The leaders ordered some food for us at 3:00, and we had a good time eating and socializing. The temple leaders always order empanadas and also big bottles of gaseosa. Do you kids remember making empanadas for Spanish class? I always thought they were unappealing. But here, the dough is so fresh, and they fill the empanadas with seasoned hamburger and deep-fry them. Then they drizzle tons of guacamole on the empanadas while they eat, and they actually smell wonderful. Larry loved them! (I opted to eat vegetarian at home.)

Typically, at the end of a temple session, the people have to line up and exit one-by-one. Well, on Saturday at 2:30 PM, one man asked the woman in charge if he could go to the front of the line because he had to get on the bus. She moved him to the front, and then all the other men complained to Larry because (of course) they were all on that same bus. :) Seriously? So that reminded us of a saying here. The Colombians are sarcastic when they say that people should be as "hard-working" as Venezuelans, as "beautiful" as Bolivians, as "humble" as Argentinians, and as "honest" as Colombians. Ha ha! The Colombians do not consider themselves honest. :) And yes, there is some truth to that. But I'm not going to share that "dicho" too broadly because it is not kind. :) During the week, the temple is very quiet, so I grabbed some scriptures to read while I waited for people to come. The leaders here are bossy, so one woman told me that I was not allowed to read the scriptures in that particular chair. I put them away. Then she came to me and wanted to practice her English. She said, "are you boring (meaning bored)?" Ha ha! Yup! Never boring here . . .

All in all, we are doing well. More and more people tell us that they love us, and we know that we are making a difference. We know we are supposed to be here, and we love it! On Friday, a woman went to her locker and brought out a jewelry box. She opened it in front of me (like a boy proposing) and presented me with a ring so that I would never forget her. It was so sweet. I could not believe it! Several women have told me that they feel so close to me, like we knew each other before we met. It is so special. One member of our presidency sent Larry a scripture about "intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence, like unto like . . ." and told him that Larry and he were brothers. He loves Larry so much. The love we feel for these people is so strong!! We will cry and cry when it is time to return home. And that is our report. We are tired, we get headaches, and we are deeply in love with these people and with this experience. We love all of you so much. Thank you for supporting us in this adventure. We hope that you have a wonderful week!