March 31-April 6 More Colombian Food & Conference Week

Monday. We taught Session 1 of our third Planning for Success workshop this morning to fifteen eager participants. As I have perhaps mentioned in a prior post, the Perpetual Education Fund is opening up worldwide to people over thirty years of age. This is a HUGE change and will affect so many families. Our new workshop included one man, age forty-five, AND his two daughters, all of whom are going to use PEF. Every member's situation is different, but they all have one thing in common - the Church is telling each of them that other members all over the world are willing to invest in helping Colombians exit the poverty cycle through education.

Our Busy Office

Ready for the Workshop

In the evening, we took a taxi to the CCM (missionary training center for Colombia) to join with seven other missionary couples for a dinner and Family Home Evening. The Dyers serve as the Presidents of the CCM and they hosted the evening in their apartment. Attending were Pres. and Sis. Wakefield (Bogota Temple), Pres. and Sis. Andelin (Bogota North Mission), Elder and Sister Piepgrass (area doctor), the Carpenters (mission office, Bogota South Mission), the Blaines (temple missionaries) and us. The delicious American dinner featured chicken alfredo, fruit salad, homemade rolls, steamed carrots and Texas sheetcake. Yum! Afterwards, President and Hermana Wakefield, former members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, presented a reader's theater called "Love Letters". It featured letters between couples in church history (David and Emma McKay, Spencer and Camilla Kimball, LeGrand and ? Richards and Joseph and Emma Smith), along with favorite songs of the era. The tender feelings expressed during times of separation (sometimes up to a year) and the personal insights into their real day-to-day lives filled us with laughter, hope and a renewed reality that we are all just trying to do the best we can with the challenges that come our way.

Family Home Evening

President and Sister Wakefield

Tuesday. We didn't leave the apartment until 9:30 a.m. today in order to visit the U.S. Embassy and apply for our new passports. With only one or two pages left, we decided to renew here as the wait time is only ten days and the price is the same. We opted for the expanded passport, which contains more pages than the regular one. (This probably means more adventures in our future.) The Colombian U.S. Embassy is huge (3,000 people) and security is tight. I would have taken a photo, but I value my life:).

One of our favorite foods is Ajiaco, a soup popular in Bogota, typically made with chicken, three varieties of potatoes, and the Galinsoga parviflora herb commonly referred to in Colombia as guascas (we refer to it as gallant soldier or potato weed). There is usually a small cob of corn added, with some white rice and a slice of avocado on the side. A cream sauce and large capers are provided on the side to add to the soup. It makes for a very hearty and tasty meal.

Ajiaco

Wednesday. Session 2 of the TPE was this morning. Teaching the workshops are one of the favorite parts of our work. We love to meet the participants and see the hope in their eyes. We returned home from work today and found a letter from our gas company slipped under our apartment door. Apparently, they stopped by on March 27 to do a safety check and we weren't at home (naturally). Now, five days later, since we didn't call to make another appointment, they came and shut the gas off. We went down to question the security guard about the situation and he verified that the gas company came on the 27th to do the building's security checks, but we weren't home. "That's because #1, we didn't receive any notification about such a check, and #2, we work from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day!" Aauuggghhh!!!

As I am writing this post and thinking back on our "gas adventure", it seems like a good place to insert one of Mike's favorite Colombian soups - HOT cazuela de mariscos (not that this soup causes gas, but my ire escalates a notch when I think about them cutting our utilities without notice).

The soup consists of a wide variety of seafood served in a cream sauce. It usually arrives at the table very hot (insert ice please), and the seafood fresh and suave. The mix creates a very pleasant taste. It is usually served with side of rice and plantain chips. Often the rice has a coconut flavor, and is quite good.

Cazuela de Mariscos

Thursday. Mike called the gas company first thing and went round and round with them about shutting off the gas without notification. They said we should have been home for the security check. The woman on the other end of the line didn't seem to think it was their problem if we didn't get notified. When Mike told her that we work all day, she said we should have had our empleada (housekeeper) there to open the door. He told her, "We don't have an empleada!" In the end, after talking with a supervisor, they finally agreed to come on Saturday. (I'll believe it when I see their faces.) Luckily, we will be home all day watching the World General Conference. Before leaving for the day, we checked the gas again and it was back on. When we went downstairs to leave, we asked our security guards if the gas company came in the last thirty minutes to turn the gas on. They said "No. We just took the wire off that was tied around your tube to shut the gas off." Thanks guys!! Mike asked if we could tie off the tubes to the entire apartment building for a joke and they took us outside and showed us the emergency shut-off valve for the entire building. They finally figured out he was joking.

