White Christmas

We will miss celebrating Christmas in the United States with our children and grandchildren.  But we rejoice in the blessing of serving in Bolivia and having a "white Christmas" Bolivian style--not with snow flakes and frosted trees, but with valiant missionaries and beautiful people dressed in white, entering into the waters of baptism to make a sacred covenant to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ and be numbered among His sheep.
 

The young man on the left was recently baptized by his friend (on the right).
His friend leaves to serve a two-year mission in Peru in 10 days.
He's going to be a great missionary. 

Here are three of our happy missionaries who taught the young man in preparation for his baptism.  Baptisms for missionaries are a very special kind of pay day. 

Here is another picture of the young convert, with his sweet mother, who is not a member of our Church.  I admire her faith and confidence in her son, for giving permission for him
to be baptized into a religion different than her own.  I promised her that the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will make her son an even better man than he
already is if he remains true to his covenants.

  

Here I am after the baptism of this 12-year old young man.  I interviewed his father for baptism a few months ago, and formed a friendship.  His father, who was not able to perform the baptism, asked me to baptize his son.  What an honor.  Right after this photo, when I learned he didn't own a tie, I gave him mine.

 

This is what it's all about--an entire family being baptized and progressing towards the blessing of being sealed together for time and all eternity in one of the Lord's holy Temples.

And then occasionally there's time to unwind and relax.  Kathy and I felt
so honored when these amazing missionaries invited us, the night after the sixth and
final zone conference, to join them on the rooftop of their apartment in Tupiza,
where they barbequed some delicious Argentine steaks for all of us.  It brought
back memories of the delicious asadas I enjoyed as a young missionary in
Argentina back in 1974-76.  Just for fun, I am posting my pre-missionary picture
1974 below.  (Upon arriving in the Salt Lake City Mission home, they invited me
to get a new, shorter haircut.)