#32 Zone and Tupiza Days

We had a great P-day.  We bought steaks from Argentina and
the Elders found a grill to cook them on.  This is the patio
area of our apartment.  Elder Bilanzich and Rengifo enjoyed
helping Lloyd cook the steaks.

This is looking upstairs from the patio.  They are all standing
in our front door.  The whole zone was there.
Elders Bradshaw, Chadwick, Espina, Perez, Hull, Hrms. Yupanqui,
Boyce, Elders Rengifo and Bilanzich.  

Zone Meeting October 30, 2012.  We knew Elder Rengifo was
going home.  Elders Espin and Perez were transferred and Hermana
Boyce moved to Cochabamba.  There are always changes.

The first friday in November in Memorial Day in Bolivia.  We
visited the Quiriza Cemetery.  Lloyd was trying to update
some of the membership records.  We needed death dates
to be able to take the names of the dead off the records

Some graves were marked clearly.  Others we had to look closely
for names or any information.  It is a dry, sad cemetery.

In the distance you can see a wooden foot bridge.  We like to
walk over it on the mornings we take a walk. 

This is the bridge.  There are some wide gaps in it.  We see
people riding bikesand taking big loads on their carts across. 

We finally learned how to use our self-timer on our camera.  

This was the hail we got in our pickup.  We ran into this black cloud
and storm on the way home from church in Quiriza.  The road was
soon turned into a red river of fast running water.  There was about
an inch or two of hail covering the back of the pickup.  

There was a parade in Tupiza.  We only watched the
first few group of dancers.  We were on our
way out of town to pickup some investigators.
This is  Erma Martinez.  She has a flower and
vegetable store.  She is a member of the
church and was able to visit the United States
in October for her sisters wedding in Salt Lake City.
She was able to attend a session of General Conference.
She would like to live in the United States she told us. 

Their costumes are beautiful and look expensive.
Each group of dancers had a band with them.

Every age enjoys doing these dances and wearing
these colorful costumes.

 

They told us these groups were from the different Colleges and the
celebration was called Potosi Days.

 

Wish we could have watched more.

#30 Planting Corn in Titihoyo

We visited in Titihoyo on the day they were plowing fields and
planting corn.  This is the Condori farm.  Wilder Condori and his
brother-in-law Felipa Arce are plowing. 

This is hard work and the field looks  pretty rough to us but
they plant the seed and it comes up really good. This is like
a step back in time. 

This is Wilder's better trained pair of oxen.  So to help the
younger pair of oxen they follow close behind. 

You need to keep control of the oxen and make sure you
plow in the right place at the same time.  The oxen do
like to go their own way sometimes.  

Lloyd could not wait to try this.  He had done this before on his first
mission here.  They used the same kind of plow.  He said they helped
the people here a lot with their field work 43 years ago. 

Elder Rengifo and Bilanzich both wanted to help. It was a great
experience for us all. The mountains and sky  are beautiful here. 

 

This is the one blade plow they use. 

After they finished plowing the field.  They tied these long funnels
to the side of the plow.  This is Felipa Arce. He was Branch President
in Quiriza at one time but  has been less active for a few years.  We
visited him one day and invited him to come to church with us on
Sunday and he has not missed a sunday since then. 

Lloyd is holding the long stick they use to drive the oxen with.
Notice the nail in the end.  This helps guide the oxen while
turning and plowing.

This plow is ready to be used for planting. 

The women help them plant the corn seed and fertilize with goat
manure.  They walk along with the seed and fertilizer wrapped
in an bright colored shawl called an aguyilla.  They put the seed
and fertilizer in the long funnels while they plow a furrow.  

This cute baby is Ivan Condori the II  he is 3 weeks old and
his mother was helping plant the corn.  So Kristie was glad
to help by holding him. His mom would lay him in the wheel
barrow on the side of the field for a bed.    

The next week when we visited in Monte.  The community was
working together in this field.  They had nine teams of oxen planting
corn this day. 

This is pretty country.  It is late Spring, Early summer and the
trees are green and it will be even greener when all this corn
comes up and starts growing. 

On a Saturday morning we went  to help Felipa plant three fields of corn.
This is what they look like now.  You can see Lloyd and Felipa
plowing in the distance.  The rest of us would pick up  bunches
of grass and break up large clods of soil. In a few months when
these fields are green with tall corn, I will take another picture
and put it on the blog.  

Lloyd plowing with the oxen.  This is hard work.  You have to hold
the plow with one hand, making a straight row, hold the long stick w/
the nail to guide in the other hand and walk verily fast on loose,
rough soil.

Rosaria Condori and her niece Mirtha Arce carried lunch to us.
They walked about 3 miles. They had is wrapped in their Aguyillas.
We had a large bowl of soup with goat meat, fried chicken, rice and
french fries. They didn't have quite enough plates so a few of us ate.
Then Mirtha ran up to the irrigation ditch and washed them and
brought them back and dished up some food for someone else.
We had Coca-cola to drink.  They brought one glass and we
all shared that glass.  They share glasses here all the time.
This is a little hard for some of us to do.  But the meal was good
and we did appreciate their thoughtfulness and effort.  

#29 Tupiza's Everyday Sights

Everyone in Tupiza uses gas to cook with.  This truck delivers full
tanks of gas for their stoves and takes empty one away.  It has a
horn that honks loudly to let people know it is around.

The Martinez family from Charaja.  The Elders and Lloyd have been
teaching them and they will soon be ready for baptism.  They have
six children. The three older children are old enough to be baptized
also.  Their baptismal date in November 17.  

Elevterio (the father) makes adobe bricks for a living. This is the
form he shapes them in. (all by hand) You can see new ones on the ground that
are drying and some ready for sale stacked up behind.  

Wilian, Fernando and Amanda Martinez.  

Adobe bricks drying.  They are sold for one Bolivian each.  Which
is about 14 cents. Almost all the buildings and homes are built
with these bricks. 

The adobe bricks are made with dry grass, clay soil and water. 

This is a home of some members of the church that live in Monte.
The kitchen where they cook their food is on the left end of the house.

We were visiting in Monte on a Friday afternoon. We saw some
children at the school and the teacher came out and invited us in.
Elder Rengifo and Bilanzich were invited to teach the children.

This is the school room. The teacher is in the front on the right.
The missionaries gave a great lesson on prayer. 

This is the desks the children use.  Two children sit at each desk. 

These three brothers live in Monte.
Ronaldo in 8, Jonalan 6 and Adan is 3.
They had several dogs and cats for family pets. 

We visited the Condori Family in Titihoya and Ivan was cultivating
the garlic crop with his burrow.  Elder Rengifo was happy to help.

Elder Bradshaw and Nelva Condori  having fun and posing
for the camera.

The moon was up before the sun was down going back to Tupiza. 

This good man is  hauling a load of corn on is bicycle. 

Wilder Condori plowing his field with a team of oxen called
bueys in Spanish.  They are plowing getting ready to plant corn.