We got two new volunteers today. Yippee!! Cesar just got home from a mission and is looking for work. While he looks, he wants to help in the center. Mateo is our other new volunteer, we found him last Sunday while visiting the Quirigua Ward. Mateo just turned in his mission papers and will leave in September. He offered to help us out Monday thru Friday, 8:00 a.m. to noon. The work in the center is a lot like full-time missionary work in the field. He calls people he doesn't know and chats with them, listens, resolves concerns, and offers help. He's such a sweet young man.

Maria, one of our other volunteers, spent the morning calling those on her list of "necesitados" or those who need help. One of the people on the other end of the line wanted to speak with me, since we had talked before. The sister recently had back surgery and wanted to take the TAL Workshop to learn how to better find employment. She expressed her deep appreciation for the monthly calls and the concern for her welfare. It was a perfect example of how we want this center to be a place of refuge, service (uno por uno) and following up. She doesn't have a job yet, but she knows she is cared about and loved.

Hermana Amaya invited a young woman who is taking the missionary lessons to come to the office so we could meet her. She is sixteen-years-old, sweet and beautiful. She lives in the same apartment complex as the Amayas and wanted to meet with the missionaries. Her mother is a member, but doesn't attend anymore. Her father lives in another city with his second wife. As she sat and chatted with us, I showed her our family photo book. She loves the church's emphasis on families and wishes her family could be more involved with each other. She helped me with some tough words in Spanish and I helped her with her English. It always amazes me how much our early language training affects the way our tongues operate!

Sign-ups for our workshops are multiplying rapidly. The employment workshop (TAL) has thirty-five on the waiting list, the small business workshop (TAE) has thirty, and forty more are already signed up for the next Planning for Success sessions (TPE). We will be finishing the current TPE with two classes next week and then we travel to the other side of the country to train the volunteers of the two new CAS centers there. Busy, busy, busy!

Just before going home, we got a call telling us that our power would be cut-off in two days if the bill wasn't paid. GREAT! I gave the bill to the missionaries last Sunday, so who knows if it got to the elder who's in charge of paying the utilities. I called the mission office and asked them to call me when they got the bill paid so we wouldn't worry. Since it took three months to reconnect the phone in the office, I can only imagine how long it might take to reconnect the electricity!

Friday. Happy Birthday to Max who turned two-years-old today! Thanks to Instagram, we saw his cute cake and decorated high chair then joined in the singing while he blew out the candles on his cake.

We hauled lunch to the office today to celebrate Ferney's last day and Rosita's birthday. Ferney, our office intern, has worked for the last six months as the front desk receptionist. His unique personality has driven Edgar (our jefe) to tear his hair out at times, but we know Edgar will quickly notice the absence when he has no one to make calls, type lists, run for refreshments, etc. We brought bread and a huge pot of Baked Potato Soup, Hermana Amaya brought salad, and Edgar, a cake and gaseosa (pop). We invited the workers from the bodega (church distribution next door) and two visitors who happened to be in the office. Mike told Ferney weeks earlier that we were going to give him a car for his going away gift, so Mike presented him with a plastic 4 x 4 toy. He seemed to think that was the best part of the party! Rosita received flowers and some lotion for her birthday.

Let's Party

Rosita and Her Colombian Roses

Ferney Gets His Car

We recruited two more volunteers today! Gloria is a spunky, middle-aged woman with a perpetual smile on her face. She serves as a CAS/PEF Especialista for her ward and has enjoyed the work so much she volunteered to help at the office one or two days a week with those units who don't have specialists yet. Melisa recently returned from her mission after only two months in order to have foot surgery. While her foot is healing, she will come to the center to help. She was so excited when we called, as most of her day is spent sitting at home waiting to get back to her mission. We feel so blessed with all this new help and know that Heavenly Father is filling in the gaps. We will soon be gone and we work a lot of hours! There is a air of excitement, hope and genuine love in the office, which we hope will multiply with each new success.

Mike spent an hour or so this afternoon on Google Hangout with a group of genealogists from all over the world. The group meets every Friday evening at 11:00 p.m. (Madrid time, as the group organizer, Sonia, lives in Spain). She asked Mike to join them as a guest speaker to explain his records system for photos and other documents. The Area Family History Director for Colombia is part of the group and shared a bit of Mike's system for archiving with Sonia, who immediately contacted Mike to schedule a time when he could speak with the group. It was quite amazing listening to people from all over the world respond and ask questions, and seeing Mike demonstrate and share ideas via the internet. God truly has a hand in the technological advances of our day in order to further his purposes.

