Stake Conferences

  When we first arrived here, President mentioned that he had scheduled us to attend the Huancavilca stake conference.  At first we assumed that he was joking but that turned out not to be the case.  There had been three invitations that same weekend.  President divided us up and sent us in three different directions to represent the temple presidency at stake conferences.  The other two members of the presidency were old veterans of directing, presiding, and speaking at stake conferences.  For us, it was not so.  But, we dutifully complied with our assignment and attended the first stake conference. Then a second and third until we have now attended six with another coming up this weekend.  

  Our instructions were to not go unless we were invited.  I violated that rule this past week.  It so happened that a young man we had met five years before called to invite us to hear him play the piano for the Cisne stake conference.  What to do?  What if someone recognized us?  They would feel obligated to ask us to sit on the stand.  Even say a few words. We decided to take our chances and sit in the back of the room.  As we approached the stake center, President Pluas was outside greeting people coming in.  He works at security for the temple and recognized us.  Word was passed to the presiding authority who invited us to sit on the stand and speak, briefly.  Elder Godoy was kind to us and thanked us for our remarks.  The boy.s piano playing was excellent.  He and his two bothers have all benefited from being able to play the piano.  Their mother, of course, gets credit by encouraging them to practice.  They have progressed remarkably well considering that they only have a cheap five octave keyboard to practice on.  The older brother is serving a mission in Mexico.  All five boys are looking forward to serving a mission.

   The most interesting stake conference visit has been to Pasto, Colombia.  These saints have to journey seventeen hours by bus to attend the temple in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  (A temple in Colombia is farther so they come here)  For us to visit there, we take a short flight to Quito, then a seven hour car ride.  The country is mountainous with lots of vegetation. A very nice drive if it weren't so long. 

   We attended the two Saturday sessions, stayed overnight and returned home Sunday after the general session on Sunday morning.  The stake center was filled to capacity with people in the other rooms that had sound systems.  It was also sent to a chapel in another city thirty miles away.  People were very friendly.  President Marquiñez is an owner of a bread business. He proudly gave us a sample of a croissant bread that he developed.  He shared the recipe with a member and is helping her with her own business.