Your name is what?

We have some interesting names to learn in our mission. On the left, we have Elder Huamanmchumo. Now that was a hard name to say, he is standing next to Elder Larson, one of our assistants and Elder Thomas. Now it is easy to say those names. We also have an Elder Po'okelamaika'imea Au, (we just call him Elder Au).

Zone Conference in Duitama.

Duitama is three hours out of Bogota. The missionaries are always very attentive and we love going there for a zone conference.

Our one and only Elder Moen.

Elder Moen is one of a kind. Here he is doing 50 push-ups as part of our zone conference. No one gave him any competition.

Enjoying a McDonalds hamburger.

The missionaries always enjoy getting together to have a zone conference, and the best part of all, is when they get to eat a McDonals hamgureger. Sister Casas in front in blue is a senior missionary that works in the family history center. This conference was in Bogota.

Our second mission tour.

We had a great experience as we made a tour of the mission with Elder and Sister Mestre from Venezuela. They were both very good presenters, and the missionaries enjoyed their visits.

Hasta luego Hermna Cepeda.

We only had one sister returning home in this group. Hermana Cepeda came to us from Ecuador. She returned home the same day that her brother returned home from his mission. What a great homecoming they had together.

Attending our first Colombian wedding.

Andrea is the bride and the daughter of our maid. We were invited to attend her wedding, and we enjoyed the new traditions that we saw.

A beautiful wedding cake

Wedding cakes are special all over the world. This one was yummy. It was a tres leche cake.

Putting your shoes where?

This was a new idea for us. All the single girls put their right shoe under the bride's dress, then the groom reached under the dress and pulled out one. The owner of the shoe was given the bride's bouque.

Two dozen roses.

After church Sunday, the president of the Relief Society presented me with two dozen roses. For the next two hours, I walked around carrying these beautiful flowers. I felt like Mrs. America.

A Colombian hat fiesta.

The Suba stake hosted a hat party. Everyone was to wear their best hat. I did not have one, but when I arrived, one lady put this one on my head.

Enjoying the party.

Elder Shipp was right in the middle of the party. They had all kinds of games to play. The party was planned to be outside, but with all the rain the party was inside the church;.

Our years supply of Panela or panelin.

We bought two boxes of panela. I think we have enough to last us for the whole mission. This is very sweet solid sugar. We saw the process of producing this from start to finish.

Mules on the road.

On the road from San Gil to Barbosa, we noticed something on the road ahead and it was moving. It turned out to be these mules carrying sugar cane to the panela factory. The sugar cane is cut and loaded on the mules and they take it to be processed, or cooked, to be made into panela. Panela is a type of brown sugar that the Colombians love.

A busy day for the mules

This is a closer look at the mules carrying their load of sugar cane. No one was leading them or driving them. They are just turned lose on the road and they know right where to take their load to be unloaded.

Returning for another load of sugar cane.

When the mules are all finished with one load of sugar cane they return to the field to get another load. There are about twelve mules in this group. We saw many of these mule trains along the road. Each group is going to a different panela factory.

A Colombian Panela store.

We bought our panela to take home from this Colombian family. They had many different ways to buy the panela. I think we bought our year supply. They gave us a little give to take home. When we opened it is was panela candy with a anise or licorice flavor.

Yummy ants.

Elder Guerra is tempting us to eat one of his ants, but it didn't work. Some say it is like eating pop corn.

Oh those ants.

This is what the ants look like after their wings have been removed and they are cooked. I have not been brave enough to try them, but some of the Elders say they like them. I wonder if they are telling the truth.

The ladies of the street.

These lovely ladies were on their way to someplace, but we don't know where. They had lovely long dresses. These are not your everyday ladies of the street.

The Red Cross of Yopal.

We went to Yopal to make a presentation of 5 wheel chairs, 5 sets of crutches, 5 canes and 5 walkers to the Red Cross of Yopal. Sixteen Red Cross workers accepted our donation from the Church. Not all the workers are in the photo as the others arrived later.

The motos of Yopal.

The main mode of transportation in Yopal is the moto. I think they would be safer here in Yopal than in Bogota, because Bogota has so much traffic. We have seen many accidents with the motos.

Colors of the flag.

Bright colors are a part of the Colombian culture. This young lady is wearing the colors of the Colombian flag.

Peru here we come.

All five of our returning missionaries are returning home to Peru. They all went home on the same flight. We will miss all of them.

Our newest missionaries.

The day of new arrivals is always a wonderful day. We were very impressed with our missionaries. We have them from Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia. It was a good group.

Hostess for the day.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant between San Gil and Bucaramanga, and this lady was our hostess. She played her part well, and the food was good too.

Christmas cactus.

This Christmas cactus is all confused. It thinks this is Christmas time. It has been really pretty and you can see there are many more buds on the way.

More beautiful flowers

This is our bouquet of flowers for this week. We get new fresh flowers nearly every week. The flowers here in Colombia are very beautiful and inexpensive.

Visitors from Salt Lake City.

We had two special visitors from Salt Lake City for a few hours. Nidia on the left came and worked even though it was Saturday, and prepared Ajiaco for Sister Silvia Allred, first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, and Sister Mary Cook, first counselor in the general presidency of the Young Women. They came to Colombia to give a training to the women and leaders.

On the way to Barbosa.

We always pass this water fall when we go from Tunja to Barbosa. Sometimes there is more water than other times.