All the way from Ririe, Idaho.

Elder Bower is our newest missionary. He has such a good spirit, and we are excited to have him in our mission. We had to ask him where Ririe, Idaho is.

Returning home.

It is hard to say good bye to 16 good missionaries. We sure enjoyed working with them.

Leaving the mission.

The missionaries always have their exit meeting to help prepare them to return to life in their home countries.

Unwrapping the dogs.

We had a late night dinner after attending the temple and thought hot dogs would be very fast and simple, but when I opened the pack, every hot dog was individually wrapped. I asked our two assistents if they are always like this? They said usually.

The last supper.

After a busy day of interviews, and attending the temple, the mission exit meeting, the missionaries enjoyed their last supper.

Our newest recruits.

We are always glad to get our new missionaries. We have two from Chile, and two from Peru. We were very impressed with all of them.

The view from the top of our mountain.

This is the view from our hike we enjoy. At times there is a brown cloud over the city. We enjoy our hike and try to go once a week.

Long pine needles.

When we climb to the top of our hill, we walk through two forests of pine trees. This is showing the size of the long pine needles we see.

A zone activity.

The end result. Yummy!!!

The final result was very delicious. This photo does not show the delicious meat. It was worth the wait.

Going home.

It is always sad to say goodbye to our special missionaries. We wish them well, and know they do great things in life.

Many beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers.

About every two weeks we get a new bouquet of new fresh flowers. They are so colorful.

New Missionaries.

We love getting our new missionaries. This group came from Bolivia and Peru.

Our Bogota group that attended our seminar.

We traveled together to Lima, Peru, for a mission president seminar. On the left we have the area doctor and wife, the mission president in the South mission and wife, us, and the area psycologist and husband.

Enjoying our seminar in Lima.

We enjoyed our mission president siminar with 22 other mission presidents. Our training was given by Elder Christofferson, Elder Clayton, Bishop Edgely. and our area presidency.

Lima coastline.

This was our view from our hotel. Sometimes we could´t see the ocean because of the mist. We never saw the sun in four days.

Elder Rodriguez´s parents.

While in Lima, Peru, Elder Rodriguez´s parents traveled 6 hours to meet us and to bring us a gift.

Halloween in Colombia.

Halloween was a big event here in Colombia. The stores and malls had the decorations in all the windows. They do a form of trick or treating, but more in the stores than houses.

Typical street in the older towns.

This is a street in Giron, a very old town near Bucaramanga. This would be a typical street in the older towns, with all the buildings painted white and each house having a balcony. In the old towns the streets are made of brick or stones.

Sore Feet.

Whenever we go to the hot areas of our mission, my feet have a tendency to swell up. Sometimes, I have to wear these flip flops home, as my feet will not fit into my shoes.

Where did it go?

We left for a zone conference with a computer, but it walked off without us. Someone is probably enjoying internet in their home tonight.

I think I have grown a foot or two.

My whole life I have felt short, but here in our mission, I suddenly feel like I have grown up. these are just the sisters, but many of the Elders are short like this as well.

Saturday fruit market.

Every Saturday, we have this local fruit market about 7 blocks from our house. Fruit is cheaper here than in the supermarkets. I have made friends there with the venders. This market is okay, but the Wednesday morning market is incredible.

Food storage anyone?

We could easy buy one years supply of food storage if we wanted to include hormigas (ants), but we decided to pass. Whenever we fly into Bucaramanga, a man is in the airport selling these edible delights.

The Trans Milenio

These big red buses are one of the main modes of transportation in Bogota. They don't have a subway here, but these buses have their own lane that cars can not go in. They still have to stop at the stop lights, but they don't get caught in heavy traffic. The big problem is that they are so crowded that you feel like a fish in a sardine can. We rode it once, but that was enough.

The cookie appointment.

Three of our Elders called to get a recipe of cookies,
then they said they didn't have all the ingredients,
and then they mentioned they didn't have an oven.
Well, they were invited to come and make the
the cookies at the mission home to take to their
appointment. It was fun watching them.
Two were Latins, and one was North American,
but none had never made cookies
before. I had to stay close. They sure smelled
good.

The final product.

The dog walker.

It is very common to see these men walking dogs in our neighborhood. With all the high rise buildings and no individual yards, these men make good money walking the neighbor's dogs. The big black dog lives with his family in our building.

Choir in Baranca

We went to Baranca, our only dsitrict in our mission, to attend a district conference. At the conference, they had a visiting two stake choir from Bucaramanga sing. They were an outstanding choir. They took photos afterwards and insisted that I stand in with them.

A visit to Baranca

I had heard that Baranca is the hottest area in our mission. I certainly believe it. It was incredibly hot. The iguanas love the heat and don't ever complain. These iguanas entertained us on the patio outside of our hotel. We were right by a big river that helped the iguanas be so happy.