Early February in Bogota

(January 31, 2020)  Hello! How are you, everyone? It is 3:00 PM (Saturday) and the temple is now closed for the weekend. Wow! Larry just said, Wow! Wow! Wow! We are always relieved to finish a week of work. Larry and I were planning to walk to our favorite stores for groceries, but it is raining and hailing. So I'm happy for the excuse to stay home and write about our week. The rain here is so beautiful! We are in the dry season, and when it does not rain, it is actually a little cooler here. There was a day last week when I did not break out in a full sweat. :) But today we woke up to strong sunshine and we sweated all morning in the temple, and sure enough, it is now pouring! That is why this is such a green place.

Well, we are constantly amazed at the things we learn, and we sometimes have to be careful not to laugh. Our temple president pointed out during our Temple workers' meeting with 40 workers that the clock in our meeting room was ONE minute slow compared to the clocks in every other room and he wanted it fixed immediately. (We work according to the clocks and timing is important in the temple.) But the week before, the temple held a huge meeting for every worker and guests, 250 people. The time was announced as 3:00, 3:30, or even come half an hour before 3:00 because it is always good to be early. Ha ha! The meeting was actually at 3:30. :) So we get mixed messages about time here. Larry and I still have to guess about what time we are expected to show up at the temple. Today we showed up at 7:00 AM and learned that sometime during the period between 9:30 last night when we finished our work and 7:00 the next morning, the leaders decided to start the day at 7:45 AM. :)  We are tired, to say the least. Ha ha!

We have made many friends here now.  :) Many people invite us to their places, and it is so sweet. We love them (see pics below). Sometimes, we try to hide because when we have time off, all we really want to do is to sleep. But it is wonderful to be hugged and invited and appreciated like that. Every day we have an experience that touches our hearts and sometimes even brings tears to our eyes. This morning, there were so many female workers at the temple that the leaders did not know what to do with me. So I stood in a corner. Then, participants came up to me and said hello and hugged me and even clapped at my funny-sounding Spanish, and I decided that part of my work might be adding a spark of difference to the surroundings. Certainly, I have gained much more from this experience than I've given. I have learned so much! 

The more wealthy people here have fincas. A finca is a mix between a very small farm and a summer cottage. One of the men sometimes brings Larry and me treats from his finca. The treats are little brown chewy things that look just like meat, but that taste sort of like honey. We have no idea what they are (chicarron de cuajada), but I'm starting to like them. :) They are probably not vegetarian-friendly. Ha ha! We also love empanadas and fruit-flavored soda pop (manzana y uva). We are slowly becoming Colombian. By the way, we saw a gym at the mall on a Thursday night at 6:30 packed with 100 Colombians jogging on treadmills, so yes, they DO work out a lot, after dark. We finally have the courage to stay out a little after dark on our day off, and we are seeing another side of Colombia that I missed at first. :) So far, we have been very safe. 

This week Colombia had another national strike, and the temple was almost empty. The gates were locked and the only participants were a small group who arrived by bus the day before. In contrast, today, Saturday, we had 200 adults, 50 youth, doing everything from 8 men receiving their own endowments to hundreds of baptisms for the dead. In three weeks, we are going to fly to Cali with the temple president and his wife to attend two stake conferences (Viva Colombia y San Fernando). We are so excited!!! This will be our chance to visit the place where Larry spent the most time on his mission. In fact, the current mission president in Cali (Ray Whitesides) was one of Larry's companions. Cool! 

This week, a Colombian woman explained to me that families have only two children because they have to pay for school for their children starting at about age 8 if they want their children to have a good education. Then, those children learn English or French here in Colombia, go to Canada or the US for college, and they never come back. She knows two retired Colombian couples who sold everything they owned, moved to America, now work the night shift stocking a grocery store, just so that they can see their grandchildren who are being raised in America and do not speak Spanish. It is so rough for them, not enough jobs if they stay, and moving to America if they scrimp to give their children a good education. Larry and I feel powerless to help turn the situation around. Several people have asked us to get them into the University of Wyoming, but even that is probably not something that is in our power. Life is not fair. 

