#19 Quiriza P-Day & Baptisms

We are standing in front of the Quiriza chapel with Branch President Roly Flores,
his wife Mabel and son Lionel.   They are a great family in Quiriza.

One P-day we climbed the mountain in Quiriza to a place where the members have
an area marked to show when President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated Bolivia for the
preaching of the gospel.   We found a tall cactus on top. 

These stones  marked the  place.  They read Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
They have been moved around by a few visitors.  The members would like to have a more permanent marker placed there.

President Flores helped us climb the mountain and get back down.
You are looking down the valley.  You can see the River
San Juan de Oro.

The climb up and down was steep and the trail narrow in places with a
steep drop off.  Pres. Flores was a great help to Hermana Bradshaw that day.

This is the trail coming down the mountain.  The younger  missionaries had no trouble
climbing around.  You can see the drop off on the edge is a good ways down.

We went back to the chapel in Quiriza after our hike.  We had a good picnic lunch
and planted some flowers in the church garden. Elder Hack and Bilanzich were great help.

Hermana (Sister) Boyce, Elder Rengifo, Elder Bilanzich, Elder Hack, Hermana
Yupanqui and Elder Bradshaw working hard planting flowers.

We get a few beautiful sunsets here in Tupiza.  This is looking out our front door.

In Bolivia they know how to load their trucks with corn.
I'm sure this was all done by hand.  (somehow?)

Branch members come to support the baptism of  

On P-day we loaded up all the missionaries and went to
Argentina.  It is about an hour and half drive.  We parked
the truck in Villazon, Bolivia and walked over the border.
           We had a nice lunch at a restaurant owned by some members.  
      The best thing we bought there was some beef at a butcher shop.
 We have eaten some of it and Argentine beef is delicious.

The town in Argentina is called La Quiaca.
Elders Bradshaw, Viscarra, Rengifo, Hermanas Boyce,
Yupanqui, Elders Hack and Bilanzich. 

We stopped along the road and walked through
a tunnel.  This is looking out at the mountain
from an open space in the tunnel.

This is the river.  There is not too much water
running this time of year.  The rainy weather
during December, January and February will
fill the river bed.

This is the tunnel the new road runs through on the way to
Villazon. The old tunnel we walked through is on the right.

The Sister Missionaries had there first baptism since becoming
a companionship.  Two sisters named Daniella and Naomi.

While we were visting the Cano Family, Elder Rengifo jumped
right in to help Gloria Cano make bread.  The kitchen has
a hard packed dirt floor.

We are on our way to church in Quiriza. We had sixteen
people in the pickup.  We had 7 adults and 9 children.
The branch in Quiriza is growing.  We were blessed to
find 3 less active familes in a small pueblo called Monte.
  They are now attending church. The Elders are
teaching the children and 3 are old enough to be baptized.

#17 Quiriza Independence Day Celebration

We went to Quiriza for Bolivia's Independence Day Celebration
They had all the school age children do physical education races
and then they dressed in costume and did some dances.
Lloyd is holding  Dario Martinez. His mother is a single Mom
and is active in the church in Quiriza.

This is Melaina Catacata
She is also 3 and all her family in active in the church. 

All the children marched in and were dressed alike.
Each school in Bolivia has a large cemented futbol (soccer)
playing area.  The school may be very tiny but they all have this
large covered area.  This is where the children performed.
They are just getting this area covered.  When it is finished
there will be cement bleachers on one side.

Lesley, Melaina Catacata and Dorio

Helen Catacata and Carmen Martinez

Lionel Flores racing while spinning and jumping a ball and string.

Lesley Catacata she likes her picture taken.

Lesley all dressed and ready to dance.
She is 6 years old.

Lesley and neighbor's little girl.

Melvin Catacata age 11.

All the young boys have a pack on their back filled with flowers.

They stay in a line and do about the same step to the beat of
the music.   Melvin, Helen, and Lesley Catacata.

