Elder and Hermanita Weatherford: Late February in Bogota

The Quarantines and Josh's Homecoming to Bogota

(Feb. 22, 2020) Hi everyone! This is Joshua, time for a quick update on life in Colombia. I don't have a phone number yet so I can't register for Whatsapp or Marco Polo yet, but there is nothing against sending a good old email.

My first week in Colombia has been very exciting. Luckily, adjusting to the different time zone has been really easy going, so life is pretty smooth. In my opinion Colombia is SO cold, but I think it just because I am still used to biking in Malaysia.

I work in the temples in the afternoons, and in the mornings I exercise, study Chinese, try to remember Spanish, and journal. It has been great so far. Working in the temple is cool, but it is also hard work. Everything being in Spanish is unique, plus there is so much to coordinate. This morning I worked in the baptismal font for around 100 patrons. By the end of the shift I was pooped!

Yesterday night we heard some crazy news...all of the missionaries in Singapore and Malaysia are not allowed to go outside, except for church service on Sunday. In Singapore, they don't even have church service anymore because the coronavirus is so serious. They are going to be quarantined in their house until April or later (all flew home the week of March 22). I am grateful that I came home when I did...had I waited even a week, they may not have let me come home, and DEFINITELY wouldn't have let me come to Colombia. I would have needed to go to the United States for quarantine.

The more I consider my choice to come home, the more I realize that it was the best decision I could have made. I really am grateful to be with mom and dad in Colombia (even though this country is crazy sometimes) and that I have time to ponder and that I am not locked up in a house in Malaysia.

I love you all so much! I would love to hear how you all are doing, and I can't wait to see you again soon.

(From Jenny --Feb. 5, 2020)
We love it here; the people are becoming more dear to us every week. As I become better at listening to Spanish, I form deeper relationships with the women with whom I work, and I love them so much! Today, a sister came who had been beaten up so badly by Pablo Escobar's men that they thought she would die. She told me that my smile was just what she needed, and she and I hugged for the longest time. I think that the people I have met here are amazing! They also can be frustrating and different from us, but guess what, we are frustrating and different from them, too. Yesterday, Larry and I took a cab to go shopping and the driver pulled into a gas station, left the time meter running, and charged us extra for his decision to get gas, and we know it is because we are Americans and easy to rip off. For a minute, we felt so violated for the hundredth time! And then we always calm down and say, it's all good. Ha ha! Because it really is all good. :)

We are having gorgeous days and nights, we are finding more and more delicious restaurants and grocery stores, getting enough sleep (our work schedule was just modified a little to give us a little more time to sleep), and we are feeling great! We love you all so much. Thank you for your love. :) Thank you for all you do for us.

(Feb. 25, 2020) This week was the last week before the temple closes for two weeks. The temple was packed with people and we worked really hard. Our baptistery shift was almost 5 hours on Friday night. Then Saturday morning, Larry and i were on our feet for a good 6 hours. We came home so happy for our two week break. Ha ha! We learned this morning that construction crews have projects going on in our apartments. No hot water today. Lots of noise beginning at 7 AM. My guess is soon we will have no electricity and no internet, so I’m writing as quickly as I can this morning. They are fixing angel Moroni after his lightening strike. I love you all so much! Thank goodness we are leaving soon for a nice Colombian beach (San Andres) and for Peru, so we will be fine. We can shower.

Last night the four couples who work full time and live at the temple (Sanchez, Naranjo, Chacon, Advincula) and us held a special family home evening to say goodbye to a couple who are finishing their service at the temple (Sanchez). It was the craziest night ever! I was trying so hard not to laugh that I was crying. First the spiritual message was that we are all serving wayfaring men of grief when we serve at the temple. A wayfaring man is a "forastero," with reference to a stranger living in the forest. Interesting. It was a beautiful message, but when we sang the hymn, the spirituality started going downhill. We all sang SO loud, and we constantly changed keys going lower for the high notes and then again higher for the low notes. We decided to sing the last verse so that the thought about our Savior was not left hanging, but when we got to the end of the Spanish words, there were still four notes left, so some people just la la’d the notes and others just stopped in the middle. The temple matron (asst.) then said, "Que horror." Yup, that means what a horror. The hymn singing was SO bad. Then the man who is leaving told us they don’t know where to live because their home was on a gang boundary in Medellin, Pablo Escobar territory, and before he came to the temple, he was shot. Several bullets missed his head but one hit him. The bullet is still lodged close to his lung. The couple doesn’t have the money to live in a safe neighborhood. In his old neighborhood, everyone loved him and called him a cuss word (cucho), which is a loving nickname for crazy old man. He kept repeating this cuss word as he told his story. So the man in charge of home evening said "now that we have finished the spiritual part of the meeting, let’s eat." But in true Colombian style several others had stories to tell about the violence in Colombia, which were pretty horrifying. Gangs, fights, alcohol, and hospital stays. After another hour, our leader again tried to close the “spiritual “ part of the meeting. By the way he is a 6’3” man of 100% African descent who towers over the mostly tiny Colombians and who has the most gentle personality and big smile. We finally got to eat the treats, pan de yucca, arroz con leche, chips with cheese, and double chocolate brownies. You’ll never guess which treat I brought. All in all it was a night I will never forget.