There are so many stories to share from my time in Bolivia, it is difficult to pick one. So, I'll skip to the very end of my mission. I think it is one of the better stories anyway.

 

It was December 1979 and I was serving in Ciudad Satelite with Elder Videl Calizaya. He alone makes a good story. No disrespect to any of my other 15 companions but Elder Calizaya was one of the very best. He had one leg which was shorter than the other. He had a shoe with an extra thick sole to make up for the short leg. His pants were cut so that the pant leg would cover the shoe. He could not walk very fast but was very willing to go anywhere. He was much faster with his crutches.

 

Christmas came about three weeks before Kelly Taylor, Scott Woodbury and I were leaving to go home. We had plans to stop in Machu Picchu on the way. On Christmas day there was a program and a party at President Hill's house. For me the best part of this Christmas came before these activities.

 

Elder Calizaya spent most of his childhood in a childrens hospital in La Paz. While there he had 26 operations on his leg. For Christmas he wanted to spend some time in this hospital visiting his friends there. Please stop and think for a minute about what a childrens hospital in Bolivia might be like. I didn't write a description in my journal so I think we will need to use what you imagined it would be like. Your imagination is most likely very close to what we found when we entered.

 

I don't know how much of this hospital we saw; I only remember visiting one ward. It was rather dark, not much light coming through the windows. Perhaps there were some lights on. Beds lined the walls on two sides of this rather long room. I can't tell you how many children were there. It seems like there were at least 12 or so. Most of the beds were full. It was Christmas and none of them had any family there to visit with them. They only had each other to visit with, until we arrived.

 

I remember Elder Calizaya spending most of our time with one of his friends. They were both very happy to see each other. I didn't know anyone there so I picked one bed and visited with one little boy. Visited is not the most accurate word to use. Visited would imply that we talked together. I talked while this young boy listened and smiled. I don't remember him saying a single word to me during our 'visit'. He did get a hold of my umbrella and played with it most of the time. I smiled back and spoke to him. He just kept playing with the umbrella and continued to smile.

 

After an hour or so we left to go the President Hill's house. I really don't remember anything about this party. I did write in my journal that I won a game of Battleship.

 

This little story is one that I remember better than most things that happened on my mission. I think the reason I remember it is because of what happened the next day.

 

We went to the office to have a visit with President Hill. This was to help keep me motivated before leaving for home. After this visit we headed back home to get some lunch. While we were getting lunch the Zone Leaders came by. I wish I could remember who they were or that I had written their names in my journal. I just wrote "the ZLs". They told me to go back to the office to visit with President Hill. I thought this was odd because I had been at the President's house the day before and in his office just that morning.

 

When I got there he told me the Church's Missionary Committee had contacted him. My mother contacted the committee and asked them to let me know that my father was in the hospital and would most likely make it through the three weeks until I was scheduled to come home. I had to decide to either stay for the next three weeks and most likely never see my dad or to go home early. I chose to go home to see my dad.

This day was very difficult for me. I mostly wandered around the city thinking about my dad. Poor Elder Calizaya had to follow me around. For him it was a good thing I didn't feel like walking fast. I'm sure it was several hours we just wandered. I'm glad I had Elder Calizaya with me during this time.

 

It took a couple of days to get a flight arranged; I left on December 29th and arrived home on the 30th. It was nice to have most of my family there to greet me. We left the airport and drove straight to the hospital. It was either during the drive or at the hospital I found out that once my dad heard I was coming home he started to get better. He was able to leave the hospital about a week after I came home.

Better is a relative term. Instead of saying my dad was well enough to come home it might be better said as he was no longer sick enough to keep him in the hospital. It was good to be home and to have my dad come home too. I got my old bed back and my dad got to stay in a hospital bed in our house. He was able to come to church to hear me talk. He said I gave a good talk. He told me that the sure sign of a good talk is when my Uncle Paul stays awake. He stayed awake.

 

My dad passed away about a month after I got home. I didn't cry. I think I did most all of my mourning while wandering around La Paz, dragging Elder Calizaya behind me. My dad had been sick for so long. In a way it was a relief to know that he was no longer in any pain.

 

As a side note about my dad. He had open heart surgery in 1969. His surgeon was Dr. Russell M. Nelson.

 

After my mission I went to school. Elder Mark Sellers was my roommate for a couple of years. I then worked, went back to school and finally got a clue and got married. That was 30 years ago.  I have been working as an electrical engineer since finishing school. We have four children who are not doing their part to make me a grandfather. I have to borrow little children at church. This has been easy since I was in the nursery the last couple of years. The nursery was my reward for the time I spent in the Bishopric. Now I'm back in the Elders Quorum.