These  were the youngest boys.  They are about 4 years old.

Crystal and Dorio.

Their dance costume were very colorful.
This is Crystal.  I don't know here last name.

This is the oldest group of dancers. 

Some dancers wore sandals others were barefooted.  The boys had black on their faces and hair tied up in several small pig tails.

#18 Tupiza Fun in July

Usually on Mondays we wash our pickup in the River
We had extra help from all the missionaries this day!

There are always people at the river washing their clothes
There are very few washers and dryers in this city

This is a narrow passage between the mountains.
Lloyd said they use to ride their horses through one
somewhat like this one on their way to get supplies in Tupiza.
(43 years ago)

We gave this little lady a ride in the Pickup.  She had a hard time
stepping up into the back .Lloyd helped her. Her little old body would not bend.
Lloyd lifted her bundle of firewood. He said it was heavy. They use the wood
in their kitchens to cook over.    We see women
carrying heavy loads like this quite often.  

We found this antique iron at Hermana Luisa's home.
You fill the bottom with hot coals and iron.  I wanted to
bring it home, but it weighed too much.

Elvis Condori hurt his arm. He went to the medical doctor in Tupiza and had it
x-rayed.  He had a hair line fracture in his wrist. This was just a few days
before he was to be baptized in the river.  So we took him and his mother
to Hrm. Luisa in Quiriza.  She walked up the mountain and picked
some green leaves off a bush.  She rubbed his wrist with an ointment.  Then
she wrapped the leaves around it with a cloth wrap.  She told him to
wear it for one month.  He took it off just for a little while when he
was baptized.  His mother would  pick fresh leaves and wrapped it.  It
healed fast.  

Springtime means baby goats.  This bunch was having fun playing of a stack of corn.

We took the Missionaries to visit and teach the Condoris.  Elvis and Mayra
had fun jump roping with them.  This in their front yard.

Rosaria (Elvis and Mayra's mother) gave us a bowl of boiled
corn called mote with a thick slice of goat cheese.  This is
part of her kitchen where she had a fire and cooked the corn.

This is Rosaria in her kitchen.  She is dishing up the mote.  The floor
is hard dirt and she is dishing out of black clay pot.  Somewhat like
a dutch oven.  

The sister missionaries and I went to a Relief Society Meeting
where they were teaching how to make tortillas.  That is what the
women called them, but we would call them crepes.  They found
a couple large rocks and a small black griddle. They built a fired
underneath with a few dry twigs and started cooking.

The two oldest sisters did most of the cooking.  They didn't always
agree.  But they did a good job cooking.
   We are in the back yard of
an investigator named Virginia.

You can see the small fire underneath the griddle.  They
kept the griddle just the right temperature for cooking.

This is the whole group of Relief Society ladies that came.
They also served hot rice milk.  It was like rice pudding with
a lot of milk.  We drank it from cups.  The tortillas and rice milk
were very good.  

This is a very different looking building in Tupiza.  They
are still working on it.  There is a small restaurant on the
first floor.  It looks like it belongs in Russia not South America.

This is Hermana Patty.  She is a member of the church.  She makes a living
for her family by making cakes, doughnuts and different pastries.

This is her kitchen.  Her bakery items are very tasty.  They aare
a little different than in the US but we really enjoy them.  She
has two daughter and a niece that help her.  She also has
two lare Kitchen Aid mixers ( which you do not find here)
Patty has 3 sons that live in Virginia in the U.S.  One son owns
a restaurant.  She is moving to Virginia in February to help
them cook Bolivian food there.

Our land lady, Theresa. has a row of beautiful flowers.
They have been blooming the whole time we have been here.

When the missionaries are transferred or leave to go home,
there is usually a small crowd of members and  people
they have baptized that come to see them off at the bus
terminal.  Elder Bertola is going home to Utah.
He was a great missionary and Zone Leader.