Feliz Ano

The photo above is inside the house of Amparo Rueda Arciniegas at Chia Colombia, a small pueblo about one half hour outside Bogota. I knew Amparo when we both worked for the Libary of Congress. A few years ago, Amparo moved back to colombia (she is Colombian) and lives in the house her paents built on a small finca (farm) soon after they were married. Amparo's family is part of Colombia's "elite". She has a cook/housekeeper and three gardeners/drivers/handimen to help her manage things. Even though it's a warm day, inside the house it's cold, hence the fire in the fireplace. Amparo invited us to a lovely lunch.

This photo is of the grounds surrounding Amparo's house. She is now an event planner and often has weddings and big parties on the grounds of her home. There is even a small Catholic church on the grounds for marriages. We had a picture of us with Amparo and it went away. We will post it later. She is a very gracious woman.

One morning we ventured into a part of Bogota we were unfamiliar with to go to a warehouse where some of our humanitarian supplies are being stored. It wasn't easy for the taxi driver to find. It was nestled in a building among many buildings where there were enormous amounts of food of every kind stored. There were also venders all along the way selling their produce.

This photo was taken inside the warehouse of our humanitarian supplies. You are looking directly at the boxes of hygiene kits. There are 5 hygiene kits in each box. We figure there is a total of 2,000 right now. To the left is our supply of Atmit. Atmit is a nutritional drink that does miraculous things for young malnourished children.

The new year brought us to our final resting place, office wise. This is the third office we have occupied since coming to Colombia. We are pleased with this office. Although it is small, it is light and airy and for the most part quiet. Carolyn sits in the empty chair across from Royal

Our first church meeting of the new year was at the small branch of Sesquile about an hour drive outside of Bogota. We went with President and Hermana Hacking. President Hacking tries to visit a different branch or ward each week where he has missionaries serving. This branch is particularly unique because many of the branch members are from an Indigenous tribe of people from Otavalo Ecuador. The Otavalo natives are strong members of the Church, because, one brother told us, they have the blood of Laman. There are two strong stakes in the town of Otavalo. One of their cultural traditions is for the males not to cut their hair. It's worn in long braids down their backs and they are the only people, we are told, whose young men don't have to cut their hair when they go on missions. About 40 years ago, a few families from Otavalo moved to Sesquile Colombia and have formed the strength of the branch their. The older members maintain the traditions of Otavalo but some of the younger people, born in Colombia, are not following the old ways -- at least in dress and hair style

This photo shows the women in their black skirts, each with a shawl and many strands of gold beads around their neck. They have beautiful white blouses with hand embroidery on them. The men wear the little white cloth shoes and the white midcalf pants.

This photo shows Royal with one of the members. Their hair is simply gorgeous

We love the hat, pants and shoes but especially we love these people. They are warm and friendly and gracious. It was a wonderful meeting.

On the drive back to Bogota, we drove through several quaint pueblos. We took this

picture to show the typical narrow streets, white buldings and the traditional pauncho and hat worn by many of the men.

We drove through the mountains and the scenery was breath taking. We stopped just as we entered Bogota and took this picture capturing a view of the city. We completed our lovely fast Sunday by joining the Hackings at their beautiful apartment for dinner. We were so grateful for this choice opportunity and the new friends we made that day.

Christmas in Bogota

Last night, December 14th we walked down one of the main streets of Bogota, to see a light display at a local park. The above picture was taken as we approached the park

This is 15th Street. It is 4 blocks from our apartment and really puts you in the Christmas spirit.

Royal and Carolyn standing in front of the tree at the entrance of the park.

In the park, there were two very unusual nativity scenes. This scene is sculpted out of sand. They have been working on it for about three weeks. Above is Mary, Joseph and the babe.

You can see the sculpting is not yet complete. Here they were sculpting the shepherds with some sheep.

This is another nativity in the park made out of reeds. We were told the reeds that were used to make the basket Moses was placed in are the same kinds of reeds they used to make this nativity.

This nativity is on display as you enter the food court of the mall across the street from our office. I love the Baby Jesus on his tummy.

I had Royal stand next to the nativity so you could see that these figures are almost life size. It is an exquisite nativity and takes my breath away every time we walk past it

Here you see the three wise men (life size) posed just before a nativity scene of Mary and Joseph. They will add the baby on Dec. 24th

Sister Hacking, Sister Stull and I went to a fabulous craft show last week. There were hundreds of craftsman from many remote areas of Colombia and Ecuador. These people make the neck pieces similar to the one that lady has on. They are all beaded by hand.

Sister Hacking admiring the intricate detail this woman is putting into the hat she is making. Many different patterns as you can see from the display on the wall. We bought some beautiful bracelets this woman made

Another craftman showing the bags he makes that are so popular here in Colombia.

NRT project in Colombia

The week of November 8th, we accompanied the Neo-natal team for an NRT project in Colombia. The two cities were Bucaramanga and Tunja. Both cities had an excellent turn out and the project was a huge success. In the above picture, Royal and Jenny (a neo natal nurse from Lehi) are eating the biggest and best hamburger ever made. We were lucky to have the hamburgers since there was such a huge turnout for the project that we ran out of food so Hector Ariza, the Notario, bought us these scrumptuous hamburgers.

After the first day of the project in Bucaramanga, we went to visit the office of the Notary. The whole office helped us out with the project since their boss is a member of the church. Bucaramanga is a progressive city, very pretty with a year-around lovely climate. It's a favorite city for missionaries in the Bogota North mission and has two stakes. Across the street from the office is a beautiful plaza. This is a statue of Francisco Santander and in front of it are Royal, Carolyn, Gloria (a doctor from Popayan) Mary and Jeff Zollinger.