We bought our plane tickets home for April 6. Our mission officially ends on April 4, and the church has an announcement (senior missionary opportunities) that there is a mission opening for the Bogota temple beginning April 4. :) We will fly home on April 6 and arrive late that night. Home sweet home. Sadly, our first area of focus will be to file our taxes. And of course, catching up with our loved ones at home. Our third priority will be to eat Italian food, because Colombians do not know how to make Italian food. :) They broil everything, even the caprese salad. Ha ha! 

We are happy and healthy here. We are also homesick. We are sooo grateful that we came. Our lives will never be quite the same. We have a good friend who works at the temple while her husband works at an "undisclosed" job for the US government. She says that when she goes back to the US and tries to describe what living in Colombia meant to her, that people really do not understand. Their eyes glaze over. :) She said Larry and I should expect the same. I believe her. Before we moved here, I really did not know what the experience would feel like, but I can now say that living in another culture feels almost indescribable. I highly recommend it, and at the same time, I know that this experience is not for everyone. :)  I feel so grateful to be one who had the privilege of being born in the US and encouraged to live abroad in order to serve and love people outside my comfort zone. Thank you all for being the people WITHIN my comfort zone. I love you dearly and I can't wait to see you!! Have a wonderful week, and I hope you feel my love for you across the two oceans of Colombia - Pacific and Atlantic.

(February 12, 2020)  Yes, we are still doing great! We are loving our experiences here in Bogota! This last weekend, two different families invited us to their homes for dinner. We felt so loved. They talked to us about their lives, their families, and how honored they were that we would visit them (for 5 hours and for 8 hours). Talk about humbling. I tend to want to say, I'm just a normal funny person. But they see us as very special because we love Colombia and we wanted to leave the US to serve here for awhile. We learned a lot about their lives this weekend and we continue to feel closer to the people we meet here. What a blessing! Of course, we were so tired after those visits, but we have no regrets. Our hearts will always have a piece of Colombia. 

This morning, a friend told me that I must have lost weight because when I first arrived, i was a "gordita" and now I'm not so much a gordita (little fat one). Ha ha! Also, I tried to dye my hair with Colombian dye and it is now very dark brown, almost black. Another lady asked me what happened to my hair, and I told her that I'm trying to be more Colombiana. Ha ha! I am learning how to make my friends laugh. But truth be told, I still do not really understand a lot of what they say. For one of our dinner appointments, we took a taxi. We rode in the car for an hour, then the driver also charged us a surcharge on top of an already high fare. We thought that our friends lived miles and miles away from the temple. But they offered to drive us home. It took 10-15 minutes. Aha! Another corrupt taxi driver so happy to get some Gringos in his car so that he can scam them. The government just outlawed Uber. Sad. (so now we use Didi) Things like this always remind us to be very careful because we are obviously not from here and we are sometimes targets. :) But that's okay. 

Our temple presidency decided to reduce our work schedule a little (to match that of the Temple Pscy), and this small difference has really helped us feel more healthy and able to work. We are so grateful. One couple member of the presidency in particular, Javier and Maria Elvira, are special friends. Javier is a vegetarian like me so they like to eat with us. So far, when we have eaten together, he has ordered the fish, the chicken, and the pizza. That's how vegetarians roll here. Ha ha! They also have shared with us some of their insights from the scriptures and from life. They LOVE family history, and Larry and I would like our next mission to be a family history mission. Time will tell . . .

Alvarado Familia (Ricardo, Isabella y Abuelita)--3 generations live here

They fed us juice, fresh fruits (granadilla, pina), chicken breast, piece of pork, rice, beans, and red jello for dessert

Typical nice neighborhood in the north half of the city

Late January in Bogota

News Report on Bogota Temple  --shown on local TV channel

(January 12, 2020--Jenny letter to Elder Joshua Weatherford)  This week was so busy that Larry and I almost fainted more than once! And then a woman at church today told me that she and her husband set a resolution to learn English and then asked when could I teach them. I told her we work every day from 7 AM to 830 PM, and she said, but the temple is closed Saturday afternoon. I held back the tears as I told her that I needed to do laundry and to shop on Saturday afternoon. My Spanish is so bad that I really hope I didn't offend her. But there is no way that I can add one more thing to my workload. It is already tremendous!

