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.

Walking tour of Bogota

For our 40th wedding anniversary, we hired a guide and had a wonderful walking tour of the old part of Bogota. Many of the streets and buildings are more than 500 years old.

On the way to Barbosa.

We had to go to Barbosa and found many beautiful Kodak moments along the way. We went to do a fireside and interviewed the Barbosa missionaries. The hotel was nothing to write home about, but the scenery was sure pretty.

Milking the cow.

On our way to Barbosa, we found a beautiful countryside with rolling hills and green pastures often with women out milking the cows by hand. This cow was right by the house. There were many pastures with cows and beautiful horses.

Green hillsides to Barbosa.

The scenery was beautiful as we drove to Barbosa to do a fireside with the members in Barbosa.

Elder and Sister Chapman

Elder and Sister Chapman are our other special senior couple missionaries. They are from Florida. They just celebrated their 40th wedding aniversary here in Colombia. They have been such a great help to us. They go home in December and we will miss them. They have ready made a difference here in Colombia.

Finca de Bolivar

This was the entry to the finca (small farm) of Simon Bolivar, the libertor of Colombia. It was a a beautiful farm. There were beautiful trees and flower beds.

A tropical hotel in Yopal.

Yopal is the favorite area of all our missionaries. It is more tranquil than Bogota. We enjoyed our hotel in Yopal and we felt like it was somewhat like Costa Rica. We only have six missionaries in this area. We have to fly to get here.

Yopal

The Elders took us to a delicious Brazilian type restaurant. Most of the beef we have had here has been quite tough, but this restaurant was really good. Yopal is an area with a lot of cows and green fields.

Aguazul

Aguazul is a little town with a Branch of the church near Yopal. The picture shows the branch president and his family. The members met in this home for the past seven years, but now they have grown and the church has rented a house that they are using for their church.

A special missionary couple.

We went to San Gil to work with Elder and Sister Jenson. These are two very special missionaries. They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Elder Jenson had his 70th birthday here in Colombia as well. What a great way to celebrate while serving the Lord.

A beautiful canyon.

To get to the town of San Gil, we had to go through a beautiful canyon. We left the beautiful green foilage of Bucaramanga and traveled through a large canyon with hardly any foilage. The road was straight up and down. It was a beautiful ride, but full of many curves. Not good on a bus that is driving too fast. On the upper right you can see many cacti plants. The bottom right shows the foilage once we arrived in San Gil.

The streets of San Gil

San Gil is a very old town in Colombia. The revolution to free Colombia from Spain started in this very old town. The streets are narrow and made up of large blocks of rocks. Notice President Hacking and Elder and Sister Jenson walking on the very narrow sidewalk.

Flowers of San Gil

These are just a few of the many beautiful flowers we found in San Gil. These flowers were found in a beautiful park called Parque Gallineral. The park is along a river, but on the other side of the park the town is located on a VERY steep mountain side. The streets were so steep that the taxis wouldn't even try going up some of them.

A taxi driver in the rain.

In some parts of Bogota one can take this type of taxi. This is not your common method of taking a taxi, but it is useful at times. Today it was raining

What's for dinner?

We had a hard time deciding which of these lovely heads we wanted to eat for dinner. Actually we went for a vegetarian salad instead.

Our area president.

We had the privilege of having our area president, Elder Nash, visit our mission. He is living in Lima, Peru. He came and visied us and visited with all of our 154 missionaries. He gave us some wonderful counsel and we enjoyed having him stay with us in our home.

Special gift for President Nash.

The stake presidency in Bucaramanga presented President Nash this gift of a large wooden ant. In the left hand corner is a cup with the cooked ants I thought it was an interesting gift. The story follows.

The big ant.

This is a photo of the type of ant that the people eat in the area of Bucaramanga. The ants live in the ground and come out just once a year in April or May. The people gather them and take off the wings and cook them. Many people eat them and said they were good. I was not brave enough to eat it, but President Hacking tried one, and he is still shuddering at the experience. He said he has always thought he could eat anything, but this ant was one he could not handle. The outside was crispy, but then he tasted a creamy susbstance that was in his own words, "was putrid." I am sure glad I wasn't brave enough to try it.

Never again.

Our first hospital emergency.

Elder Williams, from Las Vegas, was our first emergency operation in the hospital. He had apendicitis. We were very happy with the hospital there in Bucaramanga and the care he received. Elder Williams was working in San Gil and went down to Bucaramanga for an interview with us. We were planning on going to San Gil and visit the area and do the interviews there. Somehow Elder Williams did not get the message. The ride from San Gil to Bucaramanga is a long windy three hour bus ride. When I asked his zone leader whyhe had gone to Bucaramanga, he said he didn't know, but he felt the Lord had a hand in it. The hospital in San Gil would have been a scary experience. He arrive in Bucaramanga on Sunday night and had the appendix attack Monday morning.