The first remote teaching trial of our center, using the internet, will occur next week. Part of the changes in the administration of the PEF program resulted in the Church Education System (institutes) no longer being involved. The program is now administered by the Centros de Autosuficiencia (us) and we are hundreds of miles away from some wards and branches, many of which are accessible only by air or long trips through dangerous mountainous areas. We have a teacher who is willing to give the workshops online to small groups of students gathered in their homes or church buildings, so we are excited to see how it works!

Our sunny morning quickly got dark in the early afternoon when a storm blew in. The rain sprinkles turned to full-on faucets within a matter of minutes, accompanied by flashes of lightning and booming thunder. One brilliant flash of lightning with a simultaneous "KABOOM!" struck directly overhead causing the entire building (and me) to quake. I went outside and watched the streets fill up with water. Often the storm drains are filled with garbage, so all the water just runs thru the streets creating lakes and rivers. Since our last roof "issue" during a heavy rain, we watch things carefully for entering water. No problem this time. Luckily, the storm also finished unloading before it was time for us to leave.

Saturday. We sat at home all day Saturday waiting for the gas people to arrive, but they never did. The worst part was, our internet went out so we were unable to connect in order to watch General Conference and we couldn't leave to go to a nearby chapel in case the workers came. We will have to catch up on the Saturday sessions on a delayed basis.

Food again! One of my favorites dishes is Pollo Planchado. Colombians like to cook their meat in thin steaks, so just think of chicken in 3\8 inch thick patties, well grilled.

Pollo Planchado

Two thumbs-down dishes for Mike: 1) arepas, the national starch (when served without cheese or other adornments he finds it very bland and tasteless), and 2) cocido boyacense (some of the strangest and unappetizing vegetables ever). The latter consists of a heaping plate of several types of potatoes, peas in shell, 3 meats (pork, chicken, and beef), a small cob of corn, cubios, and ibias (the last two = the evil veggies).

Arepas

Cocido Boyacense

Sunday. Since our internet was still not working, we spent the entire day in our office using the internet there to listen to Conference. It was wonderful and we got so much done (no telephones ringing).

KR Enjoying Conference

March 24-30 Colombian Food, Villa de Leiva & The Long Walk

On Monday, we left at 6:00 a.m. on our long-planned journey to visit Villa de Leiva, a very old city that has been maintained in it's colonial condition. We hired a local member with a car to drive us there, a trip which can be done in a long day.

We headed north through Chia and bypassing Zipaquira. After crossing a small range of mountains, we entered the Ubate Valley, known for its cheese and milk production. We drove through some of the most peaceful, beautiful farming communities awakening to the activities of the day. Men and boys herded small groups of milk cows along the winding roads in the early morning light. Some cows, secured in two or four-stall, portable milking stations staked out in the dew-covered fields, were already being milked. Metal milk cans sat at the head of intersecting dirt roads for pickup. We saw several people on bicycles stopping to fill plastic jugs with fresh milk before bungee-cording them onto the frames of their bicycles for the trip back home.

The Ubate Valley

Further down the highway, roadside stands selling baskets began to appear. We were near the Laguna de Fuquene, which abounds in a particular reed which is used to make all kinds of woven products. We stopped at one place and took an immediate liking to their handiwork. Some of the reeds were dyed red or black to add to the beauty of the weaving. Metal frames of different shapes were used to give form to the items until they were finished, then the forms were removed. I'm a sucker for beautiful baskets, so we bought one. We hope it makes it home in one piece.

Passing thru Chiquinquira, we stopped to admire a beautiful, yellow cathedral on the central plaza and got out for a few minutes to stretch our legs. A little woman selling fruit on the steps of the cathedral caught our eye. Small stalls selling religious trinkets dotted the narrow roads alongside the cathedral and stores along the plaza sold typical tourist fare.

Chiquinquira

We took a small detour from the main road to visit the town of Raquira, the "City of Pots". It is famous for its colony of artisans, who produce traditional northern Andean pottery & hand-woven goods. We got out of the car and walked down the entrance road lined with shops filled with colorful items - hammocks, pots, carved masks and trinkets of all kinds. We walked in and out of nearly every store! The outside walls of the buildings were covered with colorful murals and the streets paved with cobblestones. Quite picturesque! The town had filled the main plaza with life-size statues made of clay, including the obligatory urinating-boy fountain. Our big purchase was a keychain to be used as a Christmas ornament and a sweater/poncho for me (which I bargained hard for).