The longer I serve my mission, the more I relate to the things you all have done in your missions. Ha ha! What an experience! Colombia is crazy, just like Malaysia and Brazil and Nicaragua, and even Japan. Dad had a cold this week, so our neighbors gave him a huge chunk of ginger and told him to boil it and drink it. Ha ha! We did, and it was okay. And yes, sometimes, I feel bad that we have to end our mission because some things, like helping the brand new Elders at the Bogota MTC from America with the temple ordinances, and playing the music for Colombian meetings, will have to end. Today we sang a sacrament hymn that they had never heard, so basically, I just played it for them while they listened. Then, for the closing hymn, it was one they knew, and they all sang so loud that you could not hear the organ on full-blast. Ha ha! They are so cute! They basically sing terribly :) 

One thing that is different in Colombia than in Malaysia is that the members here have a very deep and amazing understanding of the scriptures. Your members may not have this gift yet, but in 40 years, you will be amazed! Gordan and William will be the leaders, and their children will be amazing, and you will be so proud. Dad says that when he was here in 1978-80, no one could give a talk that was scriptural and deep, but now, 40 years later, the members really know the gospel. It is amazing! One sister, who I admire so much, gave a talk on the small insights she gained from reading this week's Sunday School assignment, 1 Nefi 1-7. Wow! She added so much to my understanding of the scriptures. It was a beautiful talk. :)  She was a mission president's wife, and one of her former missionaries died this week of leukemia. She has so much faith.

On Saturday, our mission president, Presidente y Hna. Valledares, (different from our temple president) took us and the temple president and matron out to lunch. The mission president has never had a couple to help him in the Bogota North mission office. He said that in McAllen, Texas (Spanish-speaking mission close to Mexico) there are 10 couples helping, because Americans want to help Spanish-speaking people, but they do not want to leave the safety of the USA. I understand that. Every time that Dad and I start a new mission here in Colombia (or anywhere in Central or South America), we will get terrible diarrhea and fevers. We will lose weight because we do not have our favorite food, and we will be really homesick for our culture. BUT, we are so needed here, and so if Heavenly Father asks, we will most definitely serve more missions in Colombia. Maybe we can come back in time to serve as office couple for Presidente Valledares in the Bogota North mission. We love him and his wife so much! 

There are 4 other full-time couples living here at the temple apartment housing and helping with the work, besides the 3 couples in the temple presidency. But Dad and I realize that the 4 other couples are not really the leaders in Colombia; the leaders are our temple presidency; those 3 couples are amazing and self-sufficient. The other (4 couples) workers who work with us often do not have a place to live besides the temple, and they (in part) do the work of the temple because they need to work so that they have a place to live. They do not have cars. Of course, they all have strong testimonies, and we are so grateful for them. But, some cannot read, a couple have big mental disorders which drive everyone around them crazy, and one must work in a wheelchair. They try our patience a lot. Ha ha! And because of that, Dad and I are learning SOOOO much! Can you imagine the contrast to working at the University of Wyoming with really smart and mentally balanced scholars? Our lives have changed 180 degrees. And we love it! 

One more thing about the culture -- Dad's mission companion has a daughter with a birthday, so we need to go to the party right now (see pictures). It might start at 6p, but then again, it might start at 8p. We may be there until 9p or we may be there until 11p. And we are SOOOO tired.  Ha ha! Such is life in central and south America. Rest assured that we are learning and growing tons. Today I had the thought that everything that makes me sad or frustrated is at the very same time making me grow in leaps and bounds. I didn't think that a 58-year-old could grow so much! I'm thrilled that our temple mission is hard. Thank you for your great examples to me, all of you. I love you dearly!! I'm so happy that I'm here on this hard and indescribable mission. :) What a blessing.

Love the explanation for why people are vegetarian

We met up with Larry's old companion, Carlos Rojas, in the Temple

Temple Devotional

On January 12, all 6 members of the Temple Presidency and the Matrons spoke.  Around 250 Temple workers and spouses attended.

