Bogota missionaries.

We had over one half of our missionaries together for a fun filled day of activities, food and a special evening Christmas devotional.

Santa's helpers for the night.

Santa has many helpers and we were lucky enough to be his helpers at our missionary party in Bogota.

Everyone loves Papa Noel.

The special visitor was a hit with everyone. The missionaries were happy to find out Santa Clause had not forgotten them.

The food was worth the wait.

This was a very tasty buffet. The food was delicious and very festive.

Christmas time in Bucaramanga.

We had a Christmas party in Bucaramanga with about half of our missionaries. They all sang in a missionary choir in a concert with two stakes. Our missionaries sang, the primary choir sang, the young men and young women choir sang and then they ended with an outstanding two stake choir. The next day we had a fun party with a dinner and Santa arrived and I got to be his helper. Fun for all.

Huge Christmas tree.

It seems different to see a Christmas tree decorated with Spring flowers and insects, but this is very common here in Colombia. At night it is really pretty.

Christmas decorations.

Customs differ in countries with the type of Christmas decorations they exhibit. Here we see goats instead of reindeer. At night the park is beautifully lit with the many lights.

The red ants of Bucaramanga.

The people of Bucaramanga love their red ants. Here in a park they have decorated these large ants with Christmas lights. At night the children sit on them and the parents take their pictures.

Found a new market.

We found a new market to check out. This is the biggest market we have ever seen. It has a little of everything from chickens to ribbons. We went on a Saturday and it was packed with people. The prices are very good.

Very fresh chickens.

Some people like to buy their chickens really fresh. This huge market had chickens of all kinds.

Three hens giving their all.

Looking at these chickens with their heads on doesn't make you hungry. This market has really fresh meat, but we prefer buying the meat wrapped in nice plastic wrap without heads or feet.

Feet in the air.

These chickens are ready for the pot with feet and all.

Heavy load on shoulder.

This man was carrying this heavy bag, but was looking on how to carry two.

This is like a five and ten.

You can buy many things in this market. It is like a one stop shopping experience.

Great variety of fruits and vegetables.

This market has the best variety of fruits and vegetables and they are very fresh. Too bad they don't have shopping carts, but Oh Well.

Santa's Helpers

Thank goodness for these great helpers. It is always more fun to have help decorating the tree. The end result was wonderful. All of our grand children made a Christmas tree ornament with their photo and sent to us. It sure makes our tree special this year.

A night to remember.

Elder and Sister Chapman are standing in the middle of the group with the mayor of Barbosa on their left. The mayor honored the Chapmans' at the city council meeting. The room was full of people and whole meeting was to honor the Chapmans' for all their service to the town. It was a night the Chapmans' will always remember.

Our first Thanksgiving.

It is always nice to share Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family. We don't have our family here with us, but this is our adopted family in the mission. We had a typical Thanksgiving except we could not find any yams.

Our second Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving, we had another day with another turkey and most of the trimmings. We invited our office staff to join with us. At the end of the table is Elder and Sister Chapman. They were preparing to return to Florida. We sure miss them.

Villa de Leyva

This is a charming very old pueblo. This lady was so interesting in her blue tunic. We enjoy the charm of this pueblo.

Darling little girl.

This cute little girl was in the street with her family.

Couldn't resist taking her picture.

Walking on rocks.

This is really a quaint little pueblo to visit. All the streets are made with these big rocks. No pavement in this town. We saw some ladies walking across the plaza in high hills. Not me!

Original Rocks.

Very few of these rocks have been replaced. Most are 450 years old. This old town is a historic town. People can not change the style of their homes. They can make new ones, but they have to have the same style.

Nativity set.

With nativity sets and Christmas music, we are feeling a bit like Christmas. We see many of these type of Christmas nativiy sets with the Bethleham buildings.

No snow this Christmas.

We will not see any snow this Christmas, but we can get a feeling of what it is like when we look at this picture hanaging on our wall. This is our cabin in the mountains in Utah. When we look at this picture, it looks like we are looking out of a window at our cabin. We love it.

Out of the way!

Last week was a scary week for President Hacking. He was returning to Bogota on a plane from Bucaramanga, when he got really sick. He had eaten a chicken salad sandwich right before he loaded the plane. Soon after take off, he got really cold, and yet he was sweating really bad. He felt very dizzy and from his chest up he felt like he was numb. The flight attendants noticed him sweating and asked if he was okay. He said yes, but they called for a doctor. When the plane landed he was taken on a gurney and then put in an ambulance and taken into the airport. As it turned out, he had just had a very bad case of food poisoning. No more chicken salad sandwiches in the Bucaramanga airport.

Thirty years to life.

A few weeks ago we received a phone call about 8:30 p.m. saying that we had two of our missionaries in jail. A quick trip to the ATM machine to take out some money for bail and off to another adventure. It seems that the two missionaries were taking a picture in front of a military base. This is against the law in Colombia. About thirty men in uniforms carrying machine guns were guarding our missionaries. Three hours later the two were out of jail and everyone was laughing over this experience. The missionary on the left had only been here in Colombia for three weeks. I would have liked to have read his letter home to the family.

They said it was good.

Here in Colombia, when you order chicken fast food, they don't give you a fork, but rather they give you a plastic glove to eat the chicken. It works great.

The first sign of Christmas.

We are starting to have the Christmas spirit here in the mission home.  We bought this nativity from the man that made it.  We already have Christmas music playing.  They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so Christmas is in the air.  We will have a Thanksgiving dinner though 

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.