Raquira

Pig Pile

Lunchtime required bravery on my part. We pulled into a roadside parilla in Sutamarchan (an area famous for its sausage, called longaniza) cooking all sorts of meat on an outdoor grill. Luckily, potatoes, yuca and corn were also on the grill. Since I could see flames cooking the meat and noticed they used tongs to transfer it to our plate, I felt brave enough to eat it - well, most of it. I just can't seem to gag down anything that comes in the form of a Colombian sausage. The grilled corn kernels were interesting, kind of like corn nuts.We got a whole plate of different meats and side items for about $4.50. It fed three of us comfortably.

Finally arriving at Villa de Leiva, we rattled down the stone streets to the central plaza, which was huge. All the structures in the center of town are required by law to retain their original color scheme, green and white, which was the Spanish colonial custom. Many of the houses along the narrow streets sported beautiful green balconies. Three women selling their wares drew us in and we ended up buying a bottle of their honey. They also tried to talk us into buying a huge aloe vera plant, saying it would bring us good luck. Restaurants hang them in their dining rooms for the same reason. Mike said the town reminded him of something out of a Clint Eastwood movie and he expected him to come riding in at any moment.

The Villa de Leiva Plaza

My Honey Buying Honey

We headed back via the same road in mid-afternoon, arriving in Zipaquira around 5:00 p.m. in the face of a driving rainstorm. We were dropped off at the Zipaquira salt mines (which are still operating), bought our tickets, and ducked into the mines out of the rain. Within the abandoned parts of the mine, which consist of HUGE empty caverns carved out of pure salt, they have created a fantastic tourist attraction. It mostly consists of Roman Catholic icons, crosses and cathedrals, but it is interesting just from the standpoint of its sheer size. Many of the tunnels are over 200 meters underground. A functioning congregation has as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, but since it has no overseeing bishop, it is not "officially" a Catholic cathedral. Mike asked if the Mormons could use it for a meeting and the guide paused and said, "Yeah, sure!" One section represented the events in the life of Jesus, with hand-carved icons and statues in rooms along the tunnels. There were altars where people could stop and worship, and signage along the way explained each room. They should have had someone who speaks English proofread before posting the signs, as one indicated a statue was a depiction of "Mary, The Holly Mother". When we exited the mine, it was still raining, so we popped our umbrella (which we take everywhere) and walked to the waiting van. The day was long, but filled with memories. We got home about 8:30 p.m.

The Salt Mines of Zipaquira

Tuesday started out a little rough, when I shut the door to the apartment with the keys in the lock - on the inside of the door. We have a routine when leaving the apartment and I diverted. I took the trash to the chute just as we were leaving, then I went back to the apartment door where Mike was waiting at the elevator with the door open. I took the door handle and slammed the door shut, then went to double twist the key to lock it, but the keys weren't in the lock. My heart sank, as the spare set was inside with the main keys. We took the elevator down and asked the security guards if they could call the apartment owner and see if he could drop off an extra key.

The second day of TAL (our job search workshop) began shortly after we arrived at work, but one woman didn't go into class. She waved me over to the table where she sat and whispered, "Do you have time to talk with me?" "Of course I do", I answered and invited her into our office. She is the especialista from Barrio Quirigua and had been asked by her bishop to teach the fifth-Sunday class for the combined Priesthood/Relief Society lesson. He wanted her to teach the principles of self-sufficiency and she was terrified. She had attended our training last Saturday, so Mike gave her various ideas, a DVD with some excellent vignettes, then wrote out the outline of a lesson. Her life experience is an example of autosuficiencia. Her husband left her and went to Canada leaving her alone with their children. She knew she needed a better job to support her family, so she worked washing floors and anything else she could find while attending a nursing technical school. Her job as an ambulance attendant is good and supports her family. So many people are in need in her ward and her confidence in her abilities to help them is shaky. Mike tried to buoy her up. She asked if we might be able to come visit her ward, but Mike told her we were leaving in six weeks and really could not visit that many more wards with our full schedule. But he looked again and saw that we might be able to juggle our schedule for the coming Sunday and attend the Quiriagua Ward. She cried out and immediately assumed that Mike was going to teach the lesson for her! Well, he did leave the door open by agreeing to the visit!

Wednesday. Mike thought we should share some of our favorite Colombian foods this week and next. First up is Bandeja Paisa, a dish that originated in Medellin. It is served with plantains and consists of a plate of pork sausage, beans, rice, grated meat, chorizo, fried egg, arepa, chicharron (pork rinds), and avocado. It is one of Mike’s favorites (except for the pork rinds).

