GOTTA LOVE BOLIVIAN FOOD

INTESTINE & TONGUE

 

 

We  eat well here in Bolivia.  Good restaurants, lunch for a couple of bucks.  However, there's a lot of food that we are not accustomed to.  One of the many flashbacks that I have had regarding my first mission, is being in a Bolivian house and being offered a meal.  Sometimes the smell, the look and the taste is more than we can handle.  I've tried to imagine that I'm on the show Fear Factor, and if I can eat the food in 10 minutes without throwing up  I'll win a half million bucks. As I bring the spoon up I try to make my eyes go cross to blur my vision.  Then reality sets in and I know  I also have to smile while I'm trying to swallow and tell the Hermana how great her food is.  I also know I'm not going to win a half million,  My only sure reward is three days of explosive diarrhea.  Then I look at the look on the families faces and see the anticipation of our approval, and try to swallow.  They are so giving, wanting to share the best they have.

We spent a couple of days getting and delivering furniture.  Most runs went well,  We lost two bookcases on the four lane highway to Quillacolla.  We were going about 50, when they bounced off.  Luckily the Elders were able to dodge the traffic to reclaim them. Being particle board we didn't think anything would be left of them, but they don't look too much worse than being in their houses for a couple of months.



TEMPLE TOUR
We also got to go on a tour with the temple missionaries of the mechanical and technical rooms plus the tower.  It was very interesting and so high tech. The temple is number one in South America for up keep of the grounds and cleanliness of the temple.  We climbed to the last part of the tower before they told us we shouldn't. We removed a an air duct and stood out on the ledge just before the Moroni statue.  We also went under the baptismal font.  The engineer who speaks pretty good English, asked if we wanted to go see the 12 cows. I was disappointed to see that in the new temples the "cows" are resin.

To the left is a picture of the temple.  Below is Lorna and Eldon Hurst on the ledge.  Below is Lorna ascending the ladder

We spent the rest of the week working with inactive families. Saturday Bella Vista Branch had a service project cleaning up the  city park,  There is a 12 year old  girl whose father died, and her mother left her and went to Chile.  She is living with her Grandmother who is a great lady but only speaks Quecha.  The girl was born with a cleft pallet. She has had two operations, and the second one was not successful. Lorna noticed when we taught her class that she has zero self esteem.  The Normans who are in the Temple presidency work closely with  a doctor who is a temple worker and we are going to try to get her some help. We have more missionaries coming in over the next few months than we have leaving, so we will continue to be busy. Tuesday is  6 de Agosto, Independence Day. The celebrations began last week and the bands, parties and fireworks start up about the time we go to bed every night. The good thing about the fireworks is that they shut the dogs up that also start barking about the time we go to bed. It sounds like there are at least 15 packs outside the temple grounds (when you are trying to go to sleep). We are leaving the end of the week to fly to Sucre and then drive 8 hours to Tupiza for a zone conference and to check the apartments there and in Villazon, on the border of Argentina. Check back next week and see what we have be up to.