Hno. Rivas--1st Temple worker ever from Choco province--I was his trainer

Jenny played the piano, like she did for all Temple meetings and Ward Sacrament meetings

(l to r): Hna. (faithful?) y Gomez

Familia Pico in 2nd row; Hno. Angarita y one of Jenny's admirers in 1st row

Sealer Humberto Penagos in 2nd row

1st row (right to left):  Hna. Pena, Delgados, Gonzalez

All of us

Diego (Temple Sec.) shaking hands with Hno. Mathias

Bro. Rodriguez and his mom (his dad was also a worker)

Temple Presidency and their wives, both recorders and Temple secretaries

Hno. Castiblanco y esposa on the left (my Shift Coordinator on Friday am); a worker on the right

Sealer Roberto Sanchez y esposa, Hno. Sandoval (shift coordinator) behind him

Us and Pte. y Hna. Tobon

Sealer Leopoldo Ramos y esposa--3rd row

Pte. Jose Luis y Hna. Monica Gonzalez (Temple President y Matron)

Pte. Isaac y Gladys Delgado (1st Cslr)

Hna. Ligia Sanchez y fellow Temple worker on left

Sis. Lozano, Verano (l to r)

Hno. Arboleda y su hija

1st row: Hna. Verano y Vanegas; 2nd row: Hno. Manrique (79 years old) y esposa--live on finca 3-4 hours a way; he works 3 shifts/week; 3rd row: Hna. Chincon? y esposo--brought Jenny a tamale for Christmas

Hno. Blanco (my Tues pm Shift Coordinator)--excelente

Early January in Bogota

Exploring and Learning

(January 10, 2020) This week I am going to write about what I'm learning about myself. Ha ha! I have learned so much. Last week, I now realize that I was incredibly tired and not finding wholesome foods to eat. As a result, the people around me were frustrating me. I felt embarrassed because my Spanish was not good enough. I felt out of sorts. This week, I had more time to sleep and eat (because the temple was closed on Monday and today Friday is our day off). I'm eating a little meat, too. Also, this week, the Colombian youth went back to school so we had only half the number of people coming to the temple as we did last week. I feel so much better. I love the people around me. I love Colombia! So the moral of the story is that we absolutely must take care of our precious physical bodies. They influence our minds very much.

Right now, there are 30 or so people outside our apartment in tuxedos and beautiful dresses, a bride with a huge bouquet of Colombian flowers, and lots of amateur photographers. The Colombians dress so beautifully. I'm sure that when they see Larry and me in our jeans and t-shirts, they are shocked. Ha ha! The couples here get married at home in their churches, and then when they have enough money to come to Bogota, they get sealed in the temple, and they all dress up and party just like they did at the wedding. It is really fun! Two weddings to celebrate a wonderful union. 

On Monday, Larry drove us to the top of the mountain outside of Colombia. It is a gorgeous green high mountaintop. I had been wanting to go because at the top is a statue of (I thought) Jesus, like the one in Rio. But no matter how much I googled it, I could not find it, and instead, the word "Mary" kept coming up. So we figured they named the statue of Jesus after his mother, Mary. We drove to the top, and we realized that Bogota does indeed have a Mary with her arms outstretched, looking over and loving the city (see pictures below). We LOVED it! The views are amazing. It was a perfectly clear day, and we still could not see all of Bogota. What a huge city! We loved watching the airplanes take off and land. Everything about our life here is different from our life in Laramie. Gosh!

Basically, this was a typical week. A woman gave me a ring because she loves me; I am accumulating quite the ring collection. :) Another asked me why I don't dye my hair black -- good question. Ha ha! Larry and I had some really special moments as we saw living families around an altar sealed to each other forever. We sent off some missionaries who we love to places like Argentina and Temple Square. We processed hundreds of youth who did baptisms for the dead. Some of the names were German, and it was a lot of fun to hear our Spanish-speaking friends pronounce those names. :) I actually prayed in a meeting this week in Spanish. I was terrified! 

We are doing great! We love you all so much. Thank you for reading my ramblings and musings. I suppose that, while I feel like I'm learning so much, I'm actually relearning things that I've learned before, maybe a little like Job. And that's great! Every time we relearn something we learn it more deeply. Have a great week, and please take care of yourselves. We love you more than words can say.

Montserrate

Most interesting confessional I've ever seen--glass outside and both priest and confessor in full view of each other

They do lots of recycling here

Typical beautiful flowers

Our Mission Testimonies Requested by our Stake President

(Jenny)

Hi, President Allen,

How wonderful to hear from you! We love you so much! We are so grateful for our setting apart. You have blessed us with great blessings and they are all directly from Heavenly Father because He knew what we needed. We definitely needed that blessing of health because we got really sick, and we loved the blessings of inspiration, of meeting the people we needed to meet, of feeling our Heavenly Father's love, and of understanding Family History.