Bandeja Paisa

Thursday. Lechona, also known as lechon asado, is a very popular dish often served at Christmas and other holidays. It consists of a pig stuffed with yellow peas, green onions, yellow rice, and spices, then roasted in an outdoor brick oven for about ten hours. The pork is then stripped off and mixed with the other cooked ingredients. Quite tasty.

Lechona

Friday. Sancocho (from the Spanish verb sancochar or "to parboil") is a traditional soup (often considered a stew) in several Latin American cuisines derived from the Spanish dish known as Cocido. It usually consists of large pieces of meat and vegetables served in a broth. Also a keeper.

Sancocho

Saturday. Our morning adventure began with a taxi ride to the National Museum, which until recent times was a prison. Right away, we met up with a school group on an outing and they seemed to be enthralled by the "American woman" (me) more than the museum exhibits. A few brave girls tried out their English skills by asking me questions, then giggling when I answered. The entire group
insisted on posing with me in a group photo. A pile of cell phones flashed one by one as they each got a photo with the "gringa".  Mike thought the whole affair was quite funny.

The facility itself was one of the nicer ones we've seen in in Colombia, with many wonderful historical objects displayed in interesting ways. An upstairs gallery showcased one of Colombia's most famous artists, Botero, who is known for the rendering of his subjects as overtly "large". Interesting, but not our taste in art. While strolling thru one wing, we ran into four missionaries enjoying a P-day activity. We also bumped into a Relief Society group from one of the wards we had just visited. It was fun to see them together learning about the history of their country. Mike and I enjoyed lunch at the museum cafe, which served some delicious dishes from different parts of Colombia.

El Museo Nacional

A Botero

Our specific task on our list for the day was to find thirteen Colombian soccer shirts for our grandsons. We have seen them on the streets, but the prices were too high and we heard that the "clothing district" in central Bogota had them for much less. We had been warned to watch our purses, backpacks, and pockets carefully in that area. So forewarned, we started on our way walking south into the center of Bogota. Our walk took us down Carrera 11, which is closed to motorized traffic. It was filled with every variety of street performer imaginable - racing guinea pigs, gold-painted mimes dressed like Egyptian statues, school bands, old-time dancers, family singers, street artists drawing scenes on the pavement or on canvas, etc. We saw some soccer shirts hanging from a second floor balcony and stopped to see what was available. Climbing up stairs to the second floor, we discovered a huge area separated into little stalls, each basically selling the same things. We finally found the yellow shirts we were seeking and agreed to a very good price for the ten smaller sizes. We still needed shirts in the bigger sizes, so on we walked. When we arrived at the "clothing district", vendors hawked their wares at every turn. We happened upon someone selling soccer shirts on the street and he led us up narrow, steep stairs to his family's business on the second floor of a nearby building. (My anxiety-safety meter gave us the go ahead.) His wife and two young daughters helped us find the sizes we needed for our last three shirts and we were on our way (after giving the two young daughters an Amercian $1 bill, which they thought was very cool!) We looked for a taxi to take us back home, but being a busy day, none were to be found. We kept walking in the direction of home, while waiting for an empty taxi to pass by, but when we got to the grocery store near our house, we just decided to pick up a few things for dinner and keep walking. We looked at our step-counter when we got home and found we had walked seven miles. It felt so good!

La Iglesia de San Francisco (Cerca Early 1500's)

We got home from our walk just in time for me to watch the World General Women's Broadcast on my iPad. I loved the entire session and cried numerous times just thinking about how much I love the women of the church all over the world. Of course, I kept thinking of home too, wishing I was sitting next to my daughters, granddaughters, daughter-in-laws, and friends.

Sunday began with a long taxi ride to find the Quirigua Ward chapel, where Mike had agreed to give a Self-Sufficiency presentation during the combined meeting. Ten years ago, Bogota redid their addresses and the ones listed on the lds.org website are the old ones. We got the address from Edgar and THOUGHT it was the new address, but not so. The poor taxi driver was very patient and we finally found the building. It was another "oasis in the desert" chapel. We got home, had a quick bite, then Mike left for another training meeting with the Granada Stake, while I took a taxi to our ward building so I could practice the piano before Claire's baptism. Claire is one of our "mission grandchildren" and it was her eighth birthday. Candace, Claire's mother, told me that at church that morning, Caroline, Claire's younger sister said, "Where's Grandma?" Candace explained that their grandma was back in the U.S. and couldn't come, then Claire said, "No. Grandma Anderton didn't come." Candace said, "I assured her she would see you at the baptism." What a full day!

La Quirigua Ward Chapel

KR & Claire