Lunch time during the second day of the project in Bucaramanga. Carolyn is busy correcting exams that are taken at the end of each of seven lectures.

At the end of the second day in Bucaramanga, some people from the church and the office of the Notary danced and sang for the participants. The above picture is Hector Ariza, the Notary, and his partner dancing a Colombian dance with a glass of water on their heads.

We were told that at a certain time of the year, these huge black ants appear. They are scooped up, then fried and eaten as a delicacy. I am told they taste like nuts. This is Julio, a doctor from Popayan at the airport where he bought a package of fried ants and was partaking of the delicacy; none of the North Americans were courageous enough to eat one.

When we finished the training in Bucaramanga, we flew back to Bogota and then a big van picked us all up from the airport to drive us to Tunja. We made several stops along the way. This picture of the entire team was taken outside a dairy in a beautiful little valley on the way to Tunja. From left to right is Xavier (Popayan doctor), Jenny (from Lehi) Dr. Zollinger (obstetrician from Idaho), Julio(Popayan doctor) Mary Zollinger(computer whiz), Eric Welling (anestheisiologist from SLC), Carolyn, Royal and Gloria (Popayan doctor)

Carolyn and Royal at the Puente de Boyaca, the site of a crucial battle in Colombia's struggle for independence from Spain. The Colombian soldiers were led by two great generals, Simon Bolivar and Francisco Santander.

A statue of the great Libertador, Simon Bolivar, on a steep hill overlooking the battlefield at the Puente de Boyaca. There is a statue of Santander also, but a more modest one down on the battlefield itself. It was a steep climb to Bolivar's statue.

A pedestrian street in Tunja. We had not been told that it's always very cold in Tunja and did not come with appropriate clothing. This street in particular, near the center of the city, is always cold, so much so that they refer to it as the street of pneumonia.

We were pleased that the Secretary of Health for the Department of Boyaca came one of the days and spent time with us and speaking to the group of doctors and nurses being trained. The Secretary is the man in the middle with the orange tie. Also in the photo are Eric Welling, the tall guy in the back, Lely Guzman, director of public health for Boyaca, Gloria Martinez, one of the local doctors from Popayan, and on the far right, Cesar Hooker, the AreaWelfare Manager.

The donation of the equipment and mannequins to local hospitals in the Department of Boyaca (Tunja)

A view of Tunja, the capital of Boyaca. It's a very old city with narrow streets and white buildings.

On the way from Tunja to Bogota, we stopped at a very old colonial town called Villa de Leyva. It's a charming little town with cobble stone streets and white buildings. Villa de Leyva has become a place all tourists have to visit to see and to buy artifacts. There even are very nice hotels and restaurants for those who want to stay overnight.

Royal reading a plaque in one of the many shops along the cobblestone streets. To the right is a small plaza with tables and chairs and a small bar.

It was a holiday weekend and there were a lot of tourists everywhere. I watched the young woman with the basket on her head walk several blocks and then sit down on a corner where she put the basket in her lap that contained a large array of baked goods to sell.

Jeff Zollinger is purchasing some little knit purses from this woman outside one of the shops. One of the great things about living in Colombia is within a few hours you can go from an extemely cosmopolitan city like Bogota and see life in rural areas where people wear the typical clothing of South America and live very simple lives.

NRT project in Venezuela

The first step after arriving in Venezuela is to go to the stake center where all the training dolls and other medical equipment necessary for neonatal resuscitation has been gathered and stored. Then the ardous task of putting together all of this equipment into three different kinds of "kits" to be used in the training and later donated to the participating hospitals and clinics. The most "advanced" kit has 30 separate instruments! The main feature of the advanced kits is the sophisticated manniquin, each of which costs $700 american. In this photo we are putting the kits together.

This photo was taken the first day. The doctor is teaching the participants how to resuscitate the baby.

Carolyn holding the resuscitation manniquin. You can peel back the skin and actually see the inside of the baby.

Baby and equipment ready for the participants to learn and practice on.

Royal and I are standing in front of the Basic Kit dolls. These dolls are called Baby Anne and are CPR dolls. The smaller hospitals that are not equipped for resuscitation get these dolls. Every delivery room gets the kits next to the dolls which have 5 pieces of equipment in them.

Royal speaking to the participants at the closing ceremony explaining the churches roll in sponsoring these humanitarian projects noting that the funds for these type of projects come from donations to church humanitarian services.

A participant receiving her certificate of completion of the course

Carolyn wearing the necklace given to her at the closing ceremony.

Royal with his certificate given to him by Jana who we worked closely with in planning the project.

Participants of the NRT in Valencia at the end of the ceremony.

Royal in Caracas with Elder Hooker; the Area Welfare Manager for the South America Northwest area and the person we report to.

We were able to have a brief visit and lunch with a dear friend from the Bella Vista Ward who is currently living in Caracas, Yanire Infante Matos and her little girl Tabatha, family of Danny Matos.

Rosa, one of the Venezuelan doctors that helped teach the course, teaching Royal how to resuscitate. He did a good job!!!

The evening of the last day of the course, Rosa Quinteros, one of the local doctors who did the training, our driver, and Juan Carlos Chasine took us on a tram ride to the top of a very large mountain to see the spectacular view of the city. Afterwards, Rosa took us to a very good restaurant and ordered us a typical Venezuelan meal. It was delicious and a lovely ending to our week in Venezuela.

Juan Carlos Chacin with his family at the tram. He is the head of the Church's Employment Resource Center for Venezuela and also a stake president. We worked very closely with him and he became one of our cherished friends.