Our mission has been both much harder and more wonderful than we could have imagined. Wow! Every single day brings tremendous growth, in ways that I can't really put into words, because the growth is so personal. The hard things about our mission are the times we have been really discouraged, sometimes hard times come because we want to teach and help, but the culture gets in the way, and we feel defeated. Some days we are so tired and we wonder if we have made any difference at all. These are the hard days. The good days are amazing! We receive so many more spiritual insights on the mission than we used to receive in our daily life. We have learned from Heavenly Father how much he loves our family, what goals He wants us to set, and how different aspects of His gospel find fulfillment in our lives. We understand our Savior and His gospel on a new, wonderful level. Many days, we feel this wonderful stream of revelation as we go about our work. The revelation is very personal to us, so I won't share specifics, but we both feel that the Lord has shared with us so much understanding and insight. It has been amazing! Also, on our best days, and really every day, we feel so much love. It is hard to describe. Two sisters have told me that they are sure that they knew me and loved me in the pre-existence. I feel it, too. I recognize and love so many of the amazing saints that we serve. I see how dedicated they are to the Lord, and I am in awe of them. Their lives are not easy, and they teach me every day what it means to be Christlike. In addition, serving with my companion has deepened my love for him SO very much. Larry and I feel bonded together with a love that is eternal and strong through this service. Serving a mission strengthens marriages. We serve with a bunch of retirees with gray hair who go around holding hands and smiling at each other. Ha ha! You may not see that depth of love in Hollywood, but it works in the mission field. :) 

If I were to give advice, I would encourage everyone who is able to serve to consider a mission. We are only here for six months, and sometimes we feel guilty that this is not enough, but we also feel that the growth and the work has been grand. Six months is indeed enough. We know that Heavenly Father has accepted our sacrifice, and that is a wonderful feeling. I think that part of the preparation is learning to accept the bad with the good. I had great visions of being a super-missionary and changing the world. In reality, I'm just me, and I might be making a small difference with my love, and that is enough. I'm still human. I got homesick on Christmas. I have learned to pray and to think that all these emotions are okay and normal. In fact, the church has some wonderful support materials that help with discouragement. I keep telling myself that this is all part of the process. We feel so high and filled with the spirit some days, and then so discouraged other days. In our mission, it is important to be healthy, so I would encourage people who are preparing for a mission to walk and exercise daily. Of course, scripture study is the best preparation. The practice of prayer is a lifesaver, so I would encourage potential missionaries to pray all the time, about everything, because that is what they will want to do on the mission. 

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father is more loving and ready to bless us than we can even imagine. He loves every person living on this earth, and if we knew ourselves better, we would realize that we loved many of our brothers and sisters before we came to earth. They are waiting to meet us, and we can recognize their spirits when we get to know them. Serving others with love ALWAYS feels good, it always brings blessings. Heavenly Father is waiting to pour the blessings out. We may not be able to convert many or even one, sometimes we just move people a little closer to God. Perhaps our purpose is to radiate that love that Heavenly Father has for His children. I can testify that He uses us where we are as instruments for Him. All we need to do is to open ourselves up to loving everyone who we meet. A mission is the most intense way to do that, but in our daily lives, Heavenly Father can help us meet people who need His love. 

The Laramie Stake is such a wonderful stake. You are our family, and we love you so much! Thank you for caring about your missionaries. Thank you for serving us so tirelessly. We love you and your beautiful family! Please say hello to them for us. 

Love, Hermana y Elder Weatherford

(Larry--a few days later)
Dear Pres. Allen,

Thanks for your thoughtful message!  We are so grateful for your support.

I think Hermana Weatherford has done a great job sharing our thoughts.

The only other thought I would add for those deciding on whether to serve a mission or not is the following question:

Do you want to grow spiritually?  If so, a mission is the greatest opportunity.  I would estimate that 1 month in the mission field is equal to about 1 year's worth of spiritual growth in your normal life!  It is simply unbelievable how close you are to the Spirit and how the Holy Ghost refines you and teaches you!

Thanks again for all you do to love and serve the great Saints of the Laramie WYO Stake.  

With love and respect,

Elder Larry W.

Virgen de Guadalupe

Zipaquira

Jenny loved the many varieties of frijoles

Around Bogota

No pets in our favorite food court, though they're welcomed in the mall

Very common Christmas food tradition--bunuelos y natilla

Plaza Bolivar

View of Montserrate