Cobija trip

Her is Andrea Quinteros.  We are still teaching her and hope that she will be able to be baptized soon.

Bananas on the trees in Cobija.  All of the pictures are mixed up and I don't know how to change them around.  But you can see some of the things we saw in Cobija.

Buzzards in the garbage on the street.  Usually in La Paz we see only dogs in the garbage that is left under a tree to be picked up by the garbage truck.

Some kind of fruit we saw when we went over to Brazil.  Elder Dibb says is is the "forbidden fruit" from the Garden of Eden.

At a park in Brazil.

This was our hotel room in Cobija.  It was about 12 feet square.  But we did have a private bath with shower (wired for hot water) and air conditioning. So we were lucky.

Motorcycles lined the streets.  They were everywhere.  A lot of them were taxis.  We saw many families riding the motorcycles, 3 or 4 together, including little ones.  There were people carrying many things on the bikes with them.  Very interesting.

A picture from the plane coming into Cobija.  The water in the river is brown - very dirty - but we were told that there are fish in it.

This is where we waited to pick up our suitcase.  They unload it from the plane and then put it on the "patio" behind Dale.  Then you have to go in to gate and get your luggage, then get it checked before you can bring it out.

A picture from the taxi showing the bungles that people carry on their cycles.

The taxi stand at the airport.  Mostly motorcycles.  We were lucky to get one of the regular cars.

Elder Dibb and Bishop Moya on the bridge crossing the river to Brazil.

A picture to show that we were really in Brazil.

A lady getting on a "taxi".

A carving at the hotel where we stayed.

The river between Bolivia and Brazil. 

November 21, 2011

President and Hermana Quintanilla and family.  They have been so good to us and we have had the opportunity to get to know them in their home.  We are probably the only missionaries who have seen their president in his sweats working on the computer in his office.  They are a wonderful family and have very strong testimonies.  What dedicated servants of the Lord.

Joshua Quintanilla  in his "raton" (mouse) costume for a program at school.

Our dining area.

The living room area.  We have floor to ceiling windows.  Lots of light and fun to look out of.  There are many large buildings around us and we can see all the little shacks up on the hillside.

The kitchen without the stove.

The bedroom.

The main bathroom.  Us old people have a hard time getting our feet over the tub to get into the shower.  We really need a little stool to help us.

Our washer/dryer.  It doesn't hook up to the hot water.  We wash everything in cold.  Our water heater is an on-demand water heater.  I quite like it.

Our source of heat - no central heating.  We can roll it from room to room to warm things up.

Our apartment building called Edificio Valentina.  It is 18 stories high.  We are in departmento 7-D.

Elder Dibb with the Elders and Sisters who played basketball.  Two of the elders in the district were not able to come.  We had a great time and then treated them to ice cream after the game.

Me with the sister missionaries at the basketball court (outside) on P-day.

Elder Dibb making cookies at the Quintanilla home on P-day.

This is the Chavez family.  We have had lunch at their house several times.  They are awesome and so friendly.  The dad speaks good English.  The grandma at bottom center was a radio announcer and speaks excellent Spanish and Aymara.  It took her 8 years to learn because of the strange sounds they make.

I've tried to get pictures of the Aymara women, but I don't want to be too obvious.  I got this not so good picture while riding in a taxi.

Pictures and a Story

Bonnie Quintanilla in her Halloween costume.

Children go around to stores and the store owners give the candy.

Denisse, a new member and her mother

who we are teaching and helping to understand

the Gospel that Denisse has joined.

Dale on the road in from of the mission home.

And we thought Utah streets were bad!!!

 Dale in front of the mission home waiting for a taxi.

It is either a taxi or the mini-bus and

that is out of the question

because some of them

are too small to even get in

and they are crowded.

 Singing Spanish Primary songs

that we have on our ipad

with the mission president's children.

Whenever we are at the mission home,

they want our attention.

Joshua follows "Elder Dibb" around the house

and loves to come in our room,

jump on the bed and check out everything.

Kids here stay up "way late" and we were tired

and needed to go to bed,

but Pres. Quintanilla had to come and get Joshua

because he didn't want to leave our room.

One of the bridges that crosses the huge canyon

coming down from La Paz to Calecoto.

There is one place where there are 3 bridges,

held up in the middle by a big ravine.

A garden on the side of the road.

These are really pretty and are quite a contrast to the graffiti

on all the buildings and walls inside the city.

Their parks are really nice,

except for the writing on the walls.

Tatiana - another new member of the Church
that we have been teaching.


We were walking on the street a few days ago and when we crossed in front of the traffic, a little girl about 5, dressed in dirty, ragged clothes hurried out into the street in front of the cars and did a summer sault. Then went to the nearest car to be paid for her performance.  We couldn't not give her a coin.  The grandmother was sitting on the sidewalk with a little boy a few years older.    We often see jugglers in the street when the traffic is stopped at a red light doing the same thing, except they are really talented. You cannot believe the poverty we see at times and the begging on the street. How blessed we are to have grown up with the Gospel and the blessings we have had.